Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 175
In the blink of an eye, it was November, the cold wind was bleak, and the breath of winter enveloped the capital. Everyone put on thick winter clothes, and the shops also put up curtains to resist the cold air. The whole capital seemed to become bloated.

Early this morning, Su Liang was hopping in the yard with the cold, and kept blowing heat into his hands.

"Hurry up! I'm going to freeze to death."

While brushing his teeth in the room, Fan Ning said vaguely: "Who made you so anxious, you go now, and the examination hall is not open, so why don't you have to queue outside?"

"Go early, I heard that you won't get a dung number, or you will be next to the latrine, who would have the heart to think about it!"

Fan Ning put the soft branch for brushing his teeth in the water glass, wiped the corners of his mouth with a towel, and said lazily: "It's because of this reason that I really convinced you, didn't I tell you? Save the test and try to reconcile it. It’s the same, instead of taking the exam in the examination institute, it’s in a tent in the northern barracks.”

Su Liang rushed to the door and said, "When did you tell me such a thing?"

Fan Ning shrugged, "Then you forgot. The last time you took me to visit Ouyang Xiu, Ouyang Xiu told you personally. I still remember it very clearly, but you forgot!"

"Please! I was so nervous in front of Ouyang Xiu that I couldn't speak. My mind went blank. I didn't know what he said from beginning to end."

Su Liang found that Fan Ning's study room was warm, so he simply squeezed in, and said with a smile, "What else did Ouyang Xiu say at that time, tell me about it!"

"I can't remember exactly, it seems to encourage you to be pragmatic in your writing and not pursue those fancy things."

"Worthy of being the leader of the literary world in the Song Dynasty!"

Su Liang sighed a long time: "For a small person like me, he can teach me honestly and is approachable. Compared with those arrogant professors in the county school, they are just a pile of rubbish!"

Fan Ning was a little speechless. Ouyang Xiu was polite to him, Su Liang, because of his own sake, okay? Why can't this guy figure it out?

"Brother, I'm ready!" Li Dashou's voice came from the yard.

"I've forgotten him!"

Fanning sighed, "He shut himself in the house all day, I almost forgot he even existed."

"coming!"

Fan Ning put on a tight-fitting sheepskin jacket under his underwear, a scholar's uniform on the outside, tied a leather belt, and put on a gauze cap.

"Let's go!"

He took the book bag and walked out of the room with Su Liang. Li Dashou also changed into a new scholar's uniform. I yawned.

Fan Ning saw that his eye circles were black and his spirit was sluggish, so he couldn't help but shook his head and asked, "When did you write last night?"

"Probably. It's two o'clock!"

"nonsense!"

Su Liang glared at him and said, "I got up at four o'clock last night to go to the bathroom, and your light is still on!"

"My that..." Li Dashou squeaked and couldn't speak.

Fan Ning has spoken about Li Dashou's affairs countless times, and he must be restrained, otherwise he will waste money with haste. Li Dashou has always accepted it with humility, but he is determined not to change it. After a long time, Fan Ning is too lazy to talk about him.

He waved his hand, "It's getting late, let's go!"

The three left their residences and took an ox cart to the Examination Institute to apply for the imperial examination.

The Examination Institute can accommodate thousands of people to take the exam at the same time, which is obviously far from enough for the nearly [-] candidates who are rushing to take the exam. In the past, they were distributed in multiple places at the same time. This year, the Beida Camp in the capital city is vacant, so the provincial exam next spring The imperial examinations were held in Beidaying.

However, the registration office was still in the examination institute. When the three rushed to the examination institute, they saw that there were already a huge crowd of people in front of the examination institute. At least tens of thousands of people came to register.

Fan Ning saw at least dozens of registration teams, so he said to Su Liang and Li Dashou: "The registrations from all states must be gathered together. It is impossible to apply separately. Let's search separately and gather here when we find them!"

The two agreed, and the three parted ways. After a while, Su Liang came back and waved to Fan Ning from afar, "Fan Ning, this way! This way!"

Fan Ning hurried over, Su Liang smiled and said, "It's on the far right, together with several other state capitals in the south of the Yangtze River!"

"Where's Dashou?" Fan Ning didn't see Li Dashou either.

"I'm here!" Li Dashou got out from the crowd beside him.

"Hurry up and go!"

Before the three of them came to the last team, there were already hundreds of people lined up here. In addition to Pingjiang Mansion, the registration points for Jiangning Mansion, Changzhou and Xiuzhou were also here.

Provincial exam registration is relatively simple, because many candidates will not be able to arrive until after the New Year, so it is allowed to register on behalf of each candidate. Form', and then find the name in the roster, then you can issue a floating ticket, which is the admission ticket.

Scholars participating in the provincial examination and imperial examination, in addition to the scholars who passed the examination this year, are mostly old candidates from previous years. They are of various ages. There are boys like Fan Ning and Su Liang who are only 12 years old, and some are 60 or 30 years old. Juren is old, but most of them are in their [-]s and [-]s, and there are quite a few with gray hair.

Su Liang poked Fan Ning lightly with his elbow, and pouted forward, "Look at those old men, I bet you, they are just for reference, not to sign up for grandsons!"

Not far in front of them stood three middle-aged men with half-white hair, each carrying a book bag, and the three of them were whispering to each other, discussing something in a low voice?
"How about it, do you dare to bet?" Su Liang laughed softly.

Fan Ning pouted, "Whoever bet with you, they are obviously referring to scholars!"

At this time, Fan Ning turned his gaze, and saw a young man hurriedly approaching surrounded by several servant-like men. This young man was Liu Ran, a scholar of Wu Jiang.

"Fan Ning, do you know him?" Su Liang whispered.

Fan Ning nodded, "I know, Liu Ran from Wujiang is No. 2 in the test for boys."

It was the second time for Fan Ning to see Liu Ran in the capital. He sent Zhu Pei back to his residence more than ten days ago, and happened to see Liu Ran at the gate of Zhu's residence, but of course he was sitting in the carriage, and Liu Ran didn't see him.

"This man is a child of the Liu family in Wujiang, and he and the Zhu family are allies in the court. I heard that his father is also an official with real power in the court. You should be careful about this man."

Su Liang had some things to say, so he could only remind Fan Ning implicitly. Fan Ning smiled and said, "He takes his way to the Yangguan Road, and I take my single-plank bridge. We should not violate the river water."

"It's hard to say! Just be careful."

At this time, Liu Ran also saw Fan Ning, his eyes lit up, he walked over quickly, clasped his fists and said with a smile: "I was still wondering if I would meet my virtuous brother, and I did."

"Is Brother Liu's arm healed?" Fan Ning asked with concern.

"It's been done a long time ago, it's okay to break the skin a little bit!"

Liu Ran smiled heartily, and turned her eyes to Su Liang, "This is..."

"He is Su Liang, you should know!"

Liu Ran suddenly realized, "So it's Brother Su Xian, long-awaited! Long-awaited!"

Su Liang leaned forward and smiled, "I've also heard of Brother Liu's name for a long time."

Liu Ran ignored Li Dashou who was standing behind, he lowered his voice and laughed and said, "I just got a piece of news, and I would like to share it with the two virtuous brothers. This year's chief examiner is likely to be Ouyang Xiu!"

Fan Ning smiled and said nothing, of course he knew that this year's chief examiner was Ouyang Xiu, but he still admired Liu Ran's quick news.

Su Liang was taken aback, "Is the news accurate?"

Liu Ran nodded, "It won't be officially announced until December, but from all indications, it should be him."

Su Liang looked back at Fan Ning. Fan Ning understood what he meant, and explained with a smile: "The chief examiner of the provincial examination is not the same as the solution examination. The provincial examination usually prepares several sets of questions by the Ministry of Rites, and then the emperor appoints the final examination questions. It has nothing to do with the chief examiner, so even if you know that Ouyang Xiu is the chief examiner, it doesn't really mean much, first of all, he doesn't know the questions, and secondly, he doesn't know the test questions, and even copied the papers, he can't help you, can he?"

"Fan Xiandi is right, but it will be different if he is Ouyang Xiu's disciple."

What Liu Ran meant was that Ouyang Xiu would be able to know if it was written by his disciples after reading the article.

Fan Ning smiled faintly, "If Ouyang Xiu didn't even have this kind of self-discipline, he would be the examiner in vain."

"Brother Xian is right, I was thinking too much."

Liu Ran chuckled, he hesitated, and then said to Fan Ning: "I have another news to tell my brother, I saw Lu Ji just now, he was recommended by Xuanzhou to take part in the boy's provincial examination."

After finishing speaking, he bowed his hands to Fan Ning and went to the front to get the floating ticket. Someone had already signed up for him, so he could go directly to get the floating ticket.

Watching Liu Ran's back going away, Su Liang whispered: "This man has a deep scheming mind!"

Fan Ning nodded, "It can be seen that it seems generous to tell us the chief examiner, but in fact it doesn't make much sense. He is very good at controlling the situation. If we can't be friends with him, we must be rivals!"

"Fan Ning, didn't Lu Ji lose the county magistrate in Pingjiang Mansion? Why did he go to Xuanzhou again?" Su Liang asked suspiciously.

Fan Ning sneered, "He has a grandfather with a sharpened head, how could he be willing to fail!"

(End of this chapter)