Chapter 251 The college entrance examination through time
In August, Huaihai Academy organized the second entrance examination.
The scale of this exam is much grander than last year. Because the threshold for the exam is low, there are a lot of people signing up for the exam.
With the official rise of Huai Haijun, many aristocratic families want to bet on Huai Haijun.
Everyone knows that eggs should not be put in one basket.
This has led to a spurt in the number of candidates applying for Huaihai Academy.
Because there are so many candidates applying for the exam, the small town of Gaoyou simply cannot bear it.
Therefore, the academy has set up test centers in some big cities in the three provinces.
The Confucius Temple in Jiangning is a test site.
On a whim, Dong Shuheng took the rare opportunity to go to the test center in Jiangning incognito. He wanted to see what the people there had done to the college entrance examination he had moved here.
The academy's examinations accepted many of Dong Shuheng's suggestions. They no longer locked candidates in small rooms as in the past, and the examination lasted for several days.
Now, the exam time for each subject is only one hour. You only need to take the exam on site. This alleviates a lot of trouble for the candidates.
In previous imperial examinations, candidates even had to bring food and water.
For college exams, you can leave after taking the exam on site.
The content of the test paper is not just about dictating scriptures and writing eight-legged essays. It covers multiple subjects. The test paper also contains many multiple-choice questions, fill-in-the-blank questions, application questions and other new question types.
Dong Shuheng, dressed in casual clothes, walked with Wei Yuzhen and Yang Ximei on the street outside the Confucius Temple in Jiangning.
Because of the exams, there were many more people setting up stalls on the streets near the Confucius Temple than before.
Those taking exams and those taking exams, people coming and going on the street, it’s so lively!
Those small traders have the most sensitive business sense and are also very well-informed.
It has only been two days since the news of the examination center here spread, and it seems that all the vendors in Jiangningcheng know about this place and have come to set up stalls one after another.
As a result, Jiangning Police Station deployed half of its police force here to maintain order.
Traffic control was even implemented on the street leading to Confucius Temple.
Dong Shuheng was wearing a stand-collar short jacket that is very popular now. It was adapted from the official uniform of the Huaihai Navy Military Government and was somewhat similar to the Chinese tunic suit of later generations.
This kind of clothing is very popular among young scholars.
Coupled with Dong Shuheng's neat short hair, anyone with a discerning eye would know at a glance that he is a member of the Huai Haijun system.
Now that Huai Haijun has cut off his braids, more and more people on the street have short hair.
Everyone is not as fond of commenting on this new hairstyle as they were at the beginning.
Of course, there are still many people with braids. As long as you are not from the Huaihaiju system, the military government will not care.
In Dong Shuheng’s words, we Chinese people must realize freedom of hairstyle.
However, a man and two women walking down the street, especially since the two women are both pretty and elegant, will still attract the attention of others.
However, anyone who wanted to get close to Dong Shuheng and the others would be pushed away by strong men and women dressed as passers-by.
Since occupying Jiangning, Dong Shuheng has not walked like this on the streets of Jiangning.
First of all, Jiangning has just been laid down and the sorting work has not been completed. Dong Shuheng's safety cannot be guaranteed after he goes out.
Secondly, Dong Shuheng was very busy some time ago and had no time to hang out.
Being able to go out and travel with my two beauties today is a rare free time.
"I said, you two beauties, it's rare to go shopping with you. I see that you two are not in good condition!"
The two beauties beside Dong Shuheng were walking with him on the street. They didn't seem to be attracted by the excitement in front of them at all. They were chatting about work matters as they walked.
Dong Shuheng, who was standing aside, couldn't stand it anymore. He went out shopping with these two female workaholics. He felt like he was absent from work.
"Hey, how about the president evacuates both of us. Let us spend time together at home." Wei Yuzhen has been with Dong Shuheng for a long time, and she knows that he likes to be so unobtrusive with those close to him.
say.
"Okay, wait, I will find a successor for you two tomorrow."
"You two can go back and prepare your dowry."
"If you want a wife, you don't need a dowry. The only thing left in my poor family is books. If you want a dowry, go to my father." Wei Yuzhen joked.
"My family has nothing, and only the poor are left. There used to be a lot of female officials, so why don't I bring a few more dowries." Yang Ximei also learned Wei Yuzhen's tune.
Alas! It seems that it will be difficult for my husband to be strong in the future!
Dong Shuheng sighed quietly in his heart.
"Eh? What does it smell like?" Dong Shuheng sniffed.
The smell is fragrant and fragrant, and the smell alone has already begun to attack Dong Shuheng's taste buds.
"Let's go, let's take you to eat some good food!" He said and led the two girls to follow the smell.
Sure enough, at the corner of the street, Dong Shuheng saw a stall made of a flatbed truck.
The stall was very small, with just a small stove for burning firewood. There was an iron pot on the stove, and the pot was filled with vegetable oil from the farmer. There was no business at the moment, so the stall owner removed the firewood.
Next to the stove is a wooden platform, and the bamboo baskets on the platform are neatly stacked with dark things, piece by piece.
"Uncle, bring us three skewers of fried stinky beans."
"Okay, young master, please wait a moment."
As he said that, the old man added more firewood to the stove and lit the bottom fire. After a while, the flames jumped up.
At this time, another man and a woman came to the stall, both of them were extremely strong-looking.
"Young master, please let us do two skewers first. We are in a hurry."
Dong Shuheng smiled helplessly and said, "Okay, I'll invite you!"
"Thank you!"
These two people are naturally dressed as internal guards.
Dong Shuheng did not blame them. These people were doing it for their own safety.
Moreover, Dong Shuheng himself is also very afraid of death. He rarely does such incognito patrols anymore.
The old man saw that there was no dispute among customers, so he started working with peace of mind.
The dried stinky beans placed on this bamboo basket are of very good color, which shows that they have been fermented well.
"Old man, are you from Huizhou?" Dong Shuheng asked.
People in Anhui are usually good at making fermented things like stinky tofu, stinky mandarin fish, etc.
The hilly terrain in southern Anhui is humid and rainy, which is conducive to the fermentation of food, so that such delicious ingredients can be made.
Only that kind of environment can produce such delicacies. The production of most delicacies is related to the local environment.
"This young master has really good eyesight. In his early years, the old man fled from Huizhou and came to Jiangning. He relied on this craft to settle down in the city. In the past, most of the people in Jiangning were dignitaries. There were often temple fairs, and the old man rushed around to display them.
stall."
"You will know after a while when you taste the old man's craftsmanship."
"You don't need to taste it. I can tell it's delicious just by looking at the quality of your stinky tofu." Dong Shuheng said with a smile.
"Young Master, could it be that you are also from Huizhou?"
"Ah? No, I just like this."
The two girls seemed to have never eaten this food before, and looked a little frightened. But they were too embarrassed to say it in front of the old man.
Dong Shuheng saw their concerns.
"Don't be afraid, you two. This thing smells weird to you now. You will know when you taste it later. It is the best in taste. In fact, it is made from fermented tofu. Is soy sauce made from fermented soybeans?
, don’t you usually eat the same thing?” Dong Shuheng turned around and whispered to the two girls.
At this time, the old man's oil pan was already hot. The two guards stood near the pot.
I saw the old man pick up a bamboo stick and pass it through the side of the stinky tofu very skillfully. There were exactly five pieces of stinky tofu skewered on the bamboo stick.
The stinky tofu is flat in shape and is worn from the side so that the largest one faces the outside.
The oil used in the oil pan is rapeseed oil, and many farmers grow rapeseed along the Yangtze River.
Most people use corner land or riverbanks that are not suitable for growing food to grow rapeseed. In spring, you can see patches of rapeseed flowers everywhere, which is a beautiful sight in the south of the Yangtze River.
Vegetable oil has a strong flavor and can be used to fry stinky tofu to give it a different flavor.
In the first pot, the old man fried four skewers, but the two inner guards took them all.
I saw a man and a woman working together with one hand and one hand on the other. Their mouths were so hot that they opened their mouths to breathe, but they still bit down one piece uncontrollably.
Dong Shuheng couldn't help but drool when he saw it. The two girls had never tasted it before, so they didn't feel anything about it, but Dong Shuheng had tasted it.
Fortunately, the master chef is already making the second pot.
This pot is not big and can only fry four skewers at a time.
The two guards finished their meal over and over again and walked aside with satisfaction.
When he was done, he still nodded to Dong Shuheng.
Dong Shuheng was too lazy to pay attention to them, and watched the old man flipping the stinky bean skewers with a pair of bamboo tongs.
"Old man, if you set up a stall here, how will you maintain your business?"
"It's okay, but I have several mouths to feed in my house."
"At your age, you should have a strong workforce at home, right?"
Dong Shuheng thought that this old man was in his fifties or sixties, which was not considered young in this era.
"Hey, don't mention it. My son was pushed out of adulthood a few years ago and I don't know where he went." The old man obviously said something sad and lowered his head unconsciously, but there were no tears.
"Fortunately, my daughter-in-law is very capable. She was imprisoned in a women's residence before, but now she has been released."
"I'm still working in the factory over there, but now I'm getting paid."
"Her monthly wages are given to her family. Her two grandsons and one granddaughter are all of a healthy age."
"My eldest grandson is already ten years old and will be an adult in a few years. By then, I won't have to set up a stall."
"Then you still have hope." Dong Shuheng said with relief.
"Yes, the government is treating us well now. Our children can go to school for free. If we can't send them to school, my lame old woman won't be able to take care of our three children."
"Boss, I plan to let him study for two years. If he can read and read, he will go to the factory and learn some skills from the master. If the second boy has the ability, he should study hard. If he doesn't, he can be like his elder brother."
"Old man, I think your craftsmanship is pretty good. If you open a small store in a prosperous place in the future, you might be able to pass it down to your family."
"In our line of work, we can only earn money by walking around the streets. I don't want my children to be like me. If my son hadn't followed me around the streets, he wouldn't have been dragged into adulthood."
The old man and Dong Shuheng held Jia Chang in hand, but the movements of their hands did not stop.
After a while, four bunches of dried stinky tofu were out of the pot, with small bubbles popping up on the slightly blackened skin of the stinky tofu.
The old man placed the dried stinky beans on the pottery jar with the sauce and brushed it back and forth several times with a brush. The aroma of the sauce was immediately forced out by the hot dried stinky beans.
Dong Shuheng ate two skewers each, and the two women each ate one skewer. The two of them, who were a little scared at first, couldn't stop after taking the first bite.
After eating, Dong Shuheng had to ask the inner guard to buy a few more skewers.
There was already a long queue at the entrance of Confucius Temple. Candidates were verifying their identities and entering the examination room.
Many candidates bring a food box to the exam based on experience, but end up leaving the items outside and looking for someone to take care of them.
Only then did they realize that all the college exams require is to bring a pen. There is only one exam every half day. Before, everyone only focused on the exam subjects and forgot about the exam methods, which resulted in a joke.
At this moment, I saw an examinee walking out dejectedly.
Dong Shuheng saw that this man had an extraordinary temperament. Although he was a man, Dong Shuheng, who was of the same gender, couldn't help but pay attention.
The man happened to pass by Dong Shuheng. Dong Shuheng looked at him and saw that his face was somewhat pockmarked and he was about the same age as himself.