Making money, taking exams, and raising a family in rural imperial examinations

All the candidates in the dormitory on the opposite side fell on Lin Ze's side, their eyes staring like copper bells.

It’s not uncommon to see ice in summer. Although ordinary people can’t afford it, rich masters can repair ice cellars. If they can’t eat pork, they can see pigs running away. It's a rare thing to become ice.

In the absence of widespread use of saltpetre ice, it would have been no different than conjuring, no, even more outrageous.

"Ice! Why does he have ice?!"

Some candidates who answered the question too seriously just now and didn't notice Lin Ze's request for water saw that there were four full ice buckets on his side, and they couldn't help but screamed, which caused a commotion.

"What? Ice? Where, who has ice..."

"Does the government office provide ice? Damn, why didn't you say it earlier, I'm going to die of heat! Isn't it just money? I have it!"

"Is there really ice? I want it too, and I want to buy it for as much money as I want!"

It's hot now, and the candidates stayed in the dormitory for a long time. Although there was water to quench their thirst and fans to fan the wind, it was not enough, and they were sweltering and hot without being exposed to the sun. They were already in a state of physical exhaustion.

Hearing the word 'ice', those who are not excited are not normal people. Poor candidates are better off, so it is rare to hear it. Even if the government really provides ice, they can't afford it.

But those candidates who came from wealthy families were different. Those people were not short of money, so they naturally became commotion.

Hearing the sound, the official ran over, his eyes widened when he saw the four buckets of ice in the Linze House, and he couldn't help rubbing his own eyes.

"This..." Isn't this the water they sent just now?How did it turn into ice!

"The weather is a bit hot. I'll make some ice to cool off the heat. Is there any problem with the officials?"

Lin Ze, who was awakened by the commotion, had long expected that his actions would attract commotion, so he behaved very calmly, with a puzzled expression on his face, as if asking 'what's wrong with my meal'.

But he's really fine, it's normal for the weather to be so hot, he didn't make any noise, and he didn't cheat, except for being a little 'not serious', he was more honest than anyone else.

The officials who came to stop the commotion had no reason to reprimand him, or drag him out of the examination room. In the end, they could only reprimand the other candidates who were bluffing, and then left again.

Of course, I couldn't help being very curious about Lin Ze actually making ice in summer.

The candidates around stared at Lin Ze's ice bucket and expressed their grievances: ...

And Lin Ze took a few glances at the crowd to see that the hottest hour hadn't passed yet, and picked out a watermelon and put it in the middle of several ice buckets to cool down, then fell back and continued to sleep soundly to refresh himself.

The watermelons he brought were small watermelons the size of a palm. They were brought in from other places by the port operator. They were the size of one at a time, and it was just enough to eat one at a time so that it would not be wasted.

Completely ignoring all the envious and jealous eyes around him that he had never seen in the market, during the entire nine-day exam, he didn't think of a way to treat himself better, and he was really sorry for himself.

Lin Ze didn't wake up until the sun was westward.

Youzai Youzai finished eating the frozen watermelon, then spread paper and rubbed ink energetically, and began to answer questions with a burst of inspiration...

in the next few days.

In the examination room, Lin Ze can be said to have pulled the hatred of the candidates around him to a point where people want to beat him to death.

For the nine-day exam time, Lin Ze is very well-planned. The impact of hot weather on candidates is no worse than that of cold winter, and impetuous emotions greatly affect a person's performance.

Even if there are ice cubes to relieve the heat, after all, he can't last long in such a temperature, and he has limited saltpeter, so it is impossible to enjoy the 'air conditioning' treatment 24 hours a day.

Therefore, Lin Ze usually starts answering questions in the morning and evening, and in the hottest afternoon, he gets a few buckets of ice to cool off and take a nap to replenish his energy for answering questions too late in the evening.

When you are almost asleep, you get up and eat some iced watermelon fruit and desserts. For dinner, you usually buy it from the official for money. The official office provides meals, as long as you are willing to spend money.

But it's just some simple hot steamed buns, or a bowl of white noodles with soy sauce at best. It's impossible to provide you with such luxurious food.

But this is better than those poor candidates who eat hard dry food with hot water every day. Compared with the two, Lin Ze feels that it is still enough, and he can't ask too much.

And the other candidates looked at him with a 'reluctantly' expression, really itching with hatred.

This guy had the nerve to show a reluctant expression!Comparing them now is like the difference between an emperor and a beggar.

They have passed the provincial examination so many times, but they have never met someone as relaxed as Lin Ze, who eats, drinks, sleeps and sleeps every day. In the summer, all of them are so hot that their clothes are drenched, but Lin Ze sleeps comfortably next to the ice bucket. When you wake up and can eat a frozen fruit, life is not too comfortable.

Don't talk about these candidates, even the few patrolling officials are envious.

Candidates are bored in the dormitory to answer questions, and their officials are also sitting under the shed to be hot. The sweat is like a stream, and the clothes are soaked inside and out. From time to time, they have to patrol in the sun, which is also suffering. .

So when Lin Ze used the ice bucket to cool down on the second day, he found that the patrolling officials always liked to wander around his dormitory.

And every time I turn to him, I still have an expression of 'I'm just watching you', and stand cheekily under the eaves of his house for a long time, until the ice buckets are out of air-conditioning...

Lin Ze smiled and didn't say anything, but every afternoon after waking up, he handed two to the official while eating frozen fruit.

The two official servants have long been greedy. They haven't eaten frozen food in summer for most of their lives. If they are not willing to refuse, they just accept it as oil and water.

After enjoying the power of frozen fruit twice in summer, when Lin Ze asked for water again, the official did not charge him money, but instead brought a basket of fruit cheekily every time, and asked him to bring it to the freezer, and then told him Brothers from other inspection tours shared good things.

As for the 'saltpeter', because it didn't spread, everyone watched it for several days and still didn't recognize what it was.

In this way, it was passed on to ten, ten to a hundred, and soon the examiners also knew that there was an awesome candidate who could turn water into ice in the examination room, and they also came to see what kind of monster Lin Ze was, leaving a deep impression on him. impression……

Fortunately, the marking papers are all sealed and the names cannot be seen, so even if the chief examiner is impressed, everyone is not afraid that Lin Ze will get high marks in the test papers because of this, and they are not jealous of him.

And as the exam time passed day by day, everyone didn't care about ice cubes any more, and focused all their energy on the exam papers.

To put it bluntly, this year's exam is the most difficult that all candidates have ever encountered.

Leaving aside how difficult it is to write a few policy papers at once, just a few math problems are enough to kill a large group of people. No one expected that the imperial court would focus on math this year.

Those with poor psychological endurance cried out on the first day when they saw the test questions. Even if they didn't leave at that time, in this desperate mood and hot temperature, these people were quickly eliminated.

A middle-aged examinee sitting next to Lin Ze was the one who passed out gloriously on the afternoon of the third day and was carried out.

Lin Ze looked very relaxed, but in fact his heart became dignified with the passage of time.

Mathematical questions are not difficult for him, but this year's policy topic makes him a little hesitant. The exam is different from the usual communication with teachers and classmates. There are many taboos that cannot be written, and even a little inappropriate words can lead to decapitation.

But this year's policy theory is governing the country, the powerful and the emperor, these six words.

Except for the first one, which is better for governing the country, the remaining two groups of candidates, including Lin Ze, don't know how to answer. The powerful and the emperor can't talk about it casually, and they will be offended if they are careless.

If you go against your will and say the whole policy theory to a good place, it is obviously a flashy flattery. The point of policy theory is to raise questions and solve problems based on the arguments, and justify yourself.

Can you really point out the problem, if you don't do it well, you will speak boldly and want to beheaded, and if it is more serious, it will become a "literary prison", and the whole family will have to be buried in it.

So this time the policy theory test questions are really too difficult, and I dare not say it if I have an idea, I just scratch my head.

Seeing the time passing bit by bit, if you don't answer, you can't finish writing. After the final dilemma, the candidates in the examination room are divided into three types.

The first one is more courageous, thinking that since the court dared to ask such a question, it must be to hear the truth, even if there is something offensive, it should not be pursued, otherwise so many candidates would be killed because of a few words ?The question was posed by the imperial court itself.

That being the case, why not give it a go, in case the imperial court just wants to test whether everyone dares to tell the truth, then they will stand out by then.

The second type is more timid, answering in line with the concept of mediocrity, and if you are not outstanding, you can get mixed up in the ranking if you are lucky.

The third type is to just give up. You can’t do the math, and you don’t dare to scribble on the theory. Anyway, all the math problems are empty, and you can’t pass the test after writing the theory. You just throw away the pen and go to sleep to get through these days. Forget about gaining experience, and take the test next time.

After hesitating for a day, Lin Ze decisively chose to be the first type of person.

He also does not blindly accuse the rich and powerful of making mistakes. In fact, there are no absolute mistakes in the world. He discards all prejudices and writes directly from the overall situation, combining ancient and modern historical citations and analyzing the pros and cons.

And many arguments are accompanied by data examples, which make it clear and clear at a glance, and will not feel like talking big and talking on paper.

Although the three policy arguments are separate, they are interrelated.

Therefore, Lin Ze's three policy theories are also a link between the past and the future, and discuss in detail the relationship between the governance of the country, the powerful and the emperor.

Of course, although he is bold, he still does not dare to use offensive words, and writes as written, but for the sake of insurance, the style of his policy and discussion still adheres to the patriotic style.

Occasionally, there will be another "The rise and fall of the world is everyone's responsibility. In the past, Emperor Qin, Han and Wu are all gone, and the romantic people still look at the pride of the present..." Complimenting yourself shows a bit of arrogance and self-confidence.

Finally, some patriotic words such as "Although the mountains and rivers are safe, we should be self-reliant; if the motherland is in trouble, you should be the vanguard... I will not regret the people of the country in this life", which is flattering.