Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 115

The County School Examination in the Song Dynasty was the same as in later generations. Many family members came to send the exam. The gate of the county school was closed, but the family members did not leave, and each found a place to rest and wait.

Many teahouses who are good at seizing business opportunities came to set up open-air tea stalls one after another, and seven or eight tea stalls were soon set up on the originally open square at the entrance of the county school.

Fan Ning and Zhu Pei also found a seat at a tea stall. They ordered a pot of tea and a few plates of dim sum.
Fan Ning was a little absent-minded. He leaned over and stared at the ground, propping his elbows on his knees, and rubbing his palms lightly.

The discussions of several parents next to him reached his ears.

"Mr. Zhang, you have a lot of news. How do you feel about today's exam compared to the beginning of the year?"

"The difficulty is about the same. The key depends on who writes the question. I heard from Dean Chen of the Affiliated School of the County School that it is likely that Zhang Ruoying wrote the question this time. The discussion question should be from "The Analects of Confucius."

"No way! Zhang Ruoying only proposed the question at the beginning of the year, why is it him again?"

"This supplementary exam is a continuation of the exam at the beginning of the year, that's why he wrote the questions."

A parent said with a sad face: "It's over, I thought it was the master of Jiayu Academy Han who made the question, and I bet on the wrong question!"

"If it's really the head of the Korean school who came up with the question, can you guarantee that you will win?" Several family members beside him laughed.

On the other side, several parents were discussing in low voices.

"Hey! The weakest part of my family's Dalang is his thesis. He studied in Liu Daru's cram school for a year, but he didn't make much progress. I'm so worried!"

"Liu Daru's cram school is no longer good, and his reputation is rotten. I entrusted Sanlang to go to Changqing Academy to review with the students in the upper hall. I feel that I have made great progress. I still have to go to a regular school to study."

"Damn!"

Seeing Fan Ning's preoccupied face, Zhu Pei comforted him softly: "Don't worry too much, whether they can pass the exam or not, you have done your best!"

Fan Ning nodded, and said with a wry smile, "I feel like these parents, I am more nervous than my own exams, I hope they can all pass the exams! Otherwise..."

Fan Ning sighed lightly. If a few people fail the ranking, he really doesn't know how to face them, especially Li Dashou, who kowtows to call him master!
Zhu Pei suddenly pursed his lips and laughed, "Dumb, I've known you for so long, and this is the first time I've seen you lose your mind. It's quite interesting."

Three black lines appeared on Fan Ning's forehead. He immediately straightened up and looked to both sides, "Huh! Where's Sister Jian? She's not by your side."

"She's probably going to deal with some old and disrespectful guy!" Zhu Pei snorted coldly.

She glanced at Fanning again, with a mischievous look in her eyes.

"You have to be more polite to me when you speak in the future, otherwise Sister Jian hurts you by mistake, and it's none of my business."

Fan Ning said with a smile: "When will I dare to be rude to you old man? It really annoys you. I'm afraid you don't need Sister Jian to make a move. With a flash of sword light on your waist, Fan Xiaoru's few lives are gone."

Zhu Pei couldn't help covering his mouth and giggling when he heard that he called himself Fan Xiaoru.

After Zhu Pei interrupted, Fan Ning's mood became brighter, and he no longer worried about the exams of his juniors. He smiled and said, "Sitting is boring, why don't we find something interesting to play with!"

"Okay! Let's play cards."

She immediately happily took out a pair of fan cards from the bag.

Jupe had taught Fanning to play poker, but his luck was really bad, and he lost every time.

Fan Ning originally wanted to visit the Kistler Shop in Wu County, but Zhu Pei actually wanted to play cards.

There was a moment of trepidation in his heart, so he had no choice but to say: "How to play? Grab the oiran, fight for the official hat, or play with leaves?"

Fan Pai Er is the ancestor of poker and mahjong today. There are forty cards, which are divided into four suits: Shiwanguan, Wanguan, Suozi and Wenqian. Playing with four people is a game that literati like.

But ordinary people with flat heads prefer to play simpler ones, such as Douguan hat, which is very similar to today's competition. You can play, the winner takes all, and if you lose a few cards, you will pay a few pennies.

Grabbing the oiran is even simpler, just compare suits, draw three cards at a time, and whoever has the best suit wins.

Because of the simple gameplay and the excitement of winning money, fighting official hats and grabbing oirans are popular in Song Dynasty, suitable for all ages.

"I'm going to stick a little pig's head, of course it's a fighting official hat!"

Zhu Pei put the box on the stone table, shuffled the cards, and said with a smile: "It's agreed, every five cards you lose will be affixed with a little pig's head, and you are not allowed to take it off before lunch!"

The little lady was very lucky. In the past two months, Fan Ning hadn't beaten her in playing cards, and she often had five or six pig's heads stuck on her face.

However, this was Fan Ning's suggestion. He was short of cash and had no money to lose to Jupe, so he suggested sticking a pig's head as a punishment for losing.

Fan Ning rolled up his sleeves and sat forward, "Just play and play, whoever is afraid of others, today you must have pig's heads all over your face."

Only a few cards were played in the first hand, and Zhu Pei played the last two cards in his hand, 99.

There was a sly look in her big black eyes, like a naughty little spark hopping on one foot, jumping from one eye to the other.

Zhu Pei said triumphantly: "Prince of the first rank, Dumb, I'm sorry, you lost again!"

There were still eight cards in Fanning's hand, and he had no chance to play them at all.

It seems that today's luck is still on Jupe's side. After only five games, Fanning has already lost more than a dozen cards.

At this time, Fan Ning caught a glimpse of a 90-guan card on the table, and sneaked over while she was not prepared, and made up four nines with the cards in his hand. The four A bombs in the upper reaches are the largest in the card.

After Zhu Pei played a handful of Jinshi and No. [-], there were three consecutive cards of the same suit, indicating No. [-], No. [-] and No. [-].

Fan Ning bet down, "Ha! King's Landing, I win!"

There were still four cards in Zhu Pei's hand, so she stomped her feet angrily, "What's wrong, how did your luck get better?"

She suddenly realized, "That's not right! It seems that I typed out the 90 guan just now."

"You must have misremembered, I won this hand, first lose four cards!"

"No! I played the 90 guan. I remember it clearly. You must have stolen the card."

"No! You definitely didn't steal it. It's because you remembered wrongly. You touched it last time."

"You must have stolen it!"

Zhu Pei stomped her feet coquettishly, and her ruddy mouth was so pouted that it could hang on a bottle of oil, "Dumb, you're playing tricks!"

"Candied haws! Selling candied haws, fragrant and sweet candied haws!"

Not far away came a hawker selling candied haws. The candied haws had just appeared in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty. The syrup was wrapped in rings, cherries or kumquats, and was very popular among the people of the Song Dynasty.

Zhu Pei's eyes lit up, he immediately jumped up and said, "I'm going to buy candied haws."

She had just run two steps when she suddenly remembered something, screamed, and turned her head to cover her chair in a hurry.

Fan Ning was stunned for a moment, he saw clearly that there was still a pile of cards hidden on the chair where Jupe was sitting just now.

Fan Ning was so angry, this dead girl, no wonder she was so lucky today, no wonder she didn't let herself close the cards, it turned out that she was cheating!

． ． ． ． ． ． ．

In the afternoon, the melodious bell rang in the county school. This was a reminder bell, indicating that there was still half an hour before the end of the exam.

But the ringing of the reminder bell also meant that the students could turn in their papers and leave. The door of the county school was slowly opened, and several students came out one after another.

Parents stood up one after another and looked nervously at the gate. The parents of the two students who came out first ran up anxiously, complaining in low voices why their children handed in the papers so early.

At this time, Fan Ning saw a tall and burly student coming out of the county school. He couldn't help being startled. Li Dashou was actually the third to hand in the paper.

Li Dashou wrote the fastest among the six people, and it was reasonable to finish the test paper first, but now there is still half an hour before the end of the test, and Fan Ning is still a little worried.

He hurried up, "Dashou, why did you hand in the paper?"

Li Dashou was full of excitement, stepped forward and knelt down on one knee, cupped his fists and said: "Thank you for the teaching, brother, I will never forget my birthday!"

Fan Ning quickly helped him up, "Get up, let others see the joke!"

There was a sudden movement in his heart, and he asked in a low voice: "Could it be that the title is really right?"

Li Dashou nodded excitedly, "All three questions are right."

Fan Ning was overjoyed, and quickly asked, "What is the discussion question about?"

The topic of the poem is the Dragon Boat Festival, and Fan Ning is most sure about it. He thinks that the topic of silent scriptures will test the Confucianism in the "Book of Rites", but Fan Ning is most uncertain about the topic of discussion.

He infers that there are two articles in "Mencius", one is "What is the awe-inspiring spirit", and the other is "On Mencius Admonishing the King of Qi with the Pass of Distance".

I don't know which one to bet on?
Li Dashou couldn't help laughing, his face blossomed, and he said in a low voice: "The test is "Remonstrating the King of Qi with the Past of the Heart".

Fan Ning slapped his fist, and he felt as lucky as winning a big prize. Zhang Ruoying really had a regularity in writing the questions, and he caught this rule.

Li Dashou continued: "The title of the poem is "Duan Wu". Made it."

"Has it been checked?"

"The disciple checked it twice, and the disciple did not write a single word wrong, and the disciple did not modify a single word in the entire paper."

"Good! Good!"

Fan Ning said two good times, and said with a smile: "Come and sit for a while, when they come out, I will take you to dinner."

Fan Ning brought Li Dashou to sit down at the tea stand, but he didn't expect that, as soon as Li Dashou sat down, a large group of parents surrounded him and asked about today's topic.

The parents talked a lot, and many family members said angrily: "The discussion questions are too biased!"

"Actually, the test is not biased!"

Finally someone said some fair words, "After all, they are all required to be memorized in elementary schools. Besides, the silent scriptures are also tested for this article. I specially remind candidates that the county school's questions are kind."

In fact, Fan Ning also thinks that the exam is not difficult. "The Analects of Confucius" and "Mencius" are the most basic things. If you can't even memorize this, how can you take the county school exam?
The key is whether the work is done well or not. If the topic is approved in advance, students can revise it repeatedly, and even get guidance from the professor. The quality of the article will be high.

Fan Ning felt that as long as the six of them performed normally, they should all do well in the exam.

At this time, Zhu Pei pulled Fan Ning aside and laughed softly: "If all six of them are admitted to the county school this time, the reputation of the Sanyuan cram school will be established, Dumb, I think you can really run a cram school. "

It is not that Fan Ning has never thought about the cram school, but what he thinks is not to run a cram school for the county exam, but to run a cram school for the imperial examination, and continue to bring his six students there to help them pass the exam.

Maybe he can run a school and train outstanding disciples.

But it seems a little early to think about the school now.

The continuation of my Sanyuan cram school is what I should consider right now.

Thinking of this, Fan Ning said with a smile: "Let's talk about the cram school later! Let's see how the rankings are released first."

(End of this chapter)