Patriarch, he doesn't want to take the imperial examinations

Meng Zhen and Xu Jiaxing came out of the banquet hall, Xu Jiaxing squeezed to the accompanying classmates, Meng Zhen went to find Meng Che.

When Meng Zhen found Meng Che in the crowd, Meng Che was staring at the bride and groom with his neck straightened. Meng Zhen hurriedly pulled him to his side, holding his hand tightly, for fear that he would be lost and lost.

Meng Che was held by his wrist, struggling for a long time but unable to free himself, could not help complaining: "Father, why are you holding me so tightly, it hurts me."

Meng Zhen still didn't let go, and said: "There are too many people, I'm afraid you will be squeezed out."

Meng Che frowned slightly, obviously displeased: "Father, I am no longer a child, why do you take care of me so closely, this is in someone's house, even if I am squeezed out, you can find me if you ask a little bit Come by your side. Let go of me, my wrist hurts."

Meng Che was still struggling to break free, Meng Zhen didn't know why the child resisted so much, so he stopped pushing, let go, and Meng Che's wrist slipped out of his hand like a small loach.

Meng Zhen tilted his head and looked at Meng Che, thinking, this kid is really different from before. He was so clingy to him before, and now he can't even hold his hand.

"You despise your father so much?" Meng Zhen couldn't help asking, but the surrounding was too noisy, his voice was quickly drowned out.

Meng Che only heard him talking, but he couldn't hear the specifics clearly, so he raised his head and asked: "Father, what are you talking about, I didn't hear it, can you say it again."

"It's nothing." Meng Zhen didn't want to say any more, turned his head to look forward, and Meng Che grabbed his arm, so that he wouldn't be squeezed away.

After the groom came back from receiving his relatives, he waited until dusk to hold the wedding ceremony with the bride.

Standing in the crowd, Meng Zhen and Meng Che watched the ceremony of the newlyweds. Afterwards, the bride was sent to the bridal chamber, while the groom stayed at the banquet to toast the guests.

There were roughly two groups of people who came to Deng Bowen's wedding, one was relatives and friends of Deng's family, and the other was Deng Bowen's teachers and classmates.

Among the teacher's classmates are not only those from the county school, but also those from the Qingshan Academy.

Those from Qingshan Academy sat at one table, and those from the county school sat at two tables.Meng Zhen sat at one of the tables in the county school.

Deng Bowen made a toast next to someone, but it was only a virtual drink, and he didn't know how to drink it for real, otherwise he would be drunk and unconscious, how could he enter the bridal chamber at night.

When they arrived at Meng Zhen's table, some students jokingly said: "The bridegroom officer is really beautiful today, with a bright red brocade robe, golden appearance and jade quality, the immortals in the sky are nothing more than this."

Deng Bowen said with a smile: "Brother Qi is absurd, and it will be the same when Brother Qi gets married."

The student surnamed Qi waved his hands again and again: "Brother Deng is joking, I still have self-knowledge and dare not compare with Brother Deng."

"Hey, this Deng Bowen's big wedding, what's the meaning of comparison. Shouldn't we toast the groom?"

A student changed the subject, and the others also joked and said, "Exactly, there are two great joys in life, the bridal chamber wedding night, and the time for getting the title on the gold list. This wedding wedding night is about to come true, and I will congratulate Brother Bowen for getting the gold list title."

"Thank you!" Deng Bowen accepted happily, and toasted a glass of wine with the teachers and classmates present.

Meng Che sat next to Meng Zhen, saw that everyone had drunk, and took a sip himself, but Meng Zhen suddenly reached out his hand to stop him, and shook his head at him, meaning that he could not drink.

Meng Che stuck out his tongue and whispered, "It's okay, dad, I'll just take a sip."

Meng Zhen slowly withdrew his hand, and said: "Okay, just take a sip, too much will not work." Meng Che nodded happily, took a sip from the cup, and sure enough took only a sip.

After Deng Bowen toasted the drinks to this table, he went to other tables.Cups of wine were mixed on the table, voices were chattering, everyone chatted for a while about their marriages, and then they talked about the upcoming New Year's Examination and Township Examination.

Mengzhen sat among them, chatted with them occasionally, and mostly just sat and listened to them.

Meng Che, who was sitting next to him, felt bored after sitting for a long time, tugged at his father's sleeve, and asked, "Father, when can we leave, I want to go home."

Meng Zhen said: "After the banquet is over."

Meng Che asked again: "When will the banquet end?"

Meng Zhen thought for a while: "It's going to be night." He remembered the day Meng Qing got married, but it was night, and that was when the sky was freezing in the twelfth lunar month.The weather in April is refreshing and cool, and I'm afraid it will be very late.

"Alas..." Meng Che sighed, resting his chin on the table, feeling extremely bored.

Seeing him like this, Mengzhen thought he must be bored, so he said: "If you feel bored, you might as well talk to dad, this way the time will pass quickly."

But Meng Che didn't know what to say to his father, he still lay on the table, not wanting to move.

"Why does Dad feel that you have changed a lot in the past two years? You used to cling to others, but now you don't even say a word."

Meng Zhen asked what was in his heart, and Meng Che said indifferently: "I'm not a child anymore, why should I still cling to people. Besides, talking is more important than being smart. It doesn't mean that the more you talk, the better. It is wrong to talk too much, and it may cause disaster. You must know that disaster comes from the mouth, and that is how it comes."

Hey, he just asked a question, this kid has a lot of long-winded words, so this is why Meng Che has become less talkative?Why didn't you say it because you were afraid of making a mistake?

"Who told you these things?" Meng Zhen asked.

"Our master, no, to be precise, it is the sage of Confucius, 'a gentleman wants to be slow in words but quick in action', 'the ancients can't say what they say, and they are ashamed of not being able to catch', 'first do what they say, and then follow it' , These are the words of the sage Confucius. The implication is that a gentleman should be cautious in his words. If he fails to do what he says, he will not be a gentleman, and he will be despised by others. Dad is also a person who is familiar with the Four Books, so he should understand this truth better than me."

Hey, this kid not only gave a long speech, but also preached to him, Meng Zhen felt a little displeased.

But at this moment, there was a burst of applause in his ears, Meng Zhen turned his head, and the one clapping was instructor Yang who was sitting on the other side of him.

Instructor Yang smiled and said: "That's really good. This kid is smart and smart. He looks like a great talent. Mengzhen, you gave birth to a good son."

After sitting down at the banquet just now, Meng Zhen sat with Instructor Yang. Instructor Yang asked about the situation of Meng Che with him, and he briefly said something.

"Instructor Yang has praised you too much. Gouzi is young and speaks out loud, so he should not be praised like this." Usually when encountering such a situation of being praised, it is better to be humble out of politeness.

But Meng Che got up and bowed to Instructor Yang: "Thank you Instructor Yang for the compliment. Che is good because of the tireless teaching of father and teacher."

Listen, this mouth can speak a lot.In one sentence, he not only praised himself, but also expressed the hard work and reconciliation of Lao Tzu's father.This is the charm of being able to speak.

Instructor Yang laughed loudly: "There is a saying that the young are better than the blue, young people should not be underestimated."

His hearty laugh attracted the attention of the students in the table. They, Instructor Yang, who is usually a scrupulous person, laughed so presumptuously today.

Upon questioning, I found out that it was Meng's classmate's son who was smart and smart, and what he said aroused instructor Yang's compliments and jokes.

After the students learned the reason, they also praised Meng Che a lot, and some even made a fuss, asking Meng Che to drink a glass by himself to show the happy atmosphere during the banquet.

However, before the student finished speaking, he was scolded by Meng Zhen: "He is still a child, what kind of wine does he drink, you have to drink it yourself."

The student got bored and was unhappy, so he turned his head to play games with his classmates and went drinking.

In fact, there is no need for Meng Zhen to stop him, Meng Che also knows that he can only take a sip of the wine in front of him, and he will never drink it all.Because he promised his father that he would only drink a sip, a gentleman will do what he says, and he must not break his promise to others.

After that, the father and son didn't talk any more, Meng Zhen and Instructor Yang discussed the article together, while Meng Che ate the food in front of him, and it fell into the night unknowingly.

The banquet didn't end until Haishi (nine o'clock in the evening). The guests were full of wine and food, and they got up and left the gate of Deng's house one after another.

Sitting on the carriage home, Meng Zhen closed his eyes and took a nap, while Meng Che leaned on him, reciting a five-character verse.

The sunset is over Xiling, and the crowds are already gone.

Songyuesheng is cool at night, and the wind and spring are full of listening.

The woodcutter's desire to return is exhausted, and Yantosu is initially set.

The son of the year will come, and the lonely piano will be on the path.

This is a poem written by Meng Haoran, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, when he was waiting for his friend to stay overnight in the mountains. The whole poem starts with the scene and sets it off with the scene.

It's just that Meng Che's purpose of reciting this poem at this moment, Meng Zhen was puzzled, so he asked.

Meng Che replied: "Some time ago, Master taught us to make five-character six-rhyme test post poems, and the title of the poem is exactly one line in this poem. Father, guess which line it is?"

"I guess it's 'Song Yue Sheng Ye Liang', or 'Feng Quan Man Qing Ting'." Meng Zhen said.

Meng Che smiled: "Father guessed right, it's 'Fengquan Manqing Ting', and got the word 'Qing'. However, the master also asked us to compose a poem, and got the word 'cool'. , it will be handed in tomorrow, but I haven’t made it yet.”

"Then you try to make a song now." Meng Zhen said again.

Meng Che hurriedly shook his head: "Now my mind is muddy, I'm not sober, I just want to sleep, why don't dad compose a song for me."

Meng Zhen refused: "How can an article be written by a fake person? If it can't be done now, it will be the same tomorrow."

Five-character six-rhyme test post poems are the same as stereotyped essays, which are compulsory questions for children's students.Meng Che has entered a new academy, and has started to get in touch with the examination questions, which means that he is about to enter the examination room.

Meng Zhen once heard Meng Che say that their current master's surname is Lin, not Master Zheng who taught him.

Zheng Fuzi took older students, like Xu Jiaxing and the others.

Deng Bowen got married today, Mr. Zheng also came, and sat with those students from Qingshan Academy.Before the banquet started, Meng Zhen went over to say hello to the people, and when the banquet was halfway through, Mrs. Zheng left first because of something at home, so Meng Zhen couldn't talk to him anymore.

Another Master Lin from Qingshan Academy came last year. This year, there are about 30 freshmen entering Qingshan Academy. They are about the same age as Meng Che. Most of them are eleven or twelve-year-old boys. , young and healthy, this group of students will be led by him.

These are what Meng Che told him when Meng Zhen asked Meng Che to talk about the situation in the new school.

Meng Zhen thought at the time, since Meng Che chose the imperial examination, he is still young, and he will suffer a lot in the future.

I took people out for a whole day today, and I must be tired at the moment.Meng Zhen opened his eyes and turned his head to see that Meng Che had fallen asleep leaning against him.

Meng's house is not far from Deng's house, if the carriage travels slowly, it will arrive in less than a quarter of an hour.

Meng Zhen patted Meng Che's body: "Che'er, wake up, you're home, go back to sleep."

Meng Che opened his eyes in a daze, and the moment his father led him down from the carriage, and the moment his feet touched the ground, he felt a sense of confusion as if he didn't know what year it was and what year it was.

The night wind is gentle, and the face is not cold.On the way home, Meng Che came to his senses completely. He was thinking about the Fude poem. After returning to his residence, he washed his face with cold water, then sat under the lamp and meditated until the poem was finished and written. Satisfied, he went to bed.

And Mengzhen is still staying up late to fight, and the New Year's Examination will be in another month, because this year's Enke, the township association, will be held this year, and this year's examination will be different from the previous ones.

In the past, the annual examination was to test the academic ability of students. The test scores were divided into six grades. Those with excellent grades would be rewarded by the school administration, while those with poor grades would be punished.

In addition to ranking students according to their test scores, this year's exam also determines whether students can participate in the next August rural exam. Those with particularly poor grades will not be allowed to participate in this year's Enke rural exam, so Mengzhen feels very sorry for this exam. Pay attention, often read until late at night.

Time passes through the wind like a forest, a month flies by, and soon it will be May [-]th, the day of the annual examination for students.

On this day, not only the students of the county school, but also those scholars who did not study in the county school had to come to take the annual examination.

The year-old examination is hosted by Xuezheng, and it is held every three years, in the first year of Xuezheng's tenure.

On May [-]th, Minglun Hall was full of candidates who came to take the yearly exam. The exam content included four books and five scriptures, test post poems, and current affairs policies.

There are two days of examinations at the age of two. On the first day, I try a four-character essay and a five-character and eight-rhyme poem.On the second day, try one of the five scriptures and one of current affairs policies.

After the exam is over, the exam papers will be reviewed by Xuezheng and instructors, and the exam results and rankings will be posted on a wall in front of Minglun Hall of the county school.

Mengzhen got the second grade in this year's examination, and was fortunate to participate in the next township examination in August.

After the New Year's Eve, the weather became hotter day by day. In June, the weather alternated between sunny and rainy. The sun was shining brightly during the day, and at night, there were sudden thunder and lightning, and it rained heavily.

Once Mengzhen was sleeping soundly at night, when there was a sudden gust of rain, the raindrops were like peas, crackling, and the windows in the house were left open, splashing water all over the room.

Mengzhen was awakened by the cold wind and rain, and hurriedly got up and closed the windows tightly. He couldn't help but think of the torrential rain that lasted for five days the year before last. He was afraid that the rain would not be able to stop tonight and cause disasters like that one.

However, the facts showed that his worries were completely unnecessary, and the rain stopped before dawn.As soon as the sun came out, it didn't take a moment for the puddles of water on the ground to evaporate quickly.

Due to the hot weather, all schools in the county had their summer vacation one after another, and the county school where Meng Zhen was located was no exception.

During the holiday, Meng Zhen still called Meng Che to accompany him to study as before.

This time, Meng Che is well-behaved, and he has no complaints about being restrained by his father to study. Anyway, the weather is hot and he can't go anywhere, so it's better to study with his father.

His father was seldom talkative, except for guiding him in his homework, he spent most of his time quietly writing articles.

"Father, if you pass the provincial examination this time and you enter an official career in the future, do you want to be an official or a local official? If it is a foreign appointment, shall we go out with you?" Sometimes it is really boring, Meng Che would also ask Meng Zhen a few casual questions.

The master once told them that the purpose of obtaining fame and fame is to become an official, and Meng Che thought to himself that his father is over fifty years old, and he is trying so hard to obtain fame and fame, so he must want to become a high-ranking official.

However, his father's answer was far beyond his expectation. His father said, "I'm not an official."

It's hot in summer, and after staying in the house for a long time, the head is dizzy, and it is easy to make people doze off.

When Meng Che asked this question, his eyelids were already twitching. After hearing Meng Zhen's answer, his drowsiness disappeared immediately. His eyes were wide open, and he was very surprised: "Not an official? Then what are you doing for your fame? "

"To fulfill a dream I had when I was young." Meng Zhen didn't feel guilty at all when he lied, on the contrary, he was overjoyed because of Meng Che's initiative to talk.

"Father, are you okay? Why have I never heard of your dreams when you were young?" Meng Che was still very confused by his father's answer.

"It's just a dream of studying." Meng Zhen said.

Meng Che thought about it, but still couldn't figure it out, the dream of studying, isn't that just being an official?

Studying for the imperial examination is just to become an official.

"You'll understand then." Seeing him stunned, Meng Zhen didn't want him to be entangled in this issue, so he quickly changed the subject, "You've been sitting here all morning, and you must be tired too. Melon, you eat it to cool off the heat, and then go to your own room to rest."

Although Meng Che is still tangled, there is nothing more exciting than a melon.

He hugged the melon, chomping and chomping, it was sweet.

In the next few days, although Meng Che was still curious about what his father said, he didn't go into it any further. Didn't his father stop talking? He will understand at that time, and he is not in a hurry for this moment. Let's see what his father got his fame in the exam.

The summer vacation lasted for more than a month, with a holiday in mid-June and school not starting until late July.

The provincial examination is in August.This means that Mengzhen and the others will have to take the provincial examination as soon as school starts.

July 23, the opening day of the county school.

The students have returned to school, and before they have digested the aftermath of the holiday, this year's Enke Township Examination is here.

Because I took the test last year, the candidates will not be as overwhelmed as last year when they take the test again this year, but they are still nervous. If they are still calm and relaxed for such an important test, they may not become gods.

On the eighth day of the eighth day of August, candidates lined up to be searched one by one by the yamen servants. They were only allowed to enter the examination room after checking the information on their identity documents.

On the ninth day of August, the first round of the township examination, four scriptures and three essays, one poem in five characters and eight rhymes, and four essays in five scriptures.

There are three consecutive township exams. Although each exam candidate has to stay in the dormitory for three days and two nights, the real time to answer the questions is two days and one night. There are many questions and time is tight. Some candidates have not finished answering the questions. When the examination papers arrived, they were forcibly taken away by the invigilator.

All test papers were sealed and transcribed when they were handed in.

Mifeng, that is, paste the name, is to paste the basic information of the examinee on the examination paper, such as the name, age, and place of origin, so as to prevent the examiner from seeing the identity information of the examinee when marking the examination paper, so as to release water and cheat the examinee.

In the same way, transcribing means that the transcribing officer will rewrite the examinee's test paper with a red pen, and then hand it over to the marking officer for review.In this way, the examiners can only see the transcribed examination papers, which completely eliminates the possibility of giving candidates high marks through handwriting and code words.

The imperial examination emphasizes fairness and justice, and sealing and transcribing are two particularly effective ways to prevent cheating.In this way, it is almost impossible for the examiner to judge the candidate through the candidate's identity information and handwriting code words, so as to suppress or promote the candidate.

The main examiners of the rural examinations are divided into chief examiners and deputy examiners, each with one examiner, and there are eight to ten other examiners.The same examiner is also called the room officer, because they each live in a room in the Wei, so the name comes from this.

After being sealed and transcribed, the candidate’s test paper will be sent to the same examiner for review, and the same examiner will select the best candidates from thousands of test papers, and then hand it over to two chief examiners for review. Call out the original test paper (ink scroll) of the successful candidate and check it carefully with Zhu Juan. After checking, the examiner will rank the successful candidates, and finally hand over the list of successful candidates to the list filling officer to fill in the list. After the list is filled in correctly , The yamen servants posted the list of Zhongju on the wide wall outside the gate of the Gongyuan, that is, the release of the list.

These were the tasks of the examiners and the various workplace officials. After the three exams were completed on August [-], the candidates were liberated and went home.

That day when Meng Zhen came out of the examination room, Meng Hong met him outside. Seeing that his father looked good, Meng Hong knew that his father should have done well in the exam this time, and then the father and son returned to their home in Xianghe County together.

On the second day after returning, Tong Zisheng came to their house again from Jiangnan.

Tong Zisheng came a month early because he was thinking about Meng Hong getting married in September this year.

"Cousin, how did you do in the exam?" Tong Zisheng asked impatiently as soon as they met.

Meng Zhen knew that what he was asking was whether he was sure he had passed the provincial examination, but there were too many factors involved in the examination. He just felt pretty good and didn't know whether he could pass the exam.

He just said: "How or not, we will see the outcome on the day when the ranking is released."

The results of the local examinations are usually released around [-] days.During this period, the Meng Mansion was decorated with lanterns and festoons, beaming with joy, preparing for the wedding of Meng Hong and Deng Zhaozhao.

The Meng and Deng families married Qin and Jin, and the wedding date was set on September [-]th.

On the tenth day of September, the day when the township examination results are released.

Early in the morning, Ah Qing drove a carriage and brought Mengzhen Menghong and Tong Zisheng to the Gongyuan in the capital.

In the past, Meng Hong came alone to read the rankings, Meng Zhen only waited at home, the reason why he came this time was to see with his own eyes what it was like to wait for the rankings in the provincial examination.

It was only when I came that I realized that there was a sea of ​​people and voices, so it was so.

The list is usually posted around noon, and some candidates stayed here early in the morning, and some candidates started to stay here last night.

What is even more extreme than squatting is that there are actually people in the crowd yelling for help to read the list, no need to crowd or panic, just one tael of silver, to ensure that the list will be known as soon as it is posted.

Meng Zhen watched those people yelling and yelling in the crowd. He thought that no one would be hooked on such a deceitful thing, but some candidates who are stupid and rich rushed to give money to others. A dozen candidates gathered and handed the money to the peddler who was looking at the list. The peddler got the money and wrote down the names and places of origin of the candidates on the paper, and then pushed them to the front of the crowd.

"These candidates are really big-hearted, aren't they afraid that dealers will get their money and run away and not show them the results?" Seeing this scene, Meng Zhen couldn't help asking.

Meng Hong, who was standing beside him, continued: "It's all the usual practice of looking at the rankings. If it's like this, there's nothing to worry about. Even if they really run away, the examinee thinks it's unlucky. Who made them foolish and rich? And father, look, those who pay are not real candidates, but the servants of rich candidates' families. People don't lack this money. If they lost the dog, would they still be able to get it back?"

Meng Zhen was noncommittal about this.

After waiting for about half an hour, the list was finally posted.The people who came to see the list suddenly rushed up, because there were too many people, they almost squeezed the two yamen servants who posted the list.

"Father, you wait here, Ah Qing and I will show you the list." Meng Hong confessed to Meng Zhen, and then led Ah Qing into the crowd.

Meng Zhen and Tong Zisheng were waiting outside the crowd.There are osmanthus trees planted on both sides of the road outside the Gongyuan. The wind in September is cool and cool, and the autumn wind is surging. The golden osmanthus flowers rustle and fall, and the fragrant and sweet air is carried away in all directions.

A burst of sweetness suddenly rushed into the restless crowd, and everyone sniffed one after another, wanting to inhale this sweetness into their bodies, as if with this sweetness, they could have their names on the Guibang.

"I will go to Qingyun on this day next year, but I laugh at the busyness of the world." Looking at the crowded and chaotic crowd in front of him, Tong Zisheng couldn't help but groaned a few words.

However, at this moment, there was a sudden burst of crying from the crowd, and the next moment, a person was seen stumbling out of it. The person was about thirty years old, and because of too much grief, his face was sad and exhausted.

"I failed the exam again, woo woo..." The man squatted on the ground and cried loudly, and a kind person beside him comforted him, "Brother, please relax, you see, I also failed the exam, and I didn't cry to the death. And the next year is the year of the township examination, we can still take the exam..."

"Wuuu..." Although the examinee said words of comfort to others, he couldn't hold back for a moment while he was talking, and followed the crying examinee to death, and shed tears, until finally he couldn't make a sound.

He is 33 years old, and he has taken the provincial examination five times, but he always fails in it. This situation makes people feel sad and cry.

The two candidates who failed the exam hugged each other and wept bitterly.Probably influenced by the two of them, the other candidates who failed the exam also started crying.

"Alas..." Tong Zisheng who was next to him was also moved when he saw it, and couldn't help but wipe the corner of his eyes, "It's not easy to return home, there are so many things in the world to worry about."

In an exam, some families are happy and some are sad.Candidates who failed were weeping unceasingly. Candidates who were admitted were full of spring breeze.

Meng Zhen and Tong Zisheng waited for more than a quarter of an hour before Meng Hong and Ah Qing squeezed out from the crowd.

Meng Hong, like other admission candidates, is also full of joy.When he came to Mengzhen, he was still laughing.

"Talk, what are you laughing at, like a fool." Meng Zhen said to him calmly, but Tong Zisheng hurried up to Meng Hong and said, "Looking at the proud appearance of second cousin, cousin must have won the exam."

He bowed his hands and bowed to Meng Zhen: "Congratulations, Cousin, for being named on the gold list."

Meng Zhen glanced at him, then looked at Meng Hong, and Meng Hong said: "There are 130 people on the list in this provincial examination, and my father's name is ranked fifth. It's a very good result, please smile."

However, Meng Zhen's face was still calm, he just said: "Understood, let's go home."

"Father, wait a minute!" The moment Meng Zhen turned around, Meng Hong called to stop him, "Just now when I was looking at the list, I heard someone explain that there will be a feast of deer crowing tomorrow, and everyone who wins the prize must participate."

"Yes, yes, yes..." Tong Zisheng immediately added, "How could I have forgotten this? The Luming Banquet not only includes the imperial examination candidates, but also the chief examiners, fellow examiners, and deacons and transfer officers. Bo communicated with people in the past, and will enter the officialdom in the future, these people are your colleagues."

"Then we won't go back today, we'll find an inn to stay in." Meng Hong said.

But Meng Zhen said: "Can I not participate in the Lu Ming Banquet?"

Tong Zisheng's eyes were slightly open, a little puzzled: "A banquet like the Luming Banquet can only be attended once in a person's life, unless you can attend the second time 60 years after winning the exam (one Jiazi), but cousin Under such circumstances, it is obviously impossible to participate again. So this is a rare opportunity, why doesn’t my cousin participate.”

Hearing what he said, Meng Zhen compromised and said: "Okay, I won't go home today, find an inn to stay, and go to the Lu Ming Banquet tomorrow."

"Okay!" Meng Hong also agreed, "Just listen to my father, let's find a place to live first, then have a meal, and visit the third brother's medical clinic in the afternoon, it is a big deal for my father to win the exam, we want everyone to have fun together .”

"Alright." Meng Zhen had no objection to this, and the four of them found an inn to stay, and after dinner they came to the medical center where Mengze was.

The medical clinic is called Huichuntang, and when a few people came, there were very few patients in the clinic, and Mengze sat behind the counter to give people a pulse check.

Standing beside Mengze was a young and beautiful girl. After Mengze wrote down the prescription for the patient, the girl took the prescription and opened the cabinet to give people the medicine.

When Mengzhen and the others came in, Mengze looked up and saw them, so he called out: "Father, second brother."

The girl next to them came over to greet them, and then asked them to sit in the back hall.

In the back hall, Zhou Tingru was taking a nap with his eyes closed, when he heard footsteps, he slowly opened his eyes.

Meng Hong first bowed to the person: "Hello, Uncle Zhou!" Since Meng Hong occasionally came here to look for Meng Ze when he was in the capital, Zhou Tingru naturally recognized him.

Zhou Tingru got up and greeted him, then his eyes fell on Meng Zhen, presumably this is Meng Ze's father.

"This is my father!" Meng Hong introduced.

Later, he introduced Tong Zisheng: "This is cousin Tong, who came from Suzhou."

Zhou Tingru smiled and asked Mengzhen to sit up, and the girl who invited them in just now brought tea.

The girl's name is Zhou Dongruo, she is the youngest daughter of Zhou Tingru, and she is also the right person that Mengze said.

Several people sat together and chatted for a while. When Zhou Tingru learned that Mengzhen had passed the provincial examination, he was both pleasantly surprised and surprised. He didn't expect him to be so young and energetic, and he even won the examination.

Zhou Tingru is fifty-two this year, and is two years younger than Mengzhen. As a doctor who treats the sick, he often feels that he is unable to do what he can. Now Mengze and Zhou Dongruo take care of most of the medical affairs.

He really felt that it was very difficult for Meng Zhen to pass the age test, so he couldn't help admiring him.

After a while, Monze walked in from the outside.Today is the day when the results of the township examination are released. His father and second brother are here this time, so they must have seen the results.

"How did Dad do?" Monze asked.

Meng Zhen said: "It's on the list."

Mengze immediately opened his eyes and smiled, the smile spread across his face, and he couldn't hide it, but he was the kind of reserved person, and the smile slowly disappeared, but he was very happy in his heart.

"I invite everyone to dinner tonight," he said.

However, Zhou Tingru said: "Today the results of the provincial examination are released, and the candidates are busy celebrating. The restaurants and restaurants must be overcrowded. Let's not go there crowded, why not come to my house to celebrate. Although the house is shabby, it is full of sincerity. I don’t know what brother Meng wants.”

Of course Meng Zhen felt good, and responded: "Thank you Mr. Zhou for your kind invitation, then respect is worse than obedience."

It happened that there were no more patients in the clinic at the moment, Zhou Tingru asked Mengze to lock the door, and the group went to the old doctor Zhou's house.

Zhou Tingru's family lives in a remote alley in the southernmost part of the capital, a typical courtyard house.

When the group arrived, it was the evening sunset.There are two sweet-scented osmanthus trees planted in the courtyard of Zhou's family. When the evening wind blows up, the fragrance of flowers is overflowing, but it is late autumn, and there is a hint of coolness in this sweet and refreshing fragrance.

The juniors were busy working under the stove, while Meng Zhen and Zhou Tingru sat and chatted under the osmanthus tree. Mrs. Zhou's eyesight was not good, she had nothing to do, so she sat next to her wife and listened to their conversations. Occasionally, she looked at the sky and saw something moving. , not clouds, but a group of wild geese lined up, going south together to seek warmth for the winter.

At night, Mengzhen and the others had dinner at Zhou's house, and then went back to the inn to rest.

In the early morning of the next day, Meng Zhen washes up and is accompanied by Meng Hong and Tong Zisheng to Shuntian Mansion Yamen for the Luming Banquet.

The Luming Banquet is a banquet held by the local governor (Shuntian Prefecture is the governor of the government). It is held on the day after the release of the township examination. The chief examiner of the township examination, the same examiner, other inner and outer curtain officials, and the imperial examination candidates attended the banquet together.

Because the "Luming" chapter in "The Book of Songs" was sung during the banquet, it was called the "Luming Banquet".

Mengzhen reported his identity information such as his name, surname, place of origin, age, etc., and the yamen guards checked the names on the list and let him in.

After that, he was led by another yamen servant to the hall of the government office, where many cases were already waiting.

Mengzhen saw Deng Bowen and other familiar faces in the county school.After a while, Fu Yin led the chief and deputy chief examiners, the examiners and other deacons in for the provincial examination.

The candidates paid homage to the chief examiner, and after the officials and the candidates had a face-to-face meeting, the officials took their seats in order according to their positions.

After entering the table, all the students sang the chapter "Xiaoya Luming" in "The Book of Songs": Yo Yo Luming, the apple of the wild.I have guests, harp blowing Sheng……

This is how the Lu Ming Banquet came about.

After the banquet, the governor began to speak, and the governor was nothing more than thanking the examiners for their presence, as well as some polite words from the candidates for coming to the banquet, with a lot of blah blah in the middle, and some words of blessing at the end. That's it.

After that, Fu Yin asked the chief examiner to speak for the candidates present. Meng Zhen sat in the middle, far away from the chief examiner, but he did listen to a few words.

"...Today, the relationship between my official and all of you here is a teacher-student relationship. In the future, when you become officials, we will be colleagues and serve the court. But what I want to say today is that no matter where you live , the integrity and integrity of our scholars cannot be bent, and we should be like "Your Lord, don't lose your original intention, the sky and the world are the same."

The chief examiner raised his glass and invited: "Today the Toad Palace wins gold and laurels, and in the future Qionglin Bosheng will be honored. I wish all the candidates will be on the imperial list in the coming year and go to the Qionglin Banquet together."

All the sons raised their glasses and drank together: "Thank you examiner for your teaching, thank you examiner for your blessings."

After the examiner finished his speech, it was time to write a poem, that is, the examiner called out the names of a few candidates and asked them to compose an impromptu poem.

Most of these candidates were among the top ten in the provincial examination. After the impromptu poems were finished, the banquet officially began.

While eating delicious food, the Juzis chatted happily with the Juren around them.Sitting next to Mengzhen was a young Juren. Seeing that he was still tirelessly seeking fame and examination at his age, the young man admired him very much. He asked him a lot of questions. He had a good attitude and upbringing. It was easy to avoid, so I chatted with him a few more words.

It turned out that this person was a student of the Imperial Academy, and it was his second time to take the provincial examination. He was a native of the capital, and his grandfather and father were both officials in the court. With this relationship, he was admitted to the Imperial Academy to study.

This kind of students who enter the Imperial College based on their ancestral relationship are called Yinjian.The advantage of the shadow prison is that you don't have to take the annual children's examination, you can go directly to the township examination.

Meng Zhen listened to this scholar talk a lot, unknowingly the sun was moving towards the west.

The banquet didn't end until noon, Meng Zhen came out of the mansion with a group of disciples, Meng Hong and Tong Zisheng waited for him outside, and then the three of them got into the carriage and went home.

The author says:

In the text, the age test, the township test, the seal, the transcription, the chief examiner, the same examiner, the transcription officer, the seal official, the list filling officer, the inner and outer curtains