Survive in the world of Red Mansions

Early in the morning on the ninth day of August, Lin Rui stood outside the Gong Yuan with a test basket, waiting to enter the Gong Yuan.

The capital city in August has already entered the early autumn. Standing outside so early in the morning, with the breeze blowing, you can already feel a little bit of coolness.Although it was still early, the outside of the tribute courtyard was already full of candidates waiting for the exam, plus there were still some family servants who sent the exam, the streets outside the tribute courtyard were even more crowded.

Candidates waiting outside gathered together in groups of three or four, talking in a low voice to ease their nervousness.Lin Rui, Luo Jianye, Sun Jie and others who were studying at the Imperial Academy also gathered together, chatting and laughing softly.

"Brother Lin, I don't think you're nervous at all. You should be very sure this time, right?" Luo Jianye looked at Lin Rui, who was standing calmly by the side, and said with envy that he himself had a good relationship with Lin Rui from a few nights ago. At the beginning, I didn't have a good rest. The more I wanted to fall asleep early and have a good rest, the more I couldn't rest.

Lin Rui looked at Luo Jianye's lower eye sockets were a little blue, and he probably didn't sleep well these days, "What's there to be nervous about? Besides, being nervous doesn't help, so why bother?"

Sun Jie continued from the side, "That's the reason, but most of the time I can't help myself. Not to mention Brother Luo, I haven't had a good rest these days. I don't know where I will be assigned this time. Don't divide it." To the side of some hut or to a dark and damp cell."

"I hope not, this is going to last nine days!"

"Hopefully not."

The gate of the Tribute Court finally opened, and a group of yamen servants and scribes in charge of the examination came out and stood at the door, calling out the candidates' names and places of origin.Before the examinee who heard his name left, he checked the "examination admission ticket" and confirmed that it was correct, and those responsible for the inspection came to check the examinee's clothes, shoes, hats and belongings.

Lin Rui saw that the search and inspection of this provincial examination was much stricter than that of the last hospital examination. At that time, people like himself just searched casually.But looking at these candidates who were searched today, not only had to strip their clothes to search, but many of them even had to take off their hairpins and search, not to mention the test baskets they were carrying, all of them were turned upside down, even the candidates The dry food brought in to fill the stomach was not spared, and the people under inspection used knives to slash into pieces.

However, even if the search is so strict, there will still be candidates who are lucky enough to secretly entrain them. During the time Lin Rui was standing here, two of the entrained candidates have already been pulled down.Candidates who were found to be entrained in the inspection were not taken away and the job was over. Candidates who were found to be carrying cheating items would be shown in the shackles and disqualified from the exam.

Modern candidates who take the college entrance examination, not only the education department, but also newspapers, magazines and radio stations are talking about reducing the pressure on the candidates. Cars passing by outside the examination room are not allowed to honk their horns, for fear of affecting the performance of the candidates.But no one here cares about this. These candidates who are waiting for the search, seeing the menacing appearance of these government officials during the search, some candidates with poor psychological endurance, start to get nervous before entering the examination room.However, the inspectors don't think about these things. Whether they are stressed or nervous, these are all the candidates' own problems. If these affect their personal performance, it is your own problem, and it has nothing to do with them.

After entering the examination room, Lin Rui's luck was not bad. The examination booth he was assigned was right in the middle, which was not a bad position. Lin Rui looked very satisfied.

Lin Rui has always been a little bit of a petite person, but he doesn't feel it, and there are always people around him, even when he enters the Imperial College, he also brings a servant to follow him. They all know that the people who serve Lin Rui live in accordance with the rules. My uncle's habit of scrubbing is very clean. As the master, he is a little bit of such a petty eccentricity, and they don't think it's a big deal.

After entering the test shed, Lin Rui stood inside and looked around. The whole test shed was about seven or eight square meters, with a table and a plank bed.I touched the table with my hands, and felt that there was still a lot of dust. It seemed that the petty officials had only roughly cleaned the examination room, and it was still very dirty.Considering that he would stay here for nine more days, Lin Rui rolled up the dirty quilt on the bed and put it aside, took out the rag he brought, wiped the table and the bed board, and took the clean water from the basin in the corner It's done after washing.

When they were finally done, they took out the examination supplies from the examination basket and put them on the table, and the clerks of the Gongyuan also handed over the examination papers one by one.The imperial examination is easy to say, and the content of the examination is always the four books that Confucian students must read. Yongyun draws questions from these books; but it is really difficult to say that it is difficult. The township examination focuses on policy theory. Although the content of the examination Yongyun comes from the Four Books and Five Classics, when writing an essay, the structure of the entire article, including the entire article The number of words must be limited. It is really not an easy task to write a stereotyped essay in a well-founded, innovative and brilliant way.

Lin Rui showed the test papers, and first took a rough look. The questions were all within the range he estimated, and there was nothing difficult, so he felt more at ease.As a candidate who has passed countless exams in modern times, Lin Rui has a very good mentality even now when he takes the rural exam, and he doesn't feel any nervousness.In a three-day game, there are so many things to write, so Lin Rui was not in a hurry to pick up the pen, but just sat there slowly grinding the ink, thinking about the idea of ​​the article.

Even though it is already August and the weather is not too hot, it is really difficult for a person who has to take a bath twice a day regardless of winter and summer, and it has been like this for three consecutive days. , Lin Rui felt the smell of sweat all over his body.

Today, the butler Lin Zhong came to pick up the people. When Lin Rui got into the car, he hurriedly laid out the prepared food. Lin Rui looked at these and smelled the rotten smell coming from his body. He really didn't have any appetite. He just drank After a few sips of water, Lin Zhong deliberately put the sweet-scented osmanthus cake in front of Lin Rui. Lin Rui just shook his head as he looked at it, and really didn't want to talk.

Everyone in the Runzeyuan knew the uncle's habits, and they estimated that it would be about the same time, so they prepared the hot water. As soon as Lin Rui came back, he took a shower and freshened up. After finishing these, he came to the dining hall.Lin Hai was waiting for Lin Rui, and he was relieved to see that his son was doing well except for a little fatigue.After eating, the two father and son went to the garden for a stroll as usual. Lin Hai didn't ask how Lin Rui was doing in the exam, but just chatted casually about the gossip in the capital, and then let Lin Rui go back to rest.

Candidates in this year's capital city are not lucky. From the fifth day of the rural examination, the temperature began to drop. The white color is fine, but the night is a bit difficult.Fortunately, I can go out the next day after the second session. Many people are much better off taking some medicine when they go out the next day after suffering from cold.By the time of the third round, everyone came in wearing more clothes, but the cooling down of the past few days still affected many candidates.During the last exam, many candidates in the Tribute Academy fell ill, but even if they fell ill, they could not go out for treatment.Candidates who fell ill should be seen by the doctors in the tribute courtyard. If they are cured, everything will be fine. If they are not cured, then they can only admit that they are unlucky.Anyway, until the end of each exam, the gate of the Tribute Court will not be opened, neither the examinees nor the examiners can go out, if you are sick, if the doctor inside can't cure you, you can only blame God for that.When the three exams were over, Lin Rui guessed that there were about twenty or thirty candidates who fell ill in the entire Tribute Academy.

Lin Rui packed his things early, and when the scribe came to collect the papers, he left the Gongyuan with the others.As soon as he walked out of the tribute courtyard, he saw Sun Jie standing aside almost disheveled, and he looked dumbfounded, "Brother Sun, why are you still waiting here, why don't you go?"

"Ah," Sun Jie seemed to have just realized it, "Brother Lin, it's you, you seem to be in good spirits. Yesterday, a candidate next to me passed out and was carried down. I saw him being carried down just now. I'm afraid it won't work when I come out, my family cried so much when they picked him up outside, alas!"

"..." This kind of thing can almost be encountered in the township examination and the national examination. Lin Rui patted Sun Jie on the shoulder, but he couldn't say anything. This is where the real test determines life. The graying of the hair did not stop, not to mention that no one would easily give up this opportunity when encountering such a small ailment.

Compared with those other examinees who reluctantly walked out of the examination room and only relied on others to stand once they left the gate of the Gongyuan, Lin Rui looked a little sluggish because he hadn't bathed and changed his clothes for a few days, but he was very good in other aspects.But even so, after talking to Sun Jie for a few words, and greeting a few acquaintances I met, I didn't have the energy to discuss anything else, and they all went back to their respective homes.

Because Lin Hai didn't have much business in the yamen today, he finished it early. He originally wanted to pick up his son, but considering that there were too many people participating in the examination, he decided to forget it and had to go back to the mansion and wait.

When Lin Hai waited to pick up Lin Rui's car into the mansion, he saw Lin Rui getting out of the car sleepily being supported by Lin Zhong.It's no wonder that the first two exams were over, and because there were still exams to come, I didn't dare to be discouraged and stood up. Now that I've finished all the exams, I relaxed. The carriage took a short nap.Lin Hai came over and half hugged Lin Rui into the room, "Why are you so tired this time, eat something before going to sleep?"

"My body stinks, I don't want to eat, I have to take a shower before going to bed, otherwise I won't sleep well." Lin Rui said with half-closed eyes.

"Okay, wash first, wash first, eat something before going to sleep." When Lin Hai waited for Lin Rui to take a bath, he asked Lin Zhong to find a doctor to come into the mansion and show Lin Rui to make sure that there is no problem. rest assured.

It's good to be young. Lin Rui slept hard at home all day, and rested in the mansion for two days, and then he fully recovered.

After finally waiting for the announcement of the second list, Lin Rui and several candidates from the Guozijian who often gather together went to a restaurant near the Gongyuan early in the morning, occupied a table, ordered some food and drinks while eating and waiting.

They are all young people. After more than half a month of recuperation, they have recovered their demeanor one by one.Although there were wine and food on the table, except for Lin Rui who was interested in the food on the table, the others stretched their necks to look out from time to time.

Cao Xuan watched Lin Rui eating a plate of candied lotus root slices with great relish, and couldn't help asking, "Brother Lin, you can still eat at this time, aren't you in a hurry?"

Lin Rui put down his chopsticks, waited until he swallowed what was in his mouth, and said with a smile, "How can you not be in a hurry, but now that you have passed the test, no matter what the result is, you can't change it. Wait, this plate of candied lotus root slices is well done, you should try it too."

After listening to the others, although they didn't try the dishes on the table, they still eased the anxious atmosphere. Sun Jie said with a smile, "Brother Lin is the youngest among us, but he is the calmest. , I am ashamed of myself."

"Actually, I'm just as eager as you guys to wait for the list to be released, but I know it's useless to be anxious, so I can only pretend to be calm, ha ha!"

The more anxious I felt, the slower the time passed. I don't know how long I waited, but the gate of the Gongyuan finally opened.A team of yamen servants came out with the list, dispersed the crowd waiting to see the list at the door, and posted this year's list high.

As soon as the list was posted, the crowd that had just dispersed gathered around again, squeezed past, and looked up to see if there was the name of the person they were looking for.Those who find their own names must be overjoyed and ecstatic. Those who don’t find them can only leave the stage sadly, or squeeze to a place further ahead, start from the beginning, and search carefully. I only hope that I missed it just now. .

Xie Yuan was the first to be called out. It was a man named Lu Hongtao. The people at Lin Rui's table saw many people congratulating a young scholar who stood up at the next table, so they knew that this person should be this year's Jieyuan.

Luo Jianye asked the person at the same table in a low voice, "Where is this Lu Hongtao coming from? I've never heard of it."

Several people shook their heads, Sun Jie looked to the side, and said in a low voice, "It's not from the capital, but you can see that he has a very good bearing, so he should be from some big family."

Several people couldn't help but looked over there a few more times, and then nodded. This Lu Hongtao was probably in his twenties. Regardless of his clothes, just the aura he exuded as he sat there was not a small family. cultivated.

Several people were whispering about Jie Yuan, Lin An quickly squeezed in from the crowd outside the door, and there was still some distance between Lin Rui's table, and he shouted, "Master, master, a list Second, the uncle won! Second place in the first list!"

No matter how calm he was, he knew that there should be no major problem with his level, but he was very happy to hear that he had won No.2.

Several people at the same table congratulated Lin Rui, and the acquaintances next to them also stood up to congratulate, Lin Rui hurriedly stood up and returned the salute.Lin Rui really calmed down, and the others were still anxiously waiting, waiting for the good news that he had been elected.

There are few names on the first list, and the reading is over quickly. The whole restaurant is full of chaos, and the sound of congratulations can be heard from time to time.From time to time, a book boy came running in to announce the good news, and those who won the prize would show some complacent expressions. They were looking outside when they saw Sun Jie's book boy stumbled and ran, "Second Master, you got it, you got it! No. 39 on the second list, No. 39 on the second list!"

Lin Rui and the others are quite good. Four of the five people are on the list. Except for Cao Xuan who didn't make it, Luo Jianye, who was the worst, all made it to the third list of 210 and [-]th.Cao Xuan probably had expected his own results long ago, although he was a little depressed, he didn't feel particularly depressed.

Outside the Gongyuan, all kinds of people were full of ambition, triumphant, ecstatic, high-spirited, or sighed, sighed, wailed, and inexplicably painful. Lin Rui looked outside and lamented that an imperial examination can make people See all kinds of life.