Quick Wear: Men Farming and Women Weaving

Long queues formed at the entrance of the provincial examination hall, with candidates carrying examination baskets and luggage ready to be inspected. Experienced invigilating officials were responsible for checking the candidates' clothing.

"Drag this man away." Soldiers kept dragging the cheating candidates away.

Many candidates cheat by bringing in cheat sheets, various pieces of paper or writings under their shoes, in their hair or on their clothes.

Once discovered, the candidate will be disqualified from the exam and severely punished.

The provincial examination lasts for three days, and candidates cannot leave the examination hall during these three days.

Li Changgui was wearing seven or eight pieces of thin clothes and carrying an examination basket. After being checked, he took his card and entered the Imperial Examination Hall to find his room among the hundreds of rooms.

Room No. 1 is quite narrow, and the roof tiles are damaged and leaky. I was afraid that it would rain or be windy during the three days of the exam and that this would affect the test questions.

He took out a towel and wiped the table and bench, and put the writing brush, inkstone and inkstone on the table.

Li Changgui felt that the humidity in the air was quite high. After observing the weather, he was afraid that it would rain tonight.

After checking the candidates in the afternoon, the gate will be officially closed. It is strictly forbidden to open the gate during these three days. The gate may be opened only when the candidate voluntarily gives up or has a sudden illness.

The Imperial Examination Hall only provided water but no food. Li Changgui took out the dry food prepared by Sanbao, asked the guarding soldier for a bowl of water, and ate the chopped bread with cold water.

After eating, do some exercises slowly to warm up in a narrow space.

It was already dark, and without oil lamps or candles, I couldn't see the surroundings clearly, so I put the table down to make a bed, curled up on the bed, closed my eyes and went to sleep with my back to the air vent.

When it was still dawn that day, nearby soldiers beat gongs and drums to remind the candidates to get ready.

Li Changgui packed his clothes, put the table back to its original place, put the writing brush, inkstone and inkstone in order, and ate a pancake for breakfast.

Around eight o'clock in the morning, three invigilators walked into the Imperial Examination Hall and stayed there for about ten days. They were not allowed to leave the hall during these ten days. They had to mark all the test papers and rank the candidates.

Mr. Du from Songjiang Prefecture said a few words of encouragement to the candidates, and then signaled to distribute the test questions.

Soldiers began distributing test questions to each cell, along with paper candles.

Li Changgui took the test paper and the candle, opened it and saw the question: Write an article about Confucius' four teachings: culture, conduct, loyalty and trustworthiness. He knew that Confucius taught his disciples four things: culture, conduct, loyalty and trustworthiness.

I kept grinding the ink in my hands and thinking about how to write an article note in my mind.

After an hour of thinking, I already had an idea in my mind.

The brush was dipped in ink, and the answer was written on a piece of paper. After revising the essay, it was copied onto the test paper. After the ink dried, the test paper was rolled up and put aside. The candidate opposite was thinking frantically or looking around.

But the weather suddenly turned dark, and it started to drizzle. The cold wind blew into the room violently, and the tiles above my head began to drip water.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Li Changgui immediately rang the bell to signal the soldiers to take away the test papers, and put all the pens, inkstones, and candles on the table in the corner and wrapped them up in a single piece of clothing.

There were sounds of crying and wailing coming from the nearby horn. Many candidates had their test papers touched by the rain or their bodies were soaked.

"quiet"

A middle-aged invigilator came over and asked the candidates to be quiet.

When he passed by Li Changgui, he found that his test paper had already been handed in. He thought highly of this candidate, as he was able to answer the questions quickly and hand them in to avoid being deducted points due to the rain. It now depended on whether his test paper was correct.

When the invigilator passed by, Li Changgui's face did not look strange and he did not show any nervousness.

Remove the table top to block the door, sit on the bench and rest against the wall.

It rained and was windy for three consecutive days.

There were constant coughing sounds coming from the nearby cells. Every few hours, someone couldn't hold on any longer and was taken out. They couldn't finish the test and gave up because of their bad mental state.

Every day, family members come to guard the gate of Gongyuan. Once they see someone opening the gate, they will look around nervously.

On the morning of the fourth day, the gates of the Imperial Examination Hall opened, and many listless candidates walked out slowly.

Li Changgui was in the middle and walked out with the candidates. He didn't look very good.

Although he usually exercises, it has been raining for the past three days and he has no warm clothes. The clothes he wears are very thin and he is about to catch a cold.

Sanbao kept looking around for the young master not far from the Imperial Examination Hall.

Noticing that the young master was in poor condition, he immediately stepped forward and helped him into the carriage.

I arrived at the inn room, prepared some hot water, and soaked for a quarter of an hour. My body felt warm and I felt refreshed.

Sanbao asked the waiter to call a doctor to take his pulse. The old doctor stroked his beard as usual and took his pulse with his eyes closed.

"He has caught a cold and has a fever. Ask someone to make him some ginger soup and let him drink it to help him sweat and expel the dampness."

Not long after the old doctor left with the consultation fee, Sanbao brought a bowl of thick ginger soup.

I couldn't resist this bowl of ginger soup and drank it directly with my eyes closed.

After a day's rest, I felt much better. I walked out of the guest room and took a walk outside. Many candidates were discussing the test questions, and one said in frustration that he had written the wrong answer.

Seeing that the weather is nice today and the sun is shining, I took Sanbao shopping and bought many special snacks from Songjiang Prefecture. I also selected many light-colored fabrics from the silk shop and bought many snacks from the snack shop. I planned to take them back and share them with Old Man Jia and his family. I also wanted to let Master Wang taste them and see if he could make them.

We visited the nearby mountains and rivers, and also went to the popular Qingshan Temple to try the vegetarian food there.

Seven days later, the imperial examination results were announced and the entrance was crowded with people.

Sanbao squeezed in thanks to his strong physique, looked at the notice in front of him, and focused on the name of the young master.

It was not until she found the young master's name in the first row, fifth place, that she turned around and ran out excitedly, saying all the time that the young master had passed the exam.

The people next to me were squeezed so hard that they started to curse.

Li Changgui learned that he had passed the examination and ranked fifth. He took his household registration and pass to the government office to exchange his documents.

From then on, they were exempted from corvée labor and taxes, and they did not have to kneel when meeting the county magistrate, but only bow.

In terms of clothing, you can also wear a Confucian robe and long gown, which represents the status of a scholar.

At the farewell banquet for teachers, Lord Du was optimistic about the performance of many scholars, especially the top three, who were young men from scholarly families who were well-versed in books and well-educated by their families, so he valued them even more.

Those noble families looked down upon the scholars who came from wealthy families or were of low status.

Li Changgui couldn't talk to them, they just wanted to get to know each other.

They toasted each other and chatted for a few words. After that, they returned to the inn and told Sanbao to pack up and go back tomorrow.

After hearing this, Sanbao immediately put the things he bought into order.

At dawn the next day, the two packed up all their belongings and bedding and put them into the carriage. Sanbao drove the carriage slowly towards Suzhou City.