Traveling through time and space to become a child, supporting the family by catching fish and shrim

"This poem is well written. It's probably the best poem of the night."

"The scenery expresses emotions, and the ancient rhyme is lingering, and reciting it makes people feel relaxed."

"Author: Chen Lang? This name sounds so familiar."

"Could it be that boy from Shanghe Village? I remember he once pursued the eldest daughter of the Xu family."

"Fuck, this guy is so talented. A student dares to pursue the eldest daughter of the Xu family? He thinks he is a juren."

"and after?"

"And then? He was beaten up. I heard he was beaten pretty badly."

"After being beaten, he was still able to write such a good poem. Could it be that he was enlightened?"

"How about I go find someone to beat me up?"

"I can be of service. Come on, come on, stick your head out here."

"Go away, are you kidding me? My head is the top scholar's head. You can't afford to pay for it if it's broken."

"Get out of here, you bitch."

……

There was a lot of discussion outside the building, and people inside were also busy.

The county magistrate and the chief clerk sat at the top of the hall, and the seats on both sides of the hall also followed strict rules.

Apart from the county magistrate, the only two scholars in Nanhe County sat in the seats closest to the two adults.

Further down were the students on government stipend from the Nanhe County School. Those with the brightest future and the most brilliant literary talent sat at the front, while the veterans sat at the back.

Zhao Xiongwei is considered to be in the middle to lower level among the students on government academy, so he is a bit far away from the two masters.

Sitting at the back were several major merchants in Nanhe County, such as the Yu family who controlled the grain and oil business, the Xu family who controlled the cloth shop, the Zhang family who controlled the wine shop, and so on.

These people are qualified to sit down, while more people can only stand on both sides of the lobby.

Every once in a while, someone would present a poem, which would be recited by a special courtesan and then evaluated by the adults in the building.

If more than half of the people think the poem is good, the person who wrote the poem will be invited in.

The students will ask a few questions to the people they invite in.

If you answer well, you will leave an impression in the minds of these important people present, and the money you paid for entry will be worth it.

If you answer poorly, you will be asked to stand in the corner of the lobby and will never have the chance to speak again.

If it is discovered that the title is not worthy of the author and the poem is written by someone else, the candidate will be disqualified from taking the exam for the next five years and will be expelled on the spot.

The poetry reading had already begun for more than half an hour, but the quality of the poems presented was quite average.

The county magistrate's expression was also quite ugly.

In the Great Yan Dynasty, the number of local students promoted was an important indicator for assessing the performance of local officials. In developed areas, it even became the only indicator.

Due to the inconvenience of communication, when banditry, refugees, disasters, etc. occurred in the local area, local officials would not report them as long as the lid could be covered up, but would solve the problems themselves behind closed doors.

But the fact of taking exams cannot be covered up. Every year, many local students successfully pass the exams to become scholars and juren. These are all clearly recorded and cannot be falsified.

The Great Yan Dynasty even stipulated that if a place had not produced a juren for six consecutive years, the local officials would not be able to be promoted in the next five years.

The magistrate of Nanhe County had been in office for five years. During this period, Nanhe County had seven more scholars but not a single juren.

If no other successful candidate appears next year, he will only be able to serve as a county magistrate for the rest of his life.

Any official with political ambitions certainly does not want to be a county magistrate for his entire life.

So the county magistrate, who never attended the poetry meeting in previous years, also came this year.

He wanted to know whether there was a scholar in Nanhe County this year who had the hope of passing the imperial examination.

If not, then he'll have to resort to some unconventional tactics.

For example, spend money to change the household registration of an outsider who can pass the imperial examination to Nanhe County.

This method is common at the grassroots level in the Great Yan Dynasty, but it comes at a great cost.

If you have one more juren, I will have one less juren, and this will most likely affect my path to promotion.

At the same time, many scholars are unwilling to change their place of origin. In their view, this behavior is called forgetting one's roots.

After listening to another poem, the county magistrate was in a very bad mood. However, as the highest administrative officer in the area, he was very good at cultivating his energy, and no one in the hall could see that he was in a bad mood.

The only person who could see it was the chief clerk sitting next to him.

"Sir, don't worry. The poetry gathering has just begun, and the students are still waiting and watching. It's normal that there are no good poems."

“Once the poetry reading is halfway through, good poems will slowly emerge.”

The county magistrate hummed indifferently.

The chief clerk said again, "Sir, look over there."

The magistrate asked, "What?"

The chief clerk said, "Those two are from the Ning family of Jing'an County. The elder brother is Ning Wenxu, a talented young man."

"His father was involved in a criminal case last year, which caused the family to fall into poverty and be unable to pay the student tax this year."

"If Nanhe County still doesn't have any outstanding talents this year, we could consider signing Ning Wenxu's household registration over. I believe he would have no objection."

This actually made the county magistrate feel a little better. After pondering for a moment, he said, "Do you have any of his works? Bring them to me and have a look."

The chief clerk immediately ordered someone to find Ning Wenxu's introductory poem.

After reading it, the county magistrate frowned and said, "This is written very ordinary."

The chief clerk said, "Sir, the introductory poem is just a qualification, it doesn't need to be too good."

"Look at Ning Wenxu, he's full of confidence and energy. He must have some masterpieces hidden away. Let's wait patiently for a moment."

The county magistrate exhaled slowly and said, "Okay, then wait a little longer."

Ning Wenxu didn't know that he was being targeted, but even if he knew, he wouldn't have any resistance.

Because that's what he came for.

If one's family cannot afford the tax for taking the entrance exam, then he or she can only try his or her luck in counties with insufficient talent pools to see if he or she can win the approval of the local county magistrate and change his or her household registration.

In order to achieve this goal, Ning Wenxu has not had a full night's sleep for three whole months. He spends every day writing poems and lyrics. Every time he writes a poem, he polishes it over and over again. Even a single word needs to be carefully considered and confirmed again and again.

Three months passed like this, and I finally wrote four poems that I considered to be "excellent works". I brought them to Nanhe to participate in this year's poetry festival.

When I entered Fuyang Building just now, I was reluctant to use the four excellent poems I had written, so I wrote one at random to get by.

The level of students in Nanhe County is indeed limited, and the poems written by Ning Wenxu have successfully opened the door to Fuyang Building.

Now more than half an hour has passed, and there is still no poem that can compare with the one he painstakingly wrote for three months. Ning Wenxu feels relieved.

The qualification for the examination should be almost certain.

At this moment, the waiter from Fuyanglou came hurriedly and handed a piece of paper to the prostitute in the middle of the lobby.

The courtesan picked up the pipa and sang the song "Mountain Travel" softly!