Prime Minister

Chapter 26 Torches and Lanterns

After Zhang Heng left, Zhang Yue looked at the thick pile of thoughts and finally had something to do.

Guo Lindao: "If you have written this well, no one else will be able to pick it out. Let me see. If you can't finish it, I will write some for you."

"How can you save it? Senior brother, you write three and a half cents per page, and I only have one cent per page."

Guo Lindao: "It's good if you know it, but it's fine if you write slowly. The most important thing is to not make any mistakes or omissions, otherwise the writing will be useless in one day."

Zhang Yue said: "It's true that senior brother is the best to me, but if one page is wrong and one word is deducted, then I will copy one page in vain. If two words are wrong, I have to find money for them."

Guo Lin clapped his legs and smiled when he heard the words: "Junior brother, you are still joking at this time. You really don't know what to say about your temperament."

Zhang Yue smiled slightly, and immediately poured water into the ground ink, and after mixing the ink color, he picked up the pen and copied the book.

Guo Lin stood behind Zhang Yue and looked at it for a while, he was a little worried that Zhang Yue's words were still unsatisfactory, or that they were scribbled for speed.Guo Lin saw Zhang Yue's strokes and strokes clearly, and it was written in regular regular script with a little bit of quaintness.

Guo Lin couldn't help but ask: "Junior brother recently came to the "Declaration Form"?"

Zhang Yue was very happy when he heard it, Guo Lin could see it, and it meant that after a lot of hard practice last night, his calligraphy was not complacent, but it was still in shape.

"Senior brother really has good eyesight, can you look at it?"

Guo Lindao: "I have made some progress. It seems that I let you copy the scriptures on weekdays finally bear fruit. Writing like this, after a long time, the power of the pen is self-sufficient, and the muscles and bones are self-contained."

"Ok."

So Zhang Yue continued to copy books. As Guo Lin said, copying books is also practicing calligraphy.

The Song Dynasty was an era when the culture reached its peak. The scholars and officials were indulged in the way of writing and ink, while ignoring the martial arts.The same is true for the emperors of the Song Dynasty. Several generations of emperors were calligraphers.Therefore, the first-class pursuit of calligraphy is formed from top to bottom, and writing a good character is another face of a person.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of copying books to practice calligraphy, there is also free pen and ink, although there is only one money, but why not.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yue couldn't help but feel calm, and continued to practice copywriting as a skill.

Zhang Yue and Guo Lin copied it differently. Guo Lin copied it as an instructive, which should have been made by students in the school, and still has the habit of writing scrolls in the Tang Dynasty.Students' daily proud works should be transcribed, and they or their relatives, teachers, and teachers should invite senior officials to look at them, and they will be honored on their behalf.

For example, Ouyang Xiu, the uncle in the political arena, supported Wang Anshi, Su Shi, and the three masters of the Su family.

Wang Anshi was recommended to Ouyang Xiu by Zeng Gong. Wang Anshi and Zeng Gong were from the same hometown, and Zeng Gong's sister married Wang Anshi's brother Wang Anguo.And Zeng Gong was Ouyang Xiu's most proud disciple.

Zeng Gong recommended to Ouyang Xiu the saying, 'Gong's friend has Wang Anshi, whose writing is very ancient, and he is known for his writing.Although he has already obtained the name of the department, he is one of the few who know Wang Anshi today.He is sincere and does not want to know others. '

With Wang Anshi's temperament, without Ouyang Xiu's support, Zeng Gong's recommendation would have been much more difficult.

Guo Lin's characters are well written, so it is used by students in ethnic studies.

Zhang Yue's writing was poor, and he copied some articles that had already reached the first reading, and then copied a copy for each student.Because the characters are ugly, they cannot be displayed externally, but can only be digested internally.

What Zhang Yue copied was Fu.

There are poems, fu, policy, theory and other genres in the Jinshi examination, but the heaviest is the poetry and fu, and the fu is above the poetry.

The quality of a piece of Fu determines whether the candidate will stay or not, and the rest will be determined.None of these fus were written by famous masters, and 36 copies were required for each piece, which means that there were 36 students in the ethnology department.

Zhang Yue calculated that it was about a page or more, I don't know if it should be calculated by one page or one and a half pages.

Zhang Yue wrote it seriously, so he only copied two articles.

At this time, the ministry has come with a case: "Don't eat in the study room, but eat outside."

"Is there a table case?" Guo Lin asked.

"No." The little old man in the ministry left after saying this.

This is for them to squat to eat.

Zhang Yue was not so particular about it. When he was a child, there was no TV in the dining room, so he often went to the living room to eat with food.

But he was a little angry when he saw Guo Lin.Although he came from a poor family, he was taught poetry and calligraphy since he was a child.The table table must be used for eating, and it must be 'the left side of the food and the right of the soup'.

Seeing the food on the ground, Guo Lin couldn't help but feel troubled.

Zhang Yue thought for a while and said, "Senior brother, when we first arrived, it shouldn't be that the academy treats you and me badly. There is no saying on the Kun hexagram that 'straight and square, if you don't learn it's no disadvantage'. , and there is no conflict of interest with each other, and it does not mean to wait for me."

Guo Lin nodded and said, "That's right. Let's discuss with the ministry together."

Immediately, Guo Lin walked over to the ministry and said, "There is no record for eating, so it is not a courtesy. Although we are here to serve books, we are also scholars. Please treat them with the courtesy of scholars."

Dissatisfied with the ministry, he said, "I'm having trouble again? Just eat, how can there be so much fame, where do you go to find a meal plan for you in such a hurry?"

Guo Lin wanted to say more, but Zhang Yue came forward and said, "I just passed by Shepu, and there is a pavilion next to it. I also asked the minister to allow us to have lunch here."

"As you go."

"Thank you for the job."

Guo Lin and Zhang Yue immediately walked to the pavilion with the food table.The rice is rice rice, which is very compact, and the soup is salted soy sauce.Both rice and soup were served twice, and a plate of pickles was shared by Zhang Yue and Guo Lin.

I ate a lot of water in the pedantic home, and I can eat a dry meal here.

Zhang Yue already picked up the rice and quickly took two big mouthfuls, then closed his eyes and felt the feeling of rice filling his mouth.This rice is cooked, with the aroma of wooden barrels, and it is extra soft and sweet when chewed in the mouth.

This is real wooden bucket rice, not a wooden bucket shell wrapped around an iron basin in a fast food restaurant.

"Slow down!" Guo Lin reminded.

Zhang Yue smiled and took a piece of crisp and delicious pickles. After swallowing it with the rice, he took a sip of the salted soy sauce, which was rich in soy sauce.

This meal of rice made Zhang Yue feel blissful.

While eating, Zhang Yue and Guo Lin watched the students in the ethnology go to eat one after another, with bookboys beside them carrying bookcases and quivers for them.

In the afternoon, students spend the night with meals, instead of continuing to study in Zhoujintang.At this time, scholars still have the saying that one should not sit for long periods of time when one is full, because it will hurt qi and blood.

At this time, the disciples will go to practice shooting, throwing pots, and swimming.

Sitting there and studying hard from morning to night, this is something that people who have no money do. Even if they are tired from reading, they will be scolded for sleeping for a while.

Only poor families don't read at night. As for the saying that the yamen can't afford candles?
Zhang Yue once again saw Zhang Heng, the head chef, surrounded by a group of students, coming to the arrow stack.

When all the students were watching, Zhang Heng smiled and took the bow from the book boy.But seeing Zhang Heng's figure as straight as a pine tree, and his arrows like beads, all of them hit the red heart, the students on the left and right cheered.

Zhang Yue couldn't help but applaud in his heart.

Guo Lin said, "The head of the zhai is very good in the clan, don't provoke him."

After the meal, the two continued to transcribe the article.

Before I knew it, it was already dark, Guo Lin had already finished copying, but Zhang Yue still had more than a dozen articles to copy.

Guo Lin picked up Zhang Yue's article and proofread it first, picking out a typo and omission, and then seeing that Zhang Yue was writing slowly, he said, "I'll copy it for you!"

Zhang Yue said: "It's getting dark, senior brother go down the mountain first, otherwise the road will be difficult to walk?"

"Then I'll leave you down the mountain alone?"

Guo Lin immediately took half of it and copied it for Zhang Yue.Zhang Yue said while writing: "Kun Gua says 'Hang Zhang Kezhen, or follow the king's affairs, no success will end.' I understand it."

This means that you don't need to do things well, but you must explain everything.It’s okay to copy a book slowly, but it’s not about ability, but attitude.

"The truth can be obtained from the book, but it is not your own. In the end, you need to grind it out. Senior brother, do you think I am right?"

Guo Lin nodded: "Junior brother is right, this is virtue, and only virtue can carry things. Experiencing this can also be regarded as a sharpening of your character."

Zhang Yue talked with Guo Lin and spread it outside the house.

After listening to the ministry, he couldn't help but stroke his beard and smile: "It's really interesting."

When it was dark, Zhang Yue had finished transcribing and handing over 36 chapters to the minister.

The ministry said: "How much are these worth, you ask the head of the veterinarian, I am too lazy to take care of your business."

"Thank you for your service!" Zhang Yue and Guo Lin salute together, and then prepare to leave and go down the mountain.

"Wait!" The ministry said, "It's so dark, how do you go down the mountain?"

Zhang Yue and Guo Lin looked at each other.

The ministry said: "I have some pine oil here, you go and break some branches and bark, and I will make you a torch!"

Zhang Yue and Guo Lin were overjoyed to hear that, there are still good people.

When the ministry was given to Zhang Yue, Guo Lin made a torch.The two brothers and sisters went down the mountain together.

Zhang Yue was in a good mood at the moment, talking about interesting things, but Guo Lin urged with a solemn face: "Let's go back to walking. If you hear the strange rustling noise behind you, don't look back, just go straight ahead."

"Why?"

"Just listen to it. You can see that the mountain is like a tomb. Let's walk over there quietly."

When Zhang Yue saw Guo Lin like this, it was hard to say, the atmosphere was a little depressing.The moonlight is dim, the stars are sparse, the four fields are pitch black, and the two brothers and sisters are holding torches side by side.The torches illuminated the square inch in front of them, but it added a lot of courage to the two of them.

Zhang Yue and Guo Lin walked like this for several miles at night before returning home.

At this moment, the torches were almost burned out, but Xingxi saw a lantern lit up in the distance, hazy in the night.When they got close, the two saw Guo Xuejia holding the sick body and her Hun family holding lanterns waiting for them and Guo Lin outside the house.

Seeing this scene, Guo Lin almost burst into tears. He threw his book bag and ran forward and knelt in front of Guo Xuejiu.

Zhang Yue then rushed over and said quickly: "Sir, it's mine or not. I copied the book too late, and the tired senior brother accompanies me to copy it until now."

Guo Xueyan helped Guo Lin and said, "It's good to come back, the old man is just worried, how did you come back?"

Zhang Yue said: "Sir, it was the ministry that made a torch for me, and my senior brother and I took pictures all the way back. Although the ministry's words were not pleasant, they were good people."

Guo Xuejiao said: "Then I need to thank others. Okay, you can go in and wash quickly. Haven't you eaten at home yet?"

The pedantic Hunjia said: "There is still a piece of cake."

"Have each one. After you have eaten the pancakes, go and rest! You're exhausted after a busy day!"

"There is no shortage of fathers and children, and the children have to read for a while!" Guo Lin said.

"I'll accompany my senior brother." Zhang Yue said aside.

"Okay." Guo Xueji nodded, and then instructed the Hun family, "Hurry up and put out the lantern, it's a waste of fuel!"

(End of this chapter)