Chapter 221 Admitted to the state school
Sang Luo was too tired, and Chen Lie had been staying up late to study for several days, so the couple both got up late the next day.
Chen Lie was fine, he woke up just two or three quarters of an hour late, but Sang Luo was still in deep sleep. It was a good winter day to sleep, and Chen Lie was especially warm, so she clung to his arms.
There was a slight noise outside, and Chen Lie guessed that Aning had gotten up first. He lowered his eyes to look at Sang Luo, and saw that she was sleeping comfortably in his arms. He was reluctant to get up early, so he simply hugged her and closed his eyes to accompany Sang Luo to continue sleeping. It was not until it was almost noon that he gently called her to get up.
Sang Luo hadn't gotten enough sleep at all, so she subconsciously responded without opening her eyes and continued to sleep. Chen Lie laughed softly, whispering in her ears and neck, biting her tongue little by little. Who could stand such a call? Sang Luo went from drowsy to sober, and almost fell into a daze again. She pushed Chen Lie away and bit him on the shoulder in anger.
Chen Lie chuckled, "You said you would accompany me to check the list this morning, are you going?"
Sang Luo was no longer confused this time, "Go!"
Chen Lie smiled and handed her the clothes that he had thrown to the corner of the bed last night.
…
In Shezhou city, the examination papers that had been marked by the state school were delivered to the chief secretary's desk in front of the state government office yesterday.
The Chief Secretary of She read them carefully several times under the lamp, arranged them again and again, and considered them again and again. He was busy until midnight before he finally drew up a preliminary ranking. He did not dare to sleep long in the morning. He got up early at dawn and hurried to the provincial government office. When he arrived at the gate of the government office, he saw a dozen people riding horses towards him in the distance. He took a closer look and breathed a sigh of relief. He was no longer in a hurry to go in, but just waited at the gate of the government office.
As soon as the governor dismounted and threw the whip to his attendant, the chief secretary came forward and said, "I am really worried that you will not be able to make it back today."
The governor walked in with a breeze and asked, "Has the ranking been drawn up?"
"It's out. The test papers are different, and the difficulty levels are also different. It's really not easy to rank them. We have to wait for the adults to take a look before deciding."
When they were almost at their office, the night clerk hurried over to open the door and the long windows. The room suddenly became much brighter. The thick pile of examination papers weighed down by the paperweight on the desk was slightly moved by the breeze. The chief secretary took the top paper and handed it to the governor: "Sir, this is the preliminary ranking. Please take a look first."
The list was carefully drawn up, listing everything from the candidates' names, places of origin, ages to the subjects they took. There were even corrections on it, so it was obviously not for the final posting, but for his convenience.
From the front to the back, he glanced at a few rows and saw a large number of Lin family descendants in the front row. He looked carefully and found that among the top 20, nine were Lin family descendants, three were Wang family descendants, and he had no impression of some other surnames. He looked at the ages written at the back and found that three of them were over 30 years old.
Looking further, what caught his attention were the hometowns after the names. The three words "Daxingzhuang" were mixed in with other names and hometowns, but stood out because there were too many identical words.
"Daxing Village?"
He recalled the group of people wearing coarse cloth and short brown robes that he saw through the window that day.
Nine people?
No, one of them is a descendant of Wang family.
That makes eight people.
The governor glanced at the admission list and found that there were five people on it!
The Wang family of Shezhou is no better. The only advantage they have over Daxingzhuang is that they are ranked higher. The five people from Daxingzhuang are among the bottom ten, and the lowest ranked one is 40th.
Seeing that he really paid attention to Daxing Manor, the Chief Clerk smiled and said, "Your Excellency should still remember them, right? Seeing how they are all dressed in coarse cloth and brown clothes, I didn't expect that six of the nine people who came here would pass the exam. In addition, except for the young man from the Wang family and this Wei Qinghe who chose "Book of Rites" and "Zuo Zhuan", the other seven people all chose "Zuo Zhuan" and "Gongyang Zhuan", which is very neat."
The nine people he included Wang Yunzheng who came that day.
The results of the exams were very consistent, which means that they were most likely taught by the same teacher.
"Bring me the test paper."
The chief secretary turned to one side and flipped through the papers. He had been comparing the rankings for most of the night. He was very familiar with these papers. After a while, he sorted out several papers and handed them to the governor: "Please take a look, sir. The papers of Daxing Village have a characteristic. There are few mistakes in the scripture, but the meaning of ink is much weaker. If there were not so few people taking the exam this time, I am afraid I would have to study for another two or three years to stand out."
In fact, it is hard to say what will happen in two or three years. Once Da Qi is stabilized, it will not be just Shezhou City that will compete for the provincial school quota. Although the specific rules are unknown, students from the county schools under Shezhou will definitely participate.
The governor flipped through the pages quickly, with a hint of smile in his eyes: "He knows how to seize the opportunity, and he is a smart man."
Of the forty people, half were from common families, and the other half were from small wealthy families and civilians. This must have been something that the emperor was very pleased to see. He put the examination papers back on the table and said to the chief secretary, "Let's just set the rankings like this. There's no need to look at them again."
The Chief Secretary smiled and replied, "Then I will issue the notice and announce the results accordingly."
…
At the beginning of the morning hour, the crowd outside the provincial school gradually increased, and at a glance, there were no less than 150 or 160 people. Shezhou had been in turmoil for so many years, and it was rare to see such a lively scene. Many residents in the surrounding area also came out to watch the excitement, adding a lot of vitality to the usually quiet provincial capital.
There were quite a few visitors to Daxingzhuang today. In addition to the families who came to take the exam, even Chen Po, Qin Fangniang, Zhou Ge, Gan Shi, and Gan Erlang's wife, whose children did not take the exam this time, came to watch the fun.
Wang Yunzheng, Xu Wenbo and other children who took part in this exam gathered together, and Shen Ning, Xu Wenyin and the Shen Jin brothers also came to watch the announcement of the results. Because they came early, although the crowd was crowded, they were able to stand in the front.
Chen Lie and Sang Luo stood together, waiting quietly.
Next to them were Old Lady Xu and Wei Lingzhen, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, Zhou Cunzheng and his wife with Zhou Changhe, and Old Man Lu and Mrs. Lu with A Xu. They all looked excited and nervous, but Wei Qinghe could not tell much. The only one who was truly completely relaxed was probably Xu Wenqing.
As soon as Chen Zheng arrived, the gate of the provincial school opened from the inside, and Xue Zheng came out holding a roll of red cloth, followed by two people holding trays and carrying gongs.
As the gongs sounded three times, the schoolmaster cleared his throat and said something, which roughly meant that Da Qi ordered each state to open a state school, and the results of the first year's entrance examination for Shezhou State School were out.
There are seventy-three candidates, and the top forty will be announced now. He will read out the names and hometowns of the admitted students in order of ranking.
Then the names and hometowns of the students will be called out starting from the first one.
A string of Shezhou Lins and Shezhou Wangs, accompanied by the voices of success and congratulations around them, went on until the fifteenth place, but Sang Luo still hadn't heard a familiar name.
"Sixteenth place, Wang Yunzheng from Shezhou."
The crowd suddenly cheered. If the children had not been waiting to hear their names being called, they would have been extremely happy.
The Wang family members on the other side looked over here, some with complicated expressions, some with disdain, but one of them walked over and whispered something to Wang Yunzheng. Wang Yunzheng treated him kindly and said with a smile, "Thank you, Sixth Uncle."
Seventeenth, twenty-second, thirtieth, and after more than ten places, no one from Daxing Village was heard again. Sang Luo quietly held Chen Lie's hand. Chen Lie turned his head to look at her and intertwined their fingers.
Wei Qinghe's face had turned pale. He heard Xue Zhengdao say, "No. 31, Wei Qinghe from Daxing Village, Shezhou."
The villagers cheered again. Although they did not dare to interrupt the roll call and it was very short, the momentum and scene still attracted many people's attention.
Daxing Village, this is outside Shezhou City, right? It's not like the Lin family or the Wang family, where there are so many children taking the exam. How could so many people come to the city to see the list? Why would the whole family care about one person taking the exam?
Then, not long after, I heard:
"No. 33, Xu Wenbo from Daxing Village, Shezhou."
"No. 34, Daxing Village, Shezhou, Shen An."
"No. 37, Daxing Village, Shezhou, Shen Lie."
"No. 40, Xu Wenhong from Daxing Village, Shezhou."
Not only the residents of Shezhou who were watching the fun, even the descendants of the Lin and Wang families were stunned.
Where did this group of people come from?
The Lin family members looked at the group of children who were screaming with joy and the elderly whose faces were wrinkled with laughter. They thought, "This is a farming family, right?"
The Wang family's children had much more complicated feelings. Daxingzhuang was originally their family's property, but now it had been donated to the court. The most important thing was that that group of people were obviously very familiar with Qilang, and it was heard that they had fled to the mountains together to avoid disaster over the years.
Aren't they a group of mountain people? How come there are so many scholars here?
There were several members of the Wang family who failed the exam this time, and they felt even more upset, especially since two of them were not just other people, but the two legitimate sons of the third wife.
They were inexplicably suppressed by a group of mountain people, along with a bastard and a slave.
In their eyes, the bastards, slaves and mountain people had no time to think about what others thought. All they saw was their own future, and they didn't know how to be happy.
Wei Qinghe and his old master Wang Liuye were congratulating each other. Wang Yunzheng was also pulled by his aunt Wei Lingzhen. Wei Lingzhen was so happy that she was wiping tears for her sister.
Sang Luo had just heard that Chen Anzhong had passed away. She had just said a few words of joy when she heard Chen Lie's name a few moments later. Before she could congratulate him, Chen Lie hugged her with a smile.
This was the first time that he hugged her outside, on the street, as if no one was around, and he held her very tightly, showing his previous nervousness and current joy.
However, at this time, who cares about other people's eyes? Sang Luo smiled and hugged him back, and did not let go until six or seven breaths later. The two of them took half a step back and smiled at each other.
Shen Jin and others watched from the sidelines and laughed secretly.
The schoolmaster handed the list to the person behind him to post, and signaled the people around him to beat the gong. After three gongs sounded, the crowd quieted down, and Fang raised his voice and said, "The students who passed the exam will enter school next year. The court has a decree that all students who pass the exam to enter the provincial school do not need to pay tuition fees. They only need to bring their own books and writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone for daily study. In addition, there are a total of 73 candidates taking the exam this time. All of them have their rankings on the list. Candidates who did not pass the exam can also take a look at their rankings. If they study hard, they will have a better chance of success next year."
As soon as he finished speaking, the list of candidates had been posted on the wall, and the candidates who didn't make the cut and their families all rushed to the wall.
Zhou Lizheng and his wife took Zhou Changhe, Old Man Lu and Mrs. Lu took Axu, and the Xu brothers and sisters all went to see what place their eldest brother was in. Shen An and Shen Ning naturally went together, and Shen Lie and Sang Luo also went there.
I finally squeezed in. Starting from the bottom of the list, looking forward, Xu Wenqing is ranked 63rd.
Old Man Lu and Mrs. Lu were illiterate, so they picked up Ah Xu and said, "Ah Xu, look for your place. Which place are you in?"
Ah Xu didn't need his grandparents to remind him, he was already looking for it, and he saw it at the next glance: "Grandma, I'm number 57, and my brother Changhe is number 55."
Knowing that their grandson ranked 57th in the exam, Old Man Lu and Mrs. Lu were very happy. Their grandson's name was on the government's list. Although he was not among the top 40, how old was Ah Xu? Only eight years old.
The old couple felt very hopeful.
Zhou Cunzheng and his wife were the same. At this time, they asked Chen Lie who was walking beside them: "Ah Lie, did the school official just say that we can still take the exam next year?"
Shen Lie smiled and nodded: "That's what I said."
Zhou Cunzheng laughed and patted Zhou Changhe on the shoulder: "Listen, we still have a year to prepare. Let's try again next year."
Zhou Changhe was only ten years old, but he was naturally looking forward to the provincial school and nodded with shining eyes.
Xu Wenqing, on the other hand, relaxed completely. He said to Wei Lingzhen with a smile, "Mom, you better listen to me. Dad only asked me to come this time."
Wei Lingzhen laughed and said, "Then go learn business from your father."
When Xu Wenqing heard this, his face immediately fell: "Let's talk about this later."
Wei Lingzhen slapped him lightly on the back.
The result was already seen, and the group headed back. Wang Yunzheng followed his uncle and aunt. The Wang family members over there looked at them, and heard people talking about the Daxing Village that suddenly had a bunch of farm students. A member of the Wang family's side branch, who also failed the exam this time, whispered, "Look at that arrogant look."
The voice was very low, but Master Wang Liu had sharp ears. He turned around and glanced at the young man, who immediately shrank his neck like a quail.
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