Tang Shiyue almost didn't sleep the whole night. She prepared food for these people to take to the examination room. She also made some meat patties before dawn. After each person ate one, they hurried to the examination hall.
From a distance, I could see several people holding torches and lanterns walking back and forth at the entrance of the examination hall.
A dense crowd of people was waiting in front of the Dragon Gate. At the shouting of the yamen runners, they lined up in rows of fifty and were called into the venue. There were searchers standing inside the gate, who ordered people to take off their outer robes for search, and also checked the examination baskets to prevent smuggling.
Tang Shirong and three others, carrying their exam baskets, quickly joined the crowd. Tang Shiyue, Xu Wenqu and others could only wait outside.
From a distance one could only hear the sound of people calling out their names. It took half an hour before the names of Tang Shirong and the other two were finally heard.
The students were called into the examination room and were handed out more than ten pages of examination papers with fourteen lines on each page and eighteen characters on each line, along with several blank sheets of straw paper. The runners then called out the name of the student who would be the guarantor for the scholarship. After the student confirmed the name, the runner would call out the name of the student who would be the guarantor. This was called "calling out the guarantor".
Tang Shirong first glanced at Huo Qiyang, worried that he was still young and might get panic-stricken, but Huo Qiyang still had a stern face and didn't even look at him, calmer than Tang Junchen.
Tang Shirong shook his head, exchanged a glance with Tang Junchen, and followed the yamen runner to sit according to his seat number.
His position was good. The weather in February was still very cold, and students who were arranged to sit in the examination room or the hall would definitely suffer, but his position was not bad as it was in a sheltered place.
Watching the yamen runners patrolling the field, Tang Shirong took a long breath, took out his writing brush, ink and inkstone, thinking that Yueyue must be waiting outside at this moment, or maybe pestering his master to ask questions... Thinking of this, he smiled slightly, and his mood was surprisingly calm.
...
...
At this moment, Tang Shiyue was exactly as he thought.
Watching them go in, Tang Shiyue felt like an old father sending his son to the college entrance examination.
Seeing that it was almost dawn, she asked Xu Wenqu: "Should the exam start now?"
"Didn't you hear the sound of the cloud board just now?" Xu Wenqu said slowly, "That means it's starting."
Shopkeeper Shen came over yawning, "Ayue, Mr. Xu, let's go upstairs and wait. I've booked a table upstairs, and we can see the rows here."
Tang Shiyue nodded, and several people followed him upstairs.
This table was reserved in advance by Manager Shen. It costs fifty taels of silver to sit there for a day, and that doesn't include food, but the location is indeed great. You can see the main entrance to the examination hall as soon as you open the window.
Several people opened the windows and drank hot tea. Tang Shiyue hadn't slept all night, but she wasn't sleepy at all. She chased after Xu Wenqu and asked, "Did you do the same in the exam back then?"
"Well," Xu Wenqu said with a smile, "why don't you just set some rules for me?"
He thought of those years and couldn't help but laugh: "I was young and frivolous at that time. Before I was sentenced, I was provoked to the point of saying that I would turn around and go home if I didn't win the first place in the case... Thinking about it now, I am really embarrassed."
Tang Shiyue was very interested: "Who provoked you?"
Xu Wenqu's smile faded slightly: "A classmate."
She pressed, "Was it well-intentioned or malicious? Or was it unintentional?"
Xu Wenqu smiled at her without answering, and Tang Shiyue asked again: "Did he win?"
Xu Wenqu nodded: "Yes."
Tang Shiyue asked again: "What was his expression when he found out that you really won the first place in the case?"
Xu Wenqu laughed and tapped her lightly with his backhand: "Why are you talking so much!"
"Tsk!" Tang Shiyue was very dissatisfied: "You really can't tell a story. It's just one sentence, without any ups and downs. It's impossible to empathize with me. Is this also the case when you write an essay in the exam? If I were an examiner, I would definitely fail you."
Xu Wenqu was helpless: "I am writing an article, not a play, why should I empathize with others?"
Tang Shiyue came closer and whispered, "Sir, what's that person's name?"
As a gentleman, he should not answer this question, but seeing her quirky look, Xu Wenqu actually found it hard to refuse. So he whispered to her, "Lü Cang."
When he said the name, his eyes narrowed slightly.
When he broke his leg, Lu Cang came to "visit" him, and they had a quarrel in front of the bed and said some harsh words... Only then did he understand that this classmate who had always been on good terms with him actually had such a deep hatred for him in his heart.
He is really confused.
Tang Shiyue was satisfied with the answer and asked again: "Sir, when they take the imperial examination, will you also participate?"
Xu Wenqu nodded.
The Dayan County Examination was held every three years, and this year was the exam period. Regardless of how far his disciples could go, he had already decided to participate in the subsequent joint examinations. In fact, if he passed the examination, he could already go to the Ministry of Personnel to select an official, but he just didn't want to take this path.
Tang Shiyue said: "If you get first place in the provincial examination and top prize in the palace examination, won't I have to call you Xu Liuyuan in the future?"
"It's not that easy," Xu Wenqu shook his head, "It was just luck before."
Tang Shiyue snorted: "How can being talented be called luck? Why are you being so humble! When have I ever been humble when others praised me for being smart?"
Xu Wenqu didn't argue with her, just smiled and drank a sip of tea, then Tang Shiyue suddenly thought of something, leaned over, blinking her big eyes: "Sir, I heard that it's very popular in the capital to choose a son-in-law from the list..."
Xu Wenqu suddenly choked and coughed a few times. Tang Shiyue innocently poured him more tea and continued gossiping, "Speaking of which, you are already old, why haven't you gotten married yet?"
Xu Wenqu finally stopped coughing, raised his eyelids, and glanced at her unhappily.
He went home this year, but didn't come back until the end of January because his family had been trying every means to get him to meet someone new.
In fact, he was engaged when he was young, but because he later offended an official and his leg injury was so serious at the time, everyone thought he was going to become a cripple, so the girl's family found an excuse to cancel the engagement.
Now that they saw that he was not lame, and probably because of Xu Siyuan's good reputation, the girl's family wanted to bring up the old matter again, but he rejected them without hesitation. He also did not go to the family he had invited to meet her, and in the end he almost ran away from home.
But he didn't expect that the first news he heard after returning was that Huo Qijing joined the army and got engaged to Tang Shiyue before leaving.
Xu Wenqu couldn't explain what this news meant to him, he just felt... after hearing this news, his soaring ambitions seemed to be poured with a bucket of cold water, and they inexplicably dropped a lot.
Tang Shiyue was frightened by his strange look.
She thought to herself that she was really stupid. In ancient times, someone like Xu Wenqu who was still unmarried in his twenties was definitely old, no, an old bachelor. He must have some unspeakable secret! Could she have accidentally touched his sore spot?
She quickly raised her hands to beg for mercy: "Sir, I was wrong, just pretend I didn't ask..."
She sat back quickly, shrank her neck, and acted timidly, more obedient than a rabbit.
Xu Wenqu glanced at her again, then looked away and drank his tea slowly.
They waited until 15:00 to release the first card, that is, the person who came out early. The first one was about 20 years old, with a face full of high spirits and a proud look, and he walked with a step that didn't recognize any relatives.
Tang Shiyue didn't mind the cold either, she leaned against the window, pointed at him and said with a smile: "Sir, were you like this back then?"
Xu Wenqu glanced at her and said, "I'm not that arrogant yet."
Before he could finish his sentence, he heard the following words floating up, "Brother Siqi is worthy of being called the Little Xu Siyuan. He is extremely talented and will surely be able to take the top spot in the county case."
Xu Wenqu: "..."
Hahaha! Tang Shiyue laughed so hard that she covered her face. Even Qing Weilai, who had been quiet beside her, couldn't help but smile.
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