The academy examination tests eight-legged essays and examination poems.
The eight-legged essay consists of eight parts: breaking the topic, continuing the topic, starting the lecture, introducing the topic, starting section, middle section, last section and concluding section. The topic is generally from the Four Books and Five Classics.
It also has another name, called Zhiyi, which is the meaning of the scriptures written according to the prescribed format.
The meaning of the classics is still Mu Erpang's strong point, and now all he needs to be familiar with is the prescribed format of the eight-part essay.
The format of eight-part essay is actually similar to the structure and writing style of examination poetry.
Mu Erpang's early poems were very mediocre, but he definitely put a lot of effort into the format.
So the difficult part was the second test of poetry - after completing the marrow cleansing, Mu Erpang's overall skills had improved a lot, and his poetry level was much stronger than before, with a bit more spiritual energy. If his current poetry level was put into the county exam, it would definitely not hold him back.
But his level has improved, the difficulty of the college examination has also increased, and the level of the students competing in the same field has also greatly improved. To be specific, his competitors have changed from He Qing, Zhang Zian, Huang Junping and others to people with better talents such as Shen Aoshuang, Ren Shun, and Zhao Xiuwen.
So that extra bit of spiritual energy, when put into the increasingly competitive college entrance examination...the shortcomings are still shortcomings.
Later, Wei Shu and his friends came back from school and brought back some bad news.
Although they were in the provincial school during the day, they were still worried about Mu Erpang's grades. They didn't have time to rush back during the lunch break, so they simply ran to the place where the results were announced to check the results.
Seeing that Mu Erpang got the first place in the exam, several people didn't even bother to eat lunch and thought about other things.
They guessed that Mu Erpang would take the college entrance examination this year.
And from their own private hearts, they also hope that Mu Erpang can enter the provincial school as soon as possible.
Everyone was still communicating and learning from each other. On the one hand, they didn't want to leave Mu Erpang behind. On the other hand, after entering the provincial school, under the careful guidance of professors and instructors, their horizons had really broadened a lot. It would naturally be better for Mu Erpang if he could enter the provincial school as soon as possible.
Finally, since ancient times, scholars have looked down on each other, especially those who have already achieved fame. The learning atmosphere in the provincial schools is strong, but that atmosphere is not entirely good. There are some bad aspects, such as mutual infighting and comparison, which are difficult to describe in a few words.
If Mu Erpang took the exam again after two years, they would have to prepare for the provincial examination by then. Then, if Mu Erpang passed the college examination and entered the provincial school, they would be separated completely.
By that time, Mu Erpang was only fifteen years old, and they were not very comfortable letting him go to the provincial school alone.
So after thinking about it, they each contributed their efforts to help find out the likes and dislikes of the chief examiner, who was the new academician who took office last year.
The academician had only been in office for less than half a year, and the students in the prefectural school were not very familiar with him. After much effort, they could only find out a few superficial things about him.
The academician has no fixed rank, only his original title, which is equivalent to an official from the capital being sent on a three-year official mission.
In provinces where literary style flourished, the provincial governors of education were all transferred from the Hanlin Academy. Compared with the whole country, the literary style in their area was only acceptable, and not all of them had ever been Hanlin officials. For example, the newly appointed provincial governor's surname was Liu, and he was originally a doctor in the Ministry of Rites.
It is said that Liu Xuezheng also came from a poor family. When he was young, the poems he wrote were particularly exquisite and he was very popular in front of the emperor.
This is the bad news. People who are good at writing poetry will naturally have more stringent requirements for poetry and the questions they set may become more tricky.
Moreover, the academician has great power. Other principals and assistants who come to help with marking the papers only play an auxiliary role. The real power to decide the ranking lies in the hands of the academician alone.
He is so good at poetry and prose, so I guess poetry and prose must occupy a large proportion in his heart.
After they came back from the provincial school, they first congratulated Mu Erpang together. Then Mei Ruochu asked Mu Erpang about his future plans. Knowing that he was indeed ready to quit, he passed on the news they had heard.
After relaying the message, Cui Fei asked tentatively, "How about Hanshan wait another two or three years?"
Waiting for two years will allow Mu Erpang to accumulate more knowledge in poetry and prose, so that he will be more confident in front of an examiner like Liu Xuezheng. Waiting for three years means waiting for the academician to be replaced.
Cui Fei was thinking that in two or three years, Wei Shu, Wei Xi and Mei Ruochu would definitely go to take part in the provincial examination, and they would definitely pass.
He knew his own level well. After all, he had wasted a lot of time, and he was afraid that he would have to take the next provincial examination... So even if everyone was away at that time, he could still study in the prefecture with Mu Erpang.
Even though he was bullied before and didn't even dare to go to the government school, if something like that happened to Mu Erpang, he would never sit idly by and watch no matter what. Just like the people in Cuiwei are protecting him now, he will definitely protect Mu Erpang well!
Lao Buyu did not help Mu Erpang to make a decision, and let him make it himself.
Mu Erpang thought for a while and said, "The academic officials are all well-educated people. The current academic official is good at poetry and prose. Who can guarantee that the next academic official will not be the same? Anyway, what I think is that I will try the exams if there are any. If I pass, I will move on to the next stage. If I fail, I will turn around and continue to study my shortcomings. As long as my mentality is not affected, I will not lose anything."
His innocent heart has not changed. Although he was hesitant for a while at first, once he made the decision, he would not hesitate any longer.
Everyone was trying to test him to see if he wanted to postpone the exam, but in fact, they were still considering his mentality.
If we put ourselves in their shoes, imagine if they had won the first place in the first two rounds, and then got a bad ranking in the third round, or even failed the exam, that would definitely be a huge blow.
I guess only Mei Ruochu can treat it with a normal mind.
Now that they saw that Mu Erpang was very confident in maintaining his mentality, they didn't say anything more.
Mei Ruochu said, "The common poetry topics Hanshan prepared earlier are probably useless. Now that there are still two months before the college entrance examination, we might as well find a way to collect the articles and poems written by Liu Xuezheng, and use his articles and poems as a starting point to come up with new topics for Hanshan to practice with."
Wei Shu agreed and said, "Then A Fei and I will be responsible for collecting information. Sir, Brother Mei, and Xiao Xi will first set questions based on the information we have. Once we have collected more information, we will improve your question bank."
The few of them quickly divided the work, and Shen Cui no longer had to intervene.
Afterwards, they started to take care of their own things, and Chen Cui began to check the physical rewards given by the system after the rankings of the provincial examination were announced.
The reward this time is the [Library], which is the best of the best.
Didn’t Mu Erpang almost suffer from insufficient reading before? If the question was even a little bit more biased, like what Mei Ruochu said, asking about the origins of eleven or thirteen scriptures, he would definitely not be able to answer it. Although he might not fail directly like He Qing and Zhang Zian, he would definitely have a big fluctuation in ranking compared to the top like Zhao Xiuwen.
This [Book Collection Room], that is, the library, is the same as the [Simulated Room]. It can be used immediately as long as Chen Cui regulates a place in the academy. The description claims that it contains all the books of this plane from ancient times to the present, which is vast and without omission.
However, although this thing is good, it is a bit exaggerated to take it out now. The academy now has a total of one or two hundred books, some of which Lao Buyu has collected for many years, and others are sponsored by the Wei family and the Cui family. It is already a considerable fortune, and usually everyone in the academy has a tacit understanding not to mention it to outsiders.
Those books all have their origins and cannot be publicized. It would be too conspicuous to set up a library all of a sudden. Even noble families may not have so many books. If someone with ulterior motives knew about it, it might cause trouble.
After all, there are not only her own family members in the academy, but also servants of the Wei family and A Yao from the Cui family. It's not that she wants to judge others by her own standards, but money has always been a motivating factor in people's hearts, and she doesn't want to use this to test human nature.
Moreover, after reading some books, children will inevitably mention the source in their articles. You can't just let them read it but not allow them to use it in their articles, right?
As the saying goes, an innocent man is guilty of possessing a treasure. If people knew that Cuiwei had precious books, Cuiwei, which now only has a few scholars, would be in the hands of the real powerful and wealthy. She would definitely not be able to protect these books.
Not to mention that Chen Cui couldn't make up the origin of this library for a while.
So she just said to the system with some regret: [The thing is good, but it cannot be used publicly for the time being. When Erpang becomes an official one day and is able to protect him, it will be considered a real benefit to future generations. At the moment, I can only take out a few books occasionally, saying that they were bought from outside, and I cannot give them directly. It would be more practical to give him another 'Marrow Cleansing Pill'. 】
[But subject No. 1 has already taken the Marrow Cleansing Pill, and the effects cannot be superimposed, so he no longer needs this thing...] The system paused here, [Does the host want to give it to other subjects? 】
Shen Cui responded, and the system continued: [But host, there is a saying in your plane that 'thousands of troops cross a single-plank bridge', and the imperial examination is even more so. If candidate No. 1 passes the college examination, he will most likely have to take part in the provincial examination together with other candidates. If you gave the Marrow Cleansing Pill to someone else, such as training subject No. 4, his attributes would be very similar to Mu Yunchuan's except that his luck was unstable due to the influence of the laws. If he took the marrow cleansing pill, he would no longer have any shortcomings. It is almost impossible for the No. 1 training candidate to be better than him. Will he be willing? 】
As they were talking, Mu Erpang's low cry came from the classroom, "This poem title is too tricky! 'Yellow flowers are like scattered gold', I thought it was chrysanthemums at first, and I almost wrote it. I just thought of the sentence 'The fragrant grass is not old, the yellow flowers are like scattered gold'. It doesn't seem to match autumn, the 'yellow flowers' should be rapeseed flowers!"
Mei Ruochu chuckled softly, this question was naturally from his hand.
Mu Erpang covered his chest, looking hurt, and looked at him sadly, so he quickly stopped laughing and said, "In fact, there is another famous line in Zhang Han's "Miscellaneous Poems", 'The green branches are like green, and the yellow flowers are like scattered gold', which is more in line with the theme of the poem. However, it is not easy for Hanshan to recall the line of "Chen Ji, the old county magistrate, and his younger brother, You Qingyuan, visited the Zen Master Si and gave him a book" in such a short time."
Mu Erpang was not really complaining about anything. Mei Ruochu was willing to take so much trouble to help him with the questions, naturally it was for his own good, so he smiled and said, "Of course, after all, the teacher and Brother Mei taught me step by step until now, so I still have some skills."
After that, they didn't say anything more. Mu Erpang changed the topic and pondered over the poem. After finishing this topic, there were still poetry topics from Lao Buyu and Wei Xi waiting for him.
Chen Cui's expression was soft, and she said to the system: [Then you underestimate the friendship between them. 】
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