Chapter 18: Boy Test
Time just ticks away slowly.
Mei Cheng'an wrote down the last word solemnly and let out a long breath. This was the end of his answers to the hundred questions on classics and history.
Looking at the densely packed and extremely beautiful words on the answer sheet, I felt very satisfied.
I looked at the light outside the examination room. It was now around four or five in the afternoon and the sun was about to set. This meant that there was still about an hour, or half an hour, before the end of the exam.
And he only had one poem left to write.
He put away the answer sheets, draft papers, and test questions for arithmetic and history questions, and put the poetry test questions in front of him again.
Mei Cheng'an closed his eyes, not feeling anxious or impatient. Instead, he silently recited the poem, not caring whether it was related to the question or not. He recited whatever he remembered. Until a certain moment, Mei Cheng'an opened his eyes, his eyes were bright and he picked up the pen and began to write on the answer sheet.
After writing, I put down my pen and looked at the poem in front of me with joy.
The poem says: A half-acre square pond opens like a mirror, with light from the sky and shadows of clouds wandering together.
I asked him where he could be so clear, for the source of fresh water.
He forgot who wrote it, and Mei Cheng'an didn't know whether the poem was in line with the theme, but it was the only poem he could remember in full that was related to the pond and that Fan Xian had not memorized.
After reading all the answer sheets from beginning to end, even the draft papers, and making sure that there were no low-level mistakes like not writing his name, Mei Cheng'an began to pack up.
After putting everything he brought except the test questions and answer sheets on the table into the book box, he closed his eyes and rested.
He didn't open his eyes until the bell rang. After the test papers were collected, he was the first to pick up his book box and walk out of the examination room.
Looking at the sunset outside the examination room, Mei Chengan stretched lazily.
When I walked out of Mingshan Academy, my father, mother, sister and four maids were already waiting there.
Mei Cheng'an stepped forward and bowed, and was about to talk about his exam results.
Mei Zhili stretched out his hand to stop him.
"No hurry, let's talk slowly when we get back."
The family got on the carriage and started heading back.
Everyone returned to the Mei Mansion. The mother and sister went back to the backyard, while Mei Cheng'an followed Mei Zhili into the study. After a while, Su Lishi also came over.
After everyone took their seats, Mei Chengan began to talk about his first test.
After hearing Mei Cheng'an talk about the difficulty of arithmetic, Su Lishi and Mei Zhili nodded in agreement, as they were also tortured by arithmetic problems in the past.
When they heard Mei Cheng'an talking about how his wrists ached from writing too much, they both laughed and said that they had gone through this themselves, and that it would get better when he grows up and he would get used to it in the future.
At the end, when Mei Zhili heard Mei Cheng'an talking about poetry and the poem he had written, his heart moved and he quickly made way for him to write it down himself.
Mei Cheng'an came to the desk, picked up the brush and wrote the poem again.
Every time he wrote a sentence, Mei Zhili and Su Lishi, who came over to read, would recite it in a low voice.
A half-acre pond is open like a mirror.
Sky light and cloud shadow hovering together.
How can the water be so clear?
For the source of living water.
"Good poem!" they said in unison, then looked at each other and then looked at Mei Chengan.
The two men's fiery gazes made Mei Chengan feel uncomfortable all over.
"It was also in the last minute before the end of the exam that a light bulb went off in my head. Did my father and teacher think this poem was well written?"
Mei Zhili said immediately: "This poem is more than just good, it is absolutely wonderful."
Sulishi closed his eyes and recited the poem silently, and a landscape painting appeared before his eyes.
The half-acre square pond opens like a mirror, with skylight and cloud shadows shining and floating on the water.
Su Lishi opened his eyes and said excitedly: "The most interesting part is the second half of the sentence. Why is the water in the pond so clear? It is because there is an inexhaustible source that continuously supplies it with fresh water. Thinking about it, I feel that the meaning is profound.
The pond is not a pool of stagnant water, but is often filled with fresh water. Therefore, it is as clear as a mirror, reflecting the light of the sky and the shadows of the clouds.
It's like every time I read something, I gain something, and when I look at the same problem again, I have a different understanding. I am the pond, and the books I read are the living water. Only by acquiring new knowledge can I avoid my thinking becoming rigid, stagnant, and becoming a stagnant pool of water. It's wonderful, really wonderful."
Mei Chengan silently gave a thumbs up, saying that you two are good at reading comprehension.
"It's not just me. I've also realized that the imperial court is just like this pond. Only by continuously bringing in new talents can we avoid the court from becoming lifeless and stagnant. Only then can we maintain the vitality of the court and ensure the vitality of Qing State!"
Su Lishi listened carefully and nodded frequently. After Mei Zhili finished speaking, he read the poem again and had a different understanding. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that the poem was profound. Mei Zhili felt the same way.
Mei Cheng'an looked left and right, hesitating whether to speak. He was hungry and wanted to eat.
Fortunately, a servant came to inform that dinner was ready. "An'er, go ahead. Your father seems to have gained something, but you still need to consider it."
"If the prefect does not mind, Su is willing to study with you."
"good!"
Mei Cheng'an came out of the study, and the bluebird appeared after he took a few steps.
"Ask someone to prepare some wine and food and send them over to my father and Mr. Su."
"Yes."
Mei Cheng'an returned to the inner courtyard and had dinner with his mother and sister.
After finishing his meal, Mei Cheng'an returned to his own courtyard, walked around the yard to help digest the food, and then lay on a recliner in a daze.
Today's experience did not make him feel good, but rather a little heavy. He inexplicably thought of Lin Qingyuan. He was not in the same examination room with him, so he didn't know how he did in the exam.
As Mei Cheng'an was thinking, he suddenly sat up. He almost forgot something. He quickly called Qingniao and told her about the promise he made to Lin Qingyuan today and asked her to make arrangements tomorrow.
If Lin Qingyuan really finds a shop, he will naturally get a job to learn from the shopkeeper. It depends on himself whether he can grasp the opportunity.
……
The official system of the Ministry of Rites of Qing Kingdom was roughly divided into one Minister of Rites, one left and one right Vice Minister, and four departments under it, namely the Department of Ceremonies, the Department of Sacrifices, the Department of Guests and Guests, and the Department of Fine Foods. Each department had one Langzhong, one Yuanwailang, one Zhushi, and fifteen Chengshilang.
The Ceremonial Department was in charge of the Qing Kingdom's imperial examinations.
The lights in the Ministry of Rites were still bright at this time, because they had to complete a series of tasks such as covering the names, transcribing, and marking the papers tonight, because the results would be announced early the next morning.
As for why he was so anxious, as mentioned earlier, the culture and virtues of Northern Qi flourished, while Qing was weak. Students of Qing were proud to be able to take part in the imperial examinations of Northern Qi. This resulted in a decreasing number of candidates from Qing taking part in its own imperial examinations every year. Emperor Qing was not happy about this, and he had a rage in his heart, but he didn't know who to vent it on, so after much deliberation, he chose the Ministry of Rites to be the scapegoat.
The original words were: "It's just a boy's test, there are only so many candidates, how long do you want to spend just to review the papers? One night! I will only give you one night!"
What else can the Ministry of Rites do? Just do it.
Back to the topic, in fact, the process of covering the names begins after the invigilator collects the test papers. The sealing officer covers the candidate's name, hometown and other information with red paper of uniform specifications.
After the names are covered, the next step is transcribing. Transcribing is not an easy task. A candidate's test paper has at least a thousand words. It would definitely be too late for the officials of the Ministry of Rites to do it alone, and they would not be able to finish transcribing it by hand.
The people actually responsible for transcribing were called transcribers. They were temporary workers recruited by the Ministry of Rites. Most of them were scholars from Kyoto. There were about 300 of them, and each transcriber only copied three test papers at most.
Transcribers were not allowed to bring pens and ink into the Ministry of Rites. They had to use red pens and cinnabar provided by the Ministry of Rites to transcribe. The test papers they were responsible for transcribing would be randomly assigned.
After each copy is completed, a special person will collect the test paper and send it to the proofreader for proofreading.
After proofreading, it will be sent to the examiner.
Each transcriber and proofreader will leave his or her name and hometown on the back of the copied test paper to facilitate future reference and accountability.
The person in charge of marking the papers is the undertaker of the Ministry of Rites. This step is not just the responsibility of the Department of Ceremonial Affairs, but the sixty undertakers from the four departments of the Ministry of Rites will jointly mark the papers. Each undertaker will mark fifteen test papers.
The marking speed is very fast. After each examiner finishes marking the part he is responsible for, he will pass it to the person next to him for review to avoid misjudgment.
After reviewing, each examiner will collect the excellent papers and the papers with fair judgments in his hands and hand them over to the examiner of the current boy's examination, the examiner of the ceremonial department, the deputy examiner, and one of the three persons in charge.
The chief examiner will roughly go through the excellent papers received and write the acceptance personally. He mainly judges the controversial papers and makes judgments, and writes the corresponding acceptance or rejection.
At this point, the marking work is basically completed.
After the marking is completed, the original papers will be retrieved according to the admitted papers, the candidate information will be found out, the list will be filled out, and then it will be posted outside the Ministry of Rites for the announcement of the results. The main work of the Ministry of Rites has been completed.
During this process, Mei Cheng'an's poem "Why is the water so clear? Because it comes from a source of fresh water" as expected caused a sensation in the Ministry of Rites. At first, because it was copied anonymously, no one knew who wrote it, and people's discussions were basically focused on the poem. Later, when the original scroll was retrieved, it was discovered that the author of this wonderful poem was the ten-year-old son of Mei Zhili, the prefect of Kyoto.
When the first call of the child prodigy was made, many people followed suit, and the child prodigy was called out like this in the Ministry of Rites and Ceremonies.
The next morning, after many officials from the Ministry of Rites had reported for duty, the news of the child prodigy spread throughout the Ministry. By the time the Minister of Rites Guo Youzhi slowly arrived at the Ministry, the name of the child prodigy had already been heard everywhere.
Seeing that the Shangshu looked puzzled, someone stepped forward to explain.
Guo Youzhi was also a little puzzled after hearing this. He didn't inspect the boy test this time, but a child prodigy was born? Could that old man Mei Zhili also give birth to such a smart son? Why didn't he believe it?
But it is indeed a good poem.
I asked him where he could be so clear, for the source of fresh water.
Wonderful! Very wonderful!
Guo Youzhi thought for a moment, then ordered someone to bring the prodigy's original scroll, rolled it up and tucked it into his sleeve.
"Someone, come quickly, I want to enter the palace."
(End of this chapter)
