"Of course I know about the legendary love between Mr. Fan and Zhen Jinlian, but what is my status as Gu Tingye? How can I compare with Mr. Fan?"
Gu Tingye said in a frivolous tone and refused firmly. The choice of marrying Mannia had never existed in Gu Tingye's mind.
"Then you should find a way to change your reputation. If you don't have a good reputation, how can you marry a noble girl?"
Sheng Changbai replied perfunctorily, telling the answer that everyone knew.
In Sheng Changbai's view, Gu Tingye is not lacking a wife.
There are extramarital affairs outside and a lot of lovers in the brothel. There is really no shortage of women.
The family is from a distinguished family, and the family members are not bad, so there is no need for a political marriage.
What Gu Tingye did seemed very divisive.
On the one hand, he said that he did not pursue family status, but only pursued love. As long as he liked her, he could accept any kind of woman.
On the other hand, he still insists on marrying a docile noble girl as his legal wife.
The first wife of a high-ranking daughter also has to accept her own wife and a pair of concubine children.
"I have lived in Bianjing City for more than ten years, and this reputation has been passed down for more than ten years. It can't be changed so easily." Gu Tingye shook his head and said.
Millions of people know Gu Tingye's reputation as a libertine, and it's a bit difficult to change.
"Then from now on, many people now know that you have returned to Tokyo. If no one has seen you in the brothel before the imperial examination, someone should say that you are a prodigal son. Even if no one says, I will help you.
Go ahead."
The famous "Fat Tiger Effect" means that no matter how many unscrupulous bad things a person has done before, as long as he does one good thing, he will be considered "actually not bad at heart."
No matter how many things a person has done in the past to be worthy of his conscience, worthy of the world, worthy of his friends, and worthy of his lover, as long as he does one relatively dirty thing, he will be considered as "the kindness he has always been doing is just an act."
If bad people want to learn to be good, society will always be more tolerant and it will always be easier.
Sheng Changbai's purpose was to persuade Gu Tingye to stay at home peacefully.
"Zecheng, please stop trying to persuade me. If you really want to help me, just ask your fiancée Haishi if he has any close friends and recommend me."
"Then I can't help you. With the family tradition of the Hai family, let alone recommending you, it would be good if I could help other female relatives to be careful about you." Sheng Changbai firmly refused.
Sheng Changbai and Haishi had only met each other a few times and wrote letters to each other.
What should I talk about in the letter? What should I talk about to recommend Gu Tingye to the girl?
Birds of a feather flock together and people divide into groups. If you recommend Gu Tingye more, Sheng Changbai himself should be ashamed.
"Then let's not talk about this. Let's eat and drink. We won't go home until we get drunk today. I can't even eat and drink while studying in the academy. I've been starved to death in the past few years."
It's okay to drink. The high-grade wines from Dazhou Dynasty have low alcohol content, which is equivalent to the alcohol content of modern beer.
Sheng Changbai didn't care whether he was drunk or not. His stomach couldn't bear the drink. He could also use the small world to cheat. He had never been afraid of anyone when he drank.
When Gu Tingye came looking for him, Sheng Changbai took Gu Tingye to a wine shop to have a drink.
After feeling that hanging out with Sheng Changbai was not very interesting, Gu Tingye reduced the number of visits to Sheng's house.
Just like that, time passed day by day, and it was autumn.
Many people Sheng Changbai knew started their careers in this department, including Sheng Changfeng, Qi Heng, and Gu Tingye.
There are also some people of the same age whom Sheng Changbai came into contact with when he came to Beijing. They were all around 20 years old and had found out for the first time.
For poor families, taking the exam is a difficult task.
But for the children of noble officials, it is just a process.
It was just a test that had nothing to do with fame. The emperor had already listed all the officials' children separately to participate in the "biotou test" separately, without occupying the quota of civilian candidates.
Candidates from poor backgrounds also have to get together as usual to shout and call out for injustice.
Of course, this is of no use. Being able to take separate exams is the greatest fairness to poor candidates.
After these candidates can actually pass the Jinshi examination and become officials, they will adapt to this rule.
It is difficult for the imperial court to supervise local state examinations, and they are really not divided into divisions. This allows local officials to have room to operate, and candidates from poor families have no chance.
Although Chang Feng is a concubine, he is treated the same as Sheng Changbai in the Sheng family.
Because Changfeng was about to take the imperial examination, the Sheng family once again entered the state of preparing for the examination.
The servants remained calm and the master's family remained quiet, which was quite reassuring.
Sheng Hong still doesn't pay much attention to the "different test".
Officials' families generally don't value this. The exam is not difficult enough, and passing it is not considered a big achievement.
For exams at this level, that is, if you take the ordinary state exam, you will get some attention if you are in the top few, or even if you only get one state.
On the day of the exam, Lin Zongshuang and Mo Lan went to the exam hall to see off Chang Feng.
On the surface, they are a family, but in fact, both adults and children of the Sheng family clearly distinguish between closeness and distance.
A family is only a child born to one mother.
"Chang Feng, your ranking this time is not very good. Before spring, you should not go out and study hard at home!"
Sheng Hong was obviously not that satisfied with Sheng Changfeng, who had only passed the first test and ranked in the middle.
The measure taken was to lock Sheng Changfeng at home to study.
After reaching the age of fifteen, Sheng Changfeng had the right to freely withdraw money from the accounting office.
I also lived a leisurely life for a long time.
Apart from going to school every day, I don't do much reading or reading. I just go out and participate in literary and poetry gatherings all day long.
Those who write some sour poems and bad poems can also be praised by some people because they come from an official background and spend a lot of money.
In the praise of a group of people, Sheng Changfeng lost himself and became distracted.
All day long, I focused more on writing poems and poems, and put aside the classic meanings, strategies, theories, and articles.
The classics and meanings of the imperial examination are really like sailing against the current. If you don't advance, you will retreat.
Sheng Changfeng's performance in the imperial examination was really not as good as last year.
It's not that Sheng Changbai's grades were too good to whet Sheng Hong's appetite, it was simply because of his middling ranking in the other exams, which showed that Sheng Changfeng's academic level was really not very high.
The quality of most of the candidates who have passed the "special examination" and are ranked in the middle and lower grades is much lower than that of the candidates from poor families who took the state examination.
They are just a bunch of bastards. It can be said that there is no possibility of passing the provincial examination and participating in the palace examination.
Sheng Changfeng's performance can only be regarded as the better one among these gangsters.
The top one or two hundred people in the Bianjing Special Examination are the real elites, and most of them can pass the Jinshi examination.
If you fail in this subject, you can always pass in most of the following subjects.
The level is much higher than that of poor candidates in ordinary state examinations.
If the emperor does not encourage poor families and likes to select the number one scholar among the poor families, Bianjing's other exams will be the popular seeds for the number one scholar in every subject.
"Father, the candidates for the new imperial examination are about to enter Beijing. It is the time when I should go out more often to participate in literary and poetry gatherings and promote my literary reputation. How can I not go out?" Sheng Changfeng obviously still wanted to struggle.
This is because Chang Feng is the most similar to Sheng Hong in every aspect, including origin, appearance, and personality.
Sheng Hong has a big preference for Chang Feng, and it usually works quite well for Chang Feng to talk to Sheng Hong about some conditions.
"To promote your literary reputation, what kind of literary reputation do you want to promote? If you go to that poetry meeting, will it allow you to pass the Jinshi examination? I tell you Sheng Changfeng, you can't go anywhere, just study at home for me." If you dare to go out privately, I will cut off your right to withdraw money from the accounting office."
Sheng Hong said with a bit of anger that the imperial examination was a non-negotiable matter here.
"Bai'er, when you have time, you should teach Feng'er more. If Feng'er can become a Jinshi, it will be a great help to you in the officialdom. A single thread cannot make a thread, and a single tree cannot make a forest. Only you brothers can work together. Prosper our Sheng family."
When it comes to imperial examination knowledge alone, Sheng Changbai has actually surpassed Sheng Hong.
After passing the imperial examination, Sheng Hong was no longer good at classics and meaning, and developed various hobbies such as playing music, chess, calligraphy and painting.
What Sheng Hong is best at is his good calligraphy, and he has seen many old emperors with good calligraphy.
When I see Sheng Hong's words, I will praise him.
During the more than ten years of his exile, Sheng Hong could not see the emperor. He only relied on his good calligraphy to leave an impression on the emperor.
"Yes, father, I will supervise Chang Feng to prepare for the exam."
Sheng Changbai happily agreed.
It’s not that I want to discipline Sheng Changfeng. I simply agree with the decision not to let Sheng Changfeng go out.
"You two go ahead."
After the lesson was done, Sheng Hong drove Sheng Changbai and Sheng Changfeng out, and went to find Lin Jiaoshuang for comfort.
"Second brother, you didn't help me when you were in there just now. My father won't let me go out. I will have to stay at home for the next few months."
After going out, Sheng Changfeng had a sad face and pulled Sheng Changbai.
"What do you want me to say for you, let you go out and hang out in the brothel and Chuguan? If you go to these places and hang out for a few months, can you pass the provincial examination?"
Regardless of whether they are poor scholars or the children of officials and gentry, the first choice place for holding literary parties is the brothel.
There is just a difference in the quality of brothels.
The entire social atmosphere is like this, and Sheng Hong has no objection to Sheng Changfeng going to these places.
It's just because Sheng Changfeng is young and doesn't let Sheng Changfeng indulge in these things.
Secondly, some high-ranking families, in order to attract talents, make their children famous, and make friends with more talents, they will also hold some cultural gatherings in their own courtyards and other courtyards.
But equally indispensable are the performances of singing girls and dancers.
To put it bluntly, this is a social occasion for eating, drinking, singing and dancing.
The most important thing is, whoever held it, everyone ate, drank, and played for free, just to give face and praise the host.
As time went by, Sheng Changbai understood clearly that the essence of these literary and poetry gatherings was just this.
The organizer always has his own purpose when he spends so much money to hold an event.
If there hadn't been such an unspoken rule, Sheng Changfeng wouldn't have spent money to hold a poetry meeting. No matter what poem he wrote, there would be a bunch of people touting it.
That is to say, some cultural gatherings for outings in the city, outings, flower appreciation, and snow appreciation. They are not very ordinary. This is another activity that Sheng Changfeng does not like to participate in.
"Second brother, my father doesn't understand my level of Jingyi, don't you? I didn't get a good ranking this time because I performed abnormally. When it comes to the provincial examination, as long as I perform normally, I will get a better one. Ranking is not difficult at all. My academic level is already sufficient. All that remains is to make a name for myself in Bianjing and let the examiners hear my literary name. When ranking, they will put me as far forward as possible."
As a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old child, if you hear too much praise, it is indeed easy for you to become inflated.
Sheng Changfeng now has a mysterious confidence in his whole person.
It was not only the outsiders who were blamed, but also the family. Because of Chang Feng’s identity, the school teacher usually praised Sheng Chang Feng.
Sheng Hong also provided encouraging education to Sheng Changfeng, which made Sheng Changfeng unclear about his position.
"Sanlang, did you really perform abnormally in this test? Is it possible that you are at this level and that you are not good at your studies, so you can only get this ranking?"
Sheng Changfeng still has a certain level of ability. Even if he takes the real state examination, there is a certain possibility that he can get a place in the national examination.
Considering Sheng Changfeng's age, his academic performance is actually pretty good compared to his peers.
But the reason why Sheng Hong is not satisfied with this result lies in this result.
There is no point in comparing with peers. The imperial examination was taken by all the literati in the Zhou Dynasty.
Sheng Changfeng's achievement was not the result of all-out effort.
There was still a lot of study time that could have been used, and Sheng Changfeng was paddling.
Even if he could achieve better results, Sheng Hong could certainly be dissatisfied with this result because Sheng Changfeng was playful.
"Impossible, absolutely impossible, I just didn't perform well." Chang Feng said confidently.
"..." Sheng Changbai: "Yes. I believe it."
The provincial examination has not been long, which is equivalent to the sprint time for modern students to take the college entrance examination. Sheng Changbai is not suitable at this time, and it will severely damage Sheng Changfeng's self-confidence.
Confident students are, relatively speaking, more likely to perform beyond their normal capabilities.
We can wait until after Chun Wei to attack Sheng Laosan and make Sheng Laosan realize his own affairs.
Without further explanation, Sheng Changbai and Sheng Changfeng separated and went back to their respective courtyards.
"Second Young Master, Young Master Qi is here. The old lady wants you to come over."
As soon as Sheng Changbai walked to the door of his courtyard, he met the old lady's maid coming to call someone.
"Why is Young Master Qi here?"
Without Zhuang Xuexue, the Sheng family would no longer be attractive to the Duke of Guo's mansion. Qi Heng could not visit the Sheng family twice a year.
"Young Master Qi won the prize this time. He came to our house this time to thank our family for helping us study." The female envoy replied.
"Okay, I'll change my clothes and go to Shou'an Hall."
Sheng Changbai responded and was ready to go over in a moment.
According to the custom of the Zhou Dynasty, Sheng Changbai, Sheng Changfeng, and Qi Heng were classmates taught by the same master, and they were actually very close to each other.
In particular, the Sheng family is a private school with small class teaching, and the relationship between classmates is closer than that of classmates educated in large classes such as academies, county schools, and prefecture schools.
Regardless of Qi Heng's status as the future Duke of the country, when Qi Heng came to the Sheng family, it was appropriate for Sheng Changbai to receive him.
Being from the same hometown, classmates, and in the same year is the basis of a scholar's network of relationships after he enters the officialdom.