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

After getting off the bus, Zhang Pingan squeezed into the crowd and looked at the wall.

The imperial edict indeed mentioned the selection of concubines, and also the selection of palace maids.

The scope of the selection stated that women participating in the selection must be between 10 and 16 years old, not yet engaged, and of good character and appearance. All legitimate daughters of officials of the fifth rank and above must participate.

Zhang Ping'an is not an official yet, so this has nothing to do with his family.

The later part about selecting palace maids is related to his family. The requirements for palace maids' family background are much lower. As long as they are between 13 and 20 years old, not engaged, have good character and appearance, and come from a good family, they can participate in the selection, and as many as 3,000 people are selected at a time.

The "good" here does not refer to whether one has committed a crime or not, but refers to the distinction between "good people and bad people", that is, those who work in occupations not included in the seven categories of exile or the children of those who are not doctors, witches, merchants, or craftsmen.

Costume dramas often depict palace maids and eunuchs having sex together, but in reality, this kind of thing rarely happens.

The origins of palace maids are much better than those of eunuchs, and they can leave the palace when they reach a certain age. How could a normal palace maid fall in love with an ordinary young eunuch? Unless she has reached a certain level, then it is possible.

Strictly speaking, all the women in the harem belong to the emperor. Palace maids may also become the emperor's favorite concubines. Such examples are not uncommon in all dynasties, so the selection of palace maids is also strict.

Liu Ya at home meets the selection criteria for a palace maid.

Let’s not talk about the fact that her family had no intention of letting Liu Ya enter the palace to try her luck. Liu Ya was not cut out for it. Even if she wanted to, it was not the right time. The little emperor was only a seven or eight-year-old child. In the eyes of all parties, he was just a puppet. There was no point in him entering the palace!

Zhang Pingan felt a little heavy in his heart.

Old Man Lu didn't know what was going on, and asked hesitantly, "Master, are you still going to the Imperial College?"

"Let's go. Today is the first day of school. We can't be late," Zhang Ping'an said with a breath of fresh air.

It was still early when we arrived at the Imperial College, and there were only four or five people in the class.

Since he can study here and be assigned to a class, his situation is basically the same as Zhang Ping'an. Either he has the academic title but no connections, and cannot go to the provincial school, so he can only settle for the Imperial College as a second choice; or he has connections but no academic title, and his connections are not strong enough, so he came here through patronage.

In short, they are a group of people who are not qualified to go to the provincial school, but have a good class.

There is also a very special category, which is the royal family, but they are in a separate class and have nothing to do with them, and the two sides have nothing to do with each other.

After Zhang Pingan entered the classroom, he greeted everyone one by one. The others also politely returned the greetings. They exchanged names and the atmosphere was very harmonious.

The class Zhang Ping'an was assigned to was Shangshe Class A, which was the class that would prepare for the imperial examination in February next year. There were only more than 20 students in the class, and it was said that the teacher assigned to them was also the best.

Those who can study in this class are all quite discerning. After chatting with everyone, I feel that the study atmosphere is better than that of the state school.

According to the conventions of past dynasties, the Imperial College was generally the institution with the largest number of students passing the imperial examinations. However, this was no longer the case after the capital was moved, as it was ranked below the provincial schools.

Therefore, for the sake of face, the Imperial College now also pays attention to the academic performance of high school students, and strives to make the number of people on the list equal to that of the provincial school.

When the time came, the bell in the Imperial College courtyard rang three times, and the doctor who taught them finally came in.

He was a skinny old man with age spots on his face. He was at least in his fifties or sixties. His eyes were dull and even a little bulging. Because he was too thin, the robe he wore seemed to be swaying even with a belt tied around it, and he looked very unimposing.

Frankly speaking, Zhang Ping'an was quite disappointed after seeing the man. To be able to be a doctor in the Imperial College, he should at least be a Jinshi. He didn't have the demeanor of a great scholar at all.

After this person sat down and spoke, Zhang Pingan became even more disappointed.

Dr. Cao didn't care what his students thought or said. After introducing himself as Cao, he began to talk about the Four Books.

The students were not asked to introduce themselves one by one as was customary.

He also lectured very quickly, with his head down, focusing only on his own thoughts, without caring whether the students understood or not, and never asking any questions.

He didn't assign any homework after class. He just rolled up his book and got up to leave, seeming even more impatient than the students in class.

I always feel that he is perfunctory and has no sense of responsibility. He is far worse than Master Huang from the provincial school.

The young man sitting in front of Zhang Ping'an was obviously dissatisfied and looked very unhappy.

However, no one openly talks about teachers in class. If it gets out, you can forget about staying in the literary circle. Everyone understands this.

The young man sitting on Zhang Ping'an's left was a fat man with a round face. He looked like Maitreya Buddha. He was fat to begin with, and his puffy eyelids made his two mung bean eyes look only a little bigger.

He doesn’t look that good, but he is very enthusiastic and asked Zhang Pingan to go to the cafeteria for lunch together.

"Okay," Zhang Pingan accepted it happily. These two days are important nodes for confirming the small group, and he cannot be sociable.

Green Bean Eyes was very happy and made an appointment with three people sitting nearby, including the person sitting in front of Zhang Pingan, and the five of them went to the cafeteria to eat together.

The canteen of the Imperial College has a wide variety of dishes, including sweet and salty soups, snacks, and various home-cooked stir-fries. The staple foods are white flour buns and rice.

On the day of registration, students have to buy meal tickets, which are enough for one semester at a time. Now they can just give the meal tickets to the chef who serves the meals. It is simple and convenient.

Zhang Ping'an held the plate and ate with relish, thinking the food tasted quite good.

Green Bean Eyes was very disgusted and picked at the rice with chopsticks, "What kind of rice is this? It doesn't have any rice fragrance at all. The food my servants eat is better than this."

Another person chimed in, complaining, "Exactly. The cafeteria is so stingy. They don't just use green glutinous rice, they at least have to use Zengcheng's silk rice. How can we eat this ordinary rice?"

This guy looks good, but his nose is always red and he likes to wipe it with a handkerchief frequently. Zhang Ping'an saw him secretly using more than a dozen handkerchiefs in class, so he probably has rhinitis.

"Didn't Mencius say this? When Heaven is about to confer a great responsibility on a man, it will first test his mind and will, make his muscles and bones weary, starve his body, and deprive him of all poverty. It will also make his plans go against his will. This is to make him endure and do what he could not do before. We are undergoing the test now," said the man sitting on Zhang Ping'an's right slowly.

His mouth was full of disgust, but he seemed to be adapting well and was eating with great relish.

Zhang Ping'an's eyelids twitched, and he thought of "Why not eat meat porridge?"

Fortunately, there is another person who is as down-to-earth as him, a young man who is a few years older than him, only nineteen years old, and will come of age next year. He is also a newly-appointed juren, and can be considered a young talent.

"You just have to make do with it. The food is pretty good and tastes acceptable. Ordinary people can't eat such good food during the New Year. Besides, the Imperial College subsidizes our food, and the price is not expensive. I think it's good," the man said with a smile.

Zhang Pingan turned around and looked at him carefully. They had sat far apart at the Lu Ming Banquet, and they were not in the same circle when they attended the literary gathering together later. They were not even acquaintances.

I only got familiar with the class after being assigned to it at the Imperial College.

This man's surname is Hua and his given name is Wanli. He is a native of Lin'an. I just heard him introduce himself. He said that his father had passed away a long time ago, and only his widowed mother and grandmother were left in his family. His two sisters were already married, and he was the only male in the family. Fortunately, his father left some land, and his financial situation was decent, but not to the point where he could squander money lavishly.

Looks pretty frugal too.