Great Song Dynasty Writer

Chapter 296 The Longest Night Before Dawn

"Brother Cunzhong, come down quickly! It's getting late!"

Lu Beigu shouted at Shen Kuo, who was suspended in mid-air, but his voice was almost drowned out by the clamor of the crowd.

Shen Kuo was engrossed in recording observation data when he was suddenly awakened by Lu Beigu's shout.

Looking down from his vantage point, he saw several more officials from Kaifeng Prefecture, dressed in black robes and carrying swords at their waists, struggling to push through the growing crowd and approaching them with serious expressions.

The official leading the group was the same Kaifeng Prefectural Magistrate who had just visited.

Clearly, his visit this time was not just to inquire as before, but to call for a halt.

"We have been ordered by the Prefect of Bao to prepare ourselves immediately and not cause any further trouble! We are strictly forbidden from taking to the air again! Tonight is the Lantern Festival, a time for all people to celebrate. We must ensure your safety!"

As expected, what the other party said was exactly what I had predicted.

Although the benevolent official didn't say anything, Bao Zheng, as the prefect of Kaifeng, must have felt pressure on such an important day. Therefore, they decided that the hot air balloon should only take off for a short while and should not continue.

"Yes! Yes! We students will obey Your Excellency's orders! We will clean up immediately and dare not cause any further trouble!"

Having achieved his goal, Zhang Zai readily agreed.

"Hurry up!" The judge glanced around again, leaving two constables to supervise, before turning and leaving with the others.

They still have a lot to do to ensure that nothing goes wrong during the Lantern Festival.

"Quick! Old Liu, get ready to reel in the rope!" Shen Kuo immediately shouted to Old Liu, the craftsman in charge of the rope on the ground, and quickly adjusted the furnace fire to reduce the heat.

The enormous balloon began to descend steadily and slowly, pulled by the ropes.

The crowd on the ground stirred again, retreating to make way for the enormous creature.

With a soft "thump," the basket landed steadily on the thick sand pile that had been laid out beforehand.

Shen Kuo nimbly flipped out of the hanging basket, his face still flushed, whether from the cold or the heat, it was hard to tell.

The surrounding crowd, still buzzing with discussion, all turned their attention to Shen Kuo.

—This person just came down from the sky!

Lu Beigu then said, "Brother Cunzhong, you and Lao Liu should quickly disassemble and pack the balloon, skeleton, and furnace, and make sure they are securely tied before transporting them back. Brother Zihou, we'll help!"

"it is good!"

Upon hearing Lu Beigu's words, Shen Kuo immediately took action, directing the craftsmen to disassemble the rattan frame and carefully fold the three layers of plain silk pouch.

Zhang Zai quickly stepped forward and helped Lu Beigu tidy up the scattered ropes and tools.

The curious crowd was still watching, but when they saw the yamen runners from Kaifeng Prefecture watching from the side and saw them dismantling the lanterns, the discussions gradually subsided, and most people began to follow the crowd towards Xuande Tower to admire the more spectacular lantern display on Aoshan Mountain.

After a flurry of activity, the giant hot air balloon was finally disassembled, packed into several large packages, and then transported back to the donkey cart and secured.

The roads are very congested now, and the outer city gates are closed, so it's definitely impossible to transport them back to Hongqiao. It won't be until dawn tomorrow.

However, Shen Kuo had already arranged with Old Liu that these things would be left here for now, and Old Liu would help transport them back to his rented house in Hongqiao tomorrow.

At this moment, even louder music and thunderous shouts of "Long live the Emperor!" came from the direction of Xuande Tower.

—It's obviously time for everyone's favorite part: sending red envelopes.

Every year at this time, the emperor would personally sprinkle money down from Xuande Gate.

However, this excitement was no longer relevant to the three of them. They had more important matters to attend to next: the provincial examination administered by the Ministry of Rites.

Although the provincial examination of the Ministry of Rites was scheduled to begin on the morning of the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, the examination hall of the Ministry of Rites opened its doors at the hour of Chou (1-3 AM) on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month.

This arrangement was made because there were a particularly large number of students taking the exam.

In the Song Dynasty, there were 400 military prefectures and counties. Generally speaking, each prefecture would be allocated four to six quotas for the provincial examinations. Therefore, each time the Ministry of Rites held its provincial examinations, there would be more than two thousand candidates from all over the country.

For these two thousand-plus people, the body searches alone take up a lot of time, leaving the candidates with no time to sleep and forcing them to prepare to enter the examination hall in the early hours of the morning.

Therefore, many people bring their exam supplies to the Lantern Festival and then go directly to the Ministry of Rites Examination Hall.

Lu Beigu looked up at the sky, then listened intently to the faint sound of the night watchman's drum coming from afar; it was almost midnight.

"Brother Cunzhong, Brother Zihou, let's go back and pack our things separately. The Ministry of Rites Examination Hall will open in an hour or so."

Zhang Zai and Shen Kuo were abruptly pulled from their elation at the successful launch of the hot air balloon by his reminder.

“Yes! The provincial examination is the most important!” Zhang Zai nodded repeatedly.

Lu Beigu reminded them, "Prepare bedding, food, a heater, and so on. Also, make sure you have all the writing implements you need. I'm just passing by; the Imperial College is very close to the Examination Hall. You two will probably have to make your way there for a while."

The provincial examination held by the Ministry of Rites in the capital was completely different from the prefectural examination held in Luzhou.

Luzhou is a wealthy city, so the state government paid for all the supplies for the candidates during the exams to completely prevent cheating, reduce the workload of searches, and save candidates' time.

However, the central government of the Song Dynasty was in dire financial straits and had no intention of covering the expenses for the more than two thousand candidates, including bedding, writing implements, food, and heating supplies. Therefore, they opted to send more people to conduct a thorough search. In any case, for the court, manpower used for short periods was the cheapest option. If the yamen runners in Kaifeng Prefecture were insufficient, there were also the Imperial Guards. They could have as many people as they needed, and it was all just a matter of a word.

After all, they're just sitting around doing nothing anyway.

Shen Kuo pointed to the donkey cart and said, "All my things are here. I'll watch the lantern festival for a while longer, and then I'll go over by myself in a bit."

“Okay, I’ll head back now. I need to get ready,” Zhang Zai said.

“Okay!” Lu Beigu nodded.

After successfully completing the great feat of carrying people into the air in a hot air balloon, the three men said nothing more.

Lu Beigu and Zhang Zai squeezed into the still surging but now diverging crowds of festival people, heading in different directions.

After walking a long way, Lu Beigu returned to the desolate and cold Imperial Academy.

The prison was silent and empty, devoid of any human presence, with only a few lonely lanterns swaying in the cold wind, casting long, flickering shadows on the bluestone slabs.

He returned to his small courtyard, where his exam supplies had already been prepared and placed in a large bamboo basket.

Besides the Four Treasures of the Study, there was also a large bag of sesame cakes that could be stored for a long time, several pieces of salted dried meat wrapped in oil paper, and several gourds of water.

In addition, there was a palm-sized copper hand warmer with a lid, which already contained charcoal cakes for starting a fire, and a leather bag containing several candles, a flint and steel, and other items.

After checking and confirming that everything was in order, he slung the bundled bedding over his shoulder and then picked up the somewhat heavy exam basket.

After taking one last look at the room, Lu Beigu turned around and strode out without hesitation, closing the door behind him.

The heavy wooden door creaked shut, leaving the small space that had held him through dozens of long, cold nights of studying behind him in the boundless darkness.

Outside the gate, the distant hustle and bustle of the city could be faintly heard, but only the sound of his firm footsteps echoed on the road from the Imperial College to the Ministry of Rites Examination Hall.

This is the longest night before dawn.

(End of this chapter)