Idle courtiers

Chapter 76
Shi Zhixian yelled again: "Come here, search me to prevent entrainment."

Two wolf-like yamen servants rushed forward and searched Mei Pu's examination basket in a mess.

After all, she was a child, and Mei Pu's humiliated eyes were full of tears.The other candidates looked at him with both sympathy and gloating.They all said in their hearts: "The third son of Mei has hated the county magistrate. I'm afraid there is no hope for Ke County to try."

Zhou Nan was also depressed, thinking, Shizhi County is really greedy for the money of the Shui family, and it would be hard to give the first name to Shui Yue.

Soon, more than 300 examinees entered the hall one after another, and it was packed to the brim.Even with a dozen candles lit, it was still dark.

Naturally, there is no way to do the questions under this light. The examinees all closed the curtain and took a nap to recharge their energy, and wait until the sky is bright.

Zhou Nan was in charge of hair curls, shuttled between the tables and chairs, sweating all over.Huai'an is better, there are not too many scholars.If it were changed to a place with prosperous culture and education in the south of the Yangtze River, there would be thousands of people in each exam, and I don't know what it would be like.

Of course, according to historical records.Northwest regions, such as Gansu and Ningxia, are economically backward.There are only three or two cats and dogs in the exam every year. It is a great credit to the local county magistrate to get enough people.As long as you participate, as long as you are not illiterate, you can pass the test.

It can be seen that if you want to take the road of imperial examination, reincarnation is also a technical job.

The so-called examination papers are actually a few sheets of paper with grids printed on them, and the seal of the county government is stamped on the top.The eight-legged essay has a strict word limit, and candidates must fill all the spaces.If you don’t write enough, or write too much and have no place to write.Sorry, come back next year!
After the examination papers are handed out, the county magistrate will give everyone another question paper.

When the paper was handed out to Mei Pu, seeing the tears in his eyes, Zhou Nan couldn't help comforting him in a low voice: "Candidates, don't think about messy things, and concentrate on writing. A good essay is fundamental."

Mei Pu raised her head and looked at Zhou Nan fiercely, wanting to jump up and tear him to pieces.Didn't this guy say that I would get the first name? Looking at the situation of the county lord today, it's over, everything is over, I'm going to kill you bastard.

After resting for about half an hour, it was dawn and the question paper was handed out.Zhou Nan saw that it really was "The Reality of Wisdom", and he breathed a sigh of relief: It really is.

After thinking about it, I was discouraged again: so what if I knew the topic in advance and memorized the model essay in advance, the first name was given to Shui Yue.

The topic of this exam is tower cutting, which is very difficult, and most of the candidates don't turn in their papers until the afternoon.Of course, there are also those who hand in the papers in advance, such as Shuiyue.

This kid can read, Shi Jieren read the paper, said "a rare and good article" and admitted it on the spot.

Seeing Shui Yue's triumphant look, Zhou Nan was annoyed.

It took three days for the rankings to be released in the county test. Zhou Nan was angry that the magistrate did not keep his promise.It just so happens that tomorrow is a rest day, so I took two more days off and went home.

This matter seems to be impossible, the most important thing for Zhou Nan now is to figure out how to deal with the Mei family's revenge, and how to get the 300 taels of silver to pay off the old debt.

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Mei Pu left the examination room, walked a few streets in a daze, and returned home somehow.

His father, Mei Kang, and his second sister, Mei Chi, were already waiting there anxiously. When they saw any, they asked at the same time, "How is the exam? What's the topic?"

The third son of Mei said in a low voice, "It's "The Reality of Wisdom."

"Okay, that's great!" Mei Kang laughed loudly, and said in a low voice, "That little bastard surnamed Zhou is a trustworthy man, and he didn't lie to me. The articles you memorized are naturally very good, haha, our Mei family finally Another scholar is about to emerge. Son, dad was a little harsh on you in terms of money in the past. Whatever you want, just say it. By the way, Chi'er, as a sister, shouldn't you also show your shoes?"

Miss Mei Er smiled and said, "Didn't my brother like the Song Dynasty Ru kiln washing water in my room, and I have come here to ask for it a few times. I will ask Xiaohong to send it to you later."

"Whoever wants your stuff, it's hard to say whether he will be on the list, not to mention the first place in this exam." After all, Mei Pu was a child, and she was reprimanded by the county magistrate in front of hundreds of people, feeling extremely useless.Now my father and sister were so aggrieved that they couldn't open any pot and carried which pot.

Mei Chi: "Don't cry, brother, tell me what's going on?"

After the third son Mei had finished talking about today's situation, Member Mei's face turned livid, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Zhou Nan, you little bastard dares to tease this old man, wait, you wait for me!"

Mei Chi was puzzled in his heart: "Father, Zhou Thief is a treacherous villain, but he is not a fool. He will never provoke you for no reason. Maybe there is something strange about this matter. Or... Anyway, there are still three days It's the day when the list is released, let's wait and see."

"Wait, wait for three days, if your brother's name is not on the list, the day lily will be cold." Mei Kang was furious.

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Zhou Nan was not idle during these two days, thinking about ways to make money.It's a pity that he is just a liberal arts monk in modern society, and he has never worked in the front line of business. How can he know this.I have been busy for a long time, but there is no charter.

It was rare to rest for three days, so Zhou Nan simply moved the family together with Yunniang and Xiaolan to the house sent by the Shui family.

If you don't move, you don't know that there are a lot of things, bits and pieces, and five trucks are loaded, and it takes a whole day to fix them.

The streets in ancient times were narrow, with five carts, a few porters who came to help, and Zhou Nan's family of three squeezed together, it was quite large.

The life of the ancients was simple, without entertainment, and life was boring. Ant fights on the ground would have to be watched for a long time, not to mention that the famous Master Zhou moved.Soon, the street was full of people, talking about it.

"Master Zhou moved to a new house? There are a lot of things, the furniture is good, it seems that it is better to be an official, not to mention the high income, get the money on time every month, don't be too happy."

"Hmph, are there any good people in the yamen? They are all the people's fat and people's anointing?" Someone said sarcastically.

"Who, who is talking about this dictator behind his back?" Zhou Nan was furious, turned his head to recognize the inconspicuous thing, took an excuse to arrest him back to the yamen, understood it with reason, moved him with emotion, and let him Knowing that it is wrong to slander people behind their backs, we must change.

Seeing this, he was frustrated again, these people really couldn't be caught.

It turned out that the people talking about him were just a few well-known scholars, who were sitting in a roadside teahouse talking about poetry and Taoism.They control the public discussion, and they don't kneel when they see officials, so naturally they are not afraid of Zhou Nan, a small ordinary public official.

Seeing that Zhou Nan didn't dare to do anything to himself, the scholars became more proud and their voices became louder: "What about moving to a new house? You probably don't know that Zhou Dianli's new house was given away by sailors. It is said that this department of the county The name of the test head has already been determined, it is Shui Yue, and it is useless to write other people's articles no matter how good they are."

"The imperial examination is a public instrument, how can it be given privately, this thief is so hateful!"

……

Zhou Nan was angry in his heart, but was speechless.Indeed, his new house was given by the Shui family, but it was just for registration, and it had nothing to do with whether he got the first name or not.Now Shizhi County is going to give Shuiyue No. 1, and I have gained the benefits of the Shui family. I really don't know.

After arriving at the new home, Zhou Nan finally has his own house, and Zhou Nan has settled down.

The next day was the county test release day, Zhou Nan didn't bother to watch it, so he made a pot of tea early in the morning and lay down on a chair in a daze.

"Master, it's not good, it's not good." Lin Ada ran in sweating, "The county exam has released the rankings."

Zhou Nan said lazily: "I know, I'm going to move these few days, so I asked the county magistrate for two days off, and I didn't care about publishing the list."

"Hey, master, why don't you care, this matter is very bad for you/" Lin Ada paused and said, "Do you know who got the first name in the case? It is your big enemy, the third son of the Mei family. According to the examination According to the rules above, the fame of the first scholar in the county examination is safe. The Mei family is rich, and now there are scholars in the family, if it will be against you in the future, how will you deal with it? Thanks to the master, you can still sleep."

"What, who do you think won the first place?" Zhou Nan jumped up like an electric shock: "Let's go, let's see the list."

(End of this chapter)