The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Tao Xing and Diego were both extremely happy, but Min Xi calmly prepared for the second exam.

They had a total of five examinations in this county exam, each lasting one day. It took time to mark the papers, so it took about half a month to finish the exams. By the time they were finished, it was already March.

If all goes well and Min Xi passes the county exam, he will go to Yingtian Prefecture to take the prefectural exam. Only if he passes the prefectural exam can he be considered a tongsheng. Only tongshengs are eligible to take the academy exam. Only if he passes the academy exam can he be considered a scholar.

If you pass the county examination and the prefectural examination but fail the academy examination, you have to take the county examination again next time.

After the first exam was over, the second exam was soon to come. The content of this exam was wider than the first one. In addition to the Four Books and Five Classics, there were also classics such as the Book of Filial Piety. The students needed to write an eight-part essay of about 700 words.

This was difficult for Min Xi, but he was not incapable of dealing with it. After all, his main task last year was to practice eight-part essays. His ideas were always good, but according to Tao Hong, they were too straightforward and lacked writing style.

Min Xi had no other choice. This was the best he could do as an engineering student. However, Tao Hong also said that the most important thing in eight-part essays is the theme. His advantage was the theme, so he tried his best to make use of his advantage.

Because writing eight-part essays requires careful consideration of words and sentences, he did not hand in the paper in advance, but copied the final draft at the last minute.

The seating arrangement in the second round is based on the results of the first round. Those ranked at the front will receive special attention from the invigilators because these people are very likely to be the scholars in this batch and they need to be supervised to prevent cheating. Maybe future juren or even jinshi will appear among this batch of people, so of course they need special attention.

Min Xi ranked 12th in the first round, so his position was relatively high. When he was scratching his head and trying to find the right words, the passing invigilator smiled with an ambiguous smile. Because he was the oldest among the top-ranked candidates, when the invigilator first saw him, he thought he was either a filler or a late bloomer.

Looking at his performance now, he seems more like a person who is just filling in the gaps. He is probably the kind of person who studies hard. After studying for so many years, he has not even passed the examination to become a scholar. However, he has memorized the classics by heart, so he did better in the first examination.

Min Xi had never expected that he had become like this in the invigilator's mind. Fortunately, the marking was anonymous and the marker was not the invigilator, otherwise Min Xi would have been in trouble.

When he finished copying the last word, the night watchman came over to remind him, "There is still a quarter of an hour until the end of the exam."

Min Xi read the essay carefully from beginning to end, and found a few places where he was not satisfied with the writing, but he could not change it. It was better to write a bad word than to erase it and write it again. When he finished reading the last word, it was time to collect the papers, and there were only a few people left in the examination room.

Min Xi handed in the paper and slowly packed up his things. When he stood up, he felt his legs and feet were a little stiff. It was really torture to sit in such a cubicle for a whole day and only go to the toilet once.

He went out with the exam basket. There were already very few people outside. Tao Xing and Diego were waiting outside anxiously. When they saw him come out, they hurried over to greet him: "Master Min, are you okay?"

"Boss, are you okay?" Diego quickly supported Min Xi.

Tao Xing took the test basket from Min Xi and asked, "Is it difficult?"

Diego asked, "Are you hungry? There is hot water in the car. Go and drink some. Your hands are cold."

Min Xi smiled: "It's okay, it's not difficult. I just wanted to answer it better, so I spent a little longer thinking about it. I'm a little thirsty, so I'll go drink some water. I also want to go to the toilet. Let's go home quickly. I can't hold it anymore." After the exam, he didn't go to the toilet in the examination room because he knew it must be extremely dirty in there, so he didn't go and make things worse for himself.

Several people quickly got on the carriage and rode home. This carriage was rented by them and specially prepared for Min Xi's exam.

After this exam, Min Xi slept at home for a day and did not start studying on the same day as he did the first exam.

There are two more exams, and the number of candidates will become fewer and fewer. The time for marking the papers and announcing the results will become shorter and shorter, so the candidates' rest time will also be shortened.

This time, they only had to wait three days before the results were announced. Tao Xing went to see the list again, and after reading it, he ran back excitedly: "Master Min, great news, you are on the list again, ranked ninth, which is several places higher than the first time."

"Thank you!" Min Xi smiled. This was not beyond his expectations. He still had an advantage in writing eight-part essays. As long as he was not tested on poetry and prose, he believed that he could surely pass the exam to become a scholar.

The third round was a bit difficult, because in addition to the eight-part essay, he had to write a regulated fu. Fu was usually more ornate, and his writing style, to be honest, really gave Min Xi a headache, and he could only try his best to make fewer mistakes.

During the third exam, the same invigilator came again. As soon as he arrived, he saw Min Xi and discovered that he was actually sitting closer to the front than before. Only then did he not dare to underestimate him, realizing that this candidate was probably more stable.

It happened that during this exam, the chief examiner, who was also the county magistrate, came to inspect the examination room. He paid special attention to the situation in the inner circle of the examination room and found that Min Xi was sitting in the inner circle. He stopped in front of his seat and watched for a while, then left with a smile. The student that the prefect asked to take care of was indeed a good student.

Min Xi was so busy answering questions that he didn't notice the magistrate came over and looked at him. Today's test lasted a whole day. Last time, he spent a whole day writing an eight-part essay and was able to carefully consider every word and sentence. Today, he couldn't do that. He had to hurry up. Fortunately, everyone was in the same situation as him. Of course, those who were quick-witted had the advantage.

Min Xi quickly finished writing the eight-part essay, and after confirming that it was correct, he copied it down. Then he started to write the regulated verse, which was almost a life-threatening task for him. The regulated verse required rhyme, standard tones, and neat parallelism. If there were rhetorical sentences such as parallelism, it would be the icing on the cake.

Min Xi was quite lucky. The theme of this regulated verse happened to be a similar one that Tao Hong had given him. He modified the regulated verse he had written before, and it didn't take him too much effort. He finally handed in the paper smoothly.

Not many people submitted their papers in advance for the third exam, and Min Xi did not submit his paper in advance, so his late appearance did not stand out. After returning home, he lay down, because the last two exams were poetry, scriptures, and poetry and prose, which were his worst parts, and he could not make up for it by reading books at the last minute. He could only leave it to fate and hope that inspiration would burst out during the exam so that he could write a decent poem.

After the third round, Min Xi's ranking moved up two places. The county magistrate came to supervise the exam in person. When he saw Min Xi, he nodded with satisfaction. This time, Min Xi saw his reaction and was stunned for a moment. Was this a sign of approval for him?

But this made him feel a little uncomfortable, because his true colors were about to be exposed. I hope the poetry and prose scores don't account for a large proportion.

These two exams were taken consecutively, and the last one was not taken after the results came out, so the results of these two exams were obviously for reference. After all, the imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty were different from those in the Tang Dynasty. Poetry and prose were just embellishments. After all, being an official did not require talent in poetry and prose, but political talent.

Sure enough, the results for the fourth and fifth rounds were not released separately, but were totaled together with the first three rounds, and then the overall ranking of the county examination was announced.

Min Xi's poetry and prose were not good, but it did not affect his ranking too much. He successfully entered the prefectural examination with the tenth place in the county examination.

After seeing the results, Min Xi smiled and said, "Oh, it looks like Qi Ge and Lin Er will have to wait for me for a while. I'll write them a letter and tell them not to worry and wait until I finish the provincial exam before returning."

Tao Xing smiled and said, "Master Min, why don't you just pass the exam and go back?"

"You are too greedy. I have only studied for less than two years. How can I compare with those who have studied hard for more than ten years? If I can pass the exam and become a scholar, my family's ancestral graves will definitely be filled with joy." Min Xi said with a smile.

Diego said seriously: "I will definitely pass the exam!"

Min Xi said with a smile: "Okay, I will definitely pass the exam."

Tao Xing asked: "Master Min, since you are going to take the prefectural examination, should you rent a house in Yingtian Prefecture first? The academy examination will also be held in Yingtian Prefecture. When the time comes, you can rest well in Jinling and take the prefectural and academy examinations with peace of mind."

"Okay, you go and take care of the arrangements." Min Xi originally didn't want to move, because it was indeed quite comfortable here, but for the sake of his future, he decided to go anyway, even if it was a little troublesome.

Tao Xing first went to Yingtian Prefecture to find a house to rent, and then came back to pick up Min Xi and Diego.

Min Xi was studying at home, and during this time, many people came to visit him, all of whom were taking the exam together. Min Xi's ranking was pretty good, and according to the practice of previous years, with his grades, it would not be a problem for him to pass the exam, so many people came to make friends with him.

Min Xi did not refuse, after all, he still needed to find new people to pledge and pledge each other. Many people were eliminated in the county exam this time, and only two of the people Min Xi had pledged to each other passed the county exam, so they needed to find two more people to pledge to each other. It was a good opportunity to get to know more people and pledge to each other.

As for the student who pledged to be the guarantor for the provincial examination, in addition to the original scholar, another student had to be found. The so-called student was a scholar who ranked first in the exam, and the court would also allocate six dou of rice as a monthly salary.

Socializing was not a difficult task for Min Xi. He was older and more experienced, so it was easy for him to get along with people. Soon, he got to know Li Hefeng, the first suspect in this case.

The first place in the county exam is the top scorer. It is said that the first place winner does not need to take the prefectural exam or the imperial exam and can directly become a scholar. This is like taking a direct train. Min Xike envied the first place winner. It was so much easier, and he did not need to go through so many exams.

Li Hefeng was very young, only twelve years old. The reason why Min Xi knew him was that the top scorer came to him on his own initiative. Li Hefeng noticed Diego, a man with a western face, outside the examination room and was curious about Diego's identity and origin, so he took the initiative to find Min Xi.