Female-to-male: I live on farming

Looking at the elegant handwriting on the paper, Lu Youqing nodded with satisfaction. She tried her best to encourage Sheng Tang, who was self-deprecating and introverted.

Sheng Tang has been learning eight-legged essay recently. Every few days, Lu Youqing gives her a topic and asks her to write it and hand it to him.

Most of the questions on essays are taken from the original texts of the Four Books and Five Classics. A sentence or a paragraph is chosen as the topic. Therefore, if you want to do well in essays, you must be very familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics. This is why those who take part in the imperial examinations must start with the Four Books and Five Classics.

There are strict standards and requirements for the content and format of writing. It can be said that writing itself is like dancing in shackles within a framework. Sheng Tang has just started learning, and it is obvious that his writing is still unfamiliar.

But it has been a great improvement compared to the beginning.

Sheng Tang stood at the bottom like a good student, looking nervous, waiting for Lu Youqing's comments.

Seeing her like this, Lu Youqing waved at her with a smile, first praised her progress, and then pointed out the problems in the article in detail.

Sheng Tang listened very seriously. If she didn't understand at the beginning why her cousin hired a teacher to let her study, then it would be inappropriate for her to not be able to guess it after she started learning eight-legged essay.

Her goal was within reach. She had witnessed with her own eyes how her cousin changed her fate through the imperial examination and reached her current position. She easily dealt with her father, who she believed to be "great" and insurmountable.

She didn't want to live a life of dependence on others anymore. She wanted to control her own destiny like her cousin and protect her mother.

Realizing this, Sheng Tang studied harder. Unlike her cousin who could remember everything she saw, she could only make up for her shortcomings with hard work.

"Okay, I'll write another one when I get back."

"Okay, cousin." Sheng Tang obediently took the marked homework she handed over and nodded.

Lu Youqing thought about it and decided to ask Sheng Tang for his opinion. He asked, "The New Year has passed, and candidates for the exam have begun to come to Beijing one after another. The inns in Beijing are already overcrowded. I have a good friend who converted a house into a place to receive women who come to Beijing to take the exam. She has a lot of books and the exam papers of candidates in previous years. Do you want to go and take a look?"

Although Sheng Tang could not take part in the imperial examination, Lu Youqing still wanted her to feel the atmosphere and listen to what they were discussing.

"Is there really such a place?" Sheng Tang's eyes lit up. She seldom left the house and didn't even know there was such a place in the capital.

Without even thinking, she replied immediately, her voice a little louder than usual: "Cousin, I want to go."

"Since you want to go, go tell your aunt, take my name card, and ask the mansion to arrange a carriage to take you there. When you get there, just hand over the name card."

……

Just as Qin Ke had expected, the eldest princess ascended the throne and the chief examiner of the imperial examination was a woman, which indeed encouraged many women to take the exam.

Students from all over the country gathered here. Many of them were visiting Beijing for the first time and felt unfamiliar and curious about everything here.

As the number of candidates continued to increase, the price of inns in the capital also rose sharply. Sometimes, even if you have money, it is difficult to find a suitable place to stay.

This is undoubtedly a heavy burden for candidates from ordinary families.

Su Mian did not make a big fuss, he just posted a notice in the Gu's business store. After the women who came from afar to take the imperial examination saw the notice, they asked about the price of the inn, hesitated for a moment, and then looked for the location.

She was very nervous at first, fearing that it was a scammer and that she had met a bad person, until she saw the bright and beautiful woman standing in the courtyard.

Once there is one, there will be two.

"Have you heard that Su Xue's funding is sponsored by Gu's Commercial Bank?"

"No wonder they are so generous. Not only do they provide free accommodation, they also provide free meals. It is said that the food there is comparable to that in Caiyue Tower."

"I know that Su Xue's food is provided by Mr. Qin from the Ministry of Industry. It seems that Su Xue's background cannot be underestimated."

"Why are you only entertaining women? They are all candidates, why are you treating them differently?" The person who spoke was from an average family, and accommodation took up most of his money. He had to save money on daily meals. When he heard that those people not only had free accommodation but also free meals, he couldn't help but feel jealous.

"That's fine, but don't cause trouble! Some time ago, some people went there to complain about injustice, and it happened that Commander Li of the Phoenix Feather Guard was there. He was arrested immediately and stayed in jail for a night before being released. After that, no one dared to cause trouble there anymore."

A young man passing by heard their conversation, waved his finger, and interrupted, "You don't know this, but the most amazing thing about Suxue is the collection of books inside. The collection is extremely rich, and people inside can read it for free."

At this point he leaned closer and said in a low voice, "I heard there are examination papers from previous years in there."

As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd exploded.

But they only dared to discuss it in private, and no one dared to find trouble with Su Xue. After all, those who could get to this point were not fools.

The fact that Su Xue was able to obtain the test papers sealed by the Ministry of Rites means that she has a strong background, and it is not just an ordinary background. Didn't you see that Li Nanqiao and Commander Li both support her?

There were also many women from the noble families in the capital who took part in this exam. After they learned that there was a library in Su Xuezhong, they even packed their bags and moved in.

The reputation of Su's school of thought gradually spread among the students taking the imperial examinations in Beijing. Later, people no longer went to the inn to ask, but came straight here.

At that time, there were indeed students from poor families who came to them and asked why they only accepted women for free but not men.

Su Mian was too lazy to deal with such an unreasonable person and wanted to order the guards to throw him out. However, Li Nanqiao happened to be off duty at that time, saw this scene, and immediately ordered the troublemaker to be locked up for violating public security management.

Su Mian looked at Li Nanqiao, who had a stern face and looked very intimidating, and laughed heartily.

Since arriving in the capital, Li Nanqiao no longer has to be responsible for Su Mian's safety. Logically, there should be no intersection between them, but when Li Nanqiao is not on duty, he finds various reasons to visit her every now and then.

Su Mian is so smart, but she still can't see Li Nanqiao's thoughts. Then she has been a favorite concubine for so many years in vain.

Especially with the example of Jinyang and Gu Lanxi.

The moment Su Mian guessed her thoughts, he didn't know how to describe his feelings. He felt surprised, helpless, and perhaps a little happy.

But the joy was so weak, so weak that she subconsciously ignored it.