The hard work continued all night long, and the light made the red words dim.
After finishing the exam, the candidates felt relieved, but at this time the examiners were very busy, reviewing the test papers by lamplight at night, and their eyes were dazzled.
In the Nanzhili provincial examination, the chief examiners were all Hanlin scholars, with two chief examiners, Zhang Tao and Wang Da. The two Hanlin scholars were from other provinces. Zhang Tao was a little older, but Wang Da was also fifty years old. In addition to the two chief examiners and deputy chief examiners, Nanzhili had nine co-examiners, which was about three more than the co-examiners in other provinces. These nine co-examiners were recommended and hired by the inspectors, county magistrates and instructors, and the prosecutors and instructors were all from other provinces.
The test papers of candidates such as Zhu Ping'an are controlled by these two chief examiners and nine co-examiners.
In the process of marking papers, the chief examiner and the co-examiners have a clear division of labor. The chief examiner decides whether to stay in the same examination or not. The co-examiners select the best papers from more than 10,000 candidates and recommend them to the chief examiner. The chief examiner will finally decide the admission of students and determine the ranking of the admitted students from the recommended papers.
The examiner's review began after Zhu Ping'an and his team finished their first exam. The examinees' papers were written in ink, called "ink rolls". After the papers were handed in, they were immediately sealed and numbered, and the transcriber copied them with a red pen as "red rolls". After proofreading, they were sent to the co-examiners for review. The co-examiners reviewed the selected papers and recommended them to the chief examiner, which was called "recommended rolls".
The chief examiner and deputy chief examiner will review the recommended papers of the room officials, focusing on the first round. After reviewing, they will review and discuss with each other and decide the number of candidates who will pass the first round of the seven-part and eight-part paper. Therefore, if the candidates answer well in the first round of the seven-part and eight-part paper, they will have succeeded for the most part. Perhaps this is what is called the first impression.
The test papers that are "snapped" by the co-examiner are called "failed papers". Failed papers do not mean there is no chance of success. The examiner will select the failed papers again according to the routine to see if there are any suitable papers to be recorded again. This is called "searching for the lost papers". Of course, generally speaking, the chief examiner is often used to saving trouble and only reads the papers recommended by the co-examiner and ignores the rest.
Anyway, it was snowing heavily outside, but the marking was in full swing; it was dark outside, but torches were lit at the marking site. The lights were bright; the examiners were working overtime to mark the papers.
The candidates who were outside enjoying the snow and drinking wine and enjoying their post-exam time had no idea how their test papers were being treated.
Zhu Ping'an was also enjoying the snow in the restaurant. This was the backyard of the restaurant, and the lights were on all night without violating the curfew. The heavy snow under the bright lights was a unique experience. The fat man was chattering beside him, waving his fat paws, spitting, as if not admitting him would be a shame to Confucius and Mencius.
"Brother Zhu, you don't know how well I answered this time..."
Fatty Xue Chi was chewing mutton, dancing and gesticulating, extremely excited.
"Yeah." Zhu Pingan hummed without comment, looking at the thick snow outside under the light. He was calm.
"Don't doubt me, this time I got the exam in the field I'm good at, it's hard not to pass." The fat man picked up a chicken drumstick and took a bite, his face full of confidence.
This made Zhu Ping'an a little curious. What was the fat man's area of expertise
Seeing Zhu Ping'an's curious eyes, the fat man was very proud. He wiped his mouth with his fat hand and started to brag, "You said it's strange. How come the provincial examination also tests the love between men and women?"
Hearing this, Zhu Pingan couldn't help but think of the phrase "I miss you so much". He looked at the fat man with some constipation. Didn't this guy think of me as his sister
"Sister, let me think about it. Hahaha, you are right about this question. I don't remember this sentence in the Four Books and Five Classics. But these are not important. What's important is that I am good at it. I read all the books in Fengyang..."
Sure enough, the next second the fat man was as confident as a shining little sun, and his face was red with excitement.
There should be a soundtrack at this time, Fire, I am fire...
Hearing this, Zhu Pingan looked at the fat man with a constipated face, speechless, how did this guy pass the county and prefectural examinations... ...
Just as Zhu Ping'an was looking at the fat man with constipation, he didn't know that it was time for his test paper to be reviewed by the examiner.
It must be said that Zhu Ping'an had bad luck, as his test paper fell into the hands of his co-examiner Song Shiming. Song Shiming was a Confucian instructor in Zunhua County, Jizhou, Shuntian Prefecture. He was not as "Ming" as his name suggested, and was rather conservative.
At this time, our Tongkao Song had been working overtime and was overloaded with marking papers. It must be said that Song Tongkao was quite tired. He wiped his sweat with a towel while taking out a paper from a pile to mark.
That’s right, the test paper in Song Tongkao’s hand at this time was Zhu Ping’an’s test paper.
Zhu Ping'an's fate is now in the hands of Song Tongkao. Song Tongkao can decide to recommend the test paper to the chief examiner, or he can decide to discard the test paper.
A sudden north wind blew outside, whistling and blowing up snow all over the ground, which suddenly hit the window without any warning.
Bang
Song Tongkao, who was standing near the window, was caught off guard by the cold air that had just come in through the window gap. He was sweating from the heat just now, but now his hands and feet were cold again!
The mood was fluctuating between hot and cold, and our Song Tongkao was in a very bad mood.
However, our Song Tongkao quickly calmed down and looked at the test paper in his hand with the mentality of being responsible for the candidates.
Then, his bad mood, which had just been cleared up, suddenly turned...
It's even worse!
"Oh my god, what the hell is this?"
Song Tongkao looked at the test paper in his hand, as if he saw the goddess he had pursued for 18 years finally taking off her clothes and revealing a penis that was even more thriving than his own...
So, our classmate Song muttered something disgusting as if he had swallowed hot shit, and then he casually threw the test paper in his hand, which was Zhu Ping'an's test paper, to the ground!
Falling volume!
No
Worse than the failed papers, whose papers were at least piled up on the table in the corner. Maybe some idle fellow examiner or chief examiner would rummage through the pile, and maybe there would be a chance to turn it over... However, Zhu Ping'an's paper was thrown on the ground, without even a chance to be rummaged through, not even a single chance, worse than the failed papers! The fighter among the failed papers, the VIP among the failed papers!
After throwing Zhu Ping'an's test paper on the ground, our Song Tongkao firmly picked up his terrible mood and continued to devote himself to the career of marking papers for selecting talents for the country. He took another test paper and reviewed it meticulously, attentively, and with great devotion... ...
Life is like this. When you meet the wrong person at the right time, all you can do is sigh and feel sad... This is life.
Of course, Zhu Pingan, who was looking at the fat man with a constipated face, didn't know that his test paper was thrown to the ground after being read by someone with a look of vomiting...
but
But
Fate took a turn at this moment. Just when Zhu Ping'an was about to fail the exam, the goddess of fate winked at him and smiled playfully.
Just as Zhu Ping'an's test paper was thrown to the ground by our classmate Song and was falling down, the door was pushed open.
That’s right, it’s such a coincidence, even more coincidental than the script could ever be.
Our examiner just opened the door and walked in, and happened to see this scene, and our classmate Zhu Pingan's test paper just fell at the examiner's feet.
So, our chief examiner bent down and picked up Zhu Ping'an's test paper from the ground, held it in his hand, and was shocked at the first glance. He looked at it carefully for a long time... Then he walked to our fellow examiner Song, put Zhu Ping'an's test paper on the table, and said his conclusion:
"Should be the first place in the exam" (to be continued)