No matter what the reason was, Guo Pu finally agreed to Gao Jingshi's request to become a disciple, but he refused to return to Beijing immediately, saying that he would wait for Gao Jingshi to pass the small test before returning to Beijing together.
In other words, if Gao Pragmatic fails to pass the small test, then the apprenticeship will come to an end.
There is one thing that needs to be explained here: scholars in the Ming Dynasty had to take the county examination first, and then they could take the prefecture examination after being admitted. They could take the Taoist examination only after being admitted in the prefectural examination. Those who passed the Taoist examination were called shengyuan, and those who failed were called tongsheng.
In other words, people like Gao Pragmatic, who have never taken an exam, are not even considered Tongsheng, they can only be called Tongzi.
However, in the Ming Dynasty, there were two exams every three years. Gao Pragmatic can take the county exam, government exam, and road exam in one go this year - provided that the exam goes well.
In the Ming Dynasty, it was not easy to be a boy student, and it was even more difficult to be a student. Because scholars took the county examination, the number of admissions was limited, and those who passed the county examination took the government examination, and the number of admissions was also limited.
Therefore, even a mere quota of children must be checked twice by the county and government, and whether the children can successfully become students depends on the last step of the Taoist examination, which also has a quota limit.
Relatively speaking, because the academic style in the north is not as strong as in the south, the competition between scholars in the north is a little looser than that of scholars in the south. In some areas south of the Yangtze River, such as Nanzhili, Zhejiang and other places, it is really a single-plank bridge with thousands of troops and horses. A county
It is possible to defeat hundreds or even hundreds of people in a trial. The number of people who can be defeated in a single mansion is basically thousands. For a slightly larger mansion, it is not uncommon for thousands of people to be defeated in a trial. This shows how difficult it is.
Gao Jingshi's birthplace is Xinzheng County, Kaifeng Prefecture, Henan Province. Kaifeng Prefecture needs no introduction, it is a major prefecture in the past dynasties, so it is also an area with fierce competition among the northern provinces.
Of course, Guo Pu had read Gao Jingshi's article. He insisted on waiting for Gao Jingshi to pass the test before returning to Beijing. He didn't think that Gao Jingshi would fail the test, but he just didn't want to go to the capital alone. It would be too embarrassing.
Guo Pu's family was cramped, so Guo Pu did not stay with Gao Jingshi, and told him to go directly to the road the next day without coming to say goodbye. Gao Pu knew that Guo Pu was a good person, and since he explained it like this, there was no need to bother, so he returned to Anyang and rested for the night.
Early the next morning, Gao pragmatic set out from Yecheng Ma Yi and headed south to Weihui Prefecture, then transferred to Xinxiang County in the southwest, took Kangcai Ma Yi to Xingyang, went south, passed Zhengzhou, and then passed Guodian Ma Yi to Xinzheng.
The ancestral home of the Gao family is not in Xinzheng County, but in Gaolaozhuang in the northeast of the county. This name is very famous, but it is not the Gaolaozhuang in "Journey to the West". Its location is approximately Xigao Village, Hezhuang Town, Xinzheng City in later generations.
Sakon.
Gaolaozhuang is not far from Xinzheng County, about ten miles out of the city. Because Gao Pingshi came from the north, he simply did not enter the county seat and went straight to Gaolaozhuang.
Since entering the border of Xinzheng County, there are a few more things on Gao Pragmatic's carriage: a small triangular flag has been inserted into the left and right shafts of the carriage. In the middle of the small flag is the character "高", and on both sides of the character "高" there is a statue of a snake with a human face, intersecting on the left and right.
, surround the tall characters.
This is a unique symbol of the Gao family, which is equivalent to the family logo in Europe. However, this pattern is not uncommon in Xinzheng - the human face and snake body are the tribal totems recorded in ancient books as Xuanyuan Huangdi, and Xinzheng is the hometown of Xuanyuan Huangdi, so Xinzheng is called
Almost all of the named families are decorated with human faces and snake bodies.
The only difference is the tall character in the middle.
Among the Gao family in Xinzheng, only the Gaolaozhuang family deserves these four words.
Now that he has arrived in Xinzheng, Gao Jue no longer needs to follow Gao Jingshi nervously. He has been in Gao Laozhuang for many years and knows almost everyone, so he went to Gao Laozhuang in advance to inform Gao Jingshi of his return to his hometown.
Of course, Gao Jingshi is a junior, so the notice is not to ask Gao Laozhuang to send someone out to pick him up, but to ask each room to be prepared, and Gao Jingshi will definitely visit them one by one.
Since the eldest uncle Gao Jie has passed away, the second uncle Gao Dun is in Nanjing, the third uncle Gao Gong is in the capital, and the fourth uncle Gao Cao died young. Only the fifth uncle Gao Cai returned to his hometown early due to illness, but Gao Cai did not live in Gaolaozhuang.
, but lives in the county town, so Gao Pragmatic can go back to his own home first, which is the sixth room.
Gao Jingshi's mother, Zhang, originally planned to go to Fengyang to be with her husband this year. It was precisely because Gao Jingshi wanted to return to his hometown to take an exam that she stayed a few more months. Now she is at Gao Laozhuang's home. When she heard that her eldest son had finally returned, she hurriedly called for help.
When people are ready, they themselves take a bath and change clothes, and wait to see him in a pragmatic manner.
However, when Gao Pingshi arrived at Gaolaozhuang, he found that there were still people greeting him - they were all brothers of the same generation, not a single woman.
The leader was already in his early thirties and looked very talented, but his behavior was frivolous. He was Gao Wuzi, the only son of his uncle Gao Jie. Gao Jingshi knew that the real "eldest son" of the Gao family had not inherited any of his father's excellent genes and was a complete playboy.
.
When Gao pragmatic got out of the car, Gao Wuzi was talking to someone next to him with an unhappy look on his face. The man seemed to be trying to persuade Gao Wuzi, but Gao Wuzi ignored him.
Seeing Gao Wuzi getting out of the car and walking towards him, the brothers of the Gao family originally wanted to greet him, but Gao Wuzi did not move and everyone looked embarrassed, so they had to stop.
Gao Pragmatic seemed not to have seen him before, and quickly stepped forward to greet him.
Gao Wuzi reluctantly returned the gift, looked at the cavalry accompanying Gao Jingshi, and said in a neutral tone: "I heard that Jingjing made a fortune in the capital, and it seems to be true... Oh, this is really different for the third uncle to value it.
, the boss boy can also make a lot of money every day."
Gao Pingshi smiled and said: "Brother is laughing at me, but I just made some cleansing things, and luckily your majesty liked them. Today, my hair has grown, and it's not worth a penny."
"Oh? It's not worth a cent?" Gao Wuzi chuckled: "Since it's not worth a cent, why not pass on the method of making this thing to our brothers, so that we can all have a try?"
Gao Pragmatic secretly sighed that his uncle had no successor, but he looked embarrassed and hesitated to speak.
"What, you can't bear to part with it? Didn't you say that it's not worth your time?" Gao Wuzi sneered: "You have learned to be duplicitous at such a young age, how can you do it in the future!"
There have been so many times when I have been duplicitous, you bite me?
Gao Pingshi was despised in his heart, but with a look of fear on his face, he explained: "The eldest brother misunderstood, it's not because the younger brother is stingy, it's just that after this soap was presented to His Majesty, His Majesty was very happy for a moment, and he once said that this soap can only be made exclusively by the younger brother.
, because it’s difficult.”
Gao Wuzi didn't expect that there would be such a problem, and he was speechless. Then he became suspicious and asked, "Your Majesty, you still care about this? Are you deceiving me?"
Gao pragmatic sighed and said, "If you don't believe me, brother, you might as well write to your third uncle and find out what's going on."
"This..." Gao Wuzi knew that he was not liked by Gao Gong, so he said angrily: "That's all, I just said it casually, is it really that those few copper coins are missing?"
