Xu Jie was feeling a little confused.
Yesterday morning, the emperor arranged for me to preside over the imperial examination. When I left the palace, I met Yan Song, which irritated the old man. Just when I thought I was about to rise to prominence, I was summoned to the palace for no reason the next day, and was scolded by Emperor Jiajing.
Xu Jie was a smart man. He lowered his head and listened to the curses of the empire's ruler in Taoist robes, but his mind was working rapidly.
At the first moment, Xu Jie was certain that it was the old villain Yan Song who was behind this. There was no need to think about it, there was no one else but him.
Then Xu Jie understood a truth: his own thigh was not even as strong as Yan Song's little finger.
It doesn’t matter, because my idol is Gou Jian.
So, from now on, I am going to be Goujian, but I don’t know if Yan Song is ready to be Fuchai.
Moreover, things are not that bad. Although he was ignored by the emperor, the decree to preside over the imperial examination has not changed. The emperor should be a man of his word. How could the emperor rescind what he had said? Very good, he still has the capital to turn the tables.
Being neglected by the emperor and excluded by his colleagues, Xu Jie vowed to preside over this imperial examination well.
The waves of the sky are easy to fade, but it is hard to keep a moment.
Life is like a flash of lightning in the universe.
In the blink of an eye, the day of the National Imperial Examination arrived.
The procedures of the provincial and municipal examinations were similar. The examinations were also divided into three sessions, each lasting three days. The first session was on the ninth day, the second on the twelfth day, and the third on the fifteenth day. The candidates entered the examination hall one day earlier and left the examination hall the next day. The examination questions in the three sessions were nothing more than eight-part essays and policy questions.
The examination was held at Shuntian Gongyuan, southeast of the capital.
Zhu Ping'an had received the exam card the day before yesterday. It was issued by the Ministry of Rites based on the number of applicants. The exam card contains your personal information, which is similar to a modern admission ticket.
The families of Zhang Siwei and Wang Shizhen arrived a few days ago. They took care of them with all kinds of good food and drinks so that they could concentrate on the imperial examination. When they went to the imperial examination, their families naturally accompanied them and sent them to the examination, so they had no time to take care of Zhu Ping'an.
Zhu Ping'an finished washing up at Chou time, and set off for the imperial examination alone, carrying his packed bag.
When Zhu Ping'an left the inn with his luggage, three large ships also arrived in Liaocheng in Shandong.
A beautiful girl, accompanied by a chubby-faced maid, went to Cao Zhi's tomb by the river, accompanied by guards and a nanny. Burning incense and kneeling down to worship, the beautiful girl muttered something about toads, but donated a large sum of money and asked the host for a talisman for inspiration.
When the beautiful girl silently made a wish towards the capital and kept the talisman she had obtained close to her body, Zhu Ping'an had already arrived at Shuntian Examination Hall with his luggage.
At this time, there were huge crowds of people in front of Shuntian Imperial Examination Hall. Although the officials had already prepared sufficient manpower, the order was still somewhat chaotic for a while.
Shuntian Imperial Examination Hall is located in the southeast of Chongwenmen. At this time, candidates from all over the country who came to take the imperial examination gathered in front of Shuntian Imperial Examination Hall. According to statistics from the Ministry of Rites, a total of 5,121 candidates from the entire Ming Dynasty, including the northern and southern Zhili and thirteen provinces, came to take part in this imperial examination.
These 5,121 candidates were all Juren. Most Juren candidates had three or five attendants to take care of their lives so that they could concentrate on preparing for the exam. That meant there were about 20,000 people gathered here. Although the officials sent soldiers and yamen runners to set up fences to only allow Juren candidates to enter, there were still more than 10,000 people waiting outside the fences to see them off.
Zhu Ping'an lived some distance away from Shuntian Gongyuan. When Zhu Ping'an arrived at Shuntian Gongyuan, he saw this huge crowd of people.
After some effort, Zhu Ping'an finally squeezed in front of the fence. After the outer gate officer verified Zhu Ping'an's identity, he let Zhu Ping'an in and queued up to wait for the exam.
The examination was divided into 15 teams according to the 13 provinces of South and North Zhili. Each candidate lined up according to the administrative division where they were located. After Zhu Ping'an consulted a police officer, he followed the police officer's instructions and went to the place where the candidates from South Zhili were to line up.
Because there were so many candidates and there were unfamiliar candidates all around, Zhu Ping'an didn't see any familiar faces for a while.
All the candidates had gone through the county examination, prefectural examination, academy examination, and provincial examination. They were familiar with the procedures of queuing, so they lined up and waited for the examination step by step.
However, there are exceptions.
While waiting in line, Zhu Ping'an discovered such a strange person.
It was a queue from a neighboring province. This strange man was a little fat, and looked a bit like the last fat man among the group of noble sons who rode their horses and rushed into the city when he first entered the capital.
This strange fat man is really an oddity. Since he started queuing, he has kissed everything he has with him, one by one, making very loud "boo" sounds.
For example, right now, in Zhu Ping'an's eyes, the fat man was hugging the inkstone and kissing it wildly, then he let go and put it into the examination box, then took out a hollow brush and kissed it fiercely again... ...
Although it was now Nan Zhili's turn to line up to enter the examination room, the fat man's behavior still attracted the attention of almost all the candidates nearby. They all looked at the fat man with an silly expression as he carried all his luggage.
"Ugh, this guy is mentally retarded, why does he kiss everything he catches?"
"It's not that the exam is coming up soon, you're just too nervous, what a shame, it's not easy for anyone to get to this point, what a shame."
"This person must be a special nobleman, who was admitted to the Imperial College by special favor and came to participate in the imperial examination as a special case. But why did they give such a person a special favor and waste the quota for nothing?"
For a moment, people around were talking about the fat man's obscene behavior, pointing fingers, and they were very confused and even despised the fat man's behavior. They felt that participating in the imperial examination with such a person was a shameful experience.
The fat man ignored everyone's rolling eyes and continued kissing as if no one was around.
Finally, a well-mannered scholar behind him couldn't help it anymore, and with a red face, he asked the obscene fat man in front of him who was carrying all kinds of luggage:
"My dear, what are you doing?"
He was too curious, too confused, and too unable to tolerate the fat man's obscene behavior.
After hearing the question from the person behind him, the fat man stopped kissing, put down the bag of food in his hand, wiped his greasy paws on his clothes, and then replied mysteriously: "This is called a kiss (stable)."
Kissed?! Stable?!
Oh my god, brother, I read a lot, don't lie to me! (To be continued.)