Time flies, in a blink of an eye, the second dragon raised its head in the first half of February in the fifteenth year of Zhengde, in the middle of spring, the weather gradually warmed up, and the peach blossoms in the courtyard were blooming brilliantly, bathed in the hazy spring rain.

Approaching the ninth day of February, the atmosphere of the Beijing Central Examination is getting stronger and stronger, and the streets and alleys of Ming Shifang, teahouses and restaurants, you can see people wearing straight clothes everywhere.

Whether it is a literati circle or an ordinary person, the topics discussed after tea and dinner are all tried. The Ministry of Rites Examination is held once every three years, and the examination of the current department is a bit special, that is, the emperor is still stranded in Jinling and does not return, which means that the palace examination after the examination is impossible to be held as scheduled, which is something that has rarely happened since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Many officials who are not afraid of death have written to accuse the son of today for not doing his job properly, violating the ancestral system, and the country will not be a country. The rhetoric is exaggerated, as if the emperor does not preside over the palace examination on time, and the Ming Dynasty will die.

In addition, since the Spring Festival in Shangyuan, Xu Jin's reputation has become famous, and he has become the biggest favorite at the top of the test list, and the handicap offered by major gambling houses has been as low as ten to four. The lower the handicap, the more people are betting, in fact, the amount of money bet on Xu Jin High School has been as high as fifty or sixty thousand taels. Once Xu Jin did not pass the exam in the end, the gambling house that made a lot of money would make a fortune, of course, if Xu Jin won the examination in the end, the gambling house would have to lose a huge sum of two or three thousand taels.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with Xu Jin, since the Spring Festival Appreciation Spring Meeting, he has declined all invitations and visits, and plunged into the sea of questions before the exam, and he is determined to win this exam. Previously, Fei Maozhong gave Xu Jin dozens of questions of the Four Books and Five Classics drafted by Fei Hong, and he now has to complete two eight-strand essays and a policy topic every day, as well as two trial poems, and the training intensity is not ordinary.

In addition, the only thing that has changed in life is that there are more people in the family, and where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, and the more people there are, the more complicated the rivers and lakes will naturally be, and the more struggles will naturally be.

For example, now, Chu Xia is holding a bowl of freshly stewed Tianma pork brain soup, tiptoeing towards the door of Xu Jin's study, looking left and right like a radar, like a thief.

Chu Xia is fifteen years old this year, and today he has obviously dressed up carefully, his face is lightly powdered, and his eyebrows are even more picturesque, his skin is white and red, and his two cherry lips are like peach blossoms in the courtyard.

In early summer, I hid under the peach blossom tree outside the study and observed for a while, but I didn't see the elusive Yue'er, I couldn't help but be overjoyed, and walked to the outside of the study in three steps and two steps, and stretched out my hand and knocked on the door: "Master......"

As a result, the door of the room opened, and Yue'er, with a handkerchief tucked into her waist, walked out, looking like the head of the chief manager of the Xu Mansion, and said lightly with an originally sweet face: "Early summer, what's the matter?" ”

Chu Xia was dumbfounded, and said in a snort: "Mrs. asked me to stew Tianma pig brain soup, and the maid sent it to the master to drink!" ”

Yue'er couldn't help but say, stretched out her hand to take the tray that Chu Xia was carrying, and said: "The master is busy preparing for the exam now, you can't disturb indiscriminately, and in the future, the master doesn't need your sisters to send it to the study, I will naturally go to the kitchen to get it." Let's go, don't stay here! ”

Early summer glanced into the room unwillingly, and then left stupidly, Yue'er snorted coldly at the former's back, then turned around and entered the study to close the door, and brought the Tianma pig brain soup to the bookcase with a sweet smile: "Master, I stewed Tianma pig brain soup for you, drink it while it's hot!" After saying that, he quickly filled a small bowl.

Xu Jin couldn't help but secretly laugh, he naturally heard the conversation outside the study just now, and it was not the first time such a scene had happened, he took the bowl and drank it, and said with a smile: "It tastes good!" ”

Meiwen's smile became sweeter, and she turned to the back to pinch Xu Jin's shoulder. Since the early spring and early summer came, Yue'er's daily work has been much lighter, and this Nizi has been guarding inside and outside the study every day, staring like a thief, not letting the early spring and early summer approach.

Yue'er's behavior was undoubtedly a bit naïve in Xu Jin's eyes, but it did save him a lot of trouble, he would try it soon, he didn't want to deal with the little cabbage that came to offer his hospitality every day.

Xu Jin was drinking soup in the study, and once again sneaked into the failed early summer and returned to the kitchen angrily, and his sister was cooking the stove to prepare hot water in early spring, and couldn't help but chuckle when she saw this: "Was it stopped again?" ”

Chu Xia said indignantly: "How can this be reasonable, Yue'er's little hooves are too deceitful, this time she is hiding in the master's study, and she is angry!" ”

Chu Chun shook his head and said, "Sister, forget it, I'll try soon, you still don't bother the master." ”

Chu Xia said in a smug voice: "Sister, look at what kind of work we are doing now, people are desperately trying to stay and stay not to be kitchen girls, we used to be served in the Guogong Mansion, but now it's good, and we are waiting for others in turn." ”

Chu Xia said calmly: "I think it's good now!" ”

"Alas, sister, what can I say about you, do you really want to be an inferior maid for the rest of your life? Look at other people's hands, they have become thick and ugly, and in a few years they will become yellow-faced! ”

"No, your skin is still the same as before!" Chu Chun grabbed his sister's hand and took a closer look, and the confused look had a natural cuteness.

Chu Xia couldn't help but stomp her feet and said: "Sister, when can your gentle and watery personality be changed, I'm really angry with you, alas, if I don't tell you, I don't believe that Yue'er's little hooves can stay by the master's side all the time." ”

After saying that, Chu Xia walked out of the kitchen with a gust of incense, probably to continue the struggle against Yue'er for reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance.

Chu Chun shook his head helplessly, and continued to sit quietly in front of the stove to add firewood and boil water.

Although Chu Chun is an older sister, she has a quiet temperament, is at ease with what she encounters, is easy to satisfy, and has no ambitions. Chu Chun feels that the current life is actually very good, the old man is easy-going and has no shelf, and the lady is also very kind, even that Yue'er is also a knife mouth tofu heart, so he lives very easily here, unlike the many rules of the Guogong Mansion, he has to be careful in everything, and sometimes he has to accompany the guests.

Of course, the early spring and early summer were only bought into the Guogong Mansion the year before last, and they were being trained during the year, and there were few opportunities to accompany the guests, at most, they performed their skills, and drank a few glasses of wine with the guests, but they didn't need to sleep together. However, Chu Chun knew that if he continued to stay in the Guogong Mansion, it would be a matter of time before he accompanied the guests, or he would be given away by the Guogong Mansion, because several maids who were trained at the same time were given away.

Therefore, when he learned that his sister was going to be given to Xu Jin that day, Chu Chun was not surprised or overjoyed, because the object was not a bad old man, nor a vulgar martial artist, but a young handsome and talented young man. Because of this, she cooperated with her sister in acting that day and tried to stay.

Although she rarely has the opportunity to contact the master now, Chu Chun is still quite satisfied with her current life, however, she knows that her sister is different from herself, Chu Xia's expectations for life are not so low, and she is an assertive and stubborn person, and it is estimated that she will not give up if she does not get the position of an aunt.

……

In a blink of an eye, it was the ninth day of the second month, and the spring competition of the fifteenth year of Ming Zhengde began. There will be a total of three exams, each three days, nine consecutive days, the ninth day of February, and wait until February 15, all the exams are completed before the cards can be released and leave the examination room. In other words, all candidates have to eat, drink, and sleep in the examination room during these nine days, and it is not an ordinary hardship.

At about four o'clock in the morning on the ninth day of the second month, Xu Jin got up, washed up under the service of his wife and beautiful maid, and rushed to the examination room of the Gongyuan after breakfast. Women can't be sent to the examination room as usual, so Dabao carried a lantern to send Xu Jin to the examination room.

When Xu Jin arrived at the Gongyuan Academy, he couldn't help but be startled when he looked at the line of candidates lined up in front of him in a long snake formation, there were too many people, it was estimated that there were thousands of people. Under normal circumstances, only the first 300 students are admitted to the examination, which means that the acceptance rate is only about 10%, and the competition is quite fierce.

Xu Jin waited outside the Gongyuan for more than an hour before it was his turn to enter, and there was also a search before entering the venue, but it was obviously not as strict as the boy test, and the search just casually flipped through the test basket, and did not reach into the crotch of his pants to touch the eggs. After all, the people who participated in the examination were all lifters, and they were already half of the officials, so naturally they couldn't take into account the face and dignity of the lifters like ordinary scholars.

Xu Jin took the number plate, a stack of scratch paper, and three candles and went to his number position.

The Gongyuan is very large, can accommodate thousands of people at the same time, the conditions are naturally much better than the place, the toilets are independent, away from the candidate's number, naturally there is no smell of trouble.

Xu Jin found his number position, first sorted out all the items used in the exam, and then calmly waited for the exam to start.

At about six o'clock in the morning, the sky was hazy, and the chief examiners Liang Chu and Shi Xuan took eighteen fellow examiners to inspect the examination room, and the examination papers were issued on time at half past six.

The general examination is similar to the township examination, and the first test is two five scriptures, two four scriptures, and two (apocryphal) poems. After Xu Jin got the test paper, he first browsed it, and immediately calmed down.

The first question of the test paper is exactly the one in the Analects: Threesomes must have my teacher. And Xu Jin happened to do this question a few days ago!

If the first question score is high, as long as the later questions are not too poor, the possibility of passing is great.

Xu Jin didn't rush to start writing, he was grinding slowly, while brewing his emotions, and then he picked up the pen and broke the question on the scratch paper: A hundred can be a hundred masters, and in a word, it is the law of the world......

An old errand officer who was on patrol stopped outside Xu Jin's examination number, craned his neck and glanced at it, and said in his heart: "This little old man is stable, and it is estimated that he can win!" ”

This old errand officer who patrols the exam is experienced, and under normal circumstances, the kind of candidates who are calm and calm have a higher probability of high school, but they are easy to lose Sun Shan when they get the test papers and write them in a hurry.