The daily life of a peasant girl taking the imperial examination

The first day of the seventh lunar month is the day of the clan school examination in Zhuge Village.

Zhuge Yunshu was woken up by Madam Lin at 2:45 AM. He put on his shoes, got dressed, made the bed, and then began to wash up.

After a simple breakfast, Grandpa Zhuge announced that he would be taking a day off today.

When Zhuge Yunshu first experienced being sent to the examination hall by his entire family of more than a dozen people, the scene was... well, looking ahead, it seemed quite ordinary.

At the entrance of the clan school, a dense crowd of people could be seen, almost every family had brought their children, and a dozen or so people were considered few.

Because of the hot weather, there was also a lingering smell of sweat. Zhuge Dahua subconsciously lowered her head and tried to cover her nose with her hand.

This also shows that the Zhuge family in Zhuge Village valued school enrollment no less than modern parents.

After all, given the opportunity, who wouldn't want their child to change their destiny through education? That second grandfather from Beijing is a perfect example.

Zhuge Yunshu's family managed to squeeze into the front of the crowd only thanks to her father Zhuge Laifu's shamelessness.

Because of the rule that only examinees are allowed to enter the clan school, the environment became quieter when Zhuge Yunshu and her two cousins ​​entered the academy.

Zhuge Yunshu looked around and found that the Zhuge family's clan school did not occupy a large area. It consisted of three long, narrow mud-brick houses with green tiles. In front of the houses was a square of about 100 square meters. On both sides, about three or four zhang away from the houses, there was a low thatched hut. This was the whole picture of the clan school.

Zhuge Yunshu was currently standing in the square, where she could see about two hundred examinees, mostly boys. Directly in front of them sat a stern-faced teacher from the clan school, with more than ten disciples around fourteen or fifteen years old standing beside him.

All the candidates participating in the clan school examination, under the command of the stern teacher, lined up in ten teams of twenty people each.

The teacher glanced around and said, "The clan school exam consists of two parts. The first part is to recite what you have heard. After half an incense stick has burned, the next part will be tested."

Immediately afterwards, the ten disciples beside the Master stood in front of different groups, and from right to left, each disciple read aloud in turn the sections of the *Youxue Qionglin*, including sections on grandfathers and grandsons, fathers and sons, astronomy, the imperial court, civil service, etc., with the order of the imperial court section varying.

Zhuge Yunshu and her cousins ​​were in the second group, so they needed to memorize the astronomy section of *Youxue Qionglin*, which was also the first chapter. After the boy in front finished reading, the teacher said, "Light the incense," which meant the exam had officially begun.

During the half-stick of incense's time, everyone tried hard to memorize the contents, but the more they tried to remember, the faster they forgot what they had learned earlier.

"Oh dear, what's that in front of me again? Waaah..." A child of about eight years old started crying without a care in the world.

At that moment, a burly man walked over, picked up the crying child, and headed out the door. Clearly, the child had been eliminated.

The other candidates were too frightened to utter a sound when they saw this.

Soon, half an incense stick's time had passed.

"The assessment begins," came the teacher's stern voice.

At this moment, the young disciples at the front of each row sat at their respective tables, each holding a calligraphy brush and a piece of paper on the table, and said, "Come forward one by one and state your name and age."

At this moment, the candidate at the front of the line stepped forward and said, "My name is Zhuge Yun'er, and I am ten years old."

"let's start!"

"In the beginning of chaos, heaven and earth were established. The light and pure qi rose and became immortal, while the heavy and turbid qi sank... condensed... I don't remember."

“Next,” the young disciple said.

"My name is Zhuge Yunqing, and I am nine years old."

"Okay, the earth is formed by the condensation of heavy and turbid qi from the bottom up."

"The heaviest and most turbid air condenses downwards to form the earth. The sun, moon, and five planets are called the seven luminaries... Excessive worry is no different from the man of Qi who worried about the sky falling; failing to consider matters... I don't remember the rest."

……

"Next." Before they knew it, it was their turn.

Zhuge Yunshu watched as her second cousin nervously stepped forward. "My name is Zhuge Yunyi, and I am twelve years old."

“Starting from the unjust death of the Qi woman, we carry on her back.”

"The woman of Qi was wronged, and there was no rain for three years; Zou Yan was imprisoned, and frost fell in June..."

"next."

"My name is Zhuge Yunshu, and I am eight years old."

"Start from the beginning."

Hearing this, Zhuge Yun breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that his three cousins ​​would remember more.

"In the beginning of chaos, heaven and earth were established. The light and pure air rose to become heaven, and the heavy and turbid air condensed to become earth... When rain and sunshine are timely, it is a sign of good fortune; when heaven and earth are in harmony, it is called a prosperous age." Zhuge Dahua recited fluently.

The boy sitting in front looked at her in surprise and asked in confusion, "Do you have any elders at home who can teach you?"

"My uncle taught me that." Zhuge Yunshu thought to himself, but he couldn't reveal the truth, as that was indeed the case in reality.

"Can you read?"

"I have a slight understanding of it."

The boy put a checkmark next to her name and added a note: "This girl has a good memory." She looked at the other names; they either had one or two circles next to them, but most had an X. Her second cousin's name had an X next to it, presumably because he was eliminated.

"Okay, next one."

Her third cousin stepped forward and stammered, "My name is... Zhuge Yunli, and I am ten years old."

“You should start from the sun, which is the source of all yang, and work your way back.”

"The sun is... the origin of all yang, the moon is the image of yin... the daughter of the Thunder Department pushing the cart returns to A Xiang. The Cloud Master lineage... um, I don't know."

"next."

……

Soon all the candidates finished their first assessment, and the boys in front of each line handed their records to the teacher.

After a while, the teacher cleared his throat and said, "Next, candidates whose names are called, please step forward. Candidates whose names are not called may leave."

"Zhuge Yunbo, Zhuge Yunxing, Zhuge Yunshu, Zhuge Yunqing... Zhuge Yunxi... Zhuge Yunli..."

Zhuge Yunshu didn't care about the other names, but hearing her third cousin's name made her incredibly happy. Having another person in the family attending the clan school would improve their future financial situation; relying solely on her uncle was definitely not enough.

Those whose names weren't called had already left one by one. After giving them some encouragement, my second cousin also left dejectedly.

At this point, the remaining fifty people had been brought to a university dormitory and, as instructed, sat down at their respective tables.

The table was fully equipped with writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.

"The second exam: read and write characters. Half an incense stick's time." The teacher's voice rang out again.

At this moment, the two disciples unrolled the scroll together, only to find it covered with densely packed characters, enough to give anyone a headache.

Zhuge Yunshu discovered that this era was the same as the ancient times in her previous life; there were no punctuation marks or sentence breaks in the articles and books.

She carefully examined the contents and found that they were from a classic chapter of the Three Character Classic, covering topics from rites, music, and archery all the way to knowing the beginning and the end.

At this moment, the Master instructed a disciple to light incense, announcing the start of the examination.

For Zhuge Yunshu, who spends three hours every night practicing calligraphy in the learning system, her current behavior is tantamount to bullying a child. But what can she do? To change her fate and to study, she can only silently apologize in her heart.

Zhuge Yunshu continued writing at a steady pace without looking up. Because she was so focused on writing, she didn't notice that the teacher who was walking back and forth had been sitting by her desk for a long time.

The teacher, who had been sitting there, got tired and got up to walk around. He noticed a young girl standing tall and straight, holding her pen correctly, her eyes slightly lowered, her hand constantly writing.

Out of curiosity, he went over to take a look, and was immediately captivated. The girl's handwriting was neat and powerful; although her strokes were immature, it was clear that she had spent time practicing every day and had never slacked off.

The Master looked at Zhuge Yunshu, nodded in satisfaction, stroked his beard, and returned to his original seat.

What Zhuge Yunshu didn't know was that she had already been targeted by the strictest teacher in the clan school.

She had just finished writing the last character and was admiring it with satisfaction. Zhuge Yunshu felt that her calligraphy was good enough to enter a modern elementary school calligraphy competition, and she might even win an award of excellence.

"Time's up, stop writing." As soon as the Master finished speaking, several older disciples stepped forward and took away the brush and ink.

After a while, when the writing on the paper had dried sufficiently, the paper was collected by the disciples who had been there earlier.

"Alright, all candidates, go back and wait for the news. The final results will be announced outside the clan school at 1:15 PM this afternoon." After the disciples finished collecting all the papers, the teacher addressed the candidates.

……