The daily life of a peasant girl taking the imperial examination

Today's poetry gathering is an official banquet hosted by Liu, a scholar who passed the imperial examinations. Therefore, he is also responsible for setting the rules for this banquet.

"...In previous years, the poetry gathering involved pouring wine into glasses and placing them on a tray. The glasses would then float downstream along a winding stream. Whoever the glass stopped in front of would be punished by having to compose a poem. If they couldn't do it on the spot, they would have to drink three glasses as a penalty... Finally, all the poems would be put together for judging, and the winner of today's poetry gathering would be determined."

As Liu Juren spoke, he looked up and sized up the scholars sitting on both sides of the square table by the winding stream, and noticed that many of them were under the age of twelve.

It should be noted that most of the scholars who received his invitation were those who had achieved excellent results in the county examinations. Thinking of this, Liu Juren's expression became somewhat complicated, but he quickly composed himself and continued, saying:

"This year's poetry gathering will be different... Considering there are many young students present, we will place two wine glasses on a tray, one filled with wine and the other with fruit wine suitable for younger people... Today's theme is not composing poems, but creating couplets. I will provide the first line, and the second line will be provided by the student whose wine glass is closest to them after the drumbeat stops... If a student cannot create a couplet on the spot, they can punish themselves by drinking three glasses of wine!"

At this point, Scholar Liu paused, looking with a headache at the young students below him. After careful consideration, he finally spoke:

"If you can't answer, you can either punish yourself with three cups of wine or seek help from others... This time, how about changing the poetry competition to a group format? Our Jingling Prefecture has five counties, and each county will be a representative. So, we will be divided into five groups on site... In the end, the group that comes up with the most matching lines will be the winning group of today's poetry competition, and everyone in that group will be rewarded with a high-quality calligraphy brush from Rongbaoge."

In addition, we will select five students who compose the best couplets at today's poetry gathering... Each of these five students will be awarded a set of Rongbaoge's finest writing implements.

On the square table in the central hall of the Tongsheng Building, a stream flowed gently, meandering along the tabletop towards the students seated below. This beautiful stream, a sight usually found only in the wild, added a touch of elegance and poetry to the poetry gathering.

At this moment, most of the students present were not in the mood to appreciate the beautiful scenery.

Most of them were still immersed in the rules of the poetry gathering that Liu Juren had just spoken, especially the generous rewards. You should know that Rongbaoge was the most famous bookstore in the literary circle, second only to Daxia Bookstore. The writing implements there were not only valuable, but more importantly, they were not sold to private individuals. They were only used in cooperation with the government and official schools to reward those scholars who had achieved outstanding academic results.

Therefore, the Four Treasures of the Study there were a symbol of status. In the Great Xia Kingdom, every scholar considered it an honor to possess the learning tools from Rongbaoge.

Zhuge Yunshu looked at the students present, including her senior brothers and sisters, all of whom were eagerly awaiting the upcoming poetry competition challenge. Seeing their excitement, she couldn't help but sigh: "No wonder this poetry competition is sponsored by the government; it's quite a grand affair."

......

With the sound of a drum, the poetry gathering officially began.

Zhuge Yunshu then saw two maids beside the main seat. One kept scooping water from the well and pouring it into the pool on the square table, while the other filled a fruit platter with fruit and pastries and let them flow down the stream to each student present.

At this moment, Liu, the scholar, took the two jugs of wine that the servant brought over and poured them into different wine cups on the tray. Then, a maid gently placed them into the water stream.

After all this was done, Liu Juren took out several sheets of paper that he had prepared in advance from his wide sleeves. On these sheets of paper were the first lines of couplets that he had carefully prepared based on some rare or ancient books. There were even a few couplets that he had not thought of the second line for.

"White horse, west wind, beyond the Great Wall." Liu, the scholar, recited the first line of the first sentence.

This was a contest of luck and talent, and every student present was thinking about the most appropriate second line of the couplet.

A few minutes later, the drumming stopped, and the tray of wine happened to stop near Cixi County, which borders Linxi County. A short while later, one of the students stood up, pondered for a moment, and then, while writing on a piece of paper, loudly proclaimed:

"Apricot blossoms in the misty rain of Jiangnan".

Liu, the scholar, nodded in approval and recorded the couplet for the final evaluation.

With a good start, the poetry gathering became increasingly intense due to the undercurrent of competition.

At this moment, the drumbeats stopped, and the wine cups on the tray stopped closest to Zhuge Yun Chu. She had already thought of the second line for the first line, "Lotus flowers send forth fragrance," and quickly wrote it down on the paper:

"The moon shines through the pines, bringing a cool night." Another round of applause erupted.

Then, the wine cup stopped in front of the students from different counties, and the top talents from each county were matched one after another. Some were neat, some were ingenious. Looking at the students sitting at the lower end of the table, who seemed relaxed and at ease, Liu, the scholar, decided to increase the difficulty of the poetry competition.