"I remember you have read the book, right?" Xu Jingchang asked with his hands behind his back.
Xu Qin, who was opposite, said with a sullen face: "After reading, let's go to the Imperial College together. You always have a stomachache, so I went to read by myself."
Xu Jingchang rolled his eyelids. It seemed like this happened, but I had forgotten about it.
"So how are you doing in your studies? Are you sure you will be admitted to Enke?"
Xu Qin's face turned even uglier. He was obviously two years older than Xu Jingchang, but he was questioned by this boy like a teacher. He was really neither older nor younger... Moreover, he was the eldest grandson of the King of Zhongshan. My grandfather was Xu Da, did you know?
?It is the true god of Xuwang Temple!
You asked me to take the imperial examination, are you kidding me?
When my grandfather went to Jinling with Emperor Taizu, he completed several lifetimes of work.
You want me to fight with those people?
What are you thinking about?
Look at the pattern on my forehead!
Seeing that he was unconvinced, Xu Jingchang smiled and said: "Speaking of my cousin, last year, there was no one in the Xu Mansion. Where were you?"
Xu Qin was questioned. Last year, his father was arrested and imprisoned in a prison. He was so frightened that he hid with his sister-in-law and prayed for shelter.
He didn't return to the mansion until his father was released.
But even if he comes back, he doesn't dare to cause trouble, so he can only stay at the door and never take a step forward.
It wasn't until Xu Huizu went to the Golden Palace that Zhu Di regained his title, Xu Qin resurrected, and your Duke Xu Shaoguo came back again.
Things were going well. The only problem was that while he was dormant, his cousin, the former follower who was dragging two buckets of snot behind him, had actually become Duke Dingguo, following him.
Dad is on an equal footing.
Facing him, I couldn't even lift my head.
"What do you want to say? I admit that I was scared at the time, but I really had no way not to be afraid..."
Xu Jingchang stopped him, "No matter how much you say, it's useless. You'd better make it clear that this honorable status can't really protect you from worries. The Xu family's gate is not that unbreakable. You can't always think about your family.
What are you doing? Think about how much you have contributed to this family!"
Xu Jingchang really acted like he was lecturing a primary school student, "This Enke is the best opportunity. You can get a meritorious title and then join the court as an official... With my current example, it will not delay your inheritance of the title. On the contrary, you do
If you make some achievements and make everyone in the world look up to you, it is natural to inherit the title at that time. Even if you cannot make achievements, you can study more in the officialdom, master some real skills, and understand the thoughts of the courtiers. In the future, you will not
As for his eyes being completely dark, he doesn’t understand anything, wouldn’t you say?”
Xu Qin said with a dark face: "What you said makes sense, but why don't you take the merit test? Why are you making things difficult for me?"
Xu Jingchang rolled his eyelids, and then sighed: "I will probably serve as the marking officer and review the examination papers for you."
Upon hearing this, Xu Qin was even more stunned, "I won't go, I definitely won't go!"
He shook his head desperately, but Xu Jingchang smiled faintly, I'm afraid you can't help it!
Sure enough, while they were discussing, Xu Huizu suddenly slammed the table. Xu Qin was so frightened that he closed his mouth and turned to look at his father, his eyes full of fear and awe.
"Listen to your brother, you must take the exam for this subject!"
It’s over!
Xu Qin was about to cry. "Father, it's not that I don't want to go, it's just that my knowledge is really not good enough. I'm afraid I'll embarrass you, the old man."
"If you're afraid of being embarrassed, go to school! Go now!" Xu Huizu said angrily: "As the eldest son of the Xu family, you are so hopeless at the age of twenty. If one day, your father dies, what can you do?
Can you support the Xu family?"
Can it?
It seems impossible.
It’s just that the Xu family still has Xu Jingchang!
Xu Qin subconsciously looked at Xu Jingchang, and then his face couldn't help but turn red.
Do I really have to rely on my cousin?
It's really embarrassing.
"Dad, my child is willing to take the exam, but he is not knowledgeable enough. I'm afraid he won't be able to pass it."
Xu Huizu snorted, "You're a worthless waste! When I asked you to study in the early years, you didn't know how to work hard. Look at your cousin. He was in the Golden Palace, quoting scriptures and fighting with the courtiers. He never suffered a loss. You are bigger than others.
You are two years old, but you turned out to be such a loser. You can't even pass the exam, so what do I need you for?"
As he spoke, Xu Huizu picked up a wooden stick and shouted angrily: "Kneel down!"
Xu Qin was so frightened that his legs went weak, "Father, please spare my life!"
Xu Qin was at a loss and didn't even have the courage to escape. He could only stand at a loss.
Xu Jingchang looked a little pitiful. He came over and took the family law from Xu Huizu's hand.
"Uncle, give it to me. I will supervise his studies later. If he is not honest and obedient, I will beat him when the time comes. Don't worry, I won't show mercy."
Xu Huizu raised his eyebrows and said hesitantly: "Are you sure?"
"There should be a 30% chance, unless he is too disappointed."
"Okay!" Xu Huizu agreed decisively, "Just go and teach him. How many beatings this kid got at your place, I will give him double the amount when he comes back!"
In this way, Xu Qin fell into the hands of the evil spirits of the Eighteenth Level of Hell.
Xu Jingchang first took stock of this boy's basic situation.
If you can't even write, it won't work.
But after Xu Jingchang's preliminary test, he was surprised to find that Xu Qin's calligraphy was very good, at least better than him... by a lot.
"Handwriting is a facade. I have been practicing calligraphy since I was a child, but you, when you were a child, you just thought about climbing trees and catching birds, without paying any attention to it."
Xu Jingchang raised the wooden stick in his hand without ceremony.
"If you dare to mention things from your childhood again, I will serve you with a big stick!"
Xu Qin was so frightened that he stuck out his tongue and did not dare to talk nonsense.
"I don't expect you to be good at studying the classics. You definitely can't do the Four Books and Five Classics."
Xu Qin blinked his eyes, he is indeed not good, but you may not be better than me, how about we compete?
Xu Jingchang ignored him, "Do you understand the Ming Law?"
Xu Qin was startled, "I understand, I've memorized it."
"really?"
"Well, it was still when Emperor Taizu was here. That time we went to the palace to celebrate his birthday. Emperor Taizu asked me the laws of the Ming Dynasty. I answered it right and got a gold ingot. You..."
Before he could finish speaking, Xu Jingchang raised the stick, scaring Xu Qin into shutting up.
"In addition to the Great Ming Law, do you know anything else? For example, nine chapters of arithmetic and so on?"
"Understand something."
"Do you understand this?" Xu Jingchang was curious.
Xu Qin said: "Since my father became the heir, some of the family affairs have been entrusted to me. I have to understand the accounts of the palace so that I will not be deceived."
"That's right...then what else do you want? For example, do you understand the current political affairs?"
Xu Qin rolled his eyelids and suddenly lowered his voice and said, "Does it count to publish an article in the Di newspaper?"
"You wrote an article in Di Bao? What article?" Xu Jingchang was shocked.
Xu Qin said proudly: "It's about the Nishan Hongru Society. I edited a lot, and I got paid for it! Although it's not much, it's the first time I've made money. It feels pretty good."
"Wait a minute..." Xu Jingchang stopped him quickly. Others are poor scholars who need to earn some living expenses. You, the eldest son of a prince, why are you joining in the fun?
Xu Qin said seriously: "What's wrong with this? I also want to be a scholar, why not?"
Xu Jingchang looked at him seriously for a while and nodded, "It is easy for a young man in his twenties who has accomplished nothing to imagine that he is a writer!"
"You!" Xu Qin was furious, "Xu Jingchang, don't go too far! I will write you in later."
Xu Jingchang snorted, "Your threats are useless, don't forget what I do, the royal guards are still in my hands, be careful I will throw you into prison!"
This time Xu Qin was frightened and he shut up and stopped talking.
Xu Jingchang was quite curious, "If you write articles, do you have a pen name? Tell me about it."
Xu Qin was startled. Even if he didn't say anything, Xu Jingchang could have found out. He could only say helplessly: "I am planning to inherit the title, so I will name it Cheng'en."
"Cheng'en?"
"Well, my name is Wu (my) Cheng'en."
Xu Jingchang was shocked, and suddenly his whole body felt bad.
"Um, cousin... do you know Sun Wukong?"
"It's the perverted monkey in the drama. I've read it, but I thought the book was a bit vulgar and not interesting."
Xu Jingchang pondered for a moment, "Are you interested in rewriting a story about seeking scriptures from the West?"
Xu Qin thought for a while, "It's hard to say. I still plan to write about the real and fake descendants of Confucius. Maybe I will write about it in the future."
Xu Jingchang nodded, "Okay, I'll tell you what happens next. You should study hard for me first and deal with Enke this time."
Not sure if it was an illusion, but Xu Qin suddenly found that his cousin was much more polite and less harsh. He just kept moving books in front of him.
The first is the imperial edict, which is the foundation of this Enke. You must read it carefully and understand the core.
Next is arithmetic, which is also a key assessment item.
Finally, there are opinions about the current situation.
Zhu Di came up with the specific questions for the exam, but Xu Jingchang could guess some of the general categories... This is the biggest problem with the imperial examination.
In fact, those who have a deep relationship can know the general scope of the examination in advance, and then they can also collect articles written by these examiners when they were young, and then they can review them accordingly.
And at the end of the day, even if Wen Wen is deposed, he still has a chance to be resurrected... In short, the children of those aristocratic families have a greater chance than ordinary people.
Xu Jingchang didn't know if it was against the rules for him to tutor Xu Qin in this way. But one thing is, if the people who come out of Enke this time don't have deep foundations, they may be bullied and their bones will be gone.
no way!
Just suffer a little!
From morning to night, even the time to go to the toilet is determined, and I can only sleep for an hour and a half at most at night.
The head is hanging from the beam, the buttocks are spiked...Xu Qin has never suffered from such pain when he has grown up.
I fucking don’t want to study anymore. If I fail, I’ll fail!
Whenever he was in a bad position, Xu Jingchang's stick fell down unceremoniously.
He didn't know how many days had passed, but suddenly Xu Jingchang told him to go to bed early today.
Xu Qin was startled, thinking that this kid had finally become a human being!
Little did he know that the next sentence would make him stunned again. It would be Enke the day after tomorrow.
Xu Qin was instantly stressed!
In a blink of an eye, it was Enke's day. Before dawn, Xu Qin carried a basket and things for use and headed to Gongyuan.
At this time, the lanterns on the street were lit up like a string of fireflies.
Under the light of the lanterns, there are faces that have experienced vicissitudes of life.
This is the scribe who came to take the exam!
They had been manipulated for most of their lives, and they thought they had long since worn away their edges and had accepted their fate. Who would have thought that they would get the chance to turn around.
Whether you can be on an equal footing with your superiors depends on this time!
Xu Qin felt the fire from the eyes of these people!
His whole body was shaken, he couldn't help but pull up his clothes, lowered his head, and quickly entered the Gongyuan along with the crowd...
