The day before the Imperial College Entrance Examination, Li Li was reading a book on the Qinhuai River, next to the Suzakuhang (bridge), and in the book market.

He looked at the handwritten manuscripts in his hand, marveling at the prosperity of literature in this era and also marveling at the backwardness of cultural communication technology.

In this era, books were all in one volume, without the form of "book"; all the words on books were handwritten, without the saying "print".

Woodblock printing has not yet appeared, and the spread of books depends entirely on hand-copying.

In addition, the paper is expensive, so the price of books is not cheap. The quality of handwritten books is uneven, and it is inevitable that typos and missing words are missing, which can easily mislead readers.

In addition, there is no "publishing house", many books may not be able to be bought if you want to buy them. All of them are purchased seriously hindering the dissemination of cultural knowledge.

Even so, the book market next to Jiankang Zhuquehang is still lively, and various bookstores sell various books, paintings, calendars and various paper products.

If there is demand, it will give rise to corresponding industries. Huge demand will lead to prosperous business (copying books) and countless scholars with shortages make a living by giving them books.

There are clerks who specialize in copying in the official office. Sometimes they work part-time and copy books for bookstores.

In order to maximize profits, booksellers hire bookmakers to copy popular books and copy popular books. Officials also hire bookmakers to quickly "copy" the books they borrowed, or "backup" their own collections.

Temples also hire people to copy scriptures, so there is a great demand for "human-shaped printing machines" and maintain a prosperous "cultural market".

On the side, the bookstore guy saw that he had been picking a book for a long time, but he seemed to have no intention of buying it. He was angry, but he tried his best to smile and asked:

"What books do Langjun want? Although the store is not big, there are many kinds of books. I think there must be books that Langjun wants to buy."

Li Li glanced at the guy and saw that the other party was a little sarcastic and said, "Is there any "Spring and Autumn"?"

"Yes, but I don't know what the husband wants is "Zuo Zhuan", "Gongyang Zhuan", and "Guliang Zhuan"?"

"Everything is needed."

"Yes, there are small shops. I don't know if you want to pay attention..."

"It all costs, how much?"

Hearing the guests were so heroic, the guy was extremely excited and nodded quickly. After bargaining, he almost flew to the shopkeeper and asked the other guys to prepare the book together.

Looking at the shopkeeper who was overjoyed, Li Li felt a little more conscience. He bought books not to take the literary route, but to gain more knowledge.

Of course, Li Li is not illiterate. As a modern person, he has mastered a lot of knowledge, which is unmatched in this era.

But by the standards of this era, he is illiterate.

Li Li didn't care about this, but he couldn't hear it when he was "praiseful and scolded" in person.

Scholars have many tricks to curse people. They don’t spit out dirty words. The most arrogant thing is that they can’t hear the scolding people, and they even think they are being praised and happy.

Li Li did not seek to "learn well in history" but only wanted to reach the level of county students. When dealing with people on weekdays, he could at least understand whether the other party used the past to describe the present or criticize himself.

Then, among the Five Classics, the "Spring and Autumn Annals" recorded in the "Shangshu" recorded in words are good reading materials.

Li Li planned to read books for daily entertainment and adjust his mood, otherwise he would become obsessed with thinking about making money all day long.

However, his leisure time was limited. Considering that Guan Gong kept his hands on the Spring and Autumn Annals and was full of pride at night, Li Li decided to read "Spring and Autumn Annals".

"Spring and Autumn Annals" means "Spring and Autumn Classics". The classics refer to Confucian classics. "Spring and Autumn Annals" were compiled by Confucius. It uses historical materials of the State of Lu as a basis to record the history of more than 200 years of Spring and Autumn Period.

The classical classics of the Spring and Autumn Annals are concise and profound, with more than 20,000 words recording nearly three hundred years of history. Without comments, it will be difficult to understand. The work that explains the "Classics" is called "Divine".

Li Li learned from Liu Decai that the book that explained the "Spring and Autumn Annals" and supplemented it has three biographys passed down from generation to generation, called the "Three Biographys of Spring and Autumn Annals".

That is, the "Zuo Zhuan" written by Zuo Qiuming, the "Gongyang Zhuan" written by Gongyang, the "Guliang Zhuan" written by Gu (Gu) Liang, and the "Spring and Autumn Annotations of the three biography are different.

Among them, "Zuo Zhuan" is biased towards historical figures and events, and the content is extremely rich. It can be regarded as a story book. In terms of the acceptance of ordinary people, "Zuo Zhuan" is the most "friendly".

However, the Three Genealogies are also somewhat obscure and difficult to understand. You still need comments on the Transmission to understand the Three Genealogies and then understand the "Spring and Autumn Annals".

Du Yu's annotation of "Zuo Zhuan" in the Jin Dynasty, He Xiu's annotation of "Gongyang Zhuan" in the Han Dynasty, and Fan Ning's annotation of "Guliang Zhuan" in the Jin Dynasty, of course, his works have to be bought.

It’s not OK to buy it. Li Li, who doesn’t understand the “ancient text”, may not be able to understand these works, so if you don’t understand something, you have to ask someone to explain it.

If you want to understand the "Spring and Autumn Annals", you have to buy a lot of books and ask someone to explain it. For this reason, you have to study it professionally.

From this we can see how difficult it is for ordinary people of this era to learn knowledge.

Many people are busy trying to eat two meals a day and have no time to learn knowledge through profession, let alone save money to buy books, please ask sir.

While Li Li was feeling, a man came hurriedly with a cloth bag on his back, as if he was the copying of this bookstore and delivered the copied books.

The guy counted the books sent by the young man, then took out a volume, smiled and said to Li Li, "The books he asked for are out of stock, and it just happened to be delivered now."

Li Li borrowed a book and looked at it. He found that the font was beautiful and looked very pleasing to the eyes. He couldn't help but look at the young man.

He has an average appearance, average figure, slightly tall, square face, big nose, about 20 years old, and his eyes are slightly narrowed, as if it was caused by excessive use of his eyes and some myopia.

In order to rush to work, I must work with lamps to copy books at night. Candles are expensive and cannot be used, so I can only use oil lamps. However, the light of the oil lamps is poor. Reading books like this for a long time will easily damage your vision if you write.

Because of the "working work", the civil servants in the government office often have this kind of problem of squinting their eyes and looking at people. For example, Li Li's uncle Liu Decai is like this.

When the young man saw Li Li looking at him, he smiled, nodded, and then turned around and left after settlement with the shopkeeper.

......

In the early morning, in front of the Imperial College, a ox cart kept stopping in front of the door. The accompanying servant set up the small ladder. The elegantly dressed young man walked into the door gracefully.

The ox cart then walked forward, and then another ox cart came forward and "drafted" in front of the Imperial College.

After the carriage drivers of each family parked the ox cart, they had to wait with the servants for their husbands to come out. Because they came out early, most of them did not have time to eat.

At the other side of the street, there were vendors setting up food stalls, so many people went to food stalls and bought food.

Li Li, who was about to get into the experience of the seniors of the Imperial College, dressed up like an ordinary student at this time, and took two followers to walk towards the Imperial College, intending to eat the food before entering.

Originally, the follower could do this for his own sake, but he was a little bit awesome and was too lazy to give so many instructions. He simply bought it himself and could choose according to his own taste.

In this era, the common people's diet was two meals a day, namely, morning food and evening food. If they were not full of food, they would easily become hungry. Li Li had a large appetite, so of course he had to buy enough breakfast.

He likes to eat steamed buns, which is a steamed food, similar to the small rice dumplings in later generations, which happens to be sold at a food stall.

When I arrived at the steaming stall, I saw the middle-aged stall owner busy and the little worker next to me, Li Li actually recognized: it was the young man I met when I was buying books in a bookstore yesterday.

"So early." Li Li greeted.

He is from another place, so he has a unique accent. The other party quickly recognized Li Li and nodded with a smile: "The steamed bun is good, how many are you want?"

"What's the flavor? I want peach kernel stuffing." Li Li looked at the only one left in the steamer on the upper layer and felt his appetite surged.

"Yes, one for three, how many do you want?"

Li Li looked at the amount of steamed stuff, stretched out his right hand, spread it out: "I want five, are there any more?"

"Okay! Five peach kernels are steamed! Fifteen months!" The young man responded, opening the steamer to reveal the hot steamed inside.

Li Li took out the money and waited to hand over the money and steam it in the other hand, and asked the other party: "I always help you here?"

"Hi, it's just today. The stall owner is my neighbor. If you lack a helper today, I will help you." The young man answered readily.

Seeing that Li Li was dressed up and seemed to be a student, he said, "Today's test, I have to work harder."

"I'm here to listen to your good words."

"Listen to Langjun's accent, from Jiangzhou?"

"That's right, I'm not satisfied?"

“I’m a native.”

Seeing that the other party was quite talkative, Li Li said, "It is not easy to apply for a book. Copying with lights at night can easily hurt your eyes. You have to pay attention to it."

"Hey, for the sake of making a living, I don't care about so much... I'll take it." The young man handed the steamer to Li Li. Li Li put down the money, took the steamer, and walked back to the side to eat.

He came to Jiankang for a more appropriate time, and happened to meet the Imperial College held a policy test (also known as the She Ce). Imperial College held a "study" in February and March in spring, and the examination was held in October of that year.

In other words, students of Imperial College can only study in Imperial College for less than a year before they can take the test.

If you pass the grades, you can enter the officialdom.

Li Li wanted to see the grand occasion of the exam. Even if he was just watching outside the exam room and being able to chat with other students, it was an opportunity to gain insight.

After eating the steamed bun, I explained a few words to the follower and walked towards the gate of Imperial College.

When I passed the food stall again, I saw someone coming over to the busy young man and whispered to the busy young man: "Oh, why are you still rushing? Go away quickly, otherwise it will be too late!"

"Okay." The young man whispered a few words to the stall owner, put down his work, and followed him to the side of the street.

Li Li looked at the direction, as if there was a side door of the Imperial College. He felt curious: You are not only a servant, but also a stall, but also working in Imperial College?

Or, it's a student?

The students in the Imperial College are either the children of officials or the children of the gentry. Only a very small number are the children of the cold. As for the common people, there seems to be no.

Li Li felt that this young man set up a stall on the roadside and was setting up a stall near the Imperial College, so he might not be a student, otherwise it would be too "insulting" to be gentle.

While thinking and walking, I followed the group of students from three to five to the Imperial College. Because I dressed well and looked no different from other students, I did not attract the attention of the disciples.

Imperial College allowed to listen, so many people went to and went to Imperial College on weekdays. Li Li successfully got in and soon came outside the examination room.

Li Li looked at the heavily guarded examination room gate and the young people gathered together to chat in groups of three or five, and was looking forward to it: Even if there are many people watching the fun, there may be many people who have a background. Maybe there will be an adventure today?
Chapter completed!