Zhou Zhen is a thin old man, about fifty years old, with scorched skin and not amazing appearance, he looks like an old farmer who farms, but he is a famous Confucian in Qizhou.

This time, he was transferred to Pingjiang Mansion by the Imperial Court Rites Department to serve as the chief examiner of the examination, and the pressure was also very great, after all, Pingjiang Mansion was full of talents, and he was afraid that he would not judge well and be ridiculed.

Therefore, he has two principles in his review of the papers.

The first is the principle of being as cautious as possible, being cautious, cautious, and cautious, and never misjudging a candidate.

The second is the principle of trusting colleagues, trying to respect the marking and judgment of the examiner and the deputy examiner, discussing anything with everyone, and abandoning the style of personal arbitrariness.

It was these two principles of his that earned him respect.

At this time, Zhou Zhen was paying full attention to marking the test papers, and each test paper was marked, including two examiners and two deputy chief examiners.

At this point, the examiner is really embarrassed, and almost every one of the remaining 100 test papers can be tested, but the examiner has to eliminate another half, which seems very cruel, but there is nothing to be done, after all, there are only fifty places.

At this time, someone knocked on the door, and Zhou Zhen put down his pen and said, "Come in!" ”

The door opened, Zhang Ruoying and Yue Qing walked into the room, and Zhou Zhen smiled and said, "Is there something wrong with the two sects?" ”

"I heard Yang Jiao say just now, he clicked on the papers of the boy's exam, it seems that the number is wrong, we want to count it again."

Zhou Zhen was a little surprised in his heart, but he still nodded and agreed, he knew very well that the children's test involved the vital interests of the counties and the political achievements of officials, which was extraordinary, and he understood the feelings of the two very well.

On Zhou Zhen's desk, in addition to the test papers of hundreds of ordinary adults, there is also a stack of papers for the children's test.

Zhou Zhen pointed to the test paper of the boy's test and said: "It's all here, I haven't touched it yet, just count the two!" ”

Zhang Ruoying was also not polite, and gave half of the volume to Yue Qing, and the two counted it twice, Zhang Ruoying said: "I have twenty-six copies here, what about you?" ”

"I've got twenty-three here!"

The faces of the two changed, and there was really one missing.

Zhou Zhen also saw a hint of clues, it seems that there is one less test paper, what is going on?

Zhang Ruoying flipped through it again, and the two exchanged glances, and sure enough, the volume was gone.

Zhang Ruoying was very annoyed in her heart, she was also a teacher of the Fuxue, and she was the deputy chief examiner of the hall, is it interesting to do such a despicable little action?

Yue Qing knows Zhang Ruoying very well, he has a big temper, an upright personality, and speaks mercilessly, Yue Qing was afraid that Zhang Ruoying would say something ugly, so he preemptively said to Zhou Zhen: "There was a boy's test paper before, and Deputy Chief Examiner Zhang said to take a good look at it, it is estimated that he forgot it, and it should still be there with him." ”

"Really?"

Zhou Zhen actually heard some rumors, this Deputy Zhang has a bad reputation, many people say that he is deficient in morality, and he is actually missing a paper for the children's exam, it seems that this matter is not so simple as forgetting, there are some grievances hidden in it.

Zhou Zhen walked to the door and said in a loud voice: "Please come over for a while." ”

After a while, Zhang Xian walked over with a smile, he glanced at Zhang Ruoying and Yue Qing, and pretended to be surprised: "Why are the two professors here?" ”

Zhang Ruoying said nothing with a gloomy face, and Yue Qing smiled: "We want to take a look at the previous volume again, but we found that it was not here, and it was borrowed by Zhang Jiaoyu last time......"

Zhang Xian slapped his head, "Oops! In my drawer, I actually forgot, look at my memory, almost broke the big thing, I went to get it right away. ”

Zhang Xian went in a hurry, Zhou Zhen is also a sophisticated person, how could he not see Zhang Xian's exaggerated expression.

Zhang Xian secretly withheld the paper, obviously not wanting the candidate to come out.

At this moment, Zhou Zhen was a little interested in this candidate, and he could actually let the dignified deputy chief examiner do such a thing.

After a while, Zhang Xian took the exam papers and said apologetically: "I'm really embarrassed to mix with a bunch of papers that have fallen off the list!" ”

Zhang Ruoying didn't bother to pay attention to him, turned around and left, Yue Qing smiled, "Then don't bother Master Zhou, let's leave first!" ”

He also went out, Zhou Zhen took the paper, looked at the score on it, and said with a smile: "The two examiners have given Shangjia, and Zhang has given Shangshang, it seems that there is still a lack of Qi Zhu's score, I'll take a look first, and I'll send it to Qi for the main exam later, and there will be no other things, so it's troublesome for Zhang to run away." ”

Zhang Xian's face could not hide the look of embarrassment, he didn't know that this paper was Fan Ning's exam paper, but he could see that this exam paper was answered by the county magistrate of Wu County.

Although he is a teacher of Fuxue, he is biased towards Changzhou County, and his brother is discredited in Wuxian County, and he is unwilling to let this Wuxian county scholar obtain the qualification of a tribute scholar.

It's a pity that he is not the main examiner, if he is the main examiner, he will definitely be the first to brush off this paper.

"Where! Where! The examiner was busy first, and I went back. ”

He exited the room, thinking for a moment in his heart, this matter had to be told to several inquisitors in Changzhou County, and when the county order asked him in the future, he could also have an explanation.

He also turned and walked away quickly.

．．．．．．．．

On the last day of the examination, the restaurants in Cheung Chau were lively again, and many scholars who went home after the exam returned to Cheung Chau County on this day.

The argumentative questions and countermeasures questions explained this time are relatively easy to play, which makes the candidates generally feel good.

Every candidate is waiting in Cheung Chau County with hope, waiting for the moment when the results will be released tomorrow.

Fan Ning did not live in the Autumn Leaf Temple anymore, but in Dong Kun's home.

Dong Kun's uncle is Dong Qian, the prefect of Pingjiang, his father served as the editor of the history museum in the imperial court, and he belonged to the Qingshui official and had no real power, but the Dong family was a famous family in Pingjiang Mansion.

Dong Kun's father produced two jinshi, which made the second half of Mrs. Dong's life glorious for more than ten years.

But at the same time, it also puts a lot of pressure on the juniors.

"My uncle and my father are both Jinshi, you say that if I can't pass the exam, what will my family think of me?"

Dong Kun was really a little restless in the past two days, at first he thought he had done well in the exam, but yesterday he suddenly found that he had made a low-level mistake in the meditation question, and missed a few words, which gave him a heavy blow and made him very depressed.

Dong Kun knew in his heart that the competition in this test was so fierce that he was likely to miss out on the competition.

Fan Ning understood his chagrin, smiled and comforted him: "You are only fifteen years old, and your father was only admitted to the Jinshi at the age of thirty, do you want to surpass your father at the age of fifteen?" ”

"I didn't want to surpass my father, but at least I can pass the exam!"

"Since you didn't want to surpass your father, what's the point of you taking the exam, and you're not going to be on the list in the capital next year?

I think it's not a bad thing if you don't take the exam this time, give you three years to consolidate the foundation well, you're the same as Lin Hong, the foundation is relatively weak, if you take the exam too early, you will ignore the foundation. ”

"Well said!" There was a compliment behind him.

Fan Ning turned around, only to see a forty-five or sixteen-year-old middleman walking behind him, tall, with fair skin, eyebrows and eyes vaguely similar to Dong Kun, also a square face, but his eyes were more keen.

He wears a half-worn white robe, a leather belt around his waist, and a gauze hat on his head.

Dong Kun hurriedly got up and whispered, "Uncle! ”

It turned out that this middle-aged man was Dong Qian, the prefect of Pingjiang, and Fan Ning saw him for the first time.

He hurriedly bowed and saluted, "Junior Fan Ning see Uncle Dong!" ”

Dong Qian nodded and smiled gently: "You are Fan Ning, I have heard of your name for a long time!" ”

Without waiting for Fanning to speak modestly, he waved his hand, "Sit down!" ”

Fanning sat down.

Dong Kun didn't dare to sit down, and stood aside with his hands down.

Dong Qian said with a smile: "I have a good relationship with Ouyang Xiu, he wrote to me two years ago, asking me to take care of you, I have been paying attention to you, in fact, you don't need my care, you yourself have performed very well." ”

Fan Ning was awe-inspiring in his heart, it turned out that this Dong Governor also knew about his affairs in the capital, he quickly glanced at Dong Kun, and saw that he looked calm, and was not surprised by his uncle's words.

Fan Ning couldn't help but sigh secretly in his heart, these officials and eunuchs are all very sincere, and they know their details, but they have never mentioned it.

Dong Qian saw the emotion in Fan Ning's heart, and he smiled slightly: "Don't blame Senior Brother Dong, I don't allow him to talk nonsense, and the Dong family and the Zhu family have a marriage, presumably you don't know." ”

Fan Ning knew about this, Zhu Pei told him, and from this marriage, Zhu Pei also became Dong Qian's elder.

Fan Ning smiled, "Everyone has their own secrets, and I won't blame Senior Brother Dong." ”

"Fanning, you are very angry, even more intelligent and calm than adults, and you also have a perception that is different from ordinary people, am I right!"

Fan Ning's heart suddenly pounded, what did Dong Zhifu mean by this, did he know that he could predict the future?

"I don't understand what Governor Dong is referring to?"

"I'm talking about the question!"

Dong Qian smiled slightly, "You not only bet on the county test questions, but also on the countermeasures of this test, which is amazing!" ”

Fan Ning's heart was relieved, it turned out to be a charge, he smiled and shook his head, "The county test question is actually not a charge, I found the law of the county school's question, as for the poem question, don't hide it from Uncle Dong, Gao County Ling has a good relationship with me, and gave me a hint of the Dragon Boat Festival." ”

"What about solving the test questions? How do you explain that? Dong Qian still asked with a smile.

"When today's son is very concerned about the people's livelihood, under the influence of the Son of Heaven, the local government's solution will also be biased towards the people's livelihood, I found that the Pingjiang government's solution has not been tested for ten years, so I boldly speculated that this year's countermeasures will involve agriculture, I can only say that I guessed by luck."

Dong Qian laughed, "How can there be so many lucky things in the world, why don't you take a chance and guess the solution to the test questions in three years?" ”

Without waiting for Fanning to answer, he waved his hand and smiled: "Just kidding you, the list will be released tomorrow, I have a gut feeling that you will definitely be on the list tomorrow." ”

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