Wear It with Space

The results came out within a few days after the exam.

Shen Ling's results this time were a little better than last time. He was 15th in the exam and successfully entered the top 20. In addition to the five hundred essays, he also received an extra one or two silver.

Time flies quickly. At the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, the November exam results came down, and Shen Ling finally squeezed into the top ten. As long as he maintains this grade for two consecutive months, he can be promoted smoothly to a full-time student.

However, they have not waited until the second exam. In the middle of the twelfth lunar month, the academy gave them a holiday, and the school will not start until the 20th of the first lunar month. Shen Ling took Zheng Ze for a few days, and arrived home on the nineteenth day of the twelfth lunar month.

Xu Shi caught the wind and cold on the road, and Zheng Ze fell ill as soon as he got home. Shen Ling felt it was okay. He insisted on running in the space at night, feeling that his body was getting better and better. Hardly ever got sick in the past two years But Huang felt that he was wronged outside, so throughout the twelfth lunar month, he had more tonic than the pregnant Lanzhu.

Shen Ling had a good rest at home for a few days before going to Zheng Huai's house. Zheng Huai told him that the replacement for Zheng Ming in the clan school is a judge who has passed the clan, and his level is naturally much inadequate compared to Zheng Ming. Those foreign surnames who come here are almost gone. In the patriarchy, they are the Zheng family members, but they are quite quiet.

The two talked for an afternoon in Zheng Huai's study and exchanged knowledge with each other. Shen Ling obviously found that he was much better than Zheng Huai now. So he persuaded Zheng Huai to also go to the academy to study. Even if you can't go to Maolin Academy, you can go to Qingsong Academy to study. Although the gentlemen there are not as good as Maolin Academy, they are better than those in clan studies.

Zheng Huai was also stimulated by Shen Ling's current progress. He listened to Shen Ling's persuasion, and he went to discuss it with his family.

After returning from Zheng Huai’s house, Shen Ling saw a lot of things from Zhuangzi piled up in the yard when he arrived home. When he went to the hall, he found that Zheng Tie, who Zheng Tang introduced to him to manage the fields and Zhuangzi, was also there. Is reporting to Huang.

Shen Ling saw that the Huang family listened carefully and could not disturb them, so he backed out again. He had just settled down in the study, only hearing a small sound, he knew that A Chou had come to make trouble. Ah Chou walked very securely now, and the adults ran out the door without paying attention. Later, Huang asked to plug in the door, and he came to Shen Ling's study to make trouble.

Shen Ling deliberately pretended not to hear, and when A Chou came quietly in front of him, he grabbed him and the father and son started playing around.

The days with family members always flew very fast. Shen Ling only wrote Zheng Tang’s question book two days before leaving, and then packed up the clothes to take away in the next two days, and took Zheng with him on the 16th day of the first lunar month. Ze embarked on the journey to the academy.

The study and life in the academy were the same as usual, except that when he was studying history in the middle of the year, Shen Ling no longer struggled as before. During the month when she was away at home, Shen Ling had already previewed several history books that she would learn in the future, and she also marked those sentences and paragraphs that didn't understand the meaning. In this way, when he learns history books from the gentlemen, he will not be as strenuous as before.

Although studying history books occupies a lot of his time, the benefits of studying history will gradually be reflected in the future. For example, Shen Ling felt that his vocabulary had been greatly improved when he wrote the Qiqi Theory or Stereotypes, and his words and sentences did not consciously imitate the style of those predecessors.

When I was making an article in the second half of the year, more and more places were drawn in red circles on the papers handed in.

At the end of the month, Cui Xunzhang would sometimes invite him to a literary meeting, and Shen Ling would accompany him as long as he had time. These essays are not purely about learning and learning, and some essays are for people to drink and compose poems. After studying for a month, it is rare to take a day off. In such a situation, Shen Ling also enjoys playing with them as much as he wants, so he should relax.

After coming and going, Cui Xunzhang's relationship with him is getting better and better. He feels that although he works hard, he is not the kind of person who studies hard. Slowly, he regarded him as a better friend, rather than the kind of relationship that had been caring for him because of Cui's father's advice.

Once Cui Xunzhang regards him as the kind of friend he can make, he doesn't have a lot of scruples when talking in private. He told Shen Ling that his eldest brother Cui Xunwen ranked first, his younger sister ranked second, and he ranked last. So his eldest brother is now a Juren, but he hasn't even been a regular student. Fortunately, the younger sister is a daughter's family and can't do scientific research. Otherwise, I'm afraid that the little girl will be lifted before him, and he will be really dull by then.

Hearing what he meant, Shen Ling didn't have much hope for the provincial examination two years later, so he asked him if Cui Xunwen had given him any advice.

Cui Xunzhang pouted his lips: "In the year of my elder brother's test, the chief examiner paid more attention to those articles with simple writing style, and my elder brother fell into this category. For things like exams, the article may not be successful after the test, and it depends on your luck."

Shen Ling was silent, it was really such a thing. After that, he began to pay attention to the content of the examinations in previous years, and he also consciously looked for the articles he had used. After this sorting, Shen Ling found that each time the chief examiner who presided over the township test prefers a different style. Some like the old and spicy writing style, some like the writing style elegant, and the simple style. It is true that carrots and vegetables have their own loves. .

However, Shen Ling still discovered a useful phenomenon from those articles he had read. No matter which style of writing the chief examiner prefers, as long as the article is well done, even if it can't be ranked among the best, there is no problem in Zhongju.

When making articles in the future, Shen Ling abandoned his original style and began to work hard towards being moderate.

As for academics, after he continued to squeeze into the top ten twice in a row, he was finally promoted from an attached class student to a full class student. In that month, he received more than three taels of silver. Cui Xunzhang immediately yelled for him to treat him, and Shen Ling asked Zheng Ze to visit Xujiazhen during the day to clean up a table of simple meals in the evening. Please Cui Xunzhang, Xie Rong next door, and Guo who had a better relationship with him. Ann came over for a meal.

Because the four of them had to go to class the next day, Shen Ling did not prepare any drinks, but prepared some cooked food from the town, and asked the kitchen to help stew two fish.

Everyone said that the two fish tasted good when they ate, and they all drank a lot of fish soup. After the meal, everyone has been talking about the gentlemen from the academy from their studies.

When discussing the husband that everyone liked, Shen Ling made no secret of saying that he liked Mr. Dong's class the most, and wanted to come under his sect. Cui Xunzhang looked over in amazement, wondering why he kept a few great scholars from the academy not choosing, but liked Mr. Dong, who looked ordinary in all colors.

The other three said that the leader of the mountain was knowledgeable and unique, and it would be nice if he could become his disciple.

I don't know who said it afterwards. After a while, almost all the students in Class C knew that Shen Ling wanted to come under Mr. Dong.

Later, even Mr. Dong knew about it, and even deliberately left him behind and asked him if there was anything wrong. Shen Ling naturally nodded and said yes, Mr. Dong was thoughtful after listening, neither said he agreed or not, but asked him to leave class and take a trip to his apartment.

The treatment offered by the college to the gentlemen is naturally not comparable to that of the students. Mr. Dong’s residence is located in the northeast corner of the college. It is a small square yard. The main room has a kitchen and a corner door for entry and exit. . After Shen Ling arrived, he found out that Mr. Dong's wife was also living here with him, besides a cooking wife and a teenage maid.

Mr. Dong's wife's surname is Chen, she is very easy-going, and smiled to make him unrestrained. Shen Ling didn't dare to really consider this place as his own home. Ms. Zhangkou kept her mouth shut and her mother was short. Taking advantage of the gap between Mr. Dong's change of clothes, she tapped and asked her and her husband's preferences.

Supper was naturally eaten at Mr. Dong's side. Shen Ling followed the rule of not eating and sleeping, and silently ate two bowls of rice. The little maid cleaned the table and delivered three cups of tea. Mr. Dong gave a light cough, and Chen knew it, and began to quietly ask about some conditions in Shen Ling's family.

Shen Ling told the truth about the family situation and said that he had already married, and now he has a son who is almost two weeks old. He said this because he was afraid that Mr. Dong and Chen would have any thoughts, so he reminded them first.

However, looking at the expressions of Mr. Dong and Chen, it seems that he is not disappointed that he has been married a long time ago, and he has no thoughts in mind.

After Chen asked, Mr. Dong put down the tea in his hand and said: "Go to the study, let me see how your stereotypes are written?"

When he arrived in the study, Mr. Dong took out a scripture from the shelf, took the two sentences on it as the title, and asked Shen Ling to write an eight-part essay.

Shen Ling didn't know what style of writing Mr. Dong preferred, so he made a well-regulated eight-part essay based on the provincial examination. Mr. Dong frowned when he saw it and ordered him to rewrite an article. Shen Ling thought for a while, and made an article based on his previous style of writing.

Mr. Dong watched for a long time this time before he said something. It probably meant that his current level was a bit hanged, and he would have to practice for another year or two before he could have any hope. Let him come to him every afternoon after class, and let him personally guide how to write eight-legged essays.

Time flies, and another two years are in the blink of an eye.

Shen Ling has been learning eight-legged essays from Mr. Dong in the academy. Although there is no formal apprenticeship, everyone can see that Mr. Dong treats him differently. At home, Lan Zhu added a daughter to him, whose nickname was A Shu.

As for the title collection with Zheng Tang, he has also earned hundreds of taels of silver in the past two years. Shen Ling used half of it to subsidize the family and half of it in the space.

When the rural examination was held in August, the classmates of Shen Ling and Cui Xunzhang set off directly from the academy to the city. Cui Xunzhang's family has many houses in the provincial capital, and one of them is very close to the test site, so he invited Shen Ling to live with him. So Shen Ling did not go to meet Zheng Huai and others, but lived in a house under the name of the Cui family.

Because Cui Xunwen also lived in this house during the exam, he already had experience in charge of the house, and he helped them prepare two special book boxes in advance.

Shen Ling opened it curiously, and saw that the inside of the bookcase was divided into left and right parts by a wooden board. The left part occupies a little smaller space. There are two drawers. The first drawer contains the four treasures of the study. In the second drawer are two sets of changed clothes.

Look at the right, there is one more drawer than the left. The first drawer was divided into several small compartments, and there was nothing in it. Guan Shi explained that this is for pretending to be eaten, and the preserved food will only be put in the day before the exam.

The second drawer is filled with powders and pills. There are mosquito repellents, insect repellents, diarrhea, colds, and headaches. There are more than 30 medicines in total. They were all wrapped in palm-sized paper, and the purpose was written on it.

The third drawer contained various utensils, including a lamp and stove, which Shen Ling had never seen before. According to the steward, this is called Wu Geng Chicken. In addition to Wu Geng Chicken, there are tea oil, candles, flint, kettle, water cup, and a small pot of japonica rice in the drawer. Guan Shi said, this japonica rice is for them to cook porridge.

Cui Xunzhang felt a headache when he heard the words porridge. He was born as a young master, so naturally he had never done it before. Shen Ling watched the steward with relish and demonstrated how to use Wugeng Chicken to cook with water. He felt that the only drawback of Wugeng Chicken was that it tasted a little bit when it was cooked.

I think that there are three exams for the rural exams, one every three days, which means that you have to stay in it for nine days. Looking at the smoke-smelling chicken in front of him, Shen Ling also felt a headache when he didn't know what was going on.

In addition to the bookcases, the steward also prepared an umbrella and a large tarp for each of them. The umbrella was used to cover the test papers when it rained, and the tarp was used to shade them on sunny days.

When the day of the exam came, the steward called the two up early and prepared a light breakfast for them. However, neither of them was in the mood to savour, and set off after a bit hastily.

After a series of extremely cumbersome processes, Shen Ling finally came to a small room. The room he was in was one foot long and eight feet wide, with walls on three sides, and the other side open for entry and exit. And above his head, Shen Ling took a closer look, and it turned out to be covered with tree bark, no wonder the person in charge had to prepare tarpaulins and umbrellas for them.

After Shen Ling looked at the trumpets, the trumpet board used as a table turned out to be a thick layer of dust. He remembered that there were a few large tanks filled with water in their alley, so he took out the kettle in the bookcase and made a pot of water, ready to go back for a big cleaning.

While fetching water, he also glanced at their number alley. There were ten numbers in total, that is, there were ten candidates. When the sergeant standing outside his name led him, he told him that during these nine days, they could only move in this lane. After the exam, candidates could communicate with each other, but they could not leave this lane.

So when Shen Ling went back, when he met the candidates who fetched water like him, they all greeted him actively. Anyway, he would stay here for nine days. When he was in good relationship, he could also chat and pass the time. Originally, Shen Ling thought that he could meet acquaintances in the examination room, but think about it, there are almost 4,000 candidates who participated in this examination. It is normal to not meet them.

Back to his trumpet, the sergeant was still standing outside his trumpet. During these nine days, as long as he hadn't handed in the papers, there would always be a sergeant standing there outside his trumpet. This one-to-one invigilation is used to prevent candidates from asking each other, exchanging test papers and cheating.

If Shen Ling had any thoughts earlier, now that he saw this sergeant, he would have no thoughts.

After cleaning the room number, it is time for the middle of the day. Shen Ling saw that it was not early, and burned a pot of hot water in the Alley, filled his stomach with some cakes prepared for him by the steward, and then opened the roll bag that was sent down.

After opening it, Shen Ling reviewed the questions first. In the first scene, there were seven questions, three questions about four books, and four questions about Scripture. That is to say, he will write seven articles in these three days.

Shen Ling first took a deep breath, and then began to study ink. When he was studying ink, he began to conceive the first article. In the past two years, under the guidance of Mr. Dong, his speed of conceiving articles has also been faster than before. So when he finished studying the ink, he had a general idea, spread out a piece of draft paper, and started to write.

He tried his best to keep the number of words in the article between three and four hundred. The previous practice of essays with six hundred characters has been corrected by Mr. Dong. In this way, it saves a lot of time.

As the evening approached, Shen Ling had already finished three articles. He carefully put the transcript of the paper away, and then he prepared the dinner.

The food that the steward prepared for him included ham and jerky, and Shen Ling himself asked Zheng Ze to buy some dry goods such as walnuts and dried vegetables, so he could cook a pot of ham and dried vegetable porridge.

After Shen Ling cooked the porridge with Wugeng chicken in the alley, the whole alley was filled with the fragrance of porridge. He brought the whole pot of porridge to Room No., and took out a salted duck egg, which was a richer dinner.

After dinner, Shen Ling rested for a while, lit a small candle, and made another article.

In this way, as long as he writes three more essays tomorrow, he can hand in the paper.

At night, Shen Ling blew out the candles and slept in the number room. At this time, the weather is more suitable, not too cold nor too hot, and Shen Ling just sleeps in clothes.

When she woke up early the next morning, Shen Ling felt that she was in good spirits. He ate some cakes and made breakfast, drank a few cups of hot water, and started to write the following article.

At noon, the three articles were finished.

Shen Ling was not in a hurry to hand in the paper. He read through the seven essays he had done. After feeling that there was no problem, he handed in the paper.

After the paper was handed in, the sergeant standing at his door left. Before leaving, tell him that in the next day and a half, he can move freely in No. Lane, but he can't disturb the candidates who are still answering the questions.

After Shen Ling waited for him to leave, he went to cook lunch. Because of the poor conditions, he still cooked porridge and rice. The pastry that the steward had prepared for him was running out, and Shen Ling simply ate the remaining two pieces of pastry with porridge and rice. Anyway, he brought enough ingredients to be hungry.