The daily life of a peasant girl taking the imperial examination

The first exam of the county examination was called the "first session" or "main session". After that, there were four more county examinations before the exam was officially over.

After Zhuge Yunshu sat down in his examination cell, he carefully arranged all the examination-related items from his examination basket on the table, and then placed the examination basket at a distance.

At this moment, the darkness gradually faded, and a faint, fish-belly white light began to appear on the gray horizon.

Zhuge Yunshu looked up and saw a man and a woman sitting diagonally opposite her.

The man was probably in his early twenties, and the woman was probably around fourteen or fifteen years old.

Zhuge Yunshu observed that during his journey into the examination hall, he did not find a single woman over the age of sixteen taking the exam.

As Zhuge Yunshu sized up the two people opposite her, the two people opposite her were also secretly sizing her up.

After all, she was the youngest person in the county examination in Linxi County this time.

Especially the man to the left of Zhuge Yunshu.

When he saw a young girl sitting opposite him, for some reason, he felt a little more confident about passing the county exam.

A little while later.

An unusually loud voice came from outside; they were about to distribute the exam questions.

Zhuge Yunshu sat upright, having worked so hard for so long, it would be a lie to say he wasn't excited when it came time to put his skills to the test.

She used a paperweight to hold down the draft, then picked up a small water dropper from the table and dripped a few drops of water into the inkstone, preparing to grind the ink and wait for the exam questions to be distributed.

A short while later, the sound of footsteps approached.

A constable walked over carrying a test paper.

Zhuge Yunshu quickly tidied the tip of his brush, then dipped it in ink to prepare to copy the exam questions onto the draft paper.

The bailiff stopped at Zhuge Yunshu's cell for a short while, probably less than a minute, before moving on to another cell.

She quickly glanced at the test question board held by the constable, and after the front side passed, the back side also had the same test questions written on it.

Zhuge Yunshu only looked at it for a short while before copying down the test questions for her age group.

In the first examination of Xia State County, the candidates' ages were different. The questions displayed on the question board were different for candidates who were over 20 years old and those who were under 20 years old.

However, their difficulty levels are roughly the same; the main difference lies in the time limit.

The first day of the county examination consisted of two questions on the Four Books and one question on composing a poem.

Zhuge Yunshu looked at the first test question on the draft paper.

This can also be called the 'first question' or 'top question', which mainly uses the main text of the Four Books as the basis for the question, requiring candidates to explain its meaning.

This question comes from the Analects, Book 9, Chapter 12. It is generally not very difficult for the first exam in the county examination.

Zhuge Yunshu glanced at the title: 【Without preconceived notions, without insistence, without stubbornness, without ego】

The original text reads: "You should avoid four things: preconceived notions, certainty, obstinacy, and ego."

According to the meaning of the word, it means "without intention" or "without making unfounded speculations."

Not necessarily, and not absolutely biased.

Do not be rigid or inflexible.

I do not believe in myself, nor do I consider myself the only one who matters.

These are four bad habits that Confucius strongly rejected, and they also represent his high standards and strict requirements for self-cultivation.

Zhuge Yunshu glanced at it and roughly came up with his own solution.

She picked up a calligraphy brush and wrote her name, seat number, and other information on the answer sheet and draft paper.

Then, based on the ideas in your mind, first draft your thoughts on a piece of draft paper.

The total word count of the article should be between 300 and 700 words.

Half an hour later, Zhuge Yunshu had finished polishing the first essay on the Four Books. After checking that it was correct, she copied the contents of the draft paper onto the official answer sheet.

During this process, Zhuge Yunshu was extremely careful, for fear that he might accidentally write the wrong word or smudge the paper with ink.

If I were to lose the opportunity to take the next exam for such a reason, wouldn't that be incredibly frustrating?

Just as Zhuge Yun finished copying the document, a constable came over.

He stopped in front of each examination cell and then stamped the end of each candidate's answer sheet with his seal, a process also known as 'stamping'.

The main reason for doing this was to find out how fast the test takers answered the questions.

If a candidate hasn't written a single word before the stamp is affixed, then no matter how perfect their essay is later, it will be suspected that the candidate sitting next to them wrote it for them.

I don't know about others, but when the bailiffs arrived at Zhuge Yunshu's cell, she had already finished writing the Four Books question on the answer sheet.

The constable looked at the answer sheet filled with writing in front of him and glanced at Zhuge Yunshu in surprise.

But he only glanced at it with surprise before turning to the next cell with a normal expression.

Zhuge Yunshu carefully moved the stamped answer sheet to an empty spot on the side of the table to let the ink dry.

This morning was far too tense.

Zhuge Yunshu rubbed his temples to relax his mind.

However, this simple action caused a misunderstanding between the two candidates across the hall.

The sixteen or fifteen-year-old female examinee also stopped writing at this moment. She looked up at Zhuge Yunshu and found that the eight or nine-year-old girl was rubbing her forehead in pain, probably because she couldn't answer the questions.

Meanwhile, the male examinee, who was around twenty years old, was still writing furiously, but even so, he couldn't stop himself from giving Zhuge Yunshu a smug look.

Zhuge Yunshu: "..."

This person must have some serious mental illness!

You shouldn't use your imagination to fill in the blanks.

......

Around nine o'clock, the constable came over carrying the test questions board.

This is the second question for today.

This time, the test questions did not differentiate between ages, and the test boards held by the officers each had only one question on both sides.

Zhuge Yunshu quickly copied the question onto the draft paper.

Then, he carefully put away the answer sheet for the first question, which had already dried, and placed it in his exam basket.

This exam question was from one of the Four Books.

The title is: [There is nothing that is not learned, nothing that is not asked, nothing that is not thought, nothing that is not debated, and nothing that is not practiced]

This quote comes from Chapter 20 of The Doctrine of the Mean.

The original text reads: If there is something you haven't learned, don't stop until you have learned it; if there is something you haven't asked, don't stop until you have asked it and you have not learned it; if there is something you haven't thought about, don't stop until you have thought about it and you have not learned it; if there is something you haven't discerned, don't stop until you have discerned it and you have not understood it; if there is something you haven't practiced, don't stop until you have practiced it thoroughly.

This question is a bit more difficult than the first one.

But that's all there is to it.

The main issue is that some sentences in the title are omitted.

However, test takers who have thoroughly understood the Doctrine of the Mean can basically recall its original meaning and context at a glance.

As Zhuge Yunshu ground the ink, he pondered the entry point for this question.

This sentence roughly means: Either don't learn, or don't give up until you've learned it; either don't ask, or don't give up until you understand; either don't think, or don't give up until you've figured it out; either don't distinguish, or don't give up until you've clearly understood; or don't put it into practice, or don't give up until you've achieved results.

Then consider the preceding sentence, "Study extensively, inquire carefully, think prudently, discern clearly, and practice diligently," and the following sentence, "If others can do it once, I will do it a hundred times; if others can do it ten times, I will do it a thousand times. If one can truly follow this path, even the foolish will become wise, and even the weak will become strong."

Ultimately, the discussion focused on the spirit of "never giving up until the goal is achieved" and "the spirit of hard work."

Having a general idea of ​​how to solve the problem, Zhuge Yunshu picked up a brush and wrote down his thoughts on a draft paper.

Unlike in the previous round, she did not write down the complete answer to this question.

For no other reason than that the sheer number of questions in today's second question is a huge undertaking.

She still needs some polishing.

There's no way around it; the county exam isn't difficult to begin with, but if you want to get a good ranking, your paper has to have something outstanding.

......