Every half-quarter of an hour, Confucian scholars would enter the room, mostly in groups of three or three, wearing masks and sitting quietly on chairs, waiting for everyone to gather.
Within half an hour, sixteen chairs were filled. At this time, the fat man walked up to the podium, cleared his throat in a dignified manner, and greeted: "Now, I will explain this process to you. You must listen carefully. You can't go wrong with this." Everyone. Sit upright and be meticulous.
The fat man pulled a blackboard-like inscription board from behind. Five names with only last names were clearly written on it.
"Sir", from left to right, are Mr. Zhang, Mr. Zhou, Mr. He, Mr. Li, and Mr. Wu.
The fat man said: "These five people are the senior officials in charge of the imperial examination this time. Among them, Zhang, Zhou, Li, and Wu are the chief examiners, and the deputy examiners. Master He is the chief examiner. Each master has different powers, and the door bag he holds is different from that of the chief examiner." The money for example is also different. Among them, Zhang, Li, and Wu's door bags are twenty taels, and Master Zhou's is fifty taels. The door bags are just red envelopes for entering the house. In other words, they are given to the housekeepers of these adults as a filial piety. These adults are all ministers of etiquette. Without the help of the housekeeper, you would not even be able to see them. Therefore, this door bag must be given. After giving the door bag, write a letter according to your respective requirements. Explain the things you want to help and the amount of money you can give, and then the housekeeper will personally present it to the adults. For example, Zhang San and Li Si both wanted to ask Mr. Li for help. Zhang San gave ten donkeys, and Li Si gave Ten horses, these horses are naturally more expensive than donkeys, and Li Si is naturally more favored by Mr. Li than Zhang San; below, I will introduce the abilities of several adults, and you can weigh your own and choose the right one - first of all, Zhang, Li, and Wu Three adults, they are responsible for invigilating, sub-exams, and grading. If they want their test papers to be stacked on top, if they want to relax the intensity of the invigilation, and if they want to impress themselves more deeply in their eyes, they can go to these three adults, but they There is also a threshold for collecting the examination money, the minimum cannot be less than three hundred taels; the second is Mr. Zhou. Who is Mr. Zhou? The Minister of Rites, the examiner! He can decide your fate with just one stroke, so this is the money , the minimum is one thousand taels, and there is no upper limit; in fact, all of you here are smart people, and I don’t need to explain too much. You should also know the tricks here. Do you have any doubts now? You can take the opportunity to raise them."
"I have a few questions." Song Che raised his hand and asked, "Where do we start with the ranking of the test papers and the intensity of the invigilation?"
"Good question!" The fat man replied: "One subject exam requires thousands of test papers. After the marking officer reviews and approves them, the eyes will be dazzled in the end. The test papers placed below are often not read carefully or even not read at all. Therefore, The order of the test papers is very important; besides, the intensity of the invigilation, in short, means that even if you bring some cheat sheets and tabloids, the invigilator will turn a blind eye even if he finds out." Song Che said long
He said "Oh" and pointed to the name of Mr. He in the middle and asked: "Hey, you only introduced a few other adults. This Mr. He is the most powerful boss. What are the rules for door packages and money?" Huh?" The fat man said: "Master He is the prime minister of the current dynasty. He has a weird temper and is unreasonable, so it is difficult to deal with him... But don't worry, the chief minister always stands very high and he can't see what's underneath. Go find him. It's better not to find other adults." Song Che suppressed a smile and glanced at He Qiu, who was holding the chair handle tightly beside him. Even though he was wearing a mask, you could see how ugly his face was.
He Qiu gritted his teeth and forced out a question: "After the exam, we always collect the papers in a blind way. All the officials can't see the names of the candidates. How are you going to operate in secret?" The fat man chuckled and said first. : "This candidate seems to have done his homework in advance, and the questions he asked are quite professional." He waved his hand and replied: "As the saying goes, 'There are policies from above, there are countermeasures from below.' As long as you pay more, the follow-up will be more professional." Someone makes plans for you, such as drawing a circle or making a cross somewhere on the test paper. There are so many ways..."
"Hey, I also have a question," one candidate asked: "Can you sell us the questions for this imperial examination in one step?" The fat man said, "The questions for the imperial examination are usually discussed between the chief examiner and the chief examiner. , it will only be confirmed three days before the exam, you can’t get it now, but if you really want it, prepare at least 800 taels of silver after 12 days, and come to Ruyi Tower to ask.”
"Eight hundred taels? Isn't it too much? How about five hundred taels?"
"Eight hundred taels is too much? This is an exam question! We will take huge risks if you use this information! In other words, if you buy an official position with 800 taels, do you feel it is a loss?"
"If you put it that way, it's well worth the money. Oh, by the way, do you have a ghostwriter here?"
"Of course there is. The old Confucian scholar who just took you upstairs was a Jinshi in the previous dynasty. Later, his family background was not good and he was never able to become an official in his life. But he is a good writer!" The candidates in the hall were all talking about it. How to cheat.
"This is simply unreasonable!" He Qiu stood up, knocked on his chair, pointed at the Confucian students in the hall and cursed: "The imperial examination is a sacred and solemn matter, but you are just like a market talking about fraud. Where is the etiquette, justice and integrity? Where is the integrity of the literati!" This voice The criticism seemed to hit the sore spot of the candidates, and the hall suddenly burst into condemnation: "You are already here, why are you pretending to be a gentleman? Aren't we all the same!"
"Yes, what is the purpose of taking the imperial examination? Isn't it just to be superior to others? Which of the ministers and prime ministers on this question board are not children of aristocratic families or disciples of powerful people? They may have more money and money than us. !”
"I said, this poor and rotten scholar is here to cause trouble, why don't you take it out!"
"Get out of here right away!" The fat man pointed at He Qiu and yelled. He Qiu was furious, so he stepped forward and grabbed his chest, slapped his ears twice, and threw him off the platform.
"What happened!" The door was knocked open, and five men with sticks rushed into the room. The fat man covered his face, shrank toward the door, pointed at He Qiu and Song Che and said, "These three people are here to cause trouble. We must not let them leave alive, lest the news is leaked!" The man swung a stick to beat them.
"Pa!" A gunshot sounded, stopping him in his tracks. Song Che pointed his gun at the villains and yelled: "If you dare to take another step forward, I will send you to the west!"
"Ouch!" Hearing a scream, the old Confucian scholar who had led people upstairs crashed through the wall and was thrown into the house.
Nangong Yue, Lu Jingxiang and five other female swordsmen rushed in. After a few fights, they beat the evil man to the ground!
"You...you are so brave, do you know whose place this is!" The fat man was still shouting?
