Great Song Dynasty Writer

Chapter 297: All the talents have arrived
Lu Beigu walked south through the crowd on East Street. The closer he got to the Ministry of Rites Examination Hall, the more figures carrying study bags or examination baskets appeared on the street. Most of these figures were silent, and no one could be heard talking except for the sound of their footsteps.

They were all walking in the same direction, so much so that they began to converge into a crowd.

An invisible tension permeated the air, and even the chill of the night of the fifteenth of the first lunar month in Kaifeng seemed to solidify, pressing heavily on the shoulders of everyone in the crowd.

Not far along, the imposing outline of the Ministry of Rites Examination Hall came into view amidst the swaying lantern lights.

A row of towering, dark walls stretched out in the field of vision, like a lurking giant beast.

Outside the wall, a newly erected thorny fence, taller than a person, completely surrounds the entire examination hall.

A large number of imperial guards, fully armored and in full helmets, stood like iron statues, expressionless, lined up along the thorny hedge.

Hundreds of candidates had already gathered in front of the tightly closed gates of the examination hall.

Moreover, it is visibly clear to the naked eye that as time goes by, more and more people gather.

The lantern's glow flickered in the cold wind, illuminating faces, young or no longer young—some anxious, some feigning composure, and some resting with their eyes closed.

Lu Beigu squeezed into the crowd, using his height advantage to scan the throng of heads. Soon, several familiar figures caught his eye.

In a relatively secluded spot in the crowd, the three Su brothers, along with Cheng Jianyong, Yang Yaozi, and other scholars from Meizhou, gathered together, but Cui Wenjing was nowhere to be seen.

"Mr. Mingyun! Brother Zizhan! Brother Ziyou! Brother Cheng! Brother Yang!"

Lu Beigu squeezed through and bowed in greeting.

Su Xun turned around upon hearing the voice, saw Lu Beigu, and smiled.

Su Shi leaned closer and asked, "Hey, did you go to see the lantern festival just now? Do you know who made that flying object by the Jinshui River?"

He seemed to be recovering well, although he was almost wrapped up like a ball to keep warm, but his eyes were bright.

Lu Beigu did not hide anything from him and said truthfully, "It was my idea, and Shen Kuo, a scholar from Qiantang, was in charge of making it. The purpose was to prove Zhang Zai's 'theory of the nature of qi' in Guanzhong."

"Oh? It was Brother Lu's idea?!" Su Shi was greatly surprised, then clapped his hands and exclaimed, "Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Using tangible objects to prove intangible principles! There is nothing better than this in the investigation of things and the extension of knowledge! Where is Zhang Zai now?"

"We split up on the riverbank earlier, he should arrive in a while."

Lu Bei replied, then glanced at Cheng Jianyong and the others: "Are you all ready?"

"That's about it." Cheng Jianyong patted his exam basket. "But the weather is really bitterly cold. I'm afraid we'll have to suffer a bit once we get to the cells."

As they were talking, a warm voice came from the side: "Tonight, truly a gathering of wise men."

Then Zeng Gong, along with Zeng Bu and several brothers-in-law and other family members, came over.

"Brother Mingyun."

“Brother Zigu.”

Su Xun and Zeng Gong first greeted each other, having already crossed paths several times over the past twenty years.

"It wasn't easy," Zeng Gong sighed.

Su Xun also sighed and said, "Ah, these old bones of mine, this is the last time I'll take the exam."

It must be said that the imperial examinations were indeed torturous.

Especially for elderly people like Su Xun, whose hometown was far from Kaifeng, the journey to Kaifeng alone was already exhausting. In addition, taking the exam for several days in the freezing cold of the first month of the lunar calendar was an even greater test of their physical strength.

"We were young once, but we're not young anymore."

Zeng Gong maintained his refined and modest demeanor, but his eyes betrayed a deep tension. For Su Xun, this was the last time, and for him as well, it was the same.
Twenty years of hard work should finally yield results.

The younger Zeng Bu and others beside him were mostly taking the Ministry of Rites provincial examination for the first time, so their expressions were even more tense.

Lu Beigu could even see that Zeng Bu's philtrum was trembling slightly, whether from nervousness or from the cold, he couldn't tell.

After speaking with Su Xun, Zeng Gong looked at Lu Beigu and said with concern, "Zihou mentioned the 'hot air balloon' to me before. This thing must have taken a lot of effort, right? The provincial examination is just around the corner, so don't let it cause any delays." "That's alright, thank you for your concern, Brother Zigu," Lu Beigu nodded.

He was too embarrassed to say that he had actually only contributed money twice as a sponsorship, and that Shen Kuo had spent time and energy handling the actual work.

After the conversation, Zeng Gong led his family to the location where Wang Shao and other Jiangxi scholars had gathered.

Further away from the Jiangxi scholars, many Fujian scholars also gathered together.

Lin Xi was talking with Lü Huiqing, Zhang Dun and others around him, his words full of confidence and high spirits.

Zhang Heng appeared very composed, simply listening quietly and occasionally interjecting a word or two.

On the contrary, Lü Huiqing seemed preoccupied, looking around, and it was unclear who he was looking for.

A little while later, Zhang Zai arrived.

He was carrying a large exam basket, which was bulging and clearly stuffed full of things.

"Brother Zihou!" Lu Beigu greeted.

Zhang Zai put down the examination basket, took a breath, and looked at Lu Beigu, saying, "Brother Lu, tonight's phenomenon is enough to awaken the world! 'The Great Void is Qi' is no empty saying!"

He was clearly very excited, even a little too excited to talk much.
However, Su Shi was very interested in this, and he stepped forward and said, "We saw it from afar and were amazed! If it weren't for the provincial examination, we would definitely want to learn more about the mysteries of 'qi'!"

"And who is this?" Zhang Zai asked.

Lu Beigu introduced him to the people from Sichuan.

Zhang Zai came to them and talked for a while, then went to the Cheng brothers' place.

Clearly, it's almost inevitable that test takers will group together based on their geographical location while waiting.

I don't know how long I waited.

"Boom-thump-thump-"

A deep and majestic drumbeat came from the depths of the examination hall.

"quiet!"

The previously buzzing crowd instantly fell silent.

"The door's about to open!" Cui Wenjing, who had just arrived, exclaimed nervously in a low voice, instinctively gripping the handle of the exam basket.

He had experienced this scenario many times before.

Lu Beigu glanced to the side and saw that even the usually carefree Su Shi had suppressed his smile, clearly indicating that this kind of major exam brought immense pressure.

"The examination hall is about to open! All candidates, line up in order of your number and wait for inspection!"

Surrounded by several Kaifeng Prefecture constables dressed in black robes and carrying fire and water sticks, a Ministry of Rites official ascended the stone steps in front of the gate and shouted loudly.

The number plate was the iron plate that candidates received when they came to the Ministry of Rites' examination hall to submit their petitions and family petitions; it had a serial number on it.

"Numbers one through ten, line up here!"

"Numbers 11 through 20 of the Heavenly Series"

Organized by the yamen runners, the candidates began to line up.

After an unknown amount of time, the sound of the heavy wooden bolt being pulled out came, sounding particularly clear in the quiet of the early morning.

"Squeak—creak—"

A tooth-grinding scraping sound rang out, and the gates of the examination hall were slowly pushed open under the watchful eyes of thousands of anxious people!

(End of this chapter)