In recent days, unless Li Jin is too busy to escape, he will usually follow Zhu Shan to go to the Dushui Clearing Division to study the renovation of the ship.
In order to allow his body to quickly adapt to the cold, he even wore only a thin jacket.
In the cold winter season, except for the officials in the court, no one wears such thin clothes. After all, officials can't be unsightly when they face the Holy Spirit.
And the clothes of pedestrians on the road are all thicker and thicker, and even Zhu Shan is a little bloated.
Along the way, Zhu Shan glanced at Li Jin several times. Although he knew that Li Jin was about to take part in the exam, there were also many high school disciples in the capital who would 'torture' himself like Li Jin.
But he understood, he felt cold when he looked at Li Jin, but he couldn't persuade Li Jin.
After all, being able to try is the most important thing, and you will be a superior person if you endure hardships.
A bleak cold wind blew, and Zhu Shan ignored his demeanor and put his hands into his cuffs, as if he had to wrap himself up tightly before he could give up.
After another ten days, Zhu Shan walked with Li Jin again. He couldn't help but admire Li Jin's ability to adapt.
After all, Li Jin wore such thin clothes at first, and occasionally sneezed, and it could be seen from his face that he was trying his best to endure.
But now Li Jin's face was as normal as he was walking, as if he couldn't feel the cold wind at all.
When Zhu Shan asked him, Li Jin smiled and said, "I'm used to it."
It's really not that his physique is special, it's just that he has been exercising and taking cold showers every day for six years, and his body is there to adjust so quickly.
Time passed day by day, and the eve of the test soon came.
Qin Muwen carefully packed the book basket for him and counted the items over and over again.
Even for the food in the examination room, Qin Muwen asked many neighbors and made a lot of tricks, but in the end he could bring in only three scallion pancakes, some cabbage leaves, potatoes and dried steamed bread slices.
In fact, if you want to bring meat, it is not impossible, but the size of the book basket is limited. If the candidate can fit it, he will go with him.
But Li Jin felt that the meat was not easy to bring. Even if the family made it, it had to be scalded with water after entering the room before eating.
Chunwei's charcoal basin is not only used for cooking, but also for heating. The experience of countless 'predecessors' condensed with blood and tears is a word, save.
Therefore, after Li Jin communicated with Qin Muwen, he still planned to bring some simple dry food. Anyway, he only had nine days, and he was a hero after getting through it.
Early in the morning on the ninth day of the second lunar month, Li Jin got up and went to wash in the yard, only to see the oil lamp in the main house lit up.
Qin Muwen went out and poured water for him, then pulled up his hair and tied a ribbon for him.
It wasn't dawn yet, and it was only a little after Yin Shi (three o'clock), Qin Muwen went to the kitchen to warm up the meal, and the two finished eating together. He lit the lantern and sent Li Jin to the front door.
Qin Muwen's lips curled up, showing his first smile in the past few days, and then he quickly took the initiative to kiss Li Jin's lips,
"Everyone in the village said that I am lucky. Now I want to give all my blessings to my husband. I just hope that everything goes well for my husband."
Li Jin also had a smile in his eyes and rubbed his head: "Xiao Fuxing, I'm leaving."
Afterwards, he opened the door, carried a book basket, and went to the Gongyuan in the capital with a lantern.
This year is also considered an Enke, and there are not as many candidates participating in the general examination as in previous years, so the Jiangnan Gongyuan is not open.
The Jingcheng Gongyuan has been expanded to more than 9,000 rooms, enough to accommodate all the candidates.
Although every three years, there are only 2,000 Juren in the whole country, but the imperial examination has been followed for so many years, and the number of Juren has already exceeded 10,000.
In previous years, when the waterways in the south were icy and it was inconvenient to travel, the emperor would allow candidates from Jiangnan to directly participate in the general examination at the Jiangnan Gongyuan.
In the south, the literary style was more prevalent. When the country was stable, there were even scenes of Wanju people participating in the examination at the Jiangnan Gongyuan.
Li Jin remembered that Wan Yun said that the Jiangnan Gongyuan has been expanded to more than 18,000 rooms, and the entire Qinhuai River is the Gongyuan except for the Confucius Temple.
Now that His Majesty is diligent in government and loves the people, the people live in peace, and the number of scholars is increasing. It seems that the expansion will continue in the future.
Li Jin thought, fortunately, he was born in a peaceful and stable era.
If the war is continuous and the beacon is everywhere, maybe he will not have the chance to take the imperial examination. However, he is still not very proficient in traditional Chinese medicine. In the future, he can really be a barefoot doctor and make money to support his family.
Li Jin stood in line at the place specified by the Ministry of Rites, and all his ears were filled with the sounds of the teeth chattering of the people around him.
After a while, the trumpet finally began to be sung, and those who were called to the horn stepped forward in order, and only after a body search could they go to pay homage to the statue of Confucius.
Similar to the Confucius Temple in Jiangnan Gongyuan, each Gongyuan will have a statue of the Confucius, and candidates must pay homage to the Confucius before entering the numbered room.
"Hongyan Village, Li Jin."
When Li Jin was called, he handed the lantern to the guard next to him. After the two priests who protected him had verified his identity, he followed the directions to search him.
Li Jin put the book basket on the table, and the natural person quickly took it away.
In accordance with the regulations, he took off his leather clothes, outer robes, middle clothes and trousers.
Every piece of clothing is also checked for entrainment and cheat sheets before it can be returned to them.
Different from the examination in the township examination, the officials who will examine the examination even put away the candidates' shoes and socks.
A pinched foot is someone who deliberately made the toe a little thinner. After inserting a few cheat sheets, the thickness is exactly the same as the rest of the shoe. If you don't check carefully, you can't really find it.
However, at this moment, everyone is from a family background, and everyone knows the consequences of bringing cheats in.
That would be immediately dismissed!
Therefore, even though the inspections are getting stricter and stricter now, everyone is not panicked at all, after all, they are really open in their hearts.
Li Jin thought it would be fine after taking off and checking, but the official sent him to take a bath directly.
Dry and change clothes after taking a bath.
After all this tossing, everyone has checked, and the time has passed.
When Li Jin sat in the numbered room, he only felt that some parts of his body were not dry after taking a bath, and the water was directly on his clothes, which made people feel colder.
But Li Jin didn't have time to take care of these for the time being, he had to spend all his time answering the questions.
There is an extra crock pot in the test room, so that candidates can use the crock pot to store excrement for the past three days.
In other words, it means that you cannot leave the room for three days.
Furthermore, candidates eat, drink, and sleep in this room, which is four feet long (one meter three) and less than five feet deep (about one meter five) within three days.
Of course, the most important thing is to write splendid articles.
The first round of the general exam is similar to the township exam. The exams are all about the parts of the four scriptures and five scriptures that are related to historical theory. It is the most time-consuming and also the part that tests the candidates' knowledge the most.
If you want to leave a good impression on the examiner, you must answer the first question well.
The first question on Li Jin's side is "Zhou and Tang Dynasty are more important on the outside and less on the inside, and Qin and Wei are more important on the outside and less on the inside, and each has its own merits."
This question seems easy to write. As long as you understand the governance concepts and history of Zhou, Tang, Qin and Wei, it is not difficult to solve it.
Li Jin probably had an idea in his mind and began to read the second question.
Several questions in the four scriptures must be answered, and the questions in the five scriptures are still four out of twenty.
Therefore, Li Jin chose to browse through the questions first, he knew that every question was answered as a pass.
But if the article is to be really well written, it must be linked.
Just like the last township exam, Li Jin was able to stand out because his five scriptures combined the four points of water conservancy, agriculture, alchemy and shipbuilding.
This time, Li Jin had a bolder idea. Sishuwen began to ask questions from historical theory. Then he focused on river transportation and shipbuilding that he wanted to introduce.
Starting from the Grand Canal of the Zhou and Tang Dynasties, "taking the ancient times as a mirror, you can know the rise and fall", in order to introduce your own views.
Each article progresses layer by layer, allowing one's own ideas and conclusions to penetrate the examiner's thinking.
Thinking about it this way, Li Jin's thinking became much clearer, and after finding his own point, he began to list the ideas one by one.
On the first day, Li Jin only finished reading all the questions at noon. He realized that he had been sitting for a long time, and when he wanted to stand up, he found that his legs were frozen and numb.
He put down his pen, shook hands into fists, and lightly hammered his calf.
When the calf could move a little, Li Jin left one-sixth of the charcoal fire in the brazier and lit it. He didn't rush to boil the water, but put the potatoes on the charcoal fire, and then roasted the scallion pancakes on the potatoes.
It is cold in winter, sweat does not evaporate as fast as in autumn, and the demand for water is not as great as in autumn.
When the pancakes were hot, the potatoes were not yet cooked, so Li Jin ate the pancakes first, then asked the guard to draw water, put the pot on the brazier, and moved the brazier to his feet.
It's like he's on fire.
With the brazier by his side, the temperature of his body gradually rose. When the charcoal fire was almost finished, Li Jin drank hot water to warm himself up while answering questions.
He had a specific idea, and he drafted the article very quickly, but it was dark early in the winter, and Li Jin felt that he had not written before the You Shi (5 to 7 o'clock in the evening), and the room became dark.
Li Jin held on until his eyes were sore before lighting the candle.
Taking advantage of his own thoughts, he directly wrote down the drafts of the three and four writings before blowing out the candle, reheating the water, and eating hot potatoes.
Li Jin wrapped the remaining cabbage, scallion pancakes and steamed buns, and planned to keep these at hand when he went to bed at night.
If a mouse comes, he can drive it away as soon as possible.
Li Jin doesn't plan to start a fire at night, it's okay to be cold, but he must not cause a fire.
There was once a candidate who was afraid of the cold in the middle of the night, and the living person slept in the brazier.
In the end, the room was burnt abruptly, and dozens of Juren who were close to him were also burned to death.
Therefore, some aspects of the imperial examinations are actually fate.
Li Jin put the two wooden boards together on the ground, and piled the crock pot beside the door. After thinking about it, he put the extinguished brazier and bamboo basket next to the crock pot.
If he accidentally kicked down the crock pot at night, it might abruptly spoil his mind to answer the question.
The answer sheets and the plain papers that were drafted were piled up beside his head, which was the safest.
With this arrangement, Li Jin took off his robe, wrapped one over the other, and fell asleep slowly.
When Li Jin woke up, he thought it was the second day. He heard the purring sounds coming from the surroundings, and saw the thick night through the top of the door panel of the numbered room. It was only then that he realized that this time was probably just over.
One night, Li Jin woke up three or four times after being frozen, and as soon as the snoring in the surrounding rooms stopped, he also got up to boil hot water and light a candle to answer the questions.
During the spring season, the days are short and the nights are long, so it is fair that each candidate is allocated three candles.
On the second day, Li Jin drafted five sutras and polished the entire seven articles.
In this way, only the transcription is left for the third day.
By this time, only half of Li Jin's three candles were left.
The scallion pancake with boiled cabbage has already been eaten, and tomorrow I can only eat potatoes and steamed bread slices.
Originally, Li Jin planned to make one scallion pancake a day, but with the crock pot here, he really couldn't cook the pancakes indifferently.
The moment he came out of the examination room, Li Jin walked fast. Jun Zhuo, who had met once, only had time to see Li Jin's back, and if he tried to find him again, he would never see anyone.
On the contrary, a lot of people gathered around him quickly.
These people's faces were full of joy: "Enke is not difficult, I have answered it all."
"Me too, it happened to be all back."
Jun Zhuo congratulated them with a smile, and the group walked towards the inn together.
At the same time, the examiners in the inner curtain also began to transcribe the candidates' first answer sheets.
There were more than 4,000 people participating in this spring festival.
According to the ratio, about 200 people can be admitted as tribute.
The results of the general examination will be announced within 20 days after the examination, so all the examiners have a heavy task on their shoulders.
Li Jin went home after taking a shower, holding the little bun... While his father was sleeping, a young examiner suddenly exclaimed in the curtain of the Gongyuan Courtyard in the capital.
"This, this word is also so beautifully written, I have never seen such a beautiful word in my life!"