In the dead of night, Mu Zhenzhen turned on the oil lamp with a bamboo stick, sat under the lamp and read "Zuo Chuan", and wrote the words he didn't know on a piece of bamboo paper with a quill pen, and asked Miss Ruoxi for advice, this quill was made by the young master, and some days ago, those who were bullied by Yao Fu didn't send a dozen geese and ducks, and the young master made a few quill pens with goose wings and hard feathers, although the words written were hardboard, but it was more convenient - after reading a few pages of the book, he felt a little sleepy, Mu Zhenzhen got up and stood on the patio outside the door for a while, The rectangular patio separates the rectangular night sky, the crescent moon hangs like a hook in the northwest corner of the patio, and the three rooms on the south floor are illuminated, and if you listen carefully, you can hear the wife and the eldest lady whispering.

Back in the young master's bedroom, there was a slight snoring sound in Wuling on the couch outside, but the young master in the inner room was silent, Mu Zhen really thought that the young master also had a slight snoring sound when he fell asleep, didn't the young master fall asleep?

Just thinking like this, I heard the young master speak: "Zhenzhen, come and light the lamp." ”

Mu Zhenzhen picked up the celadon lamp and went into the room, lit the lamp next to the young master's bed, the light spread out, the black lacquer and gold bed tent hung low, the young master was still in bed, Mu Zhenzhen asked: "Can't the young master sleep?" ”

"I slept for a while—"

Zhang Yuan wore his hair loose and got out of the tent and got out of bed and shoes, and Mu Zhenzhen hurriedly stepped forward and hooked the tent to both sides.

Zhang Yuan asked: "I've already beaten three drums." ”

Mu Zhenzhen responded: "Yes, I just knocked it." ”

Zhang Yuan said: "Then I'll get up, I can't sleep anyway, I'll have to call Xizhang's eldest brother later." ”

Zhang Yuan put on a Qingjin Confucian suit, Mu Zhenzhen combed his hair for him, coiled it into a round bun, and wore a net scarf, Zhang Yuan touched the net scarf, and said with a smile: "Really comb well, the head is tight, the man has three tight, the head is tight, the waist is tight, and the feet are tight." ”

Suddenly, I heard someone shouting from the back garden: "Meon-meson-"

Zhang Yuan said: "It's Xizhang's eldest brother." When he got up and went to the back garden, he saw a few people standing outside the demolished wall with high lanterns under the faint moonlight.

Mu Zhenzhen walked over quickly and opened the small door of the back garden, Zhang Dai, Zhang Cao and a few servants walked in, Zhang Dai smiled and said: "Can't Jie Zi sleep, I haven't slept all night, playing chess with Yanke and Mr. Fan, throwing pots." ”

Zhang Yuanzuo said: "There is Brother Lao, hard work." ”

Zhang Cao said: "Why don't you thank me, I'm working harder." ”

Zhang Yuan smiled: "Yes, the third brother is also hard. ”

The three brothers went around from the well to the front hall and sat down, Mu Zhenzhen and the rabbit pavilion brought out tea, Cuigu and the two servants in the kitchen were already making meat stuffing plaques, Zhang Yuan ordered to make more, and the eldest brother and the third brother wanted to dine together here.

Zhang Dai said some interesting things about his participation in the government examination a few years ago, when he was only eleven years old, carried by a healthy servant to the examination room - chatting for a while, Shi Shuang came to invite the three young masters to the next small hall to eat with a plaque, with a plaque to eat, was hearing the building beat four drums, not far away from the Fuxue Palace was already noisy, Shanyin, Huiji two counties of three thousand Confucian children about to enter the examination shed, Wuling at this time also carried a long-eared bamboo basket out, the long-eared bamboo basket has a pen, ink, paper, inkstone, a porcelain bottle of water and a stack of crispy honey cakes, It was the same thing that Zhang Yuan prepared when he took the county exam last time - Zhang Yuan went into the inner courtyard and said to his mother and sister, and took Wuling and his eldest brother Zhang Dai and third brother Zhang Cao out together.

The crescent moon has fallen to the west of Longshan at this time, the sky is dark, Shi Shuang and Mu Jingyan each carry a tall lantern to illuminate, come to the north of the Fuxue Palace to see outside the examination shed, countless tall lanterns are shining, brighter than the stars in the sky, more lively than the Lantern Festival lanterns, these lanterns are strangely shaped, and most of them are written with eye-catching characters, some are written with the name of the place, some are written with the name of the teacher, and some are the name of the Bao, so that those Confucian children who have been separated can see and reunite under the lamp - The examination shed of Shaoxing Mansion Examination is larger than the scale of the examination shed of Shanyin County Examination, which can accommodate more than 3,000 people in the same examination, the examination shed has five main halls, there is Xuan in front, next to the Xi She, eleven rooms on the east and west sides, three rooms each in the gatehouse and soap room, the examination shed is the temporary yamen of the school official according to the various provinces, the annual examination and the scientific examination presided over by the student officer are also in this examination shed, there is a gate on both sides of the examination shed, there is a courtyard in the gate, the Confucian children who should be examined are focused on waiting for the roll call here, through the mainland courtyard to the north is the hall hall, Shaoxing prefect Xu Shijin sits in the lobby and takes the roll call, Di Bao recognized that he was correct, and then went to the Xu official to get the examination papers, and then went to the search office to listen to the search - after waiting for a moment, Zhang Yuan's name was reported, Zhang Yuan stepped forward to Xu Zhifu and saluted, Xu Zhifu nodded with a smile and said: "Zhang Yuan, this mansion is waiting to see your ink paper, go and get the examination paper." ”

Zhang Yuan received the examination papers, waved to Zhang Dai, Zhang Cao and others, and carried the examination basket alone to the search office to wait for the search and inspection, the search here is stricter than the county test, not only to undress and take off shoes, but also to dissolve the hair bun, after such a search, the Confucian children who should take the exam are disheveled, the shawl is scattered, carrying the examination basket and shoes like a thief, this is definitely insulting, this kind of exam will become obscene if you take it a few more times, and it is difficult to talk generously about integrity, no wonder the Ming Dynasty fell when the officials died less, But it turns out that the integrity of the literati has been worn out in the scientific examinations again and again, but this is also a helpless thing, cheating in the scientific field is not uncommon, full of tricks, it is not possible to strictly search and inspect, and it is unfair to other candidates to condone cheating, so I have to treat all candidates as thieves - "I hope that my government examination, the hospital examination, the township examination, and the general examination can be passed at one time, and I should not take off my clothes during the palace examination." ”

Zhang Yuan thought like this, untied his belt, took off his shoes, took off the net towel and was about to untie his bun, when the Ya Xu who was in charge of the search said: "No need, Zhang Gongzi can enter." ”

Zhang Yuanxin said: "This Yaxu recognizes me, it's very good, this bun dissolves and cleans up his troubles." Then he nodded to the Ya Xu and put on a net towel - a Confucian boy on the side was tying his loose hair in a knot and stuffing it in his hat, and when he saw that Zhang Yuan was not unraveling his hair, he shouted "unfair", and the Ya Xu shouted: "What is unfair, this Zhang Gongzi is the head of the trial case in Shanyin County, are you?" ”

The Confucian boy suddenly wilted, and muttered: "Can the head of the case not be searched, where is the rule?" ”

Although he just didn't untie his bun, Zhang Yuan was still a lot more comfortable in his heart, everyone loves privilege, fastened his belt, put on the examination basket and entered, and heard the official behind him say loudly: "Take a seat with the right number, don't grab a seat." ”

Zhang Yuanxin said: "Isn't it allowed to grab a seat in the government test?" Then he picked up the exam paper from the examination basket and looked at the lantern of the dragon gate - "Zhentang South No. Gengshen Block A".

Shaoxing Mansion test shed is arranged in the form of gossip, a total of eight halls, each hall can accommodate 400 people, divided into four area codes of east, west, south and north, Zhang Yuan found the south number of Zhentang, and found Gengshen seat on the long table in rows of rows, because there are 100 seats in the south number, has exceeded 60 Jiazi number, so each seat number is divided into A and B, that seat B has someone, is an old Confucian boy with gray hair, seeing Zhang Yuan, politely arched his hand, and moved slightly to the side.

Zhang Yuan sat down on the bench, heard a "crunch" sound, these tables and stools are all set up by the workers, and they have to cut corners, the boards are thin, the workmanship is rough, and the tables and stools in each row are all nailed together with bamboo strips, and some can't be moved if you want to move some, one person moves, the whole row of tables and stools moves, and the examination room of this house test is not as good as the Shanyin County test.

The huge earthquake hall examination shed that can accommodate 400 people only hangs a lantern in front of and behind it, and those candidates with scattered cloaks enter the hall one after another, and they are really like ghosts in the dark, but fortunately, the sky has gradually brightened, and when the candidates basically arrive, the sky will be bright, and there will be an errand to carry the lantern away.

The candidates are crowded, the seats are narrow, and the table in front of everyone can only be divided into two feet, just to put an inkstone and exam papers.

After about a moment, I heard the sound of "ding", the dragon gate was closed and locked, and the earthquake hall examination shed was quiet for a moment, and everyone was holding their breath and concentrating, waiting for Lord Fuzun to come up with a question.

After another moment, a scribe entered the examination booth of the earthquake hall, followed by an errand officer, who held a question card, and the candidates in the audience stood up and stretched their necks to read the question, shouting: "The first question is 'Zhao Meng's place'——"

Zhang Yuan's eyesight is not good, and he can't see the title card clearly from a distance, and when he heard the title of 'Zhao Mengzhi', he said in his heart: "This is a sentence in Mencius, which is considered a truncated question, and the original sentence is 'Zhao Mengzhi is expensive, Zhao Mengzhi can be cheap', which means that the outside of the body is expensive, and the gain is not happy, and the loss is not worried-"

Zhang Yuanzheng was thinking about this "place of Zhao Meng", and heard the Confucian boy next to him report: "The second topic is 'The gentleman is righteous'. ”

When Zhang Yuan heard it, he was greatly surprised, this is exactly the topic that Wang Yingzi said he was going to make, "The gentleman is in righteousness, and the villain is in profit", out of the "Analects", haha, is it so easy to plagiarize the proposed questions, the scientific examination only has provisions on the punishment of cheating, taking the test on behalf of the exam, and leaking the exam questions in advance, and there is no way to do it about the proposed questions - the invigilator recited these two four-book questions aloud, and asked the Confucian children if they heard the questions clearly? All the Confucian children said, "I heard clearly", but one of the candidates shouted: "'The gentleman is righteous', and the question of 'Zhao Mengzhi' is too difficult, more difficult than the first two, which is unfair." ”

Because there are too many candidates in the Shaoxing government examination, they can't take the same exam in the same room, only the test is separated, and the same test questions cannot be used in the separate test, and if the questions are different, it is easy to be accused of unfair questions. Whoever says it is unfair, stand up, I will take him to see Lord Fuzun, and ask Lord Fuzun to give him another question - who, stand up! ”

Naturally, no one dares to stand up, and whoever stands up is unlucky, and will definitely be disqualified from the examination and forked out of the examination room.

For a while, the sound of grinding ink, the sound of rolling rolls, and the sound of whispering complaints, the exam went smoothly.

(To be continued)