Patriarch, he doesn't want to take the imperial examinations

Chapter 76

In late spring and March, it is the season when the apricot blossoms in the Northland are blooming, and the rankings are released every time there is an examination, so the examination list is also called the apricot list.

In the morning, Mengzhen and Mengze talked a few words in the yard. The wedding date was approaching, and Mengze still had a lot of things to prepare, but Mengzhen didn't keep him, and asked him to go on his own.

Because of his father's words that healed his leg, Mengze was absent-minded all morning.

He is a doctor, and his own leg is very clear. The tendons on the leg have long been necrotic. Even if Hua Tuo is reincarnated and Bian Que is reborn, there is no hope of healing. How could his father dare to swear such a thing.

Is there any mystery in this?

Mengze thought about it all morning and couldn't figure it out, and he was still in a state of anxiety when he came to his father's room for dinner at noon.

"Third brother, why don't you eat?" It was Meng Che who spoke, and picked up a chopsticks dish for his brother by the way.

Mengze's crippled leg, although not because of Meng Che, is inseparably related to his own mother, so every time he faces his third brother, Meng Che more or less has a little feeling in his heart. guilt.

It is precisely because of this that he loves his third brother very much, and when he is in contact with his brother in daily life, he also does his best to care for others meticulously.

Of course Mengze also knew the intention of Meng Che to do this, but he wanted to make up for the harm his mother caused him back then.

If this matter was in the past, when Meng Che was so "flattering" to him, he would have pushed him away calmly.

However, today is different, after these years of being warm with his family, he has already let go of the grudges in his heart, slowly accepting his father and the unhappiness in the past, and he does not hate and dislike Meng Che as much as before.

In life, one must always look forward. If he is stuck in the pain of the past and cannot extricate himself, in the end the pain will be suffered by himself, and his family will not feel good.

"Oh..." Mengze sighed old-fashionedly, "Eat it." By the way, he also gave Meng Che back a few pieces of meat.

Meng Che was overwhelmed by his brother's chopsticks. He didn't even have time to swallow the food in his mouth. He was so happy that he nodded and said "hmm".

"Third brother, I want it too." At this moment, Meng Yuan pushed the small bowl towards Meng Ze, staring at the few pieces of red meat in Meng Che's bowl. If the fourth brother has some, he can't miss it.

At such a young age, with this "jealous" heart, Mengze felt amused in his heart, filling up the bowl for him, and with a quick push, the bowl returned to Meng Yuan.

Meng Yuan entered the school last fall, and was not used to crying at first, and he got better after persisting for a while.

Now that he has been in school for half a year, the first thing he does when he comes back from school every day is to go to his father's room to report on the school situation, and then the family sits together for dinner.

"What about the second brother, why haven't you come back?" Meng Yuan asked while eating.

"Second brother went to the capital to show dad the list, and he won't be back until the afternoon," Mengze said.

"My sister-in-law didn't come either." Meng Yuan said again.

Since Deng Zhaozhao married Meng Hong, he lived a comfortable life in Meng Hong's house. Meng really thought it was troublesome, so she didn't need to come here to say hello every day. When Meng Hong was around, she would come here for dinner with Meng Hong, and when Meng Hong was not around, she would be there. Use it in your own home.

"Eat without talking, sleep without talking, rest for a while after eating, and go to school in the afternoon." Meng Zhen looked at the three brothers for a while, and said the first sentence after serving the table.

There was a moment of silence at the dinner table.

However, Meng Che felt that his father was not the same as usual. In the past, his father would call him to him from time to time to ask questions, but these days his face was sullen and he looked unhappy.

Could it be that you are worried about your test scores?Meng Che thought to himself, if he passed the test, his father would be happy.

After lunch, the sons went back to their own rooms, while Meng Zhen took a nap on the couch.

In the afternoon, Meng Hong and Tong Zisheng came back from the capital to read the rankings. Seeing their happy faces, Meng Zhen knew that he should be on the rankings.

"Congratulations cousin, you are on the list." Tong Zisheng spoke quickly, and congratulated Meng Zhen with a wide-eyed smile.

Meng Zhen asked, "What about the ranking, where am I?"

Tong Zisheng said with a smile: "150 two, two places ahead of me, my cousin is very good." A total of 280 candidates participated in this year's Enke examination, but only 290 were admitted.

Tong Zisheng's words came from the bottom of his heart, and he really admired Meng Zhen. He was a half-way monk, and he was over fifty years old. He passed the test only once, and no one would say a word of admiration after hearing it.

However, Meng Zhen didn't have much joy. It is reasonable to say that he would have tried, and then no matter how he ranked in the palace exam, he would be able to ascend, but he seemed to be hindered by something in his heart.

After a few days at home like this, on March [-]th, Mengze held a wedding ceremony with Miss Zhou's family.

After marriage, the two went to live in the capital. The eldest brother Meng Qing once said that when Mengze got married, he would give someone a house. This was not just talk. On the day of marriage, he really gave Mengze a house in the capital. A quadrangle with two entrances and two exits.

It can be seen that this elder brother is more conscientious than a father, and Mengze also sincerely thanked his elder brother from the bottom of his heart. When he was young, his leg was beaten by his father. In those years, it was Meng Qing who searched for doctors everywhere for him. Meng Qing was afraid that he would get sick at home, so when he was ten years old, he was sent to a medical clinic in the capital as an apprentice, and it has been ten years since then.

Now that he is married and has his own small family, looking back on the cynicism, unhappiness and sadness he has received over the years because of his leg, he also shed tears unknowingly.

After Mengze and Zhou Dongruo got married, old doctor Zhou entrusted him and his wife to take care of the clinic, and he himself helped by the side, and was occasionally called out for consultations. His life was leisurely and relaxed.

Everyone is doing their own things step by step, and Meng Zhen, the master of the Meng Mansion, is no exception.

One month after the imperial examination, Meng Zhen and Tong Zisheng sat in the study room discussing the papers for the examination, but they were often in front of them and couldn't write.

In this way, I sat in the study for a few days, until the eighth day of April, the day of the imperial examination.

The palace examination was presided over by the emperor himself, and all those selected in the general examination had to participate. The examination did not eliminate candidates, but only ranked them.

Early in the morning Mengzhen and Tong Zisheng came to the entrance of the Imperial City Palace wearing the tribute uniforms issued by the court a few days ago, and 290 other tributes, led by an official from the Ministry of Rites, passed through layers of high walls and numerous palace gates , and finally came to the place of the palace examination - the Palace of Preserving Harmony.

Just when the sun was rising, wisps of golden light shone on the palace with golden tiles and vermilion walls, which looked extraordinarily solemn.

Under the arrangement of the officials of the Ministry of Rites, the tributes stood on the east and west sides of Danbi (the steps in front of the palace) according to their ranks in the examination.At the same time, princes and officials also wear court clothes and are listed inside and outside Danbi according to their ranks.

After all the arrangements were made, the whip was sounded, the drums sounded, the emperor ascended the seat, and the officials and tributes bowed to the emperor.

At the end of the ceremony, the university scholar took out the examination questions from the yellow case in the hall, and handed them over to the deacon to read them out. After receiving them on his knees, the gongshi went into the hall to answer the questions on the test table.

Before answering the question, Gongshi must write down the three generations of resume, name, place of origin, age, etc. on the first half of the answer sheet.

Then comes the countermeasures.

Meng Zhen was thinking about the test question read by the examiner just now, the main idea is: Today is peace, the border is stable, the treasury is rich and food is sufficient, and the scholars, farmers, businessmen, and businessmen are all unique, but why some places still breed turmoil.If you were a member of the court, what would you do?

After thinking about it for a while, the crux of the matter in this question is obviously that the officials are not clear.

If the government is not clear, how can the people be at ease.

To put it bluntly, it is a policy question about the administration of officials.

The country is prosperous and prosperous, and the salaries of officials are generous. Some officials are easy to be greedy for comfort after receiving generous salaries. Over time, they lose interest in court affairs.

Especially some officials in remote places, relying on the height of the mountains and the emperor's distance, the court's hand cannot be stretched out.

What's more, as a parent and official, for his own selfish desires, he wantonly searched for the people's fat and anointment, and put the people in the fire and water.

There is a saying that when a dog is in a hurry, it will jump over the wall, let alone a living person.Officials forcing people to rebel is no joke.

This is why the country is full of wealth and food, and some places are still in turmoil.

In the final analysis, it still lies in the corruption of officials, officials are greedy for comfort, and do nothing.

Now that the crux has been found, it is time to prescribe the right medicine.If he was a member of the imperial court, Meng Zhen thought about it, and he should "clear up the root cause and bring order out of the chaos".

First of all, start with the county magistrate.State and county officials are officials who are close to the people, and the foundation of official governance. Although their rank is low, their duties are very heavy.The people are the foundation of the country, and the foundation of the country depends on the quality of officials. If the officials of the state and county are clean, why worry about the people's living and working in peace.

There is only one question in the palace examination, and the number of words to answer the question must not be less than [-] characters, and there are corresponding requirements for the font, which must be in regular style, the so-called "Guange Style", and the characters must be square, smooth, black, and equal in size.

The palace examination was held for one day, and the papers were handed in at sunset. The tributes brought their own food, and the court only gave a pack of palace cakes.

Like most candidates, Meng Zhen only ate a few mouthfuls of palace cakes and filled his throat with water.

As soon as you hour (five o'clock in the afternoon) passed, some gongshi began to hand in the test papers. After Mengzhen checked his own test papers, he handed them over to the examiner, and then left the Palace of Preserving Harmony.

Coming out of the Palace of Preserving Harmony, at sunset, the orange-red sunlight shrouded the solemn and solemn palace under the reflection of the red sun, adding a sense of tranquility and peace.

After all the tributes came out of the hall and everyone lined up neatly, the official of the Ministry of Rites who brought them in in the morning led them out of the palace.

It was night, in the Wenhua Hall, the lights were brightly lit, and nine examiners (markers) sat at separate tables.The officer in charge took out the test papers from the box and handed them to several examiners, about thirty or so volumes each, with the surnames of the examiners written on the back of the test papers, not the names of the examiners.

After reading the test papers, the reader marks the test paper with five marks, namely circle, point, dot, straight, and cross. For "turn the table".

After each reading officer has read all the test papers in rounds, it will be handed over to the chief reading officer for general review. The chief reading officer will choose the best paper according to the most circles on the test paper.

The results of the palace examination usually come out in about three days, and the top ten test papers will be submitted to the emperor. The emperor will read the ten test papers, unseal them, and use a Chinese ink pen to determine the order of the top three and the second and seven.

The remaining test papers will be opened and sealed by the examiner, and according to the ranking when marking the papers, write the names of the second best, the third best and the number on the paper.Finally, fill in the list according to the ranking, which is called the "gold list".

The gold list is divided into the big gold list and the small gold list. The big gold list is covered with the emperor's seal, and it is hung outside the East Chang'an Gate on the day of the pass, for candidates to check the admission list. The hanging time is three days, and it will be taken back to the cabinet after three days.

The small gold list was presented to the emperor on the day of passing on the coffin, and after the emperor's confirmation, it was handed over to Da Nei for safekeeping.

On April [-]th, the Ceremony of Chuanlu.

Early in the morning, Meng Zhen and Tong Zisheng wore Jinshi uniforms and came to the gate of the Imperial City Palace. After everyone had arrived, the Jinshi were led by the Chuanlu officer to the place where the Chuanlu ceremony was held—the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

At the same time, all civil and military officials have also arrived.

The civil and military officials are separated on the east and west sides of Danbi according to their ranks, and the Xinke Jinshi stand among them in order.

After standing there for a short while, he suddenly heard the deacon standing on the steps announce loudly: "The emperor is here!"

The originally noisy scene suddenly fell silent, and the emperor was supported by the eunuchs to the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

"Kneel!" All civil and military officials and Xinke Jinshi knelt down and kowtowed to the emperor.

After the ceremony, the music started, and the Ceremony of Chuanlu officially began.

The Xuanzhi official read aloud in front of the hall: "Following the heavens, the emperor said: On the eighth day of April in the 17th year of Zhaoping, the tribute scholars from all over the world will be tested. Ci Tong was born as a Jinshi. Yijia No.1 so-and-so..."

After the reading, the officials standing at the bottom of the steps sang one by one: "Yijia No. 1 so-and-so..." until it resounded through the square of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Yijia No.1 is the No. 2 pick, No.3 is the No. [-], No.[-] is the No. [-], and each of them sings three times.

The No. [-] Scholar, the Second Place, and Tanhua Wensheng were led out of the class by the Honglu Temple official, and they knelt on the left side of the Yudao, kneeled on the right side of the Yudao, and knelt down on the left and back of the Yudao.

After the first and third names are sung, the name of the second-class Jinshi is sung. The second-class No. 1 is the biography, followed by the second-class No. 2, the second-class No. 3... Singing in order, each person sings only once, without leading out class.

Mengzhen stood in the queue and waited for more than half an hour before he heard the Chuanlu official sing his name: "Second Class No. 70 seven Mengzhen..." There are 290 new Jinshi in total. Three people, 97 people in the second class, and 190 and eight people in the third class.

By the time all the names of the top three were sung in turn, the sun was rising and it was almost noon.

After the roll call, the civil and military officials and all Jinshi bowed down three times and kowtowed nine times to the emperor.After the ceremony was completed, the emperor returned to the palace by car.

After that, the minister of the Ministry of Rites held the list, followed by Jinshi, civil and military officials, went out of the Taihe Gate, Meridian Gate, and hung it outside the East Chang'an Gate (today's east side), and the champion led all the Jinshi to watch the list.

After viewing the list, the champion, the second place, and Tanhua paraded through the streets, and the rest of the Jinshi returned to their respective residences.

Outside the gate of the Imperial City Palace, Tong Zisheng and Meng Zhen asked: "Cousin is going home soon? Why don't you go and see the street is so lively?"

Meng Zhen said: "Don't watch it, people don't like to be lively, go with your friends."

Tong Zisheng got 94th in the second class in the imperial examination this time, and he planned to go to the street to watch the fun with a classmate from Suzhou Prefecture.

"That's fine." Tong Zisheng said, "Cousin go back to rest first, and bring something delicious for my cousin when I go back later."

"No need!" Meng Zhen said, "I'm going back to Xianghe County, you don't need to bring me food." These days the palace examination, for the convenience of entering the palace, Meng Zhen and Tong Zisheng have been living in the house rented by Meng Hong in the capital .

Tong Zisheng was a little surprised: "Cousin, why did you return to Xianghe County so soon, won't you attend the Enrong Banquet tomorrow?"

Meng Zhen said: "Well, I won't participate."

When the two of them were talking, Meng Hong was standing by his father's side all the time, and he seemed puzzled when he heard the words: "Enrong Banquet, isn't that the banquet organized by the emperor for new scholars, why didn't father go?"

"Let's talk about it!" Meng Zhenxin was absent-minded, "If we go, we can leave home early tomorrow in time."

After finishing speaking, he walked towards his own carriage, Tong Zisheng said "Ai hei", as if he had a lot to say, but his classmate urged him so hard, he had no choice but to give up, watching Mengzhen get into the carriage, while he followed his classmate on the street Went to watch the fun.

Just as Meng Zhen was about to get into the carriage, he suddenly heard two voices: "Uncle Meng!"

Meng Zhen turned his head and saw Deng Bowen and Liu Chan running over, "You two nephews!" He followed suit and greeted.Deng Bowen and Liu Chan also passed the Jinshi examination, ranking No. 58 and No. [-] respectively.

The three of them said something after meeting. When Deng Bowen and Liu Chan heard that Mengzhen was going back to Xianghe County, they were also surprised: "Why did Uncle Meng go back to Xianghe County? Are you still attending the Enrong Banquet tomorrow?"

Meng Zhen said that he had a headache and wanted to go back to his home in Xianghe County to rest for the night, so he could get up early tomorrow.

Although Deng Bowen and Liu Chan had doubts, they didn't say anything, they watched Meng Zhen get into the carriage, and Meng Hong drove away from the palace gate.

Along the way, Meng Hong also wondered why his father rushed home in such a hurry.Could it be...Meng Hong boldly guessed, if his father passed the Jinshi examination, is he about to leave...

After returning home, the family members were overjoyed to know that Mengzhen had passed the Jinshi examination, so they made a big dinner.

However, Mengzhen didn't have much appetite, he didn't eat half of the meal, so he went back to the house to rest on the grounds of headache.

Feeling baffled, Meng Qing asked Meng Hong: "What's wrong with Dad today, I feel weird, but I'm not happy because I passed the Jinshi exam."

Meng Hong shook his head and said: "I don't know." The meal was also tasteless for him, and he felt inexplicably uneasy.

"You are with dad these days, how could you not know."

"You have to know if I'm with you, I still don't know why." Meng Hong put down the bowl and chopsticks, walked away unhappy.

"You..." Meng Qing was furious when Meng Hong's temper came from somewhere, but since Meng Che, Meng Yuan, and Wang Xinyu and Deng Zhaozhao were still on the table, it was not easy for him to be the big brother , I had to endure it, and swallowed it into my stomach along with the rice in the bowl.

Seeing that Meng Hong had left, Deng Zhaozhao didn't stay any longer, talked to the people at the table, and followed.

None of the remaining people said anything, and the table was eerily quiet for a moment.

"Don't eat." Meng Qing said, and then hugged Meng Xue from Wang Xinyu's arms, and the three of them also left.

Now there are only Meng Che and Meng Yuan left on the table.Meng Yuan asked: "Fourth Brother, why are they all gone?"

Meng Che didn't know what was going on, and vaguely felt that it was his father's problem, that his father left the table first, and the second and eldest brothers followed.

"I don't know either," Meng Che said, adding a few pieces of meat to Meng Yuan's bowl, "They won't eat it, let's eat it, it's a pity to waste so much delicious food."

"En." Meng Yuan nodded, and then the two brothers called the servants in the room to eat the food on the table together.

It's night, in the dead of night, Mengzhen's room.

Meng Zhen called out the system: "Now that I have passed the Jinshi examination, it's time for you to fulfill your promise."

System: [Are you sure you want to go? 】

Meng Zhen: "..." What do you mean by that? He has worked so hard and stumbled for this day, this system, how dare he doubt his determination.

"Of course!" Meng Zhen said.

System: [Okay, you lie down on the bed, I will separate your soul, and then bring it to Lingshan, where there is your previous body. After the soul returns to its place, you can naturally ascend. 】

"Okay!" Meng Zhen said again, "But wait a moment." He walked to the desk, took out a pen, rubbed ink and spread paper, and then wrote a letter. After the scratches dried, he pressed it under the paperweight .Having been father and son for nearly six years, there should always be an explanation for them.

After all this was done, he picked up the mirror on the table and looked at it, and there was an old man's face inside. His complexion looked good, but his temples had already grown gray hair.

Since wearing this look, Mengzhen hasn't looked in the mirror much, he doesn't like the old look.

Meng Zhen put down the mirror, calmly walked to the side of the bed and lay down neatly, closed his eyes and waited for the system to separate his soul, obviously he was about to ascend, but why couldn't he be happy.

Soon his body floated up, first he floated out of the house door, then the courtyard door, and then the gate.

"Wait!" Meng Zhen forced himself to stop, looking back at the house where he lived for nearly six years, neither sad nor happy, but nothing to say.

Then he decided not to look back and drifted away.

But on Menghong's side, after he came back from his father's house, he was restless. Deng Zhaozhao poured him a glass of water, and he fell on the bed after drinking it.

"If you're sleepy, go to sleep." Deng Zhaozhao took off his shoes and socks for him, and when he reached out to undress him, he grabbed his wrist, moved forward, and fell into his arms.

"Zhao Zhao, it's only been a few days, I feel like I haven't seen you for a long time." Meng Hong pressed his chin to the top of her hair and rubbed against her face.He has been accompanying his father in the capital for the past few days when he is taking the imperial examination.

"I...I miss you too." Deng Zhaozhao also removed his shoes and socks, and lay next to him.

The two embraced and made out for a while, Meng Hong suddenly sat up, thinking about his father, he couldn't be happy after all.

Seeing that he was about to put on his shoes and go to the ground, Deng Zhaozhao wrapped him around him from behind, buried his face on his back, and asked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to my father's place. My father is acting abnormal today. I'm worried. I'll go and have a look."

Deng Zhaozhao didn't let him go, and wrapped him tighter, "Don't go, I'm afraid alone."

"What are you afraid of? I'll ask the servant girl to come in to accompany you. I'll go over and have a look, and I'll be back soon."

Meng Hong patted the back of her hand, got up and was about to leave, but Deng Zhaozhao hugged him tightly, and he couldn't get away for a while.

Deng Zhaozhao said: "I don't want anyone, but you to accompany me." It seemed to be coquettish, and it seemed to be resentful, then turned her head to him and kissed him.

Meng Hong is just at the age of blood, how can he stand her like this, and the two of them have not had anything for several days, whether they are fathers or not, in front of Huan Ai, they turn into a puff of smoke, and they don't know where to go went.

After the joy, Meng Hong hugged Deng Zhaozhao and fell asleep. After an unknown amount of time, he woke up suddenly, and there seemed to be crying outside.

"Second Master, Second Master, Master is gone..."

Meng Hong thought he was having auditory hallucinations, but the crying statement proved to be true: "Second Master, get up quickly, Master is gone..."

At this moment Meng Hong heard it, it was the servants in his father's room who were shouting, his father is gone...

"Father..." Meng Hong suddenly trembled, no, his father must be gone.

When the call of father came out, I was extremely sad and cold, and my heart was panicked, which was an uncomfortable feeling that I had never felt in the past 22 years.

"Father..." When he called out again, he burst into tears.

At this time, the sky had just dawned.

The author says:

吏治不清，民何由安，出自雍正。感谢在2022-06-0823:57:53~2022-06-1105:59:37期间为我投出霸王票或灌溉营养液的小天使哦~

Thanks to the little angel of irrigation nutrient solution: 1 bottle of Chenxi Mama;

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!