Great Song Dynasty Writer

Chapter 109 You're Really Real!

Meanwhile, in the library of the Luzhou Prefectural School.

Because Lu Beigu successfully answered the question in the "Floating Wine Cups on a Winding Stream" segment at the welcoming gathering, he was granted the opportunity to borrow books from the first to third floors of the library for one day.

Meanwhile, the winner of the welcoming gathering will also have the opportunity to borrow books from the fourth floor of the library for three days.

In preparation for the upcoming dormitory assignment exam in a few days, Lu Beigu was determined to use both opportunities without hesitation.

After all, his goal was to at least get into the middle-level dormitory, which was quite a difficult goal. The Luzhou Prefectural School had been established for twelve years, and it began organizing dormitory-assignment exams in its fourth year. Every year thereafter, three students who ranked first in the county exams entered the prefectural school. Of these twenty-four students, only four were able to enter the middle-level dormitory in the first dormitory-assignment exam.

Although almost all the top scorers in the county examinations eventually get into the middle-level academy, they usually have to spend one or two years honing their skills in the lower-level academy.

The clerk in charge of managing the library was, as was customary, to inspect the entire library during the students' lunch break.

The clerk went up to the third floor and looked around. According to the rules, only students of the upper dormitory could enter and borrow books. However, the upper dormitory students had a very heavy workload, so compared with the first and second floors, there were usually fewer people on the third floor.

However, just when the clerk thought the third floor was empty, he suddenly heard a faint sound of pages turning in the corner.

He looked in the direction of the sound and saw a young man hunched over a desk by the window, holding a steamed bun in one hand and rapidly turning the pages of a book with the other.

The rule of the Luzhou Prefectural School Library is that if a student from a certain prefecture is not qualified to borrow books on that floor, but has obtained the qualification through other means, then he or she can register and go to borrow them.

The time is calculated from the time of registration.

If you have a full day, you can choose to stay inside all day, or you can choose to go out for a meal or take a nap in between. However, the time spent outside will still be counted in the total time.

In short, there are only twelve two-hour periods; how to use them is up to the students themselves.

The reason why the borrowing qualification of the state school library can be given as a reward is that the most important item inside is not the books, but the exam questions.

This collection not only contains all the exam questions and detailed answers from the Luzhou Prefectural School over the past twelve years, but also includes exam questions from other prefectural schools, such as Meizhou, Rongzhou, and Jiazhou, as well as questions from joint exams organized by the four prefectures over the years.

This is exactly what Lu Beigu needs most.

In reality, for him, continuing to bury himself in studying was far less efficient than doing intensive practice problems.

Because in his bottleneck period, Lu Beigu could not achieve any new breakthroughs by simply reading books on topics such as the Spring and Autumn Annals; on the contrary, the problems that troubled him only accumulated.

Having the opportunity to practice coding problems at this time can actually help him break through his bottleneck.

After all, thoroughly understanding past exam questions basically means understanding the important test points and the teachers' opinions on certain controversial questions.

At this moment, on the table in front of Lu Beigu, the collection of questions had been mostly turned over, and there were several books stacked next to it, with notes with the ink still wet densely packed on the edges of the paper.

Although he couldn't take the books and past exam papers from the library, he could take his own transcribed content and notes.

As the clerk approached, he noticed that the steamed bun had long since cooled down and was dry without a trace of oil. Lu Beigu, however, seemed oblivious, only occasionally taking a mechanical bite while keeping his eyes fixed on the pages of his book. Even his chewing appeared absent-minded, almost as if he had accidentally dipped the bun in ink.

"This student, it's time to go eat," the clerk couldn't help but remind him.

Upon hearing this, Lu Beigu finally raised his head, his eyes still somewhat dazed, as if he had just been pulled away from the world of the book.

He paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Thanks for reminding me, I'll do it now."

Before he could finish speaking, his gaze involuntarily fell back onto the pages of the book.

The clerk shook his head, and seeing his appearance, said nothing more, silently retreating.

As he was leaving, he noticed an empty water pouch next to Lu Beigu's inkstone—clearly, the boy couldn't bear to waste even the time to fetch water, and was eating it with dry biscuits instead.

The clerk took his water bag, went downstairs to fill it with some lukewarm water, and then went down to the third floor to put it back on.

The midday sun blazed outside the window, and cicadas chirped incessantly, yet Lu Beigu's figure remained as still as a statue. Only the turning of pages and the picking up of his notebook proved that time was still passing. Soon, twelve hours had passed.

The next day, Lu Beigu, who had stayed up all night, returned to dormitory "Lower Dormitory No. 7" before dawn with his notes.

Actually, he had to explain to the teaching assistant in charge of the dormitory at the door before he was allowed in.

“How annoying.”

Lu Beigu shook his head, the unpleasantness immediately gone.

For him, borrowing and practicing questions on the third floor of the library was very helpful. Many questions he had accumulated while reading "The Compilation of the Spring and Autumn Annals" and the Taishan-style handwritten edition of "The Insights into the Respect for the King in the Spring and Autumn Annals" were not answered by his classmates, but they were clearly explained in the past exam questions and corresponding answers.

Lu Beigu vaguely sensed that the serious bottleneck he had been stuck in due to a lack of educational resources seemed to be showing signs of a breakthrough.

"After reviewing some more, I'll go check out the fourth floor of the library. Maybe that will break through this bottleneck completely. I wonder what good things the fourth floor will have."

At Luzhou State School, even students in the upper dormitory cannot access the fourth floor for borrowing books. Only for certain special events will the right to borrow books from the fourth floor be given as a reward.

Lu Beigu had specifically gone to check it out; there was a locked door on the staircase leading to the fourth floor, which was not usually open to the public.

It was precisely because of this mystery that Lu Beigu was so curious.

But there's no doubt there's something valuable inside, otherwise it wouldn't be guarded so strictly. It's just that he doesn't know what it is, and even when he asked Han Ziyu, Han Ziyu wasn't quite sure either.

At this moment, the three roommates, Lu Guangyu, Huang Jingji, and Zhu Zhen, were all sleeping in the dormitory.

During the period leading up to the dormitory assignment exam, these freshmen attended classes with the students in their assigned dormitories.

Because the placement exam is important for all state students, the state school did not schedule a lot of classes during these ten days, but instead had plenty of free time to review.

This depends entirely on the students' willpower and self-discipline. Of course, there are also quite a few students in the lower dormitories who just give up.

However, Lu Beigu had classes today, and he certainly wouldn't skip them. He found the full twelve hours to go to the library by following the schedule.

After a short nap, Lu Beigu felt that he had only dozed off for a short while when Lu Guangyu woke him up.

"Brother Lu, it's time to have breakfast and go to class."

"Okay." With immense willpower, Lu Beigu struggled to crawl out of bed.

"Did you stay up all night reading?" Lu Guangyu asked, noticing Lu Beigu's dark circles.

"Yes, it's a rare opportunity."

After hearing this, the three roommates fell silent.

Goodness, you're really curly!
There's a traitor among us who secretly stole the money behind our backs!
What classes are we having today?

"Staying up late still affected Lu Beigu's brain," he asked somewhat dazedly.

"Today is a supplementary lesson. We'll be rotating through governing the people, military affairs, water management, and calendar calculations. Let me see. Today it's time for military affairs."

In addition to regular main courses such as poetry, the Nine Classics, history, famous objects, calligraphy, and etiquette, Luzhou Prefectural School also has some supplementary courses.

The system of combining main courses and supplementary courses in state schools was first created by Hu Yuan, one of the "Three Masters of the Early Song Dynasty," at the Huzhou State School, and has been basically popularized in state schools throughout the Song Dynasty in recent years.

"Military training?"

Lu Beigu immediately perked up.

(End of this chapter)