The annual examination is an examination that all scholars must take before the end of each year.
The academician still set the questions and marked the papers personally, but he did not have to be present everywhere in person. He only needed to work with professors and instructors from various prefectures to mark the papers together.
Marking papers is also a time-consuming task, so there is usually an order of priority, with each prefecture taking the exam in batches, leaving time for the education officials to rest. Again, there is only a general range, no specific time, and it all depends on the notice from above.
In the past, the annual examinations in Qingzhou Prefecture were usually held around Laba Festival.
This year it may be related to the fact that the first academy examination presided over by Liu Xuezheng started in Qingzhou Prefecture, so he broke the convention and moved the Qingzhou Prefecture's annual examination to a very early date, saying that it would start in November.
The freshmen in the provincial school had just adapted to their new life when they received this sad news.
The situation for students like them who are studying in the provincial school is actually quite good. After all, they are in the school and do not have to rush to other places and travel a long way.
The other scholars who were not in the provincial school were not as well-informed as them and thought they still had a long time to prepare. By the time they heard the news, whether they were reviewing their lessons or rushing to take the exam, they were already one step behind them.
When Mu Erpang and his friends arrived at the classroom that day, they found it full of gloom and everyone had a unhappy expression on their face.
After asking around, I found out that the exam syllabus had been released.
Mu Erpang and the others went to the notice board to look at the exam syllabus - most of the content was still the Four Books and Five Classics, with only some not-so-unpopular classics and history content added.
This is a bit strange, because just looking at the syllabus, Mu Erpang didn't think there was anything special about it.
After finishing the copying, before Mu Erpang could figure out the reason, it was time for class, so everyone hurried back to the classroom.
Mu Erpang and Shen Aoshuang went to the seats for freshmen at the front.
Half an hour later, the class ended with a quarter-hour break.
Behind him, Ren Shun and Zhao Xiuwen sighed in unison. Mu Erpang turned around and asked them, "Brother Ren and Brother Zhao, what's wrong? I just looked at the exam outline. Although the annual exam is a little earlier, judging from the content of the exam outline, it seems to be quite routine."
Mu Erpang said as he glanced at Shen Aoshuang. Shen Aoshuang nodded slightly in agreement, and he was also a little confused.
Two months after Shen Aoshuang arrived in Cuiwei, the system put on the shelves a special medicine that could reshape the body, just as he had promised Shen Cui before, and the price was also 50 points per portion.
However, Chen Aoshuang was born disabled, so unlike Wei Xi's lung disease or Cui Fei's heart disease, which could be cured in a month, this medicine could only restore some of his five senses. Overall, he is still not as good as an ordinary person. He can only stay in the academy for a long time and slowly eliminate the influence of the laws on him.
Or maybe after a few years when Mu Erpang passes the exam and Shen Cui passes it, he will get the permission to buy the "Marrow Cleansing Pill", and then he can completely become a normal person.
But such a change was enough to make Shen Aoshuang grateful, and she became much more cheerful than before.
In addition, his current eyesight was similar to that of an ordinary scholar whose eyesight was impaired due to excessive use of the eyes, so he did not need to be so cautious and pretend to be arrogant. He just told others that he had impaired eyesight and could not see clearly, but he was too proud to tell others, which led to many misunderstandings in the past.
Apart from the part about the reason, the rest of the words were not lies. Besides, Ren Shun, Zhao Xiuwen and Chen Aoshuang passed the county exam together, so their fate was deeper than that between Mu Erpang and him. In addition, neither of them was a fussy person, and with the help of Mu Erpang, their relationship with Chen Aoshuang had improved a lot recently.
"Brother Mu and Brother Shen certainly don't understand. We are afraid because the exam outline is too routine." Ren Shun said with a bitter face, "Who knows how Liu Xuezheng will set the questions?"
Zhao Xiuwen also nodded bitterly.
Mu Erpang and Shen Aoshuang understood immediately that the shadow left by Liu Xuezheng among the freshmen was too heavy, and it still made everyone feel scared!
Although the two of them suffered under Liu Xuezheng, they finally got good grades, so the psychological trauma they suffered was much smaller than that of others, and they did not think too much about it for a while.
Later, Ren Shun and Zhao Xiuwen had no time to chat anymore and began to review nervously.
As for the old students in the provincial school, although they had not personally experienced the questions set by Liu Xuezheng, they learned the test questions later and agreed with Cui Fei. They knew that Liu Xuezheng had shown leniency in last year's annual test, so they did not dare to take it lightly this year.
Especially since they are senior students, they also have to save their reputation. If their overall test scores are worse than those of the freshmen, wouldn’t that make them a laughing stock?
Therefore, whether new or old students, they all began to review their lessons seriously and prepare for the exam.
On Cuiwei's side, Shen Cui knew that they were going to take part in the annual exam again, and that it was time to prepare for the necessary logistical work.
The dish of scrambled eggs with cabbage, which enhances short-term memory, has become a regular on the dinner table again. Wei Shu and his friends had eaten enough before, so this time, each of them was willing to take a bite, just for Shen Cui's sake.
But nothing will be wasted, isn't there an extra Shen Aoshuang who can appreciate Shen Cui's cooking skills? As long as Chen Cui cooked it, he would eat it with relish, and two bowls of rice in a meal was a piece of cake.
Therefore, before the annual examination began, Shen Aoshuang had become much rounder and even taller.
He was not much taller than Mu Erpang before, but now he is one finger joint taller than him.
Fortunately, the two of them were together day and night, and Mu Erpang was concentrating on reviewing his lessons - just like Mei Ruochu last year, Mu Erpang was also worried that he would lose the first place in the college examination in the first annual examination. Losing face was one thing, but if he lost the government stipend and subsidies, it would be a considerable amount of money for his family. That's why Mu Erpang didn't notice that the height difference between them had widened, otherwise he would have been "sad" again.
In early November, winter arrived and the weather suddenly turned cold.
Unfortunately this year, just as winter began, the city had several heavy snowfalls, and it was much colder than last year.
Many scholars from ordinary families in the provincial school suffered from frostbite, their hands became red and swollen, and writing became extremely difficult.
After hearing what Mu Erpang mentioned after he came back, Chen Cui quickly bought some ointments to prevent frostbite from the system and asked them to apply them morning and evening to be prepared.
Later, when Cui Fei returned home, he also mentioned this matter. Cui Wu Niang knew that Chen Cui had already found ointment for the boys, so she did not prepare the same thing as her, but instead had someone send several hand warmers.
A hand warmer is a copper-made square box with charcoal placed inside. It can be held in the hand or put into the sleeve. It is nowadays a hand warmer.
Such delicate things are not cheap, and each one costs several taels of silver.
Cui Wuniang was considerate enough to think that Chen Cui should give gifts in return for accepting valuable things, so the hand warmers she sent were all used by Cui family members and were originally intended to be given as rewards to servants, so they were washed and cleaned.
Chen Cui accepted her kindness and did not refuse.
On the day of the annual examination, the young men set out from the academy early in the morning.
The annual examination was held in the cold winter, and the rules were not as strict as those of the formal imperial examinations, so although there was a body search, there was no need to strip naked.
They didn't suffer too much, and everyone sat down at the examination seats.
The examination room is the kind that is closed at the front. It is as hot as a steamer when you come in during the summer, but it is much warmer than outside when you come in to take the exam in the winter.
But the relief was limited. For example, Mu Erpang, who was holding a hand warmer, did not feel cold in his hands, but his feet in his cotton shoes began to feel cold.
He, whose physique was relatively better than that of ordinary people, felt cold. The situation was even more difficult for other scholars who had poorer physiques or whose family conditions were poor and who could not afford thick coats.
While waiting for the test papers to be distributed, Mu Erpang even heard the sound of others' teeth chattering and clattering due to the cold.
When the test papers were distributed later, Mu Erpang naturally ignored the noise and started to read the questions carefully.
The annual examination paper tests the overall level of the scholars, so all question types are covered, including the meaning of calligraphy, calligraphy on scrolls, the meaning of scriptures, essays, policy essays, and examination poems. It is a comprehensive paper type.
The Mo Yi Tie Jing was naturally the simplest one. As Mu Erpang read it, the answer had already emerged in his mind.
The questions on classics, essays and policy papers that came later were also his forte. Although it was impossible for him to think of all the answers at once, he always had ideas immediately.
When it came to the last question, Mu Erpang couldn't help but feel a little nervous even before he saw the topic of the poem - the order of questions in various exams nowadays all follows the rule of going from easy to difficult.
Liu Xuezheng is leaving the poetry topic as his last 'trump card' to embarrass them!
In order not to affect his mentality, Mu Erpang suppressed the urge to look at the last question and turned around to start writing the previous questions.
It took him only one or two hours, before the exam was half over, but he had finished all the previous questions and checked them to make sure there were no omissions. He could finally concentrate on tackling the most difficult poetry question without any burden.
Before looking at the topic, Mu Erpang also did some mental preparation. After all, he was afraid that the topic was too difficult and he couldn't think of the source, so he would have no idea where to start.
I was also afraid that the title of the poem was too simple, like the previous "Ping Zhong Jun Qian", which, at first glance, seemed to be something that any scholar could write, but it contained a trap.
After taking a few deep breaths, Mu Erpang saw the last poem question.
The title only has four words - 'The same desire for all the people in the world'. Restricted rhyme usage is still very common.
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