Chapter 58: College Examination
The examination room for the academy examination was the same as that for the prefectural examination. In the early hours of the morning, candidates began to appear one after another, each holding a lantern and waiting quietly at the door to enter. The line became longer and longer.
Don't think that the number of candidates for the academy examination will be less than that for the county examination and the prefectural examination. On the contrary, the academy examination is the first hurdle in the imperial examination. Many people are stuck here for more than ten years. The title of "old student" comes from this.
Su Fengzhang looked around, but didn't see the white-haired old man. He changed his mind and felt that it was possible that he did not exist, but the high-intensity labor some time ago had completely weakened these old students.
This was not just his own fantasy. After they returned to the city some time ago, they learned that there were all kinds of rumors about this labor service, and the majority of them were about a certain student who couldn't bear it and fell ill.
The academy examination is the most important hurdle in taking the exam for the scholar. As long as you pass it, you can obtain the title of scholar and become a formal scholar. Even if you fail to pass the exam for the juren, you can still live a decent life.
Because of this, the atmosphere outside the examination hall was somewhat solemn. The examinees waiting to enter had heavy expressions, yet were eager for success, and they all prayed in their hearts that everything would go smoothly.
Wen Zhu had been open and honest before coming here, but now, she became nervous because of the atmosphere around her. She couldn't help but bumped Su Fengzhang's arm and said, "Fengzhang, do you think I still have a chance?"
Even though he always said that he didn't like studying and couldn't pass the exam, as a scholar, Wen Zhu couldn't have no idea at all. Even if he didn't have any ideas, he should have had some ideas after being nagged by Mr. Wen day and night.
Su Fengzhang looked at him with amusement and asked, "My words don't work. If they did, we would both be top scorers now."
Hearing this, Wen Zhu laughed quietly. She pinched her thigh hard to avoid attracting the attention of those around her, so as not to laugh too loudly. "You're right. There's no point in worrying now."
"Yes, that's the right mindset. Just give it your all. Whether you pass the exam or not depends on fate."
Wen Zhu nodded and said, "That's quite possible. God likes me quite a lot, and of course, he likes you even more."
Su Fengzhang felt that Wenzhu was not an ordinary person, because ordinary people would not have the self-confidence of a child of destiny.
The admission procedure for the academy examination is similar to that for the provincial examination, which involves body searches, guarantee statements, and number plate draws.
However, there was trouble when verifying the examination certificates this year, because many scholars' examination certificates said they had delicate faces and fair skin. However, when the person verifying looked up, he saw that they had very dark hair.
Fortunately, the prefect, Lord Fang, had been prepared for this. The students in charge of acting as guarantors this time had to shoulder a heavy responsibility, as they were the ones primarily responsible for ensuring that the personnel were correct.
Compared with the people in front, Su Fengzhang's skin color change is not the most exaggerated, at least it did not jump directly from fair to charcoal black.
After verifying the identity, the yamen runner said, "Su Fengzhang, choose a number."
It's called number selection, but it's actually like a lottery. You have to reach into a wooden box and randomly draw a number. This number corresponds to your seat number. This is to ensure fairness. If you draw a bad number, you can only say that you have bad luck.
Su Fengzhang took out a wooden plaque and looked down. The three words "Ding Liushi" were engraved on it.
The yamen runner took a look and immediately showed a look of sympathy, but did not say much.
Su Fengzhang found his seat number with the number plate, and then he understood why the yamen runner had shown sympathy just now. It was because there was a toilet next to his seat, and he could vaguely see the toilet inside!
There is no smell at this moment, probably because it has just been cleaned, but when the exam starts and someone uses it, you can imagine the smell.
Su Fengzhang's face turned dark when he thought of the smell. He took two deep breaths before calming down. He had to cherish the clean smell now because he would not be able to enjoy it soon.
Su Fengzhang cleaned up the room a little and sat down. He found that apart from being a toilet, the room was actually quite good, with plenty of light, and the tables, chairs and benches were all intact.
He was calm, but the man who had just sat down opposite him was inconsolable. As soon as he sat down, he wailed and shouted, "It's over now. I'm definitely not going to pass the exam."
"Shut up!"
Before he could continue crying, a cold voice was heard, and the man was so scared that he quickly wiped away his tears.
Qingzhou Prefecture is a big prefecture, and Jiangnan is a place with a flourishing literary style. There are nearly three thousand seats in the examination hall, arranged in rows. It is naturally impossible for such a large venue to have only one toilet. In fact, the last seat in each row is a toilet.
Therefore, there must be at least fifty candidates who receive the same treatment as Su Fengzhang. The probability is not small.
The cell was a bit narrow and low, and Su Fengzhang was a rare tall man in the South, so you can imagine how cramped he must have felt sitting there. His only real consolation was that it was near the toilet, making it feel a bit more spacious due to its layout. This was a welcome relief, Su Fengzhang thought, finding joy in the midst of hardship.
Soon, yamen runners came with pens, ink, paper and inkstone to distribute them. The examination room, which had seemed a bit messy due to the entrance, immediately became quiet. Su Fengzhang checked it as usual and only started waiting after making sure that there was no problem.
At daybreak, Prefect Fang brought a group of invigilators to inspect the examination room. He walked without stopping and quickly walked around the entire examination room before announcing the official start of the examination.
Su Fengzhang unexpectedly discovered that this Prefect Fang was indeed a master of swift examinations. There must be many candidates he was familiar with in the examination room, but this Prefect's steps were steady and without any change, and he paid no special attention to anyone.
The Prefect Fang, who acts so cautiously, is completely different from the wanton and dissolute young man described by Mr. Wen.
The academy examination consists of only two sessions: the main examination and the re-examination. The main subjects are contemporary essays and examination poems. According to the rules, the number of people admitted in the first examination should be twice the number of places for scholars admitted in the end. That is to say, Qingzhou Prefecture has 50 places for scholars, so among the nearly 3,000 people, only 100 can pass the first round.
Only one person out of a hundred can pass the first round, and half of them will be cut in half in the second round. It is extremely cruel.
After the test questions were announced, Su Fengzhang felt slightly relieved, simply because the questions in the first round were quite standard, and the current affairs essays and policy papers were almost all about river management.
In the past, this would have been difficult for the students, but among the students who came to take the college entrance examination this time, only □□ had participated in the river management project. Unless they had spent those months complaining about everything, they would at least be able to write something.
After returning from the river, Su Fengzhang thought about the exam questions. At that time, he asked Mr. Wen and Wen Zhu to write a lot of contemporary essays about river management. Naturally, he wrote like a god at this moment.
Having been well prepared and with real ideas in mind, Su Fengzhang felt that he wrote this piece with great pleasure.
Not only him, but when he saw Wen Zhu outside the examination room, the latter was also very happy and said to him privately: "I think my writing is pretty good. Maybe I can pass this time."
If it weren't for the persistent smell from the toilet next door, Su Fengzhang would even think that the college entrance examination was normal.
Finally now, the most profound impression left in his memory is still the lingering stench from next door.
As expected, among the one hundred names reported in the case, Su Fengzhang ranked first, and Wen Zhu was at the bottom.
By the time the second round began, Wen Zhu felt much more relaxed. He smiled and said, "I'm lucky to have passed the first round. I can be considered worthy of the ancestors of my Wen family."
There were fewer candidates entering the venue this time, and Su Fengzhang finally escaped the fate of sitting in the toilet. After all, it was easier to arrange things when there were fewer people, and there was no need to let the candidates sit there.
Unless the examiner has a bad taste, civil servants are generally more considerate of scholars.
What Su Fengzhang didn't know was that before the exam papers were handed out, the several headmasters sitting behind Prefect Fang looked at each other in confusion. One of them mustered up the courage to ask, "Master Fang, this exam question is a bit too difficult. There's still time to revise it."
Normally, the academy examination should be presided over by the provincial education officials, but the Qingzhou Prefecture education official has not been appointed, so the chief examiner this time is still the prefect Fang, and sitting behind him are the presidents of academies more than 500 miles away, who will serve as invigilators and graders.
After hearing this, Prefect Fang smiled, then turned and asked, "What's so difficult about this? Is this question beyond the scope of the syllabus?"
The headmaster was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and said, "It's not beyond the scope, but..."
"It's fine as long as it's not beyond the syllabus. They can't even answer anything that's not beyond the syllabus, which shows they really don't have any real skills or knowledge."
So the words were blocked, and the mountain chief sighed. After all, the people sitting below were not his students. He was just a person who came to help mark the papers, so there was no need for him to make things difficult for the local officials.
As the test questions were put down one by one, the students who saw the questions gasped, and some even screamed.
Fang Zhiwen acted cold and ruthless. The yamen runner beside him shouted coldly, "Silence! Silence!"
Su Fengzhang was sitting near the door, and it took him a while to understand why they reacted that way.
There was only one sentence written on the test paper, a sentence that was enough to give most of the candidates in the examination room a splitting headache.
"What virtues did the seventy-two sages of Confucius possess? What merits did the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai possess?"
The two contemporary essays are all here, and the "Imperial Edicts" that need to be memorized later become innocent and cute in comparison.
Seventy-two plus twenty-eight, exactly one hundred people, no more, no less. Su Fengzhang suddenly remembered the scene in the restaurant, and he understood the extent of the petty-mindedness of this Prefect Fang. It was obvious that he was making things difficult for the candidates.
Unlike others, Su Fengzhang not only did not feel bald, but was excited instead.
It's no wonder that he showed his joy. It was just that after he returned home that day, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong. He was very worried, so he simply read these people over and over again, and even sorted them out himself and gave a copy to Wenzhu.
Although he didn't guess the question completely, Su Fengzhang sorted out more names, including the seventy-two sages of Confucius and the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai. It can be said that he guessed the question correctly!
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The author has something to say: In the past, Sheng Ge would go out to play during every holiday.
This year's epidemic, the entire holiday was spent coding
Brother Sheng is an emotionless coding machine
Okay, the Japanese version has come to an end for now.
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