Time was very fast, and it was the Chinese New Year's Eve of the sixteenth year of Wanli and the New Year's Day of the seventeenth year of Wanli.

Lin Daguanren's Chinese New Year's Eve vigil was spent with several Suzhou compatriots.

No accident, no accident, the emperor dismissed the New Year's Day court meeting again, and the ministers were happy.

Then the streets are full of people walking the streets and alleys to pay New Year's greetings, and people with rows of faces can enter the house, such as Lin Tai came to Wang Situ's house,

People who don't have a row can only post at the gate of other people's houses, for example, when Lin Tailai passed by Shen Shangshu's house in the Ministry of Rites, he threw a famous post into the courtyard and left.

The craze of collecting five blessings, which has begun for more than ten days, is still continuing.

This novelty, which was mainly popular among officials and scholars, is unclear to most people as to how it began.

Some people were given one when they rushed to the temple fair, some people were given one when they went home and passed the intersection, some people saw one mixed in a stack of worship posts, some people were given one when they checked out the restaurant restaurant, and some people found one from the crack in their own door.

The paper was folded and encased in an envelope, unaware of its contents until it was opened.

Then this Wufu activity gradually became popular, Lin Daguan as a famous "capable" person, most people are still very interested in Lin Daguanren's "daughter and one promise".

No matter how bad it is, after collecting all the five blessings, let Lin Daguan introduce Shen Shoufu, you can always do it, right?

Later, a large basket was distributed at the gate of the Lin Mansion every day, and each person was limited to one.

In the future, each Wufu poem manuscript will also be accompanied by a thin copy of "Wu Zhuangyuan Three Difficulties Gu Da Confucian", which is distributed to officials and senior scholars.

Lin Tailai is very satisfied with the popularity set off, compared to the efficiency of working hard to run Yaji, accumulating talent little by little, so the speed of brushing talent is much faster.

It only took twenty days, and now among the upper-level scholars in Beijing, who hasn't appreciated their New Year's poems? Who hasn't heard of the academic debate between himself and Gu Xiancheng?

Does anyone still question their own solution? Does anyone still question that he is not qualified for the title of the Yellow List?

Therefore, Lin Daguan's mood was very beautiful, and it was not until the Lantern Festival that Xu Chaofeng, the owner of the bookstore, came to settle the bill.

Xu Chaofeng skillfully pulled the abacus, and read in his mouth: "The first is 3,000 copies of "Wu Zhuangyuan Three Difficulties Gu Da Confucian", and the cost of urgent engraving plus paper, printing, and binding, erasing the odds, a total of 300 taels.

Then there was the urgent engraving and printing of 10,000 Wufu poems, as well as the cost of special paper, paint, and envelopes, plus the labor cost of festival distribution, and a total of 400 taels were promised after erasing the odds.

Together, these two items will benefit a total of seven hundred taels. ”

Hearing this number, Lin Daguan's face couldn't help jumping, seventy taels of krypton gold in twenty days, a little crazy.

The thousand taels borrowed from Li Chengliang were basically smashed in.

In addition to the plan to feast the scholars of the thirteen provinces, it is necessary to prepare to consume 1,000 taels.

In other words, in order to reduce the criticism of the imperial examination, the various reputations and reputations that have been brushed up in these two months have cost a total of at least 1,700 taels.

At today's prices in Beijing, you can buy five mansions with three into thirty or forty rooms!

With the cash in the current pocket of Lin Daguan, he can take it out, but there is nothing left after he finishes it.

Lin Daguan didn't want to make the financial situation tight, so he discussed:

"Xu Chaofeng, aren't you also from Suzhou? You can designate a trading place in Suzhou, and I will ask Suzhou to deliver you the seven hundred taels of silver.

Anyway, after you earn money in Jingshi, you still have to ship it back to Suzhou, so you can do it in one step. ”

Xu Chaofeng disagreed: "Such a large amount of money, if it is given to you on credit in Beijing, then the bookstore will have no capital to continue to operate." ”

In the end, after a long time, it was agreed to pay 300 taels on the Jingshi side and 400 taels on the Suzhou side.

The activity ended on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and finally 16 people collected the five blessings, basically all of whom were middle and low-level officials and scholars.

When it comes to the issue of public credit, Lin Daguan did not cheat from it.

It's just that the probability is not well controlled, and the original plan was to control about ten people, but I didn't expect it to exceed the estimate.

Then, on the pretext of preparing for the imperial examination, Lin Daguan postponed the next stage of the activity to March, and then discussed the question of what to promise and what to fulfill.

After that, Lin Daguan had no other chores, and there were only two things left in his life.

The first thing is to continue to feast on the scholars of various provinces and brush up on the reputation and face of the candidates; The second thing is to seize the time to review the writing method of Baguwen and practice the pen to find a feeling.

These two things filled his life, and more than half a month passed.

The general examination is a copy of the township examination, and it is also a three-game trial, the first one is on the ninth day of February, the second is on February 12, and the third is on February 15.

At the beginning of February, a few days before the exam, the imperial court suddenly announced a list of more than a dozen fellow examiners.

Then, at the first moment, the chief examiner, Xu Guo, and a dozen fellow examiners entered the inner courtyard of the Gongyuan Academy, and locked the door to cut off any communication with the outside world.

On the same day, Shoufu Shen Shixing summoned Lin Tai to Shen Mansion.

In the study, Shen Shixing didn't say a word and handed Lin Tailai a note.

Lin Tailai opened it and took a few looks, and there were three titles of "Four Books", so he understood it.

Shousuke suddenly gave himself three questions before the exam, what else could it be? Could it be that Shoufu is full of food and wants to take the test himself?

The general examination is the same as the township examination, it is said that there are three games, but in fact, the only important thing is the first one, and the main thing to take is the first one.

In the first session, there are three questions and four book questions, and four questions and five scripture questions, and candidates have to write a total of seven eight-strand essays of more than 300 words.

Among these seven eight-strand essays, the first one is particularly important, and many examiners are too lazy to read all the exam papers, and often only flip through the first essay and judge the papers.

Therefore, although the note in Lin Tailai's hand only has the first three "Four Books" titles, it is basically enough.

At this point, Lin Daguan didn't say anything pretentious like thanks, but said: "I will go back next time to prepare for the exam, so I will leave." ”

Shen Shixing advised: "It's good that you have read these topics yourself, and don't leak them out again."

Otherwise, the consequences are unpredictable and bring you uncontrollable risks. I'm sure you're smart, and you're sure to understand that. ”

"Yes, don't worry." Lin Tailai replied that he understood what Shen Shoufu meant.

If the topic is passed on to anyone, it will enter an uncontrollable state, and the heart is separated from the belly, and I don't know how many people he will pass it on.

If there is a scene of passing ten to hundreds, and the city is full of wind and rain, then the exam will definitely change the question temporarily.

So in order to minimize the risk, Lin Tailai had to rot the topic in his stomach and not tell anyone again.

In the end, Shen Shixing said: "Xu Guo's style is majestic and simple, don't be too fancy." ”

Needless to say anything else, Lin Tai came home to do the question, and slowly grinded out the best feeling length.

Then it's a shower and a change of clothes, waiting for the exam to arrive.

(End of chapter)