Joy of Life: The Mei Family's Son Grows Up

Chapter 17: Boy Test
Could it be that I thought the test questions were too easy?

Mei Cheng'an decided to ask, and after thinking about it, he gently patted the arm of the candidate in front of him with his right hand.

The person in front immediately turned around.

Mei Chengan: "I am carrying a box in my hands, so it is inconvenient to greet you. Please forgive me, brother. I am Mei Chengan, may I ask your name?"

The man looked at Mei Chengan curiously.

"No need to bother, Lin Qingyuan."

"Brother Lin, this is my first time taking the boy's exam, how about you?"

Lin Qingyuan sighed and said, "This is the fourth time."

Mei Chengan was shocked. Wow, four times. How difficult is this boy's test? Was it too hasty for him to take the test without even studying the previous test questions?

"Brother Lin, are the questions this boy is testing very difficult?"

Lin Qingyuan pointed at himself with his left hand and said, "Of course it's difficult, otherwise I wouldn't have taken the test four times."

Mei Cheng'an was choked. What the other person said made sense. It shouldn't be difficult and he should have passed the exam long ago.

"May I ask Brother Lin, which subject is more difficult?"

"You've hit the nail on the head. My answer is that every subject is difficult! Take poetry for example. This is a great test of one's knowledge and literary skills. The teacher didn't even teach us how to write poetry. He only told us some basic requirements for poetry. It's hard for me to write a complete poem every time I take an exam, not to mention whether it rhymes with the topic, whether the tones are correct, whether the meaning is smooth, and whether there is any deep meaning. Do you think it's difficult?"

"Let's talk about arithmetic. Every time I study past exam papers, I feel it's very simple when the teacher explains it. Then I go to the exam with full confidence. When I see new questions, I am dumbfounded. My mind goes blank. After the exam, when the teacher explains it again, hey, it feels easy again. Then I go again with full confidence, but I return home dejected. I have had this experience three times. Do you think it's difficult?"

As Mei Cheng'an listened, the unbearable memories in his mind began to stir. This brother's description was too accurate. His teeth were already starting to ache.

"As for the 100 Questions on Classics and History, do you know how many characters there are in the Six Classics? Each test question covers every corner of the Six Classics, which means you have to memorize all of the Six Classics to ensure that you can answer them all correctly. I always memorize and forget, and then forget and memorize. I'm very lucky if I can remember 50% of it during the exam. Do you think it's difficult?"

Mei Chengan's heart began to sink as he listened to this. Why did this sound so hopeless? It was so hard to be a poor student.

"Then why don't you stop for a year, Brother Lin, to organize what you have learned and come back for the exam when you are ready?"

Lin Qingyuan shook his head. "I don't have that much time. My parents had high hopes for me, but I failed the exam three times in a row. They are extremely disappointed. They didn't want me to take the exam today. I want to try again. If I fail again this time, it proves that I am not cut out for study. I will drop out of school and find something to do to supplement the family income."

Mei Chengan sighed, not knowing what to say. He finally said after a long pause, "Then I wish Brother Lin good luck and success in the exam."

"I accept your good words!"

After hesitating for a while, Mei Chengan added, "If you fail this time and Brother Lin really drops out of school, you can go to the Mei's Canteen on Jingxi Road in the west of the city. I am familiar with the owner of that restaurant, and he will provide you with a job."

Lin Qingyuan was stunned for a moment.

"Thank you!"

……

There were not many candidates from Mingshan College, about three hundred, divided into four teams, so Mei Chengan's turn came soon.

Mei Cheng'an handed over his admission ticket first, and after confirming his identity, he checked his suitcase and confirmed that he had no smuggled items. He then handed him a number plate with the number 329 written on it in capital letters.

There are a total of ten examination rooms in Mingshan Academy, and each examination room can accommodate up to thirty people. This set of numbers should mean seat number 29 in examination room three.

Walking through the wide gatehouse of Mingshan Academy, there is a walkway about 50 meters long and 6 to 7 meters wide. There are wide buildings on the left and right sides, supported by countless brown-black square columns unique to Qing State. The overall building is spacious and majestic.

There are corresponding personnel at the entrance of each examination room to greet the candidates. There is a guard post every five steps around the examination room, and there are imperial guards guarding them.

Mei Cheng'an's examination room was located at the front left. Mei Cheng'an walked to the front of the examination room and handed over his number plate. The man took a look at it, handed it back to him, and gestured for him to go inside.

Walking into the examination room, I found it was extremely large, about twenty meters long and nine meters wide, with thirty tables inside, three in a row, a total of ten rows, and the tables were very far apart.

Mei Cheng'an took a quick look and saw that there was a number plate with a corresponding number on it hanging on the side of each table.

Interestingly, Mei Cheng'an observed that the numbers were not arranged from left to right, nor were they counted horizontally, but from right to left, vertically.

Therefore, the three tables in the first row from right to left are one, eleven, and twenty-one.

Mei Chengan's seat was the second to last on the left, and many candidates had already taken their seats in the examination room.

He walked to his seat and opened the bookcase, which was divided into two layers. He took out the writing brush, inkstone and paperweight from the upper layer and put them away. He then took out a teapot from the lower layer, closed the bookcase and placed it under the table.

Mei Cheng'an picked up the teapot and stood up to walk out of the examination room. Several other people stood up with Mei Cheng'an, carrying various teapots in their hands. They were going to fetch water from the large water tank outside the examination room.

The water in the water tank has many uses: drinking, grinding ink, and also for fire prevention.

After getting the water, he returned to the examination room and sat down. He poured some water into the inkstone, then Mei Chengan took the ink block and began to grind the ink.

As the candidates took their seats one after another, Mei Cheng'an heard three bells ringing. Along with the bells, a group of people came into the examination room and began to distribute test questions, answer sheets, and draft papers.

After the distribution is completed, the bell will ring three times again and the candidates can start answering the questions.

Mei Cheng'an was not in a hurry to answer the questions. He first looked at the topic of poetry.

The topic is this: There are thousands of ponds in the world, but each has its own merits. Please write a poem or fu on the topic of ponds. Ah, dare I be more general?

Pond, what are some poems about ponds? Mei Chengan began to recall frantically the poems about ponds that he had memorized in his previous life.

After recalling for a long time, I couldn't remember the poem, but a line of lyrics popped into my mind.

Under the banyan tree beside the pond, cicadas are calling out for summer.

I shook my head vigorously to quickly get rid of this magical lyric. It was really messing things up.

Keep thinking back, the pond, about the pond.

Have it.

The little lotus showed its sharp horns, and dragonflies had long been standing on their heads.

The bad thing was that he could only remember this half of the sentence and couldn't remember the whole poem.

After thinking for a long time again, I could only remember the following half sentence: The wind suddenly rises, rippling the spring water.

Mei Chengan gave up decisively and stopped thinking about it for the time being. Sometimes the more you want to recall something, the harder it is to remember it. When you stop thinking about it, it will sometimes pop into your mind.

Mei Cheng'an put the poetry test questions at the bottom and started looking at the arithmetic test questions.

There are twenty arithmetic questions in total, and candidates only need to write down the answers.

Mei Cheng'an smiled when he saw the first dish. It was so friendly.

There are chickens and rabbits in the same cage. The number of heads is 35 and the number of feet is 94. The question is, how many chickens and rabbits are there in the cage?

Logically speaking, you don't need to calculate this question on a piece of draft paper. You can get the answer by doing mental arithmetic. But that's not possible. You have to write down the calculation steps on a piece of draft paper. The draft paper will be collected at the end. The examiner may not read it, but you have to write it.

Mei Chengan picked up his pen and wrote down the steps on the answer sheet, and then wrote on the answer sheet: "Twenty-three chickens and twelve rabbits."

Mei Cheng'an's handwriting is very beautiful, all in the same style, small regular script with hairpin flowers. Although there is no regular script in this world, there are fonts that are similar to regular script. Small regular script with hairpin flowers is a type of regular script, which is softer and more beautiful. It looks pleasing to the eye but not particularly eye-catching. In fact, he is better at the Slender Gold style, but this style does not exist in this world, and he does not want to write it to attract attention. Writing a small variant of regular script is already his limit.

The second question is also interesting.

A rooster costs five cents, a hen costs three cents, and three chicks cost one cent. An old man used one hundred cents to buy one hundred chickens, among which the total number of roosters and hens is an odd number. The question is, how many roosters, hens and chicks there are.

My goodness, the three-variable linear equation, he underestimated the boy's test.

After some calculations, the answer was finally obtained: eight roosters, eleven hens, and eighty-one chicks.

The third question is, a group of people buy an item together. Each person pays eight cents and there is a balance of three cents. Each person pays seven cents and there is a balance of four cents. The question is, based on the number of people, how much the item costs.

This question is much simpler. A quick calculation will reveal the answer: seven people, and the price is fifty-three cents.

Mei Cheng'an did them one by one. You won't believe it, you really won't believe it, this boy from Qingguo is quite good at arithmetic problems.

Some are for chasing horses, some are for calculating the area of ​​fields, which are irregular in shape, and some are even for calculating cities.

Although it was basically no more than what he learned in junior high school and they were all equations and geometry problems, Mei Chengan was still sweating profusely while doing it. First of all, understanding the questions was a big problem, especially the one about calculating the land. The unit of measurement was actually steps, and there were also fractions, a few steps divided by a few, which gave Mei Chengan a headache. The most important thing was that these steps were not easy to write. He couldn't just use xy or set up dotted lines. He had to find a suitable way to express it.

By the time Mei Cheng'an finished answering and checked his calculations again, an hour and a half had passed.

Three hours, you read that right, three hours, twenty questions, and they were junior high school math questions. Mei Chengan was questioning his life a little and felt overwhelmed with shame.

Fortunately, no one here would laugh at him, which made Mei Chengan feel a little relieved.

I put down the brush and rubbed my sore wrist. Writing calligraphy is really a physical job. I didn’t notice it when I wrote less normally, but now that I have written more, I found that the ancients all had a strong fist.

Opening the bookcase, Mei Chengan took out a box of snacks from the bottom layer and took out a teacup.

After eating some snacks, drinking two cups of tea and resting for a while, I felt a little relieved. The next 100 questions on classics and history were also a tough test, which tested your memory, your understanding of the Six Classics, your physical strength, and your wrist strength.

To give the simplest example, if there is a question like, "What is the way of the university?" You have to quickly remember which sutra, chapter, and specific paragraph this sentence comes from.

You can answer that the way of university is to manifest the bright virtue, to love the people, and to strive for the highest good.

You can't answer more or less.

But for Mei Chengan, he has no shortage of physical strength and his memory is also good. The only possible problem is whether his wrist can hold up.

After answering about seven or eight questions, Mei Cheng'an stopped. It was not because his wrist could not hold on any longer, but because it was time for lunch. Many candidates around him had also started eating, and the various aromas made him hungry.

His lunch was prepared by Hongshu, four salt-and-pepper sesame cakes the size of an adult's palm and a plate of braised food.

It looked a bit simple, but Mei Chengan ate it particularly happily, maybe because he was in the examination room.

After finishing four sesame cakes and a plate of braised food and drinking a cup of tea, Mei Chengan burped comfortably. Of course, the sound was not loud and no one looked at him.

After lunch, Mei Chengan immersed himself in answering questions again.

(End of this chapter)