Great Song Dynasty Writer

Chapter 28: Rare Luxury
As I said before, in the county school examinations, no matter what the subject is, unless the performance is extremely excellent, you will not be given an A grade!

An A-low score is basically equivalent to a full score, and if you can get an A-medium score, it is an extra reward for those who are extremely outstanding.

So, generally speaking, a grade B+ is roughly equivalent to 90 points.

By analogy, a grade of B-medium is about 75 points, a grade of B-low is 60 points to pass, and a grade of C is a failing level.

For subjects like copying scriptures that require memorization and filling in the blanks, because the difficulty is relatively low, generally speaking, most students can get a grade of B or below as long as they score 6 out of 10.

But Mo Yi is different. The contents of "Spring and Autumn Annals" and "Book of Rites" are long and complicated, and the error rate when answering questions is quite high.

Therefore, for the vast majority of candidates, Mo Yi's grades are failing, that is, C.

As long as you can pass the exam and get a grade of B-low, you will be ranked in the top 20 among the 220 students in Hejiang County.

Although there was too much content and even Lu Beigu could not study all the vast review materials related to "Spring and Autumn Annals" and "Book of Rites" in a short period of time, he had made great progress compared to before and had certain answering skills, so he successfully obtained a Mo Yi score of B below.

In addition, Lu Beigu's accuracy rate in filling in the blanks in the scriptures was very high, so his overall score in this ten-day test was among the top ten in the county school!

"What was Lu Beigu's score on the last ten-day test?"

The students were whispering and asking each other.

"I think I was ranked in Tiejing C-medium, Moyi C-lower, and ranked 198th."

"In such a short time, he went from 198th to 9th?"

The buzzing sound of discussions in the study room was like a hornet's nest that had been blown up. Several students in the back row stretched their necks forward, as if to confirm whether they had heard the name wrongly.

Hearing this, He Cong suddenly clenched the paper on his desk, and the paper crumpled into a ball between his fingers.

He stared intently at the straight figure in front of him - Lu Beigu's linen clothes looked particularly dazzling among the many silks.

"It must have been a fluke." The student named Liu, who sat to He Cong's right, lowered his voice. "It was just rote memorization of the Analects. Mo Yi only just reached the lower B level. The gap widens as you go up. The top 10 and the top 5 are completely different. There's no way they can get into the provincial school."

This is actually true.

Because in the county school, there is actually a huge gap between the top students.

For example, in the 40-question weekly test of copying scriptures, if you only get 2-3 questions wrong, you can still get a score of B or above, and then you have a chance to make it into the top 10.

But the top 5 basically did not make any mistakes, or only made one mistake. The gap is self-evident.

Of course, the scriptures cannot be separated.

The subjects that can increase scores the most, besides policy essays, are Mo Yi.

Normally speaking, if the new county magistrate Li Pan had not had the whim to give the test a tricky topic like "Strategies for Defending Against Summer", He Cong and other top students in the county school would have been able to get a grade of B-low or B-medium by simply quoting from classics and memorizing templates to write down other policy essay topics.

Mo Yi, on the other hand, is their key scoring item.

Because Mo Yi is a subject that requires a lot of books, and using books means using money.

Whoever has more money can buy good books on Moyi analysis and Moyi real questions for extensive study and training, and can afford to hire a good teacher to give private lessons and targeted explanations. Over the years, he will get higher Moyi scores, which is inevitable.

Therefore, for example, the top five students in the county school, Mo Yi, often managed to get into B-level middle school, or even B-level upper. Although they were all B-level, the gap between B-level lower and B-level middle school was truly enormous. As for B-level middle school, getting to B-level upper school was even more difficult without years of hard work.

But even so, He Cong was still defeated.

Because someone whispered, "But he went from C to B in just ten days."

"Shut up!" He Cong squeezed out two words from between his teeth.

At this moment, a trace of fear appeared in his heart.

Although the gap between the top 10 and the top 5 is huge, who can say for sure that Lu Beigu can move up from 198th to 9th in just over ten days, but will not be able to move from 9th to the top 5 in the next nearly two months?

He Cong was so upset that he didn't even want to eat after the exam, so he simply went back to his own restaurant to drink.

Lu Beigu came to the dining room for lunch.

Generally speaking, he eats the same lunch as most county school students, which is a combination of "wheat rice + vegetable soup + pickles". Although this set meal cannot be said to be very delicious, it can be eaten for free every day.

Because most county schools in Sichuan have their own school fields, the bulk of the income from the school fields is used for "school food", ensuring that poor students studying in county schools can have a full meal at noon every day and maintain the most basic vital signs.

Of course, in addition to the fixed set meals, the restaurant also has some stir-fries. The vegetarian dishes are basically mustard greens, cabbage, and leeks stir-fried together. Eggs are definitely not added. If spring bamboo shoots are used, the price will generally be 2-3 copper coins more expensive.

As for meat dishes, they are usually not fried much, but mostly appear in the form of soups, for example, mutton steamed buns are mutton noodle soup, and mutton tangtang is mutton thick soup.

"Brother Lu, this way!"

Lu Guangyu waved at the square table in the corner. In front of him was a bowl of meat balls with an attractive sheen of oil.

Lu Beigu walked over quickly and placed the tray gently on the table.

The mutton soup is served in a coarse earthenware bowl. The soup is thick and milky white, with a few pieces of dogwood floating on it, exuding a spicy aroma. Next to it is a bowl of snow-white tofu, a bowl of wheat rice, and a small glutinous rice cake with a slightly browned surface.

Well, tofu has become a popular food in the Song Dynasty.

"Wow, 14 cents plus 4 cents plus 2 cents plus 2 cents, that's 22 cents. Brother Lu has invested a lot of money today!"

Zhang Sheng widened his eyes, chopsticks hanging in the air, staring at the bowl of mutton soup and swallowing his saliva.

"It's a rare luxury." Lu Beigu smiled.

Meat is expensive, but it is necessary for nutritional supplementation.

After all, he is still in the last two years of his growth.

As for today's ten-day test, although Lu Beigu felt that his performance was not perfect, it was not too bad after all, so he might as well reward himself.

He also believes that with his continuous efforts, not only will he be able to eat meat in the future, but his family will also be able to eat meat with him!

He poured the distinct grains of wheat rice into the mutton soup and stirred it with a wooden spoon. The rice grains gradually absorbed the soup and became plump and crystal clear. The spicy taste of dogwood mixed with the mellow aroma of mutton hit his face, making his stomach gurgle unconsciously.

(End of this chapter)