While Zhu Ping'an was packing up and waiting for the papers to be distributed, candidates came into the dormitories one after another, and students from his neighbors also came one after another.
After about half an hour, a metallic sound was heard coming from the direction of Mingyuan Building. Looking up, I saw several command flags waving on the Mingyuan Building, and then a vague sound was heard coming from the gate.
"Entry completed, door locked, everyone silent!"
It turned out that the metallic sound just now was the sound of the cloud-striking board. Zhu Ping'an realized it belatedly and realized that the main gate and ceremonial gate should be blocked at this moment.
The striking of the cloud board means that the examination has officially begun. The examination is very strict in terms of discipline. There are a considerable number of yamen runners and sergeants in front of the examination rooms to supervise. If you change seats, change papers, throw paper balls, talk, or recite, you will be treated as cheating and will be severely punished if you are caught. So the whole examination room becomes very quiet at this time.
There are two examinations in the college entrance examination, one for the main examination and one for the re-examination. Today's examination is the main examination. After the cloud board was struck, the officers distributed the examination papers one after another. In addition to the examination papers, each person also had five pieces of rough paper.
As for the test questions, they were the same as those for the county and prefectural examinations. The test questions for the academy examinations were also pasted on wooden boards. Several yamen runners walked back and forth in the examination room holding the question cards for the candidates to check the questions.
However, when the yamen runners began to walk back and forth in the examination room holding the question cards, Zhu Ping'an clearly heard a commotion from the surroundings, and then heard the sergeant standing with a sword across his body shout, "Silence, if you dare to make a noise again, you will be treated as cheating."
Under the suppression of the sergeant with a sword, the examination room finally quieted down, but sporadic suppressed gasps could be heard from all around.
Could it be that today's test questions are a little weird
Zhu Pingan immersed the brush in the ground ink, thinking with a sense of amusement, could the question be something from a novel I read before, where we draw a circle and write an eight-part essay? When I saw that novel, I looked up the information. The candidate who won the first place in the historical exam answered the question like this: "When a sage began to study, he was empty-handed." This sentence is simply the perfect answer to the circle. If the question this time is also like this, then I will be too lucky.
However, when the yamen runner came to Zhu Ping'an holding the question board, Zhu Ping'an took a look at the question and knew why everyone reacted like that after reading it.
There are two questions on the Four Books and one question on the Five Classics, for a total of three questions.
The Five Classics question is nothing special. This Five Classics question is a post-script question, which is similar to the fill-in-the-blank question we had in school, but the format is different. The post-script question covers both ends and leaves a blank line in the middle for you to fill in. This post-script question in the college examination is nothing more than a longer fill-in-the-blank question. Zhu Ping'an often reviews the Four Books and Five Classics, so he can answer this question at a glance. I believe it will not be that difficult for other students.
The two questions on the four classics were, uh, how should I put it, frustrating.
The first question is just two words: Confucius said.
Just looking at the first question gives me a headache and makes me collapse. Confucius said, Confucius said, what the hell did Confucius say? How can I write the composition with this question
However, when Zhu Ping'an saw this question, he couldn't help laughing. Yes, he had seen this question before. He had read an article in modern times, which was probably called "Appreciation of Eight-part Essays in the Ming Dynasty". The article gave an example of such a question and also provided a standard solution.
Although this question was not the circle question he had just thought of, it happened to be one he had seen before. So after seeing the question, Zhu Ping'an did not feel confused or frown like other people. Instead, he could not help but curl up the corners of his lips and smiled silently.
Uh, this examinee was so angry about the question that he actually laughed. It seems that he must be the one who was most tortured by the question? The yamen runner holding the sign cast a sympathetic look at Zhu Ping'an.
Zhu Ping'an didn't know that he was being sympathized with. After copying the first question in neat small characters on a piece of rough paper, he began to look at the second question.
The second question is much more normal. It is titled: A gentleman is a man of high rank, while a villain is a man of low rank. This title comes from a sentence in the Analects of Confucius. Confucius said: "A gentleman is a man of high rank, while a villain is a man of low rank."
There are three questions in total. Basically everyone can do the sutra-posting part, so there is no big difference. The two questions about Four Books and Eight-legged Essays play a decisive role. The first question really makes people confused for a while, and they don't know how to solve it. Fortunately, the second question is more normal, otherwise even with more soldiers, they can't suppress it.
Compared to others who were racking their brains and getting anxious, Zhu Ping'an was much more relaxed and casual. He picked up his pen and started to make a draft on the draft paper.
The first question is titled "Zi Yue", which is a small question in the imperial examination. The big questions are usually multiple sentences or whole chapters, while the small questions are a sentence or several words in a sentence. For example, the first question "Zi Yue" is a small question with two words.
The introduction is the most important point of the eight-part essay. Some lazy examiners may only look at the introduction. The so-called introduction, in layman's terms, is to analyze the topic and what the article is going to talk about. The eight-part essay has requirements for the introduction, which stipulates that only two sentences are used. Although there are three sentences, they are all in one long sentence with a pause, which looks like three sentences. You have to summarize and explain the meaning of the topic, but you can't just say the meaning of the topic directly. The introduction is the beginning and the essence of the eight-part essay. If the topic is well introduced, you can get twice the result with half the effort.
"A common man can be a teacher for hundreds of generations, and a single word can be a law for the world."
Here are the two sentences that Zhu Pingan copied on the draft paper. This is the most standard opening sentence of "Zi said". The master of all ages said Zi, and the law of the world said Yue. Put together, it is "Zi said", which is a standard and thorough explanation with domineering side.
After the opening part comes the continuation of the topic. In modern times, Zhu Ping'an had only seen the topic and the opening part, and had not seen the continuation of the topic and other contents. However, after all, Zhu Ping'an had also experienced eight years of systematic study in the Ming Dynasty. Now that the topic had been opened, the continuation of the topic, the introduction, the eight-part and four-ratio, and the conclusion would be much easier. After a little thought and preparation, Zhu Ping'an picked up his pen and began to write in neat small characters on the draft paper.
He finished the first question in less than an hour with standard eight-part essay in small regular script.
When Zhu Pingan finished writing the first question and just put down his brush, he heard three drums from Mingyuan Tower, and then heard the nearby yamen runners say expressionlessly, "Drink tea and go to the toilet as you please, but don't make noise. Those who violate this will be punished as cheaters."
It's time for a break to have some tea, water and go to the toilet.
There is a water tank at the door of the dormitory. If you want to drink water, you can go to the water tank at the door to drink water, but you must stand up and signal the patrolling yamen runner, and you are not allowed to speak.
At the end of the room there is a manure room with a chamber pot inside, which is the toilet.
At this time, Zhu Ping'an did not feel thirsty at all, but he felt the urge to defecate in his lower abdomen, so he stood up to indicate that he wanted to go to the toilet. The inspector went to the direction of the toilet to confirm and saw that there was no one there, so he agreed to Zhu Ping'an's request to use the toilet and took a sign from a place and gave it to Zhu Ping'an.
Zhu Ping'an took the sign with both hands and took a look. There were words on both sides of the sign. One side said "enter tranquility" and the other side said "go to the toilet". The ancients said "go to the toilet" when going to the toilet probably got from this.
Zhu Ping'an held the card to his chest before he was allowed to come out of this cramped room to go to the toilet. Zhu Ping'an came out carefully, fearing that he would knock over his writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.
After Zhu Ping'an came out, a yamen runner followed Zhu Ping'an to the end of the dormitory. He followed him very closely and never left his side. Zhu Ping'an could understand that they did this just to prevent the candidates from taking the opportunity to cheat.
However, at this moment, I really feel like I am receiving VIP treatment.