Marking room

It was clearly daytime. The doors and windows of the marking room were closed and the lights were brightly lit. Countless tall soldiers were stationed outside the door.

Three examiners are sitting on the stage, and a dozen marking officers are at the bottom, with papers in front of them. They will carefully evaluate the papers and present the best ones to the examiners.

The test papers had been transcribed again before, and now all the copies were laid out on the desk, and their names were sealed with paint to prevent candidates from leaving marks to bribe the examiners. The original papers were kept and will be used for examination.

After release, it will be shipped to the state capital.

The marking officers moved very quickly, finishing reading in less than a stick of incense. One person stood up and presented the two test papers and statistics to the three examiners.

Of the two hundred and thirty-six candidates, a total of thirty-seven received a C or above.

The two test papers submitted were all about arithmetic, ancient proverbs, and allusions. There were no mistakes.

It was self-evident who the two examination papers were. The three examiners smiled at each other and looked at the first examination paper together.

"Two adults, look, the handwriting is smooth and flowing, fresh and elegant, and has a bit of the shadow of a great calligrapher. I guess there is a good gentleman, and it must be the test paper of Xu Zhitian." The chief bookkeeper praised him, his love for talent was beyond words.

"Look at that Li Xianyuan," the county magistrate said urgently. He came from a poor family, and he had a favorable impression of a child from a poor family like Li Xianyuan.

The chief clerk smiled and said to the king: "Look, look, this makes our county magistrate anxious. Why are you so anxious? We haven't read the poems yet."

As he spoke, he unhurriedly unfolded the poetry volume and read it.

Wangwenfeng

The pen of deep water is intoxicating and fragrant,

The orchids and musk deer are dripping with water but don’t talk about it.

But there are tears in this poem,

The fish returns and the dragon leaps over the apricot flower platform.

The content of this poem is easy to understand at a glance, but the wording is quite obscure. Although it is considered a good work, it always seems to be artificial.

"This boy is quite ambitious. He even wants to make a carp leap over the dragon's gate." The county magistrate laughed and scolded, feeling quite proud in his heart and asked the king: "My lord, what do you think?"

"Your Excellency." Chief Wang glanced at him and said calmly.

The county magistrate was so frightened that he quickly said: "Sir Wang, you are serving in the new capital and your vision must be higher than ours, but this is just a child test, which is too harsh."

The chief clerk also hurriedly responded: "Yes, why don't we take a look at Li Xianyuan's first."

The two of them were really afraid that Chief Examiner Wang would grade Xu Zhitian's test paper as a B grade, so they hurriedly opened Li Xianyuan's test paper.

After a few glances, the county magistrate nodded with satisfaction: "The handwriting is neat and even. Although it can't be said to be excellent, it can't be faulted at all."

Li Xianyuan has only been here for thirteen years and five months, which is not enough time to practice calligraphy well.

"Where's the poem he wrote about the interruption of the vision?" asked the chief clerk.

The county magistrate unfolded the poetry scroll and read it slowly.

Gulang Yue Xing

I don’t know the moon when I’m young,

Call it a white jade plate.

I also doubted the Yao Tai mirror.

Flying in the blue clouds.

After reading, the marking room became somewhat quiet.

The main bookkeeper narrowed his eyes on his fat face and savored the artistic conception of this poem carefully. "I always feel that this poem... is missing a little bit."

"The lower officials also feel the same, it seems..." The county magistrate hesitated to speak. For some reason, after reading this poem, he felt something was wrong.

"This poem only has an upper que and no lower que." Wang Zhukao, who was sitting majestically, spoke at this time.

The two of them suddenly realized it. No wonder they always felt a touch of regret in their hearts after reading this poem.

The county magistrate clapped his hands: "No wonder it seems to be interrupted. This poem is only half written! This guy must be hiding his clumsiness! I want to ask him clearly!"

After saying that, he actually stood up from his seat. The chief clerk hurriedly grabbed him, dumbfounded: "Since people don't write, they must have their reasons. Why are you so anxious? Besides, I am in your Wuhou, and you are afraid of running away."

The county magistrate said anxiously: "I'm not willing to give in! If the poem is written in full, it might be the second Xu Weichang. How can such a talent be buried!"

"Maybe that's what they have in mind." Chief Wang, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke.

"I dare not say that this poem is not complete, but looking at it, it is at least a shocking work. When a poor boy of thirteen or fourteen suddenly becomes famous, he is bound to be attracted by wealthy families and be surrounded by foreign objects. No matter how talented he is, he will eventually become famous.

Decline. The fact that he hides his clumsiness in this way proves that he is somewhat smart and can realize this."

"Xu Zhitian's poems are artificial, while Li Xianyuan's poems are full of artistic conception. Even if they don't have a poem, they are still better than the former. You two adults must understand who is the head of the case."

The County Chief Registrar looked at each other without saying a word, and finally gave up to Chief Examiner Wang: "What do you think of Mr. Wang's evaluation of these two candidates?"

Examiner Wang waved his sleeves and wrote two large red regular characters on the two test papers: Fei Long Hua Feng.

First

Both of them are first-class.

After finishing writing, Chief Examiner Wang said loudly: "Li Xianyuan is the leader of this children's examination! The results will be announced tomorrow!"

…

On the other side, Li Xianyuan and Ji Canghai walked one after another in the crowded street.

"Hey, you don't really want to go to a brothel, do you?"

"Otherwise, after being here for thirteen years, how could I not visit the brothel of my dreams?" Li Xianyuan said with a chuckle.

Ji Canghai suddenly took a few steps to stand shoulder to shoulder with Li Xianyuan. He narrowed his bright eyes and reached out to pull Li Xianyuan's cheek: "Tell me who you are? My Xianyuan doesn't talk so much or have such rich expressions."

Li Xianyuan slapped Ji Canghai's palm away: "After the exam, my heart dropped, and I naturally felt good."

"Where did you and I meet? What kind of deceit did I use to deceive you and you saw through it? Tell me!" Ji Canghai became playful and pestered Li Xianyuan.

"It's not good! It's not good!"

A sudden sound came, interrupting the two's play. When the two looked, they saw young men who did not know who they were, but they were running out of breath from far away in the street, shouting to attract the attention of a group of people.

"What's wrong?" Li Xianyuan asked.

The young man who didn’t know whether it was Daniel, Two Bulls, Three Bulls or Four Bulls gasped heavily: “Daniu is missing, we have searched all over and can’t find anything…”

"It's not good! It's not good!" A sudden voice interrupted the words of the young man who didn't know he was Daniel, Two Bulls, Three Bulls and Four Bulls. He saw a young boy who didn't know he was Daniel, Two Bulls, Three Bulls and Four Bulls running up panting from far away in the street.

juvenile.

"What's wrong?" Li Xianyuan asked.

The young man who didn't know who he was was panting heavily: "We found the person, but he was beaten!"

"It's okay, I just got beaten up."

"You're okay after being beaten up?" Ji Canghai's eyes widened. Li Xianyuan and the other two followed two young men who didn't know who they were, and they walked through the streets and alleys, and finally came to a narrow and dark alley.

I do n’t know if a teenager of Daniu Erniu, Sanniu, and four cows is taking care of the wall and paralyzed. I do n’t know if the nose is swollen and swollen.

The young man who brought Li Xianyuan and the others, who was not known to be Da Niu, Er Niu, Three Niu and Four Niu, came forward and asked, "Second brother, how is he?"

"The big cow has rough skin and thick flesh, so it won't be a problem." Erniu poked the cheek of the boy who didn't know it was the big cow, the third cow, and the fourth cow. The pain caused the latter to curse.

"But...Second Brother." Another young man who didn't know who Daniel was, said, "He is Si Niu, not Da Niu."
Chapter completed!