The road test is not like the government test to enter the middle of the night three watches, but it is earlier than the county test, the fifth watch must rush to the north of the examination shed outside the dragon gate to wait for the roll call, Zhang Yuan occupies a favorable location, heard the sound of people in the Fuxue Palace, then went out, Wuling carried a long-eared examination basket, Mu Jingyan and Mu Zhenzhen father and daughter each carried a lantern to the left and right.

It rained lightly at night, and then the rain stopped, and the water stains on the bluestone road reflected the lantern light as if the glass was shining, stepping on, and the dust was not visible, this was Zhang Yuan's third time to take the exam, and it should also be his last big exam in Shaoxing, and he would go to Hangzhou and the capital in the future - Zhang Yuan went to the first gate of the champion to meet with the eldest brother Zhang Dai and Zhou Menong and Qi Biaojia, and then went to the examination shed in the north of the Fuxue Palace together, but saw that the countless tall lights in the square outside the Longmen were as dense as stars, and the weather in Mengxia in April, the fifth watch day was already a little cloudy, but it was reflected by this light, It was getting dark—under the stilted lamps, there were people crowding heads, some coming to catch the test, some sending the test, and many vendors selling all kinds of food, and some candidates who came from the outskirts of the city in the middle of the night ate some breakfast in front of the food stalls, and it would be bad if the food was not clean.

The first cannon rang three times, the dragon gate opened, a piece of solitaire held out, this kind of solitaire is actually a rectangular lantern, hollow, lit candles inside, reflecting the red pen on the card is particularly eye-catching, each piece of solitaire is written with the names of twenty-eight candidates, nearly 100 pieces of bright cards are lined up in front of the dragon gate, in the night that is about to dawn, guide the candidates to follow the cards with their names written on them, and then follow the card bearer into the dragon gate - Zhang Yuan and Qi Biaojia's names are on the same piece of solitaire, Two people carried the examination basket and followed the bearer through the tortuous bamboo and wood guardrail passage, and came to the north hall, and the scholar Wang Bian personally named the scholar, and Xu Shijin, the prefect of Shaoxing, was the promotion officer, Hou Zhihan and Sun Jiaoyu, Zhu Xundao and sixty Liao Bao entered the hall to see, and the master of ceremonies shouted: "Promote the official to enter." "Xu Zhifu went to the court to make a gesture, Wang Tixue stood up and replied, its solemn and solemn non-county examination, government examination is comparable, only through the Taoist examination, can be regarded as having the lowest level of merit in the imperial examination - students, only the qualification to work hard.

Wang Tixue is presbyopia, stretched out his hand and held the roll call, the order of the roll call is in the order of the last government examination admission, and then the previous children will be called, Wang Tixue raised his voice and said: "Zhang Yuan." ”

Zhang Yuan in the hall replied: "Yes." "Hurry up to the hall and salute the Grand Master.

Wang Tixue looked at Zhang Yuan, he hadn't seen him for half a year, Zhang Yuan had grown a lot taller, and he was no longer the slightly young-looking young man he saw for the first time in the Minglun Hall of Confucianism in Shanyin the year before last, but an adult man with a long body and a heroic spirit-Wang Tixue nodded his head and said gently: "Good student." Summoned the two Bao Bao to come forward to draw a charge and cover the Bao stamp, Zhang Dai submitted the test paper to the final ticket, which was verified by Sun Jiaoyu, and then Zhang Yuan went to the hair office to get the test paper and scratch paper that he filled in the head of the paper last time, and carried the test basket to the search office alone.

The search and inspection of the road test is extremely strict, and the person in charge of the search is not the errand of Shanyin County and Shaoxing Mansion, it is the poor person brought by the school official from Hangzhou, and there is no mercy, Zhang Yuan is the first, they want to take Zhang Yuan to the candidates behind as an example, it is really stricter than the thief, the bun is dissolved, take off the shoes and socks, a poor person put together Zhang Yuan's ear hole to see if there is a small paper roll, Zhang Yuan took off only a pair of shorts and jumped a few times, it is not enough, a poor person has to touch Zhang Yuan's lower body, Zhang Yuan couldn't bear it, and shouted: "Stop." "Just strip naked and show them - a few poor people put on a straight face, and went to check Zhang Yuan's test basket, and took it out to see that the six crispy honey cakes that Mu Zhenzhen wrapped in lotus leaves were actually torn apart by the poor people, and they wanted to check whether there was any coercion in the cake, so angry that Zhang Yuan entered the dragon gate and threw the six shortbread on the side of the road, is there still a way to eat it!

Zhang Yuan was embarrassed to find his examination room and seat with the examination basket, and then he had time to tie the bun and wear the crown, and it took a while before he calmed down, and said in his heart: "Entering the examination room once is humiliating once, all the way to the Jinshi and then to become an official, all of them are shameless." ”

Qi Biaojia came in, and the seat was on the left side of Zhang Yuan, and said: "Brother Jie Zi, there is just a candidate who hid a few pieces of the art of making the question in his crotch, and he was searched out, blasphemed the sage text, and was punished to kneel at the dragon gate to show the public, and it is said that he will kneel for a day." ”

Zhang Yuan laughed, felt a little more relaxed, and asked, "Huzi, has the food you brought been broken and dirty?" ”

Qi Biaojia said: "It's okay, I just looked at it, and it didn't get dirty." ”

Zhang Yuan saw that Qi Biaojia's test basket contained chicken spring cakes, yellow cakes and Gelao cakes, as well as lotus root candy and sesame candy, and he ate a lot, so he said: "My cake is dirty and lost, you borrow a few pieces of cake for me to satisfy my hunger, otherwise I won't be hungry." ”

Qi Biaojia gave Zhang Yuan all the stacks of chicken spring cakes, he refused to give the old cakes, the old cakes were created by Qiu Jun, a scholar of the Cabinet University during the orthodox years, and he had good luck eating the old cakes during the scientific examination, and the thirteen-year-old prodigy Qi Huzi believed in this.

The dawn hall got up, the lanterns in the examination shed were removed, more than 2,600 candidates had entered, the dragon gate was closed, Wang Tixue came out with questions, a total of six questions and eight strands, one of which is a four-book question, this is the first art, all candidates must do, and the other is five scriptures, poems, Yi, books, rites, spring and autumn, candidates choose one of them according to their own scriptures, there are scribes who read the exam questions aloud, and there are messengers who insist on writing the exam questions on the sign, and the candidates who are short-sighted and deaf can take care of it - Qi Biaojia sits in a row behind Zhang Yuan to the right, Qi Biaojia's scripture is "Shangshu", and at this time, the title of the four books is "All evils must be investigated." Look at the Shangshu title is "Keming Junde, to pro-nine clans", secretly happy in his heart, these two sentences are from Shangshu Yaodian, he studied it very thoroughly, and see the "Spring and Autumn" title is "Zang Xi Bo admonishes to watch the fish", this is Zhang Yuan's scripture question, he wants to compete with Zhang Yuan this time, and win the first test case.

Qi Biaojia was originally able to show off talent three years ago, but the former student officer saw that he was only ten years old, too young, and intended to sharpen him, let him take the exam again, and said that if he made progress in his studies, he would be promoted to the head of the Taoist test, but at the end of that year, the student officer died, and now this Wang Tixue has no impression of him, the first prodigy in Shanyin, and only appreciates Zhang Yuan, which makes the thirteen-year-old Qi Biaojia quite unconvinced - Zhang Yuan is still thinking in the morning, and is making a draft in his heart, about an hour later, A scribe took a small stamp issued by the school officer into Zhang Yuan's examination booth, and stamped each paper, which is to prevent fraud such as inviting people to catch knives and exchange examination papers, and the stamp is stamped after the test paper is broken, and an hour has passed, and the broken questions of the four books are always written, but when I saw it in front of Zhang Yuan, the candidate was napping, and the test paper and the draft paper were blank, and not a word was made - the scribe said in a deep voice: "Why don't you compose?" At this time, I didn't even start talking about breaking the topic, so I didn't want to wait for plagiarism - hurry up and solve the problem, and I'll stamp you later. As he spoke, he wrote down Zhang Yuan's name on the paper, and went to stamp the other candidates-Zhang Yuan was taken aback, and said in his heart: "Is there such a rule for the Taoist test, I can't think about it for a while, no one has told me, what does this scribe do with my name?" I couldn't ask questions in the examination room, so I had to write down the question and title of the four books "All Evils Must Be Investigated": "On people's likes and dislikes, they must be the same as them, and the reason for them is also." Cover good and evil, and the sympathy of the world is also. People may hide their private ears, but don't they investigate the reason? ”

After stamping the test papers of the other candidates in the examination shed, the scribe went to Zhang Yuan, glanced at Zhang Yuan's test paper twice, stamped a stamp on the "snap", and then went out of the examination booth and came to the lobby to report what he had seen to the scholar Wang Bian, and presented the names of several candidates who had written it down.

Wang Tixue saw the name of "Zhang Yuan" at a glance, frowned and asked, "How did this Zhang Yuan foul?" ”

The scribe said: "When the little official went to stamp the seal, the child's test paper was not written a word, and it was the little official who reminded him to solve the question in a hurry, for fear of fraud." ”

Although this kind of suspected foul offender can continue to take the exam, he will be closely watched by the invigilator, and his name will be recorded, even if he does well in the paper, he will be lowered by one grade, that is to say, if he wants to enter the top six of the Taoist exam, there is no hope - Hou Zhihan who was present was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly defended Zhang Yuan: "Boss, this Zhang Yuan composition has this habit, first hit the abdominal draft, and then wave it, when it is said that in Shanyin Confucianism, the old man also asked him to speak, he is answering like a sound, and it is rare to be a talent, why can't he solve the question in an hour." ”

Xu Shijin also said: "He was the same in the government test last year, he didn't do a word before noon, and then he put pen to paper in one go, please see it." ”

Zhang Yuan's ranking in the Taoist test is also related to the reputation of Hou County Ling and Xu Zhifu, if Zhang Yuan's ranking is too low, Hou County Ling and Xu Zhifu will not look good - Wang Tixue said with a smile: "The old man knows Zhang Yuan's talent very well, how can he be a cheating person." When I came to Zhang Yuan's examination booth in person, I saw Zhang Yuan frowning and writing on the draft, obviously because he had just been named, and his mood was a little bad, so he walked over and said softly: "Good students, don't be affected." ”

Zhang Yuan saw that it was Wang Tixue, and his spirits were lifted, and before he could get up and salute, Wang Tixue had already turned around and went out.

Zhang Yuan knew that the great master had come to comfort him on purpose, and he was grateful, and immediately paid full attention to the composition - Wang Tixue returned to the lobby, sat down for a while, and cooked down to report that lunch was ready, and invited a few adults to eat.

Wang Tixue and Xu Zhifu and Hou County ordered several officials to have lunch, and there were candidates who rushed to hand in the first papers, and then there were five or six candidates to hand in the papers, Wang Tixue looked at a few ink papers, but did not see a good work, and after half an hour, he saw Zhang Yuan come out with the examination basket, followed by a young man - Hou Zhihan smiled: "Zhang Yuan handed in the papers, the one behind is Qi Biaojia, is a Shanyin prodigy, he and the two of them handed in the papers together, but it is a coincidence." ”

(To be continued)