Prime Minister

Chapter 251 Mei Xiang
In the first month of the sixth year of Jiayou, there was a snowfall in Bianjing, but the spring drought still could not be resolved.

After returning to Taixue from Panlou Street, only a few days before the provincial examination, Zhang Yuezao handed in his family certificate at the bookstore.

Because the last test was done at this bookstore, so they are familiar with the way, so the bookstore does not need to check the identity and directly submit it to the Ministry of Rites.

Because the "group purchase price" bookstore naturally gave a discount, last time they gave a copy of "Instructions for Examination", but this time they gave a copy of "Instructions for Imperial Examination".

From December to the fifth day of the first lunar month, the candidates who attended the imperial examination held several lectures in Chonghua Hall and exchanged their experiences.

Apart from being able to speak, Zhang Yue didn't go out, and he also avoided all communication.

He writes a poem and a fu in his studio every day. As for Ce and Lun, he writes every two days.The article is to write more and practice more. As long as you put your heart into it, it is like rising the water and the boat will rise naturally.

Eliminating the interference of foreign objects during this period is necessary for concentrating on learning.

The heart is precious and cannot be divided.

Many scholars no longer study hard and are keen on fame and friendship. No matter how they achieve in the future, it will be difficult to improve their academic skills. Not only can they not write better articles than before, they will even regress.

Therefore, Zhang Yue never stopped writing a poem every day, even on New Year's Eve.

On the sixth day of the lunar new year, Zhang Yue and Huang Lu went to the bookstore to ask for a number, on which was written the number "Jiashen Bingyin" according to the heavenly stems and earthly branches.

This is Zhang Yue's seat number in the examination room. The seat map will not be published before the provincial exam. Candidates will have to wait for the candidate to look at the seat number on the seat map after arriving at the Gongyuan to find out where he is seated.

Although the examinees don't know it, the bookstore does. The bookstore often leaks the seat map to the candidates first, so that the candidates can cheat in private.Therefore, the imperial court issued repeated orders and repeated applications, requiring the examiner to sit under the supervision of the examiner, and it is strictly forbidden for bookstores to intervene.

Although the imperial court guards the bookstores like thieves, they still have to use them.

In the seventh chapter of the first day, Yue Huanglu took a day off at Taixue, and went to the Gongyuan in the early morning of the eighth day.

In the Song Dynasty, the examinations were conducted consecutively for several days, but the provincial examinations consisted of four examinations, with one examination per day, and the next examination at intervals of one day.But in the Ming Dynasty, it was the other way around. The provincial examinations were not taken consecutively, but the general examinations were taken for three consecutive days.

On the seventh day of the seventh day, countless Xiezi from all walks of life visited the Gongyuan.

Although the Gongyuan was tightly guarded by officers and soldiers, it was good for Juzi to recognize the way, and some Juzi even burned incense and kowtowed at the gate of the Gongyuan.

Since Gongyuan is next door to Taixue, Zhang Yue didn't join in the fun.

However, he still felt a bit fluctuated when he was dealt with by Sifang Juzi.

At this time, someone rumored that this year, according to Jiayou's four-year rule, the number of candidates will be reduced by half.

This news is not a rumor, but it is very accurate. When several Tai students asked Lu Zhizhi about this matter, the other party actually nodded half-tacitly.

To be precise, the number of Jinshi subjects and those of the same origin should be reduced to less than 200. In contrast, in the second year of Jiayou, there were 380 nine people with Jinshi and the same background.

After that, one subject will be more and one subject will be less, with an average of 300 students per subject.

But now all of a sudden Jinshi subjects have been reduced by half.

It is heard that it is because of too many redundant officials.

The weather on the seventh day of the lunar new year was cloudy and cold, and it seemed that there would be a heavy snowfall soon. At this time, the scene was like a thick dark cloud, and the students were a little out of breath.

The mentality of many candidates who came to Beijing from thousands of miles suddenly collapsed.

Before the exam, I suddenly learned that the number of admission places has been reduced by half. What kind of mood is this?
Taixue originally had a quota of one hundred Jinshi, but now it is reduced to fifty.

"What's the problem? As long as you get the Provincial Yuan, the champion, even if the court only records one person, so what?"

In the carriage, Wang Kui spoke to the disciples who sent him home.

These few scholars also participated in this provincial examination. Unlike Wang Kui, who was born in poverty, these few people were either rich or noble.

One of the candidates said with a smile: "Brother Junmin has the word Kui in his name, and he is destined to win the title and become famous all over the world."

Another person boasted: "Of course, of course. This is destined. Now, which scholar in Beijing doesn't know the literary talents of brother Junmin. Even Liu Zhidao two years ago would be far behind."

Wang Kui smiled, and immediately got out of the carriage and bowed to the noble young masters.

After the car had gone away, Wang Kui crossed the street and walked into a narrow alley.

The reason why he had to wait for the nobleman to drive away was because he didn't want them to know that he was still living in this alley with business and miscellaneous people.

He walked up the small building but heard creaking noises, and the dust kept falling.

Afraid that the brocade clothes on his body would get dirty, Wang Kui immediately raised his sleeves to dust off the dust and said, "In a few days, I won't be staying here anymore."

Wang Kui pushed the door open and called Gui Ying inside. If it had changed in the past, the other party would definitely come forward to serve him tea.

But today Wang Kui didn't see the other party get up.

He didn't mind picking up the teacup on the table and pouring a bowl of tea, but found that it was empty.

Immediately Wang Kui frowned, raised his head to look at the bed curtain, and saw Guiying lying on the bed with all his clothes on.

"Guiying?" Wang Kui stepped forward and asked.

Qiao Guiying slowly opened her eyes, and when she saw Wang Kui, she said pleasantly, "Kui Lang, I waited for you for three days before you came back."

Wang Kui couldn't help feeling a little ashamed when he thought of his extravagant life outside.

Wang Kui said softly: "I'm not going to make an agreement with you. These days I'm on a diplomatic trip, visiting court officials, and sometimes I simply spend the night at other people's homes. I have a sore back and a sore back for the past few days, and I can't take care of you for a while. All right?"

Guiying said: "Kuilang, I didn't mean to doubt you, but I didn't come back after seeing you these few days, so I waited at home. I also ran out of money, and I didn't dare to go out to pick up work, so I was hungry for two days." , this is powerless."

Wang Kui said loudly: "Guiying, you haven't eaten for a few days, why didn't you tell me?"

Gui Guiying laughed and said, "But what's the big deal about being hungry for two days? Kui Lang, you asked me to borrow three pennies of money to buy provincial pens and inks. I didn't have any money back then, but now I have enough money to buy it for you. I Take it for you to see."

Wang Kui didn't believe that Guiying would rather buy pens and inks for him when he was hungry, but when he saw Guiying holding a blue cloth package and handing it to him, Wang Kui saw with his own eyes that the pens and inks were all first-class things.

Wang Kui was so moved that he put his arms around Guiying and said in tears, "Guiying, Guiying, I can't repay this kindness for three lifetimes."

Guiying put her arms around Wang Kui and said happily, "Kui Lang, with your words, my life is enough."

Wang Kui put his arms around the woman in his arms and said in his heart, Guiying really has a deep affection for me, but the rich family will never allow me to take Guiying who was born as a prostitute as a concubine, even my parents would find it difficult to say so.

Wang Kui couldn't help feeling cold when he thought of this, he took the pen and ink and said, "How much are Gui Ying's pens and ink, I'll give it to you."

Qiao Guiying looked at Wang Kui with wide eyes and asked, "Kui Lang, this is for you, how do you count the money for me?"

Wang Kuisheng was afraid of making Guiying suspicious, so he forced a smile and said, "Look, I've been so busy with provincial examinations these days that I've been confused for a while."

Having said that, Wang Kui wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes and said, "Guiying, let's go eat something first."

"Okay." Qiao Guiying got up, and then said again, "I must be haggard and difficult to see with my appearance these few days, Kui Lang allows me to dress up."

"It's just that it doesn't take so much trouble to go to the restaurant in the alley."

"No, I can't let Kui Lang lose face."

"My eyebrows are always poorly drawn." Qiao Guiying dressed properly and turned around to look back, only to see Wang Kui quietly wiping away tears.

Qiao Guiying asked, "What's wrong with Kui Lang?"

Wang Kui smiled and said: "It's okay, there was a man named Zhang Chang in Han Dynasty who was the best at giving his wife thrush eyebrows. From now on, I will imitate Zhang Chang and give you thrush eyebrows every day."

Qiao Guiying smiled and said, "You have to remember."

The two went to a restaurant to eat, but saw Wang Kui ordered a table of dishes, but no matter how expensive the restaurant was, they could order a few dollars to make up for their guilt.

Wang Kui didn't want to put down the chopsticks, but saw a twelve or thirteen-year-old singing girl coming to a table to drink and sit in the distance.

But the guests at the next table were not in the mood to curse: "Why are you crying and calling your mother? You disturbed my uncle and I have a drink."

After speaking, the guest pushed the woman to the ground.

Qiao Guiying hurriedly helped the singing girl up, and then let her have dinner with her at the same table.

The singing girl Jian refused to leave with her pipa in her arms.

Seeing this, Wang Kui smiled and said: "Gui Ying, you just feel sorry for her, just send her some money, why let her eat at our table."

Guiying said: "When I was in Laizhou, I also went from a singing girl to a famous courtesan in Beishi. What kind of background I am, I dare not forget for a day. Kui Lang, I hope you will not forget too."

Gui Guiying's words seemed to point to something, and Wang Kui couldn't help being covered in cold sweat.Wang Kui felt relieved when he saw that Guiying's words were sad and lonely, but he didn't seem to mean anything.

On the afternoon of the seventh day of the seventh day, Zhang Yue simply took a deep sleep, sleeping on the top of the tree on the moon, and went to the dining hall for dinner.

This day, Taixue Food Hall made steamed buns (meat buns), but I saw that every Taixue student took three, like Zhang Yue, who will try to solve it tomorrow, and there is no limit.

Taixue's steamed buns are thick in skin and juicy, so Zhang Yue eats them to his heart's content.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, Yue Fei's grandson ate Taixue steamed buns once and wrote poems praising them.

In the past few years, I have been full of Confucianism in Taixue, and my skills are still passed down as bamboo shoots and fern cooks.The son Peng has red strands of flesh, the general has an iron staff and white lotus skin.Fangxinzheng can be used for peppers, but why not be as rough as a gourd.When you get old, you chew your teeth, salivate and chat to comfort your gluttonous slaves.

This sentence of 'salivating, chatting and comforting slaves' is in line with Zhang Yue's temperament.

Seeing that Zhang Yue ate ten steamed buns in a row, the students at the side all said: "The imperial court intends to cut the number of Scholars. Today, all the candidates are not frowning, but Zhang Duzhi seems to be fine."

Another person said: "You don't know, Duzhi writes an article, it is a good article for a catty of steamed buns, you can see that tomorrow Du will be able to write a great essay in the examination room."

Zhang Yue couldn't help laughing when he heard that, but in the Qing Dynasty, a candidate named Li Pan brought 36 steamed buns to the examination room, and after eating all of them, he wrote an article, and finally won the number one scholar.

Zhang Yue ate ten steamed buns, then patted his stomach and left the restaurant.

When they left, all the students cupped their hands and said, "Duzhi, the famous gold list!"

"Okay, pass on the gold list!" Zhang Yue replied.

After finishing speaking, Zhang Yue returned from the dining hall to the dining room under the watchful eyes of dozens of classmates.

This section of the road is more familiar than normal, but now it is not interesting to walk.

Zhang Yue saw that the sky was full of bright clouds, but he did not hide the brilliance of the moonlight. A few clusters of winter plum blossoms quietly bloomed in the corner not far away.
(End of this chapter)