Wei Chen finished handing in the papers, left the dormitory, and came to wait in front of the dragon gate. According to the rules, only ten people must be gathered before the prison officer will open the gantry and let people out.
The rain had stopped by this time. Wei Chen put away his umbrella and waited boredly for the door to open.
Soon after, several candidates came over and stood behind Wei Chen. Wei Chen nodded to them as a greeting.
Although Wei Chen is famous, not many people really know what he looks like.
These candidates had never met Wei Chen and had no idea that the famous Wei Xingyun was standing in front of them. They only took a second look because Wei Chen was the first to hand in the paper.
While waiting for the door to open, several people gathered together in twos and threes and talked about the examination room.
Of course, the main thing is to discuss the test questions.
For a major test in life such as the Provincial Examination, those who dare to submit the paper in advance must be extremely confident people, and they will talk endlessly about their articles.
When encountering differences of opinion, several people would argue with each other, and they would argue and argue. Soon some people would feel that something was wrong, and finally their faces would turn pale.
Wei Chen watched from the side and shook his head secretly.
After the exam, the ink mark has been determined, and it is useless to even ask for a flower. Even if you do well in the exam, you will have to start over in the next one. If you do not do well in the exam, it will be a mess, which will be even more detrimental to the next one.
Now that you are talking about the topic, it is better to calm down and think about how to take the next exam. This is the right way.
At this time, the ten people finally gathered together, and the prison officer opened the dragon gate. Wei Chen ignored the few candidates who were still arguing, flicked his sleeves, and walked out of the door.
As soon as he left the dragon gate, Wei Chen was startled. All I could see was the darkness outside. Candidates' papers, bookboys, servants, and coachmen were standing densely in the square in front of the dragon gate.
Seeing someone walking out of the dragon gate, everyone looked at him expectantly to see if he was one of their own children.
"Master!"
Wei Chen heard a familiar shout and looked up, but it was the scholar Yuan An standing next to a carriage calling him.
Wei Chen responded with a smile and stepped forward.
Yuan An took the exam box and asked with concern: "How did the young master do in the exam?"
Wei Chen glanced at him and said calmly: "Have you forgotten my rules? You won't talk about the questions after the exam."
Yuan An smiled bitterly and asked, "Should we wait for Mr. Sheng and the others, or should we go back first?"
Wei Chen pondered for a moment: "With Zecheng's temperament, he must take the exam for three days and wait until the last moment to collect the papers. Waiting for him will be in vain. Let's go back and rest first."
Yuan An nodded in agreement, then helped Wei Chen get into the carriage and drove to a courtyard not far from the Gongyuan Courtyard.
The rural examination begins on the ninth day of August, with a total of three exams, and does not end until August 18th. During this period, after each exam, the candidates had to leave Gongyuan and wait until the next day to take the next exam.
In order for the candidates to have a good rest and not be so embarrassed, it is still necessary to rent a residence next to the Gongyuan.
Install the latest version. 】
Wei Chen asked Sheng Wei to rent this courtyard a year in advance. It was specially used for Wei Chen, Sheng Changbai and others to rest between examinations. It was less than a mile away from the Gongyuan Courtyard and was an old official residence. It was a prime location.
Fortunately, Wei Chen rented it early. If it had been half a year later, not to mention the large courtyard in such a prime location could not be rented, even the woodshed of the inn ten miles away would have been sold out long ago.
When he arrived at his residence, Wei Chen had a sumptuous dinner and took a hot bath. After returning to the house, he wet his pillow and fell asleep.
It can be seen that high-intensity exams consume a lot of energy.
After the first handover, the test papers were collected by the examiner and sent north along the corridor from the dormitory to the independent courtyard behind Mingyuan Building.
The core building of the courtyard is the majestic Zigong Hall, with the Supervisory and Examination Hall to the east, and the three rooms for receiving volumes, sealing seals, and supplying supplies to the east. The second room in the west column is for copying and reading respectively.
Except for the supply station, which supplies food and groceries to examiners and officers and soldiers, the other four stations are closely related to the examination.
The examination officer collected the papers, sorted them out in the examination room, counted the numbers, and conducted preliminary screening.
Any broken or dirty papers will be taken out directly, reviewed by the supervisor, and transcribed with a blue pen.
The rest of the qualified examination papers will be forwarded to the Mi Feng Room, where the Mi Feng officer will seal them with the names of the lakes on thick paper.
After being sealed, the paper will be sent to the transcription room, where it will be transcribed by hundreds of good calligraphers with ink pens.
Transcribing is a big project and cannot be completed in just two or three days. While the scribes in the copy room were writing furiously, the second session of the provincial examination had begun in an orderly manner.
The second session of the rural examination tests applied literary styles such as theory, judgment, edict, imperial edict, and table.
This is to test whether the candidates have the basic conditions for becoming an official. It has nothing to do with literary talent. It only tests whether the candidates are familiar with this type of article and whether they can express themselves accurately and use words rigorously.
Although the test is not difficult, the amount of the test is not smaller than the first test, and it is very cumbersome.
Although the rankings are almost determined after the first game, we still can't be careless in the last two games.
It is said that there was also an old man whose articles were so well written that they were even used as models for publication. However, his official documents were so messed up that they were scrapped several times, which was extremely miserable.
After two days of rest and two good nights' sleep, Wei Chen got up early again to face the second exam.
The sky was clear on this day, the worst weather was over, the autumn air was crisp, and it was just the right time for the exam.
When Wei Chen, Sheng Changbai and others came to Gongyuan, they heard the examinees on the side talking about how some elderly candidates in the first exam couldn't stand it halfway through the exam and were forced to help themselves out.
While everyone was sighing, they also felt the same way. Wang Yaochen, Chen Jun and others did not exercise often, and their physical condition could only be described as average. Although they took a day off after the first exam, their faces were still in bad shape at this time.
A continuous exam like the Provincial Examination tests not only the candidates' intelligence, but also their physical strength and endurance.
Wei Chen also had this consideration in handing in the paper in advance. Having an extra full day of rest time than other candidates was an advantage in itself.
After the gantry opened, the candidates entered the Gongyuan one by one and still took the exam in the dormitory on the first day.
Wei Chen found his dormitory and sat down, and found that several dormitories around him were empty. It was probably because some candidates knew that they did not do well in the first test, became frustrated and quit early.
Wei Chen didn't understand this, so he concentrated on writing the article seriously. These applied styles were really not difficult for Wei Chen, and it took him two days to finish them all.
There were many more candidates who submitted their papers in advance this time than last time. There were more than a dozen people before Wei Chen. There were hundreds of people who submitted their papers that day, and Wei Chen was not conspicuous among them.
However, it can also be seen from this that the second round is not very difficult. What really determines whether a candidate is admitted or not is the seven articles in the first round.
After the second exam, the papers from the first exam were almost transcribed.
The transcript and the original volume will be sent to the reading center together, and will be proofread by the reading officer to confirm whether the transcript is consistent with the original volume.
After the reading is correct, the reading officer will keep the original scroll and send the transcript to the court.
The public hall has entrances from outside and entrances from inside, separated by a curtain. The reading officer can only stop outside the curtain. Behind the curtain, there is a receptionist who is responsible for receiving the papers and sending them to the corresponding sutra room according to the sutra selected by the candidates.
The governor of Jiangnan and the prefect of Jiangning were stationed in the outer curtain, but they were not allowed to enter the inner curtain, otherwise the two censors responsible for supervision would write a letter of impeachment.
Wang Wenqing, the chief examiner of this year's provincial examination, is the man who holds the most power in the inner circle.
