The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

The crowd passed through the three gates slowly, each gate was repeatedly searched by soldiers to ensure that there were cheating items, and the soldiers inspected so carefully that even the slightly larger cakes they brought in were broken open with knives to prevent things from being caught inside.

The last gate is the tallest and the word "Dragon Gate" is written on a huge plaque on the gate tower. Su Jin suddenly realized that the Dragon Gate known by later generations was derived from the third gate of the Gongyuan; If you win the imperial examination, you will be able to jump over the dragon gate and climb up the clouds from then on, but I don't know how many people can jump over this dragon gate.

After entering the Longmen, you will officially enter the tribute courtyard. In the huge tribute courtyard, there are rows of test sheds with green bricks and small tiles. Leave a long alley about four feet wide in between, and prepare lights and water tanks for candidates to walk at night and drink water during the day.

The examination room has a number, and the dormitory also has a number. Su Jin found her own dormitory one after another according to the number plate. When she opened the wooden door of the dormitory, a mildewy and damp smell came out, making people want to vomit; Su Jin covered her mouth and nose and focused her eyes carefully. Look, slowly getting used to the dark light, I saw that this house is small and cramped. The area is definitely no more than five square meters, the length is no more than two meters, and the width is definitely no more than 1.5 meters. There are two upper and lower brick brackets built at a distance of one foot, and two upper and lower layers of wooden boards are staggered on it, but I don't know what to do.

Su Jin turned her head and heard the student of about 27 busy in and out of the dormitory next door. She didn't know what she was doing. Since she couldn't speak inside, Su Jin had to go over and observe secretly. [

Seeing Su Jin's confused face, the student knew that he was taking the exam for the first time, so taking advantage of the patrolling soldiers not paying attention, he quietly said to Su Jin, "Brother, you don't know how to use this house?"

Su Jin nodded and pointed at the two wooden boards and said softly, "Where is the table? What about the bed? How can people live in such a small place?"

The student pointed to the two layers of wooden boards and said: "During the exam, the upper board is used as a table, and the lower board is used as a bench for sitting and answering questions. At night, take out the upper board and put it into the lower board, and just use it as a bed for sleeping."

Su Jin said in amazement: "It's less than five feet long, how can I sleep?"

The student spread his hands and said: "I have no choice but to make do with it, brother! There is a small niche on the opposite wall, where you can place a small stove to heat tea. If you bring dry food, you can eat it hot on the small stove." ; There is a unified time for going to the toilet, usually in the morning, at noon and in the evening, and the door of the dormitory will be locked after the exams start during the rest of the time, if you are in a hurry, you can only solve it in the dormitory first.”

Su Jin almost stared out her eyes, how could this paralysis be an exam?This is simply tormenting people. Unexpectedly, the solemn and sacred imperial examinations are so shabby, which is simply unacceptable to Su Jin.

"There is one more thing to be aware of, brother. There are often centipedes and poisonous snakes entrenched in this dormitory. Someone was bitten by a poisonous snake in the last department. It was only found that the person was dead when the dormitory was opened, so you must check before going to bed..."

Before the man finished speaking, a soldier at the aisle in front of him patrolled past and shouted loudly: "Don't whisper to each other, if you talk to each other again, cross out."

The man quickly stopped talking, cupped his hands, turned around and went to work.

Su Jin wanted to cry, he had never stayed in such a place like a pigsty when he grew up, so he had learned something from this meeting; anyway, since he came, it was useless to regret; Su Jin had to open the test basket and pick up everything Take it out and tidy it up, it’s okay if you don’t tidy it up, but after tidying it up, you’ll be surprised that there’s everything in it, Su Jin was delighted to find a box of sandalwood chips and a small incense burner, it looks like it’s Huanniang’s handwriting, Huanniang is waiting for her I spend the most time reading, and I know that I like to light a fire of incense while reading.

Su Jin quickly picked up a piece of incense and put it under his nose to smell it. It was indeed his favorite rose scent, so he lit a piece and put it in the stove. Rinse cleanly.

Su Jin was in a good mood, so she started to sweep everything inside and out with a broom, went to the water tank at the end of the shed to scoop up a few basins of water to clean the inside of the shed; Scratching around on the blue brick wall, wiped off the spider webs, and tearing up the cloth strips to block the big gaps, so that the poisonous snakes and centipedes have no hiding place.

After tidying up and cleaning, the house looks brand new, with the scent of rose scent in the air, it looks like a small new house.

While Su Jin was busy tidying up the dormitory, the students in the dormitories around the left and right had already started to heat up the dry food and started eating lunch; smelling the aroma of the food, Su Jin felt hungry Feeling uncomfortable, look at the sky, at least it has come to the end of the end.

Su Jin quickly took out the food box and opened it. The huge mahogany food box is divided into five layers, the top layer is pastry, and the lower layers are sealed, with the words one, two, and three pasted on it; this is the meal prepared by Yan Biyun for Su Jin. The sealed food box marked with one is eaten on the first day, the one marked with two is eaten on the second day, and the third box is eaten on the last day; the pastries are used as snacks.

Su Jin guessed that Yan Biyun set it according to the quality of the food. When he was checking outside just now, the soldiers had already opened it and looked at it, but Su Jin didn't. Today is the first day, so naturally he wants to eat the first box .

Uncovered the food box with one written on it, there were three items in the food box, a bowl of longan and lotus seed soup, a plate of fried pork slices with cucumber, and a small bowl of dozens of candied dates; the dishes were not rich at all, but Su Jin suddenly Then he understood what Yan Biyun meant: these dishes all have the effect of calming the mind. Yan Biyun knew that Su Jinchu must not be used to the entrance examination of the Gongyuan Academy, and he might become restless, so he carefully selected these few dishes for peace of mind. Su Jin ate well and calmed down.

Su Jin understood Yan Biyun's intentions, but she couldn't calm down anymore. This woman has a goddess-like appearance and a delicate heart. She does every little thing with great care, especially for herself. I have never seen him treat her It was perfunctory; I didn’t feel anything before, but in this isolated small world, Su Jin’s feelings suddenly became sensitive and strong. Su Jin asked herself: I’ve been busy lately, have I missed some of the most beautiful things? Woolen cloth?Hopefully it's not completely missed.

During the afternoon application, all the sealed sets of questions were sent out. Someone walked around the booths with a gong and beat it, and announced loudly: "The examination booth will be locked at the moment of application and the exam will officially start. During the exam, you must not speak loudly! You must not speak casually." Laughing! No cheating on the house! No plagiarism or cheating! If there is any violation, you will be expelled immediately and sent to the official for investigation! There are two invigilators in each shed and ten soldiers to supervise; Open the dormitory privately, all important matters need to be reported to the chief examiner for approval!"[

At the moment of application, ten soldiers in the examination shed were holding big locks and standing in front of the dormitory door. The invigilator gave an order, and all the wooden doors of the dormitory Kakaka were closed and locked. Light up the oil lamp or candle that comes with it, there is a piercing sound of tearing the envelope, take out the test questions and start to think hard.

The first test question is a test of poetry and fu, which is actually a propositional composition. Write a poem (or word) and a poem with a specific proposition. It is naturally difficult if it is original. Not only must the words and sentences be carefully considered, but also the rhyme ; For Su Jin, a time traveler, the pronunciation of words in later generations is very different from that in ancient times, and it is really difficult for him to rhyme well.

But fortunately, all Su brocades are pirated. When I saw that the scope of the prescribed poems and prose was so wide that it was only required to 'write old scenes and express ancient feelings', I immediately became confident.

Although the memory of this skin is useless, because all the poems and prose written by the predecessors are memorized, copying them will definitely be harmful, but Su Jin is a college student of the Chinese Department of later generations, and he has memorized dozens of ancient prose. I have memorized hundreds of ancient poems, no more, no less, now I have learned it faithfully, the only thing I have to consider is not to mess up the date, and just copy the poems before Qingli.

Su Jin thought for a while, slowly ground the ink under the candlelight, and wrote the title: "Nian Nujiao Chibi Nostalgia".

The great river goes east, the waves are exhausted,

A romantic figure of the ages.

So to the west of the rampart, humanity is,

Three Kingdoms Zhou Lang Chibi.

The rocks pierced through the sky, the stormy waves hit the shore,

Roll up a thousand piles of snow.

Picturesque, a moment how many hero!

I miss Gong Jin back then,

Xiao Qiao married for the first time, with a majestic appearance.

Yufan Lun towel, between talking and laughing,

The shovel was wiped out in ashes.

My motherland wanders, loves to laugh at me,

Early birth to Huafa.

Life is like a dream, and a bottle of life is still lingering.

Stealing Su Shi's version, Su Jinhao's psychological burden, who told him to still wear crotch pants? Counting the age, this guy is at most four or five years old; , I can't wait to look at my eyes.

"If Su Shi's words are pirated, he might as well pirate his Fu. If you want to cheat him, you can cheat him alone." Su Jin thought, and wrote "Red Cliff Fu" in his pen.

"In the autumn of Renxu, when the seventh month is over, Su Zi and his guests are boating under the Red Cliff. The breeze is blowing, but the waves are calm. The wine belongs to the guests, and the poems about the bright moon are recited. On the east mountain, hovering among the bullfights. The white dew crosses the river, and the water shines on the sky. A reed is like a sky, and it is like a vast expanse of land. The vastness is like Feng Xu's wind, but he doesn't know where it ends; fluttering like a legacy Independence, ascension to immortality.”[

Su Jin complacently wrote down the beginning of Chibi Fu silently, read it through and said to himself: "No, the autumn of Renxu is definitely wrong and needs to be changed; the self-proclaimed 'Su Zi' does not need to be changed. Su Shi believes in Su, and I Also surnamed Su, is this God's will?"

"So it's very fun to drink wine, and I sing it with the buckle. The song said: "Osmanthus oars and blue oars, hit the sky and trace the streamer.I am in my arms, looking at the beauty in the sky. "There is a guest who plays the flute, and he leans on the song to make peace with it. The sound is humming, like resentment, like admiration, like weeping, like a complaint, and the lingering sound is lingering, like a thread. .”

"Su Zi was stunned, sitting upright, and asked the guest: "Why is this so? "The guest said: "'The moon and stars are scarce, and the black magpies fly south. 'Isn't this a poem by Cao Mengde?Looking west at Xiakou, looking east at Wuchang.The mountains and rivers look like Miao, gloomy and gray. Isn't this Meng De's trap in Zhou Lang?Fang Qi broke through Jingzhou, went down to Jiangling, went downstream to the east, sailed for thousands of miles, covered the sky with banners and flags, drank wine and faced the river, and wrote poems horizontally.Kuang Wu and Zi Yuqiao are on the river, they are friends with fish and shrimp, and they are friends with elk.Drive a flat boat with a leaf, and hold a paw bottle to belong to each other.Send mayflies to the world, like a drop in the vast ocean.I mourn the moment of my life and envy the poverty of the Yangtze River.Hold the flying fairy to travel, embrace the bright moon and die forever.Knowing that you can't get it suddenly, entrust your legacy to sound in the sad wind. "

"..."

An eloquent piece of Fu on the Red Cliff appeared on the paper, Su Jinlai wondered if there were any flaws in his answer, finally he felt relieved, spread the answer paper on the board to dry and put it away, made a cup of hot tea with a thermos and drank it carefully, Only then did the planks be laid, the quilt unfolded, curled up in the quilt, and gradually fell asleep.