Updated: 2012-09-27

It was already a little cold in October in the capital. People from the Hu family gave a set of blue cloth cotton jackets, but Zhang Ning felt that wearing a cotton jacket was too thick and he had no upper body. He was still wearing a moon white and square scarf.

When he woke up early in the morning, the lame cousin Yan came and said to Zhang Ning: "Mr. Hu is back. If Mr. Zhang has nothing else to do today, please see him at the tea hall."

"I'm quite free today, so let's go." Zhang Ning bowed, thinking that I'm not only free today, but I'm very free every day.

"Sir, please." Mr. Yan said angrily, stretching out his hand and making a powerful move, which made Zhang Ning suddenly feel that this person has the temperament of a martial artist.

Under Yan's guidance, Zhang Ning went out and walked along a corridor to the tea hall. As soon as he entered the door, he saw a man in his fifties waiting inside, probably Hu Ying. Hu Ying looked wide and square, with a burly figure, and a sitting posture with a strong and upright temperament. His temples were gray, his mouth was thick and white beard, and he was wearing a linen sacred robe. He had no elegant temperament of a Taoist priest, but he had an official look. This man was square and upright, and with Zhang Ning's eyes, he knew that such a face was a real and superior face in the Ming Dynasty.

"Peace is here, sit down." Hu Ying pointed to the chair on the lower head kindly.

This sentence made Zhang Ning feel slightly flattered. For example, the minister of Mr. Hu, who lived in his house for more than a month, had not met each other. And when he met, he could feel the majesty and domineering attitude of a senior official. Suddenly, he spoke to himself as a commoner in a kind manner, and he felt very good.

Zhang Ning didn't dare to pretend to be a big shot, and others had to pay their respects, so he quickly bowed respectfully: "The grass man Zhang Ning met Lord Hu."

Hu Ying sat down and nodded slightly, saying, "You are no longer a commoner now. The commander of the Jinyiwei received the imperial edict yesterday and personally released your teacher, Shilang Lu, from the imperial prison, to restore his post. Shilang Lu was not guilty, so you did not accept bribes. The previous punishment for repealing fame and reputation will naturally be taken back; now you have at least the fame of a student, and Shilang Lu will take your hometown test paper to re-examine it, and it is very likely that the fame of a Juren will be restored."

Zhang Ning was immediately overjoyed! Hu Ying was the Minister of Rites, and his nominal teacher, Lu Zhen, was the deputy minister of the Ministry of Education. Zhang Ning was a teacher and student who were shot in the same ditch with him. It would be a matter of minutes for them to restore his reputation as a Juren?

He was about to sit down just now, but before his butt was even reached the chair, he stood up and bowed deeply: "Please accept the prayer of the students, and I would like to thank Lord Hu for his mentor for justice."

Hu Ying waved his hand: "No need to do this, the emperor is the one who presides over justice. Keshu and I serve as officials in the same court. I just report the truth." After saying that, he looked at the old cousin Yan inside the door. Old cousin walked over slowly with his legs limp and put a few ingots of silver on the coffee table. Hu Ying said: "When Ping An comes to the capital, he must have gone quickly. You don't have to refuse these silver. I am considered to be a pity for gifts to each other."

"Thank you, Lord Hu." Zhang Ning did not refuse. He really didn't have enough money to live now. People say that, so he doesn't have to waste Hu's cousin's verbal words.

Hu Ying asked again: "There will be an exam in March next year. Should Ping An go home or stay in the capital and wait for the exam?"

As far as Zhang Ning knows, the admission rate for the tribute and Jinshi of the juren is less than 5%, that is, 20 people with talented and already have the reputation of Juren can only pass one. The competition for the southern region will be even greater (the person who passed the imperial examination is a tribute and then the palace examination will be the Jinshi, and the palace examination will not fail. Only the high and low are those who will not fail the palace examination). Zhang Ning used to be very arrogant, but now Zhang Ning is much more rational: Don’t say that the top talent in the world is the first in the world, according to his 21-year-old cultivation level, he also has luck in the Nanzhili examination. As for Jinshi, it really depends on the ancestral tomb; according to previous examples, there are very few young people who immediately passed the Jinshi in the second year of the juren exam, and they are generally genius people. Even Zhang Juzheng, a genius from the Ming Dynasty, failed the first few times. Fan Jin was a big shot at the age of the juren.

Zhang Ning's judgment was that the chance to be on the list of the next year's exam was equal to zero. It was originally close to zero, but because of this incident, the examiners in the exam must avoid suspicion. Besides, Zhang Ning was young and they might think it was normal for him to fail the first chapter; then now he is not interested in studying the Four Books and Eight-Legends essays at all, and he may not be able to write any good Eight-Legends next year. So he felt that there was no chance to pass the exam.

So he told the truth: "The students have no intention of going to the subject."

His temporary plan is to see if he can make some relationships with Lu Zhen, and then use his reputation as a juren to be a county magistrate, deputy county magistrate, etc. to make some "fire consumption" and "bad rules" to make a living. Anyway, he can't get into the Jinshi exam by himself. It's nothing to take a step back and say he doesn't become an official. His hometown has property and land, and his reputation as a juren, so it's really not difficult to live a comfortable life.

"Oh?" Hu Xuan was a little surprised when he heard this. Young scholars who had been working hard for about ten years were all looking for the Jinshi with hope. Zhang Ning was a 21-year-old scholar. It was really not common for him to continue the imperial examination. Hu Xuan couldn't help but ask again: "Did you really have no intention of imperial examination?"

Zhang Ning said calmly: "Yes." Obviously, there is no possibility of joking when speaking in front of the Minister of Education.

Hu Xuan touched his beard and said, "Then do you have any plans to become an official?"

Zhang Ning said: "If you have the opportunity to serve the country, will the students dare not obey?"

Hu Xuan smiled and nodded, pondered for a moment, saying, "There are just a group of vacancies. The Ministry of Personnel will interview juren in a few days, so you can report it first. I said, "If Ping An is talented, it will be a big problem to make up for another position."

"This..." Zhang Ning was surprised and looked at the silver on the coffee table, "Students really don't know what to do."

Hu Xuan laughed: "I gave you the money, not you bribed me, so even if you make up for the vacancies, I can't say I'm selling official porridge."

Zhang Ning suddenly felt that something was wrong. Hu's cousin was not a relative or a good friend, and it was even nonsense that he cherished his talents. There were so many juren in the world, and he didn't even find out where he was talented. This second-rank official was too enthusiastic about the unknown.

According to Zhang Ning's speculation, Hu Xuan probably took a fancy to his relationship with Lu Zhen and even Yang Shiqi. Although he was also an insignificant role there, it was because of this that Hu Xuan invested without risk, and it was a small investment, twenty taels of silver, a sentence from the Ministry of Personnel was nothing to him... It is not a big deal for Zhang Ning to judge a gentleman with a villain's heart, and other second-rank officials are not doing anything to do charity all day long.

Zhang Ning hurriedly thanked.

Hu Ying said earnestly: "Peace and youthfulness, we must be cautious in arrogance and impetuousness and do something down-to-earth for the country and the people."

"Remember Lord Hu's teachings." Zhang Ning bowed.

At this time, Hu Ying picked up the teacup, and Zhang Ning stood up and left at the right time.

When he returned to the room, he packed up his things and said goodbye to the cousin Yan, preparing to move out of the Hu Mansion. Giving money would mean money, and it would lose its meaning if he stayed here. The cheating case in the imperial examination has come to an end for the time being. Now, no one is thinking about Zhang Ning anymore. Originally, the target of the man was Lu Zhen.

There was nothing to deal with. Zhang Ning was alone when he came to the capital. Now he had two sets of clothes and twenty taels of silver. He could leave with just a bag.

Find a place to stay first, and inns are the best choice. The Civilization Gate (Chongwen Gate) belongs to Dongcheng, not far from Jinyu Hutong, and is in the south, where there are many people in the south, which are good and cheap. Zhang Ning went there to find an inn. Because there is an imperial city in the middle of Beijing, there is no road between the east and west cities, so it is impossible for everyone to pass through the palace, so it is actually quite a bit to go to Xicheng. He went to Mingshifang and settled in an inn in Chuanban Hutong.

The room is not expensive, and you can live in a single room for 120 cents a day, and you can also buy two meals in the morning and evening. Hu Ying is not stingy to give twenty taels, and he is a salary of half a year for ordinary people. At this time, one tael of silver can be replaced with an average old copper coin of 1,500 cents, and one tael of silver can live in him for half a month.

The most important thing next was to visit his teacher Lu Zhen. He had just come out of the imperial prison and had to greet him anyway. Of course, according to traditional etiquette, some supplements should be given, and the grade should not be too low. The Ming Dynasty could not help but give gifts. Sometimes local officials went to Beijing to honor teachers and other things to give money directly, and some money could be collected. Therefore, some officials were indeed very honest but not poor at all. They had the power and grade and were so poor that they were so poor that they were not those who were psychologically disabled like Hai Rui, who were definitely showing off... Moreover, Hai Rui could not count on raising a family alone. He may have mainly saved "recitations".

Zhang Ning ran to a medicinal store to buy ginseng and found that the price of the top Shanxi Shangdang ginseng was sold for ten taels of silver every twelve, which was twice as expensive as gold at this time. Of course, there were some cheaper ones, but Lu Zhen was appointed as the Minister of Rites. Others would eat ginseng like radish? Good things happened in pairs, and two ginsengs were packed, and the price was more than sixteen taels... I gritted my teeth and bought it.

In an instant, he went from a ten thousand yuan household to a destitute, but Minister Hu Ying was a person who was full of words, and Lu Zhen would not sit idly by. Anyway, he would become an official. As far as he knew, a new official could receive a 50 taels of family settlement at the Ministry of Personnel when he took office, not counting his salary. The Zhu family was stingy. Compared with the previous dynasties, officials were not treated as low as those of the literati of the Song Dynasty, just a salary of hundreds of thousands or millions, but they were still more humane and thoughtful: they were usually small officials when they first became officials, and many people were so poor that they spent fifty taels first, which was tens of thousands of yuan.

After buying ginseng, Zhang Ning planned to spend more than 100 yuan in the inn every day to eat, drink and wait for the money to settle down.

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The article written by the beautiful author, see the link below.

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