The Road to the Imperial Examination for Poor Children"

71-75

Zhou Zixu was surprised that none of the students in his town were looking forward to going to the county school. Now that Brother Lin is qualified to go to the county school as a child student, why not go? You know, there are candidates in the county school.
　　"Because I'm still young!"
　　Lin Yuanqiu was telling the truth. Why did he, a child who was still half a year shy of ten years old, go so far away to do this?
　　The reason why I wanted to go before was because my family was in a tight situation, and I thought it would be good to save some money for my family.
　　Now that I no longer have this concern, I naturally follow my own ideas.
　　As for the exams, Lin Yuanqiu believed that for him at present, what Master Zhou taught was enough for him to study hard for a while.
　　Furthermore, in Lin Yuanqiu's view, it does not matter whether you are a scholar or a scholar. What is important is whether this master is suitable for you.
　　He has never had contact with the teachers in the county school, so he cannot comment on whether they are good or bad.
　　But Lin Yuanqiu knows himself, and he can be sure that the most suitable person for him at the moment is Master Zhou, who is good at catching up students' mistakes.
　　For example, these days, Master Zhou specially took some time to talk to him about current affairs and what he should pay attention to when writing the college's trial policy. He also analyzed and explained to him one by one the test questions in the college examinations in recent years.
　　Lin Yuanqiu can be sure that such a practice of setting up a "small stove" for the master is simply impossible in a county school with many students.
　　So Lin Yuanqiu had already made up his mind. Regardless of whether he could pass the college examination this time, he still chose to stay in Ziqing Hall to study.

　　Zhou Zixu must be happy to hear that Lin Yuanqiu is not going to study in the county for the time being.
　　"Brother Lin, I don't think it's better than this. I'll pay more attention to next year's government examination. After passing the exam, how about we go to the county school together?" "Okay!" Lin Yuanqiu nodded, of course they can be together
　　. alright.
　　After copying the Torah, Lin Yuanqiu began to devote himself to preparing for the exam.
　　Shopkeeper Gao even brought him past papers from the county bookstore.
　　Lin Sanzhu did not hide the fact that his son was going to take the college examination. Therefore, during these days, Shopkeeper Gao also tried his best to help. In addition to providing previous test questions, Shopkeeper Gao also inquired about the number of people who signed up for the college examination at the county school.
　　However, after asking around clearly, shopkeeper Gao silently concluded in his mind that this time the college examination, my brother-in-law wanted to pass the exam, it was difficult!
　　After getting the real question paper, Lin Yuanqiu looked through it carefully and found that compared with the county examination and the prefectural examination, the number of questions in the college examination was at least a quarter more. Regardless of whether it is a copy of the scriptures, a commentary on the scriptures, or an essay on policy, there are poems and verses in it. In other words, after the entire college examination, in terms of poems and poems alone, three more poems were written than in the previous county examination and government examination.
　　Lin Yuanqiu reminded himself that during the exam, he must control the speed of answering questions, otherwise the examiner would have to collect the papers and he had not finished answering the questions.
　　...
　　Lin Sanzhu and Lin Yuanqiu set out more than ten days early. They originally thought they had arrived early. But when I arrived in Fucheng, I found that many students were already living in the inn.
　　In the next few days, apart from going downstairs to eat, Lin Yuanqiu basically spent the rest of the time reading in the guest room.
　　Lin Sanzhu, on the other hand, went to a shop on the street to buy a lot of things to bring for the exam, including candles, mint pills to prevent heatstroke, mugwort sachets to prevent mosquito bites, etc.
　　Every time I go downstairs to eat, I can often hear the students who live in the inn talking about the college exams. If so-and-so can win the first place, so-and-so must be Xiao Sanyuan.
　　The chief examiner of this college examination is Qin Yu, a doctor in the Ministry of Rites. Lin Yuanqiu was definitely not familiar with this Lord Qin. However, Lin Yuanqiu discovered that there seemed to be a lot of students who knew Master Qin, because Lin Yuanqiu had heard someone talk about Master Qin's favorite writing style more than once. Some say they like elegance and refinement, others say they like gorgeous words. In short, you will definitely not be wrong if you listen to me.
　　Seeing everyone wishing to swear to God, Lin Yuanqiu felt that there was a high possibility of setting off smoke bombs. The people sitting here are all competitors in the college examination, so I am afraid that only a fool would tell others these things that are beneficial to the examination without reservation.
　　…
　　August 16th, the day of the college examination.
　　There were nearly 2,000 participants in this college examination. Starting from Haishi, students began to enter the examination booth one by one.
　　Lin Yuanqiu quickly found four students from Hengxi Town who were friends with him.
　　Then it was the junior students who sang the guarantee. After confirming that everything was correct, the five people were taken to several searchers, and then they were inspected one by one from the person to the examination basket.
　　By the time we arrived at the dormitory, it was almost time. Lin Yuanqiu didn't waste any more time. After wiping off the dust on the board with a rag, he took off the board and merged it with another board so that he could lie on it and sleep.