12dz Chapter 221 Children's Test
Chapter 221 Children's Test
Laigu County now devotes all its energy to the construction of Shanghe Township. Xie Shuting took some time to visit once during the period. Seeing the bustling scene, she felt deeply moved.
After this investigation, her understanding of the wisdom of the ancients reached a whole new level.
In order for Wang Lang to dig a canal on the cliff, Xie Shuting originally thought that the other party would use a rope to hang this man to perform magic, but what she saw was a different scene.
The cliff was densely interwoven with bamboos, which, after being tied together, were connected to a building ship on the surface of the Red River.
The tower ship is equivalent to the backbone of a bridge, bearing the pressure brought by all the bamboos on the cliff.
In order to ensure the stability of the tower ship, Wang Lang fixed it in place and then filled the ship with stones as counterweights, making it unbreakable.
As for the construction of the dam, she also witnessed Zhu Gui's ingenious ideas, which was to tie five or six small boats together with wood to increase buoyancy.
Xie Shuting originally thought that the other party would use a small boat to transport the stones, but Zhu Gui changed his usual behavior and used the buoyancy of the small boat to transport the stones underwater.
All kinds of wonderful ideas emerged one after another, and Wang Lang had already calculated the angle of the canal and the height of the dam clearly, so she didn't need to worry about it, and she never went there again.
In a blink of an eye, it was the day of the Tongshi exam. Xie Shuting, dressed in a blue gown, looked very dignified, and she led Lian Xi to the gate of the county school with a calm demeanor.
Dong Pingchang and several other gentlemen who had been waiting for a long time walked up slowly, stroked her hand and said, "Thank you, Miss!"
"Yeah!~"
Xie Shuting nodded slightly, bowed and said, "Gentlemen, you should know that my father is currently in Shanghe Township and cannot be away, so I will entrust the children's exam to you gentlemen."
"We dare not, we dare not." Everyone waved their hands.
The county magistrate had always presided over the child examination since ancient times, and they dared not overstep their authority. Although Xie Tingwen had delivered the message, they still had some reservations.
"Thank you all for your help today."
Xie Shuting said with a smile, and walked slowly to the gate of the county school, where she respectfully lit three incense sticks in front of the spirit tablet of "Heaven, Earth, Emperor, Parents, and Teachers".
Several teachers also hurriedly came forward, lit incense in the incense burner one by one and then stepped aside. After all, today was Xie Shuting's home court.
Xie Shuting walked to the center of the field with a smile on her face, looked at the eager students in front of her, and said loudly: "The teachers who taught you are the ones who guarantee you. I hope that you can use your satisfactory answers today to repay the teachers' teachings."
"Thank you for your guidance, sir." The students bowed repeatedly.
Seeing this, Dong Pingchang and his companions walked forward slowly with a sense of accomplishment, and said through the air: "I hope you can encourage yourself and show what you have learned in your daily life."
"We will follow your instructions, sir." The students leaned forward and responded.
"Yeah!~"
Xie Shuting nodded in satisfaction, took the letter handed over by Lian Xi, and said aloud: "In the 28th year of Jingyun, there are a total of 67 students taking the Tongshi exam. After their identities are verified, they will take the exam at Si time, and the papers will be collected at You time."
As soon as Xie Shuting finished speaking, she saw Cao Zhen leading the yamen runners to quickly come forward. After moving the incense table away, the yamen runners stood in two rows and began to search people.
Watching the students enter in an orderly manner, Xie Shuting followed Dong Pingchang through the back door into the backyard and waited. In a blink of an eye, the time had arrived.
"Seal the door."
Cao Zhen waved his hand, and two yamen runners quickly stepped forward and pasted the seals in their hands on the gate of the county school, standing on both sides like door gods.
After Cao Zhen gave a few more instructions, he left dozens of people behind to guard against any unexpected events, and then led the others to patrol the streets.
Outside the gate of the county school, many people had already surrounded the place, but fortunately the county school was not on the main road, so it did not cause traffic congestion.
"That's great. Now that we have a county school, we don't have to go to Yongzhou Prefecture to take the exam anymore."
"Hey! Who said it wasn't true? There hasn't been a county magistrate for more than three years, and students have to go to Yongzhou Prefecture to take the examination. Now that Lord Xie is here, things are different." Someone sighed.
"That's right. Lord Xie really cares about the people! We have seen the changes in Laigu County in just one year."
"Hey! I heard that Mr. Xie has been building a dam in Shanghe Township recently. Do you know about this?"
"I know! I'm from Zhaojiazhuang. I heard from people who went there that they provide enough food, and all you have to do is work hard. There are no other requirements."
Everyone was talking at once, sometimes about the imperial examination, sometimes about the dam, and the topic jumped unexpectedly.
But the only thing that remains unchanged is that the topic always revolves around Xie Tingwen, because he has given everyone so many surprises.
"Bang!~"
As a bell rang, Xie Shuting led Lian Xi to the main hall of the county school. She glanced at the students with a smile and handed the letter to Dong Pingchang.
"Mr. Dong! These are the test questions for this year's children's exam. Please open them in front of everyone." Xie Shuting said softly.
Dong Pingchang first glanced at all the teachers, and seeing that they all nodded in agreement, he no longer hesitated and unfolded the letter.
"Yeah!~"
Dong Pingchang nodded approvingly, and then glanced at Xie Shuting, because he had deduced from the handwriting that the children's examination questions were written by Xie Shuting.
"Someone is coming."
Dong Pingchang called two yamen runners over in a loud voice, pasted the letter on the wooden board, and said in a deep voice: "Go around the venue and start the exam."
Two yamen runners lifted the wooden board, walked slowly around the group of students, and then placed the board in the middle.
In addition to the sources of famous quotes from the Four Books and Five Classics on the wooden board, there are also supplementary sentences that connect the previous and the next, which is a bit similar to the fill-in-the-blank questions in previous lives.
Xie Shuting also selected a passage from "The Book of Rites: The Doctrine of the Mean" that goes "If one person can do it, I can do it a hundred times; if ten people can do it, I can do it a thousand times," which she needed to write an article on the interpretation of the classics.
Obviously, the Tongshi exam would not be so simple, as it would include a short poem describing spring ploughing and an arithmetic problem.
Although it was just four simple sections, Dong Pingchang couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, because the passage of scripture selected by Xie Shuting was indeed difficult.
Seeing the students writing confidently, Xie Shuting whispered, "Mr. Dong! I'll leave this to you. I'll take Master Cao down first."
"Yeah!" Dong Pingchang nodded slightly.
Although the Tongshi is the first step to enter the officialdom, it is also crucial. Dong Pingchang understood Xie Shuting's concerns and readily agreed.
Although Cao Yue's disguise as a man did not arouse suspicion from everyone, it was indeed inconvenient for her to be present at today's scene. Even Xie Shuting had to avoid it, let alone her.
Xie Shuting immediately cast a look at Cao Yue, who understood what she meant and stroked his hands towards several teachers, then followed Xie Shuting out.
Except for Dong Pingchang who knew the inside story, the other teachers thought that Miss Xie needed someone to accompany her, so they did not think too much about it and nodded happily as a greeting.