Finally, when the sun was in the west, the entire Jianji Hall was also dimmed, and at this time, most of the tributes who came to refer to it had already completed the exams and left one after another, and the remaining candidates who were still struggling to write also wrote to the end of their respective articles, and they were about to be completed. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info Xiao Mu was also overjoyed, not only because the most important ceremony he had presided over since his crossing was finally coming to a successful end, but also because his boring day could finally pass.

Sure enough, Xiao Mu waited for about another quarter of an hour, and almost all the tributes had already finished their essays and left the venue, while there were only two candidates left in the Jianji Hall who had not completed their essays.

As long as there is a candidate who has not finished writing, Xiao Mu, the chief examiner, cannot leave, after all, he has spent a whole day in accordance with the rhythm of "sitting dry-face-letting go", Xiao Mu naturally doesn't want to give up halfway, the so-called "half ninety for those who travel a hundred miles", the more it is about to end, the more Xiao Mu arouses the motivation to persevere, Xiao Mu even plans that if these two candidates are writing until midnight, they will have to wait - of course, this is impossible after all, Daming's palace exam is naturally not as long as the candidate wants to write, otherwise, which candidate is not as good as a spring for a while, and it took a year and a half to write a shocking work, then the entire Daming may be paralyzed.

But as long as it is within the allowed time frame, there is no essential difference between the article written in one day and half a day, after all, the final criterion is the quality of the article rather than the speed of completion, so theoretically speaking, the two tributes who have not completed the article now also have a chance to get the champion.

After waiting for about two quarters of an hour, the sunlight at this time was already very weak, and the entire Jianji Hall was also darkened, at this time, Xiao Mu finally remembered his original plan when he first "let out the wind" - to add a candle to the candidates with bad light or something, so he hurriedly gestured to Wang Chengen on the side, poured Wang Chengen over, and then out of the principle of not interfering with these two tributes, he softly instructed Wang Chengen, "The sky is getting darker and darker, prepare two candles for them, They don't have to read the words on the paper. ”

Wang Chengen got the emperor's orders, and naturally carried it out according to his words, but before the candle prepared by Wang Chengen was brought up, a tribute scholar completed his article, handed in the paper and left the examination room - in this way, there was only one candidate left who had not finished writing, and Xiao Mu was not angry at all at this time for this candidate who made him unable to end the exam for a long time, after all, if he also handed in the paper, the candle he had just ordered Wang Chengen to prepare would be useless, and it would be really embarrassing.

According to Xiao Mu's analysis, for such a candidate who has not completed his article until the last moment, it is estimated that there will be two situations, the first is that this candidate does have real talent and real learning, every sentence of the article written has been carefully considered, and he will never write if he is not satisfied, and finally complete the best article within the allowed time, for such a candidate, although he is the only one left at this time, he will not feel any nervousness.

And the other is that this candidate was originally mediocre, and he passed the exam before relying on a lot of luck, and he didn't have the favor of Lady Luck when he took the palace exam, and finally he had to finish his essay until the exam was about to end, so the candidate at this time would definitely be quite nervous.

So in order to verify his two conjectures, Xiao Mu stared intently at this candidate, trying to judge whether he was nervous or confident at this time, and when Wang Chengen put the candle next to his desk, it was the best opportunity.

However, in fact, Xiao Mu did not come to a final conclusion, because when Wang Chengen put the candle on the candidate's desk, the candidate did not react, but kept writing hard, as if he did not feel the candlelight in front of him.

Finally, another two quarters of an hour passed, and the last candidate lived up to the candle that Xiao Mu prepared for him, and finally wrote his own article, handed in the papers and left, the palace examination of Wuchenke in the first year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty was finally over, but Xiao Mu was a little unwilling at this time, hoping that the palace test would be carried out for a while, because until the end, he did not see whether the last candidate was nervous or not, because his performance could be understood as being too nervous, and it could also be understood as being completely confident.

Putting away the test paper of the last candidate, Xiao Mu deliberately wrote down the name of this candidate, planning to see if he was at the top or the last when the results of the final hall examination came out, after all, there is only such a method to verify which of Xiao Mu's previous two conjectures is correct.

At this time, it was almost completely dark, and after a full day of invigilation, the tense and serious atmosphere finally dissipated, and Xiao Mu realized that he was already hungry. So soon Wang Chengen prepared dinner, and after Xiao Mu filled his stomach, he went to Lin Ye's dormitory as usual to "report".

"The temple examination is only over now?" This was the first thing Lin Yi asked after seeing Xiao Mu.

"It's been over for less than half an hour, and I just came here after a quick bite to eat." ――It may be that it has been a long time since he traveled to the Ming Dynasty, and now Xiao Mu can naturally use the time unit of "hour" when talking to Lin Yi, who is also a traverser.

"How do you feel about presiding over the temple exam?" Lin Yi was naturally not interested in Xiao Mu's dinner, and continued to ask, "It must feel very good for the heroes of the world to enter my family, right?" ”

However, Lin Yi's question got a negative answer, Xiao Mu shook his head and replied, "I didn't feel this sense of accomplishment, but after a whole day, my biggest feeling was boring, and this day was as long as a year." ”

"Isn't this 'living like a year'?" Lin Yi teased, and then continued to ask, "And then, apart from 'boring', you don't have any other feelings?" You must know that this is the palace examination, the pinnacle of the imperial examination, and the three hundred most powerful people in the entire Ming Dynasty are going to become your protégés of the Son of Heaven, which is even more powerful than Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Oxford and Cambridge in later generations. ”