I'm so hard

Chapter 180 The First Day of the Imperial Examination
Longhe three years, February [-]th.

The annual imperial examination officially begins on the third day of the week.

Just after dawn, more than 8000 candidates set off from their respective residences.

Although the weather is slightly cold, everyone can only wear civilian clothes, and there must be no traces of mending, and only single-layer cloth shoes can be worn on the feet.

In addition, everyone can carry a basket, which can only bring food, brushes, inkstones, and official seals, and nothing else can be brought in.

In fact, water is also allowed to be brought, but the candidates are worried about spilling it on the test papers, so they only bring some dry food.

The Great Zhou Tribute Academy expanded vigorously three years ago, and now it can fully accommodate [-] candidates for the examination.

But at this moment, except for the two fixed entrances guarded by the Imperial Guards, the front and rear gates of the Great Zhou Tribute Courtyard were completely surrounded.

There are wives who send off their husbands with their children in their arms, dozens of people from a family see off their only child, and a girl from a brothel who asks her lover to answer the test carefully and not forget her own...

In short, it was crowded with people, and it was very lively.

This exam will be a turning point in the lives of countless people.

A chubby girl stood in a corner of the tribute courtyard, keeping an eye on every examinee carrying a basket, but in the end she still couldn't wait for the person she wanted to see to appear.

Shangguan Yuntun had also been observing the examinees in the Tribute Academy, but still did not see Yan Zhao appearing.

"Did he not participate in this year's imperial examination?" Shangguan Yuntun muttered to himself, a little excited and a little disappointed.

After the examinees entered the arena, three thousand forbidden soldiers completely surrounded the Gongyuan. No noise was allowed within 300 meters of the Gongyuan, and even the surrounding shops were all closed. All this was for this exam.

Shangguan Kueyue and Cai You began to patrol with dark circles under their eyes. For the imperial examination, the two hadn't had a good night's sleep for nearly a month.

An hour later, there was a sudden roar in the Gongyuan.

"I want to be the champion! I must be the champion!"

A scholar sat in his examination room and suddenly became manic, throwing the paper and food in front of him on the floor.

Shangguan waved his hand in displeasure, and two Imperial Guard soldiers quickly ran over, knocked the man unconscious, and dragged him away quickly.

Some people are too weak psychologically. After seeing the test paper, they always feel that they are going to fail in the test, and this kind of temporary madness will appear.

Every year, there are at least a dozen of these people.

In order not to affect the surrounding candidates, the usual method is to stun them and drag them away until the exam is over.

And these people, of course, lost their qualifications for the exam. After three years of studying hard, they were ruined overnight.

The candidates who saw the test questions also had mixed expressions on their faces.

The content of the post-test questions this time is not difficult, but it also covers a lot of content. It is not easy to answer all the questions correctly.

Cai You took a special look at the candidates who were on the Qingyun list, and found that their expressions were very interesting.

Hangzhou Wu Wenyuan flipped through the test paper, with a contemptuous expression on his face, as if to say: This is it?

Shangguan Yuntuan's face was as calm as water, he picked up the brush and began to answer the questions.

Of course, there are also those who frown, such as Quanzhou Tang Buyi, who is not good at posting scriptures.

In a blink of an eye, it was afternoon.

Some candidates took a short break at noon and ate some of their own dry food, while some candidates were always in a state of high thinking, constantly recalling the content they had recited.

Cai You and Shangguan Kueyue, the two deputy examiners, were back to back and fell asleep.

Liu Chaotong, who was in charge of monitoring, didn't wake them up. The two of them are really tired recently, and it's time for them to take a good rest.

Exam time always passed quickly. At the moment when the sun went down, a hurried gong sounded, which meant that there was only half an hour left before the paper was handed in.

When some examinees heard the sound of the gong, they quickly tensed up, rubbed their heads, and continued to think about the remaining answers that they hadn't figured out yet.

And some candidates have already covered the test papers, closed their eyes and rested their minds, acting as if they were leisurely.

There are no more than two kinds of people in this state, one is those who write very well and are extremely confident in their hearts; the other is those who have given up on themselves.

Boom!Boom!Boom!
Soon, a long gong sounded.

The time for submitting papers has finally arrived.

All the examinees stood up and waited together for the soldiers of the imperial army to collect all the answer sheets.

After another half an hour, the candidates came out one after another with their baskets.

And there are already many people waiting outside.

"Master Zhang, how did you do on the first day?"

"Let's be so-so, the test questions are not very difficult!" A fat boy walked out swaggeringly, obviously very confident in himself.

"Miss, let's not mention the imperial examination today, so as not to affect the future performance!" A middle-aged man said with a serious face, obviously the exam was not very satisfactory.

At this moment, Wu Wenyuan came out.

A charming woman asked, "Mr. Wu, how did you do in the exam today?"

Wu Wenyuan smiled lightly, and said, "It's so-so, just answer all of them."

Typical Versailles answer.

As for Shangguan Yuntun, with a calm face, he carried his basket and walked towards the inn where he lived. No one could tell whether he passed the exam well or not.

Some candidates went back to sleep directly, while some big-hearted candidates made an appointment to relax in a certain tile. After all, there will be no exams tomorrow and the next day, and it will not continue until the third day.

But at this moment, Cai You and Shangguan walked out of the tribute courtyard in displeasure, and were about to go home and sleep.

Suddenly, a person walked up to the two of them and said, "My lords, my young master invites you. I wonder if you have time to have a drink?"

The Imperial Guard soldiers who were guarding the two immediately stood in front of them.

"Who are you? The two adults don't have time to drink with your young master. Get out of the way!" A soldier said with a long knife in his hand.

"Really?" Hei Wa smiled and took another step closer.

Shangguan Buyue and Cai You were often invited to dinner during this time, nothing more than to let them understand the problem, so the two drove away many people.

Cai You was about to get angry, when he took a closer look, it turned out that the person who came was Hei Wa.

"Hei Wa, why are you here?" Cai You yelled suspiciously, and the Shangguan at the side was displeased and also recognized Hei Wa.

Hei Wa smiled and said: "My son invites you to drink, will you go?"

Both of them were taken aback, Hei Wa's young master, who else could he be besides today's son.

Zhao Yan invites you to drink, no one in Da Zhou dares to refuse.

"Of course I'm going, of course I'm going!" The two replied at the same time, and followed Hei Wa towards the front.

At this moment, Zhao Yan was sitting in a private room in the Wanbao Building, the hot pot was already set, and the wine was imperial wine that had been stored by the court for 20 years, and there were only a dozen jars left.

(End of this chapter)