Chapter 143: The Provincial Examination Begins, Body Search Upon Entry
It's late at night, but people are still not quiet.
"Bang!"
The sound of a salute suddenly exploded above the Imperial Examination Hall, instantly dispelling the sleepiness of all the students.
The students hurried out of their homes or inns, and their footsteps echoed in the streets and alleys of Jiangzhou City, like gurgling water converging into a turbulent river.
Since body searches were required for entry, it was inconvenient for female students to mix with men, so the court had made arrangements in advance. Male and female students lined up in an orderly manner on both sides of the street outside the Imperial Examination Hall to facilitate the subsequent roll call and body searches.
Zhu Lan, Qiao Youyou and Xiao Wan went together, Liang Zhou, Zhao Sicheng and Zhou Da went to the Imperial Examination Hall from two different roads.
The closer you get to the Imperial Examination Hall, the more crowded the streets become.
In order to prevent candidates from falling or losing their belongings on the road, the government office thoughtfully lit many lanterns on the main streets. Therefore, although it was the middle of the night, the entire Zhaoping County was brightly lit.
Many candidates met acquaintances on the road, greeted and encouraged each other, and walked together.
Liang Zhou also met a few familiar young men, and Zhou Da also exchanged a few words with them. But when he turned around, he found that Zhao Sicheng had disappeared behind him.
Most likely he saw someone familiar and went over to say hello.
An hour passed quickly, and all the students had gathered outside the Imperial Examination Hall, standing in lines according to gender, with each team of 150 people, called "together".
The area outside the Imperial Examination Hall was very spacious, with more than twenty light boards set up. Lanterns were hung under each board, and the number of lanterns represented the number of "starts".
Qiao Youyou held the admission ticket in her hand, stood on tiptoe and looked around, and asked Zhu Lan: "Lanlan, I am the third one, how about you?"
"I am the ninth character of the female character."
Zhu Lan, Qiao Youyou and Du Xiaowan were not in the same place, so the three of them went their separate ways. Zhu Lan found a signboard with nine lanterns in three rows, and waited quietly nearby for the call.
Then, a group of clerks in long gowns walked out of the Imperial Examination Hall, went to each of the lantern boards and began to call out the names of the examinees.
Behind each clerk was a "doorman" who was responsible for confirming that the candidate was the real person based on his or her appearance.
The ninth group, including Zhu Lan, had completed the roll call. Led by the clerk, everyone came to the first entrance, the "Toumen", to be searched.
Candidates who participated in the autumn examination would bring stationery and bedding, and some would even bring simple cooking utensils. However, the conditions in the dormitory were harsh and the space was small, so it was inconvenient to cook inside. Therefore, most candidates would choose to bring dry food such as steamed buns and steamed bread to fill their stomachs.
The body search before entering the imperial examination hall was extremely strict. If any prohibited items such as notes were found, the searcher would receive a reward of fifty taels of silver. Therefore, every guard would want to turn the candidate's underwear inside out to take a look when searching the candidate.
Female students are searched by special female officials.
The female clerk on Zhu Lan's side had a stern face, and there was no gentleness on her forty-year-old face. She was checking a candidate in front of Zhu Lan.
The female official first carefully touched the female student's body, and after making sure that she had nothing hidden, she began to check her package and took out an oilcloth bag from it.
"Those are steamed buns..." the female student explained in a low voice.
The female official opened the oilcloth and found seven or eight white buns inside.
Afterwards, the female official, with an expressionless face, opened the buns one by one to make sure there was nothing hidden in the fillings before letting the female student leave.
Zhu Lan looked at this scene and was glad that he didn't bring any food like steamed buns. This female official didn't even wash her hands, didn't have gloves, and just forcibly took the food away. Zhu Lan, who had a slight obsession with cleanliness, really couldn't accept it.
The female official also touched Zhu Lan's body with her hands. Her movements were rough but delicate. She even checked to see if there was anything hidden in her hair.
"Open the bundle." the female official ordered.
Zhu Lan opened the bundle as instructed and allowed the female official to search through it.
"What is this?" The female official took out a pencil from Zhu Lan's bag.
"It's a student's pen, used for writing drafts." Zhu Lan answered calmly.
The female official had never seen this thing before. She knocked on it repeatedly for a long time, and finally put it back in disappointment.
"What is this?" She took out two packages again in confusion.
"Be careful!" Zhu Lan reminded hurriedly. Under the distrustful gaze of the female clerk, he took the two packages and carefully opened them in front of her.
One of the packages looked like rolled-up noodles, but it looked very dry.
The other package was full of white powder, no wonder it had to be opened carefully.
"This is lime." Zhu Lan explained.
The female official looked puzzled; it was the first time she saw someone bringing lime into the examination room. However, she couldn't hide anything in a bag of powder, so she had to continue searching.
They found something that looked like a round food box. When the female official opened it, she found that the food box was divided into two layers. The upper layer could be taken out, while the lower layer contained a bag of minced meat and a bag of chopped vegetables.
The female official once again showed an extremely confused expression.
Zhu Lan smiled sincerely, "It's just food. Do you think I can get through?"
The female official looked at Zhu Lan strangely, thinking, who would bring these things as dry food? Wouldn't they choke to death if they eat them like this?
But it's none of her business if she chokes to death.
"Go ahead, go ahead." The female official handed Zhu Lan the "entry slip" which proved that the body search was complete, and waved her hand to let her pass.
Zhu Lan came to the second "Ceremony Gate", submitted his photo and then received a booklet with the exam rules, and finally came to the last gate -
"Longmen" is the place where the examination is held.
After a series of preliminary work, it was already noon on the eighth day of the first lunar month.
Zhu Lan walked through a long maze-like corridor with cells densely packed like honeycombs on both sides, and finally found the one that belonged to him.
Seeing such cells, Zhu Lan couldn't help but imagine the prisons in TV dramas.
Even worse than prison.
There was only a pair of wooden tables and chairs in the small cell, and the room was barely big enough for one person to lie down.
At this time, Zhu Lan heard the sound of salutes outside the Imperial Examination Hall, which meant that all the candidates had entered the hall. The gate of the Imperial Examination Hall was officially blocked and would not be opened until the first exam was over three days later.
As soon as the salute ended, Zhu Lan heard his stomach making protesting sounds.
She hadn't eaten a single bite of food since she set out in the middle of the night, and she was starving.
The formal exam would not begin until tomorrow morning, which meant Zhu Lan would have to spend the entire afternoon and evening in this prison-like cell.
Fortunately, the Imperial Examination Hall would arrange a servant for every twenty candidates, called a "Haojun", who lived within its jurisdiction.
Zhu Lan called Hao Jun, asked for some clean water, and took out the things he had brought.
Hehe, the ancient version of self-heating pot!
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