Great Song Dynasty Writer

Chapter 306 The authorities are obsessed with it
The next day.

Lu Beigu visited Song Xiang in the morning, recited the questions and answers from the Ministry of Rites provincial examination, and listened to the teacher's comments.

Regarding the content of the first day's exam, he must have gotten all the questions on the classics of calligraphy right, and he also did very well on the questions on the meaning of ink. Moreover, because he avoided a very subtle trap question, his score will probably be very high.

As for poetry, Lu Beigu's talent was still lacking. He could write anything, and he was considered excellent compared to most candidates, but he was still inferior to the top ones.

However, Song Xiang affirmed his exceptional performance in writing "Ode to Ensuring People's Persistence Through Change" on the afternoon of the second day, believing that as long as the examiners graded the paper normally, he could easily get the highest score.

On the morning of the third day, Lu Beigu was already good at the current affairs strategy exam. In addition, thanks to Song Xiang's accurate prediction of the questions, he had prepared for four of the five questions in advance. Moreover, Song Xiang had personally refined the answers for him. So, he basically just memorized the answers, which had nothing to do with his exam performance. He was bound to stand out.

On the contrary, Lu Beigu was slightly disappointed with his historical essays. Whether it was due to the weather or his condition, in short, although they were well written, they were slightly inferior to his most perfect historical essays.

Song Xiang disagreed with this, arguing that since Lu Beigu's "On the Middle Tang Dynasty" was written under such high pressure and in extremely poor physical condition, it could not be compared with articles written when he was in good health and full of energy.

The original words of this Prime Minister Song were: "It has been snowing heavily for days, and the weather is freezing cold. What is the difference between being in an examination room with one door open and being outdoors? Who can write a good essay after being outdoors for two days in the cold? At that time, my mind was stiff. In addition, the provincial examination is already stressful. Under such circumstances, it is already difficult to perform at 60 or 70% of my full strength. Why be so demanding of myself? If you are affected, won't others be affected as well? The essays written by others will certainly not be as good as usual."

Lu Beigu didn't know if this made sense, but he was somewhat blinded by his own involvement, because the information he had always received was that "the Ministry of Rites provincial examination is not an exam to compare the worst, but to select the best of the best."

However, this year is a bit special. Since the Qingli era, candidates for the provincial examination of the Ministry of Rites have never encountered a snowy day for the exam. Or rather, Kaifeng doesn't usually get much snow, but in recent years the winter temperatures have started to get colder and colder.

Therefore, everyone's performance in this year's provincial examination by the Ministry of Rites will definitely be severely affected, and the results will be highly unpredictable.

However, after listening to Song Xiang's analysis, Lu Beigu felt that even if that historical essay did not receive the highest grade, it would still rank very high among all the candidates.

He felt much more at ease and arrived at Hongqiao in the afternoon.

Upon arriving at the tofu shop, Lu Beigu quickly got to work for a while.

He helped his sister Lu Nanzhi remove the empty boards, then brought out several boards of still-warm tofu and arranged them neatly, before wiping the water stains off the cutting board.

Jia An sat on a small stool to the side, holding a primer, reciting it with a vague understanding, occasionally looking up curiously at his busy uncle.

Lu Nanzhi straightened up, wiped her hands with her apron, and then reached back and pressed hard on her lower back.

Because of years of hard work, her back is severely worn out and she often experiences soreness, especially when lifting things.

She opened her mouth, seemed hesitant, but finally asked, "Bei Gu, how did you do in the Ministry of Rites provincial examination? Are you confident about your results? When will the results be released?"

Lu Nanzhi's voice was tense; she had wanted to ask this question earlier.

Although my younger brother is still young, sometimes missing out on something as important as passing the imperial examination can completely change the course of one's life.

Lu Beigu hung the cloth on the pole next to him, turned around and said, "Don't worry, sister. The test questions were all within what I had learned. I answered them fairly smoothly. As for the results, according to past practice, it will be around the beginning of February. There is still some time."

The provincial examination administered by the Ministry of Rites involved more than two thousand people. In addition, the grading of papers required meticulous attention. Therefore, even if a group of examiners were locked in the examination hall working overtime, it would still take more than ten days to finish grading all the papers.

His tone was calm, neither overly arrogant nor discouraged, which made people feel at ease.

Upon hearing this, Lu Nanzhi breathed a sigh of relief, her brows relaxing: "That's good, that's good. You should rest well these days and don't worry about me. It's already exhausting for me to manage all the studying on my own, and you should relax even more after the exams are over."

Just then, a man came onto the street. He wasn't a customer who came to buy tofu, but Shen Kuo.

"Sorry for bothering you."

He first bowed to Lu Nanzhi, then turned to Lu Beigu and said, "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

"What's wrong?" Lu Beigu asked curiously.

Zhang Zihou said he went to the Imperial College this morning but couldn't find you, so he guessed you were here.

"What about the others?"

"I've walked so far and I'm exhausted. I can't walk anymore, so I'm resting at my place. I asked you to come and find me."

Lu Beigu was both amused and exasperated upon hearing this. Zhang Zai was being far too frugal. As the saying goes, "It's not cold when it snows, but it's cold when the snow melts." Today's temperature was even lower than yesterday's. In this kind of weather, he had to walk through the snow from the city to the outside. It would probably take him almost an hour. It would be strange if he wasn't tired.

However, he also knew that Zhang Zai was not the kind of person who would come to chat with him when he had nothing better to do.

Since they are in such a hurry to find him, there must be something on their mind.

Lu Beigu has already helped his sister with a lot of work, so there's nothing else at the tofu shop that he needs to help with for the time being.

"Sister, I'm going over there."

Although Lu Nanzhi was reluctant to part with her younger brother, she knew he must have something important to do, so she quickly nodded and said, "Be careful on the road, and we'll have dinner when we get back."

"got it."

Lu Bei responded and left the tofu shop with Shen Kuo, blending into the bustling crowd by the Rainbow Bridge.

He had previously visited Shen Kuo's residence with Zhang Zai.

However, he wasn't very familiar with the terrain around Hongqiao, so he didn't really have a feel for the location. After walking around again this time, he discovered that it wasn't far from his sister's tofu shop, but it was rather secluded, a quiet oasis in the bustling city.

The courtyard was still filled with those strange instruments and unfinished models, and dried herbs hung under the eaves.

Zhang Zai was lying on Shen Kuo's bed without any airs, and only managed to sit up when he heard footsteps.

"I'm sorry to have disturbed your rest," Shen Kuo joked.

"Oh dear, my legs are so cold they're going to go numb. I'll have to borrow your precious bed to warm them up a bit," Zhang Zai said with a wry smile.

"Alright, don't get up."

Shen Kuo waved his hand, then pulled Lu Beigu to sit down on the stool opposite the bed.

Shen Kuo skillfully poked at the fire in the charcoal brazier to make the room warmer, and asked, "Brother Zihou, to be honest, I don't understand you. You're exhausted from the provincial examination, why didn't you rest for a couple more days? Why did you rush out here today?"

(End of this chapter)