kvmb Chapter 326 Scholar
Chapter 326 Scholar
Diego's marriage can only take place after Min Xi and Yun Ji have finished their college entrance examinations.
Min Xi set out before the end of July. Just like last time, he took a boat to Tianfu in advance, accompanied by Diego and Tao Xing. Captain Reis also left the capital to go to Quanzhou at this time.
Captain Reiss had a very comfortable stay in Beijing during the past two months. Although the weather was a bit hot, it was not unbearable. Although it was very hot outside, it was still cool indoors.
He even thought about spending his old age in Beijing. Everything here was so orderly, and food, clothing, housing and transportation were better than in Lisbon. Min Xi and Yun Ji paid him a lot of money, and a round trip would cost him 10,000 taels of silver. When he got old and couldn't sail anymore, he would be able to buy a house in Beijing and enjoy his old age.
With Diego, Min Xi and Yun Ji here, he wouldn't feel too lonely. In Fulangji, he could never get rid of the name of murdering his wife, even though he had atonement for it and paid the price of a leg.
Of course, he never told this to anyone, he just thought about it in his mind.
When the grain boat arrived in Zhenjiang, Min Xi and the other two got off the boat, and Captain Reis continued to sail south to Quanzhou.
Min Xi and the other two went straight to Yingtian Prefecture by land. Yingtian Prefecture in July was like a big steamer, stuffy and hot. I could feel it before I even got off the boat. When I got on land, the feeling was even stronger. Even if I didn't move, I was sweating all over.
This time, Min Xi went directly to the Yunxiang branch to find Shopkeeper Qiu. When Shopkeeper Qiu saw them, he said enthusiastically, "I guess you should be here soon. I rented a house for you at the beginning of the month. It's guaranteed to be a cool place. It was the most popular waterside pavilion among candidates in previous years. Let's go and have dinner first, and then go to your accommodation."
Manager Qiu accompanied them to dinner, and after dinner, he sent them to the small courtyard where they rented a house. The environment of this courtyard was really good. The house was a waterside pavilion, built on the river surface. There were large windows on all four sides of the room. In order to prevent mosquitoes, they were all made of fine yarn. Therefore, the house was ventilated on all sides and the light was excellent.
After Min Xi entered, he felt a slight chill. He asked Shopkeeper Qiu, "Isn't the rent of this house cheap?"
Shopkeeper Qiu smiled and said, "It's a little more expensive than ordinary houses, but in order to make the candidates live comfortably and study with peace of mind, many people are willing to spend a lot of money to rent a house. I made a reservation with someone in advance. Although the time is a little longer, it's more cost-effective for me to rent it for a long time. Manager Min, you can live here with peace of mind."
Min Xi smiled and said, "You are so thoughtful. How much is it? I'll give it to you."
Shopkeeper Qiu waved his hands and said, "It's not much money. If I ask you to pay for this little money, I will not be a good host. You can stay here peacefully. The owner treats us well, and I want to help him. It's a rare opportunity that you are from Yingtian Prefecture. If you were from somewhere else, I would be powerless. It shows that we are destined to be together."
Min Xi had no choice but to stop discussing the rent with him and settled down here. This waterside pavilion was really cool, and Min Xi slept until dawn on the first night.
The academy exam and the prefectural exam were held in the same examination room, which was familiar to Min Xi. However, the competitors in the academy exam were no longer just from Yingtian Prefecture, but from the entire Jiangsu Province, so the competition pressure was several times higher than before.
Min Xi still studied hard as before, but he felt that the college examination was not easy, because there were only two sessions, the main test and the re-examination. In addition to writing eight-part essays, he also had to write test poems.
Compared with the county and prefectural examinations, the academy examinations were related to the future and fame of scholars, so the requirements were higher. In the two months since Min Xi returned, in addition to writing articles, he mainly focused on writing poems. If he didn't have talent, he would rely on skills, which Tao Hong was good at. After all, writing poems really requires talent, and this kind of talent is hard to come by, so the predecessors also summed up a lot of poetry writing skills. Min Xi went back this time to learn poetry writing skills.
What Tao Hong told him was that when writing poetry one does not seek to achieve merit but to avoid mistakes. Generally speaking, in the imperial examination, no matter which level one is at, writing is the key point and poetic talent is only a reference and embellishment.
Min Xi wrote a poem every day according to a certain rhyme. Although his level was not very good now, the poems he wrote no longer looked like doggerel, and occasionally there were some brilliant strokes that would surprise people.
Min Xi basically turned a deaf ear to the outside world and focused on reading the books of sages. During this period, apart from the registration confirmation, he did not care about anything else.
On August 12, early in the morning, Min Xi brought the examiners into the examination room. The college examination was similar to the provincial examination. Candidates were not allowed to bring their own study tools. Each examination lasted two days, and the examinees spent one night in the examination room. Meals, water, and bedding were provided by the examination room.
The exam consists of both eight-legged essays and test poems, so two days is enough to cope with them.
But spending the night in the examination hall was indeed a bit of a torture. Even though it was almost Mid-Autumn Festival, Yingtian Prefecture was still unbearably hot and stuffy. The quilts distributed were hardly used and were just enough to fill their stomachs. This was not the most unbearable thing. The most unbearable thing was that there were many mosquitoes at night, treating these examinees as fat meat.
Min Xi originally thought that since he was older, he had an advantage over those teenagers in his teens, so he shouldn't be the one bitten the most. But who knew that he was actually a mosquito-attracting person? After one night, his body was covered with red spots and bumps. If you didn't know him well, you would probably worry that he had measles.
However, no matter how difficult it was, the exam was finally over. Min Xi was quite satisfied with his answers, especially the poem. He felt that it was well written. To him, it was considered an above-average performance. It should not be difficult for him to pass the first round of the exam.
The results were not announced immediately after the first exam. After two days of rest, there was another re-examination and the second exam.
The first exam was over and it was the Mid-Autumn Festival. Manager Qiu came to invite them to go home for the holiday, but Min Xi declined, saying that she was preparing for the exam and should not eat too much greasy food. She should eat light food to avoid upset stomach. She would visit again after the exam. The three of them simply cooked and had a simple holiday.
After the second round is over, the results of the two rounds will be combined and the corresponding number of people will be admitted according to the ratio.
After the second exam, the college entrance examination was officially over. Min Xi finally breathed a sigh of relief and could relax. He threw his books aside and took Diego and Tao Xing to look for delicious food on the streets.
Yingtianfu has many famous delicacies, such as salted duck, roast duck, and duck blood vermicelli soup. It seems that people in Yingtianfu are obsessed with ducks. In addition, pot stickers and soup dumplings are also very famous. In this season, sweet-scented osmanthus and taro sprouts are indispensable.
Others eat delicious food just to satisfy their appetite, but they eat delicious food to learn how to make it. While tasting the food, they figure out how to make it, so that they can recreate the recipes and bring them back to the capital.
After waiting for several days, the results were finally announced. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the weather finally got a little cooler, and I could feel the autumn. It rained a little on the day the results were announced, and the temperature dropped suddenly. I was no longer afraid of sweating in the crowd, so Min Xi went to see the results by himself this time.
He and Tao Xing looked at the top and the bottom of the list respectively. Min Xi found his own name after reading the first half. He was from village x, town x, Jurong County, and ranked thirty-seventh. He was not in the first rank, so he could not be a student on government stipend. He would probably be an additional student and could not enjoy any subsidies from the court. However, Min Xi did not care about that little subsidy.
He only knew that if he passed the examination, he would have achieved fame and honor, and he would not have to kneel when he met the county magistrate. When he met the officials again, he no longer had to call himself a commoner, but could call them students.
Moreover, if you pass the examination to become a scholar, you don't have to perform corvée labor, and you no longer have to go to the government to get a pass to enter and leave the capital.
Regardless of whether he would take the provincial examination or not, Min Xi was still satisfied that he had become a scholar in ancient times.