Be a master through ancient times

Waking up in the morning on the ninth day of the lunar new year, just as the sky was slightly bright, Chu Ci was awakened by the sound of reciting books around him one after another.

After a night of autumn rain, the air was damp, and Chu Ci heard someone yelling in the distance, saying that he was Yu Hao and wanted to change the room, and then he was escorted back by the guards in charge of the room.

He got some water, rinsed his mouth, and wiped his face.He also wanted to clean it up a little more, but there was no way, the conditions did not allow it.

He cooked some millet porridge again like yesterday, and the students in the nearby room also took out their own things and started eating.Chu Ci saw a student in the opposite room eating steamed buns and pickles, and couldn't help but miss the taste of pickles.His porridge is sweet.

"Brother, come here." Chu Ci waved to the soldiers outside the cell.

One soldier was in charge of five rooms, and the man walked over when he heard Chu Ci call him.

"Brother, can you ask Xiaosheng if the student opposite wants to change his food." Chuci's request was so strange that the soldier was stunned for a while.But Chu Ci's expression was too sincere, so he went over to ask for him.

The scholar was also stunned for a long time, he turned his head to look at Chu Ci, and then handed out his pickled melon jar.

Chu Ci scooped up a few pieces and put them into his own bowl. He had seen it yesterday. For this kind of sauce jar, those soldiers stirred it with chopsticks.

He sealed the jar again, and poured a small bowl of millet porridge to the scholar. The two exchanged hands from a distance, and the deal was concluded.

This means that the exam has not yet started, so everyone can still communicate, and when the examiner arrives, no one will be allowed to speak out.

After eating, Chu Cilue cleaned up the utensils with water, then put the things back into the basket, and took out the Four Treasures of the Study.

After the things were arranged, he sat cross-legged on the board, closed his eyes and concentrated, letting his mood settle down. This appearance was not so noticeable.

……

At dawn, a gong sounded in the examination room.Everyone sat upright, waiting for the chief examiner and deputy chief examiner to inspect.Generally, the chief examiner is appointed by the imperial court, and the deputy chief examiners are drawn from other provinces to supervise each other.None of this group of people is an official from Xijiang Province.

Since the examination room is very large, they also scattered away.Zhang Songnian walked in front with a stern face, followed by a few guards. As long as he passed by, the students did not dare to make a sound, for fear of offending the examiner and being remembered by him.

After patrolling around, Zhang Songnian announced on the spot that the number room would be closed and unlocked after the exam.Then a few officials came out carrying a few baskets, which contained the questions for the first round of the rural examination.The topic was sealed with wax, rolled into a ball, and handed in from outside the baffle later.The few people who followed were holding blank papers and answer sheets, one answer sheet and three blank sheets for each person, and they would be gone when they were used up.

When Chu Ci received the title and paper, he couldn't help but took a deep breath.He carefully removed the wax on it, and then started the topic.

In the first round of the township examination, there are three questions in the four books and four questions in the classics.Because the scriptures of the students are different, the question paper on the second day is very long, and everyone can check the questions they want to do.

There are four books in total. Generally speaking, the questions are written in the order of "The Analects", "Mencius", "University" or "The Doctrine of the Mean".

The first round of the township examination is repeated, and the first round is the first paper, so the first question is particularly important.

Today's issue is three questions and four books. When Chu Ci looked at the title, he saw that the first question read: Poor without flattery, rich without arrogance.This question comes from the Analects of Confucius. It is about the dialogue between Zi Gong and Confucius. The literal meaning is that the poor are not flattering, and the rich are not arrogant.

If you want to solve the problem from this place, it would be wrong, because Confucius said below: But also, if you are poor and happy, you are also rich and polite.This is to say that poor people enjoy the Tao, rich people understand etiquette, and their ideological realm has improved a lot.

Skip this question and go to the next question. The second question comes from Mencius: Quan, then know the severity; measure, and then know the length.

It means that things need to be weighed and measured to know their weight and length, and the same is true for people's hearts.In other words, everything has to be practiced to get results.

This question, Chuci, had never been done before, and he had no idea for a while, so he skipped it first, and went to the third question.The third question is the question of the mean: all things will be established if you do not hesitate, and you will fail if you do not hesitate.It is said that when doing things, you must prepare in advance. If you are well prepared, you will succeed, and if you are not prepared enough, you will fail.

The content of these three questions is not difficult to understand, and the sources are also very common. Basically, many people have done it before, but how to find a new way to make your own articles better than others is a difficult problem.

Chuci also remembered Zhang Songnian's preferences. If he wanted to please him, he had to answer the questions meticulously according to his thinking.

Chu Ci thought, is this really the case?He has written several articles these days that imitate the ancient style of writing, and he feels that he is okay, but if he wants to shine, I am afraid it is still a bit difficult.

It is inevitable that painting a tiger is not an anti-dog. It did not imitate the essence, but lost its own strength of character. It is better to make a drastic move and write articles that you like.He didn't believe that with Zhang Songnian's strength alone, he could be pushed down without getting out.

At this moment, Chu Ci gave up the idea of ​​trying to compromise and flatter her with articles, and put all her thoughts into writing articles.

For the first question, he wrote a sentence to solve the problem: Those who live in poverty enjoy the Tao, and those who are content are often expensive.Then he cut into the article from the consequences of the dissatisfied in history, and began to answer questions.

Chu Ci strengthened his faith, and his thoughts flowed like a spring. In less than half an hour, he finished this article.It's just that the number of words in the article exceeds, and a few places will need to be deleted later.

He put the written question aside, and looked at the third question. He also had an idea in his mind for this question, so he wrote in it: A gentleman thinks about troubles and prevents them.He quoted a sentence from the Book of Changes to solve the problem.

Then, he analyzed the importance of preparation from several classic battles in ancient times.It is still straight to the point, expressing one's feelings directly, which makes people feel emotional after watching it, and can't help but applaud.

In fact, Chu Ci did one, three, and two questions first, besides having no idea about the second question now, there is another reason, that is a trick that Mr. Xu told him.

That is to use human psychology.Because people's thinking ability is limited, it is really not easy to write three wonderful articles in one day and one night, so the quality of many people's articles is from high to low.

This resulted in your three essays being glued together when the marking officer graded the paper.When he opened the first article, he found that your writing was good, so he nodded and continued.Look at it again, hey, it’s okay.So he went down again, only to find that one of your articles is not as good as the other, and he will be disappointed in his heart. Naturally, the ranking will not be too high in the end, because he will be very impressed with the last article.

According to Mr. Xu's approach, when he reads the first article, he thinks it is very good. When he reads the second article, he will find that the quality seems to have dropped a lot. When he reads the third article patiently, he will be surprised I found that the level of the article has returned.

This kind of experience like riding a roller coaster will give the examiner a sense of satisfaction. Once he is satisfied, the ranking will naturally not be lower.

After the third chapter was finished, Chu Ci was not in a hurry to revise it, but picked up the second chapter.

The ancients said that once you work hard, you will decline again, and you will be exhausted after three times.Instead of writing an article and taking a break, it is better to take advantage of this time to write all the articles, and then check them out slowly.

In the second chapter, Chu Ci thought about it for a long time, and then used Zhu Zi's words to solve the problem: What is done on paper is always shallow, and I never know that this matter has to be done.

Once the question is broken, the article will be easy to write. He thought about it and wrote a famous story in the Shiji——On paper.

Just as Chu Ci was trying to solve the problem, the officials who made the rounds passed by.He saw that in this row of rooms, other students were thinking hard, and it took a long time to write a pen. He also saw that a student was writing hard, and there were already two written articles on the partition, so he couldn't help but stop and watch.

As soon as I read the beginning, I couldn't help but marvel in my heart. The first two sentences of this article are well written, I hope it will not be anticlimactic.Just as he was about to look down, the examiner who was patrolling with him suddenly came over and said that someone from the number room over there had come to report and asked him to go over and check together.

These inspections were carried out by two people together. If one person made the inspection, if any fraud occurred, it would be difficult for them to get rid of the charges.

The examiner had no choice but to go with him. It turned out that a student suddenly vomited. The whole room was filled with filth, and the stench was so strong that it disturbed the students next to him.

After carrying the student out, the man wanted to look back again, but he no longer knew where he was sitting, and they still had a lot of room to move around, so the man couldn't help showing a somewhat regretful expression on his face.

"Brother Zhou, why do you show such an expression?"

"I just saw a student's article. It's very well written. Unfortunately, I haven't finished reading it. I feel very uncomfortable."

"Oh? It's so good? Does he imitate the past or talk about the present?"

"Here, look at his first two sentences, it seems to imitate the style of Tang and Song Dynasties, the rhetoric is gorgeous, and it is delicious to read."

"Hey, then you probably won't be able to read his articles. Who doesn't know Mr. Zhang is good at ancient times?"

"Yes, it's a pity..."

Generally speaking, only all the top five articles will be posted, and the seal volumes of others will be kept.It's a pity that he is not the inner curtain official, and it seems that he can't finish reading that article.