The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

After the formal classes started at the academy on the 16th day of the first lunar month, Zhang Ping'an learned that Master Lin was a student on government academy scholarship, and he was the guarantor this time. In addition to Lin Junhui, Liu Shengyuan and himself from his class, he also found two students in the middle dormitory to make up the five people.

Master Lin symbolically accepted one or two taels of silver as the guarantee. According to Lin Junhui, if one were not studying in the academy but looking for a student from outside to act as a guarantor, the premium would be as high as four or five taels of silver. After all, acting as a guarantor also has risks. Everyone in the academy knows everything about one's background. The master also repeatedly warns students not to cheat in exams, otherwise their path to the imperial examination will be ruined. Everyone understands this.

Jinbao has become fatter after returning from the Chinese New Year, which shows that he eats quite well at home. Knowing that Zhang Pingan is preparing for an exam recently, he only comes to the cafeteria to eat lunch together. Most of the time, he plays with Xiao Yifei.

The two of them were close friends in Class B, both at the bottom of the class. Now that they were sitting at the next table, they had endless things to talk about. Xiao Yifei had a lot of storybooks at home, and he would bring them to Jinbao from time to time to read, and Jinbao didn't find it boring.

Time flew by and it was mid-February. On the day of the exam, Zhang Laoer, Xu, and Zhang Ping'an all got up at the hour of Yin. Xu helped prepare the exam basket and was extremely nervous, fearing that anything would be missed. After Zhang Laoer and Zhang Ping'an checked repeatedly to make sure nothing was missed, they prepared to go out.

The weather in February was still very cold, and the breath he exhaled was stained with white smoke. Zhang Ping'an was wrapped in a thick long coat, which was specially made by Xu during the Chinese New Year as an advance preparation for the exam.

Zhang Laoer drove the mule cart out and took his son to the examination hall. When he was leaving, he happened to meet his next-door neighbor's eldest son, Li Mingxuan, who was also carrying an examination basket. He was probably going to take the county examination as well. No one in their family could take him there, so Zhang Laoer thought it was on the way anyway, so he simply asked Li Mingxuan to get in the car and go together.

Li Mingxuan hesitated for a moment before getting in the car.

Zhang Pingan said, "I didn't expect that we would be so destined to take the county exam together. How many people from your Bailu Academy have signed up for the exam this time?"

Li Mingxuan said calmly, "I'm not sure, but there should be around sixty or seventy people."

"So many?" Zhang Ping'an asked in surprise. There were only more than thirty students who signed up from their Qingsong Academy and Shangshe.

"Almost all the students from the outer dormitory have signed up. Anyway, their families are rich and they don't mind the registration fee. They can just treat it as practice," said Li Mingxuan.

Zhang Pingan thought about it and said with a smile: "But you are definitely not going there to practice."

Li Mingxuan smiled faintly and said nothing more.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the examination hall. Zhang Pingan looked around and estimated that there were at least 2000 people. Many of them had failed the exam many times but had not given up. Over the years, quite a few people had taken the exam.

It was still dark, and the torches lit at the entrance of the examination room cast a faint light, illuminating an open space in front of the examination room.

Zhang Laoer was also shocked. He didn't expect that there were so many people taking the test. It was difficult to park the car, so he could only park far away and then walk over.

When he got closer, Zhang Ping'an found that many of the candidates were already gray-haired, at least grandfather-like in age, yet they were still so obsessed with the imperial examination.

The candidates who arrived earlier had already lined up in a long queue. Zhang Pingan chose a queue with fewer people and stood at the back, asking Zhang Laoer to go back first. It was very cold standing outside, but Zhang Laoer refused to leave no matter what. "I'll wait until you go in before I leave!"

There are five examinations in total in the county examination, one every day. Students enter the examination room at dawn and hand in their papers at 3 p.m. Today is the first one, and all the students have ambitious looks on their faces.

About half an hour later, the bell rang at the entrance of the examination room, and the yamen runners began to let the students in. Because they had to search their bodies and check their exam baskets, the line moved very slowly. Zhang Ping'an's feet were stiff from standing, not to mention the elderly, who kept coughing in the wind. Zhang Ping'an had to lift up his sleeves to cover his mouth and nose to prevent being infected.

When it was almost Zhang Ping'an's turn, he found out that the body search required undressing. The yamen runners would feel around the students' bodies and legs to see if they had hidden cheat sheets. The steamed buns and pancakes in the examination basket also had to be broken into pieces, but fortunately it did not affect their eating.

After Zhang Ping'an passed the inspection, he turned his head and looked back. There were many people queuing behind him and he could no longer see Zhang Laoer. Then Zhang Ping'an entered the door. After more than ten years in this world, he was finally going to knock on the door of the imperial examination.

Although he had listened to Master Lin's talk and was mentally prepared, the examination hall for the county exam still opened Zhang Ping'an's eyes. He wondered if county exams in other places were all like this. It seemed that a fat man would have difficulty breathing sitting in it. There were walls on both sides and behind, and an exam table in front. It was just the length of two papers that could be unfolded, and it was not too wide.

Fortunately, he was not assigned to the bad number. The examination room was clean. Zhang Ping'an observed the roof. The tiles were not leaking, so there should be no water leakage. Moreover, the weather was pretty good these days. After looking around, he sat down with peace of mind and waited for the exam.

About half an hour later, the sky brightened slightly, the bell rang in the examination room, and then the papers began to be distributed.

Zhang Ping'an, as usual, scanned the exam content. The first section consisted of two essays from the Four Books and a five-character, six-rhyme poem. This was the easiest section, and the students in the exam room wrote furiously. After finishing, no one handed in their papers early, as doing so would be considered disrespectful to the examiner and the exam. The papers were not collected until the stroke of 3 p.m.

The students walked out one after another, and most of them looked relaxed.

Zhang Laoer was already waiting outside the examination room. He arrived early and stood near the front. As soon as Zhang Pingan came out, he saw him and said, "Here, here!"

Zhang Pingan heard the shout and walked over. Zhang Laoer didn't ask how the test went. He took the test basket from his son and drove straight home. Xu had already prepared dinner. Because they had to get up early in the morning, everyone in the family went to bed early these past two days.

Zhang Ping'an was very calm and just tried his best. Five days passed in a flash and today was the last day of the exam, which mainly tested scriptures, poetry, parallel prose, etc. The extra classes during the New Year holiday had a significant effect. Zhang Ping'an had now figured out some tricks for poetry and was no longer as dull as before.

After answering the last question seriously, Zhang Pingan felt relieved when he walked out of the examination room. He didn't know what the others felt like, but Zhang Pingan felt that this county exam went quite smoothly. Master Lin had given guidance on many types of questions before, so he was able to answer them with ease.

Zhang Laoer saw his son's smiling face and said, "You must be tired from the exams these days. I asked your mother to stew a chicken today. Let's go home and drink some chicken soup to replenish our energy."

"Dad, we have eaten so many chickens since we came to the county. Next time, we can just cut some meat and cook it. There is no need to spend so much money," Zhang Pingan said with a helpless smile.

Zhang Laoer smiled and didn't say anything when he heard this. Anyway, he couldn't listen to his son about food.