Feudal scholar-bureaucrats reborn: marrying a husband and marrying a virtuous

When they arrived at Gongyuanqian Street, the relatives who sent for the exam stopped, but each person was allowed to bring a book boy in to help carry the ceremony. Lin Fangqin personally led a guard and sent Lin Fangxu brothers to the big square in front of the Gongyuan gate.

The gate of Gongyuan is also called Yimen. It is a three-queen gate with a wooden structure and red lacquer.

The main entrance is the size of five rooms, and on the middle door is a red plaque with black characters "Gongyuan".The left forehead is "Pimen", and the right forehead is "Yujun".

There is a pair of stone lions in front of the gate, and there is a memorial archway on both sides. The books say: "Looking for scholars from the Ming Scriptures" and "Seeking talents for the country".

Before Mao's time, the gate of ceremonies was closed tightly, blocking the scenery inside the Gongyuan and the scenery of officialdom and scholars.

Among a group of examinees who have obtained admission invitations and are waiting to pass the exam to formally become a member of the scholar-officials, Lin Fangxu, as a person who has experienced it, looks at the closed gate at this time, and can clearly recall in his mind what he saw when he entered the Gongyuan in his previous life. to the scene.

After entering the gate of Yi, there are two stele pavilions, which say: "tidy" and "serious".There are three official rooms in the east and the west, which are the resting places for officials of the prefecture and county.

Going in again is the second gate, also called Longmen, facing the screen wall with dragon carvings, and behind the screen wall is the place where the "golden list" is pasted.

The gold list is an imperial system, and when the chief examiner leaves the capital, it will be issued by the emperor himself, with dragons and phoenixes flying around, colorful clouds presenting auspiciousness, and the seal of the emperor is printed on the top of the center to show that the country values ​​talents.

Entering Longmen, the first thing you see is the main building Mingyuan Building located on the central axis. The building is three stories high. There are windows on all sides.

When you climb up and look around, you can see at a glance that the entire Hangzhou Gongyuan is the place where the examiners and deacon officials guard and issue orders during the examination.

There is a couplet hanging on the south side of the downstairs. The first couplet reads "Writing a thousand words, when the osmanthus is fragrant, the Sophora japonica flower is yellow", and the second couplet "Go out and smile, watch the moon in the West Lake, and the tide in East Zhejiang", encouraging candidates to have a calm attitude.

The candidate's dormitory is located on the east and west sides of Mingyuan Building. Each dormitory is six feet high, four feet deep, and three feet wide, just like a pigeon cage.

The brick walls on the left and right walls of the house are between one and two feet above the ground, and two upper and lower brick brackets are built to place the upper and lower wooden boards.

During the exam during the day, the upper plank is used as a desk and the lower plank is used as a stool. When resting at night, the upper plank is taken out and assembled into the lower plank, which becomes a bed for sleeping.

During the three seven-night exams, the examinees spent their board and lodging in this simple dormitory.

When Lin Fangxu recalled his previous life, when he was bitten by mosquitoes and couldn't sleep in the dormitory, the gate of the Gongyuan finally opened.

Three days before the exam, monks and Taoists will be invited to the "Mingyuan Building", where they will set up altars for three days and nights, pray to the upper world and the underworld, and set up "sacrificial flags", and let the soldiers take turns to wave the flags day and night and shout: "You are gracious!" Repay kindness, revenge if there is revenge!", in order to warn candidates to do good and refrain from evil, otherwise there will be retribution in the examination room.

Believe it or not, this process has to be completed. After the door is opened, two groups of soldiers walk out from the inside, holding red and black flags respectively, and shouting in unison: "Enter ghosts with kindness, repay favors with kindness, and enter with resentful ghosts." Revenge." After carrying the flag in, the chief and deputy examiners, accompanied by a group of examiners, appeared at the gate of the Gongyuan.

Cai Bozhao, chief examiner, Zuoqiandu censor of the Procuratorate, in Lin Fangxu's experience as an official in his previous life, no matter what a person's character is, when he becomes a censor, he will always show a clean and honest, serious and rigid expression. Appearance, in the words of modern people, is called human design.

At this time, the chief examiner, who has the standard configuration of the censor, was emphasizing the discipline of the examination room in a stern tone. After a warning, he said in a low voice: "Open the tribute gate."

Then according to the order, each prefecture enters the Yimen one by one. Candidates must open their clothes before entering the examination room, and accept the search by two sergeants "from the top to the hairline, down to the swollen knees, and the belly/red/naked/".If you have a piece of paper or a word in your arms, you have to be shackled in front of the court for a month to ask the crime.

The examiner must also accept the same strict constraints. Behind the examiner's eight sedan chairs, there is a box of guillotine torture tools.

Lin Fangxu packed up the unpacked bedding, scattered clothes, cut steamed buns and biscuits, carried a test basket, saluted with arms, and entered the Longmen.

His house number is on the sixth line, the sixth number, a very auspicious number, he found it quickly, but he couldn't sit down and answer the question right away.

The Gongyuan is opened every three years, and the whole house has accumulated dust for three years, which is thick enough to grow grass, and there are spiders pulling their webs in midair.

Lin Fangqi also found his number house at this time, No. 15 row number seven, although the number is not so auspicious, but it is not a stinky number or a rain number, after seeing the three years of precipitation in the number house, he murmured He said to himself: "Fortunately, brother Xu asked me to bring two more handkerchiefs, otherwise after cleaning, I'm afraid I will only have to share one handkerchief for my face and feet in the next few days."

After experiencing the undignified search of taking off their shoes, all the candidates had to roll up their sleeves to fetch water and clean their dormitories before they could take the exam.

After Lin Fangxu cleaned up the dormitory, it was already sunset, people were already tired, hungry, and exhausted, so they cooked food first, sacrificed to the Wu Zang Temple, rested for a night, and let's talk about exams and so on tomorrow.

Lin Fangxu took out a small charcoal stove and a small pocket pot to cook a pot of rice porridge for himself, and then cut some of the beef that his brother-in-law personally sauced with a knife. The aroma attracted the envy of the candidates who were eating cold food around.

Lin Fangxu remembered the questions of this year's Hangzhou provincial examination, so he naturally fell asleep easily at night, and slept until dawn.

The sergeant on patrol, with an expression of 'I'm afraid you're not here for an outing', calmly took out yesterday's small pot, cooked a bowl of noodles for himself, and peeled two boiled eggs into it.

The equipment for Lin Fangxu's exam was specially customized by his elder brother after asking his uncle about the situation of the rural exam, and he also customized a set for Lin Fangqi, which is very convenient and easy to use.

After Lin Fangxu was full, he packed up his convenient and easy-to-use equipment, then took out the test paper bag, opened the test paper, and reviewed the questions carefully.

After reviewing the questions, Lin Fangxu heaved a sigh of relief, "Sure enough, it's the same as in memory." '

Three questions about four books, twenty questions about five classics, four questions must be answered, but only one of five classics is required. All candidates have to register at the chief secretary's office three days in advance which classic they are going to take. Lin Fangxu chose "Spring and Autumn".

Although I remember the exam questions, I asked Lin Fangqi to answer similar questions before the exam, but this doesn’t really mean anything, at most it’s just more time to review the questions than others, no matter what level you are, the article you write is still the same level.

Naturally, Lin Fangxu didn't dare to make too much of a fuss. Compared with the tricky questions in the county examination and the inappropriate cut-and-answer questions in the college examination, the rural examination is more dignified, which can actually better test a person's talent and learning.

Although the township examination is divided into three sessions, the examiners only really pay attention to the first session, especially the four books and three questions. As long as the papers for these three questions are taken, the second and third sessions can be passed only if they are fluent in grammar and science.

So Lin Fangxu put all his energy into the four book questions first, and then considered other things after he was impeccable.

After reading the three questions, Lin Fangxu devoted himself wholeheartedly to it. At first, he revealed the purpose of the question, which is called "breaking the question", and then explained it based on the above, which is called "inheriting the question". "Start" is used as a breakthrough point to lead to the text after the lecture.

After all the above has been considered thoroughly, it is divided into four paragraphs: "starting stock", "middle stock", "rear stock" and "bundle stock". In each paragraph, there are two parallel lines of text, a total of eight parts An article is written.

Then read it word by word and ponder it over and over again, making sure that the article and the topic fit together perfectly, and speak uprightly on behalf of the sages, eloquently like everyone, with a profound conception that stands out from mediocrity.

After answering the three questions, two and a half days have passed since the first three days. Lin Fangxu spent half a day answering the four scripture questions. rolled up.

After handing in the papers, Lin Fangxu was really worried. Although he was too young to take the provincial examination, he could enter the WTO early, but his body was not as strong as an adult.

After Lin Fangxu left the examination room, he obviously felt much more tired than in his last life. His body seemed to be hollowed out. Xu’s other courtyard was not far from the Gongyuan. After Lin Fangxu returned, he ate something, and Xu Zhongkang and others came back one after another.

Several people looked tired, and they didn't care about gagging. They went to bed early, and they had to take the second exam tomorrow.

The number of rooms in the second round remains unchanged, and the candidates leave some salutes in it, so the inspection at the time of admission is not so cumbersome.

The exam questions were relatively easy for Lin Fangxu, and he answered them quickly. Unfortunately, the weather was not good, and there was a patter of autumn rain on the way, and the weather was very cold. When Lin Fangxu finished answering and handing in the paper, he had a headache and sneezed. good phenomenon.

By the time the third game entered, Lin Fangxu was already a little feverish. This time, as soon as he entered and sat down, he took out the examination paper, began to review the questions, and then quickly answered them.

Before his body was about to fail, Lin Fangxu handed in the paper and walked out of the examination room. In a daze, he saw his elder brother running towards him anxiously.

But Lin Fangqin has been worried since sending his febrile younger brother into the examination room. For the next two days, except for eating and sleeping, he waited at the gate of the Gongyuan, afraid of seeing his younger brother being carried out. Before he let go of his heart, he saw the little brother fell to the ground.

Lin Fangqin ran over quickly, picked up Lin Fangxu on his back, and ran towards the nearest medical clinic, feeling anxious all the way, not knowing whether he was comforting Lin Fangxu or comforting himself and said: "Brother Xu, it's okay, it's okay... the exam is over , It’s okay, I won’t take the test next time, let’s go home now, and let Ermu take the test in the future.”

The medical center was already full. Candidates who fell down in the middle of the rural examination and were carried out, such as Lin Fangxu, were not serious. The doctor prescribed medicine, and just told them to take it home to sweat and sleep.

Lin Fangqin took his younger brother back, soaked him in a hot bath, wiped the soles of his hands and feet with strong wine, and woke up in the middle of the night. After taking medicine, he felt relieved at noon the next day.

Although the three of Xu Zhongkang did not fall ill, they were already completely exhausted. The few brothers and sisters just stayed at home to recuperate, counting the days on their fingers, waiting for the announcement.