As soon as he heard Shen Yichen's words, Zhou Xu was full of astonishment, he couldn't have imagined that he could learn the whereabouts of his old friend's daughter when he usually met with juniors to chat about calligraphy and painting.

"Yichen, how did you find out?"

"By chance, I met Miss Wan'er in Yingtian Qinhuai's painting boat."

After that, Shen Yichen told in detail about his acquaintance with Liu Wan'er, but omitted some details that were not convenient to tell.

In addition, Liu Qiu's self-defense chapter at the end, Shen Yichen did not mention it.

Because this is entrusted by Liu Wan'er, even if Shen Yichen thinks that it is a chicken rib chapter, but without the absolute certainty of overturning the case, he will not hand it over to anyone.

"The eunuch is really ruthless, he actually treats Brother Yongle's daughter like this!"

Becoming an official prostitute is indeed the ultimate humiliation for the Hanlin scholars, and it is too much to kill them directly.

"The younger generation's ability is limited, and they can't save Miss Wan'er from fire and water, and I hope that Lord Zhou can take care of one or two."

The reason why Shen Yichen was willing to talk to Zhou Xu was that he wanted him to take care of Liu Wan'er.

From the wisp of green silk note before leaving, you can feel the despair in Liu Wan'er's heart.

To be honest, with such a big gap in life, Shen Yichen was not sure that Liu Wan'er would be able to persevere. And I've already looked for a short-sightedness, maybe a second or a third time.

And now the old bustard in Qinglou sees that she is from a scholarly family, and in the spirit of the mentality of strange goods, she has built Liu Wan'er into a Qing person, who only needs to dance and play music, and does not need to serve people with sex.

But how long can this last? Once it comes to losing her body, with Liu Wan'er's heart, will she choose to die to maintain her innocence?

According to Shen Yichen's understanding, this is probably a high probability event.

Therefore, if you want to change or delay the tragedy, you can only ask for help from capable people, and at the same time, you are not afraid of Wang Zhen.

An old friend of Liu Qiu's fellow villagers like Zhou Xu, as well as the character of Wang Zhen who has just bumped into him, perfectly meets these two requirements, and he can only be told to ask for help.

"Okay, the old man must do his best to keep the daughter of Brother Yongle!"

Zhou Xu said this sentence emotionally, and even subconsciously clenched his fists because of excitement.

After talking about Liu Qiu, he was naturally in no mood to talk about poetry, calligraphy and painting, Shen Yichen understood that he needed a little time to calm Zhou Xu's mood at this time, so he said goodbye with interest.

Zhou Xu didn't keep Shen Yichen leaving, but just said that he wanted him to have free time and come to the mansion to visit at any time.

The first time they met, they could achieve such an effect, which far exceeded Shen Yichen's expectations of a familiar face.

Of course, there is also a lot of chance in this, if it weren't for Zhou Xu talking about books, calligraphy and painting, Shen Yichen wouldn't have had the opportunity to show his strengths. It is even more impossible to obtain the recognition of the other party in character through Liu Qiu's matter.

But then again, from the moment Shen Yichen saw Liu Wan'er jump into the river and choose to act bravely, many things were already doomed, and good people still have good rewards after all.

After visiting Zhou Xu and returning to the public mansion, Shen Yichen was able to settle down, after all, the most important examiner had already made a relationship, and if there was nothing important to do, he would basically study diligently to prepare for the township exam.

The originally planned visit to the teacher Lin Zhen's connections was also postponed by Shen Yichen. At present, there is no need for these bigwigs to come forward in the township examination, and they can only be used after they are admitted to the examination.

Another point is that it has now entered June, and it is only less than two months before the township exam, plus the delay in preparing for the exam, there is not much time left for Shen Yichen, and he does not have enough energy to manage these networks.

More than a month is not a long time, but it is not a short time. During this time, except for the occasional visit to Zhou Xu's Mansion, Shen Yichen basically studied in the public mansion to improve his knowledge as much as possible.

Because in addition to the four books and five classics that must be examined, the township examination also needs to test poetry and strategy.

Poetry is not a new thing, Shen Yichen can barely keep up with his level now, at least it will not become an obvious shortcoming of the imperial examination. As for this kind of thing, Shen Yichen hadn't studied it before, but seriously speaking, it couldn't be called a shortcoming.

The reason is that the policy theory is mainly about economic history, current affairs, politics and other aspects, and it does not have strict stylistic restrictions like Baguwen, which allows candidates to have a little room for free play.

The most important point is that the policy theory is very similar to the form of "argument" in later generations, Shen Yichen is very experienced in this way of answering, and the only thing he pays attention to is the content of his own answers, so as to prevent being disturbed by the thinking of later generations and writing taboo things.

In this way, the time came to the ninth day of August, the day of autumn.

Almost in the second half of the night, Shen Yichen had already finished washing, sorted out the necessary examination equipment, and prepared to take the Gongfu carriage to Shuntian Gongyuan.

Before leaving, Ah Niu was sent to the door of the mansion, and he originally wanted to accompany Shen Yichen to go with him, but this idea was categorically rejected by Shen Yichen.

Just kidding, I didn't let anyone accompany the boy when I tried it, but now I have reached the stage of lifting people, are I so vulnerable?

In the Ming Dynasty, there were a total of 15 township test tribute institutes, among which the two Jinggong institutes of Shuntian and Jiangnan were extremely large-scale, and could accommodate tens of thousands of people at peak times.

The stars were shining, accompanied by the light of the torches and candles, and the talented students from all walks of life were like rivers flowing into the sea, rushing towards the direction of Shuntian Gongyuan, and soon the carriage was blocked and could not move, and Shen Yichen had to get out of the car and walk.

Following the crowd rushing to take the exam, after walking for about half an hour, Shen Yichen came to the square in front of Shuntiangong Hospital.

Really being here, Shen Yichen felt what it means to be a vast sea of people, the entire front square was already densely packed with talents rushing to take the exam, and the tall lanterns in their hands were simply shining with the stars in the sky.

That's probably close to 10,000 people......

Shen Yichen couldn't help but sigh in a whisper, although the children's test was three times, it was estimated that there were seven or eight thousand people. But that's the total number of people who went to stay and stayed, and the maximum number of people in a game was only two or three thousand.

And this time it is a unified examination of nearly 10,000 people, and the impact of such a scale is naturally not the same.

Before the Ming Dynasty was orthodox for nine years, there was no pre-examination for the township examination, and theoretically as long as there was a talent and fame, you could sign up for reference. Therefore, this has led to the fact that the talents who have not been selected in the previous few sessions will be registered for reference countless times until they are selected.

In addition, in the early and middle periods of the Great Unification Dynasty, most of them were in the stage of upward development, and the number of scholars also increased simultaneously. Together, there are more and more candidates for the township examination, and finally there is a scale that is close to 10,000 people today.

It is precisely because of the large number of examiners who are overwhelmed that in the ninth year of orthodoxy, Ming Yingzong decreed that all candidates must participate in the preliminary examination, which will be selected by the examiner, and those who pass will be allowed to participate in the township examination.

Through the pre-examination selection, the number of township exams was suppressed. However, Shen Yichen just met the last township test before the pre-test was carried out, so he could see such a grand occasion today.

Not only Shen Yichen sighed, but some of the students who came later were also shocked when they looked at the crowd in the square.

"I'm Di Niang, there are too many people, it's worthy of the two Jinggong Courtyards."

Obviously, this is also a new talent showman, the first time he participated in the township test, just like Shen Yichen, he has never seen a big scene.

"With so many students taking the exam, I don't know how many of them can be lifted in the end."

When a person next to him heard this, he echoed in a sighing tone.

At this time, it seems to be very lively, but after the exam, how many people are happy and how many are worried?

"There is no one out of ten."

A gray-haired old talent replied with a little sadness.

In fact, if there is no one out of ten, it is still a high acceptance rate, based on the statistics that Shen Yichen saw from later generations, the admission rate of the imperial examination township examination in the Ming Dynasty was about 4 percent.

That is to say, out of a hundred talents, only four can finally have the last laugh.

"Alas......"

This sentence did not contain one out of ten, which made the students, who were still a little excited and excited, lose their emotions in an instant, and some of them sighed.

Everyone wants to be able to carp and jump over the dragon gate, in fact, most of today's high-spirited scholars will become foils.

As the sky gradually brightened, the time for the township examination was coming, and I saw that at this time, the gongs and drums were noisy, and some officials signaled loudly: "The outer curtain official has arrived, and all the beings have avoided it!" ”

In the distance, a group of officials swarmed in, dismissed the students waiting in the square, and opened a main road out.

At the same time, behind this group of road-opening officials, there was a row of sign-raising officials, in addition to the regular silence and avoidance, there were more than a dozen official rank cards, and the scene could be described as very grand.

Holding the card from far to near, Shen Yichen saw the text on the official title card clearly, there are different levels of officials such as the Shuntian Mansion Yin, the Supervision of the Imperial History, the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, etc., and they will jointly act as the outer curtain officials of the Shuntian Township Test.

A group of officials walked in front of the reference students with high eyes, looking at this majestic posture on all sides, and many people showed envy in their eyes.

If you are selected, you can become a scholar class, and only if you are promoted can you be qualified to be an official and become the ruling class.

If you want to be as majestic as them, you have to look at the next few days of exams.

When the outer curtain invigilator arrived, the dragon gate of Suncheon Gongyuan was also opened, and the candidates began to be inspected and entered.

The inspection of the township test is several times stricter than that of the children's test, except for the grass rolls, rolls and pen inkstones that have been printed, not a word of paper is allowed to be brought in.

In addition, the body search is also absolutely strict, I take the initiative to take off my clothes, hold a pen and inkstone in my left hand, and hold my clothes and socks in my right hand, and stand in line in the corridor to listen to the roll call.

Only by calling your name can you walk up to the inspector and be searched by two military servicemen. The whole process often takes several hours, and many candidates have already shivered from the cold, and they can't survive if they are not in good health.

At the same time, on the periphery of the Shuntian Gongyuan, there were also many onlookers.

They didn't show up to see anything else, but to see the white pigu after the scholars took off their clothes. After all, this group of scholars and literati usually pay attention to etiquette, and they usually don't see such an insulting scene.

Compared with Yingtian Tongzi, although several of Shen Yichen's poems were transmitted to Jingshi, no one knew his appearance, so he was not eye-catching in the crowd this time.

It wasn't until the word "Shen Yichen" was shouted out by the military service that it attracted a lot of people's sideways, and many people secretly muttered in their hearts, could this Shen Yichen be the Shen Yichen who wrote poems such as "Linjiang Immortal" in Ying Tianfu?