After the ink had dried, Zhu Ping'an collected the test paper, carefully put it into the test paper bag, and hung it on the wall.
It was already dark, the night was so dark that it seemed as if a thick ink had been smeared all over the sky, and not even a little starlight could be seen. The north wind began to howl, and the chilly spring weather gradually spread through the Imperial Examination Hall.
Along with the howling north wind, there was also a strange smell from next door, and the one that was most affected was the stinking horn.
The sound of someone vomiting came from a distance. In the silent night, it was extremely obvious. He was probably an unlucky kid like me.
So what if you are in a stinky hole? Just make a mask for yourself.
Zhu Ping'an tightened his rabbit fur coat, pulled the bag on the kang over, and took out a cotton pillowcase from it. This was the pillowcase his mother Chen made for him at home, using the leftover cotton scraps from making clothes for him.
He took the pillowcase out of the bag, found a small knife, cut two oval pieces of cotton cloth according to the size of his face, overlapped the two oval pieces of cotton cloth, and then used the small knife to cut four long straps. He then poked four small holes on both sides of the overlapping oval pieces of cotton cloth and tied the four long straps through the small holes.
Well, a simple double-layer mask is made.
Zhu Ping'an put on this simple mask. Well, the effect is quite good. He can hardly smell any odor.
It is late at night and everyone is asleep, which is a good time to go to bed. However, it would be best to look at the second Four Books essay question before going to bed and think about it while falling asleep.
The second question, an eight-part essay on the Four Books, was relatively simple: "Only when the cold winter comes do we know that pine and cypress are the last to wither."
This is the 28th chapter of "The Analects of Confucius. Zi Han", and this sentence is also a sentence that everyone often sees and says. After reading this question, Zhu Pingan put the test paper into the test paper bag and hung it on the wall, then tidied up the room, blew out the candle, and fell asleep quietly while thinking.
In fact, this topic is not difficult at all. In winter, we know that pine and cypress are the last to shed their leaves. In fact, it is nothing more than talking about the unyielding and noble character of pine and cypress. Zhu Xi used two sentences to annotate this chapter. "When villains govern the world, they may be no different from gentlemen. Only when faced with interests and dangers, and encountering changes, can the gentleman's adherence be seen." "When a scholar is in poverty, his integrity is revealed; when the world is in chaos, his loyal ministers are known. If you want to learn, you must be comprehensive in virtue."
Therefore, this question is also a question about using objects to express one's aspirations. It describes the pine and cypress trees' unyielding character and unyielding spirit in winter from multiple angles, and then expresses one's own ideological realm as being as noble and upright as the pine and cypress trees.
Soon, Zhu Ping'an conceived an eight-part essay and then fell asleep quietly.
In the early morning, everything was quiet. The sky was getting light, the night was about to fade away, and the dawn light slowly awakened the sleeping candidates.
In fact, Zhu Ping'an had already gotten up and washed before dawn.
It's not for anything else, it's just that this is the coldest time of the day, there is still morning frost outside, because of the cold, the smell next door is still very light; because it's early, most of the candidates have not yet gotten up to go to the bathroom.
Therefore, the smell of the stinky trumpet is the lightest at this time of the day.
Yesterday, he only had one meal. At this time, Zhu Pingan felt extremely hungry and his stomach growled several times.
“When Heaven is about to confer a great responsibility on a man, it must first make his heart and mind suffer. It must toil his muscles and bones, starve his body, deprive him of all want, and make his plans frustrated. This is to stir his heart and harden his nature, and increase his ability to do what he was not able to do before.”
Zhu Pingan wore a mask. He quietly recited this sentence from Mencius, took out the meat cut by the soldiers from his bag, forked it with an iron bar, roasted it on the charcoal fire, then pulled open a corner of the mask, put the meat into his mouth, and quickly pulled down the mask to put it on.
Just like that, chewing hard.
As for cooking noodles and meat soup like yesterday, I'm sorry I can't do it. Yesterday was the first day, and I was almost the first batch of people to come in. The toilet next door was almost not used yet, and there was no odor, so I could cook a hot soup of noodles, but today I can't do it.
If I do the same thing as yesterday, I will definitely vomit.
So, Zhu Pingan roasted the dried meat and put it in his mouth, chewing it with the mask on to satisfy his hunger. He roasted it and put it in his mouth with the mask on to reject it, and then swallowed it. He ate very quickly and a lot.
The soldiers invigilating outside were almost stunned. They came back from their shift change that night and found that the owner of the dormitory they were in charge of was dressed in such a strange way, with a rag covering his face. Moreover, he was eating so happily and without stopping so early in the morning.
During the shift change last night, I heard that the candidate in the other row had been vomiting so much that he couldn't stop. Especially in the evening when they were all going to the toilet, the unfortunate child had fainted from vomiting. The president (the chief examiner in ancient times was also called the president, meaning the president was the examiner) had sent him to the Mingjing Building because of the risk of life. Of course, the exam was definitely invalidated.
But our invigilator not only did not vomit to death, but was actually jumping around in high spirits.
So, no matter what others think about this bad-mouthed guy who was invigilating for me, I have to admit defeat.
In such a short while, Zhu Ping'an had already stuffed nearly a pound of dried meat into his mouth. He was no longer hungry, but he still had to eat more to be completely full in an emergency.
An examinee who got up early in the morning couldn't help feeling the stomach gushing out, so he put on a coat and went from his room to the toilet to rest.
Accompanied by the invigilator, the examinee was walking to the toilet and felt extremely lucky that he was not assigned to the smelly toilet. He thought about how many examinees like him were going to the toilet. Then he gloated over the examinees who were assigned to the smelly toilet. Haha, the examinees who were assigned to the smelly toilet must be very uncomfortable.
Thinking of this, the candidate couldn't help but feel a sense of happiness.
It is true that comparison can bring about a sense of happiness.
When the candidate passed by the stinky number that he was gloating over, a scene that overturned his outlook on life appeared.
In his mind, the candidate who should be vomiting to death was now holding an iron bar and grilling meat, which was sizzling and he was eating with gusto.
vomit
For some reason, the candidate who was going to the toilet couldn't help but retch when he saw this scene.
Uh, are you coming here specifically to vomit at my door
Hearing the sound, Zhu Ping'an looked outside, then shook his head speechlessly. He threw the dried meat on the iron bar into the charcoal brazier, letting it burn to ashes, and began to clean up his own cell.
At this time, the sky gradually brightened.
Zhu Ping'an put on a mask and packed up the things in his room, washed his hands, rearranged the wooden board with pens, ink, paper and inkstone, and began to continue his journey to succeed in the imperial examination.
When the candidate who had vomited came out of the toilet, Zhu Ping'an had already started to copy the second eight-part essay that he had conceived last night onto the draft paper. He wrote quickly and without any punctuation, and finished it in one go.
Even in a stinky toilet, he can still have a lot of ideas! This candidate who was using the toilet was simply blinded by Zhu Ping'an. (To be continued.)