Love of Friends in the Red Chamber

On the second watch day of the eighth day of March, the Au Jing Pavilion was already brightly lit. The night before Jia Cong had bid farewell to his parents and elders, and had only slept for three hours in his own room, when Nanny Cai woke him up.Jin'er has already brought the clothes for the entrance, because the imperial examination is the most important in the imperial court, and the sages are especially angry about cheating, so the rules of the examination hall are extremely strict.

Jin'er and Xiang'er helped Jia Cong get dressed, while instructing: "Third Master, Xiang'er and I have twisted all these clothes. The leather clothes are inside, the gowns are single-layered, the socks are also single-layered, and the boots are also single-layered. It is thin-soled, and there is no place that violates the rules. When you enter the venue, you must be careful. It will be cold in the morning and evening, so wrap the leather jacket tightly. Although there is no lining, one layer of leather is worth ten layers of cotton. .”

Xiang'er said: "It's a cold spring this year, and sooner or later it will be like the twelfth lunar month. Those poor scholars are not sure why they are shivering in such frosty weather. I don't know if they can hold their pens."

Cai Momo glared at her and said: "You don't care about those, the third master is a delicate person, he is not as good as those who are used to suffering and freezing, and when it is really cold, they put the quilt on their body..."

Xiang'er was the youngest, so she quickly said: "I'm surprised, why taking a Jinshi exam is like guarding against thieves." Jin'er drove her out to see if the schoolboys who were taking the exam with Jia Cong outside the gate of the garden had arrived. Here Mammy Cai brought over the exam basket again. It was a half-new bamboo basket for Concubine Xiang. test basket.Cai Momo said: "The servants have checked all the things in the test basket one by one. Third master, don't trust those little servants, carry them safely."

As he spoke, he ordered Jia Cong the same thing again: a thin and exquisite Duan inkstone, half a piece of commonly used emblem ink, six teeny-headed small regular scripts, all hollowed out pen tubes, water bottles and water fountains all made of celadon, a Tin candlesticks and a glass lampshade are for lighting at night, dozens of two-inch green gang charcoal and a small red clay stove are for heating, and there is also a large bag of pastries, meat and vegetables. , all cut in half for inspection.There is also a can of dried golden hooks, shrimp skins, dried meat, dried bamboo shoots, seaweed and mushrooms, which are boiled and dried in soy sauce in advance, and can be drunk as soup with boiling water.

Jia Cong smiled and said, "Okay, mother, do you want me to go in and live? Even delicacies from mountains and seas have no appetite in that place, so I endured the hunger and came out."

However, Nanny Cai said: "Third Master, don't say that, you don't wear warm clothes, you don't sleep well, you have to write articles, and you don't eat well, it can really make people sick——Master Zhu over there Isn't it just because of the heat in the examination room that he couldn't afford to get sick?" She thought this was an unlucky word, so she quickly swallowed it back.He also instructed: "There are still thick quilts and clothes and the same two test baskets that have been sent to the lower place first. After the exam, I came out to find my servants, so I went to the lower place to rest. I asked Cai Ann boiled hot water for Grandpa, loosen the muscles and bones first, then eat some hot soup and hot water, and then have a good sleep, don't work hard in the next place."

Jia Cong laughed and said, "I know, I know, you just wait to hear the letter." After such an exhortation, Jia Cong came out with the test basket by himself, and his four servants outside had already prepared the car and waited. When it was over, Jia Cong got into the carriage and Mammy Cai just stood on the steps and watched the carriage disappear before going back.

Jia Cong and the others arrived outside the gate of the Gongyuan in the middle of the night, and saw that a row of examination sheds had been set up outside the Mingyuan Building, the inside and outside of the Gongyuan were brightly lit, and guards were strictly guarded.Jia Cong, however, is quite familiar with the road. He took the last provincial examination here, so he only took a nap in the carriage, and sent Cai An to squeeze in to listen to the call, and then go in when it was almost his own time.

The spring is cold and cold, although the Gongyuan is solemn, except for the sound of the guards calling their names in the distance, there is no human voice, but there is a kind of puffing sound that can be heard endlessly. Stamp your feet and rub your hands together.He was dozing off with his eyes closed, but he heard the voice of his new servant Pan Youan outside the car window: "My lord, please stand aside and watch the mud on the wheels rub against you." He spoke politely, but He was chasing someone away, so Jia Cong lifted the corner of the curtain and looked out, only to see a candidate in his twenties leaning on the side of the outer box of his carriage. .Just now that man was very cold, so he scrambled to the side of the carriage and wrapped his body in the felt of the carriage to keep out the cold, which made the servants shout and yell at him.At this time, the man smiled heartily and said, "I'm the one who was abrupt, I'm sorry." Then he got out of the blanket and was about to walk away.

Just as Jia Cong felt his heart fluttering, he wanted to find someone to talk to, so he raised the curtain of the car and said, "My dear man, you are not strict with your subordinates. If you offend me, please get in the car and talk." Pan You'an was always tactful. Hurrying up to compensate the man, he quickly opened the curtain of the car and invited the scholar to get on the car. When the man saw Jia Cong's luxurious horses and horses, and brought a few arrogant children with him, he knew that he was the son of a wealthy family. Wanting to make love, but the cold air went straight into the thin collar, half of the body was cold, and then looked at the soft and warm car, and smiled freely: "Then bother."

He got into the car with one leg tilted, and the two exchanged names, and Jia Cong found out that his name was Yin Jidong, who was from eastern Zhejiang. This time I took the exam and came to Beijing with great difficulty, and the money was exhausted. Jia Cong saw that although this man was poor but infinitely handsome, he was very open-minded, so he wanted to make friends with him: "In this case, why not go in and out together, the family is already in Gongyuan Street. I have decided on a place to stay, and the place is spacious, so I can just live there." Yin Jidong didn't refuse, but just thanked: "It's better to obey orders than to be so respectful."

Then the two discussed classics and historical articles, and they felt more like old friends at first sight.Not long after, Yin Jidong also warmed up, and his fingers stopped shaking. On the other hand, Cai An also rushed to report that he was about to call Jia Cong.The two of them happened to be on the first day, so they went in together, made an appointment with the place to come out, and went their separate ways.Jia Cong found his own room, and saw a square of ten feet. There was a wooden board across the low wall at the door, which was a desk. The low brick kang inside was refreshing and clean.He took out the quilt from his examination basket, rolled it up and put it in the kang, and put the pen, ink lamps together one by one, and waited for the guards to come and check.

After noon, the exam questions came out. The first one was about the scriptures, and the exam questions were fair. It was a sentence in "Mencius": People can do what they don't do, and then they can do what they want.This question is not biased, but it is not easy to answer it in a new way. Fortunately, Jia Cong had discussed this topic with Lin Jiarui before, and he typed up the draft without thinking about it.

The mission went smoothly, Jia Cong felt at ease, so he carefully received the scroll, planning to revise and transcribe it tomorrow. Then he moved his hands and feet that were frozen, lit the charcoal in the charcoal basin, and called the servants to come and pour a bowl of soup , baked two shortbread with red bean paste and a few pastries stuffed with ham and mushrooms on the charcoal fire. , soundly asleep.

On the second day, Jia Cong slept until the sun was high before he got up and stretched. More than 20 years of self-reliance left more imprints. He didn’t feel embarrassed about packing up the meals himself. He made a bowl of fried noodles, and he ate them hastily with a piece of almond cake for breakfast. After cleaning up the rice and water stains that fell on the chopping board, I took out yesterday's draft and revised it.

This day is the ninth day of the lunar new year, which is the day of the first round. The main examiner is Mr. Shen Boyue, a scholar of the Wenhua Palace. In the article, he just nodded slightly and did not speak. Seeing that Jia Cong was clean inside and outside, and the paper in his hand was densely covered with handwriting, Mr. Shen smiled slightly, and Jia Cong became more determined.

It was warm at noon, Jia Cong curled up on the low kang and took a nap for a while, he woke up refreshed, then carefully flattened the blank examination paper, and carefully copied the article in regular script with his breath, it took an hour to finish, put down the pen, He breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that the sun had already set to the west, he carefully dried the ink stains, read it several times, and found that there were no more flaws, so he carefully took it away. He didn't even have an appetite for lunch, so he felt hungry at this time, and God It turned cloudy again, and the northwest wind blew, so he nestled in a corner and lit a charcoal basin, baked a few more cakes, swallowed them whole, but couldn't tell the taste, he was only half full, and didn't dare to eat any more. Then he packed up, lay on the kang, wrapped up all the clothes and quilts tightly, and waited quietly for Kaiwei to come out tomorrow.

This night was not as quiet as the previous one. Some exams were coughing uncontrollably due to the cold, and some exams hadn’t finished their papers yet. , Jia Cong stopped for a while before falling asleep, woke up in the middle of the night, and saw the bright lights outside the number room flickering, many people were fighting at night with the lights on, and only heard the sound of grinding ink, freezing, the rustling of writing, and the sound of the wind Mixed together, Jia Cong thought he was still in a dream.

As soon as the door opened in the morning of the second day, Jia Cong handed in the papers and came out. Unexpectedly, Yin Jidong had already come out and was waiting for him. They looked at each other and smiled, and went to Jia Cong's place to rest together.Jia's mansion has reserved three upper rooms in the best Wen Yuan Building on Gongyuan Street, so Jia Cong lived in a very spacious room, and assigned a room to Yin Jidong. After bathing and changing clothes, a table of dishes with auspicious names such as champion and first soup was served, which was specially honored by the shop owner. Jia Cong and Yin Jidong had a full meal, and the two commented on each other's articles, both of them were already sleepy Unbearable, I went back to my room to have a dark sleep and didn't get up until the next night.

Seeing that Jia Cong was awake, Pan You'an came in, waited for him to wash and wash, and said, "Third Master, Second Master Lian has been here for a while, please sit outside and don't disturb Master." Jia Cong quickly changed his clothes and came out. Meet my brother.But I saw that Jia Lian and Yin Jidong were talking very happily. Yin Jidong was still wearing the same old clothes from yesterday, but he was not humble and swayed freely. , naturally without arrogance, seeing Jia Cong come out, he smiled and said: "Brother Cong, I'm so sleepy, this time I really want to win the toad palace - father don't worry, let me see your slave Are they serving properly?"

Jia Cong hurriedly stood up and asked his father to greet him, and then he said hello to Jia Lian, and met Yin Jidong again. The three of them had dinner at ease. After talking to Jia Cong, he resigned.Jia Cong sent him downstairs, only to come back when Jia Lian got on his horse and disappeared.Yin Jidong only smiled at the scene of brothers respecting each other, without a word of admiration or comment, Jia Cong felt more and more that this man was a man of great wealth and understanding of the world, so he wanted to make friends with him.

After resting like this for a day, apart from discussing articles, the two of them just read books in each other's rooms and did not go out. On the eleventh day, it was the second session. They entered the venue early in the morning, and the test was about strategy and theory. Since ancient times, the theory of the pros and cons of the strategy of governing the river has been the most troublesome question for all the students. It is just quoting scriptures and making empty arguments, but it is in the arms of Jia Cong, because he studied water conservancy in his previous life. Engineering, a standard science student, naturally has his own insights, and because Lin Jiarui was promoted to the governor of the river, I often discussed with him a lot of ways to control the river, and Lin Jiarui also deeply agreed.Just for fear of being too shocking, he skillfully explained his own insights into the scriptures of ancient sages.The paper was finished that day, and from then on, I only focused on not being frozen to death by the increasingly cold weather, and carefully saved the little charcoal I brought in.

No.13 After sunrise, Yin Jidong said that he had no experience in river governance, and that he might not do well in the second test. He also listened to Jia Cong's answer and admired him deeply. The two of them had passed the two most important tests. They were all a little relaxed, so they sat together talking and laughing during the day. Jia Cong found that Yin Jidong came from a noble family, and he was a regular resident with a wide range of knowledge, so he was not limited to stereotyped papers in the imperial examination. talent.

The third test of poetry and fu is the one that Jia Cong is the least good at. Fortunately, the Holy Dynasty emphasizes essays, and the poems that should be made are all similar. Just average.On the morning of No. 16, when the room was opened, all the judges came out of the cage like tired birds, regardless of the gentleness, and regardless of the call of the guards, they went out of the dragon gate noisy, crowded, and Jia Cong saw Jia Lian from afar. He and his family were standing under the archway of "Choosing Talents for the Nation", waiting for him with a smile on his face, and hurriedly squeezed past, Cai An took the test basket: "My good third master, I finally finished my suffering. The servant carried you out and got into the car."

Jia Cong kicked him with a smile and said, "Get up quickly, it makes me feel like I'm going to the execution ground." Jia Lian laughed and said, "It's very good. It looks good in the exam. The welcome banquet at home is on, even the Lin family Everyone here has been invited, so go back quickly."

When Jia Cong heard that Daiyu was coming, his heart moved, he didn't care about anything, he got into the car, wishing he could go home immediately, but Jia Lian grabbed him and asked, "Where's your friend?"