Joy of Life: Starting from Teacher Fan Xian

Chapter 51 The Second Game Ends

Planning ahead is suitable for officialdom, and even more suitable for the imperial examinations. Various factions in the court always try to promote the virtuous as their relatives. For them, reserving talents in advance is the foundation for a stable government.

So the Spring Examination is never just about exams...

The second exam of the Spring Examination came as scheduled, just one night later.

As the gate of the Ministry of Rites Imperial Academy opened, the students gathered outside rushed in.

The sky was dark at this time, and the yamen runners held torches to maintain order.

The official from the Ministry of Rites who was in charge of entrance inspection shouted loudly, the scene quickly quieted down, and the students entered the venue in an orderly manner.

Lin Ruolie was among them, carrying thick bedding and a food box containing some simple meals in his hands.

Students from the academy often passed by, and they would greet Lin Ruo and bow when they saw him.

The atmosphere of the second session was much more relaxed than the first. The students were talking and laughing, without showing any signs of distress.

In the final analysis, it was because of the poetry and prose examination. The Qing Dynasty's imperial examinations have always emphasized classics and neglected poetry and prose. Poetry and prose are more like an extra. The more capable you are, the better. If you can't, it doesn't matter.

The imperial examination did not test poetry with seven characters, but mainly five-character and eight-rhyme fu poems, forming a basic framework for students to answer based on.

In such a range, it is difficult for students to have a large gap in their levels. Therefore, the poetry scores in the Spring Examinations have always been neither too low nor too high.

If one can surpass others by a large margin in poetry and prose, then his poem will surely be famous through the ages.

The official from the Ministry of Rites wore a sunny smile as he looked at this examinee who had been very annoying a few days ago. After three days of hardship, today he finally had all the bedding and food ready.

When thinking about the matter of marking papers, he might be a high-ranking official in the future. The smiles on the faces of several officials from the Ministry of Rites became even wider, and they dared not have any impatience towards this student.

The inspection was quick, but not as rough as the inspection of other students.

"Okay, please come this way." An official from the Ministry of Rites said with a smile.

Lin Ruo nodded slightly and entered the examination hall.

Not long after the people left, the officials from the Ministry of Rites showed their usual stern faces and solemnly checked every candidate who entered the examination room.

The bell rang, the doors closed, and the examinees wrote furiously, working hard. The examination hall was once again filled with a tense atmosphere.

The sun rose and it was already bright. Lin Ruofu came out of the lobby and paced in the long corridor. The several officials from the Ministry of Rites who followed him were sent away by him.

Lin Ruofu walked around the room a few times and glanced at the candidates' papers, stopping from time to time to look down at them carefully.

Many years of experience in officialdom have made Lin Ruofu's spirit extremely sharp. Even though he appeared quite gentle during his inspection, to many candidates, he still seemed to have an oppressive and menacing air.

When students were working on their papers, they often feared the examiner's inspection. Moreover, the official in front of them was dressed in a more elegant manner and had a more elegant demeanor than the inspector in charge of the inspection outside the curtain, so the pressure of being inspected was undoubtedly even greater.

If the name of the chief examiner of the Spring Examination were to be made known, countless students would be flustered and at a loss as to what to do.

Of course, there are also some candidates who, when they see that the inspecting officials are extraordinary and of prominent status, become more confident and fearless in writing.

Faced with such candidates, Lin Ruofu couldn't help but reveal a meaningful look of admiration.

Lin Ruofu walked lightly to the end of the examination room. His eyes paused and he couldn't help but glance sideways. The tired face he had been observing for a long time finally came to his senses.

The rustling sound of the examination room was audible to the ears, but it did not affect my writing in the slightest.

The examinee sitting in the seat stared fixedly at the examination papers, his mind and determination tensed, as if he had blocked out the outside world long ago.

There was nothing extra in his eyes, not even the inspector outside the window. His eyes were clear and focused. Lin Ruofu stared for a long time without realizing it. He felt his legs were slightly sore, then shook his head and smiled bitterly, retracted his gaze, and continued walking forward.

Returning from the end, Lin Ruofu came to the window again, turned his head and looked for a moment, glanced at the name on the test paper, and a sense of responsibility surged in his heart, and he was happy again.

At noon, the short meal time arrived and the students stopped writing, stretched their bodies, and reorganized their burdened minds.

The meals in the examination hall are quite ordinary, and many students will bring their own dry food, mainly some snacks, bread and the like, to simply fill their stomachs.

Putting the test paper aside, Lin Ruo took out the prepared food from the lunch box.

……

At sunset on the third day, as the clear sound of gongs resounded throughout the examination room, the second round of the Spring Examination came to an end.

At a command, officials from the Ministry of Rites began to clear the room, opening the examination rooms one by one and collecting the examination papers. Only after everything was completed could the examinees come out.

The exhausted candidates yawned, feeling grateful for finally being able to leave the torturous Imperial Examination Hall of the Ministry of Rites.

"Sir, let's leave later." Teng Zijing was driving the carriage. He thought about the hard work of the exam and the long and tiring journey back home. He thought it would be better to stop for a while while there were many people around so that the gentleman could have a rest.

Lin Ruo nodded slightly. Compared to the dark circles under the eyes of other candidates, he didn't even look sleepy.

Teng Zijing took a look and suddenly felt that he was thinking too much.

"Sir, aren't you sleepy?" Teng Zijing couldn't help but ask.

"I'm following a normal schedule, so how could I be sleepy?" Lin Ruo said with a smile.

Teng Zijing's face darkened. He didn't hear any deliberate meaning in the words, but he also felt that they were very arrogant. If other candidates heard them, it would be unreasonable if nothing happened.

Looking at those candidates who could barely straighten their backs, Teng Zijing felt more confident.

Others enter the examination room to overcome tribulation, but Mr. Xu seemed to be there just to take a look. He was just like those officials in charge, sitting on a chair with a fan in his hand and closing his eyes to rest.

"Sir, your horse." Mu Tie's voice came from outside the carriage.

Lin Ruo lifted the curtain and looked over: "It turned out to be Master Mu Tie, thank you for taking care of me these days."

Mu Tie smiled and said, "Sir, there is no need to be so polite. The flow of people was so urgent a few days ago that I forgot to return the horse."

"Sir, this horse belongs to the Ministry of Justice, right?" Mu Tie said immediately.

Lin Ruo nodded: "Borrowed from the Ministry of Justice."

Of course Mu Tie knew about the case a few days ago. As an errand boy in a department, he was involved in many cases, and his main responsibility was to record the entire case.

Mu Tie thought about it and said immediately: "Your Excellency may not know yet, but the Supervisory Office has already taken over the case."

This is not something that cannot be discussed. The imperial court has issued an edict, strictly ordering the Censorate to sort out the case and give an explanation before the results of the spring examination are announced.

Therefore, there have been a lot of actions inside and outside the Supervisory Office in the past few days. However, this case involves a lot of confidential information. Mu Tie is not a high-ranking figure in the office and has not participated in the case, so he really does not know the details.

Lin Ruo was slightly startled, then he bowed and said, "Thank you for your reminder, sir."

Mu Tie responded, "Don't worry, sir. The hospital will find out the whole story. The dean has been doing it personally these days."

(End of this chapter)