Good luck with koi carp

Chapter 132
Although they had long known that passing the county examination was a sure thing based on their daughter's knowledge, the moment they actually succeeded, Chi Xiucai and Xu were so happy that they wanted to hold a banquet on the spot to celebrate his birthday. night.


Of course this is not possible.


Chi Xiucai, who still had sense, stopped his dangerous thoughts in time, and warned his wife to control the servants in the house and not to get carried away, so as not to cause trouble for the children.


In fact, there is no need for Chi Xiucai to speak. Mr. Xu, who also loves his daughter deeply, also knows how to act. What's more, her daughter actually only passed a small county examination. She can't even be called a child. She has a bright future. Far away.


So after a short celebration, the entire Chi Mansion became uncharacteristically low-key, which made the people watching outside confused. They thought that the daughter of the Chi family had not passed the exam at all.


In the early morning of the third day after the announcement of the results, a carriage drove out of the Chi family, gradually heading towards the city amid the crisp sound of horse hooves and the sound of the wheels crushing the ground.


In the car, Chi Li was holding the book in her hands and taking the time to review. Her mother was sitting beside her and silently accompanying her. Her father was sitting on the outside of the carriage watching over the mother and daughter.


Originally Chi Xiucai just wanted to take his daughter to Fucheng to take the test, but his wife disagreed and insisted on accompanying his daughter to take the test. In addition, his family also had some business in Fucheng, so it was okay. Drop by for a patrol over there.


In the end, the family of three simply decided to go out together.


The examination location for the government examination is in Liang Yuancheng, the main city of Nanhuai Prefecture, and the location for the college examination is also set up here. This means that if Chili can pass the government examination, there is no need to go home and he can just find a place to live in the city. Keep studying until the beginning of the college exam, and then go back after taking the exam together, which will save you the trouble of traveling back and forth, which is troublesome, time-consuming, and frustrating.


The same journey as Chi Li's previous trip back, it would take about a week to take a carriage from Da'an County, where Chi's family is located, to Liang Yuancheng.


Therefore, when Chi Li and his family of three finally arrived in Liang Yuancheng, there was less than a month and a half left before the government examination started.


At this time, the inns in the city have begun to be booked by students who came here for reference. Not only are the housing supply tight, but the prices are not cheap. It is even impossible to get a good location. A few months ago It was robbed.


Fortunately, the Chi family has property in the city and a place to live, so there is no need to go to the inn with others.


Liang Yuancheng's property is actually the Xu family's dowry. It consists of a small shop and a small courtyard with one entrance. The place is not big, but it can accommodate a family of three.


Chili didn't go to the shop. She was busy preparing for the exam and had no time to see what her shop looked like. However, she probably knew that her mother's shop was in the grain business and sold grain produced in her own land.


Even though Chi Li had not planned to set up a female household and take the imperial examination before, as the daughter of the Chi family, she had to learn how to run a family from her mother since she was a child. Therefore, even if she didn't know much about the Chi family's industry, she still had a general idea in her heart. number.


The most important industry of the Chi family is naturally the fields. On the surface, it is said to be 210 acres of fertile land, but in fact there are 57 acres of fertile land, 350 acres of medium land, and [-] acres of dry land, totaling [-] acres.


In addition, there are two shops and three courtyards in the county. The shops in the city are from the Xu family's dowry and are not strictly considered the Chi family's property.


Some of these properties are originally owned by the Chi family, and some were added after Chi Xiucai became a scholar. In addition, as a scholar, according to the regulations of this dynasty, Chi Xiucai can be exempted from taxes on hundreds of acres of land under his name, and can also receive monthly payments from the government. Some subsidies such as rice, oil, melons and fruits.


Therefore, the output of grain from her family's fields was so huge that she would definitely be able to eat it all at home, but it could not be sold at a high price only in the county, so Mrs. Xu purposely used her store in the city to sell grain.


Then, one of the shops in the county was buying new fabrics and clothes shipped from the city, as well as some novel gadgets, and the other was selling the four treasures of the study. With the movable type sign of Chi Xiucai, the business was pretty good.


At least that Wenfang Sibao store has a lot of Chi Xiucai students taking care of it, and the Chi family doesn't cheat anyone. The items they sell are reasonably priced and of high quality, so it has a good reputation and a constant stream of repeat customers.


Thinking back to this, Chili suddenly realized that she had fallen into a misunderstanding before.


If there was no such thing as the imperial examination, her original plan was to establish a female household, inherit the family business, and then develop the family business. She also planned to avenge Chen Shimei and the original owner after accumulating a certain amount of capital.


But this is an ancient feudal society, where class is more important than anything else. Scholars, farmers, industry and commerce are more than just four words. If she really took the last business path, she would not be able to take revenge on Chen Shimei, who was in the highest scholar class. It's easy, and even if one person doesn't do it right, the whole Chi family will be destroyed together with the scumbag's malicious attack.


Let alone revenge, she might even kill the Chi family.


Of course, Chi Li is not an ordinary person. She will never let herself get into trouble or let the Chi family suffer any harm. Even worse, she still has the token given by the Mo family siblings in her hand. With this, she can protect herself. A worry-free family.


But it is undeniable that because I didn’t understand the mortal world well enough, I almost did something wrong.


Fortunately, her luck is as good as ever.


Before all the mistakes started, she first encountered a good opportunity when the empress ascended to the throne and embarked on another path.


Due to tight time, Chili followed her parents to Fucheng without going out. She stayed in the house all day long and studied.


There are naturally pros and cons to working behind closed doors like this.


But since she is a woman, her gender means that it is difficult for her to make friends with the students, most of whom are men. They may not want to make friends with her, so there is really no need to waste time here before finishing the exam. First of all, secondly, what she has to take now is just the government examination. It is actually enough to have her father, a scholar with rich teaching experience, to teach her anytime and anywhere.


"Dad, look."


Chili handed her new strategy to her father and asked him to check it out.


Chi Xiucai took the paper handed over by his daughter, lowered his head and carefully read it word by word. After a while, he raised his hand and called his daughter, who was seizing the time to memorize the "History Book" while he was checking his homework, and asked her to come over and listen to the comments.


"The writing is good this time, a little better than before. If nothing happens, my son should be [-]% sure that he can pass the test, but we can't take it lightly. We need to continue to work hard. There are also some problems with your writing here..."


While listening to her father's instructions, Chi Li took the booklet of wrong questions she had made to write down next to her, planning to write the essay again after a while after summarizing the questions.


She has been doing this since she started learning policy theory. It helps her remember mistakes, summarize advantages, correct problems, and improve her problem-solving ability.


The father and daughter were teaching and learning with such seriousness that they didn't even notice when Mrs. Xu appeared and when she quietly pushed away. It was already an hour after dinner, and they were really worried about their health. Mrs. Xu came over again to call for help, and then suspended their study.


However, they only delayed eating for a short while. After quickly filling their stomachs, they plunged into calligraphy and reading, leaving Mrs. Xu helplessly sighing at the table full of leftovers.


Time always flies in the busy.


When Chi Li reacted, she was already standing outside the Gongyuan with an exam basket in hand, waiting to enter.


The government examination is the same as the county examination. Five students in the same examination are required to guarantee each other and ask a scholar to be the guarantor.


Chi Li's guarantor remained the same, Zhang Xiucai, but her guarantor partners changed by two, and two other unfamiliar faces appeared. However, these two people were also found for her by her father. She believed in Chi Xiucai's vision. The students who can be chosen by him to be guarantors to his daughter must all be of decent character.


"Miss Chi, I am Shouzi Qi. This is He Yuanhang. We are both students in Master Chi's private school. I wonder if you still remember us?"


The door to the examination room had not yet opened, and just as Chili and the other four students who were guaranteed to have gathered together in advance, to her surprise, two students taught by her father actually came over to greet her.


Not to mention how unfamiliar their relationship was before, to the point where they ignored each other when they met. In fact, when they took the county exam last time, the two of them also greeted Chili politely, but their attitude that time was completely out of curiosity. He politely greeted his mentor's daughter, but did not regard her as a student who could compete with them in the exam, nor did he regard her as an opponent.


But this time, they clearly showed their respect and enthusiasm for Chili, and they also had a vague intention to make friends with her.


Obviously, Chili's ability to pass the county examination proved some of her own strength to them, and also made these proud scholars begin to face her existence, or in other words, the status of female students in the imperial examination.


This was undoubtedly a good change, and Chili didn't care about the slightly dismissive attitude of the two people before, and greeted them one by one with a warm smile.


"I remember, Brother Shou, Brother He."


Although these two people are her father's students, they are not her father's direct disciples, so the three of them do not need to be called brothers and sisters, they can just interact with each other as normal students.
"I heard that Master Chi has also arrived in Fucheng. After the two of us finish the exam, we will definitely pay him a visit and ask for his advice."


"Dad usually praises the two brothers for their diligence and studiousness. When we met today, it was true."


"I can't compare to Miss Chi's intelligence and astuteness..."


"Don't dare to be..."


The conversation was quite superficial, and the three of them deliberately kept their chat within a relatively safe area. It was actually just business compliments. Anyway, it wouldn't hurt to say a few more nice words, and it would make each other happy, so let's praise each other.


Perhaps it was because they were chatting in a more harmonious atmosphere. In addition, the two students who had signed bail with them also tentatively came over to get to know each other.


The two are both slender, one tall and one short. The taller one is also named Gao, and his name is Gao Qi, while the short one is named Zhang, and his name is Zhang Dabao.


As soon as she heard the name, she knew that Zhang Dabao must be the baby of the family, otherwise her family would not have given her such a name.


Yes, "she".


Zhang Dabao is also a girl. She doesn't look much older than Chi Li. She introduced herself as a person from Liang Yuancheng. She and Gao Qi are cousins, and her father is a classmate of Chi Li's father. A person who can lift people up.


Perhaps it was because both of their daughters were taking part in this government examination that the two fathers deliberately arranged for their children to be together so that they could take care of each other.


Just as the elders expected, the two girls, who had just chatted for a few words, quickly became familiar with each other. They had already agreed to visit each other's homes after the exams and discuss knowledge together.


It was rare to find a girl to accompany her, so Chili was quite happy.


She looked around and found that the main city of Yifu was the main city of Yifu. She had seen only one of her female students taking the scientific examination in the entire Da'an County before, but when she arrived in this city, there were many more women here and there.


Even though the number is small, and even pitifully rare compared to male students, it already represents the rise of some female consciousness in this era.


Even if it’s just a spark, who says it can’t start a prairie fire?

"Rumble rumble..."


When the time came, the majestic vermilion gate of the Gongyuan slowly opened to both sides under the push of two tall soldiers. It immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the room and silence fell instantly.


The next moment, as if teleporting, the crowd that was still standing in a mess suddenly divided into three neat lines, two for men and one for women.


Obviously, that line was much shorter than the two lines, but it attracted the most attention. The eyes from all around were vaguely focused on them, and those who were gazed at raised their heads high and raised their chests with a proud look. They stepped into this "battlefield" that they were not allowed to enter originally.


The same admission process, the only difference is that this time it's not just Chili who is taking the exam, so she has to wait in line while waiting for the body search.


Although it took a while, Chili felt inexplicably happy.

After successful registration, the government will distribute an exam guide, or admission ticket, to each student, which will contain the student's personal information and exam seat number.

But before you actually enter the Gongyuan, you never know where your position is. It may be a good position, or you may be unlucky enough to be assigned next to the toilet and get a bad name.


This time Chi Li was also assigned a good position.

After finding her own seat, Chi Li laid out her things and sat quietly inside, waiting for her hair to be curled.


Chili originally brought a towel specifically for cleaning, but when she came in, she unexpectedly discovered that the interiors of these dormitories had been specially cleaned and were very clean, so she didn't use them.


After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, the paper handout officer came to Chi Li to hand out the paper. In addition to the paper with the test questions written on it, there were also two pieces of white paper for them to use as scratch paper. If there was not enough for the exam, they could still find it. If the patrolling invigilator asks for it again, there is no limit to it, but it will be taken away along with the test papers after the exam.


In addition, each dormitory is equipped with pens, inks and other items. These are provided by the examination room and students are not allowed to bring their own to prevent cheating.

In addition, before the official start of the exam, if you find that the paper is dirty, you can report it to the police in time to get a new paper. However, once the exam officially starts, you will not have this opportunity, so all the candidates who get the paper will read it as soon as possible. , check whether there is any dirt or unclear printing.


After almost another quarter of an hour, after it was basically confirmed that every candidate had checked the paper or replaced the paper with a new one, with a burst of gongs and drums indicating the start of the exam, everyone immediately got into nervous answering questions.


The government examination is divided into three sessions. The first two examinations only take one day, and the third examination lasts for two consecutive days, with one examination every other day.

The first two exams were held from morning to night. As soon as the time came, the papers were collected and people were rushed away. The candidates were never given more time to continue working on the questions. Therefore, everyone was racing against time to answer the questions, for fear of being a step late and being kicked out before they could finish the questions. If you force the papers to be taken away, that's the end of it.


The first exam is Sutra Sutra.


When Chi Li just checked the test paper, she had already roughly scanned the questions and knew what was going to be tested this time.


To put it bluntly, it is to test your recitation of the Four Books and Five Classics, which is reflected on the paper by dictating and filling in the blanks. However, this question is very large. If you don’t take the time to write it, you will be able to answer all the questions word for word. If you memorize it, you may not be able to finish it.


At the same time, you must also pay attention to neat handwriting and no typos. The former is a test score. Good writing can improve the examiner's favorability and will also add points to your score. If there are typos in the latter, the entire paper will be invalid!

The exam required writing in Guange style. The original owner originally practiced mainly hairpin small regular script, but she was not incompetent in Guange style. After all, her father mainly taught students this type of font that was specially used for imperial examinations. When teaching his daughter, Naturally, she will also learn it together.


The writing that Chili learned herself was similar but different from the writing used by ordinary people. Her handwriting had no specific school, but just followed her former owner, which made it look quite regular and hinted at sharpness.


Now she has brought this writing style to her style of writing, which makes it look a little different. If you meet someone who appreciates it, it will probably make people's eyes brighter.


Coincidentally, the examiner of their current government examination is himself a master of calligraphy.

Out of caution, Chili answered first and copied the answers later, just like before. This way, there was a high probability that there would be no errors or omissions in the process and the traces of alterations would be reduced.

The examination regulations stipulate that if there are more than three alteration marks, the examination paper will be invalid.

They do not answer questions continuously all day long. At lunch time, the examination room will arrange for soldiers to serve meals to the candidates and arrange a half-hour rest time. During this time, you can go out and move around a little inside the examination room. , you can also go to the toilet and so on, but you are not allowed to talk to others, nor are you allowed to enter other people's dormitories to prevent cheating in exams.

A soldier was placed almost every meter in the examination room to keep a close eye on the candidates. It could even be said that they were doing one-on-one tracking, leaving no chance for anyone to take advantage of any loopholes.

Chili waited until her lunch break, then held her nose and went to the toilet, then came back to eat.

Although the Gongyuan has thoughtfully arranged several women-only toilets, as long as they are toilets or public toilets, there is actually no good smell, especially for people like Chili who have relatively sensitive senses.

Fortunately, she came back from using the toilet and walked up and down the aisle a few times to dissipate the smell before going back to eat, otherwise Chili felt that she might vomit out the meal she just ate.

To be honest, the lunch provided by Gongyuan was not very good.

It's just two steamed buns and a bowl of porridge. That's it. One tael of silver is charged for food, and another [-] taels of silver are charged for paper and pen fees. In other words, if you want to take the exam, each person has to pay four taels of silver first. silver.

The extra one or two silver is the exam registration fee.

In addition to the money it costs to hire a scholar as a guarantor, it costs a lot to take one exam. This is just a government exam. The higher the exam, the more money it costs. The more times you take the exam, the more money you spend. No wonder Some families become poorer as they take more exams, and end up getting poorer and poorer as they take more exams. The sunk cost is really too great and there is no turning back.

(End of this chapter)