Xiangye

Chapter 205

"I'm so hungry!" After coming out of the rural examination room, looking at the sunset in the sky, Gao Wen spit all over his mouth: "It's finally over, this ancient imperial examination is really too inhuman."

Yes, after the third exam was completed and the papers were handed in, this year's autumn in Shaanxi finally came to an end.

After staying in the test house as small as a matchbox for another three days, eating cold and tasteless dry food, and sleeping on a small kang that could not be stretched, Gao Wen felt his whole body became stiff.

Because I stayed in the small dark room for a long time, and came out suddenly, even seeing the fiery sunset, I still couldn't open my eyes.

I don't know who designed the program of the imperial examination. It's really abominable. From the beginning to the end, candidates have to be locked inside for nine days.It’s better to take the college entrance examination for future generations. After the exam every day, you can go out of the exam room to eat, sleep, rest, and build up strength.

It's fine to be locked in, the key is that the food is really bad.The weather was hot, and the dry food brought into the examination room had deteriorated a bit by the third day, with a musty smell.Eating it in your mouth is like chewing wax.The most disgusting thing was that Gao Wen's test room was next to the kitchen, and the smell of the food came from three meals a day, and it was uncontrollable.

Three games and nine days, the spirit has been in a state of high tension, and the energy of the candidates has been completely exhausted.

After handing in the last exam, the scholars did not talk like they did when they finished the previous two exams, pointing the country and stimulating their writing.They all lowered their heads and carried the test baskets, and rushed forward, wanting to go back to the residence early to take a bath, change clothes, eat, and sleep.

The crowd moved forward silently, and the smell of sweat, feet, and bad breath filled the air, making people dizzy.

Gao Wen was still standing outside the gate of the Gong Yuan, looking up at the sunset, with tears in his eyes: "I'm so hungry, my mouth is fading out. I don't want to take this kind of exam again, never!"

"Gao Wen, I found you, why don't you want to do it again?" Someone grabbed his arm and asked with a smile.

Gao Wen looked back, but it was Yu Xingyan.

Behind him stood Shi Xianzhu with a blue-gray face. Mr. Shi was old and couldn't bear it after nine days of torture.

It's strange to say, but Boss Yu's face is flushed and he is full of energy, as if he has been beaten with chicken blood.

"Ah, it turned out to be Mr. Yu and Mr. Shi." Gao Wen hastily saluted, and shook his head with a wry smile: "I don't know how hard it will be in Qiu Wei, these three exams are really unbearable! Look at Mr. Yu In this case, did you do well in the last two exams?"

The last two exams were actually not that important. After the second exam, Gao Wen didn't meet with them, and went home to replenish his strength.After the third test, I decided to wait outside and wait for them to leave together.

Boss Yu: "General, general, huh, we'll talk about this later." Obviously, he has come out of the haze of colliding with Shi Xianzhu in the first round of answering questions: "This is not a place to talk, otherwise, let's find a place Drinking wine? The old man’s dry food has already been eaten at noon today, and he is really hungry.”

Gao Wen hesitated for a moment: "Of course it's good to drink, but I have to go home to take a shower and change clothes. Jia Yan has already prepared a meal at home and is waiting for me. It's not good to worry her old man. Also, my sister..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Shi Xianzhu suddenly became angry: "Gao Wen, a man with a long-term ambition, why is he thinking about the love between his son and daughter all day long? What can be done like this, let's go!"

After all, he went away with high spirits.

Both Gao Wen and Boss Yu had wry smiles on their faces, so they had no choice but to follow.

Today is the day when Qiu Wei ends. Considering that the scholars have not eaten, they also want to get together.Therefore, there is no curfew in the Yamen tonight.

I saw that the whole city of Xi'an was full of lights, and the streets were full of pedestrians, which was more lively than New Year's Eve.

Almost all the restaurants are full of friends, chattering and laughing book scholars, even if they go late, they can't even find a seat.

The three of them found a place to sit down, served food and drinks, ate a few chopsticks and dishes, drank a few glasses of wine to gain strength, and began to discuss the next two exams.

Boss Yu: "Brother Gao, how did you do in the last two games?"

Gao Wen: "General, general."

Boss Yu: "Ha, you're learning from the old man. That's right, it doesn't matter even if you do it so-so. Anyway, the first round will determine the outcome, but the last two rounds don't matter."

"Yes, I'm not very familiar with the "Five Classics", so I just made a random one. As for the policy theory and test post poems in the third round, I also wrote them randomly. I don't know how I did it. In the examination room, I can't remember what I wrote." Gao Wen replied.

Yes, all the materials he has at hand are the No. [-] Scholar Stereotyped Essays.In the Ming Dynasty, the imperial examinations focused on the "Four Books". As long as you do well in the first three "Four Books" essays, you can be listed in Chinese style.As for the writing of the articles in the next two games, it doesn't matter.Most of the time, the examiners are too lazy to read the papers, and even refuse to take a second look.

Because of this, Gao Wen didn't have any articles to plagiarize, so he could only piece together word by word by himself, relying entirely on his own true ability.Therefore, it was extremely difficult to do the following questions. After two rounds, he almost exhausted all his energy.

Yu Xingyan: "Er Zhi, what topic did you choose for the second "Five Classics" essay?"

Gao Wen: "The Book of Songs, how about Mr. Yu and Mr. Shi?"

Yu Xingyan: ""Book of Songs", there are a lot of candidates who choose this, and they can't show their skills. Just thinking about it, I chose "Shangshu"."

Shi Linsheng: "I chose Zhouyi."

Gao Wen and Yu Xingyan praised at the same time: "It's actually "Book of Changes", which is a bit difficult, I admire it!"

It turns out that you don't have to do all the questions in the "Five Classics" in the second round, nor does it mean that candidates must be proficient in no classics.After getting the topic, you can choose one as the topic according to what you are good at.Of course, when doing the questions, you still have to use the stereotyped essay system.

This situation has some implications for future generations' college entrance examinations and science examinations.

The so-called "Five Classics" refers to the five books "Book of Songs", "Shangshu", "Book of Rites", "Book of Changes", and "Spring and Autumn Annals".

The reason why Gao Wen chose "The Book of Songs" is because "The Book of Songs" is the simplest and the most familiar.I learned Chinese in later generations, and I can memorize a few poems in the book, such as "Fat Tan", "Shuo Shu", as for "Guan Guan Jujiu, in the continent of the river. A fair lady, a gentleman is fond of it. "It is a famous sentence through the ages.Take a random sentence from the Book of Songs as a topic, at least you know what it means.

There must be many candidates who have the same thoughts as him, so the most people choose the "Book of Songs" questions.

Quite a few people chose "Spring and Autumn" in the topic of the second "Five Classics". To put it bluntly, the book "Spring and Autumn" is composed of many small stories strung together.But as long as there is a teacher's guidance, getting started is also fast.

When it comes to "Shangshu" and "Book of Rites", it is a bit confusing, and "Book of Changes" is even more like a heavenly book, at least for Gao Wen.Thanks to Mr. Jin Yong's "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", up to now, at least he knows the terms "the dragon has regrets", "the flying dragon is in the sky", "seeing the dragon in the field" and "the dragon fighting in the wild". Martial arts!

Shi Linsheng chose "Book of Changes", which is really amazing!

Hearing the sighs of the two, Mr. Shi was suddenly annoyed, and stared at Boss Yu fiercely: "I can only choose the most difficult topic to try, otherwise what else can I do? I have crashed with your Sishuwen." Already!"

Seeing his fierce gaze, Yu Xingyan was a little guilty, and said in a low voice: "I don't want to make it like this... Hey, no, it doesn't seem to be my fault, but it's my fault?"

Shi Linsheng's eyes were red: "Why don't I blame you, you villain wanted to take a shortcut and hurt this old man!"

Yu Xingyan was extremely annoyed: "Brother Shi, what you said is wrong. You said I took a shortcut, but you didn't."

Seeing that the two old men were about to quarrel, Gao Wen was confused: "Mr. Shi, Mr. Yu, what's wrong with you, what's the shortcut, why can't I understand?"

Shi Linsheng pointed at Yu Xingyan: "You ask this villain?"

"Who do you call a villain? If I were a villain, wouldn't you be too?"

Gao Wen hurriedly persuaded them for a long time before letting them be quieter.

Only then did Yu Xingyan lower his voice, and made it clear that the two of them had copied Gao Wen's old work "What a joy to have friends coming from afar".In the end, he blushed and said, "Erzhi, I really feel ashamed to see Jiang Dong's father again for doing such a thing."

Shi Linsheng scolded again: "Little man, you ruined the old man's good deed."

Gao Wen opened his mouth wide and said after a long while, "The two old gentlemen actually, unexpectedly..."

Yu Xingyan: "The old man has lost face this time."

Gao Wen shook his head: "Mr. Yu, Mr. Shi, you can't say that. You must remember what it looked like at the beginning of the article "It's a joy to have friends coming from afar" written next. It was really unbearable. It was very eye-catching. After repeated revisions by two old gentlemen, it was completely changed. To be honest, this article was created jointly by you, and it has nothing to do with Gao Wen, and it cannot be regarded as plagiarism."

Shi Linsheng became happy: "That's right, does copying one's own old works count as plagiarism?"

Yu Xingyan: "However, your article and mine are basically the same. If it falls into the eyes of the examiner, everyone will be rejected. Also, if you copy this article too, things will be really bad."

"Ah!" Shi Linsheng was so frightened that he stood up, "Gao Wen, you won't also..." If this is the case, Gao Wen's fame is over.

Gao Wen smiled and shook his head: "You two old gentlemen, that article was written by you. How could Gao Wen copy it? Naturally, he made a new one."

"That's good, that's good." Hearing these words, Shi Linsheng's heart finally fell to the ground: "At least you are not confused."

Gao Wen was not confused, but the confusion he and Yu Xingyan committed was bigger.

When Yu Xingyan heard that Gao Wen didn't copy that article, he also let out a long sigh of relief, and asked, "Your writing has improved a lot in the past few months, and your writing is so old-fashioned. Do you still remember the exam questions you wrote, memorize them?" Come out and listen to one."

Shi Linsheng: "That's right, if you recite an article, we will know how sure you are of being able to learn Chinese."

Gao Wen had no choice but to memorize Wang Fuzhi's article "It's a Pleasure to Have Friends Come from afar" which he had copied from beginning to end.

Wang Chuanshan's writing was first-class even in the Ming and Qing dynasties, not to mention the era he lived in, let alone Shaanxi in the early years of Jingtai, where culture and education were underdeveloped.

Just after listening to Gao Wen's introduction, Yu and Shi's eyes widened when they entered the opening part of the speech.

When they entered the midsection, both of them closed their eyes, immersed in the artistic conception of the article, their lips trembling slightly.Who said that stereotyped writing constrains people's thinking and does not have any literary beauty.If it falls into the hands of the great master of the article, it is like dancing in shackles, without a serious Fadusen aura.

When Gao Wen finished reading, Yu Xingyan suddenly sighed: "I never expected Er Zhi's article to be so good, it's so good!"

Shi Linsheng showed a rare smile: "This time, Gao Wen, you are going to pass the provincial examination. I just don't know where you will rank in the end."

Yu Xingyan: "No one can tell clearly about the imperial examination, as long as you win, you don't have to be greedy for false fame."

Shi Linsheng: "That's right, it's not Jinshi Ke Chunwei. If you do well in the exam, you can be admitted to the Imperial Academy and have a good future."

Yu Xingyan: "Brother Shi, Gao Wen can learn Chinese style, and we have seen such a good article, so this trip is not in vain. You and I are both very old, do you still want to take the Jinshi examination and become a court official? That is, It’s just a wish, it doesn’t matter whether you hit it or not, don’t worry about it.” He is a businessman with an open mind, he was depressed for a moment, and then looked away.

Shi Linsheng was still not happy: "You speak lightly, shameless villain, copy my article."

But Yu Xingyan stopped being angry, and said with a chuckle: "Okay, I'm a villain, you are a gentleman, come, come, eat and drink."

The three of them ate until it was dark, and then went back separately.

In any case, the current Shaanxi Provincial Examination is finally over.

Next is waiting.

(End of this chapter)