Chapter 89: Study it, memorize it, it will come in handy eventually...
After the college entrance examination in April, there were several fewer students in Class A.
There were ten people who went to take the county exam. Seven of them passed the county exam, and four of them were able to pass the prefectural exam and become students.
But in the end, not a single one passed the academy's examination.
So two of the four chose to spend money to smooth things over and then get a spot as an auditor at the county school.
After all, it was a government-run county school, so it was naturally better than a privately-run academy.
After learning of their choice, Master Cao did not find anything wrong with it.
After all, people strive for better things.
Fortunately, two people remained at the academy this time. According to custom, once they became students, their tuition fees at the academy would be waived.
Yangzheng Academy is a well-established academy, and its achievement of four out of ten students passing the preliminary examination this year is already considered quite outstanding in the county.
After the exams were over, the questions for this year's county and prefectural exams naturally circulated.
So, apart from the two students who took the exam, Master Cao also assigned these questions as homework to the remaining students who did not take the exam.
Just submit it before the ten-day holiday.
After receiving the assignment, Guo Baiwen also timed himself at home to simulate the feeling of taking an exam.
The questions were divided into many parts, such as those on the subject of Mo Yi, which were not difficult for him.
After all, if you want to write articles, you must read, memorize, and recite the allusions and historical stories in the Four Books and Five Classics, so he set aside a lot of time each day for memorization.
But besides the meaning of ink, there are also topics such as discussing the meaning of classics, arithmetic, and composing poetry.
Looking at the many scattered sheets of paper, he also categorized his coursework according to the order of the exams, and set aside two hours each day for answering questions.
The test lasts for six days and is considered an exam.
After figuring out my own answering speed, I would then set aside the remaining few days for review, reflection, and polishing, before handing the final exam paper to my teacher.
Since it was a mock exam, he set the time before opening his workbook. Following his habit from his previous life, he started from the beginning and skipped the questions he was unsure about, planning to come back to them later.
Fortunately, I have been practicing calligraphy all this time. Even though I have been holding the brush and writing diligently, my arm is not as sore and unbearable as before.
There were indeed many questions, and quite a few of them were rather unusual.
When Guo Baiwen encountered these questions, he had to spend some time thinking about them. In the end, when the timer went off, he still hadn't finished several questions.
It seems I haven't memorized it well enough; I can't recall which book, chapter, section, and sentence it comes from as soon as I see a question.
It's likely that many students taking the exam were separated in this way.
Because she had gone back to her room after eating for six consecutive days, Grandma Guo, though unable to go upstairs, heard from Xiao Hua that her son had been studying late into the night every day.
The old lady couldn't help, so all she could do was prepare some late-night snacks every day and ask Xiaohua to deliver them.
He bought a lot of lamp oil and candles and specifically instructed Guo Baiwen to light several when he studied at night.
She worried that it wouldn't be bright enough at night and would damage her child's eyes.
Guo Baiwen nodded and accepted the things, without mentioning that he had been using battery-powered nightlights for the past few days, which were much brighter than oil lamps and candles.
He divided his answer sheet into two parts.
One is the final answer completed over six days under timed conditions, and the other is the answer that I revised and polished based on the previous one.
Think about it, the day before he handed in the polished version of his assignment to Master Cao, he first took his two sets of answers to Master Guo.
"Did you write both of these answers?" Master Guo first took a red pen and circled and marked many places on the two answers.
Hearing that Guo Baiwen had even tried writing these questions at home as if they were exam questions, his tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly.
Looking up, she saw Guo Baiwen still staring at her expectantly, and couldn't help but find it a little funny.
He first took out the answer sheet from the timed writing exercise, and his tone became somewhat stern, "There are fifty questions in the 'Painting the Meaning of the Classics' section, and you only got eighty percent right."
Actually, I got 43 questions right, but there were some corrections on it.
"As for the poetry and classical texts, like this question and this question, your chosen approach to solving the problem is fine, but you need to think more carefully about the part about quoting classical texts."
Master Guo pointed to the parts he had underlined, gesturing for Guo Baiwen to come closer to look, while also pointing disdainfully at the ink spots on the paper, "Being too hasty and having messy paper is a major taboo in exams."
“Special scratch paper will be provided during the exam. You previously said that you only give yourself two hours a day to answer questions. Even if you are in a hurry, you must make sure that your answers are neat when you copy them onto the exam paper.”
Putting aside everything else, what if someone reports that the exam paper has been specially marked?
That's something that's truly impossible to explain even if you have a mouth.
Master Guo flipped through the remaining questions again, and said with some emotion, "However, you answered all the arithmetic questions correctly. It is rare for you to be able to solve such difficult questions."
Upon hearing this, Guo Baiwen felt a pang of shame.
The questions on this page weren't difficult for him; he could solve them using just a few equations.
But even though the answer was out, the real headache for Guo Baiwen was how to write the process of finding the answer in a way that people could understand.
"Unfortunately, mathematics is not the way forward nowadays."
Fortunately, Master Guo only mentioned this one sentence and did not say anything else.
"If we take this first paper you gave me as an example, without counting the corrections, I, as the examiner, would probably give you a grade of C."
Master Guo turned around and picked up the polished answer again, "But for this one, I can give you a second-class grade."
Although neither evaluation was particularly high, the student jumped two levels from C to B.
It didn't delay his two days of racking his brains.
But when it comes to the actual exam, things can't be the same as they were this time.
"Thank you, Master."
Guo Baiwen also understands that, based on his current learning progress, there are still many areas that need improvement.
He glanced down at the two answers, calmed down a bit, and prepared to reach out and take them.
“No rush,” Master Guo waved his hand, placed the two sheets of paper aside, and picked up his teacup. “There’s still one day until Master Cao asks us to submit the questions, right?”
“Mmm,” Guo Baiwen nodded first, then quickly understood what Master Guo meant. “I will go back tonight and revise it according to Master Guo’s instructions and submit it.”
Master Guo nodded. "I will pass these two copies on to Master Cao in a moment." Finally, he added, "Remember to send me a copy of tomorrow's copy as well."
All right.
That is, it takes a little more time to copy it one more time.
Guo Baiwen nodded in agreement, thanked Master Guo again, and then took his book box home.
It's getting warmer these days, and he's been busy with his studies at the academy, spending his ten-day breaks memorizing texts and practicing calligraphy.
Even though he can now understand the meaning and recite it, he can still write it down from memory.
However, consolidating memory to the point where one can immediately identify which section of a question is being asked will require a lot of time.
Study it, memorize it.
They'll all come in handy eventually.
Seeing that he couldn't take care of the shop at home and the tenants over there, he found some time to take his family to check on the land.
After entrusting everything to others, he completely became a hands-off manager.
With so many things to take care of every day, renting a car every day has become a bit of a hassle.
Having just received fifty taels of silver, Guo Baiwen went to the livestock market and, following the advice of Granny Sun, brought back a gray two-year-old donkey.
They also purchased a template cart from carpenter Hu's house, which could carry goods and people, for a total of eight taels.
Although the family had to set aside special space to store hay and a donkey shed, it made daily travel much more convenient.
That was what Guo Baiwen originally thought.
But when I came in today carrying my book box, I saw Xiaohua with a brush, scrubbing the new donkey with Sister Yang.
When my family came from Guojia Village, they brought a small millstone with them. Because it wasn't very big, we usually just ground a little flour whenever we had free time.
Now that I've bought a donkey, things have become much more convenient.
When you're not using the cart, you can let it grind the wood, which is much less strenuous than using a person.
He put down his book box, rolled up his sleeves, and asked, "Is there anything I can help you with?"
Sister Yang waved her hand, "No need, no need, we can handle it!"
Guo Xiaohua also shook her head, "No need!"
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she looked up and said, "Why don't you go boil some water first, brother? I'd like to have a cup of hot tea after I give Mao Mao a bath."
Mao Mao is the name she gave to this donkey.
"It's just boiling some water," Guo Baiwen agreed, and turned to go to the water tank to prepare to scoop water.
Before he could put down the water ladle, he saw the rabbit jump into the chicken coop, so he hurriedly put down the ladle to catch the rabbit.
After finally catching the rabbit and carrying it back to its burrow, Guo Baiwen was about to straighten up and stretch his elbows when he nearly knocked over the dried wild vegetables hanging on the rack.
Startled, I hurriedly straightened it.
After finally getting everything done, I carefully retreated to the corner of the room and stood there relaxed.
Back when he first bought this house, he thought the yard in the middle wasn't small.
But now, one corner was originally allocated to the big tree and the well, then another corner was allocated to the chicken coop and the rabbit hutch, and now two corners have been allocated to house the drying rack, the small mill, the donkey, and the fodder.
As a result, the space in the courtyard has become increasingly cramped.
Not to mention that, like the Chen family, they have the space to build a swing in the yard to play on.
Moreover, his wedding date with Chen Baoyue was drawing ever closer.
I'm afraid that by then, the space in this courtyard where people can pass through and rest will be even more crowded.
—We still need to find some time.
Let's see if we can move to a bigger house.
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