After crossing the bridge, Wei Chen first followed the flow of people to the Provincial Examination Supply Center. This is a temporary organization set up during the Provincial Examination. It is responsible for supplying paper and pens, food, water, lights, sundries, etc. needed in the examination room.
Wei Chen had already prepared the rest by himself, so after entering the supply house, Wei Chen only received some charcoal fires. Charcoal stoves are available in every dormitory. On rainy and humid days, lighting a charcoal stove can drive away cold and dampness.
When entering the supply house, Wei Chen also saw a civil servant wearing a seventh-grade official robe sitting under the awning.
According to the rules, there is one supervisor and forest officer required for the rural examination supply, and the head of the county is the magistrate. The official sitting under the awning must be the Jiangning magistrate.
Wei Chen couldn't help but feel a little emotional. The official's official duties in the provincial examination were only responsible for guarding the supply station and other logistical supply places. This shows the high standard of the rural examination.
After coming out of the supply house, Wei Chen looked around and saw a tall archway erected in the square in front of the dragon gate with the inscription "Heaven's Kai Wen Yun" written on it. There is an archway on the left and right respectively. On the left is "Seek Scholars for the Ming Dynasty" and on the right is "Seeking Talents for the Country".
When he arrived here, Wei Chen felt the solemn atmosphere of Jiangnan Gongyuan, and he couldn't help but feel awe-struck.
Two feet outside the gate of Gongyuan, there is also a gate, which is a red wooden fence, where the candidates gather.
The Seventh Son of Jiangning is well-known, and Wei Chen himself is also well-known among the candidates of this year, so people greet him wherever he goes.
only……
"Just say hello, can you please stop taking action!"
Wei Chen was very depressed. Although it was not a vital part, having dozens of men touching him made him feel weird.
The candidates who had circled around Wei Chen for several times smiled in surprise: "Brother Wei, don't be so stingy, we just want to get the best of Xiao Sanyuan's exam luck." After saying that, they continued to move their hands up and down, rubbing against Wei Chen's body. .
Wei Chen's face suddenly turned as dark as the bottom of a pot. He led the bookboy Yuan An to rush left and right, using all his strength, and finally squeezed a way out of the crowd and got rid of these guys.
Not far away, I heard Yuan An's crying voice coming from behind: "Master, it's not good!"
"What's wrong?" Wei Chen turned around in confusion.
"Our test box..."
Yuan An removed the test box from his back and brought it to Wei Chen. Wei Chen took a quick look and almost got angry and pushed him over on the spot.
I saw that the buckle on the test box, which was originally well fastened, was unknowingly pried open by some rogue descendant, and it was swinging wildly.
All the drawers in the examination box had been pulled out, and they were all empty. Papers, pens, food, candles and other items that were originally filled with items were all gone.
"It's tolerable, but which one is intolerable?"
Veins popped up on Wei Chen's forehead, and he looked at where he came from with angry eyes. But he saw that the group of people who had surrounded him earlier were chatting happily.
"Hehe, I touched Xiao Sanyuan's writing brush. If I use this brush to answer the questions, I will definitely be able to pass the Qiu Wei this time."
"We are all happy together, mine is an inkstone."
"Mine are candles."
"I grabbed half a salted duck."
"I seem to be little Sanyuan's personal belongings..."
A young candidate was twisting a light jacket with two fingers, with a rather embarrassed expression on his face.
The old fritters next to them had their eyes shining: "Hey, this is a rare good thing. Come on, come on, I'll trade with you!"
Come and try it quickly. 】
"What a bunch of dishonorable people, who have treated me with courtesy in vain, but I didn't expect you to do such a scandal!"
Wei Chen's voice of grief and anger sounded in the distance. Seeing that the situation was not good, the group immediately ended the discussion, took the "treasure of luck" they touched, rubbed oil on the soles of their feet, and fled the scene of the crime.
In the blink of an eye, they merged into the crowd like water drops and disappeared. Their disappearance was so fast that Wei Chen was stunned.
Wei Chen couldn't catch up, so he could only look up to the sky and sigh: "The world is declining, and people's hearts are not as old as they used to be!"
"Master, what should we do now?" Yuan An looked at the looted test boxes in front of him, his face turned pale, and he was so anxious that he almost cried.
If his negligence affected Wei Chen's provincial examination, or even caused Wei Chen to fail, then he would have no choice but to die.
"Don't blame yourself, I can't blame you for this." Wei Chen waved his hand and sighed: "It's still early for the exam to start. Let's go back to the supply center and buy another one."
Wei Chen took Yuan An back and packed all the examination materials at the supply station. When he hurried back to the gantry, the gate officer had already opened the gantry, and the candidates in front of him were waiting to be inspected and admitted.
Wei Chen looked around in the square and finally found the team from Youyang County. Han Jiaoyu from the county school was standing in front of the team holding an umbrella.
Seeing Wei Chen coming over, Han Jiaoyu was a little annoyed and said: "Why are you here so late? It's almost time to enter the venue."
After Wei Chen saluted, he forced a smile and said: "I encountered something unexpected on the road..."
Han Jiaoyu shook his head and without asking any questions, arranged for Wei Chen to stand at the head of the students in Youyang County and wait in line to enter.
Behind Wei Chen were Wang Yaochen, Sheng Changbai and several friends. When they asked Wei Chen what happened when he came, Wei Chen told him his tragic experience with a wry smile.
When they heard that Wei Chen had even his close-fitting shorts taken away, everyone laughed. Wang Yaochen couldn't help but thought to himself, it seems that this little Sanyuan is not that easy to be a good person. Fortunately, it's not me.
The sky was gloomy, and the rain was gradually getting heavier. There was a heavy sound of rain hitting the oil-paper umbrellas, and there were several puddles on the ground.
Looking at the increasingly heavy rain, the candidates' moods became heavy.
The dormitory in the Gongyuan is in disrepair for a long time, and leaks are common. If rainwater leaks into the dormitory during the exam, it will be tragic.
Wei Chen wasn't too worried about this. When he just returned to the supply station to purchase supplies, he bought a door curtain and roof to protect against wind and rain, which came in handy.
"Candidates Youyang are entering!"
After waiting in the heavy rain for nearly an hour, the prison officer's angry shout finally came from in front of the camp gate.
All the candidates from Youyang were refreshed and slowly entered the gate under the leadership of Wei Chen.
After the Yuanmen is the Yimen, and after the Yimen is the Dragon Gate, the passage between the Yimen and the Dragon Gate is where candidates are inspected.
The inspection in the rural examination was far more stringent than that in the boy's examination. Under the gaze of the prison officer, all the candidates in Youyang stood close to the wall one by one, waiting for inspection by the officers and soldiers.
If someone is caught cheating, the officers and soldiers responsible for the inspection will also be held accountable, so they will be merciless in their inspection.
Each candidate is inspected carefully from head to toe by two soldiers, and there are officials patrolling nearby to prevent any mistakes.
In addition to the candidates themselves, the test boxes and baskets carried by the candidates are also the focus of inspection.
Is the pen barrel hollow and does the inkstone have an interlayer? You have to hit it with a small hammer and listen carefully to the sound. As for pastries, they are all cut open to see if they are filled with fillings.
After such a rigorous inspection, the candidates seemed to have been ravaged. All of them had disheveled hair, disheveled clothes, and completely lost the elegance and dignity of scholars.
After the inspection, Wei Chen rearranged his clothes and examination box, walked into the examination room, and found his dormitory under the guidance of the clerk.
Before entering, Wei Chen took a look at the dormitory and found that the roof was a bit worn and a lot of rainwater had seeped in, but it was okay and not particularly serious.
The situation in the dormitory opposite Wei Chen was similar. The candidates assigned to that dormitory complained dissatisfiedly: "Damn it, I have been studying hard for ten years, and I ended up in a rainy dormitory!"
