As the final imperial examination approached day by day, Anyang County finally quieted down, except for meal time, there will be a little gathering of scholars in the tavern, it is difficult to see the scholars at other times, everyone is hiding in the room to review and prepare for the final exam. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Two days after Zhang Xian went to the state to study, he sent a message to Li Yanqing, and they would not be able to come back until a few days later, but it was not until there were three days left before the imperial examination that Zhang Xian and Qin Liang dragged their tired bodies back to the inn.

"Lao Li, I'm completely hopeless this year." Zhang Xian's face was full of frustration, and the expression on his face was like an old bitter gourd that had passed the season, as bitter as it was.

Li Yanqing looked at him for a long time, and saw that his skin was tanned, this was obviously the appearance of going out to play, and he had been studying hard for almost a year, this kid would not be out of luck, right?

"You won't tell me that you didn't review when you went to the state school!"

Zhang Xian grinned, and was about to cry with remorse, "You really said it right, I really didn't read a word." ”

"Why did you go to the state to study and not read?"

"I.... I was dragged by them to Cizhou to play. ”

Zhang Xian grabbed his hair with remorse, "Why don't I have any opinions?" They told me to go, and I went. ”

Sure enough, he guessed correctly, he has been going to visit the mountains and rivers for more than 20 days, Li Yanqing looked at Zhang Xian speechlessly, Master once said that some people will not be able to grasp themselves at critical moments, obviously it is Zhang Xian This kind of person.

But the examiner will not give him another chance because he repents, the cruelty of the imperial examination competition is here, like a hundred battles, if you don't advance, you will retreat.

Zhang Xian went to the state to study and play for a month, and he had already finished reviewing the criminal law, not only memorized the thick "Song Criminal System" well, but also thoroughly understood nearly 400 cases, he thought that there was no problem in the criminal law, and he even seized the time to write more than a dozen policy theories, and sorted out hundreds of poems after the Northern Song Dynasty.

At this time, he was sure and everything was ready, just waiting for the final exam in three days, but Zhang Xian wasted the most precious month, which made him speechless and not sympathetic at all.

"It's useless to talk about this now, hurry up and read some books! If you're lucky, you might just get it. “

"Lao Li, do you have any information on criminal law to lend me to help my brother this time."

Zhang Xian folded his hands and looked at Li Yanqing with a pleading face, he knew that Li Yanqing had the habit of taking notes, and maybe he had sorted out some essence.

Li Yanqing is now his lifeline, although he is really embarrassed to speak, but at this time, he can only be cheeky and begging.

Li Yanqing wanted to refuse, let Zhang Xian have a good taste of regret and learn a lesson, but after thinking about it again, there is really no need to do this, after all, they are good friends, and they can help the other party when they are in danger.

He put the four major case studies copied from Zhou Chun in front of Zhang Xian, "For the sake of past friendships, I'll help you this time, if you look at this in the past three days, the criminal law may be able to get half of the points." ”

Zhang Xian was very grateful, and ran back to the house with four notebooks in his arms, Li Yanqing looked at his back and shook his head, it took at least six days to read these cases, and now there are only three days left, Zhang Xian is really too late, but he can only help him to this extent, he is not angry, who can blame him?

In fact, in this imperial examination, the imperial court only temporarily decided to add the examination of criminal law and poetry a few months ago, for all candidates, the starting point is the same, everyone has not studied criminal law and poetry, except for the Tai students, they have this course.

It's up to whoever can take the time to review in the last few months will win in the end, and if you waste your time, you can't complain.

At this time, a man's voice came from the door, "Little official, are you looking for me?" ”

Li Yanqing hurriedly walked to the door and handed the guy fifty yuan, "Please go to the snack shop diagonally opposite to buy me three small steamed buns and two bowls of spicy soup, and the rest of the money will be rewarded to you." ”

A basket of small buns is ten yuan, a bowl of Hu spicy soup is five yuan, the guy can earn ten yuan for running errands, he thanked again and again, took the money and walked quickly, Li Yanqing sat back at the table again, and took out the review notes of "Analects" and "Mencius", "Analects" and "Mencius" are small classics, the first one is to test it, there are still three days left, Li Yanqing is ready to sort them out again.

........

The residence of Guo Baisong, the deputy chief examiner, is located in the south of the city, is an official residence covering an area of ten acres, a month ago, there was a lot of traffic here, countless candidates came to visit with gifts and famous posts, and they all kept saying that they wanted to worship under Guo Baisong's door.

But as Guo Baisong moved into the trial court, the front of his mansion was deserted, and few people came to visit, and that night, a carriage stopped in front of Guo's mansion, and a middle-aged man came down, wearing an octagonal hat and a dark short coat, looking like a housekeeper, and he was followed by two sturdy housekeepers, carrying a heavy large suitcase.

The middle-aged man walked to the door and said a few words, and the porter let them in.

This middle-aged man is the big housekeeper of the four wealthy families in Anyang County, Jia, Zheng, Zhao, and Wuzhong Zhao, and came to the Guo family to give gifts on the orders of the master.

Zhao's housekeeper was led into a study, the study was brightly lit and simply furnished, and behind a wide table sat a man in his thirties, this man was wearing a good fire fox fur and a gauze hat, he was strong and tall, slightly fat, and his face was very ruddy, but there were a few purple spots, which looked like a brick with purple.

He is Guo Baisong's second son Guo Xiu, this time Guo Baisong is the deputy chief examiner, and his son Guo Xiu is the contact person, and many things that Guo Baisong is not good to come forward will be handled by him.

Steward Zhao bowed deeply, and Guo Xiu asked lightly, "Did you bring it?" ”

"Brought!"

Steward Zhao waved his hand, and the two housekeepers carried the heavy big box in and retreated.

Guo Xiu stepped forward with his hand, and Steward Zhao opened the lid of the box, and there were white flowers inside, all of which were official silver ingots.

"This is two thousand taels of silver, and the lord said that he will be rewarded with one thousand taels of silver after the deed is completed."

Guo Xiu stared at the silver for a moment, and his eyes showed greed, this is the price of Xie Yuan this year, three thousand taels of silver, but silver alone is not enough, it depends on Zhao Yushu's own on-the-spot performance, if he fails the test, it will be difficult to help him.

Guo Xiu closed the lid of the wooden box, and a smile appeared on his face, "I heard that your mansion was injured?" ”

Steward Zhao said respectfully: "I fell down from the restaurant not long ago, and unfortunately broke the bridge of my nose, but now it is much better." ”

Guo Xiu said meaningfully: "Be careful! There are still three days to go before the exam, so don't have any more accidents at this critical juncture. ”

"We also understand this, the master has not allowed him to go out."

Guo Xiu nodded, "Okay! Please tell your master, and I'll send the news in tonight. ”

"It's all up to the Yanai!"

Steward Zhao said goodbye and left, Guo Xiu called the housekeeper in his house and asked him, "Has the master's medicine been sent in?" ”

"Not yet, I'm waiting for Gongzi's arrangement!"

Guo Xiu immediately wrote a note and handed it to the housekeeper: "Go and deliver the medicine now, and give this note to the master as well." ”

．．．．．．．

Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and the imperial examination, which countless candidates were both looking forward to and fearing, finally arrived.

This year's solution exam has a total of four exams, one more than last year's criminal law and poetry, the first is the examination of the classics, that is, the "Analects" and "Mencius", which will be tested for one day.

The second is the highlight, the test "Three Classics and New Righteousness", this one will be tested for three days and two nights, the candidates are not allowed to come out, and they need to live in the Gongyuan; And the third is the most important, the test theory, the time is two days and one night; The fourth is the additional examination of criminal law and poetry, which is only tested for one day.

The four exams add up to seven days and three nights, which is not only a comprehensive assessment of the scholar's academic level, but also a severe test of the scholar's will and physical strength.

Yin Shizheng, that is, at four o'clock in the morning, Li Yanqing slept all night, refreshed, he waited at the gate early after breakfast, this is the longest night in the year, the night is still very thick, it is dark outside, and the road can not be seen clearly.

Fortunately, the inn is very close to the Gongyuan, and it is only a cup of tea to walk straight through the alley, and the five guys of the inn are responsible for taking turns carrying the lanterns to take the scholars to the Gongyuan.

The cold wind was cold in the early morning, Li Yanqing rubbed his hands and stomped his feet, and looked back from time to time, Zhang Xian and Qin Liang were estimated to be still eating breakfast, which made Li Yanqing a little unhappy, the agreed time had already passed, why weren't these two guys punctual at all?

At this time, Zhou Chun walked out of the inn with four companions, each wearing a thick fur coat, Zhou Chun saw Li Yanqing at a glance, so he came over and said with a smile: "Brother Xian, go with us!" ”

Li Yanqing pointed inside, "I'm waiting for them, you guys go first!" ”

Hong Dazhi patted Li Yanqing on the back, "Your ranking has already entered the top ten, kill the prestige of those students, we local scholars will count on you." ”

It's funny to say, after the restaurant fight, Li Yanqing began to be noticed, and his ranking on the list actually rose one place, jumping to tenth, while Zhao Yushu was deducted points for his drunken madness, and his conduct was deducted, falling two places, ranking third, which was unexpected.

Li Yanqing smiled, "I'll do my best!" ”

At this time, a guy came over with a lantern, "Follow me to the Gongyuan!" ”

The large group of scholars waiting at the door followed, and Zhou Chun hugged his fists and smiled: "Then let's go first." ”

"I'll be right here!"

Seeing that the large group of scholars followed the guys, Li Yanqing couldn't help but feel a little anxious in his heart, why did these two guys rub off like this? If you don't come again, you'll leave first.

After a long while, Zhang Xian and Qin Liang hurriedly ran out, "I'm sorry, I just arrived at the door and found that I forgot to bring a floating ticket, so I ran back to get it, but I looked for it for a long time." ”

Li Yanqing was too lazy to pay attention to them, obviously he should have prepared things before going to bed last night, but he actually went to rummage through them temporarily, and it was difficult to be admitted to the imperial examination with such a careless attitude.

Li Yanqing saw that the two of them were listless and yawned, so he asked, "When did you sleep last night?" ”

Zhang Xian scratched his head and said: "When I read the book and saw a watch, Lao Li, we only read half of the notes you gave us, those articles are too obscure, I am going to stay up late tonight to take a good look." ”

They didn't memorize a single word of "Song Criminal Law", of course, it was obscure, so Li Yanqing reminded him: "The last game is the criminal law test, first focus on the first few games, don't care about the criminal law, it doesn't account for much of the score." ”

At this time, another guy came out with a lantern, "Go to the Gongyuan and follow me!" ”

Li Yanqing called the two of them, and the three of them followed the men to the Gongyuan, and after a while, they came to the Gongyuan Square, hundreds of soldiers had gathered in the Gongyuan Square, and the surrounding area was full of sergeants, three steps and one post, five steps and one sentry, the guard was very strict, and no unrelated personnel were allowed to approach the Gongyuan, and the men could only send them here.

Just as they were looking for their team, an examiner happened to come up to them and reminded them loudly: "Look at your exam number, don't stand in the wrong line!" ”

Qin Liang asked Li Yanqing in a low voice, "I'm No. 3 B, how about this number?" ”

Li Yanqing glanced at him sympathetically, next door is the toilet, and he was actually assigned to the 'dung number', this kid is also out of luck, he can't say anything, so he has to say vaguely: "I am also participating in the imperial examination for the first time, and I don't know the situation." ”

"Lao Li, I'm Ding 28, how many are you?"

"I'm No. C75, I'm not with you, I can only finish the exam."

"Okay, we'll see you after the exam."

The three of them dispersed, each went to find their own team, the team on the square was divided into six teams, and lined up according to the alley in front of the exam number, Li Yanqing was No. 75, and he was going to line up to team C.

Li Yanqing's C team has lined up more than 50 people, in front of him is a big fat man, about 10 years old, sixteen or seventeen years old, that body shape is like an underage overweight hippopotamus, Li Yanqing is already burly, but in front of this fat man, he looks very slim, several thin scholars, in front of this fat man, it is like a few small bean sprouts.

"Brother, please help me get it, and I'll tidy up the crown."

The fat man stuffed a large package to him, Li Yanqing took it, and it was very heavy, at least twenty or thirty catties, and he didn't know what it contained.

The weather is cold and the examination time is long, so the Gongyuan allows candidates to bring clothes and food, but they must be strictly inspected before they can enter, because today is only one day of the test, and it will come out at dusk, and most of the candidates do not bring many things, and it is rare to see a big package like this fat man.

Li Yanqing has been running for many years, and he has not been invaded by the cold and heat, so he only brought some pastries and replenished them at noon.

At this time, the fat man straightened the long tall hat on his head, his tall hat was slender and long, like an antenna, grinning at Li Yanqing, revealing two big rabbit teeth, which made Li Yanqing suddenly think of the extra-large Teletubbies.

He took the package and patted it: "It's all food, I'm hungry, I have to eat at least six meals a day, if my brother is hungry, I can give you a little even." ”

Li Yanqing saw that he was a little stupid, so he smiled faintly and said, "Thank you, brother Tai, I don't need it." ”

The big fat man was quite enthusiastic, and asked again: "How many numbers is my brother?" ”

"Seventy-five!"

"We're next door!" The fat man suddenly screamed, which frightened the people around him and looked at him one after another.

The fat man said triumphantly: "I'm No. 76, do you know what's special about No. 76?" It is particularly lenient, twice the size of the general test number, and this is the number room that my father got by relying on the relationship. ”

What readers hate the most is to fight for their father, the fat man's words attracted countless dissatisfied eyes around him, but Li Yanqing could understand that this fat man was too wide, if he didn't take special care of it, he might not even be able to enter the exam number door.

Perhaps thinking of the saying 'distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors', the fat man became enthusiastic about Li Yanqing and took the initiative to introduce: "My name is Zheng Rongtai, a native of Anyang, my brother's surname, where are you?" ”

"In Xia Li Yanqing, a native of Tangyin County."

"You are.... Tang Yin Li Yanqing on the list? The big fat man stared at him with envy in his eyes wide open.