Chapter 253 Chapter 253 Ability is not determined by age
The county and prefectural examinations were a torture for Xu Yunfan. It wasn't that he was afraid or the questions were too difficult. The difficulty of the test papers was just average and basically didn't require much brainpower. It was just that after finishing the papers, he had nothing to do. He couldn't eat or sleep well in the examination room, so he felt that time was too long.
However, this teacher's competition was quite interesting. Once Xu Yunfan immersed himself in the sea of questions, he was so absorbed in solving them that things in the outside world had almost no influence on his thinking. Therefore, Xu Yunfan was completely unaware of Zheng Ke's gaze falling on him.
But Zheng Ke misunderstood and thought to himself, this kid is quite courageous. He stared at him for so long, but this guy didn't even raise his head. It seems that the other party is not afraid of him.
If someone doesn't take him seriously, he must be either a fool or someone with great influence.
Seeing how calm this candidate was, of the two possibilities, Zheng Ke was more inclined to the latter.
As far as he knew, in the capital, for a man of this age, being able to enter the Imperial College was already a great achievement. If a young man of this age became a teacher, he would definitely be praised.
But if it was the latter, Zheng Ke suddenly realized that he had thought too simply.
Let me ask you, which family would dare to do anything tricky during the Master's Competition?
You know, although the Teacher's Examination is not as important as the Imperial Examination, it is also a major event held every six years, second only to the Imperial Examination. It is supervised by the Hanlin Academy and valued by the emperor, and is watched by all the people in the court. If you dare to take a backdoor in such an exam, what is the difference between that and cheating in the Imperial Examination?
Once discovered, not only will the results be invalidated, but the individual will also become infamous.
The Masters Competition is another way of selecting talents under the imperial examination system. These talents who stand out from a group of masters will become fresh blood injected into the Imperial College, and cultivate more talents for the Dayan Dynasty in the form of talents teaching talents. Therefore, the imperial examination is important, and the Masters Competition still does not allow others to interfere at will.
Did I lose my mind just now? I actually thought that the other person came in through the back door.
So the question is, if this person didn't get in through the back door, then he must be a real teacher, and a teacher with real talent, who is valued by the dean.
You should know that not just any teacher can participate in the Teacher Competition. Without a letter of recommendation, you are not even eligible to queue up, let alone enter the examination room.
If every teacher could take the exam, it would be a mess.
Which of the teachers who can come in today and experience being a candidate again is not someone valued by the dean?
After thinking this through, Zheng Ke immediately started searching through a pile of documents on the table in front of him.
These are the candidates' personal information and their respective recommendation letters, etc.
Even if you don't know the other person's name, it's not difficult to tell from his face that he is only about seventeen or eighteen years old. Among a group of candidates in their thirties and forties, finding his information is just a matter of flipping through it with your hands.
Soon, Zheng Ke found Xu Yunfan's recommendation letter, which clearly stated Jiang Lanfang's praise for Xu Yunfan. Compared with the gorgeous words in other candidates' recommendation letters, Jiang Lanfang's evaluation of Xu Yunfan was quite shabby.
There was no way. Xu Yunfan was indeed smart, but he was lazy and only taught arithmetic. Jiang Lanfang wanted to praise him but didn't know how.
Even if it was just two thoughtful comments, it was already very significant in Zheng Ke's opinion.
Who is Jiang Lanfang?
He was the beloved disciple and son of the Crown Prince's tutor. All the sons of the Jiang family were talented scholars. If Jiang Lanfang wasn't so young, who else would have been chosen for the position of Imperial College president? What could anyone else do?
It seems that Xu Yunfan is quite capable.
Zheng Ke's mind was in a mess. He put the letter of recommendation back and was just about to get up and walk around, and "casually" go over to see how Xu Yunfan answered, but the boy had already put down his pen. Afraid of being suspected of cheating by the examiner, Xu Yunfan kept his head still and glanced around. When he saw that the incense used for timing had just burned out, Xu Yunfan couldn't help but pouting, and put the paper under the table. He put his hands on the table, bent his back, and fell asleep.
Zheng Ke: “…”
Do you dare to be hated even more?
While other candidates are still racking their brains and sweating profusely to answer the questions, how can you have the nerve to concentrate your energy and sleep soundly in front of everyone?
Since he had already stood up, Zheng Ke had no choice but to walk around as a formality until the exam was over. When the last puff of cigarette ash fell, the gong sounded outside, and the invigilator immediately announced, "The exam is over. Candidates are prohibited from continuing to answer questions. Please stop writing immediately. Anyone who violates this will be punished for cheating."
At this time, several more people came in from outside and collected the papers together with the invigilator.
The invigilator collected the exam papers from the front to the back. When it came to Xu Yunfan, Su Xiangdong called out twice, but the man was still sleeping soundly. As if annoyed by his noise, he turned over and continued to sleep. Su Xiangdong was so angry that he directly gave Xu Yunfan a Li Guo. "Still sleeping? Where's the exam paper?"
Xu Yunfan, who had underestimated his own sleeping ability, was woken up by the knock. He rubbed his head in pain and said dissatisfiedly, "The exam is over! Then you could have just called me. Why did you hit me?"
Su Xiangdong was speechless: "..."
Don’t you have any idea why I did this?
Su Xiangdong glared at Xu Yunfan. This guy had been snoring since half an hour after the exam started. Not to mention whether he was respectful to other candidates, this behavior was definitely disrespectful to the examiners.
One advantage of the Confucius Examination over the Imperial Examination is that it is not a "comprehensive" examination like the Imperial Examination, but rather a subject-based examination.
The exam starts at 7:00 am and ends at 12:00 pm. The second subject starts at 2:00 pm and ends at 7:00 pm. There is a one-hour break in between. You can leave after the exam is over in the evening and continue to queue up to enter the exam hall the next day.
After all, there were only a few hundred people in the teacher's competition, and they were concentrated in the Imperial College, so it was not as complicated as the imperial examination.
Xu Yunfan got up at five o'clock this morning. In the past, even if he wanted to get up for exercise, he had to sleep until half past six to get enough sleep. This morning, he was half asleep and half awake when Qin Qian carried him out of bed and stuffed him into the carriage. Even after getting off the carriage, Qin's servant took him to line up. Xu Yunfan was in a daze, and when he woke up, people were already in line. He didn't even know where to look to find Qin Run.
Now, having slept a lot and feeling hungry again, Xu Yunfan looked at the empty basket beside him and was stunned for a moment. He turned his head to look at the other teachers and couldn't help but reach out and nod at Su Xiangdong who was passing by with his scrolls. "Excuse me, it's noon now and I forgot to bring any food. Could you please ask someone to bring me some steamed buns?"
Su Xiangdong, who originally thought Xu Yunfan was trying to get close to him, was speechless and said expressionlessly, "Wait, someone will hand out food later."
Xu Yunfan immediately laughed. Wow, is the treatment for the Master Competition so good? It even includes food.
Su Xiangdong returned to the back with several bundles of sealed papers with names on them. Lin Qing, another invigilator in the same exam room, said with a smile, "Hey, why are you so angry? Eating, drinking, defecating, urinating, and sleeping are all part of life. It's exhausting for that candidate to sleep for so long, and it wasn't easy. By the way, how was his paper?"
When the invigilator collects the test papers, in addition to sealing the places that may reveal the examinee's name and other personal identity information, the invigilator also needs to check whether the examinee has made any special marks on the test papers, etc. In this way, the invigilator will inevitably know some of the examinee's answers.
Su Xiangdong: "I read it roughly, and didn't leave any questions blank."
Not only did he not leave any questions blank, but Xu Yunfan even answered several of the questions he noticed correctly.
Lin Qing placed the papers one by one in a box and put it away, then affixed a special seal. After the competition was over, the invigilators of each examination room would open the boxes and mark the papers. "Master Su, can you tell me secretly, did he get it right?"
Su Xiangdong glanced at Lin Qing without saying anything. He just felt heartbroken and wanted to calm down.
Xu Yunfan was hungry early in the morning and was looking forward to the food that was about to be distributed. However, he didn't know...
Looking at the two big steamed buns in his hand, Xu Yunfan blinked and turned to look at the other teachers. Everyone was the same, with two big steamed buns in each hand, and no more.
There were several guards outside carrying a large bucket of hot soup. If you needed it, just line up and have a bowl.
Some of the teachers who came to participate in the competition were from the same academy, and some were classmates. They gathered in groups of three or four to discuss the exam questions, but Xu Yunfan was excluded and no one paid any attention to him.
This person slept for the whole morning, and when he woke up he asked about food. He didn't even know that meals were provided for the competition. It seemed that he didn't receive any special instructions from the dean. From this, it can be inferred that he was not valued by the dean. As for how the letter of recommendation came about, that was not easy.
In the examination room where Xu Yunfan was, he was the only one who came from Qingfeng Academy, so naturally no one knew the truth. The other teachers saw that he was young and had slept for a whole morning, so they estimated that he would not be able to answer the questions and could only sleep to pass the time. Now that he could communicate with other teachers, no one wanted to waste time on unimportant people who could not help them in any way.
Xu Yunfan stood there alone with a big steamed bun in each hand. He looked around and wanted to find someone to chat with to relieve his boredom, but when he saw that the other teachers didn't seem to want to pay attention to him, he gave up the idea.
He didn't have the habit of trying to please others, so he simply went back to his seat and ate his big steamed bun.
Hey, Xu Yunfan sighed, "It seems that handsome guys are all lonely. This is really true."
After eating two steamed buns, Xu Yunfan was only half full. He didn't know who made the steamed buns today. The buns were not fluffy enough and were a bit hard. Xu Yunfan went to queue up for a bowl of hot soup. It turned out to be egg soup. He drank a bowl and said, "Hello, I want more."
Noticing a few baskets of steamed buns on the side, Xu Yunfan raised two fingers and said, "Can you give me two more steamed buns? I'm not full."
The guard in charge of making the soup looked up at Xu Yunfan upon hearing the noise. He saw that he was smiling with his eyebrows curved, holding the bowl with both hands and passing it to the bucket. He didn't feel embarrassed at all for drinking an extra bowl or asking for two more steamed buns. He couldn't help but smile and said, "Young Master, you have a good appetite!"
The other guards looked over and couldn't help but wonder.
In previous years' teacher competitions, they distributed two steamed buns, and many teachers could not finish them. Some teachers were under too much pressure and were lucky enough to finish two. But just in case, they still prepared some extra, but they didn't expect to meet a glutton.
Xu Yunfan said honestly, "I'm still growing at my age. I was pulled out of bed this morning without having anything to eat. It's normal to eat a lot at noon."
Seeing that he spoke so calmly, the guard who served the soup skillfully stirred the large soup spoon in his hand, and soon, a spoonful of soup full of egg flowers was poured into Xu Yunfan's bowl.
Seeing this, Xu Yunfan smiled with his eyes curved and his mouth became even sweeter, "Brother, thank you very much."
The guards were quite flattered by the call of "brother".
Even though they are standing here now and have an overwhelming aura over the other candidates, once they leave this examination room, these candidates may not take them seriously.
Among this group of candidates, who wasn't a scholar? Some were even Juren. A scholar didn't even need to kneel when meeting a seventh-rank county magistrate, so what were these mere guards to?
Now, this young master was not only handsome and kind, but he also called them brothers. Regardless of whether he meant it sincerely or not, kind words always made people happy. "Young master, if you don't have enough to drink, come back later. We have enough soup. I'll give you more."
"That's great." Xu Yunfan responded with a smile. If he wasn't worried that the guards would dislike him for getting too close to him, Xu Yunfan didn't want to go back.
After lunch, Zheng Ke, the person in charge of this competition, came over and glanced at several sealed boxes. "Have you prepared the papers for this afternoon's exam?"
Lin Qing: "My Lord, the test paper is ready."
"Yes." Zheng Ke nodded. "I'm invigilating today. Does anyone have any questions?"
Su Xiangdong glanced at the others. "Apart from one candidate who slept from half an hour after the exam started until the end, there were no other abnormalities in Examination Room 2. We haven't discovered any cheating."
"Sir Su, there are such carefree people in your examination room?" The other scholars couldn't help but marvel at it. The candidates in their examination room, even if they didn't know the answers, were still thinking hard, their heads were almost smoking. Even with this, who could still sleep?
Thinking of Xu Yunfan, Su Xiangdong couldn't help but feel a sense of indescribable joy. "Yes, not only did he sleep well, he also ate well. I heard from the guards in charge of food that he ate four steamed buns and drank three bowls of egg soup."
As for why Su Xiangdong was sure that the person the guard was talking about was Xu Yunfan, was there any need to confirm it?
What do you mean by young, still growing, and more handsome than my brother? Just by listening to this you know who they are talking about.
Hearing this, Zheng Ke became interested. "Could the person Lord Su is talking about be Xu Yunfan?"
Zheng Ke is the head of the Hanlin Academy. If he can catch his eye and gain his favor and support, and if he has some ability, his rapid rise to prominence is just around the corner.
My goodness, anyone who can be remembered by Zheng Ke must have some talent. Regardless of whether Xu Yunfan is talented or not, he is so calm now that he even slept in the examination room, and Zheng Ke managed to remember him.
Su Xiangdong didn't know what to say for a moment, so he could only nod and say, "Yes, that's the person."
Since Su Xiangdong knew Xu Yunfan, it was obvious that Xu Yunfan's paper must have been in Su Xiangdong's hands. Zheng Ke asked, "How did he answer the questions?"
"Your Excellency, this humble official..." Su Xiangdong said cautiously, "This humble official is not familiar with the sealing process. This humble official will follow the rules."
Zheng Ke smiled and said, "Just tell me straight."
Su Xiangdong breathed a sigh of relief. "I just took a quick look and wrote down a few of the difficult questions."
The other scholars couldn't help but wonder, "Really? Master Su, did he really write it all down?"
They either didn't know the difficult problem that Su Xiangdong mentioned, or it would take them a long time to solve it.
"Is it written correctly?" Don't write it randomly, do you?
"I got them all right." This was what Su Xiangdong couldn't understand the most. Not only did a person who slept all morning finish the test paper, but he also answered the difficult questions at the end correctly. So what about the front ones?
"Really?" Some scholars didn't believe it. There was nothing they could do. According to what Lin Qing said, in their opinion and the summary of the evaluation, this candidate must be a waste!
Just think about it, how could a loser answer a question that all the scholars need to spend time to answer?
If that's the case, then they are useless. What are they?
Waste residue?
At this moment, the expressions of the scholars became subtle.
Su Xiangdong is a man who would never lie. As a colleague in the Hanlin Academy, Su Xiangdong is best at arithmetic. In the Hanlin Academy, his arithmetic skills are also well-known. Therefore, when setting questions, the difficulty of the questions is partly referenced by the time it takes him to solve the questions, and he also participated in setting the arithmetic questions.
After the exam topics were roughly determined, the dean asked Su Xiangdong to do it once. It took Su Xiangdong one and a half hours to finish the exam, while the exam time was two and a half hours. Therefore, it was decided to use this paper as the exam paper.
As for Xu Yunfan, it was said that he only took less than half an hour. In comparison, it was no wonder that Su Xiangdong's expression was so indescribable.
Su Xiangdong nodded, "I've done this paper before, and I still remember the answer. Xu Yunfan did get it right."
No matter how shocked the other bachelors were, Zheng Ke became interested. In the afternoon, Xu Yunfan discovered that the invigilator sitting upstairs kept looking at him.
Is this another person who is impressed by his own appearance?
Seeing the other person smiling at him, Xu Yunfan wondered whether he should smile too, otherwise it would be impolite.
Xu Yunfan sat upright. Su Ke noticed that he was looking at him. He was afraid that his serious expression would scare him and affect his performance, so he couldn't help but smile, which he thought was kind.
Unexpectedly, Xu Yunfan curved the corners of his mouth in a very stylish way and nodded at him.
Seeing this, Zheng Ke choked up.
Just smile if you want to, what does nodding mean?
This made his status seem to drop all of a sudden.
Half an hour after the exam started, Zheng Ke pretended to be casual and walked behind Xu Yunfan. Xu Yunfan was answering the questions seriously and did not hear the almost inaudible footsteps.
The final question in the afternoon's exam on current affairs was quite interesting. It asked how we could ensure that students and the general public have access to books.
The so-called students have books to read, these books are some books with reference notes and annotations, and these books are often only available in teachers or some bookstores. This kind of books are not cheap. For many students, the price to buy one is not low.
As for the people having books to read, this sentence is not asking how the people can afford to read books or whether they can read them, but rather asking how to popularize books so that books are no longer something only scholars can afford to read, but ordinary people can read them.
If candidates don't think more, they may give wrong answers.
However, for other candidates, this question is really difficult. If they had a way, would this question appear in the exam today?
That's really funny.
How could the scholar who set the question not know the difficulty of this question? A question consisting of only a few dozen words is a difficult one that many people cannot answer. However, he did not think that this question was too difficult. After all, the scholar who passed the test this time would have to enter the Imperial College in the future.
When Xu Yunfan saw the question, it seemed to be two questions, but in essence it was still one question.
The reason why such questions appear on the test papers is that books are scarce and paper is expensive.
This kind of question does not allow you to fantasize and think divergently. You can just answer some unrealistic things. If you don't start from reality and combine it with the current affairs, even if the answer is good and makes people think a lot, it will be in vain if it is not feasible in reality.
Xu Yunfan thought about it and decided that the first thing to do was of course to solve the paper problem, and the second thing to do was to hire a large number of students from all walks of life to write books and build a library in each place. In this way, anyone in need could enter the library to borrow and read books.
Are things like making paper, hiring students, etc. just unrealistic fantasies?
I heard that the Qi family's recent sale of a batch of bamboo paper caused quite a stir in the capital.
Xu Yunfan's answer can be said to be in line with current affairs.
Zheng Ke watched Xu Yunfan answering smoothly and was suddenly engrossed in it.
How could Zheng Ke and other scholars not know about the bamboo paper incident? Moreover, what kind of place is the Hanlin Academy? How could they not know about such a major event?
Hiring students to work? Wouldn't this solve the current employment difficulties faced by students who failed the college entrance examination?
Xu Yunfan's answer can be said to kill several birds with one stone.
I just don't know what a library is. But the more Zheng Ke read, the more frightened he became.
If it weren't for his remaining rationality telling him to stay calm, as this was an examination room, he would have grabbed Xu Yunfan by the collar and lifted him up to question him carefully.
Xu Yunfan spent some time and finally finished all the questions. After checking that they were correct, he put the things away in the basket. He looked up and found that the invigilator who should have been sitting above was nowhere to be seen. Then Xu Yunfan turned his head to look at the two invigilators in charge of patrolling the examination room. However, as soon as he turned his head, Xu Yunfan was startled.
Xu Yunfan covered his chest, holding back the words he wanted to say, raised his hand and made a gesture. Zheng Ke raised his eyebrows and personally sealed the information on Xu Yunfan's answer sheet.
After Xu Yunfan walked out of the examination room with the basket, Zheng Ke immediately sat back and quietly read Xu Yunfan's answer sheet from beginning to end. The more Zheng Ke read, the wider his eyes opened, and he was filled with surprise.
This kid really shows that you can't judge a book by its cover. He perfectly illustrates what it means to "not judge ability by age."
Xu Yunfan walked out of the examination room and found that it was very deserted outside. Several officers and soldiers were maintaining order in the distance, not allowing other civilians to approach, ensuring absolute silence around the examination room. Even students from the Imperial College were not allowed to approach. They were able to come and watch the excitement this morning, but now they have been driven away.
The examiners in charge of setting the questions in the Hanlin Academy were "isolated" from the day they set the questions to prevent the possibility of leaking the questions. Even going to the toilet in the Hanlin Academy was under supervision, and there was no chance of leaking the questions at all. Therefore, even if these candidates tried to find a way out after leaving the examination room, it would be in vain.
Xu Yunfan walked to the street and stood there looking around blankly. He looked left and right but couldn't see the Qin family's carriage. He couldn't help feeling a little dumbfounded.
Qin Run and no one else in the Qin family came to pick him up!
He didn't have a single copper coin on him, and the Imperial College was extremely far from the Qin Residence. It had taken him a long time to get there by carriage this morning. How long would it take him to walk back?
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