Good luck with koi carp

Chapter 131
"Li'er, the journey to the imperial examination is very difficult. You have studied hard for many years, but you can only become a scholar. And as a daughter, if you decide to embark on this journey, it will be more difficult than that of a man. Have you thought about it? "


Facing his daughter who was kneeling straight in front of him, Chi Xiucai's expression was more serious than ever.


He did not reject his daughter's wishful thinking outright, but told her all the difficulties of the path she chose, allowing her to think about it carefully before making a decision. In the end, no matter what decision she made, as a father , he must be supportive.


Of course, the reason why Chi Xiucai did not object was because he was well aware of his daughter's talent.


Although she is not said to be talented or gifted, she is still somewhat talented in studying. Moreover, the child has a calm and well-behaved temperament, and can calmly study. Under his careful teaching since childhood, her level is not high enough to be admitted to the exam. It shouldn't be a problem to come back as a scholar if you work hard to become a scholar.


If his daughter can become a scholar, he will set up a female household for her, and his private school will have successors from now on.


Even though he had never been an official, after all he had been struggling in the imperial examination for many years, Chi Xiucai still had some sense of politics.


He knew that the empress ascended to the throne and opened the imperial examination to women, which was a feat that shocked the world, and what it meant behind it.


This means that from now on, as long as the empress does not fall quickly, then at least in the next few years, more than ten years, or even decades, there may be many women who will step onto the political stage.


But regardless of whether you are a man or a woman, if you want to be an official, you must first take the scientific examination, and the necessary prerequisite for taking the scientific examination must be to study. In this way, if his private school has a female wife and starts to recruit female students, there will definitely be a lot of potential, at least for his daughter in the future. The couple no longer have to worry about their livelihood.


Chi Li didn't know that her father was willing to let her take the imperial examination because he wanted her to be a first-year teacher in the future. She just realized that Chi's father was not opposed to her wanting to take the imperial examination and even had some support. , immediately climbed up the pole and solemnly declared his determination.


"My daughter is not afraid of hardships, just to be able to do something of her own, to honor our ancestors, and to make my parents proud of me!"


"Good pear..."


After hearing what her daughter said, Ms. Xu could not help but hug her tightly with a face full of emotion and distress.


She thought that her daughter had heard the rumors outside, so she suddenly decided to take the imperial examination, in order to shut up those people who had little vision and so that outsiders would no longer dare to look down on the Chi family.


This is all for their husband and wife, and for their family. How can this not move the mother? But thinking about the suffering that the child’s father has suffered in studying for exams over the years, and now that the daughter has to suffer it, I can’t help but feel sad. stand up.


This is indeed the reason why Chili woke up and took part in the scientific examination, but more importantly, she wanted to control her own destiny in this era.

You must know how lucky it is to meet the empress who came to power and opened the imperial examination for women. If you don't take advantage of this trend to rise to power, you would be a fool.


So Chili, who was not stupid at all, quickly seized this opportunity.


It's July now, and the summer is scorching hot.


As usual, the county examination is usually held in February every year, followed by the government examination, which starts in April every year, and the college examination, which is held twice every year, and those who succeed can obtain the title of scholar.


This year's county and government examinations have already passed, and only one college examination will be held at the end of the year. Logically speaking, even if Chili wants to take part in the imperial examination, he will have to wait until next year.


Fortunately, this year the new emperor ascended the throne and opened up the law, so various places rushed to prepare for the exam. There will be another county exam in about half a month, and a government exam will be arranged after two months. If there are those who think they are talented, they can After passing these two exams in succession and obtaining the qualification for child students, you can also try to take the college exam.


What Chili will take part in is the county examination in half a month.


Time was running out, so the family immediately started preparing for her.


Apart from teaching private school students, Chi Xiucai spent the rest of his time teaching his daughter. It was said to be teaching, but in fact it was emergency review before the exam.


The original owner had finished studying the Four Books and Five Classics. Chili inherited all the memories of the original owner, and naturally also completed the study of these mortal scientific knowledge. Not to mention the integration of Guangtong, she could memorize and write down all the textbooks, as well as the basic explanations. You know, relying on this knowledge alone is almost enough to cope with the county examination.


It doesn't matter if it's not enough. Chili still has time, she can learn.


This may be a very cliché cheat to her, but it is the truth. She is a fairy after all. Thanks to her powerful soul, Chili can have a photographic memory. Moreover, she is also quite smart and can do many things. Just do one thing and it will work, and draw inferences from one example.


Therefore, when reviewing lessons for his daughter, Chi Xiucai was often pleasantly surprised, and was even occasionally touched by some of her views. If he had some insights, over a period of time, he even felt that his knowledge had grown slightly.


No wonder the ancients often said that one can become a teacher by reviewing the past and learning the new. 1 This is the beauty of it.


Chi Li also feels quite novel about this kind of learning, probably because learning is not a difficult thing for her, and she can gain something almost every moment, so she does not feel boring, but is full of interest every day. Looking forward to gaining some new knowledge.


Especially at a certain moment, after she learned to learn and had a small epiphany, Chi Li became even more enthusiastic about learning.


She felt that mortal knowledge was really wonderful and could actually help her on her path. If she had known this, she should have studied more in the first place so as not to miss this good way to improve her cultivation.


In order to prepare for the exam, the father and daughter were teaching and studying, and one was working harder than the other. Xu could not help here and could only try to take care of their daily life so that her daughter did not need to worry about other things.


Half a month passed quickly or slowly in the blink of an eye during Chili's intense review.


She didn't notice it herself, but fortunately Chi Xiucai didn't forget to sign her up and asked a scholar friend to vouch for her.


There are rules for avoiding suspicion in the scientific examination. As a biological father and daughter, Chi Xiucai cannot vouch for his daughter, nor can he vouch for his own students. However, he has made dozens of taels of silver this year just by collecting guarantee fees from others.


In addition to the money required to hire someone to act as a guarantee, you also need to pay a registration fee to the government when registering, which is about [-] yuan, mainly to cover the cost of paper consumption during the exam.


Facing his daughter's curious gaze, Chi Xiucai smiled and said, "When you become a scholar in the future, you can also earn a deposit from this."


In the past, Chi Xiucai would never tell her daughter these things, but now that her child is going to take the imperial examination, Chi Xiucai will slowly teach her some things that she should know.


"Then I'm going to get rich." Chili said with a smile.


"We'll wait until you pass the exam. Let's continue studying." Chi Xiucai rolled the book in his hand into a tube shape and tapped his daughter's desk to signal her to continue reading.


"Good dad."


Chili immersed herself in books until the day before the exam was about to begin.


Their family is in the county and their ancestral home is here. If they want to take the exam, they don’t need to go anywhere else. They can just take the exam in Dayan County.


The county examination location is located in the county government office. You have to come and line up at about five o'clock in the morning to prepare for the entrance examination.


On the day of the exam, Chi Li woke up first before dawn.

Before she had time to call someone in to wash her up, she saw her mother leading a group of maids in, busily greeting her, washing her face and combing her hair, putting on new clothes specially made for today's exam, and feeding her breakfast.


"Mom, I can just eat it myself."


Seeing that Mrs. Xu wanted to put the spoon full of porridge to her mouth, Chili quickly reached out and took it, indicating that she could eat by herself.


Xu was too nervous to be like this. Not only her, but also Chi Xiucai kept talking about various exam precautions at the dinner table. Don't forget to bring any stationery, and be careful when doing the questions. Don’t remember to answer the questions yet. After you finish typing the draft, check it again to make sure it is correct before filling in the answers...


I wish I could go into battle myself and refer to it on my daughter’s behalf.


Chi Li knew that her parents were caring too much about her, so she didn't find it annoying. She just listened to whatever they said, until breakfast was finished. Seeing that it was getting late, Mrs. Xu finally helped her daughter to check if she needed to be taken care of. After confirming whether everything was complete, he and his husband took their daughter out.


In addition to Chi Li who had to take the exam today, Chi Xiucai also had to vouch for other students on the spot.


At the same time, there were several students in Chi Xiucai's private school who also had to take the scientific examination. Among them, he selected four more reliable ones to join his daughter on bail.


These four Chili knew each other, but they had met each other. On average, they were several years older than Chili. When they met the master's daughter, they just said hello briefly and didn't communicate much.


Looking around, Chili was the only woman in the entire county who came to take the exam. She felt like a conspicuous person in the crowd, attracting almost half of the audience's attention.


Some of them looked at her unkindly, and some even looked down upon her with unabashed disdain. They seemed to think that she was a woman who did not stay at home to take care of her husband and raise children. She actually ran out to show her face, and even wanted to take part in the scientific examination and looked down upon her.


Chi Li ignored this.


The most important thing for her now is the exam, not being distracted by those unimportant people.


"Brother Zhang, this is the little girl you have met before. Li'er, come here to meet your Uncle Zhang." Chi Xiucai found the old friend he invited to vouch for his daughter in the crowd, and hurriedly took his daughter over to follow him. People are treated with courtesy.


Chili obediently bowed to Zhang Xiucai: "Uncle Zhang."


Zhang Xiucai and Chi Xiucai have been friends for many years. They live in the same county and often visit each other, so they are familiar with each other's children.


At this moment, when he saw Chi Li standing tall and graceful in front of him, holding an examination basket and wearing a student uniform, he actually sighed: "Brother Chi has given birth to a daughter who is not worthy of being a woman."


"Don't take it seriously, don't take it seriously, Brother Zhang is exaggerating."


When a child is praised, it is obviously something that every parent likes to hear. Chi Xiucai waved his hand to signal his old friend not to praise the child so much, but he couldn't stop the smile on his face.


"It's not an exaggeration. In Brother Yu's opinion, Li'er's courage to have the heart to take the exam and take action for it is already more courageous than many people."


Even if Chi Li failed to get anything in the exam, her courage to be the first was enough for Zhang Xiucai to admire.


If not for saying that these two could become good friends, their enlightened views were exactly the same. If Zhang Xiucai didn't have a daughter in his family, Chi Li felt that maybe she wouldn't be so lonely today.


Soon, the admission time came, and the yamen door opened wide. Two teams of yamen servants stood on both sides, shouting loudly for the candidates to line up in an orderly manner.


Chili and the others came early and were at the front of the queue. It didn't take long before it was her turn.


Before admission, the yamen officer will check her age, name, place of origin, physical characteristics, and three generations of ancestry. After confirming that it is correct, she will ask the guarantor to prove it, and she will sign a mutual guarantee with the other four people who took the exam. If there is a cheater , five people sitting together.
After passing this level, they have to go through a round of body searches to make sure there are no small notes hidden on you.


Before sending his daughter here, Chi Xiucai was a little worried about how his daughter would pass the body search. It was not that he was afraid of being found out, but in the past, those who were searched were all county government officials, and all of them were men. If so, If they get close, won't his daughter's innocence be ruined?

However, when he arrived at the scene and saw the two maids waiting next to the Yamen servant, Chi Xiucai finally felt relieved.


It seems that since the imperial court has set a precedent for women's imperial examination, it will naturally make the necessary arrangements.


Sure enough, after checking her identity, Chi Li was led away by the two maids, entered a specially prepared cubicle, and was asked to strip off her clothes and inspect her whole body.


If an ordinary woman were to come, even if the yamen had been so considerate in preparation, she would still feel ashamed and angry. Chi Li didn't feel much at all. After completing the examination quite cooperatively, she put on her clothes and entered with the messy test basket. In the examination room.


The examination venue was a small, closed cubicle, invisible to each other. There was no need to distinguish between men and women, so Chili was arranged to enter the examination room according to the normal procedure.


The position she was assigned to was pretty good. It wasn't a noisy area, nor was it a very noisy area. Even the neighbors on the left and right were quite qualified. During the entire exam, Chili almost didn't hear any noise from them that would affect her.


There are five county exams, one exam every other day.


On the first day, two articles from four books were tested, and one poem was also required.


It’s not difficult. As long as you memorize the four books and understand their meaning, you can basically answer them. What’s difficult is how to find new ideas and exciting answers among the same answers. At least you have to answer so that the examiner can see you.


After reviewing the questions, Chili first made a rough draft on the scratch paper. After typing, she checked it again, and then polished it again. After polishing, she checked again. After confirming that the answer was correct, she carefully copied it on the answer sheet stroke by stroke, striving to avoid any mistakes. Typos and modification marks.


She had plenty of time, and she didn't plan to hand in the paper in advance, so she was very cautious in answering the questions, not trying to be fast, but just not making mistakes.


Fortunately, the original owner had a good foundation and her review was sufficient, so the whole answering process was quite smooth. Even writing poems, which is quite troublesome for most time travellers, is not a big problem for Chi Li.


Don't forget, strictly speaking, she is also an ancient person.


She is not an ignorant koi. When she was in heaven, Chi Li also loved to play with those talented flower fairies and book spirit boys. It was quite interesting for everyone to enjoy flowers and compose poems together.


Therefore, even if Chili's poetry writing skills cannot be said to be top-notch, he can still be praised as spiritual.


From the dawn of dawn to the darkness of the sky, the first exam that lasted all day finally came to an end.


Along with the sound of gongs and drums announcing the end of the exam, the door of the exam room, which had been closed all day, opened wide. A group of candidates filed out and merged with their relatives and friends who had been waiting for a long time outside the door. They asked questions and took them back with concern. Home.


Chili was also among them.


She carried the examination basket and walked along the crowd with a tired face. She didn't need to search hard, and she easily saw her carriage parked in the most conspicuous position.


Before she could walk over by herself, she was discovered in advance and her father led the two women to escort them into the carriage.


In the carriage, Ms. Xu was already waiting anxiously. When she saw her daughter coming in, she quickly greeted her and gave her water and food.


"Come on, Li'er is exhausted. Take a sip of hot tea first and then eat some snacks. The food has been prepared at home. You can eat it when you get back."


Chili didn't have time to speak, so she stuffed the snacks into her mouth while drinking tea from her mother's hand.


After taking exams all day, she was really hungry.


Meals are provided at noon in the examination room, but they need to be purchased for money. Of course, candidates can also bring their own dry food, but the dry food will be broken into pieces and inspected by the yamen before being brought into the venue.


Chili was neither short of money nor dry food, but she couldn't bear it. She took the questions so seriously that she lost track of time. By the time she realized that she had forgotten to eat at noon, it was already almost time to leave the examination room. .


There was obviously no point in eating at this moment. Adhering to the principle that she would not starve to death even after one meal, she simply waited until she finished the exam and went out to eat before going home.


Then, before getting home, Chili was half-fed by her mother on the carriage.


After arriving home, she had another sumptuous dinner. After the meal, she was urged by her mother to take a bath and rest. If she had anything to do, she could wait until she woke up the next day.


Because Xu acted too vigorously and resolutely, Chi Xiucai could not say a word throughout the whole process. When Chi Li woke up the next day and took the initiative to go to calligraphy to see her father, she was asked to write down the questions she answered yesterday for him to review.


This was not difficult. It only took Chili half an hour to write down the answers and corresponding questions that she had spent all day writing yesterday.


Chi Xiucai took it, looked at it carefully, and after a long time he said: "That's a good answer. I dare to say that my son is about [-]% sure to pass, but this is only the first game, don't be proud, there will be more to come." Just to be cautious, we must not relax until the last moment.”


"Understood, Daddy."


Chi Li naturally understood the truth of her father's warning, so she continued to calm down her mind and stayed in the study room to study under her father's guidance.


The second exam is similar to the previous process.


Since only one female student from Chili took the exam in the county, the two body-searching maids seemed to have been specially prepared for her. Every time she went in after checking her identity, she could complete the body-searching and enter the venue as quickly as possible. There is no need to queue up outside like others.


In the second exam, one article from each of the Four Books and Five Classics is required, and poetry is also required.


Familiar process, familiar way of doing questions.


Chili did not forget to have lunch this time. She ate dry food brought from home. Mrs. Xu specially prepared peach cakes for her. She threw the peach cakes that had been broken into pieces into the bowl and poured them into the bowl. After soaking in the warm water provided in the examination room, it becomes a delicious peach cake paste.


After drinking up a bowl of glutinous rice, the warm food flows through the esophagus and into the stomach, giving people a feeling of fullness and satisfaction.


After eating and drinking, Chili felt much more energetic. She wiped the sweat from her forehead with a handkerchief and continued to work on the questions.


Being locked up in a small room to take an exam in the middle of summer is actually quite a test. Especially when the weather is hot, people tend to sweat easily. Coupled with the temperature emitted by some indescribable things, the whole The smell in the examination room is quite unpleasant.


Even Chi Li will inevitably feel a little wilted after a critical day here.


This was the lesson she learned in the first exam. Before the second exam, she asked her mother to prepare mint urgently. She crushed it into pieces and squeezed out the juice. Then she soaked the plain white handkerchief in it and took it out after it was soaked. Let it dry and bring it into the examination room to use as a mask, otherwise she might not be able to breathe.


Sometimes the five senses are too sensitive and the fish is quite helpless.


Overall, the second exam went quite smoothly, and Chili also passed the following third, fourth, and fifth exams smoothly.


However, after all the county examinations were completed, she soaked in the tub for more than an hour. Her mother was afraid that she would wrinkle, so she had to urge her several times before she got out of the tub.


Just after the exam is usually a time for candidates to relax, but this law is useless for students who are taking the imperial examination.


Because the county examination is over, the government examination will follow immediately.


The time is still quite tight, only two months to prepare for the exam, and the prefectural exam has to go to the prefectural city, and the time from the county to the prefectural city must be included. In other words, the actual preparation time is less than two months.


More importantly, in this prefecture examination, the opponents Chili has to face are not only the students who have passed the county examination this time, but also the students who have been squeezed out of every previous county examination and intend to continue to refer to them. The competitive pressure is very high.


Before the results were released, Chi Li was not sure that she had failed the county exam, but this did not prevent her from taking the time to continue reviewing her homework after the exam. Chi Xiucai even suspended classes at the private school and only concentrated on tutoring at home. daughter.


Fortunately, Chi Xiucai is not the only teacher in the Chi family private school. Two old boys are also employed in the school. It is enough to educate the children. Chi Xiucai's absence does not affect the operation of the private school.


And those students who have reached the level to take the scientific examination do not need to waste time in school during this period. Most of them choose to stay at home and study by themselves, or consult other famous teachers, or simply set off to Fucheng to prepare for the exam in advance. Adapt to the environment.


The Chi family plans to wait for their daughter's results to come out and then decide what to do based on the results.


You don't need to wait long, the county test results will be released in about ten days.


On the day when the results were released, the county government office was crowded with people who were eager to see the results. The Chi family also sent a literate boy to guard the results. As soon as he saw his young lady's name, he immediately came back to announce the good news.


At home, Chili was sitting at the table, breaking oranges to eat. Her father was sitting on the other side, seemingly calm, but actually making tea absentmindedly. Her mother couldn't sit still at all, walking back and forth in the room, muttering in a low voice. It says: "Bless the Bodhisattva, bless the Infinite Heavenly Lord, bless my son to win..." and the like.


I don't know how long it took, but there was a sudden noise outside the house, and then someone seemed to be shouting: "I'm hit, my lady is hit, my lady is hit!"


When Mrs. Xu heard the sound, she turned her head and stared outside with bright eyes. At first she was in disbelief, and then she was ecstatic: "I hit? I really hit!"


At this time, the boy who was sent to look at the results had already ran in with a face full of joy. He gasped and shouted loudly: "You won, Madam. Our young lady won No. 2 in the county examination. Congratulations, Madam." , Miss He Xi!"


"Hahahaha... Okay, okay, great, reward money, the whole government will reward you with a month's worth of money!"


Chi Xiucai seemed to have just realized it now. He suddenly stood up and laughed, and with a wave of his hand, he rewarded everyone in the family with money. In an instant, the entire Chi Mansion became beaming with joy, especially when the good news came from the Yamen. At this time, the joy went to a higher level.


The Chi family was happy, and so were the government officials who delivered the good news to the Chi family.


When their only daughter passed the county examination, the master of the Chi family was very generous and gave her a reward of 20 taels of silver. This was more than the rewards given by many other families combined.

　1. By reviewing the past and learning the new, one can become a teacher. This comes from Confucius in The Analects of Confucius.

　　The knowledge about the imperial examination in the article refers to the scientific examination model of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and a lot of the author's own nonsense is added in the middle, which cannot be verified.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)