Chapter 235: Examination Hall
On the night before the exam, the prince suddenly came to visit Yan's house, and Yan Wenjing was shocked.
If people of their status wanted to visit, they would usually ask the servants to send a message in advance. If they suddenly came, it was probably something important.
The prince followed Yan Wenjing to the study, dismissed the servants, and said straight to the point: "Teacher, I came to you tonight to ask for something."
Hearing this, Yan Wenjing's heart, which was already hanging, started beating wildly.
Ah, no way!
The prince, who is so sensible, actually came to ask him for such a thing?
Since Yan Wenjing was appointed as the chief examiner, he was most afraid of someone coming to ask him for something.
Because usually they asked him to reveal the exam questions or to let him go during the exam.
Thinking of this, Yan Wenjing shook his head like a wave drum.
"Your Highness, you are my student for ten years, you should know me well. Who do you think I am?"
"Don't say it, don't say it, I will never agree!"
Yan Wenjing's tone was so firm that the prince was stunned.
The prince calmed down and said gently: "Teacher, did you misunderstand me?"
Yan Wenjing looked up and ignored the prince.
The prince continued: "I just want to ask you, can you send more people to this examination and pay more attention to the candidates' ink?"
Yan Wenjing's frown relaxed instantly, and then he showed a surprised expression.
"What? Ink!"
The prince nodded: "Yes, ink."
"It occurred to me that in every exam, there were always candidates whose test papers were stained with ink, thus invalidating their results. Three years of hard work were wasted, which was such a pity."
"Especially some candidates are knowledgeable and rare talents."
"Just because the test paper was dirty, they lost the opportunity to serve as officials in the court."
"This is not only their regret, but also a regret for our Great Xia."
"If you are a poor student, you may never have the opportunity to take an exam again in the future. You will regret it for the rest of your life." Only
then did Yan Wenjing realize that he had just misunderstood the prince. His old face was a little embarrassed, slightly flushed, and his tone became much softer.
"Your Highness, what you said is indeed reasonable. I have actually lamented this group of people."
"Then, what does the prince want to ask for?"
The prince looked into the teacher's eyes and said, "I think, as the chief examiner, can you order the personnel in the examination room to pay more attention to the candidates' ink?" "
They can increase the frequency of patrols, especially when they see candidates who are tired and dozing off, wake them up in time, let them put away the inkstones, lie down on the beds and go to sleep."
Yan Wenjing nodded in appreciation: "Well, this method is feasible. I will tell the personnel in the examination room to start the exam tomorrow."
After the prince left, Yan Wenjing thought about the specific details again, and then went to sleep.
The next morning, as soon as he arrived at the Gongyuan, he summoned his deputy examiners and more than a hundred clerks in charge of order in the examination room to a meeting.
At the meeting, he asked the clerks to supervise the candidates and put the inkstone on their upper left to avoid the ink staining the test paper.
In addition, Yan Wenjing also ordered them to strengthen patrols and not to be lazy.
All candidates who fell asleep should be woken up or asked to lie down in their own beds to sleep. Avoid spilling ink when dozing off.
If the inkstone was knocked over in the examination room, the clerks would be deducted ten taels of silver for each time it happened.
If the inkstone did not fall over during the entire exam, he would reward them with silver out of his own pocket and treat them to a good meal.
Although the clerks were a little dissatisfied when they heard the new requirements of the chief examiner, they did not dare to disobey.
The examination papers were handed to the examinees, and the examination began.
The examination lasted two days and one night. The examinees would bring their own blankets and dry food and stay in their small cubicles until the end of the examination before they could leave.
This was the daytime of the first day, and the examinees were in good spirits. They were full of energy and wrote down their answers.
The clerks in the examination room also patrolled diligently in shifts. For fear of being deducted money, no one dared to slack off.
In the afternoon, when the sun was setting, the examinees began to feel sleepy one after another.
The clerks woke up the dozing examinees in time and let them lie down to rest.
Everything went smoothly on the first day.
By the afternoon of the second day, after two days and one night of high mental tension, the examinees were already very tired.
Zhu Qi had finished answering two test papers at this time. He casually rolled up the test papers and put them aside, and simply took a nap on the table.
He himself was not very interested in taking the imperial examination and becoming an official. If his family had not been very obsessed with the imperial examination, he would not have wanted to go to Beijing to take the examination.
It would be so good to deal with all kinds of people and make money by doing business.
At the same time, the two clerks in charge of inspecting Zhu Qi's area sat on the chairs and slacked off. Clerk A
said, "Go and walk around a few times. My feet are sore and painful." Clerk B said,
"My feet are also painful, and I worked an hour longer than you last night."
Just as the two clerks were arguing in a low voice, Zhu Qi fell asleep on the table and snored.
Clerk A: "Hey? Listen, are you snoring?"
Clerk B immediately shut up and listened attentively. Sure enough, there were bursts of snoring coming over.
The two clerks walked over to the sound and saw Zhu Qi lying on the table in a relaxed manner, with his face pressed against the table and drooling.
His body tilted and his left arm stretched out straight.
It seemed that his outstretched left hand was about to knock over the inkstone, and if the ink in the inkstone spilled out, it would most likely spill on the paper.
"Oh no!" Clerk A shouted.
While shouting, he flew to Zhu Qi and pushed him away.
Clerk B also rushed over and hugged the inkstone on the table in his arms.
The two clerks calmed down, looked at the test paper on the table and saw that it was intact, and breathed a sigh of relief.
Clerk B held the inkstone and cursed in a low voice: "Damn it, I almost lost ten taels of silver. The feast was almost gone."
After being pushed hard by the clerk, Zhu Qi fell directly on the bed behind him.
"What's wrong?" Zhu Qi rubbed his eyes and asked blankly.
"You are lucky, if it weren't for our quick eyes and hands, your paper would be dirty, and you would be finished this time." Clerk A said.
Zhu Qi looked at the paper, then at the inkstone in Clerk B's hand, and understood about 80% of it, and hurriedly bowed to express his gratitude.
In another area of the examination room, Wei Chong finished the second test paper with confidence.
He took the two neatly written papers without any corrections and looked at them, smiling with satisfaction.
God really favored him.
The questions on the papers this time were as easy as taking something out of a bag for him.