The Red Mansions

Chapter 64
The weather was clear and cloudless.

The sun in the winter is warm, and the sun makes people weak, limp, and drowsy.

In front of the desk, Jia Yun took the crafting article given to him by his master Zhao Jin and pondered it carefully.

The eight-legged essay is a great invention of Chinese civilization. It consists of eight parts: breaking the topic, inheriting the topic, starting the lecture, entering the topic, starting the essay, middle essay, back essay, and binding essay.

The climax of the article is the following four parts.

These four parts must never be written casually, they must be in a dual way, and the rhythms are compatible, so that they can be complied with.

Stereotyped essays have very strict requirements on the sense of form of the article. It is necessary to speak in the tone of Confucius and Mencius, and the four pairs of words are flat and flat.

Romantic allusions should not be used to blaspheme saints, free play is not allowed, and the length of sentences, the complexity of words, the tone of voice, etc. must also be relatively written, and the number of words is also limited.

This way of writing seems old-fashioned, but it is relatively difficult.

If you want to write a good stereotyped essay, reciting classics and being familiar with the context are only basic skills, and you also need strong divergent thinking and logical thinking skills.

People in later generations often say that writing stereotyped essays imprisons people's thinking and prevents individuals from thinking independently. It is a policy of the ruling class to fool the people.

In fact, the imperial examination system is an open and fair examination system. It is not limited to ethnicity, background, family, and wealth. Anyone who meets the requirements can apply for the examination. It is also the first stepping stone for the selection of talents by the imperial court.

The four great talents in the south of the Yangtze River in the Ming Dynasty, the thinkers Wang Yangming, Wang Fuzhi, Gu Yanwu, Huang Zongxi, etc., were all elites selected through the imperial examination, and none of them was stupid.

Compared with the college entrance examination, the imperial examination is an examination system for the selection of middle and senior officials, which is full of gold.

Once you pass the exam and become a Jinshi, you can change your life destiny and enter the routine of the upper ruling class in society.

This is why the imperial examination is highly valued by all walks of life in the society. After ten years of hard work, countless people have spent a lot of effort on it.

Some even took the exam from an early age until the hunched back and white-haired old man's first year of life, but they still did not forget their original aspirations and forged ahead!
The stereotyped essays that Jia Yun is reading now are excellent stereotyped essays written by scholars from counties near the capital in recent years when they participated in the provincial examinations and passed the examinations, which are of good reference value.

The articles were bound into volumes, all hand-copied, and it looked like they were copied by poor scholars from other academies, and they could be sold in Qingshan Academy. The handwriting and writing were excellent, pleasing to the eye.

A faint scent of books lingers.

Jia Yun was completely immersed in the world of stereotyped essays, secretly trying to figure out the writing skills of the article, the method of solving the topic, the essence of conception, the choice of words and sentences, the logical order, the structural layout and the theme of thought, etc., but it was quite rewarding.

After an unknown amount of time, the sound of footsteps came softly.

"Xiren and the others are back?" Jia Yun came back to her senses, looked out the window, and found that it wasn't Xiren and the others who came back from shopping, but Yuanyang came to the courtyard to show hesitation.

"Miss Yuanyang, is there something wrong?" Jia Yun stood up and shouted, put down the scroll, and walked out of the room.

When they came to the courtyard, Yuanyang leaned forward and smiled and said, "Brother Yun, the servants have time to come and visit my younger sister."

"Unfortunately, they went out to buy things, and the girl is going to come in and sit down, and they will probably be back soon." Jia Yun said with a smile.

Yuanyang looked left and right, shook her head and said, "It's better not to enter the house, the servants will wait for them to come back in the courtyard!"

Jia Yun didn't force her, nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go get the girl a chair, the stone bench in the yard is cold."

Soon, Jia Yun came out with a chair and a stool, made a pot of tea for Yuanyang, and put some sweets made by Meiren on the table.

"You're too polite, Brother Yun, don't bother!" Yuanyang waved her hands again and again, a little embarrassed.

"Miss, please sit down." Jia Yun raised her head to signal, and said with a smile: "Miss Yuanyang is a popular person around the old lady, so I will take this opportunity to curry favor with you!"

Yuanyang's family has been slaves in Jia's family for generations, and because they are slaves born in the family, they are very trusted. For this reason, Yuanyang has a high status among the maids in Jia's house.

She is relied on by Jiamu as her left and right hand. When Jiamu plays cards, she sits beside her and gives advice.

Although Yuanyang is a popular person around Jiamu, she respects herself and loves herself. She never takes pride in it and bullies others, so she has won the favor and respect of all people.

Jia Yun has dealt with Yuanyang several times, and knows that the rumors are true, so she is also happy to treat her warmly.

Yuanyang hesitated for a moment, sat down with a smile on his face, and replied: "Your maidservant is no celebrity, she's just a maid who serves tea and water, brother Yun, don't say that again, otherwise the servant girl doesn't know where to put her face gone."

After a pause, she asked, "Brother Yun, did Sister Xiren really follow you?"

"Well, yes, it's not something to hide." Jia Yun picked up the teacup, took a sip of hot tea, and nodded back.

Yuanyang pursed her lips and smiled, and said, "I didn't expect that Sister Xiren is usually silent, but she is a vigorous and decisive person. Before she left the mansion yesterday, she insisted on not revealing any news, and she left the mansion as soon as she said she was out of the mansion."

"As far as love goes, it goes deeper and deeper. Xiren and I see each other right, ha ha..." Jia Yun smiled and said.

Then he asked Yuanyang again: "Is there really nothing else for the girl to come here? If there is anything, please speak up. I will definitely help if I can."

Yuanyang shook her head and said with a smile: "Today, the maidservant took the time to come over to visit my younger sister. There were many things to do yesterday. When she left, the maidservant had no time to see her off. If I don't come here in person, I will always feel bad."

Jia Yun nodded and said: "The girl has a heart, Xiren is really lucky to have a sister like you."

While talking, someone came outside again.

Jia Yun and Yuanyang looked sideways, and found that Ping'er was standing at the door looking out.

"Ping'er girl!"

"Sister Ping'er!"

Ping'er heard the shout, smiled slightly, and walked over slowly. She was holding a big bag of things in her hand, which looked quite heavy.

"What did Sister Ping'er bring?" Yuanyang asked curiously as she got up to greet her.

Ping'er said with a slight smile: "It's some head jewelry and rouge gouache that the girls gathered for Xiren and Meiren. After my grandma heard about it, she also gathered a few pieces, and asked me to send them along the way."

She looked at Jia Yun and smiled and said, "It's nothing valuable, it's just a wish from the sisters, sister Xiren isn't here, I hope she doesn't dislike her."

Yuanyang was surprised and said: "Girls, why don't I know what to collect?"

Ping'er smiled, and said in a low voice: "It's just our courtyard, Second Master Bao and Miss Lin's courtyard girls participated, and they didn't make it public, for fear that others would gossip."

"I said why there is no letter at all. Since you have all collected things, I can't let them go, but today I have nothing, and I will make up when I go back." Yuanyang suddenly said.

Jia Yun laughed beside her and said, "When Xiren and Meiren come back, Miss Ping'er will give them to them. I reckon they will be back soon."

It's just that he was a little strange. Meiren has been here for half a year, and she has never seen anyone bring her anything. Now Xiren has just arrived, and someone has brought something to her.

After thinking about it, he felt that Meiren was kicked out of Jia's mansion at that time, so the maids didn't dare to stand up to the wind and commit crimes. They only dared to take the opportunity to express their affection after the limelight passed for half a year.

(End of this chapter)