Bai Chongyan was chatting with Ju Ming when he saw a female family member suddenly arrived. He quickly stood up and bowed to greet her, but he didn't know who the other party was.
Zhu Ming also had to help introduce: "Sanlang, this is Zheng Erlang's younger sister Zheng Youniang."
Bai Chongyan immediately bowed and saluted, and Zheng Yuanyi bowed in return.
The girls were so down-to-earth and generous, so it was impossible for Ju Ming to be shy. He smiled and greeted, "It's been a long time, sister Zheng. Come and sit down."
It was indecent for the girl to sit on a low chair, so Zhu Ming went into the room and came out carrying a embroidered pillow.
Zheng Yuanyi liked it even more for being so careful and considerate: "Thank you for taking care of me, brother."
There was nothing to talk about between men and women. Bai Chongyan couldn't find a topic, so he just sat beside him and took off the lantern cover to play with lights.
Zhu Ming also had nothing to say: "Is my sister studying?"
"Study has always been there," Zheng Yuanyi said. "The Wang family hired a female teacher to teach girls how to read. Later, the Min family also hired a female teacher to not only teach girls to study, but also provided meals."
"Interesting." Zhu Ming couldn't help laughing.
The Min family and the Wang family are both scholarly families, and they probably compete with each other quite a lot. Even private schools for girls compete for students.
Zheng Yuanyi asked: "I made an extra sachet last time, did my brother receive it?"
Ju Ming replied: "I received it and wore it for a few days. When the fragrance faded away, I did not replace it with a new one. Keep it properly at home."
"That's good," Zheng Yuanyi was a little disappointed because Zhu Ming didn't carry it with him, so she added with a smile, "There is also a talisman in the sachet, which I got by burning incense in the temple. It can bless scholars and get inscribed on the gold list. "
"Then I really should wear it," Ju Ming said.
Bai Chongyan sat next to him and finally understood.
This girl from the Zheng family was interested in Zhu Dalang. Not only did she give him a sachet, she also specially asked for a talisman.
When others love you, why should you be a lightbulb?
Bai Chongyan stood up and said, "I still have some books to read, so I'm going back to my room to review. Farewell!"
Zheng Yuanyi hurriedly said: "Brother Bai, go slowly."
Ju Ming scratched his forehead and reminded: "Take the chair with you."
Bai Chongyan bent down to pick up the chair and secretly winked at Ju Ming, meaning to let him seize the opportunity.
After Bai Erlang left, Zheng Yuanyi became more cheerful and spoke a little louder: "Our female gentleman admires my brother so much that she explained eight of his poems many times. He also said that my brother He has a broad mind and lofty ambitions, and is comparable to ordinary scholars."
Ju Ming was a little interested in the female gentleman: "Who is your master?"
Zheng Yuanyi said: "My name is Huang Shu, and I am the daughter of the Huang family of Xingyuan Prefecture. She is in her forties this year. Unfortunately, her life was not good. After marrying three times, her husband died young. My husband simply became a monk and became a sister-in-law. Later, my sister-in-law also She stopped doing this and returned to secular life to teach girls how to read. The Wang family invited her to come with a monthly salary of eight guan."
"It's true that he has a difficult life." Zhu Ming expressed sympathy.
Zheng Yuanyi said: "Sir, he also said that it is a pity that poetry and poetry are not tested in the imperial examination. Otherwise, my brother's talent and learning will definitely be on the Youth Gold List. In our private school, many women admire my brother's talent. If I knew that I could talk to him, I would be envious. Kill them."
Ju Ming changed the subject and asked: "What do girls learn in private schools?"
"You need to learn "Nv Jie", "The Analects of Confucius", "Mencius", "Book of Rhymes", poetry, female workers, calligraphy, painting, music..." Zheng Yuanyi mentioned a lot of courses and suddenly took out a book from his sleeve.
A piece of paper said, "I wrote a poem two days ago, and I just happened to have it with me. Please ask my brother to correct it."
"Don't dare to take it seriously."
Zhu Ming took it and took a look. The rhymes and rhymes were very neat, and the writing was somewhat interesting. However, due to his talent and vision, it was just an ordinary poem written by a woman in a boudoir.
Considering her age as a junior high school student, she is already quite rare. In future generations, she will definitely be called a talented woman.
Ju Ming nodded in approval: "Excellent writing, keep up the hard work."
"Sir, you also praised me." Zheng Yuanyi was very happy.
After chatting for a while, not knowing what to say, Zheng Yuanyi asked: "Brother, can you fight Shuanglu?"
Ju Ming said: "I have never played before."
"It's very simple. Brother, wait a moment." Zheng Yuanyi immediately asked the maid to bring the backgammon.
This thing was very popular in the Song Dynasty, especially in teahouses, where you could gamble money while drinking tea and playing chess. It can be called the chess and card room of the Northern Song Dynasty.
After bringing back the backgammon chess, Zheng Yuanyi placed the chess pieces and began to explain the rules to Ju Ming.
Each side has fifteen chess pieces, distributed crosswise on the chessboard. There are also grids on the chessboard. The points of the two dice are used to determine how many steps can be taken each time. You can also attack the opponent's chess pieces in the middle. Move all the chess pieces off the chessboard to one side.
win.
It's a bit like a confrontation between two armies, and it also depends on strategy and luck. It's not complicated to play.
In the first game, Ju Ming was not very familiar with the gameplay and lost very cleanly.
Zheng Yuanyi was very happy to win and pointed out Ju Ming's mistakes. Unfortunately, she lost three games in a row.
In the fourth game, Zhu Ming planned to let the situation slip and give the little girl some face.
Unexpectedly, Zheng Yuanyi was unlucky and got the desired points on several key dice rolls without him letting him off the hook, killing Ju Ming without leaving any trace behind.
It’s quite interesting. The setting of rolling the dice can bring surprises similar to the Monopoly game.
After playing for more than twenty games, the maid reminded: "My dear lady, it's getting late, and the husband of the Zhu family still needs to rest."
Zheng Yuanyi stood up quickly: "Brother, please rest early. Don't delay your preparation for the exam. We can play again after the exam is over."
Zhu Ming sent her out of the yard. Zheng Yuanyi's steps were brisk, and she seemed to be able to fly off the ground when she walked. After running far away, she turned around and waved: "Brother, please don't send her away. Go back and rest quickly."
Returning to the corridor, I suddenly bumped into Bai Chongyan.
Bai Sanlang stood there like a ghost and said with a smile: "This girl is very good, innocent and innocent, and she is really a good match."
Ju Ming yawned, took a shower and went to sleep.
Perhaps because he was afraid of delaying Ju Ming's exam, Zheng Yuanyi did not bring backgammon chess in the next few days, but only sent some pastries made by himself every day.
After staying at Zheng's house for eight days, it was finally time for the exam.
In the middle of the night, Zhu Ming, Zheng Hong, and Bai Chongyan got up and headed to Yangzhou Gongyuan with lanterns.
Zheng Yuanyi also didn't sleep. She put on her makeup early and took her maid to see them off. She didn't leave until they entered the tribute courtyard.
The inspection procedures were very lax. If it were the Ming Dynasty, you would have to strip off your clothes for inspection when entering the examination room. At this time, I only touched them casually. It is very easy to bring cheat sheets. I guess there are not a few cheaters.
Chain courtyards are not tightly locked. If the examiner has something to do at home, he can leave the Gongyuan in the middle and leak the questions easily.
There is also a copying system, but the examiner can enter the copying room and it is easy to see the candidates' handwriting (local examinations are looser, while central examinations are more stringent).
There are not many candidates in the three counties of Yangzhou, only a few hundred in total.
However, the admission rate is extremely low, and the number of candidates in Yangzhou is less than ten.
In-service officials can also take the exam, but they must go to Xingyuan Prefecture and take the exam with officials and officials like Li Hanzhang. After Wang Anshi's reform, new Jinshi were not allowed to take the exam again, and previous Jinshi were too lazy to take the exam again. Most of the officials who took the exam were local miscellaneous officials.
The examination shed was similar to the one in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, very crude, and you had to nail the tarpaulin yourself in case of rain.
The first day was to examine the Great Classics, namely The Analects of Confucius and Mencius.
There are ten questions in total, each question has between 200 and 300 words.
Compared to the Ming and Qing dynasties, there are too many exam questions. Even if you bring cheat sheets with you, you can only hit one or two questions. It doesn’t hurt.
Zhu Ming finished writing early. After revising it repeatedly, he copied it cleanly on the answer sheet, and then lay down in the examination room to sleep.
When the invigilator reminded him to collect the papers, Zhu Ming started to yawn.
If you are told to hand in the paper, you must hand it in. If you don’t give me a candle, continue writing.
Ju Ming only ate two pieces of cake at noon and was a little hungry. He met many acquaintances outside the Gongyuan.
Bai Chongyan said excitedly: "I have practiced three of the ten questions today!"
"Good luck." Zhu Ming encouraged with a smile.
But Zheng Hong is not afraid of boiling water. He has answered all ten questions, but he doesn't even know what he wrote.
The Zheng family cooked a feast for them. Zheng Yuanyi cooked the pastries by herself, and even Bai Chongyan had a share.
On the second day, the exam also consisted of ten questions.
On the third day, there will be one question on the examination and three questions on economics, history and current affairs.
The content of the test topic is to ask the candidates to evaluate Li Linfu...
When he saw the title, Zhu Ming couldn't help but laugh. He was clearly disgusted by Cai Jing.
To be continued...