Before dawn, Li Guolou went out, it rained, the streets were slippery, Li Guolou jumped from the carriage with an umbrella, there was already a sea of people in front, two or three thousand people gathered in front of the Gongyuan, there were poor students, as well as servants, students' families.

Li Guolou gathered his umbrella and stood under the eaves to hide from the rain, waiting for the door to open.

The little prime minister, Zhu Danyu, walked over and said with a smile: "Captain Li, you came so early!" ”

Li Guolou swept his eyes and dressed like Zhu Danyu in the New Year, looked down on the flashy Zhu Danyu in his heart, the corners of his mouth curled, and said with a smile: "Xiao Zhu, don't call me Captain Li in the future, call me Mr. Li, or Xiao Lizi!" ”

Zhu Danyu said with a smile: "Actually, we all call you Xiao Lizi behind our backs, which is the same as others calling me Xiao Xianggong behind our backs." After speaking, Zhu Danyu laughed happily to himself, which made Li Guolou cry and laugh, and said that he was the father-in-law of Li in the palace, and Zhu Danyu did not understand human feelings, so that the people next to him saw the joke.

Li Guolou and Zhu Danyu stood side by side and chatted like good friends.

There are people of all ages from fifty or sixty years old to about twenty years old, and some people know each other in the cram school of the Gongyuan, greet each other, encourage each other, and say a few auspicious words.

"Rice bucket." Li Guolou saw Cao Kexing, Zhu Dinghe, Fan Dahui, Wei Hanyu, Xu Lan, and five students, and waved to them.

"Ah, fake······ Xiaolou, you are also here for scientific research. Fan Da Huile approached, a little surprised to see Li Guolou here.

"Why, can't I, I'm also a tribute student, isn't it a piece of cake to get an admission ticket, and I'm guilty of yelling." Li Guolou is white-eyed, he doesn't know the times, do you still want to mess with him in the future.

Fan Dahui hurriedly said: "Xiaolou, don't be angry, I just didn't expect that in the morning we would talk about you, I told them to prepare for the permanent residence of the Jingshi, I said, if you can't pass the Jinshi exam, you don't have the shame to see your hometown fathers, you will mix there for two years first, hehehehehe!" ”

Li Guolou said casually: "Don't chirp, classmate, I still want to mess with you, I don't know if it's a big monster, no, when the exam is over, we'll divide the size!" ”

Zhu Dinghe shouted at all: "What are you modest, you can mess with me in the future, the top thirty can't run, what is the so-called riding the wall and holding an umbrella, who of you knows!" ”

Early in the morning, the people around looked at Zhu Dinghe, talking about people, and they didn't know what it was like to be ashamed.

There are students all around who talk big, and they are still modest people when they come here, so it's a bit hypocritical, who doesn't want to be admitted to the Jinshi, say a few big words, mediate the tension, talk more, or encourage each other.

With a bang, the gate of the Tribute Courtyard was opened, the salute sounded, the auspicious time had arrived, the students stepped into the courtyard with laughter and laughter, and there were eager faces behind them, and the family members stood outside the gate and waved goodbye to the students, a door will change the fate of hundreds of people's lives, at this moment Li Guolou walked with his head down, being a low-key person, and with the crowd pouring into the Tribute Academy.

When entering the Tribute Academy, first register the roster, have a roll call by the errand officer, check the admission ticket, household registration, and handprints, and then take off their clothes one by one, search their bodies, and check whether they have cheated with the Four Books and Five Classics.

At this time, the people of the Qing Dynasty sold a kind of necessary weapon for exams, specializing in cheating with four books and five classics, that is, micro cheating books, selling this kind of micro cheating books is to raid the family and sentence, but there is a market, and there are always people who do this business.

In the past, they relied on cheating to get admitted to the show, and now they are also entrained into the Tribute Academy, and the officers catch the cheating candidates, and they are dismissed, stripped of their pants, and hit the board on the spot with their bare buttocks, but there are always hidden candidates who have slipped through the net, mixed into the examination room, and carried a treasure book with them, and secretly rejoiced that the chances of being admitted to the Jinshi were much greater.

Nearly 2,000 students led by the chief examiner Li Hongzao and six deputy examiners to incense Confucius, and the chief examiner Li Hongzao chanted a gorgeous poem to dedicate to the sage Confucius.

After kneeling and knocking three times, the guns were fired again, and the students rushed into the examination room, sat in a small cubicle, and waited for the exam papers to be sent out.

When the exam paper is not issued, the candidate first prepares, grinding ink is the first priority, calm down to write good words, an exam paper must first enter the examiner's eyes, the font must be beautiful, the exam paper is neat, the brush is a must-have for the candidate to bring into the examination room, generally a student should bring four or five brushes.

The ordinary people of the Qing Dynasty only have the way to be an official, or a martial artist, which is a single-plank bridge that changes the fate of life, sacred and solemn, and does not allow the world to blaspheme, but the Manchurian government pays attention to practicality, as well as the rules of the Manchurians, cheating is endless, and it has become the rules of the examination room.

Li Guolou got the first exam paper, read it first, he had to make an exam paper a day, there was plenty of time, he first found a question to write, two-thirds of a test paper was made, and then he appreciated his own writing, he already had a certain foundation, he couldn't find fault with the big picture, waiting for the test paper answers to be sent, he was not in a hurry at all, the deputy examiners were in a hurry, how many exam answers to write for cheating students.

Approaching noon, an inspecting examiner, as if admiring Li Guolou's article, stopped and stepped into the cubicle, and suddenly, the middle-aged examiner took out a note from his sleeve, handed it to Li Guolou, and hissed: "Li Guolou, don't worry, I'll stand at the door, write quietly, don't make a mistake!" ”

Li Guolou looked up at the examiner, remembering the face of this room master, this is his benefactor, he will send filial piety every year in the future, this is how he got his fame, Li Guolou is like a righteous gentleman, sitting upright and copying the exercises, as for the three or four hundred words and eight shares of the essay after the examination paper, Li Guolou studied it, changed a few words slightly, and copied the article written by the chief examiner Li Hongzao.

"Return, people have the power to accumulate life, and they will not know themselves, but they will have the quiet contemplation of the accumulation of one mind, and those who have nothing to try, and do not know what others have known, God will tell them, so the knowledge is sincere, there is a marquis, and it is not allowed to be secret······"

Li Guolou admired Li Hongzao from the bottom of his heart, and asked him to recite this article, all of which were difficult, and then he had to spend hard work and memorize this article, and he would teach it to his disciples in the future, as a masterpiece of his own life, if he would write a book in the future, he would also join it, and his teacher Li Hongzao should not blame him for this kind of behavior, nor would he expose his lies.

Eat white steamed buns at noon, drink tea to pad hunger, in the afternoon Li Guolou heard the sound of firecrackers, can only endure not moving, nothing to do, practice calligraphy with scratch paper, he remains calm, stroke by stroke, kill time, there are regulations in the examination room, scratch paper is not allowed to be taken out, but also handed in, so Li Guolou did not dare to smear indiscriminately, the draft of the writing of the topic, as if figuring out the topic, others are using the draft to write articles and then write the answer, and he is the opposite, deliberately scratch the paper, write the experience.

Hearing a cough, Li Guolou looked up and saw that an old man was standing at the door of the compartment, staring at him solemnly, this is Li Hongzao, a famous scholar of the world, the teacher of the Tongzhi Emperor, as the honor of the emperor, worthy of the admiration of all students in the world.

Li Guolou turned over and knelt down, kowtowed three times, tears flowed from his eyes, and his teacher gave him a masterpiece, which was to ensure that he was ranked second, and he could only pay a huge amount of filial piety in this life.

"Hmm." Li Hongzao made a sound in his nasal cavity, drifted away, and secretly rejoiced, this apprentice looks outstanding, understands the rules, is born in a scholarly family, and has a lot of money, so that the apprentice is worthy of his help, as a teacher, in addition to taking talents from the people, that is, looking at people with the door, talent and wealth are complementary to each other, complementing each other, the accumulation of the scholarly family, is to accumulate wealth, those poor students have no temperament, only from the scholarly disciples can be seen.

Li Hongzao said to the middle-aged examiner: "Master Mao, yes, show me Li Guolou's exam papers directly later!" ”

The examination papers are a vague name system, and when the examination papers are handed in, even the teachers who batch the papers don't know who is who, but since there is the first step of cheating, the "vague name system" has long existed in name only.

Mao Changxi said obediently: "It's the teacher, I'll go in to collect the exam papers later, that kid grinds time!" ”

"Well, I can see that." Li Hongzao smiled freely, walked into the lobby, and also knew that Li Guolou was grinding time, and if he couldn't do the test paper well with the answer, he would be a fool, how could the "devil six" be sent to the examination room.

At dusk, the salute sounded, Li Guolou stood up, handed the exam paper to Mao Changxi respectfully, and said, "Thank you, teacher." After speaking, Li Guolou, like other students who submitted the examination papers, walked outside the examination room, and most of the people in the huge examination room left, only a few students, still racking their brains and sitting in the cubicle.

The exam is like this, a sentence is familiar, memorized well, I know how to write, but when it comes to the exam, I can't remember anything.

The person who walked out of the examination room was full of confidence, boasting that he was in control of today's exam, and Li Guolou smiled at the inquiry of the person next to him, and said in a low-key manner: "It's okay, the writing is written, as for whether you can get into the teacher's eyes, it depends on the will of God!" ”

Li Guolou's face was not red, and the people next to him couldn't see his inner thoughts, so he pretended to have no bottom in his heart, and didn't dare to recite the famous eight-strand text.

Cao Kexing, Zhu Dinghe, Fan Dahui and several other fellow villagers met on the street, exchanged their heads and ears, told each other about their experience on the first day of the exam, and the next two days were equally critical and cheered each other on.

Li Guolou shook his head and said: "Let's go, let's have dinner together, don't talk about the exam, continue to work hard tomorrow!" ”

Fan Dahui smiled honestly and said: "The six of us, one or two silver each, should eat six taels of silver countertop, do you say it?" ”

Li Guolou glanced at it and said: "Eat your rice bucket to death, two taels of silver have turned the sky upside down!" ”

At noon, no one ate well, and the stomach was so hungry that they cooed and screamed the group, and reported the name of the dish to Bao Zhifang's signature dish, which was almost complete, and the show was first-class, which made people admire that they did not need to be on the right path.

It was impossible to call the carriage at the gate of the Gongyuan, Li Guolou stepped on the carriage to pick him up, and Chen Xiangfang and Mayuko sat in the carriage.

"Mike, how did you do on the exam?" Mayuko asked impatiently.

"Shhh Li Guolou squeezed his eyebrows, afraid of being seen by the carriage driver in front, so he made a K gesture.

"Oh······" Chen Xiangfang and Mayuko breathed a sigh of relief, high-fived each other, all worries are superfluous, Li Guolou is trustworthy, and the cheaters are still mysterious and low-key until now.

Chen Xiangfang admonished: "Xiaolou, don't be complacent, give me practice calligraphy at night, don't drink!" ”

"Oh, I will be a Tang monk and keep a low profile, but you, don't go to Baozhi's room to eat, give me home." Li Guolou saw through Chen Xiangfang and couldn't hold back a snicker, and didn't even let her go to dinner.

Chen Xiangfang knew her weakness, nodded and said, "Mayuko, watch Xiaolou, I'll wait for you at home." "Hi." Mayuko nodded in agreement, and the three of them covered their mouths and snickered in the carriage, like thieves, not daring to let people know that they were happy in their hearts.

In the evening, Li Guolou returned home, freshened up, and prepared to go to bed early, but he couldn't hold it back, and couldn't help laughing: "Today, the teacher came to see me!" ”

"Yes." Chen Xiangfang was quite excited and asked, "What did Li Hongzao say to you!" ”

Li Guolou said with a smile: "Teacher Li first hummed and coughed, then I knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times, and then the teacher said 'um' and left!" ”

"Snort." Chen Xiangfang smiled and leaned back, hugged Li Guolou tightly, and the two fell on the big bed together, playing and playing.

The rainy night was deep, and the oil lamp was blown out, but Li Guolou couldn't sleep well, afraid that there would be any changes in the next two days, looking forward to being frightened and afraid that the days would pass, and he wanted to think about what Emperor Tongzhi looked like.