Be a master through ancient times

The next morning around Yinshi, Chu Ci was awakened by the knock on the door. He put on his clothes and opened the door to see that it was Xu Mu.Xu Mu said to him: "Master told me a few days ago to call you at Yinshi on the eighth day."

"Thank you, Brother Xu."

Behind Xu Mu, the maid Xingzi with a round face was holding a basin of water for Chu Ci to wash.

Chu Ci originally wore a middle coat and an outer shirt, but since the rural examination cannot be carried, these are all single clothes.Even though he was wearing two layers of clothes, he still felt a little cold outside. When he opened the window, it was raining again.

The rainy weather is not very friendly to candidates, I hope he will not be assigned a rain number later.Yuhao refers to the number rooms that have been in disrepair for a long time and leaked rain.Of the thousands of numbered rooms in the examination room, it is naturally impossible for all of them to be intact. If you are assigned a bad numbered room, you can only blame your bad luck.

The carriage was already waiting outside, and the groom was sitting on the shaft in a coir raincoat and a bamboo hat on his head.Holding an oil-paper umbrella, Chu Ci followed Xu Mu, who was carrying a basket, into the carriage.

The groom yelled softly, and the horse started to run away.Xu Mu took out two snacks from the car and gave them to Chu Ci for breakfast.

In the past at this time, the East Street was still quiet, but today it was already bustling as if it had dawned.

The imperial examination venue was next to Tixue Road in Yangxin Mansion, and before the carriage reached that alley, it could no longer move.

"Little manager, the road ahead is blocked. According to the little old man, it may not be cleared until dawn." Some students live far away, and they may come here just after midnight. Cars and sedan chairs blocked the road ahead.

"Can you turn around and go over there?"

"I can't turn around, the carriage behind is coming up again."

"It's okay, I don't think it's far away, I'll just walk over." Chu Ci looked at the sky, the rain had stopped.

Xu Mu helped Chu Ci carry the basket for a while, and when he reached the front of Wenfang Lane, he saw a group of officers and soldiers blocking there.

"But candidates who are here to take the exam? The front is an important part of the exam room, and no one is allowed to enter."

Xu Mu had no choice but to return the basket to Chu Ci, and he couldn't send it back for the next long journey.

After Chu Ci lifted the basket, his hands sank suddenly. The things here didn't look like much, but they were actually quite heavy.He took out the scholar's document from the basket and showed it to the officer and soldier. The officer opened it, read his name, and read a sentence.

"You, help this Mr. Chu carry the things over there." The officer and soldier pointed to a soldier, and the soldier hurried forward and took the basket from Chu Ci's hand.

"Uh, a few big brothers, Xiaosheng can bring it up by himself." Chu Ci thought to himself, this service attitude is too good.

"Nothing, the alleyway ahead is quite dark, let him lead the way." The leader of the officers and soldiers handed the soldier a lantern and asked him to lead the way quickly.

Chu Ci thanked him, and hurriedly followed Xiaobing forward.

There was a large area in front of the examination room, and when Chu Ci arrived, it was already crowded with people.He took the basket and wanted to give the little soldier a little reward, but the little soldier smiled, shook his hand and left.

There are a total of thirteen prefectures in Xijiang Province, and the candidates are too messy, so the government has designated waiting areas for different prefectures on the large open space in front of them.

Chu Ci was dazed for a while with the basket in his hand, and decided to search from one area to another.There were too many people. At a rough glance, there were about 5000 to [-] people. Chu Ci used the lanterns in their hands to recognize them for a long time, but he didn't see a familiar student.

Finally, he saw a familiar person, but that person was a student of the Imperial College who had quarreled with him.That person also saw Chu Ci, his expression was very unnatural, he hurriedly got into the crowd, and then disappeared.

Chu Ci shrugged and continued to search.The area where Guozijian is located is where Yangxin Mansion is located, and Chuci went through Yingzhou Mansion, Ruzhou Mansion, Wuchang Mansion, and Huajiang Mansion in turn, before finding Ganzhou Mansion in the sixth area.

It's a pity that there were almost hundreds of people standing in this area. Chu Ci didn't care about his image, and stood on tiptoe trying to see an acquaintance.

"Brother Chu, do you remember me?"

A voice sounded behind Chu Ci, and Chu Ci looked back, isn't this Master Huang's son and his companion?

"So it's Brother Huang, long time no see."

"Where are your two companions? Didn't you live with them?" Huang Yingjie was still childish, looking very energetic.

Chu Ci nodded: "We each have a place to live, and we made an appointment to meet in front of the examination room, but there are too many people, so we can't find them for a while."

The two were talking, when suddenly Chu Ci heard someone calling him Brother Chu.

Chu Ci turned his head to look, isn't this Shen Congfei?

"Brother Shen is here too, why are you alone? Didn't you see other people from your school?"

Shen Congfei's expression was a little unnatural, and Chu Ci immediately speculated that Shen Congfei was pushed out after the last competition.So he didn't ask any more, but changed the topic to other places.

After chatting for a while, the sky gradually turned white, and people could see clearly.Finally, a student from Yuanshan County saw Chu Ci, and then a large group of people moved towards Chu Ci, like stars surrounding the moon, surrounding Chu Ci in the middle, vying to greet him.

"The exam is coming soon. Chu Ci wishes everyone's wishes come true.

Chu Ci said auspicious words first, and the others followed suit.The lottery head is not particularly useful, but it still has the function of comforting people's hearts, and now there are so many people talking, it is not suitable to talk about other things.

Three gongs and drums shook the sky, and the door of the venue opened in response.

After the door was opened, a middle-aged man in official uniform walked out from the inside. He scanned the crowd with majestic eyes, and everyone fell silent.

"The gate of the venue has been opened, and the next step is to enter the venue for inspections one by one. If anyone is found to be hiding something, they will be given [-] boards, and then they will be dismissed as a scholar. They will not be allowed to enter the venue again within ten years."

The voice was conveyed by the loud soldiers, and in a split second, there were many balls of paper on the ground.The possibility of cheating in the rural examination is very small, but it still can't stop everyone from thinking about it.

"Next, candidates from Yangxin Mansion will enter first."

People in other places were a little displeased, because every year the students from Yangxin Mansion entered first, but it was a provincial capital city, so they couldn't say anything, they could only watch them go in first.

As carefully inspected as the township examination, the movements are relatively slow.When it was finally Ganzhou's turn, the sky was already bright.

The weather in autumn is so strange, it is very cold in the morning and evening, and very hot at noon.When the sun fell directly, one or two students who were not in good health fainted.

The guards on the side carried them down, and everyone looked at them sympathetically and at the same time felt a little rejoicing.Especially the student in Yuanshan County with motion sickness, he hurried behind and finally arrived at the exam.If you miss this year, you will have to wait another two years, and everyone knows that this year is of extraordinary significance.

Chu Ci carried the basket and filed in behind the students. He first walked through a long corridor and then arrived at two small dark rooms. Five people entered from one left and one right.

Chu Ci entered the room on the right, and they first put the basket on the ground to wait for inspection, then the guard in the small black room called to take off, and the students present took off their clothes and stripped themselves off.

Chu Ci was a little uncomfortable, so he comforted himself, thinking of this as a big bathhouse in the north.After thinking about it this way, the speed of his undressing became faster, and he became more natural.

After taking off the clothes, the soldiers took their clothes and shook them off vigorously, wanting to see if there was anything inside?

Because there was one who hid the answer in the valley last year, so this year, he will break open the valley to check.Chu Ci looked at the two students in front of him with a disheveled face, being checked over and over again, and he was in a bad mood.

Seeing that the guard was about to come, one of them suddenly opened the curtain and came in. His eyes lingered on the faces of the students, and then stopped on Chu Ci's face.

"Are you alright? There are a lot of people this year, so hurry up! If you can't finish the inspection today, delay the time, and delay the exam, you will feel better."

The guards inside moved faster because there were still baskets unchecked, so they only looked at them casually, and asked the three behind them to put on their clothes.

Chu Ci hurriedly put on his clothes and breathed a sigh of relief.He went out with the basket that had been turned upside down, and saw the guard just looked at him again.He smiled at him, and the man grinned back at him too.

"Boss, who is that?"

"Why do you ask so many questions? Check carefully. If something goes wrong, ask you!"

The guards twitched their lips, just now they called to hurry up, do they like to look at men?Going back will definitely make a needle eye.

Chuci carried the basket and walked a few more steps, and arrived at the gate outside the examination room compound. When passing through, he had to hand over his scholar's paper and guarantor certificate to the official at the gate, who stamped it, and then he could receive a A listing card with the name of your own room on it, and the next two games will be entered by the listing card.

Before going to the number room, you have to take this listing to get charcoal fire and candles.It was cold at night in autumn, and the clothes they wore were all singles, so the court specially distributed charcoal fires for the students to keep warm.

There were three candles in total, and since they were going to be here for three nights, they could only light one a night.If you finished ordering in the first two days, then you can only be in the dark on the last day.

After receiving the things, Chu Ci took a look at his listing. The room number is No. 360, T-shaped room No. [-].

After Chuci finally found the number room, he looked at the environment of the number room and sighed.Unfortunately, he was not assigned to the newly built number room.

But fortunately, it's not the rain or the toilet, and the inside looks passable, so it must have been specially cleaned.Chu Ci took out the rag and wiped the wooden board on the brick.

For the past three days, he will rely on this board to sleep and write.There is also a baffle outside the door of the No. room, which will be put down to be used as a writing desk during the official exam, and there is a lock on it, which must be locked at night to prevent anyone from sneaking out.

This room is not very tall, with a height of [-] like Chu Ci, you can only walk with your head down slightly, otherwise you will bump into it.Chu Ci thought, this is the exam room in the south, the exam room in the north should be bigger!Otherwise, in such a cramped environment, how can people feel at ease in the exam?

After finally counting the things, Chu Ci checked the time, it should be time for dinner.He was hungry at noon, and he was really hungry now. He was too lazy to cook, so he took out a steamed bun to satisfy his hunger.

But when he saw the steamed buns, his appetite went down.There are black handprints on them, and those soldiers have checked other people's bodies, so it is impossible to wash their hands.Chu Ci was a little disgusted, and then stuffed the steamed buns back into the package.

Fortunately, the other things he brought were not messed around by them because they could see through them at a glance, otherwise Chu Ci would just starve for a few days if he wanted to, and eat them when he really can't.Fortunately, Mrs. Xu had the foresight, otherwise he would have lost a lot of weight after passing the exam in the past few days.

Because the exam has not started yet, so it is not so strict, Chuci gave some money to the guard outside the room, and asked him to fetch a pot of water for him.

The drinking water here is provided free of charge, and the students can prepare their own drinking utensils.A pot of water is provided every morning and noon. If there is an extra need, then you can only pay for it.

One penny was exchanged for a pot of water. Chuci used a small bowl to wash the rice and red dates and longan, then poured them into a small copper stove, and lit the fire below, waiting for them to become cooked.

The sweet and glutinous fragrance wafted out from inside, making the students in the other rooms who were endorsing in their hearts couldn't help being distracted.For convenience, everyone basically prepares steamed buns, and there are seven articles to be made in three days. Who has so much thought to cook and eat?

Some people secretly cursed this delicious student for failing the exam, while swallowing wildly.

Chu Ci didn't care about this, after his porridge was ready, he quickly poured it into a small bowl, and slowly ate it with a spoon.The copper stove can take up to two small bowls at a time, and after Chuci finished eating, he felt warm all over his body instantly.

He looked at the sky and thought it was time to sleep, so he turned out the cloth cushion in the basket and placed it on the board, took off his coat, and folded it into the shape of a pillow.Then he unfolded the smock, covered himself, and lay down.

The board was at most 1.5 meters long, and Chu Ci could only sleep curled up. The board was too hard, and if he hadn't stood for too long during the day, he wouldn't have been able to fall asleep at all.

Chu Ci muttered and fell asleep, completely unaware that the others were speechless looking at him.What's the matter with this scholar, he eats first and then sleeps, is it possible that he is not nervous at all?

After sleeping until midnight, it started to rain again, Chu Ci shivered and woke up from the cold.

He pulled out the charcoal basin, poured a little charcoal fire into it to ignite, and then climbed onto the wooden board and fell asleep peacefully.

The students in the other rooms were awakened by his actions, and they were speechless again. Now they are lighting charcoal. Does he know that there are still two days left?Should I light charcoal at night when writing papers?