The first and second sessions of the government examination are the same as the county examinations, and there are no candles, that is, they will hand in the papers when it gets dark, and no candles will be issued. When Du Jinning and Huang Chengming stayed in Qi Mansion, the first round of the government test ended smoothly.

Back in the house, Zhou Dongping ate and bathed. At this moment, his master and disciples began to screen the test papers, and the dirty papers, taboo papers, etc. were all deposed one by one, and then the remaining test papers were preliminarily reviewed. After the initial review, the excellent papers they selected were handed over to Zhou Dongping's case. For the remaining test papers, two more masters will review them to avoid omissions.

These masters and disciples have made great achievements, only because they have failed to enter the jinshi after repeated attempts, and they have a certain talent, and their character is also recognized by Zhou Dongping, they can be invited to be masters or disciples. They are all people who talk to Zhou Dongping about learning all year round, and they are familiar with each other and close to each other in terms of conduct, knowledge and preferences. And because they are both prosperous and lose with themselves, their interests are the same, and they will not do anything that harms Zhou Dongping's interests, so Zhou Dongping is very relieved that they will do the preliminary examination of the government examination papers.

After sorting out the housekeeping, Zhou Dongping sat down and began to read the papers.

Due to the large amount of marking and the tight time, these people have practiced a set of efficient marking skills since they made the county order and organized a county examination every year, that is, to look at the first question first, if the first question is written smoothly and fluently, and the written article has a certain level, they will look down on the second question. If the first question is not written in his eyes, then the test paper will be directly disgraced. No matter how fanciful you write the second question, you won't have a chance to get it.

But six or seven thousand test papers, even if the master and the disciples have been reviewed in the first place, for the sake of fairness and justice, forty percent of the test papers are still sent to Zhou Dongping's desk. Zhou Dongping was a serious and diligent person, and he was extremely serious about reading the papers, until the drum of the third watch sounded, and he couldn't support it, so he slept for a while under the persuasion of Li Tong, and continued to read the papers after getting up at dawn.

After nervously marking the papers for three days, Zhou Dongping finally selected the first and second class test papers.

The number of people admitted to the county examination is 50 in small counties and 100 in large counties, and appropriate adjustments can be made according to the number of people who take the examination in that year, but the fluctuation is not large. The number of admissions for the prefectural examination is not fixed, and it is basically twice the number of admissions for the prefectural examination. If 50 talents are to be recruited during the college examination, then the number of students admitted to the government examination is 100. These 100 are divided into the first and second classes. The top 10 are Class A.

"Dong Weng, how is this first-class ranking recorded?" Li asked Zhou Dongping together.

Since Du Jinning handed in the papers and left the exam, Zhou Dongping's strange mood seemed to have ended at that time, and there was no abnormality after that. And on Du Jinning's test paper, he also wrote a big "medium" character.

It's just that Li Tong has also been reading the papers with Zhou Dongping these days, and he looked at it and found that none of the thousands of test papers was comparable to Du Jinning's. Not only is it not comparable, but there is no one who is about the same level as him. In his opinion, this first place is none other than Du Jinning.

It's just that Zhou Dongping seems to have a negative attitude towards this matter, and these days he has made some evaluations on some test papers, and he has also used them to compare with the articles of some people such as Fang Shaohua and Liang Xiankuan, but he has never mentioned Du Jinning's articles.

This made Li Tong's heart lift.

As a chief examiner, the most taboo thing is to judge unfairly. It would be fine if Du Jinning's article was similar to that of other candidates, but now he is obviously a lot higher than others, if he is not taken first, I am afraid that there will be trouble.

Li Tongtong asked this at this time, just under the guise that if Zhou Dongping did not take Du Jinning as the first, he would have to persuade him. After all, as a master, he has the obligation to persuade the owner not to make mistakes.

Zhou Dong didn't raise his head, as if he was saying something insignificant: "Naturally, it's Du Jinning." Do you have any other candidates besides him? ”

“……”

Li felt that the punch he had been brewing for a long time had melted into the air before it could be struck, making him very depressed.

"Dong Weng, aren't you ......" Li Tong felt that if he didn't ask clearly, he would have to be depressed. But as soon as these words came out, he felt that he didn't know how to ask.

"What is it?" Zhou Dongping raised his head and looked at Li Yiyi, with a funny look on his face, "Do you think I don't like him very much, so I don't think I will take him first?" ”

Li Tong nodded: "Exactly." ”

Zhou Dongping showed a melancholy look: "There is an incident in the past that makes me very unkind to his teacher. But that was twenty years ago, and I can't afford to be unjust because of a personal vendetta. I did that, and I fell behind, and I happened to be looked down upon by him, which also proved that the man's choice was right. My principles don't allow me to do that. Of course, if there is a paper that is better than him or comparable to him, I would happily rank him second. Unfortunately not. ”

With that, he lowered his head and went on doing his thing.

Although Li Tongtong didn't understand what Zhou Dongping meant, Zhou Dongping had no intention of elaborating, and he didn't ask. He only needs to know that Zhou Dongping did not make an unfair judgment on the government test because of personal grudges, and this is enough.

He didn't follow the wrong person.

"Then I'll copy out the list and let the officials post the list." He said.

"Okay." Zhou Dongping said, "The rankings are in the order of the test papers, from top to bottom.

Li walked over together, and saw Du Jinning's test paper, which was placed on the top.

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, and he copied out the list in the order of the test papers, and watched the people post the list in person.

Du Jinning was reading leisurely in the small courtyard behind the bookstore, when he saw Lu Xiaobei rushing in from outside, and shouted loudly: "Young master, young master, you have won the first place." Young master, first place. ”

In the past two days, it is estimated that the list will be released, Lu Xiaobei and Wang Fulai take turns to stay in front of the school gate, for fear of missing the time to release the list. Du Jinning persuaded them not to go, saying that they would naturally know if the list was released, and it was the same if they knew it earlier and later, and the ranking would not change. The two were stunned and didn't listen.

The hard work pays off, as soon as Lu Xiaobei saw an errand officer coming out with a red list today, he immediately came up, and finally saw that his young master's name was taken first in the middle.

Hearing that he was the first, Du Jinning was very surprised.

She asked, "Do you see clearly?" Is it really the first? ”

"What else can be wrong with that? I've also asked others to verify it, and it's really the first, yes. "Lu Xiaobei Road.

The government test is the same as the county test, and there is no name on it, only a seat number. The group list is written around all the seat numbers, and the outer circle is written after the inner circle is written. People who can't understand the form of this list are very easy to get wrong.

Du Jinning didn't believe it, she stood up and walked outside: "I'll take a look." ”