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

The test paper for this class placement exam was very difficult. Basically, the contents of the Four Books and Five Classics were covered. There were many questions and the scope of the test was wide, which put the learning foundation of each student to the test even more.

After the test paper was handed out, Zhang Pingan followed his old habit and scanned the questions from beginning to end, and only started answering the questions after he had a clear idea of ​​them.

The 35 questions in the first part were all taken from the original text. All they had to do was give a sentence or a paragraph and then complete the rest of the original text. These were easy questions for Zhang Ping'an. The second part, mathematics and law and poetry, was not difficult either, but new questions included laws and rulings. Fortunately, Zhang Ping'an was very interested in law and poetry and often went to the library to borrow related books. After a little thought, he had the answer in his mind.

The third part is poetry, in which two poems are written on the theme of Mid-Autumn Festival and Double Ninth Festival. Poetry writing has always been Zhang Ping'an's weakness. The teacher also often commented that Zhang Ping'an's poems lack a bit of spirit, and he can only strive to make the parallelism neat and in line with the mood of the festival.

The fourth part consisted of questions on eight-part essays and current policy. Zhang Pingan could predict that these two questions alone would eliminate most of his classmates.

The imperial examination was mainly based on the Four Books and the Five Classics, with the Four Books accounting for a larger proportion. However, the total number of characters in the Four Books was only more than 170,000. Since the founding of the Great Xia Dynasty, there had been 89 provincial and metropolitan examinations, and the total number of eight-part essay questions reached more than 10,000. If the questions set in the county, prefectural and academy examinations across the country were added together, there were nearly 60,000 questions, and all questions could not be repeated. Such a large number of questions must come from a few words, a paragraph or several paragraphs in the Four Books and the Five Classics. Therefore, it became increasingly difficult for the examiners to set questions, which led to the emergence of cut-off questions, which is simply a nightmare for all scholars.

Countless students cannot even crack the questions correctly during exams, let alone solve them.

Zhang Ping'an usually paid special attention to listening to the teacher during class. Fortunately, the question on today's exam was one Zhang Ping'an was familiar with: "How can a human being be inferior to a bird? The poem says: 'The King Wen is majestic and dignified.'"

The first half of the sentence, from the "Great Learning," suggests that humans are inferior to birds. The second half, from the "Book of Songs," describes the virtue and reverence of King Wen of Zhou. While the literal meaning might seem to suggest a connection between King Wen and birds, the deeper understanding suggests that humans should follow his example, constantly elevating their moral and behavioral standards and striving for a higher state of mind.

Zhang Ping'an breathed a sigh of relief only after writing 500 words. The topic of the section was really annoying.

The last question was about current policies. The title was "On the impact of taxation on the people." This question was actually very broad and there was no fixed answer. Zhang Ping'an guessed that the teachers did not expect the students to answer well. After all, their age and experience were limited. Currently, the academy did not focus on current policies in class. It was probably just to give students a preliminary understanding of the scientific test.

Combining what he had learned so far and his personal understanding, Zhang Pingan tried to answer all aspects of the tax system changes, implementation background, and final results as completely as possible, and it took him nearly four hundred words to finish.

It took me nearly an hour and a half to answer all the questions. After I finished, I checked again from the beginning to see if there were any typos, and then I started waiting to hand in the paper.

About half an hour later, the invigilator at the top of the exam put down his teacup with a "click" and said in a deep voice, "Stop writing and collect the papers!"

The students were allowed to go out only after all the test papers were collected. Everyone rushed to the toilet first. Zhang Ping'an felt that if he continued like this, his bladder would have problems sooner or later. He didn't know which ancestor invented it. A class lasted more than an hour, and the exam lasted two hours. In the future, the provincial examination would even last nine days. It was terrifying to think about it!

After solving the three urgent problems, Zhang Pingan finally breathed a sigh of relief and felt much more relaxed.

When they returned to the classroom, Liu Shengyuan and Jin Bao were already there. Zhang Ping'an and Liu Shengyuan looked at each other and tacitly agreed not to mention the exam again. The exam was over anyway and the results would be out in the afternoon, so there was no need to worry about it.

But looking at Jinbao's bitter face, you can tell that there is no chance for him to get into Class A.

The three of them took Xiao Yifei to the cafeteria to eat. In the past two months, Xiao Yifei always took the initiative to sit over during meals, and their relationship gradually became better and better. Moreover, Xiao Yifei did not have the bad habits of most children of officials. He was sincere and generous, and it was easy to get along with him.

"I don't know which teacher set the questions in this exam. There are so many and they are so difficult. I haven't even finished the paper. The result will definitely not be ideal," Xiao Yifei said with a sad face.

Jinbao also felt the same way: "That's right! I haven't finished writing either, and I don't understand many of the questions"!

Zhang Pingan smiled and interrupted the conversation, "Alright, the exams are over. Talking about this isn't just making things difficult for yourself. Let's go eat!"

"Okay! I want to turn my grief and anger into appetite. What are you going to eat today? I'll treat you! It just so happens that my father gave me another month's allowance of silver." Xiao Yifei said angrily.

Liu Shengyuan replied gently: "No, it's embarrassing to always ask you to treat us. We all have our own meal tickets, so it's fine for us to eat separately. If you insist on treating us, we will feel embarrassed to eat with you again. It will feel like we are taking advantage of you."

"That's right, it's fine for us to eat separately. If we don't have enough meal tickets one day, we can come and eat at the rich man's restaurant. Hahaha", Zhang Pingan agreed. The few of them talked and laughed while eating together, and the worries about the exams were temporarily put aside.

After the lunch break, the test results were announced in the first class of the afternoon. Several teachers were so busy marking the papers that they reportedly didn’t even have time to eat lunch.

Both Zhang Ping'an and Liu Shengyuan's grades were pretty good. Zhang Ping was ranked fifth and Liu Shengyuan was ranked third, with even better grades. In fact, their grades were comparable when they were in private school before, but after coming to the academy, Liu Shengyuan has always been very self-disciplined. In addition, he has outstanding talent and is not under the supervision of his father. His mentality is better than before in private school, so it is not surprising that he has such results.

However, Zhang Pingan was surprised that Lin Junhui was ranked first. This classmate was usually a bit careless. Although he came from a scholarly family, he was not arrogant and he did not seem to be very hardworking.

As expected, Jin Bao was ranked outside the top 25, which means he was at the bottom. Xiao Yifei was in the same boat with him, ranking 23rd.

After the results were announced, they had to change classrooms. Students ranked over fifteen would have to go to Class B next door. Although Jin Bao was reluctant, he had no choice but to stand up and prepare to go to Class B with Xiao Yifei.

"Don't worry, we can go home together after school, and we can go to the toilet together during breaks. Besides, Xiao Yifei will protect you. Don't be afraid. You can come to me if you have any problems. Our two classes are so close," Zhang Pingan whispered to comfort him.

"Well, I know. I just didn't expect that we would be separated after only two or three months of classes together." Jinbao was very depressed.