Transmigrating to the Ming Dynasty’s Imperial Examination

Chapter 106

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Early in the morning on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, Cui Xie rolled up a new snow-white piece and tucked it under his schoolbag, and rode an ox cart to school. Before leaving, I suddenly remembered that there were many grass-flavored perfumes that I had never used in the ice cellar.

I didn't apply it immediately after I took it, for fear of dyeing the fragrance of steamed flowers in the whole courtyard, I just wrapped the bottle thickly with a cloth and put it in the new roll of clothes.

This day was the Juanzhai publicity and voting meeting. He was a little uneasy while sitting in the school, always thinking about how it was going. Fortunately, the seventh day of the first lunar month was the day of the endorsement, and he could memorize the chapters and sentences of the scriptures firmly, and he could memorize them word by word with his eyes closed.

He wasn't the only one distracted, many of his classmates were a little dizzy during class, but he was particularly energetic when he pressed him on how to vote during class.

Cui Xie looked at the sky, and it was estimated that the actor of Wumei was singing and canvassing votes. But he was afraid that his classmates would be distracted in class, so he didn't dare to tell them. He just said, "The best thing is after dark, and we don't miss much."

Because the vote count for the first beauty election was at night, the curfew must have passed, so they simply packed the garden of a businessman surnamed Huang outside the city. The large garden with several acres of land is enough for people to toss at will, and there are several spacious yards for them to set up color sheds and high-level performances. The garden has its own guest room for the judges and the true fans who participate in the party to spend the night.

As long as you have to stay outside the city for one night, and come back tomorrow morning after opening the city gate, it will not delay people going to work or school.

The classmates had hope in their hearts, let him go temporarily, and fell into the imagination of the general election at night. Cui Xie also passed the morning in anticipation, and went to ask the teaching assistant for leave at noon. Assistant Professor Xie replied very readily: "Today is the Qixi Festival, are you going to accompany your family? Just go, I'm not that old pedant who can't wait for human feelings."

Alas, it's not a pretty girl either... They're still just friends now...

Cui Xie's own mind was not right, and he misinterpreted the teaching assistant's good words. It wasn't until I heard him say, "I have to go back to accompany my mother and younger brother earlier today," that I knew that I was thinking too much. The instructor asked him if he wanted to go back to accompany his family.

If his thoughts were a little purer, he wouldn't be thinking of this... Cui Xie lowered his head in shame and swallowed a piece of shrimp shaomai.

This day has passed, and it seems to be as difficult as a year.

After knocking on the cymbals in the scattered hall with great difficulty, the twenty-seven classmates who were going to be judges packed up their things, signed the recitation book, and walked out surrounded by Cui Xie.

Outside the Chengyi Hall, the seven talents they invited from the Fangxing Hall were also waiting there.

The students were more romantic than the students, and they all looked at them with great interest, but they were also a little shy. They felt that it was not good to participate in this kind of romantic meeting, and they also looked around to see if the husband was there. But this is also fake and shy, really embarrassed to go home after school, and don't go to the beauty pageant with them.

Someone asked: "Thank you for the invitation from Prime Minister Cui Kan. We also wrote poems for voting. Can this also be used to comment on poems?"

Cui Xie said: "It is also possible, but the poem requires several judges to give points at the same time, the highest score is 10 points, and the lowest is 1 point. The poems are counted as expert votes, and when the scores are different from the votes of ordinary readers, they There is another set of algorithms in Zhaili.”

He briefly explained the scoring rules: the average score for each poem of the experts' votes is divided by ten to count the votes. Before the official grading, there will be another elimination. Please join hands with these supervisors to first pick out those who made up random pieces, made too many mistakes, made poems unworthy of poetry, attacked the ancients, and wrote incorrectly titled… All of them will be regarded as invalid votes and will not be counted in the number of votes.

In the final count of votes, expert votes account for 30% of the weight, and audience votes account for 70% of the total votes. The total number of votes is the total number of votes.

Of course, his plan was to count the votes like this, but with these classmates who were too lazy to learn arithmetic in the Nine Chapters, they did not explain the weights, proportions, etc., and only talked about the scoring rules.

Although it was a little more troublesome, these supervisors were here to join in the fun. I heard that not only talented people, but even the old and sour scholars who had been paid tribute could also be graded, and I was even more excited. The uncle who tipped Jieyuan specially asked: "Since my son Chong can also serve as a judge, can Chief Cui judge with us?"

Cui Xie said with a smile, "I'm not good at writing poetry, and I'm not good at criticizing, but I don't dare to delay other people's business. If I'm busy there, I'm afraid I won't have time to eat. Why don't my friends find a place to have dinner with me first..."

Zhang Zhaichang said immediately: "My wife and children will go there to wait for me first. I have to take them back to the city before dawn. I don't need to eat, they should prepare it for me."

A more straight-tempered Juren also said: "You can't eat when you want to eat. We are all going to the conference. It's serious to go there quickly!"

Cui Xie said: "That Shaodong who lives in Anzhai also asked people to prepare some food, and there should be hawkers outside the park to sell, if you don't dislike it..."

Don't dislike it, don't dislike it, hurry up, they've been waiting all day!

It's not easy for the supervisors and Xuezheng to ask for the night off, just to watch the beauty selection. Who cares about what to eat? Thirty people went out in a mighty manner, boarded the six carts hired by the Cui family, and drove towards the Jinghe Garden of the Huang family outside the city.

Before reaching the garden, the sound of drums and trumpets was heard from the wind in the distance. It was just when the sun was hanging high that the hexagonal palace lanterns with characters from the Three Kingdoms were already hung outside the gate of Jinghe Garden: beauty lanterns, hero lanterns, emperor lanterns, galloping horse lanterns, tower lamps, revolving lanterns...

There are also life-size portraits of five beauties standing at the door, which are the ones hanging in the cabinet of Ju Anzhai, but now they are generously posted at the door for everyone to watch. Those who want to enter the garden only need to take out the cover of the votes and the poster and let the guy at the door check it, and there is no charge.

Cui Xie didn't even bring a ticket, he brushed his face.

Fans who were waiting in line to enter the garden watched him come down and say a few words, so they had to bring a few carts in, and couldn't help but shout: "How can he get in first? Isn't he just a poor scholar, I am The people from the royal family of the Governor's Office, who are lining up for the master's family, why don't we allow us to advance!"

There were a lot of complaints from the people lining up for a while.

It's all costing money, why do they have to work so hard to line up here, and that scholar can lead a few carts of people with a few words

The old soap servants invited by the county and the local Lijia maintained order and politely persuaded them to stay. The two clerks who checked the tickets accompanied them and said with a smile: "Those are the judges who came to comment on the poems from the Guoxue, not the guests. In the evening, in addition to commenting on the number one beauty of the Three Kingdoms, you also have to comment on the poems of the number one beauty. People who comment on poetry can’t get in, and they can’t judge the poems in one night, so they have to watch it for fun?”

To criticize poetry in public? Isn't it counted when you vote in

This is elegant and lively. The scholars who had written poems stopped making trouble for now. They just didn't care about their knowledge and asked around the corners who the judges were. The person who didn't vote for the poem paper said impatiently: "What's good about that poem, it's up to anyone, who can understand it."

The man smiled meaningfully: "The poem is not just read and listened to, but also ask someone to accompany the song to sing a cappella, is there any meaningless reason?"

Reading poetry is boring, how can listening to music be boring? In the past two days, several opera troupes and prostitutes have said that they have been invited by his family to stand on the platform and sing songs for his family. They all seem to be very honorable. How can they make these frequent guests wrong? Interested in this conference

What's more, it is very rare to see beautiful women in paintings from the periphery of this garden, and listen to clear music in the wind. He just doesn't care who is the most beautiful in the painting, so he's so excited that he's willing to spend some money to see it.

After waiting in line to enter the garden, the excitement will be even more.

There are flowers, trees and green onions in the garden, and there are many snack stalls along the road, cold syrup, milk tea, steamed snacks, ice bowls, fresh fruits, crispy cheese, puffed snails, hot noodle soup, steamed buns, sesame seeds, steamed dumplings, Lamb soup... Every household uses a large bucket to hold clean water, washes the household items to shine, and someone picks up the dirty water, and even the ground is cleaned up so that people can rest when they are tired.

There are also hired local hunters who shuttle among the crowds, carrying small baskets to deliver cold water, and all the guests who come in will give the gardenia and jasmine sugar water to a bamboo well to keep them cool, lest they become thirsty.

The flowerbeds on all sides were filled with seasonal flowers, and the trees in between were all wrapped with strings and hung high with lanterns. In the large empty space between the flower beds, four colorful sheds were built. The sheds were decorated with colored paper and silk. A small exhibition hall was built inside. Each exhibition hall wrote a story of a beauty. Only Jiangdong Erqiao Gong Occupy a pavilion.

Outside the exhibition hall, someone sold the cheese that Diao Chan had eaten, the jade pillow that Zhen Shi slept on, the gardenia soap that Er Qiao loved to use, and the grass comb that Mrs. Sun brought... Carry the basket, so that the guests will not be unable to hold it with both hands.

Entering the color booth exhibition hall, it followed the same way as the modern memorial hall: when entering the door, there are large head portraits, busts, and single portraits on a wall. In the center of the shed is a small tau, on which lacquer trays are used to hold items related to these legendary beauties—of course not the kind of souvenirs outside, but exquisite magnetic bottles, portraits, bronze sculptures, and wood carvings of the Three Kingdoms story.

One or two female prostitutes or small singers are also invited in each studio, sitting on the high platform, beating on the tooth plate and playing the lute, telling the legendary stories of these beauties and the men behind them to the visitors.

The female guest and the child set up a separate courtyard, and the portraits of five beauties were pasted in the room, and the daughter-in-law was invited to teach. The people who come in and out of the service are local women hired by the local people, and the women bring in the food. Although the female guests can’t walk through the four exhibition halls like the male guests, they can stay comfortable.

Visiting from the color booth, there is another stage set up by the owner in the center of the garden. From the morning, there are opera troupes who dress up and sing the sets of the Three Kingdoms.

Diaochan has "Jin Yuntang Secretly Determined Serial Plan", "Dong Zhuo Plays Diaochan", "Kuan Dawang Kills Diaochan under the Moon", Xiao Qiao has "Zhou Gongjin Desires to Marry Xiao Qiao", "Soochow Xiao Qiao Cries Zhou Yu", Zhen's has the opera "Queen Zhen" , is a cost play. Mrs. Sun only showed a small side in "Two Military Divisions Across the River Fighting Plan", and had a wedding room scene with Liu Bei, and the rest of Da Qiao didn't even sing her. But if only three companies sing a series of operas, and the remaining two do not show up, when it comes to voting, they must vote one-sidedly, and the competition is not fierce enough.

Cui Xie gave full play to the spirit of "how bold people are, how prolific the land is". As early as after the comparison, he asked the shopkeeper Ji to send people to find a few scripted scholars and opera troupe bosses, and asked them to revise according to the music. Ci, deleted a lot of the scenes of Zhuge and Zhou Yu fighting in "Two Military Divisions Across the River", added part of the plot of "Wang Can Climbing the Tower", and added a commentary of the Queen Mother of Soochow to Liu Bei to marry Sun Shangxiang. Liu Bei's big reunion play; and changed "Zhou Yu Dezhi Marries Xiao Qiao" to "Sun Ce Dezhi Marries Da Qiao".

Not to mention the content of the opera, at least the danjiao who play these beauties are dressed according to his pictures, and it can be seen at a glance which beauties correspond to the beauties in the painting. When she came to the stage, she also used luodai to draw thick outer eyeliner, and painted her cheeks with vermilion, showing big eyebrows and big eyes, and her pink skin. From a distance, she looked like a person in a painting.

With such beautiful actors, the guests can forgive their perfunctory lyrics.

The singing sounded far into the house where the judges were, and the supervisors could hear it, holding poems in their hands, but their hearts had already drifted to Getai, and even the cold milk tea could not bring them back to their minds.

One of the supervisors who was raising a pen to draw a vertical line on the poem sighed: "Or Xiufeng brother has the foresight, and actually brought his wife and children, why don't you have to visit his wife when you enter the door, don't you need to read these crooked poems?"

Another person read a good one, and said disapprovingly, "You can see gold only after scouring the yellow sand. If we can judge the best poem of the Three Kingdoms tonight, wouldn't we also be able to achieve a good thing, compared to seeing some beautiful women?" It's more meaningful."

The audition teacher had the hardest time. Cui Xie, a man who had watched talent shows for many years, naturally knew it well, and asked Cui Qi to prepare something to eat.

Cui Qi immediately withdrew and asked the waiter to bring fresh fruits, cured fish, and fried sparrows to appetizers for the judges. But they didn't dare to ask them to drink steamed shochu, so they only gave some low-alcohol rice wine and fruit wine, and repeatedly asked people to cook the main dishes, telling them to eat and then comment.

The supervisors were embarrassed to complain any more. After thanking him, he said wisely: "At this time, there are many tourists outside, and there are queues everywhere, but in fact, there is nothing to see. It is better for the masters to eat something first and then be late. There are a lot of guests coming back to the city, and the younger one will take the husband and wife to the garden cleanly."

He was young, and his face was round and lovable, but it was a pity that several older supervisors took his place: "Such a smart child should study, it's a pity to do business."

Cui Qi smiled and listened to this, and didn't say anything, just poured wine and food for them. Cui Xie asked him to sit down for a drink, and he also introduced him to these supervisors, so he obediently toasted and called a bunch of uncles.

While drinking, Zhang Zhaichang suddenly came over from the garden to bid them farewell.

The sentient beings wanted to go out to see each other, so Zhang Luan came in and had a couple of drinks, and said politely, "My family members are still outside, so I can't sit for a long time, so I have to pick them up before the curfew. Don't be polite to me, my classmates. Let me borrow Cui Hezhong, the half-master, to lead the way for our family."

Cui Xie was not easy to refuse, and he bowed his hands to everyone: "Then I will send Zhang Zhaichang back first. Brothers, just relax and talk to Cui Shaodong, he is not a layman. I will be back soon to accompany you. "

The supervisors said: "Exactly, we are also waiting for you to show us the color booths, come back tight!"

Cui Xie actually didn't recognize the road in the garden, so when he went out and saw someone delivering water, he stopped him to lead the way. Zhang Zhaichang waved his hand and told the man to leave: "I don't need him, I have already turned the road of this garden. I asked you to come out specially to make my wife praise you-the garden is so strict that they have been set up. I thought you were just building some colored booths in the courtyard for the female relatives to sit and watch."

Mrs. Zhang stood quietly watching them not far away. She was dragging two sons and one daughter by her side, along with a neatly dressed mother and a few little girls. The female family members wore masks on their heads, so they couldn't tell their faces; the two boys showed their faces, the older one was in his early 10s, and the younger was only eight or nine years old, and both looked a bit like Zhang Zhaichang. , the white and tender ones are quite nice.

Hearing Zhang Luan's words, Mrs. Zhang also stepped forward and said softly, "Thank you, Young Master Cui, for hosting the garden party today."

Cui Xie hurriedly returned a salute: "It's nothing to do with me, I just said hello, I don't dare to be a big gift from my wife. Although that Ju Anzhai was opened by someone who used to use it in my family before, but they do this too. Their ingenuity, what do I know as a scholar who has never been out of the house? Today is my first time watching a play under the stage..."

Ashamed, he used to watch it through the TV.

Zhang Luan smiled: "What modesty, anyway, it's someone from your family, why can't someone else's servant do this? I've turned it around again, your garden is really fresh, if you take a rest one day It can be done.”

Then have to wait for next year. He did have a plan to hold another Three Kingdoms theme park party after "Six Talents Approval of the Three Kingdoms" was finished.

He didn't answer for a while, and Zhang Luan didn't wait for him to answer, just called the three children: "This is my father's classmate, our little Sanyuan Cui desk from Hebei, come and see Cui desk!"

The eldest daughter was slightly blessed and called out "Cui's head" in a low voice. The two boys also read books and knew the etiquette, so they raised their hands and bowed.

Cui Xie hurriedly returned a half-gift, touched his body, but found nothing to give, and said, "Brother Zhang and I are brothers and sisters, and I should have given Ling Lang and Ling Ai some gifts. But there is nothing on me now. , I had no choice but to make up the numbers with what was in this garden."

He turned to the little servant who was guarding the door, and beckoned him to come and speak. There are several potted oleanders under the porch next to him. The petals are white and elegant, and they are thin and pitiful. When he beckoned to the little servant, the flower branch stretched out very close to his hand, almost blowing his sleeves.

Just as he was waving his hand, he suddenly felt the flesh and skin on the back of his neck tighten slightly, as if someone was peeping at him, so he subconsciously turned to look, the sleeves were windy, and the cuffs and the hem of the robe drew a neat arc, from Slowly falling from the air.

The oleander branch not far away was excited by the wind, and tremblingly dropped a white flower, which landed on the sleeve of his dark blue prison robe, and then slowly slid to the ground.

The petals fell as soon as they touched, and just like the feeling of a awn on the back, they disappeared lightly.

When he turned around, he saw that Zhang Zhaichang's family was looking at him, and there seemed to be concern in their eyes. But this family are all literati and ladies, how can they stare at him nervously

He shook his head and said apologetically: "Suddenly, I felt something fell on the back of my neck, and I moved a little more. Zhang Zhai, Mrs. sister-in-law, when you take Ling Lang and Ling Qianjin out, take two books from the book seller outside the door. Go back with a new set of books and sketches. They also gave it to me, so you are welcome."

Zhang Zhaichang smiled and said: "This is someone else's book, you are holding a borrowed flower and offering to Buddha. I don't recognize this, even the imitation book written by you is better than this? Well, you can't give gifts today, but I do. I can give you one, and I agreed to find the female gentleman for you—"

He pointed to the plainly dressed woman in the team: "Mr. Song has to look at your master before he is willing to teach Lingmei, and Zhuojing brought her here."

Cui Xie nodded at her and called out, "Mr. Song."

Mr. Song was blessed, and said coldly, "I heard that today's garden party was held by an old man of your house. The little girl has already experienced the scale of your house's affairs and management of subordinates. After seeing the characters of the son, she is even more able to I can see the character of your sister. If you don't give up, I will go to your house tomorrow."