Chapter 56: The Moon Moves the Shadow on the Branches, and the Poem in the Dream Continues

The scholars felt relieved after handing in their papers; the examiners and clerks would be busy next.

The paper collecting officer classifies the papers according to the scriptures they are covered, and then sends them to the sealing officer for sealing, and stamps the corner where the name is written on the paper with a seal.

Then it will be sent to the registration officer for registration, and the clerk will copy the test paper word by word with a red pen. The examiner will only look at the copied copy, and the original will be sealed and kept separately.

This is to prevent examiners from recognizing handwriting and to eliminate the possibility of off-site collusion.

Of course, the recorded copies will be organized by a special reading officer to read them together. One person reads the red scroll and one reads the ink scroll. Two people work in a group and they must read every word carefully to ensure that there are no mistakes.

In this way, after being sealed, recorded, and read over, the test paper handed over to the examiner can be called a "three-no" test paper, that is, no name, no mark, and no omissions.

This is why there would occasionally be upsets in the imperial examinations. In the feudal era, to achieve this was already a level of fairness and justice that transcended time.

Having said that, any perfect system will have loopholes as long as the executors are human.

After all, in addition to the two chief examiners and eight co-examiners, there are still several examiners in each room. There are at least two hundred students and clerks who are responsible for assisting, and an even larger number of soldiers and miscellaneous servants who are responsible for invigilating the examinations.

So in the third year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty, someone did something outrageous, which is known in history as the "cutting scroll incident", also known as "live head cutting".

But these had nothing to do with Ou Zanghua. He sat in the carriage, holding a pear in his hand and eating it slowly. Qu Feiyan wiped her tears while helping him comb his hair.

It is crispy, thin-skinned and juicy.

Feeling the sweetness in his mouth, Ou Zanghua finally felt like he was back to the human world.

"Sir, we have prepared several buckets of hot water at home. You can take a bath when you go back and soak for as long as you want." Qu Feiyan finally re-styled Ou Zanghua's hair. Looking at her son's haggard appearance, she felt distressed.

"Okay, prepare some mutton soup, a serving of egg fried rice, and a portion of fresh vegetables. I want to eat them." Ou Zanghua nodded and made his request with a smile.

"Yes, rice and eggs are available. I bought vegetables yesterday. I'll prepare the mutton soup." Qu Feiyan agreed immediately. She held her master's sleeve tightly with one hand, as if he would fly away if she let go.

When they staggered all the way to Cheng's house, Wang Qin had already cleaned the area in front of the door.

Seeing the carriage coming back, he immediately trotted over and said, "Welcome back, Mr. Ou. I have prepared the bathtub and the water temperature is just right."

"Thank you." Ou Zanghua nodded with a smile and got off the carriage with the help of Xiang Danian.

After entering the house, Ou Zanghua looked back at Qu Feiyan and pointed outside the door.

Qu Feiyan pouted, stomped her feet in dissatisfaction, then turned and walked out.

Ou Zanghua then took off his clothes and stepped into the bathtub.

The water temperature was slightly hot, just right.

He leaned his head on the pillow made of towels, closed his eyes and enjoyed it for a while, then picked up the soap ball and began to rub his body.

Not long after, Xiang Danian's voice came from outside the door: "Brother, let me add some hot water."

"Okay, put it in!"

After hearing this, Xiang Danian came in with two buckets of steaming water, placed them next to the bathtub and went out.

This bath used ten buckets of hot water and it took Ou Zanghua nearly half an hour to come out.

Qu Feiyan was worried that there wasn't enough time to cook the mutton soup properly, so she asked Qu Yang to pack some for her.

The vegetables were Chinese chrysanthemum, which Qu Feiyan bought from the villagers of Dafangshan at a high price. This vegetable was introduced to China during the Tang Dynasty and was a seasonal vegetable that was less common in winter and spring in ancient times.

God knows how touched Ou Zanghua was when she brought out the fragrant fried rice, mutton soup and stir-fried Chinese spinach.

Although the meal was simple, Ou Zanghua enjoyed it very much and ate all the vegetables. When he was about to go back to bed to catch up on some sleep, he remembered that some idiots would take advantage of this time to invite friends to have dinner and drinks, so he took out a pen and paper and wrote:

I don’t imitate Liu Kun’s dance, I just get up when I hear the cock crow.

The moon moves the shadows on the branches, and the lines continue the poem in the dream.

Then he handed it to Qu Feiyan and said, "Someone will come to see me in the next two days, so give this to them."

"Okay, young master, just rest and get some sleep!" Qu Feiyan nodded seriously.

Ou Zanghua smiled, closed the door, lowered the curtains, and crawled into the quilt. No one, don’t disturb me!
At the same time, in the palace, Emperor Zhengde was holding a memorial in his hand. On the surface, he was reading a memorial, but in fact, there was a storybook inside.

The name of the story is "Lü Dongbin Plays Three Times with White Peony".
"Your Majesty, the Xinwei Examination has ended, and a total of 2,715 examination papers have been collected. Because the self-introduction and the number of words did not meet the requirements, the papers were not neat, so 75 papers were deleted, and the total number of papers is 2,640."

In the Qianqing Palace, Liang Chu, the Grand Secretary of Wuying Palace, rushed over from the Imperial Examination Hall to report to his boss.

It was already not easy for Li Dongyang to preside over the imperial examination despite his illness, so let this sixty-year-old "young man" do this kind of errands!
"Okay, I understand. Liang Qing, you have worked hard. Go down!" Emperor Zhengde nodded and responded calmly.

"I resign"

Liang Chu bowed slightly. Seeing that Emperor Zhengde was reading the memorial seriously, he couldn't help but feel a little puzzled. Didn't he know his boss's personality?

How could he possibly sit down and read the memorials seriously?

So, Lao Liang took a few steps forward.
Emperor Zhengde reacted very quickly. He immediately closed the memorial, looked at Liang Chu and asked, "Does Minister Liang have anything else to say?"

Sure enough, this young man is cheating.
Liang Chu bowed his hands and answered seriously: "I am very pleased to see that Your Majesty is absorbed in government affairs. I want to know what is the matter that makes Your Majesty so worried. I understand a little bit of the truth and am willing to share Your Majesty's worries."

"Ahem. Well, this!"

Emperor Zhengde pretended to be calm and said, "It's just a small matter. I won't bother you, Liang Qing. Don't you still need to review the papers? Go now!"

"I resign"

"Ah."

This time, Emperor Zhengde learned his lesson. He watched Liang Chu leave the Qianqing Palace before he opened the memorial and continued reading the book.

After reading it, he felt a little emotional. He thought that the biggest regret of Lu Dongbin and Peony Fairy was that they did not meet him, otherwise he would definitely grant them marriage personally and help this pair of lovers who would be together for three lifetimes.

"what?"

Suddenly, Emperor Zhengde discovered Huadian. He immediately turned his head to look at Gu Dayong and asked, "Gu Banban, I remember that The Legend of White Snake was also written by Ou Zanghua. Who is this person? Have you investigated?"

"Your Majesty, this Ou Zanghua is the candidate who took part in the imperial examination this year, and he is also the first place winner in Huguang."

As the supervisor of the West Factory, Gu Dayong immediately went to look for a similar script when he knew that Emperor Zhengde liked to read "The Legend of White Snake". It was not until yesterday that he received "Lü Dongbin's Three Plays with White Peony" sent by the servants of Yanzhou Prefecture in Shandong.

When Gu Dayong saw that it was written by Ou Zanghua again, he made a special investigation to prevent himself from being unable to answer the emperor's questions.

"Oh? It seems that he is not a pedantic person." After hearing this, Emperor Zhengde nodded, but did not take it particularly seriously.

"Speaking of Ou Zanghua, his background is a bit unusual. He comes from a martial arts sect." Upon seeing this, Gu Dayong immediately found a topic that Emperor Zhengde was interested in and started talking about it.

"Martial arts sect?" As soon as this was said, it really attracted the attention of Emperor Zhengde: "Gu Banban said that he is a martial artist?"

"Your Majesty, the Hengshan Sect is the leading martial arts sect in the Huguang region, and Ou Zanghua is the eldest disciple." Seeing that the emperor was willing to talk, Gu Dayong began to introduce them.

"A sect that uses swords, interesting!" Emperor Zhengde was curious. He had learned a lot of martial arts, and if his ministers hadn't stopped him, he would have gone to Shaolin Temple to test his skills.
(End of this chapter)