In the blink of an eye, in November, the cold wind was bleak, the breath of winter enveloped the capital, everyone changed into thick winter clothes, and the shops also added curtains to resist the cold, and the whole capital seemed to become bloated.

Early this morning, Su Liang was freezing in the yard and jumping to his feet, constantly breathing hot air into his hands.

"Hurry up! I'm going to freeze to death. ”

Fan Ning brushed his teeth in the room, and said vaguely: "Who told you to be in such a hurry, you go now, the examination hall is not open, and you are not waiting in line outside?" ”

"Go early, I heard that you won't get the dung number, otherwise you will be drawn next door to the toilet, who can still have the heart to take the exam!"

Fan Ning put the soft branch of brushing his teeth in the water cup, wiped the corner of his mouth with a towel, and said lazily: "You are actually for this reason, I really convinced you, didn't I tell you?" The provincial test is not the same as the solution test, it is not taken in the examination institute, it is in the tent of the northern military camp. ”

Su Liang suddenly rushed to the door of the room and said, "When did you tell me about this kind of thing?" ”

Fan Ning shrugged his shoulders, "Then you forgot it yourself, last time you took me to visit Ouyang Xiu, Ouyang Xiu said it to you personally, I still remember it very clearly, but you forgot!" ”

"Please! I was so nervous in front of Ouyang Xiu that I couldn't speak, my mind was blank, I didn't know what he said from beginning to end. ”

Su Liang found that it was warm in Fanning's study, so he simply squeezed in, and said with a smile: "What else did Ouyang Xiu say at that time, tell me about it!" ”

"I don't remember clearly, it seems to encourage you to be pragmatic in your writing, and not to pursue those fancy things."

"He is worthy of being the leader of the literary world of the Great Song Dynasty!"

Su Liang let out a long sigh and said: "A little person like me can teach pure and approachable, compared to me, those arrogant professors in the county school are just a pile of garbage!"

Fan Ning was a little speechless, Ouyang Xiu was polite to him Su Liang, was it because of himself, why couldn't this guy figure it out?

"Senior brother, I'm already fine!" Li Dashou's voice came from the courtyard.

"I forgot about him!"

Fanning sighed, "He's locked himself in the house all day, and I'm almost forgetting that he still exists." ”

"It's coming!"

Fanning put on a tight-fitting sheepskin jacket in his underwear, a sergeant's uniform on the outside, a leather belt, and a gauze hat.

"Let's go!"

He walked out of the room with Su Liang with his bookbag, Li Dashou also changed into a new scholar's clothes, compared with when he first came to the capital, he was obviously a little haggard, and his face was listless, and when he saw Fan Ning coming out, he couldn't help but yawn.

Seeing that his eyes were dark and his spirit was sluggish, Fanning couldn't help but shake his head and ask, "When did you write last night?" ”

"Probably..... Two watches! ”

"Nonsense!"

Su Liang glared at him and said, "I got up at the fourth watch last night to go to the toilet, and your light was still on!" ”

"I'm that.... That ....." Li Dashou squeaked and couldn't speak.

Fan Ning has already said how many times he has been about Li Dashou, he must be tempered, otherwise he will be quick and not reach, Li Dashou has always accepted it with an open mind, but he resolutely did not change, after a long time, Fan Ning was too lazy to talk about him again.

He waved his hand, "It's not too early, let's go!" ”

The three of them left their residences and rode an ox cart to the examination institute to register for the imperial examination.

The examination institute can accommodate thousands of people to take the examination at the same time, which is obviously far from enough for nearly 100,000 scholars, who used to be distributed in multiple places at the same time, and it happened that the Beida camp in the capital was vacant this year, so the provincial examination will be held in the Beida camp next spring.

However, the registration office was still in the examination institute, and the three of them rushed to the examination institute, only to see that there was already a crowd in front of the examination institute, and at least tens of thousands of people rushed to register.

Fan Ning saw at least dozens of registration teams, so he said to Su Liang and Li Dashou: "The registration of each state must be concentrated together, it is impossible to report separately, we will look for it separately, and gather here after finding it!" ”

The two agreed, and the three of them went their separate ways, and after only a moment, Su Liang ran back and beckoned to Fan Ning from afar, "Fan Ning, this way!" This way! ”

Fan Ning hurriedly walked over, and Su Liang said with a smile: "It's on the far right, with several other state capitals in the south of the Yangtze River!" ”

"Where's Da Shou?" Fanning didn't see Li Dashou left and right.

"I'm here!" Li Dashou came out of the crowd next to him.

"Let's get over there!"

The three of them came to the front of a team on the very edge, where there were already hundreds of people, in addition to Pingjiang Mansion, Jiangning Mansion, Changzhou and Xiuzhou registration points are also here.

Provincial test registration is still relatively simple, because many candidates to come after the New Year, so it is allowed to register on behalf of the candidate, in fact, each candidate's information is sent to the capital by the state capital, as long as the candidate takes out the 'provincial test recommendation form' issued by the state government, and then finds the name in the roster, you can issue a floating ticket, that is, the admission ticket.

The scholars who participated in the provincial examination and the imperial examination, in addition to the scholars who raised people in this year's examination, are more old people in previous years, and their ages are very mixed, there are teenagers like Fan Ning and Su Liang who are only 12 years old, and there are also old people in their fifties and sixties, but most of them are around 20 or 30 years old, and there are many people with gray hair.

Su Liang gently poked Fan Ning with his elbow and pouted forward, "Look at those old men, I bet with you, they are just referring to the people, not here to sign up for their grandson!" ”

Not far in front of them stood three middle-aged men with half-white hair, each carrying a bookbag, and the three of them were talking to each other in a whisper.

"How's that, do you dare to bet?" Su Liang laughed in a low voice.

Fanning pouted, "Whoever bets with you, they are obviously referring to scholars!" ”

At this time, Fan Ning turned his eyes, but saw several men who looked like family members hurriedly walking towards a young man, who was Liu Ran, the son of Wujiang Shizi.

"Fanning, do you know him?" Su Liang whispered.

Fan Ning nodded, "I know, Liu Ran of Wujiang is the second place in the test for boys." ”

Fan Ning saw Liu Ran for the second time in the capital, he sent Zhu Pei back to his house ten days ago, and he happened to see Liu Ran at the gate of Zhu's mansion, but of course he was sitting in the carriage, and Liu Ran didn't see him.

"This person is the son of the Wujiang Liu family, and the Zhu family is an ally of the court, and his father heard that he is also a powerful official in the imperial court, you have to be careful with this person."

Su Liang had some things that were difficult to say clearly, so he could only remind Fan Ning implicitly, and Fan Ning smiled, "He takes his Yangguan Road, and I take my single-plank bridge, we should be well water and not river water." ”

"Hard to say! Just be careful. ”

At this time, Liu Ran also saw Fan Ning, his eyes lit up, he walked over quickly, hugged his fists and smiled: "I was still wondering if I would meet Brother Xian, and sure enough." ”

"Is Brother Liu's arm okay?" Fanning asked with concern.

"It's been done a long time ago, break a little skin, and it's out of the way!"

Liu Ran smiled heartily and turned his gaze to Su Liang, "This is ......."

"He's Su Liang, you should know!"

Liu Ran suddenly said, "It turned out to be Brother Su Xian, look up for a long time!" Long admiration! ”

Su Liang bowed and smiled: "I have also heard of Brother Liu's name for a long time. ”

Liu Ran ignored Li Dashou, who was standing behind, he lowered his voice and smiled: "I just got a piece of news, I would like to share it with the two virtuous brothers, this year's chief examiner is likely to be Ouyang Xiu!" ”

Fan Ning smiled and said nothing, of course he knew that this year's chief examiner was Ouyang Xiu, but he still admired Liu Ran's sensitive news.

Su Liang was taken aback, "Is the news accurate?" ”

Liu Ran nodded, "It won't be officially announced until December, but judging from all indications, it should be him." ”

Su Liang looked back at Fan Ning, Fan Ning understood what he meant, and explained with a smile: "The chief examiner of the provincial examination is not the same as the solution test, the provincial examination is generally prepared by the Ministry of Rites for several sets of questions, and then the final exam questions are designated by the Son of Heaven, which has nothing to do with the chief examiner, so even if he knows that Ouyang Xiu is the chief examiner, it actually doesn't mean much, first of all, he doesn't know the questions, and secondly, he can't help you with the fame exam, and he can't even help you with the papers, isn't it?" ”

"Brother Fan Xian is right, but if it is Ouyang Xiu's disciple, it will be different."

Liu Ran meant that Ouyang Xiu could know if it was written by his disciple when he read the article.

Fan Ning smiled faintly, "If Ouyang Xiu doesn't even have this bit of self-discipline, he will be the chief examiner in vain." ”

"Brother Xian is right, it's that I'm thinking too much."

Liu Ran smiled, he hesitated, and then said to Fan Ning: "There is also news to tell Brother Xian, I saw Lu Ji just now, he was recommended by Xuanzhou to participate in the Tongzi Provincial Examination." ”

After speaking, he arched his hand to Fanning and went to the front to get the floating ticket, someone had already registered for him, he just went to get the floating ticket.

Looking at Liu Ran's back and walking away, Su Liang whispered: "This person's scheming is very deep!" ”

Fanning nodded, "It can be seen that he actually told the examiner that he seems to be very generous, but in fact it is meaningless, he is very good at grasping proportions, if you can't be friends with him, it must be a fierce rival!" ”

"Fan Ning, didn't Lu Ji lose the election of a county magistrate in Pingjiang Mansion? Why did you go to Xuanzhou again? Su Liang asked suspiciously.

Fanning sneered, "He has a grandfather with a sharpened head, how can he be willing to fall off the list!" ”