Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

In the fifteenth year of Jiazhao, on the evening of March 37th.

Jingcheng, the capital of the East, and the Imperial Examination Hall.

When the first group of candidates who came to pay their respects to the chief examiner entered the main hall of the Imperial Examination Hall, the clerk who led the way loudly announced the name of the third chief examiner.

Almost all the candidates present were shocked, because they learned from the imperial edict that the third examiner was Huang Hongcang, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites.

However, the third examiner has now become Xu Liangxiong, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. What is going on?

On March 16, the chief examiner Huang Hongcang was suddenly poisoned and fell into a coma. Emperor Jiazhao suspected that someone had done something bad to the chief examiner of the Spring Examination.

Therefore, the selection of the chief examiner to replace Huang Hongcang was kept secret until the spring examination.

This was to ensure that before the Spring Examination began, the chief examiner would not be suddenly killed, which would lead to public criticism and clamor from the candidates, thus avoiding causing fluctuations in the Spring Examination and damaging the reputation of the court.

If Jia Cong had not sent a maid from his house to Hongxing Southern Goods Store to buy alligator meat for Lingguan, and if he had not happened to encounter the Magistrates' Court coming to the Southern Goods Store to arrest someone, he would not have known that the examiner Huang Hongcang was in trouble.

Then he followed the blue booklet which contained a list of candidate examiners.

It can be roughly inferred that the candidate to replace Huang Hongcang will be between Li Dekang, the Minister of Works, and Xu Liangxiong, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

However, according to the court's practice of selecting examiners for the spring examination, emphasis was placed on the candidate officials' own imperial examination reputation.

The Minister of Works Li Dekang ranked last in the second class in the spring examination that year, but the Right Vice Minister Xu Liangxiong ranked second in the first class.

There is no doubt that Xu Liangxiong, who took over as the chief examiner of the Spring Examination, had a greater reputation among the scholars than Li Dekang.

The final result before his eyes was exactly what Jia Cong had predicted in advance, so he was not too surprised when he heard about it.

Moreover, to Jia Cong, it didn't matter who was the chief examiner of the Spring Examination, as long as he performed normally and wrote a good essay.

Perhaps most of the candidates taking the exam had similar thoughts as Jia Cong. After the initial surprise, they quickly calmed down.

What they should worry about most now is what kind of test questions the three examiners will set, hoping that they are not too profound and difficult, rather than who will be the examiners.

But there are always exceptions. Among the candidates waiting to meet the chief examiner, there was a candidate who was nearly 40 years old. His face was pale, his legs were trembling, and he looked distraught.

……

Ever since Zhou Yan and Wu Liang had read the Spring Examination Imperial Edict at the entrance of the Imperial Examination Hall, they learned that Huang Hongcang had been chosen as the chief examiner.

He regarded the essay questions he received from Huang Hong as a precious gem and an important guarantee for his success in the imperial examination.

These days he has spent a lot of effort, repeatedly studying and practicing the topics proposed by Huang Hongcang, and often discussing and exchanging ideas with Wu Liang, to the point where he has become fluent in them.

He was nearly forty years old, and his path to the imperial examination was becoming increasingly difficult and uncertain. This spring, he unexpectedly made friends with Wu Liang, which gave him such a great advantage and made him have high hopes for success this time.

Originally, he and Wu Liang had an appointment on March 16th to have a small gathering before entering the venue to exchange their experiences.

Unexpectedly, his cousin suddenly invited him to a banquet, so he had to temporarily cancel his appointment with Wu Liang. He just drank a few more glasses at the banquet and got drunk. He woke up in the middle of the night.

I had originally planned to go to Wu Liang's appointment the next morning, but I didn't expect that good things would take time...

When he woke up from a hangover in the middle of the night, Fengming, the maid who served tea and water in his relative's house, came into the room to help him sober up.

Because Zhou Yan teased her after he drank, she shyly told him that she was a gift from her cousin to Zhou Yan as a gift for his sexual service.

At that time, Zhou Yan was drunk and his sexual desire was aroused. After hearing such stimulating words, how could he restrain himself in front of this pretty and plump maid?

Taking advantage of the inky night, he couldn't wait any longer and pushed the maid Fengming down on the couch, and did it to her all night long.

When it was daybreak, although Zhou Yan was reluctant to leave the soft bed, he still prepared to get up and meet Wu Liang while there was still time before entering the venue.

But the maid Fengming didn't know whether she received orders from her master or wanted to please Zhou Yan so that she would have someone to rely on for the rest of her life. She was not quiet when she woke up in the morning and was deliberately gentle and flattering to Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yang had just started to covet the taste of this young lady, and just when he was enjoying the taste, he could not resist Feng Ming's temptation, so he naturally turned over and flirted with her again...

The two of them hesitated for a long time, and Zhou Yan did not get up until noon, reluctantly.

However, it was already the time of spring breeze, so there was no time for him to go see Wu Liang. He could only pack up quickly and rush to the Imperial Examination Hall to take the exam. His waist and legs were still a little weak.

Zhou Yan had originally thought that he would win the imperial examination this spring because of Huang Hongcang's help. Now that he had obtained this unexpected warmth, smoothness, fragrance and softness, he felt that he should enjoy life to the fullest.

But he never expected that he would be hit by such a bolt from the blue just after entering the Imperial Examination Hall.

It seemed that the comfort and success he had enjoyed during this period was nothing but a pipe dream. When he heard the name of the new examiner, he almost instantly fell into a darkness of panic and hopelessness.

The strange look of loss and panic on Zhou Yan's face did not attract the attention of the candidates around him.

However, among the crowd waiting to pay their respects to the examiner, there was a candidate standing slightly to the side who noticed Zhou Yan's strange expression from afar.

When Wu Liang saw Zhou Yan’s distraught look, he smiled bitterly in his heart.

He is a decent person without any evil intentions. Yesterday, he learned that something had happened to the examiner and wanted to inform Zhou Yan, but it was in vain to do so.

Now that Wu Liang is facing Zhou Yan, he feels somewhat guilty, but he has already entered the Imperial Academy and will take the exam soon. He has no way to explain if they meet, and it will only cause unnecessary trouble. It would be better to wait until the exam is over before making excuses.

After Wu Liang thought this through, he took a few steps back and stayed away from Zhou Yan to avoid any further embarrassment if they met.

……

After Wu Liang had paid his respects to the chief examiner and was following the crowd of candidates to find his examination room, he suddenly heard someone calling him from behind.

It was very common for candidates to meet people of the same year when they entered the Imperial Academy.

Because tonight are just the candidates entering the pass, not yet the formal examiners of the Spring Examination, although there are officials everywhere in the Imperial Examination Hall to help maintain order.

However, before the candidates enter the examination rooms, they are not prohibited from chatting and greeting each other, as long as they do not make too much noise.

When Wu Liang heard someone calling him, his heart skipped a beat. He turned around and found that it was not Zhou Yan, but his classmate Lin Zhaohe. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

But he thought about the day he learned about the change in the examiner, and was busy changing his mind and rethinking how to take the exam, and he didn't have time to inform Lin Zhaohe...

He said with a strange look on his face: "Brother Yichun, I really didn't expect that when the time comes, the examiner would actually..."

Seeing Wu Liang's strange expression, Lin Zhaohe thought that Huang Hongcang, whom Wu Liang was familiar with, did not serve as the examiner. Wu Liang couldn't help feeling a little uneasy.

As for the reason, Lin Zhaohe knew it clearly in his mind, but now that he was in the Imperial Examination Hall, there were some things that he could not bring up.

So, before Wu Liang finished speaking, he interrupted and said, "Xiwen, don't be surprised. As the saying goes, things happen unexpectedly. Who will be the chief examiner is the concern of the court.

For you students, what matters is to take exams properly and write good essays. I have said before that reading good books and classics is the foundation. Now Xiwen should know that what I said is true.

Xiwen is also a man of great talent. When the exam starts tomorrow, as long as he keeps a calm mind and demonstrates what he has learned, he will surely be on the list of top scorers."

Lin Zhaohe and Wu Liang were talking as they walked. As soon as he finished talking, he waved to Wu Liang and turned into a nearby alley. It seemed that his residence was in this alley.

Wu Liang saw that Lin Zhaohe suddenly interrupted him and said something irrelevant, and even talked to him about formalities. He shook his head helplessly, put his mind at ease, and went to look for his own room.

……

Jia Cong, along with other candidates, met the three examiners. His mentality was as calm as the waves, and he was not at all as turbulent as Wu Liang and Zhou Yan.

After leaving the main hall of the Imperial Examination Hall, he took the bamboo stick number card in his hand and went to find his examination room.

He walked a short distance and, with the guidance of a clerk from the Imperial Examination Hall, found the lane where the examination hall was located.

The Shenjing Imperial Examination Hall covers a very large area, with a rigorous layout of buildings, towering walls and a gloomy environment. The main hall and government offices in the hall each occupy their own position and are distributed in an unusual manner.

Since Emperor Jiazhao ascended the throne, he attached great importance to the imperial examination and carried out many repairs and expansions on the Shenjing Imperial Examination Hall, which was used to gather talents from all over the world and select them for use.

On the basis of the construction during the Yong'an period, the area of ​​the Shenjing Examination Hall was further expanded, in addition to the renovation and construction of necessary halls and government facilities.

The number of examination rooms for the imperial examinations was expanded from more than 2,000 to nearly 4,000, enough to cope with the large number of candidates in the spring examinations.

In addition, the outer wall of the Gongyuan was tripled, divided into outer thorn wall, inner thorn wall, brick wall, etc.

There are watchtowers at the four corners of the Imperial Examination Hall, which mainly serve the purpose of monitoring fire, water and bandits.

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In fact, from the perspective of the overall structure of the Imperial Examination Hall, as long as the four gates of the Imperial Examination Hall are locked, the entire Imperial Examination Hall becomes a closed fortress, and in times of war, it can even be used as a place suitable for both attack and defense.

When Jia Cong determined the location of his own room, he breathed a sigh of relief, because he was lucky enough that his room was right in the middle of She Lane, near the entrance.

Such a room location is considered an upper-middle choice. If you are unlucky, the room you are assigned may be at the end of the alley, or even at the very end of the alley. That would be extremely unlucky.

Because at the end of each lane in the Imperial Examination Hall, a large toilet would be built to provide daily use for hundreds of candidates in the lane.

If the candidate's assigned dormitory is close to the end of the alley, or even if he is very unlucky and is assigned No. 1 at the end of the alley, the legendary "dung number", it will be a horrifying thing.

You should know that the Spring Examination lasted for nine days and three sessions. Once the candidates entered their rooms, they were not allowed to leave at will except for going to the toilet.

If a candidate is unfortunate enough to be assigned to No. 1 at the end of the alley as mentioned in the legend, he will be bathed in the qi circulating through his internal organs for nine days at a time. It is impossible for him to pass the imperial examination under such harsh conditions.

The candidate who is in this position must have a mind as solid as a rock and a talent as great as the sky, otherwise it would be impossible to do it...

Although the number of dormitories in the Imperial Examination Hall this time is slightly more than the number of candidates, so some of the No. 1s at the end of the alley can be avoided, there are still quite a few dormitories close to the end of the alley for use as toilets.

When Jia Cong entered his own room with satisfaction, he could still vaguely hear the wailing of a candidate coming from the end of the alley...

……

As soon as Jia Cong entered the dormitory, a minor official from the Imperial Examination Hall assigned a white candle to be lit, illuminating the dark and narrow dormitory in the night.

During the nine days of the Spring Examination, the Imperial Examination Hall only provided one white candle every night until it was used up. If the candidates were worried about the tight time for the examination and needed to study late into the night, one white candle would not be enough.

Therefore, most candidates would bring a few white candles with them when entering the Imperial Examination Hall. However, during the entrance inspection, the white candles they brought would be strictly checked to prevent anyone from cheating by hiding them in the candles.

Jia Cong took out a piece of clean cotton cloth from the examination box, wet it with the clean water in the bamboo tube, cleaned the dust on the number board in the dormitory, and took out the bedding to spread it out.

At this moment, he looked up at the narrow eaves of the cell and saw that the sky was as dark blue as ink. A waning moon had risen high in the sky, half-obscured by gloomy clouds, scattering a cold light.

Jia Cong calmed down a little, because tonight was not the official start of the exam and there was nothing else to do.

Jia Cong sat on the bed, recalling the essays on current affairs that he had learned, as well as Liu Jing'an's daily teachings and comments, allowing his thoughts to slowly become active and fulfilling, and he entered the state of preparing for the exam.

In Shexiang not far away, Zhou Yan felt a little uneasy. He kept recalling the details of his visit to Xu Liangxiong and Xu Liangxiong's remarks on the topic.

However, after they visited Xu Liangxiong that day, the Imperial Examination Hall issued an imperial decree to appoint the chief examiner for the Spring Examination. Xu Liangxiong was not among the candidates for chief examiner, nor was he even among the officials for the Spring Examination.

From that time on, Zhou Yan put everything about Xu Liangxiong behind him and focused on Huang Hongcang's topic writing.

Because it had been such a long time, he even had a very vague memory of the several hundred-word policy essay topic that Xu Liangxiong had given him.

In another dormitory, the candlelight on the board shone on Wu Liang's chubby face. There was hope in his eyes, excitement on his face, and he kept muttering...

More than ten rooms ahead of Jia Cong's dormitory, Lin Zhaohe had blown out the candle in his dormitory and was leaning on the couch, looking solemn and peaceful, with his eyes closed to rest.

Tonight is the night before the Spring Examination. All candidates who have entered the Imperial Examination Hall will not be released until nine days later. For all candidates, tonight is destined to be a night of restlessness.

Everyone's heart is filled with worry, tension, hope, excitement, and even loss and fear, and each person has his or her own unique emotions.

Shrouded in the darkness of night, the Imperial Examination Hall, with its countless dormitories densely packed together, and the flickering candles, cast an indescribable gloomy atmosphere over the large and eerie Hall.

Jia Cong was thinking about his daily homework in his mind when he heard the sound of a clerk knocking on a gong in the alley. It was already the hour of Hai.

He stopped meditating in his mind, blew out the candle on the horn, lay down, and covered himself with the bear fur cloak.

The soft silk pillow made by Xing Xiuyan was resting under his head. It was very soft and comfortable. The brown silk in the pillow exuded a refreshing and soul-clearing fragrance, which made Jia Cong fall asleep quickly.

……

March 18th, the 15th year of Jiazhao.

It was dawn in the east, and the soft and bright morning light had not yet shone into the cell when Jia Cong woke up from a deep sleep. He had slept soundly last night, but it was his daily routine that made him wake up naturally.

The entire Imperial Examination Hall seemed to have woken up from the morning light. Jia Cong heard rustling noises from the rooms around him, which he guessed were the candidates getting up.

Some of them, like Jia Cong, slept well all night, but many others tossed and turned all night.

Jia Cong took out the dry food prepared by Wu'er and Lingguan from the examination box, heated it on the small stove in his dormitory, and ate his first breakfast in the Imperial Examination Hall in an orderly manner.

After he had packed his things, he sat for a while before hearing the sound of cloud boards being struck in the alley. The sound was clear, loud, pleasant and melodious.

However, when the candidates heard this, everyone looked solemn, because after the cloud board was struck three times, the examination would officially begin.

By the time the cloud board had been struck twice, Jia Cong had already prepared all kinds of stationery.

He moistened the purple brush prepared by Daiyu with clear water, and ground a pool of thick ink with the gourd-shaped inkstone given by Tanchun. At the end of the table were the pair of shiny lychee jelly rulers.

After the cloud board had been struck three times, a seventh-rank civil servant entered the alley, followed by four or five minor clerks, and distributed the examination papers and drafts to each candidate in the dormitory.

There were more than a hundred candidates sitting in each lane, and it took a lot of time to distribute the manuscripts along the way.

When the officials who were distributing the manuscripts were about to reach the end of the alley, the Wenhua bell in the Imperial Examination Hall rang again.

At the entrance of Shexiang, a minor official walked in with a serious expression, holding an examination card in his hand, and walked slowly in Shexiang. The eyes of all the candidates in the examination rooms were focused on the examination card.

The exam board contained the questions from the first round of this year's imperial examination, which included three essays from the Four Books and four essays from the Five Classics. The candidates had to complete them within three days.

When the exam card in the clerk's hand passed by Jia Cong's room, he stared at it with shining eyes.

The first question on the exam board, the Four Books, caught my eye, revealing a sense of pride: I can entrust you with my orphan, I can entrust you with my life, I can be trusted ...