Chapter 630: Imperial Examination Family-Building System (39)

The Farm has officially entered the right track, and it can operate very well without Xie Yang needing to go inspect it frequently.

Summer passed by without one noticing; the new branches and leaves of the fruit trees transplanted on the south slope gradually turned lush, the medicinal herb seedlings planted on the north slope grew sturdy, and the melons in the melon field were tasted in several successive batches. Finally, the time arrived for Song Yanqing to set off for the Provincial Capital to participate in the Autumn Examination.

This time, Xie Yang intends to accompany him herself.

The last Imperial Examination was in the Fucheng, two and a half days by water; this time, they must go to the Provincial Capital, three and a half days by water. If taking a carriage, it would take even longer, so the water route is faster by comparison.

Xie Yang found a boatman in advance and booked a two-story suite and a single guest room on the first floor.

The suite on the second floor is divided into two rooms by a screen; the inner side has a large double bed and a dressing table, and a small space is partitioned off in the corner to hold a bathtub and a chamber pot. A desk and a tea table are set up on the outer side of the screen. There is also a small terrace outside exclusive to the suite; when it is not raining, one can sit on the terrace to drink tea, chat, and enjoy the scenery on both banks.

The single guest room on the first floor is booked for Xiaohu.

After this period of observation, Xiaohu is quite good in every respect. Although he is only twelve years old, he is tall and sturdy; on the Farm, he runs up and down the mountain without even panting. He is also honest, diligent, and not lazy. The key is that he is literate and clever, and he does not feel nervous when dealing with strangers. With such a reliable page boy by his side to run errands and do chores, I believe Song Yanqing will be able to have a much easier time when going out in the future.

After booking the boat tickets, Xie Yang began packing luggage for the Provincial Capital.

The Ning Dynasty's Autumn Examination requires three sessions, each lasting three days, but one is not allowed to leave the examination grounds between the three sessions. After entering, each person is assigned to a closed Cell; during the examination, it is locked the entire time. Except for being accompanied by invigilators to the toilet to relieve oneself, one is not allowed to go out at any other time.

This is equivalent to saying that after entering the examination grounds on the evening of the eighth day of the eighth month, one must wait until all three sessions of the examination are finished—meaning the first quarter of the You hour on the seventeenth day of the eighth month—before one can leave the grounds, which means one must stay in the examination Cell for a full nine days and nine nights.

Many weak scholars fail at this hurdle, not because their learning is insufficient, but because they cannot hold out. It is fine if it happens to be clear weather for all nine days, but if one is unlucky and it rains continuously with temperatures dropping throughout the examination period, it is simply a disaster for scholars whose physical fitness is already weak. It is quite good if they can hold out and not be carried out halfway.

However, Xie Yang does not have these worries.

Not to mention that over the past year, he has eaten plenty of delicacies prepared with Spirit Spring, and his physical fitness has strengthened significantly; she has not seen him catch even a common cold in this past year.

Other students in the County School inevitably fall ill whenever the seasons change, but only he is exceptionally healthy.

If the worst comes to the worst, there are still the medicinal pills she prepared, such as specific effective medicines for catching a cold, diarrhea, internal heat, and even food poisoning.

However, medicine is three parts poison; it is naturally better not to take medicine if one can avoid it.

Therefore, the three drawers of the Examination Basket are filled with daily necessities needed during the examination—

The first layer contains a scroll bag (used to store test papers to avoid contamination by ink, oil, or tea), a pen case, paste, a scraping knife, a candle stand, candles, candle scissors for trimming wicks, oil paper for wrapping candles, toilet paper, and miscellaneous items such as incense bags, incense cakes, and mugwort sticks to cover up the stench in case one is close to the toilet.

The second layer contains medicine bottles, ginseng slices, tea leaves, and snacks that can be eaten immediately when hungry. The bottles containing ginseng slices, tea leaves, and spare medicine are all tightly sealed with stoppers to prevent them from absorbing odors or getting damp; snacks and dry rations are wrapped well in oil paper for consumption.

The third layer contains bowls, chopsticks, spoons, teacups, Rice, lotus seeds, dried longan, dried Fish, ham, dried vegetables, and seasonings such as oil, Salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and rock sugar. After all, one cannot eat snacks and dry rations for every meal for nine days and nine nights; cooking some hot food or sweet soup for the evening meal and in the gaps between each examination session can both warm the stomach against the cold and replenish nutrition.

In addition, one must also bring an oilcloth Examination Curtain for keeping warm at night or shielding against wind and rain, changes of warm clothing and bedding, washing and foot-soaking supplies, pots, a stove, a kettle, and miscellaneous items such as nails, a hammer, and a small stool.

All in all, it adds up to quite a lot.

But servants are not allowed to enter the examination grounds, so Xie Yang asked Song Yanqing to try whether he could carry the Examination Basket with one hand, carry the bedding with the other, and carry the basket of miscellaneous items on his back.

Song Yanqing was between laughter and tears: "I can carry and shoulder them, but will there be too many items prepared?"

Xie Yang said: "Not many! It is for nine days and nine nights! And this is even after streamlining."

It was indeed streamlined; according to her original idea, food and drinking water would have to take up another basket at least.

"Fortunately, I booked the boat tickets in advance. We will set off ten days early, and after settling down in the Provincial Capital, there will be time to adapt to the change in water and soil, and also to nourish your body."

Candidates who have participated in the Autumn Examination know that they will set off early, so setting off three or four days early is not called early at all. Fortunately, their purse is still quite wealthy now, and they do not care about the extra week of inn fees, so they simply set off for the Provincial Capital ten days early.

Upon learning that their son-in-law was going to the Provincial Capital to take the examination at the end of the seventh month and that their daughter was accompanying him this time, Xie Rong and his wife specially opened a ham smoked three years ago, cut off pieces of boneless, lean meat that was salty, fragrant, and tender, and let their son-in-law take them to the examination grounds to steam and eat.

They also cooked a pot of braised food for the couple to eat on the road. They also packed a small jar of five-spice old brine for their daughter, so that after arriving in the Provincial Capital, she could buy a fresh chicken or duck to braise and eat.

Xie Yang herself also prepared plenty of food—

From the lake products on the Farm, she pickled a batch of dried Fish and Salted Duck Eggs, and dried a batch of dried Shrimp. She picked the ones with good appearance, packed them in clean cloth bags, and let Song Yanqing take them to the examination grounds to eat. Dried Fish can be steamed with a few slices of ginger and a few drops of cooking wine, which is very appetizing. Dried Shrimp can be eaten as a snack or boiled in soup with dried vegetables.

She also packed a small bag of dried lotus seeds to take to the examination grounds to cook lotus seed soup; adding a few pieces of rock sugar and peeled dried longan makes for an excellent nourishing sweet soup during periods of high-intensity brain work.

There are many types of dried vegetables: there are the first batch of tender Shepherd's Purse dried by the younger sister in the spring and dried spring bamboo shoots, which are very fresh when boiled in soup with a few dried Shrimp and a little Salt; there are dried slices of tender pumpkin produced on the Farm, which are soft, waxy, and fragrant when steamed with ham; and there are ordinary dried cabbage and the radish strips and dried plum vegetables dried by Lin Shi, the latter two of which are said to be the ultimate weapons for overcoming the discomfort of the change in water and soil.

Besides these, there are homemade pickles, sour bamboo shoots, Sugar Garlic, and pickled radish, but there are really too many jars and cans, and the examination grounds do not allow food with soup, so these will be eaten on the boat or while staying at the inn.

Lin Shi also led the seamstresses to rush to make two sets of lined clothes to wear after the temperature drops, a thin winter robe, and also used the coarse wool that her daughter-in-law specially "bought" back from the County to crochet a blanket the size of a shawl; if it rains and gets windy, it can be draped over the shoulders to keep out the cold while answering questions.

Everything was ready. On the morning of the twenty-eighth day of the seventh month, the couple, along with Xiaohu, boarded the passenger boat at the Guixiang Town wharf under the eager and hopeful gazes of their maternal and paternal families, heading to the Provincial Capital to participate in this year's Autumn Examination...