After Zhao Shouzheng and his five disciples entered Longmen, they dared not speak anymore.

I saw a big word "Jing" inlaid on the screen wall in front of me.

There were also imperial censors patrolling the examination hall, holding ink tablets and standing on a high platform. If any examinee made a noise or even whispered to another examinee, his or her name would be written down immediately.

In this way, no matter how good his essay was, his evaluation would be downgraded. In the palace examination where all the masters gathered, this was equivalent to being sentenced to death.

Therefore, inside the huge Dragon Gate, the one or two hundred candidates waiting for the exam were completely silent. They even covered their mouths when they coughed, for fear of alarming the two imperial inspectors who were watching the exam eagerly.

When there were 200 candidates, the two gates were slammed shut, and the inspector led the soldiers to search each of them one by one.

Originally, the candidates heard from their predecessors that compared with the inhumane inspections during the provincial examinations, the entrance searches for the metropolitan examinations would be slightly more relaxed, or even just a routine matter.

After all, all the candidates have achieved merits, and many of them are officials, so they should be given at least some respect.

Therefore, many people hoped to get lucky and secretly brought cheat sheets with them into the venue.

Who would have thought that this year the imperial court would specially appoint an inspector to supervise the soldiers in conducting inspections? This could cost him his life...

Then a loud-voiced prosecutor shouted:

"All clothing, including shoes, cushions, blankets, belts, curtains, etc., must be single-layered and cannot have lining!

The inkstone cannot be more than one inch thick; the pen tube must be hollow; the water cup can only be made of ceramic; the charcoal cannot be more than two inches thick;

The candlesticks must be single-plate tin with a hollow bottom; cakes and other foods must be cut open..."

With the order, a chaotic search began. Soon the ground was in a mess, with countless objects that did not conform to the rules thrown on the ground.

It is said that the soldiers would collect the discarded items and sell them to grocery stores, making a small fortune.

It was humiliating enough to be searched like a thief.

When it came to the body search, the candidates felt even more humiliated.

I saw Mr. Zhao unwillingly unbuttoning his belt and unbuttoning his clothes one by one. Then he opened his arms and took off his clothes one by one for the sergeant to check.

When he was left with only a pair of trousers on his body, he hugged his arms tremblingly, barefoot, waiting for the search to be over.

Unexpectedly, the sergeant grabbed his calf-neck pants and whispered, "Take them off together."

Zhao Shouzheng immediately revealed a look of horror, and subconsciously grabbed the waistband of his pants tightly, thinking to himself, I have taken the provincial examination six times, and I have not yet taken off this last bit of my dignity!

"Do you want to resist the inspection?!" the military advisor said in a low voice and was about to report to the inspector.

"No, no, no..." Zhao Shouzheng looked back and saw that several of his disciples had already stripped naked and were being examined. He knew that he could not escape this disaster.

I had no choice but to close my eyes and pull my trousers down...

Do whatever you want!

Under the envious gazes of the two soldiers, Zhao Shouzheng swayed and lay on the wall, accepting the final step of the search with a distorted face.

And twice...

When he put on his clothes again, Mr. Zhao couldn't help but shed tears...

He finally understood why Lieyang's disciple left in anger and vowed never to enter the examination room again.

This is so fucking humiliating! It's not just insulting, it's just not treating people as human beings!

He immediately wanted to follow Lieyang's footsteps and loudly announced that he didn't want to work hard anymore.

But Mr. Zhao is Mr. Zhao after all, and his greatest advantage is that he has an extremely sunny attitude.

The next moment, he changed his mind and thought, since he had already been humiliated, wouldn't it be even more of a loss to go out like this?

Besides, our ancestors also gave us the test questions.

Thinking that he had the blessing of his ancestors and would not have to suffer humiliation again, Master Zhao grinned happily.

The students who were weeping and wiping tears saw that Big Brother could actually laugh. They admired him but also warned themselves that they must not have any social activities with Big Brother, such as talking by candlelight or sleeping with his feet touching.

Even some of his disciples couldn't help but grumble secretly.

'No wonder our master has been single all these years and doesn't even have a concubine. It turns out...' the eldest senior brother thought to himself.

'No wonder I always feel that my Grandmaster is as kind as an old grandmother...' the second brother thought to himself.

"Fang Wen..." Third Senior Brother sighed inwardly.

"You can't think badly of your elders. Master is just strong." The fourth brother forced himself not to lose face for the hometown of Confucius and Mencius.

"A gentleman has nothing to fight for, so he must shoot..." The seventh junior brother smiled secretly in his heart. Suddenly he thought of the scene the day before, when he was carried like a princess by the sixth senior brother, and he couldn't tell what it felt like.

After the search was completed, some cheat sheets and wax pills were found on several candidates...

The inspector ordered people to take away their papers, which contained papers with the names and native places of three generations of candidates. Then they were driven out and put in shackles at the entrance of the Imperial Examination Hall for three days.

Three days later, the Ministry of Rites would deprive them of their status as Juren and they would be banned from taking examinations again for the rest of their lives.

Amid the cheating candidate's cries and pleas for mercy, the gate slowly opened and the candidate finally entered the examination room.

From this moment on, no one could leave the Imperial Examination Hall for any reason within three days.

This rule is absolute and there are no exceptions.

During the Tianshun period, a fire broke out in the Imperial Examination Hall, but the Imperial Censor did not open the dragon gate, and more than ninety candidates were burned to death...

~~

In the examination hall, a straight street divided the examination room, which was shaped like a long scroll and a pigpen, into two rows, east and west. Each row had seventy rooms.

The entire Imperial Examination Hall had as many as thirty-six rows of examination halls, but they were almost full of candidates, so it was estimated that they would have to be expanded after a few sessions.

Each row of examination rooms was numbered using the Thousand Character Classic, and the names of seventy examinees were posted on the white wall facing the street.

The candidate found his name, walked into the alley and came to the corresponding room.

This small room surrounded by walls on three sides, which is so wide that it cannot accommodate a seat and one has to lower their heads to enter, is where they will eat, sleep and work for the next three days.

After finding the place, the first thing the candidates did was to take out a hammer from their examination basket, hammer a nail on the wall inside the room, and then hang the paper bag on it.

There is no second copy of the answer sheet here. Once it is soiled, all is over.

Then with some more clanging and dinging, a few more nails were nailed up to hang up the top, the fence and the curtain.

Firstly, the examination hall has been in disrepair for a long time. Once it rains, it will leak constantly, so rainproof measures must be taken; secondly, it can also block the wind and cold a little; thirdly, once the number curtain is lowered, it will become an independent little world inside, allowing the candidates to answer questions without being disturbed.

By the time I finished the jingling, hung up what needed to be hung, and gathered and piled up the items I had brought, it was already noon.

Those who arrived early, like Mr. Zhao, would light the stove and start cooking and eating.

Soon, the aroma of food wafted through the alley.

Some people make Yangzhou fried rice, some make fried eggs, and some even go so far as to stir-fry vegetables directly in the pan...

Yes, I’m talking about Wang Wuyang and his gang.

Chef Wang was busy all day, helping them cut the meat and vegetable ingredients, onions, ginger and seasonings, and pack them into boxes, and then pour them into the pot and stir-fry them directly. It was convenient and delicious.

The eldest brother fried bacon with garlic sprouts; the second brother fried beef with beans; the third brother stir-fried shredded dried tofu; the fourth brother fried pork liver with cabbage hearts; the seventh brother fried chicken with ginger. The master had sea cucumbers with scallions.

It almost made the students next door cry...

I thought to myself, could it be that many of the candidates for this subject were originally cooks?

Chef Wang smiled but said nothing.

ps. Chapter 4, 8900 votes plus more, please vote for the monthly ticket and recommendation ticket~~~~