Soon, Li Qiao found his home.
The small room is about two meters high, one meter wide, and less than one and a half meters deep. There are only two wooden boards placed in the brick grooves specially left on the wall.
During the day, one of these two wooden boards is a table and the other is a chair.
At night, these two wooden boards are spliced together, which is the bed for the candidates to rest.
After Li Qiao finished looking at it, he went in carrying the test basket.
Forget it, the conditions are already very good. I heard that the dormitories in some places are not only dilapidated, but also have snakes, rats, insects and ants inside.
At least it looks pretty clean here.
It was around ten o'clock in the morning. Li Qiao put the pen and inkstone in the examination basket on the table, then leaned against the wall and closed his eyes to meditate.
There are more than 7,000 candidates in total this time. It will definitely be afternoon when all these candidates are inspected and enter the dormitory. He has nothing to do at this time but close his eyes and rest.
The next three days will require a lot of mental exertion, and given Haoshe's conditions, he can't eat well or sleep well. He should take advantage of this time to recharge his batteries.
It was not easy to be a scholar in ancient times!
Li Qiao was like this, and so were the other candidates. They all stayed in the small dormitory, waiting for the remaining candidates to enter.
No one moved or spoke.
Soon at noon, a guard came over and asked the candidates if they wanted hot water.
There is a toilet in the Gongyuan, right at the end of the dormitory, so there is no need to be afraid of drinking water like Tong Sheng. Li Qiao asked for a bowl of hot water and had lunch with the steamed buns that were broken into pieces.
After lunch, he lay down on the table and slept until the sun set. Suddenly, the sound of gongs came from Mingyuan Tower in the distance.
This means that all candidates have entered the dormitory, and it is time to distribute the test papers.
Li Qiao suddenly became energetic.
The provincial examination finally started.
Because there are so many candidates for the rural examination, candidates no longer have to copy the questions themselves like the child examination. The examination papers for the rural examination are printed in advance and are distributed directly to the candidates by the guards.
Also handed out were some papyrus, charcoal fire, and candles.
It's already evening now, and the candidates must be burning the midnight oil to study hard.
Li Qiao looked at the candle in his hand and sympathized with the candidate who came in last. He had slept in the dormitory all day and was very energetic now.
But the last candidates who came in had been waiting outside the Gongyuan for a whole day. They must be tired now, especially the older ones, who probably just wanted to have a good rest.
Putting back his thoughts of running away, Li Qiao focused his attention on the test paper.
This test is about Mo Yi and Tie Jing. It does not test poetry or policy theory. It is purely a test of basic skills.
Li Qiao briefly scanned the questions and felt his scalp numb.
Compared with the Tongsheng Examination, the questions in the Provincial Examination are much more obscure, and some of them are even middle-of-the-road:
Candidates are required to answer the principles of Dujiangyan Water Conservancy Project.
Both "Historical Records·Hequ Shu" and "Han Shu·Gou Xi Zhi" mentioned Li Bing, the governor of Shu, and praised his achievements. Therefore, there is a question in the Tie Jing that fills in the blanks related to the original text, and there is a question in Mo Yi that not only requires analysis of the original text. , and the candidates are asked to write down the principles of Dujiangyan.
Li Qiao: "..."
This is the 108th level of hell!
Which imperial examination tests these?
Would it be too arbitrary for the Holy Spirit to set the question?
The imperial examination is a major event that affects the fate of countless people. It is not a tool used by the Holy Spirit for fun and to tease people!
His hearing was better than that of ordinary people, but he didn't need to listen carefully at this time, there were many gasps and exclamations reaching his ears.
When other candidates saw this question, not only their scalps were numb, but their whole bodies were numb.
But the questions in the imperial examinations were all written by the Holy Father. These candidates could not scold the Holy Master. They could only gasp a lot.
Li Qiao listened to the movements of the candidates around him. He sighed softly and began to study ink.
It's hard to predict the king's heart, but he knows the answer.
Moreover, the admission quota for this provincial examination is forty people. No matter how the candidates answer the questions this time, forty people must be admitted.
So as the old saying goes, if you are better than other candidates, if you take half a step more than other candidates, you will win.
I hope Zhuang Wen, Meng Yue, and Xu Ying can stabilize their minds and remember these words.
Except for this question, although the other questions are remote, they are still within the normal range, so don't panic, just treat this question as an additional question. If you can solve it, everyone will be happy.
It doesn't matter if you can't answer it. I think there aren't many people in the whole Gongyuan who can answer it.
Moreover, the most important article in the Holy Spirit is that as long as the last article is written well, there is no need to worry about failing the examination.
With this in mind, he began to answer the questions on the straw paper. The meaning questions needed to be organized in language, so he had to write them on the straw paper first, and then copy them onto the test paper after answering them on the straw paper.
His hard study over the past year was not in vain. With his extraordinary memory, these questions were not difficult for him, and he wrote them very quickly.
After a while, it got dark and he lit a candle.
The candle was half burnt and he blew it out and prepared for bed.
The light of a candle was too dim, and he was very confident about this task, so he didn't have to answer the question at night. There were still two days left, and he could definitely finish it.
After splicing the two boards together, he curled up on the one-meter-long board and prepared to sleep.
However, he had slept a lot during the day, so he was not sleepy at all now.
Moreover, the dormitory is too small, the wooden board is only one meter long, and it is really uncomfortable for him, who is 1.8 meters tall, to squeeze on this small wooden board.
He looked up at the moon above his head.
The beautiful first quarter moon hung on the night sky. It was so beautiful that he was stunned for a moment. He hadn't taken a serious look at the moon above him for a long time.
I wonder what Tao Zhu is doing at this time. Can he also look at the moon?
Thinking of Tao Zhu, he felt even more sleepless. After tossing and turning for a long time, he went to find Duke Zhou in a daze.
When he woke up, the sky was bright and it was already a bit cold in the early morning of the eighth lunar month. He rubbed his face, then stood up and moved his hands and feet slightly.
After curling up all night, all the bones in his body were stiff.
It was a sunny day again today, so he ate dry steamed buns with hot water, and then began to write and answer questions.
There were a lot of questions in this session. Mo Yi and Tie Jing had a total of four hundred questions, and it took him a whole day to finish them.
As for the Dujiangyan principle, which he regarded as an additional question, he answered it smoothly.
In his previous life, he studied this issue out of curiosity out of curiosity. At that time, he watched a related short animation on the Internet. The explanation in the short animation was clear and easy to understand, and he always remembered it.
Moreover, in order to deal with the test questions that always lead to hell, he paid special attention to Dujiangyan in this time and space when studying water conservancy projects, so this additional question would not be a problem for him.
On the third day, he copied the answers he had written onto the test paper. After copying, he checked again and found that they were correct. He breathed a sigh of relief.
It was just after noon, and his stomach growled with hunger. The exam would be over in the evening. He ate up the remaining steamed buns and sat down to wait for the papers to be handed in.
The rural examination did not allow him to hand in papers in advance or move around at will. He could only sit and wait.
After staying up until the evening, he finally heard the gong sound from Mingyuan Building. He took a long breath, and the first scene was finally over.
After the guards collected the test papers, many candidates lined up to leave the examination room.
This time, except for the question about Dujiangyan, the other questions are also more difficult than those in previous years and require a lot of mental energy.
Therefore, at this time, most of the candidates were walking sloppily and looked tired. Some of the candidates had weak bones and looked as if they were about to fall down at any time.
These candidates can't curse the Holy One. When they meet someone they know, they can only look at each other and smile bitterly.
Li Qiao looked at this scene and couldn't help but sigh. The imperial examination not only required luck, but also physical strength.
As people flowed out of the gate of Gongyuan, he immediately looked around, trying to find Tao Zhu.
"here!"
Tao Zhu came to the gate of Gongyuan after lunch. He came early, so he stood at the front.
Behind him stood several people from Li Ershan Li Xia Li Chunsheng Zhuang Quan Zhou Yun Manor.
When Li Qiao heard the sound, he immediately looked over and saw Tao Zhu's familiar and good-looking face, and he immediately laughed.
When he came to Tao Zhu, he hadn't spoken yet, but Tao Zhu said with a distressed look on his face: "I've lost weight."
The smile on Li Qiao's face suddenly widened. He held Tao Zhu's hand, looked at Tao Zhu carefully, and then said with satisfaction: "You are not thin."
He was very familiar with Tao Zhu's body. His eyes were the most standard scales, and he could tell whether Tao Zhu's body shape had changed at a glance.
However, Tao Zhu's eyes were bloodshot, which meant he had not slept well.
"That's not true, uncle. Uncle Zhu has increased his appetite at every meal these past three days for fear of losing weight." Li Ershan couldn't help but said.
In the past, Tao Zhu would stop eating when he was full, but in the past three days, he would put down his chopsticks after eating every meal, and would add another meal after a while, lest he lose half a pound of weight and worry Li Qiao.
"Thank you for your hard work, Brother Zhu." Li Qiao couldn't help but squeeze Tao Zhu's hand.
"What kind of hard work is this? You are the hard worker." Tao Zhu shook his head, his eyes focused on Li Qiao and couldn't bear to look away.
Sitting in that small dormitory for three days was too unbearable.
"Fortunately, I was used to farm work in the past and am strong, so it's really not that hard for me." Li Qiao said with a smile.
"You've suffered anyway. I'll make you something delicious when you get back."
"Okay, I've been eating dry steamed buns for three days. I miss your cooking so much."
After the two of them finished speaking, they stopped talking and just held hands and looked at the gate of Gongyuan. They wanted to wait for Zhuang Wen.
Zhuang Quan and Zhou Yun were timid and did not dare to go out alone on weekdays. They naturally wanted to stay and go back with the Zhuang family.
Zhuang Wen came out soon. His steps were a little unsteady and there were dark circles on his face. However, when he saw the people waiting for him outside, a smile appeared on his face.
"Let's go back, let's go back. I'm so sleepy. I want to take a big nap when I get back."
Although he comes from a farming family, he has not done much farm work since he was a child. Coupled with his age, these three days were too difficult for him.
Now he just wants to lie on a comfortable bed and find Duke Zhou.
Seeing this, Li Qiao smiled and nodded: "Okay, let's go back quickly."
Since Zhuang Wen didn't talk about the correct answer, he wouldn't take the initiative to mention it.
