The main examiner of the Shuntian Prefecture provincial examination in this subject is Xu Rixuan, the priest of the Imperial College, and the deputy examiner is Tian Xuan, the censor of Henan Road.

The exam starts on August 18th, but the examiner was appointed on August 6th. Since the sixth day of the 19th day of the 19th day, the two examiners have closed their doors to thank guests. In order to avoid suspicion, they are not allowed to interact with any colleagues.

Because they were all Beijing officials, Cao Yong also knew Xu Rixuan. He was a Jinshi in the 27th year of Kangxi, and was a professional from a regular class. He had also served as the chief examiner of the provincial examination in the local area.

However, because they were not in the same yamen, they had no friendship with each other, and Cao Yong just knew him.

After leaving the tribute court, Cao Song was a little depressed and said to Cao Yong: "Brother, are your younger brother so useless? Xiao Si is a little older and doesn't even say stage fright. I am the older brother, but I am not promising."

Cao Yong said, "Well, I'm a little ungrateful. In my life, I have more times of stage fright, sometimes I can take a step back, and sometimes I have to go to it. However, it's also good for people to have self-knowledge and fear. Isn't that kind of self-righteous guy laughing?"

Cao Song was confused when he heard this, but he didn't know whether his brother was scolding him or comforting him.

There is nothing else, Cao Yong is just a self-deprecating person.

Just now, when he saw Chang Ling come out of the exam, this touched Cao Yong a lot. Everyone is about the same age and it seems that everyone is pursuing something, but he is in a state of depression.

I don’t know why, but he felt a little depressed. He let out a few breaths, but he didn’t feel happy.

The stars in the sky are still flashing, but the shadows of trees on the roadside are a little fading.

While talking, the two brothers arrived at the entrance of the alley, where the carriage was stopped.

The bell sound came from the direction of the Gongyuan from afar. It was already time for the sealing of the courtyard. Cao Yong and Cao Song turned their heads and looked at each other, and they were relatives and friends who had sent the scholars...

*

When the bell of the tribute court sealing the court rang, Cao Shuo and Cao Xiang brothers were carrying baskets and holding two candles they received when they entered the court, and had already entered their respective examination halls.

Some servant locked the door from outside, and there is also a saying among them, called "Locking the Courtyard Tribunal Examination".

In addition to a set of tables and chairs, there is only one charcoal basin in the examination room, and a candlestick is also provided.

Although Cao Xiang was young, he was not afraid of making eight-legged essays. He untied the small toilet tied beside the basket, put it into the corner of the wall, took out the pen, ink, paper and ink in the basket, and spread it on the table.

Cao Xiang's examination room is in the same row as Cao Shuo's examination room, but Cao Shuo's examination room is a little behind the inside, while Cao Xiang's examination room is outside, and there are seven or eight rooms between the two examination room.

First, teams of soldiers patrol, and then the invigilator gave the test questions according to the arrangement of the house.

Cao Xiang was a little excited when he held the test questions. As a concubine, although he was not old, he had a stronger sense of fame than his brothers.

When the drum sound came from the Mingyuan Tower, Cao Xiang opened the test question with a line of words written on it: "One day to restrain oneself and restore oneself, the world will be benevolence."

This is a sentence in "The Analects of Confucius", which is not a difficult problem for Cao Xiang. He was still a little nervous, but he felt much more at ease when he saw this test question.

He took out a water bag from the basket beside the table, poured some clean water into the inkstone, and ground the ink. Because one test takes three days and is not in a hurry, he seems more confident. While grinding the ink, he is thinking about how to start and solve the problem.

The format of this eight-legged essay is fixed, consisting of breaking the topic, following the topic, starting the lecture, starting the stock, starting the stock, middle stock, back stock and tied stock, collectively called the eight-legged essay.

In addition to the format, the number of words is also fixed. It was 550 characters in the Shunzhi Dynasty, but it increased to 650 characters in this dynasty.

It takes three days to figure out a eight-legged essay, which is not difficult for ordinary scholars. The rest depends on luck.

After grinding the ink, Cao Xiang picked up his pen and had a sentence to solve the questions and follow the questions. Just as he was about to start writing, he heard a noise coming from not far away, and someone shouted: "Come on the examiner quickly, a scholar here fainted!"

As he spoke, a soldier who was patrolling the field came "dial" and it seemed that he had invited the examiner to go there.

The pickers in the examination room bounced out their heads and looked around, but Cao Xiang was as calm as a mountain and had already written down the sentence to solve the question.

Just as he was about to write the sentence of the question, an examiner rushed over and asked the soldier who reported the message, "How many rooms?"

"No. 32, sir!" the soldier replied.

When Cao Xiang heard this, he was like a bolt from the blue. He quickly put down his pen and leaned over to take a look with a hint of anxiety.

The tribute courtyard is divided into East and West Wenchang. Cao Xiang and his brother are both in East Wenchang. There are 61 rooms in this row of examination halls, Cao Shuo is at No. 32 and Cao Xiang is at No. 41.

I just came in with my brother, and he was fine, but what's wrong now?

Cao Xiangben also hoped that he had listened to it or that the soldier had reported the wrong answer. But the facts were not satisfactory. The one surrounded by several soldiers was his brother Cao Shuo's examination room.

Cao Xiang was anxious and got up to the door, but it was locked outside and could not go out.

The examiner had already arrived in front of the examination room No. 32 and looked at it. He saw the examiner who fell to the ground with his chair, foaming at his mouth and twitching continuously.

The examiner looked at the lock on the examination room, but the lock could not be opened easily. The candidate who left the examination room lost his qualifications. He himself had been studying hard for ten years and knew the importance of the imperial examination to the scholars, so he couldn't make a decision on his own and leaned forward and called out, "Is this scholar important? Is it important?"

Perhaps his tongue was bitten, blood foam had appeared from the scholar's mouth on the ground, and a foul stinking came from the shed.

The examiner was startled, but he did not dare to delay any further. He quickly went to ask the examiner for instructions.

Those ordinary soldiers, seeing that the scholar had incontinence, rolled their eyes and vomited blood and foamed at the mouth, said, "Is this dead?"

The one said, "What a rare thing? How many people are there in this tribute court? Is it a pity that I don't have that wealthy life?"

When Cao Xiang heard this, he felt stormy in his heart. He knocked on the door hard, and leaned his head and said loudly: "Several officials, that's my brother. What's wrong with my brother?"

A soldier replied: "Looking at this posture, I'm so afraid of people. Whether it's good or not, the doctor will only know after seeing it."

When Cao Xiang heard this, he was so scared that his body trembled. Although he used to be more sensible, he was just a fourteen-year-old child after all.

He really couldn't figure out how his brother was fine just now, but he fell ill after falling ill. He was anxious, but he didn't know what to do.

Speaking of which, although Cao Song is the eldest brother in the second house, he is much older, and Cao Shuo is more caring for Cao Xiang on weekdays. Therefore, Cao Xiang is closer to this third brother in his heart.

Knowing that the third brother's homework was not good, Cao Xiang was a little worried before, for fear that he would not perform well in the exam. However, because his cousin repeatedly said that the imperial examination was nothing for a family like them, so that the two brothers should not take it too seriously, Cao Xiang was less worried.

Yes, even if I don’t pass the imperial examination, my brother’s future will be supported by my cousin. I don’t think I’m too concerned about fame and fortune.

Unexpectedly, this happened when I entered the examination room.

Cao Xiang's tears had already come out. He leaned his head and said to the soldiers: "Official, let me go out. My brother needs someone to take care of him."

When the soldier heard this, his head shook like a rattle and said, "How can it be so easy? The keys are all kept by the examiner. It will take three days to open the shed. Who can come out in advance?"

When Cao Xiang heard this, he became more anxious and said, "Then my brother...then my brother..."

Not only can I not leave the shed for three days, but the gate of the tribute courtyard was closed and it was not allowed to open after three consecutive exams. Thinking of this, Cao Xiang felt that his eyes were dark.

A soldier looked at Cao Xiang's age and felt a little worried when he saw that he was so anxious, and said, "Don't be too anxious, there is a doctor in this tribute school. The examiner went to ask the examiner for instructions. If the examiner agreed, he would carry your brother to treat him. You can't come out, so it's not that you are in vain, but you should answer the questions with peace of mind."

How could Cao Xiang feel at ease? He stuck his head out and waited for the examiner to come back.

After a while, the examiner came back quickly, followed by a doctor carrying a medicine box.

When he arrived at the examination room No. 32, the doctor looked at it. Seeing Cao Shuo's eyes turned pale, he said to the examiner: "Sir, it's not like a minor problem, open the shed!"

The examiner had already taken the key from the examiner and handed it to the soldiers, asking them to unlock the outside of the shed.

The doctor entered the examination room, looked at Cao Shuo's symptoms carefully, and then took the pulse. His face was a little heavy, and he said, "Sir, this scholar is very ill, carry it to the room there to line up."

The examiner nodded and asked the two soldiers to carry the people. Because Cao Shuo was incontinent, his clothes were dirty and his body was full of stench. The two soldiers reluctantly pulled their arms and legs and moved people out.

Cao Xiang kept staring at him. Seeing that his brother was being carried out unconsciously, he couldn't help it. He hurriedly reached out and whispered: "Sir, sir, that's a student brother. What's wrong with my brother? Let the student go out to take care of him!"

The examiner was upset because of such a thing in the examination room where he was responsible for. He heard Cao Xiang's loud voice and scolded: "No noise is allowed in the examination room!" After that, he kept walking forward.

When Cao Xiang saw that the examiner ignored him, the two soldiers who were dragging their brother were stumbling, causing their brother's arms and legs to hit the bluestone slabs on the ground from time to time. How could he not be in a hurry?

There was no way out. Cao Xiang shouted: "Sir, Heshuo's prince, the minister of Taipu Temple, Lord Cao is our brother, and we are from the Earl's Mansion. For the sake of being an official with the brother and the court, please let the students go out to take care of the brother!"

The examiner was just a small official of the Sixth Ministry. Although he did not know Cao Yong, he had to memorize the resumes of the officials of the Sixth Ministry and the Nine Ministers and the Office of the Department.

After hearing Cao Xiang's words, the examiner took out the list of the row of examination rooms from his waist. From top to bottom, he followed the 32nd order, and wrote "Cao Shuo, the student of Zhili, father, the late co-master Cao Quan; the ancestor, the late Minister of Works, Cao Xi; the great-grandfather, the late third-rank doctor of Guanglu Dafu and the fourth-level Cao Zhenyan

He looked down and went to No. 41. Except for the candidate's name being replaced with "Cao Xiang" and the year of donation being replaced with "Kangxi 49th year", other fathers, ancestors and great-grandfathers were the same as Cao Shuo.

Looking at the scholar's resume, these two young scholars were undoubtedly the cousins ​​of Cao Yong, the minister of Taipu Temple.

Thinking of this situation, the examiner was a little afraid of being self-disciplined and asked the two soldiers to carry Cao Shuo to the rows of rooms where the doctor was on duty. He himself rushed to the examiner's court again.

The chief examiner Xu Rixuan was dressed neatly and sat in the hall, listening to the examiners who came to report on the situation in various places in the examination room.

When Xu Rixuan heard that the scholar who had just reported was very sick, he couldn't help but frown. The gate of the tribute court will not be opened in a few days. Although the tribute court also has some common medicines, it is not as complete as outside.

However, this is impossible. He also went to another province as the chief examiner in his early years. He had never seen the scholar who died in the examination room, but he could only sigh.

The examiner hesitated and told about the identities of Cao Shuo and Cao Xiang brothers.

When Xu Rixuan heard this, he was a little surprised. The Cao family is a bannerman, a close minister of the emperor, and a relative of the royal family. Why should their disciples seek trouble to take the imperial examination?

He asked the examiner for the list of candidates, and when he saw that the two brothers were sixteen and the other was fourteen, he felt a little admiration. Not to mention the powerful families, even the children of ordinary scholarly families rarely took the exam at this age.

After thinking for a while, Xu Rixuan got up from her seat and said, "Let's go and take me over and take a look!"

I first arrived at the doctor's side. According to the doctor, there were some symptoms of epilepsy and also had emergency typhoid fever. Although there were some medicinal herbs in the tribute hospital, whether it could survive it depends on the fate of the scholar himself.

When Xu Rixuan heard this, he felt a little scruple and his expression became heavy. He said to the examiner: "Where is his brother in? Go and see!"

While talking, the group arrived at Dongwenchang again.

Cao Xiang stood at the entrance of the examination room, waiting for a long time. Seeing the examiner turn around, an official wearing a fourth-rank top dress followed behind him, and a little earnest appeared on his face.

Xu Rixuan stood in front of the examination room and asked, "Are you Cao Shuo's brother? Did you say you want to come out to take care of your brother?"

Seeing that his words were loose, Cao Xiang nodded quickly and said, "Yes, sir, the student is worried about his brother's illness and has no intention of taking the exam. He also asked mercy to let the student go out to take care of his brother." As he said that, he could no longer bow.

Because it was already bright, Xu Rixuan could also see the handwriting of the test paper on the table while she was putting the window.

Seeing that Cao Xiang was just a half-grown boy, but he knew that he loved his brother, Xu Rixuan also felt a little fond of him. Seeing that there were two lines of words written on the paper, he pointed and said, "Please bring that to me!"

After hearing this, Cao Xiang was puzzled, but he still respectfully picked up the test paper and delivered it to Xu Rixuan with both hands.
Chapter completed!