The True Winner of the Red Chamber

Zhen Yingjia sent the test paper to Sun Zhixian who presided over the county examination. Seeing the goodwill in the magistrate's eyes, he nodded calmly and slightly.

It's just that it's inconvenient to say more in the examination room, the two of them had a face-to-face meeting and Zhen Yingjia went out.

Sitting on the second floor of the teahouse at the entrance and waiting for a while, Kang He also handed in his papers and left the examination room.

"The ranking will be announced the day after tomorrow, why don't we stay in the county for another two nights?"

Kang He nodded, and said with a smile: "You are very leisurely." Because he had already had a frank relationship with Zhen Yingjia, he didn't shy away from others, and sighed: "I won't hide it from you, it's me who came out to wander It's the second year, and after the provincial examination this year, I'm afraid I'm going back to Beijing."

Zhen Yingjia suddenly sympathized with him.

Looking at the crowded crowd below, Kang He felt a little emotional, shook his head and said the truth, "When I go back to the capital, I will never have such a leisurely life again."

Zhen Yingjia patted him on the shoulder, and was about to say something when he suddenly heard a loud shouting from below.

"This time the list is out, two taels of silver a piece, who wants it?"

Zhen Yingjia lived in Qingsong Academy, and although he was determined to win the county exam, even Li Daji said he would pass, so he didn't put much effort into collecting information.

After listening to a few words now, he found that the list below was obviously selling the list of people who participated in the scientific examination this time. He didn't understand it, so he took a look at Kang He and found that Kang He also looked puzzled.

Zhen Yingjia asked the servant to go downstairs to inquire about the news. After a while, the servant came up, followed by several people.

"It is indeed the list for this county examination." The servant whispered next to Zhen Yingjia: "It is said that the master of Mr. Sun came up with the idea. Students from aristocratic families in Jiangnan are basically in this county. You can know yourself and your enemy with Yin Zi, and almost all the opponents who have passed the imperial examination all the way are on this list."

"Oh?" Not only Zhen Yingjia, but even Kang He was also interested, and said, "Go and buy a copy."

As soon as the words fell, a surprised voice sounded from the side, "Uncle Zhen Shi!"

This was obviously calling Zhen Yingjia. When he looked back, he saw a burly young man with a somewhat rough appearance. Seeing him turning his head, the man's eyes lit up, and he said, "Just now I heard the voice downstairs. Looking at it now, it really is Uncle Zhen Shi."

This is the relationship with the original owner. Zhen Yingjia paused for a moment and finally knew who this person was. He was about to speak when he heard the young man say again: "Uncle Zhen Shi forgot my little nephew? My little nephew is the son of the Xue family. "

Enough!

But at this time Kang He whispered in his ear again, "Your nephew looks older than your uncle."

Zhen Yingjia glared at him, restrained the expression on his face, looked at Xue Pan very seriously—maybe a little lovingly, and said: "If your father sees you like this, he must be more pleased than me."

This sentence was very dignified by the elders, and his deceased father was mentioned again. The little excitement that had just arisen in Xue Pan's heart disappeared without a trace, but although he felt that this uncle was a bit puzzled, Xue Pan still said: "Uncle Zhen wanted to look at the list, and it happened that my nephew just bought one."

As he said that, he didn't give Zhen Yingjia a chance to refuse, he directly put the list on Zhen Yingjia's table, and said: "Uncle Shi can just drink tea with his friends, and my nephew can buy another copy."

However, there is nothing to refuse about two taels of silver. Zhen Yingjia nodded, and put on the majesty of an elder again, "That's very good. If your father sees that you have finally made progress, when you get your name on the gold list, he will know you well, and you will be fine." You can rest in peace."

Being mentioned twice in a day about his dead father, Xue Pan felt that he was not in the mood, but he hadn't seen him for a long time, and his appearance was better than before. Maybe it was because he was tired all day, even his voice was so nice.

So Xue Pan planned to say a few more words, "Uncle Shi was joking, you also know my knowledge, but it's just literacy, the imperial examination—" He shook his head and laughed at himself: "It's just a business trip."

Kang He coughed, Zhen Yingjia knew that he was impatient, and he didn't want to talk to this person anymore, so he had to find a way, he scanned around, picked up the list on the table, and said: "Hurry up and take this thing Let's go, my servant has already gone down to buy, how can I collect your things."

Xue Pan jumped two steps back, and said with a smile, "It's very crowded down there. When I came up, that person only had ten copies. I'm afraid it's not easy to buy. Uncle Shi just took it."

Seeing that Zhen Yingjia still wanted to stand up and pass the things into his hands, Xue Pan said: "My nephew is going back first, let me take my leave." After speaking, he walked down the stairs quickly and disappeared in a blink of an eye.

Finally leaving, Zhen Yingjia heaved a sigh of relief, Kang He sneered for some reason and hated this person so much, and said, "The Xue family? But that Xue family who is known as the number one imperial merchant in the south of the Yangtze River?"

Zhen Yingjia nodded, "The past two years have been ruined a lot, and he is the only one left in the master's house. He seems to be only seventeen or eighteen years old."

"Child?" Kang He said in surprise, "His face really doesn't look like he is seventeen or eighteen years old."

Zhen Yingjia turned her head and glanced at Kang He. To be honest, Kang He's face didn't look like he was seventeen or eighteen years old, but one had a rough look and the other a mature look.

It still looks like Kang He's face is pleasing to the eye.

Kang He received Zhen Yingjia's gaze, picked up the list on the table as a cover, and said, "Let's see who is there."

There are dozens of pages on the list. At a rough glance, there are nearly 2000 people. Names and backgrounds are marked on it. Each person has a small line. Kang He said: "I don't think that person can be selected just now."

Zhen Yingjia nodded and said seriously, "I think so too."

He was telling the truth, no matter from the original book or the memory of the original owner, this nephew of the Xue family might not be selected at all, but Kang He was still comforted, and he changed the subject and said: "Quickly 2000 human subjects I don’t know how much I can get in the end.”

Zhen Yingjia smiled, "I remember last year's statistics, there are more than 7000 million men on the yellow book, and there is only one level of literate men, that is, 700 million, and about 50 students, that is to say, every twelve men who can read Among the people there is a scholar."

Kang He nodded, and Zhen Yingjia continued: "According to this ratio, 2000 of the 170 people will eventually pass the hospital examination, and the number of people admitted in the county examination is at least twice that of the hospital examination, that is, 340 people will pass the county examination. For provinces with large imperial examinations, we will relax another 370%, and the final number will be [-].”

Kang He was a little dizzy, and he nodded involuntarily after Zhen Yingjia finished speaking.

Zhen Yingjia raised her eyebrows, and said again: "This is still a rough calculation, and we have to consider those who passed the provincial examination and those who died due to accidents, but the sum of these two is only [-]% at most, and... "

Kang He was completely dizzy. When Zhen Yingjia said "about 370 people", there was only one thing on his mind. When he became emperor, he must let Zhen Yingjia be the secretary of the household department. No one would dare They have tampered with money and food.

Kang He concealed his emotions by looking at the list, and Zhen Yingjia was also very satisfied with Kang He's admiring eyes, and went to look at the list together.

There are really a lot of acquaintances above, for example, people from the Jia family. The Jia family has a total of more than a dozen houses. Except for the prosperous Ningguo Mansion and Rongguo Mansion who went to the capital, the rest live in Jinling. There is also the Wang family, which is also the same situation. This time, both of them took the imperial examination.

There are also a lot of acquaintances from the academy, the more I look at Zhen Yingjia, the more I think this list is a good thing, and it is marked after the favorite to win the championship. Looking at it this way, the master who came up with this thing is also a talent.

As for his high evaluation of the master, it is not known whether his own name is also a favorite to win the championship.

Zhen Yingjia is not the only one who thinks that the master is a talent. Kang He also thinks the same way, and unlike Zhen Yingjia, he asked Cao Fuxiang to test the master overnight.

Although many high-ranking officials despise them for the eunuchs of the Chief of Rituals, the master is obviously not a high-ranking official now, and has not yet entered the ranks of despising them, so the master is very pleased to accept the olive branch that this one handed over.

Although it was a simple exam, they were still quite tired after a day of exams. After returning home, the two of them washed up and rested. Early the next morning, they planned to go to the county town for a stroll.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he came out, he met Cao Fuxiang on the street. After two sentences, the two-person game turned into a three-person game.

The county seat is only such a big place, and I finished the market after two rounds.

Afterwards, Cao Fuxiang sent the two of them back to the inn. It was such a coincidence that when he was leaving, he was seen by the master of Sunzhi County.

The master was startled, and hurried to the store to order paper and pens, and hurried to the county government office.

Although Cao Fuxiang wanted to recruit him yesterday, no one would tell his cards when they met for the first time, so the master only knew that this person was the eunuch of the Chief of Rites. Today, when he saw this person with Zhen Yingjia, he remembered again. Zhen Yingjia's identity.

The emperor's favorite minister, and also a favorite minister who had contact with the eunuchs and eunuchs.

Back at the county government office, seeing the county magistrate writing the list of candidates himself, the master hurriedly said: "My lord, please slow down!"

The sound was so loud that the Zhixian trembled, thick ink dripped from the brush, and the half-copied list was ruined.

"What's going on!" the magistrate said angrily.

"My lord, after thinking about it for a day, I think it's better to make Zhen Yingjia the top case!"

"What about Wang Ziteng's nephew? You agreed this morning."

Of course the master wouldn't say that the eunuch who was in charge of ceremonies had taken a fancy to him, he thought for a while and said: "If you talk about talent and learning, Zhen Yingjia is better."

The magistrate also agreed with this point, he nodded and said: "It is worthy of being the guardian of Qingsong Academy, and he is indeed talented."

The master said again: "Furthermore, Mr. Wang is separated from each other. Besides, although he is Mr. Wang's nephew, he is already separated from two families. Besides, Mr. Wang himself has sons and daughters. How much can he invest in his nephew?"

The magistrate pondered, and looked at the list that was destroyed just after half of it was written. Could this be an omen?

"In that case, it's Zhen Yingjia over there!"

When the rankings were released the next day, Zhen Yingjia's name was written big, and she ranked first among the 370 students.