Yu Jun

Chapter 218
Wu Jin heard the voice, it sounded like Qi Chang, she hurried out, pushed the latch, opened the door, and looked under the moonlight, it was indeed Qi Chang.

Qi Chang was wearing an old shirt and shrunk his shoulders. When he saw Wu Jin, he smiled flatteringly and bowed his hands: "Master Wu."

Wu Jin turned to invite him in: "You and I are both Jinshi of the same subject, so you don't need to call me like this, just call me Wu Jin."

Qi Chang rubbed his hands cautiously, and walked through the door cautiously: "No, no, I'm just a fellow Jinshi, I dare not be called the same year as the number one scholar, I, let me call you big brother."

Wu Jin nodded: "Come in and talk, come so late, there must be some business."

"Yes." Qi Chang followed him in, quietly looking at the situation in the Taoist temple as he walked.

The Taoist temple is clean and natural, with doors and windows wide open everywhere, without hindrance. There is a path in the yard, paved with stone slabs, which is clean and tidy. On both sides of the path, there are knee-high wildflowers, rustling inside. Suddenly, a big tabby cat jumped out and ran past Qi Chang. He was so frightened that his back felt cold and he almost tripped.

Wu Jin stretched out her hand and firmly grasped his arm. After he stood still, she released her hand and said with a smile, "Don't be afraid, it won't hurt anyone."

"No, not afraid." Qi Chang followed Wu Jin into the guest room, and quietly took a look at the situation in the room.

The house is simple and shabby, with four walls that can be seen at a glance. The only thing that can’t be seen is the things on the desk case—a few books with rough edges, a few thick stacks of bamboo paper filled with words, two pens on the pen holder, and several policy articles that have been read under the desk case.

Qi Chang was ashamed, he thought he was hardworking, but the calligraphy he practiced after coming to the capital was not as good as those who came after Wu Jin.

He secretly thought that Wu Jin's calmness and confidence might be due to such diligence.

"Sit down." Wu Jin poured tea for him and put it in front of his eyes, "Are you hungry after walking so far?"

"I ate it when I came here," Qi Chang said in a low voice, "That Wang, Wang Jinghua, he came looking for me."

As soon as Wang Jinghua was mentioned, he couldn't help shrinking, obviously he had been ridiculed by this person.

"He said that he lost the bet, and he will not back down, but his father passed away, and he will go back to his hometown to observe mourning for three years. After three years, he will come to settle the bet with you again."

Qi Chang looked at Wu Jin who didn't change his expression, and said hesitantly, "Brother, does he think that after three years, if he passes the exam and becomes an official, you won't be able to let him kneel down again?"

"I'm afraid I have such a plan," Wu Jin nodded, "Is Wang Yunsheng dead?"

"You don't know?" Qi Chang was surprised at first, and then suddenly realized, "That's right, you are working hard here behind closed doors, and when the list was published on the first day of the month, the person who sent the golden flower post didn't find you, and you picked it up yourself."

He added: "It was drowned."

Wu Jin didn't delve into it, and only asked, "Do you have other things?"

Hearing his question, Qi Chang became more and more embarrassed, and glanced at Wu Jin nervously: "Your handwriting is good, and now you are the number one scholar. May I ask you to write a set of handwriting?"

"Okay." Wu Jin smiled, stood up, took out a large piece of paper from the cabinet, spread it on the table, changed to a large brush, thoughtfully wrote down the four characters "A Gentleman Has No Blame" on the yellowish paper.

His handwriting gradually contained his own rhyme and momentum. After writing, he stared at it for a long time, and felt that one stroke was not round enough, so he changed a piece of paper and wrote it again.

Qi Chang stood aside, waited for Wu Jin to finish signing, and immediately said: "Your handwriting is really powerful."

When Mo Gan went, Wu Jin rolled up the big characters, tied it with a cotton rope, and handed it to Qi Chang: "I don't have a private seal, but thinking about it, it doesn't matter if I don't have a private seal."

Qi Chang didn't pay attention to his words, held the scroll in both hands, thanked Wu Jin, and left to go back to the city.

Wu Jin sent him out of the Taoist temple, and took out a 50 tael silver note for him to spend. Qi Chang took it in his hand, his eyes wet, and he cried, "Thank you, if you have something to do with me, just send me away, and treat me as Jiu Sixuan's servant."

Wu Jin patted him, didn't say much, and watched him walk all the way to the city.

Qi Chang took the paper rolls and bank notes and drove all the way to the city. There was a bright moon in the sky, shining brightly.

He walked quickly, with a heart lying in his chest, a rare tranquility.

After the announcement of the rankings on the first day of March, before the results of the palace examination were released, this group of fellow Jinshi had already started to "run for office".

The Jinshi and Jinshi first took an imperial examination together. After passing the examination as usual, those who excelled could enter the Imperial Academy as Shujishi.

Qi Chang didn't think Shujishi could do it, so he just waited for the roll call in the palace examination, and when the Jinshi had a place to go, he would pick the remaining remote places and become a small county magistrate.

But I didn't expect that in just a few days, those Jinshi who had a relationship with the banker would start to entrust relationships in all directions, and they had to decide where to go before the roll call in the palace examination.

He thinks that Jinshi all shy away from the backcountry where they don't want to go, and even the Lingnan land, which is no different from exile, the magistrate of Zhengqipin county and the magistrate of Zhengbapin county, have all become sweet pastries, and they have to "run" and "make money" to go.

He didn't have that much money, and he didn't even know where the gate of the capital's yamen opened, so he had nowhere to run on his legs.

Sitting in the room, he felt like he was waiting to die, dazed and desperate, not knowing whether he was going to take the exam again, or take the exam countless times, to seek a Jinshi background.

After Wang Jinghua found him, another layer of anger was added to his despair.

"Why, the father surnamed Wang is gone, and he can still wear gold and silver, and be ordered by servants," he thought while sitting in the room, "He still has to take the scientific examination. If he also becomes a Jinshi, can he still be a good scholar?"

He sat in the room for a long time, and thought: "I have worked hard and put in a lot of effort. It seems that God has opened my eyes and I have a gentleman. I have been admitted to the Tong Jinshi, and I am about to change my appearance and make a clean break with the past. In the end, I can't even touch the edge of my official career. I am no worse than others!"

His mind turned into a clump of dry grass, messy and unreasonable. It was not until he learned that Wu Jin had become the number one scholar that this clump of dry grass suddenly disappeared from his mind.

His "road" is here!
Today he just came to run his way.

Qi Chang was thinking, when he suddenly tripped over a rock under his feet, he fell forward with a "bang", and subconsciously hugged the words tightly so as not to damage them.

Wu Jin's handwriting is naturally good, but it's not so hard to buy, not to mention not even having a private seal, so it's worthless.

What is really valuable is the status of "No. [-] Scholar".

As usual, the new No. [-] scholar was drafted by the Sixth Rank Imperial Academy and regarded as the Prime Minister. In the future, he would be a close minister of the emperor. It only took eight years for the country to be promoted from the draft to the No. [-] scholar in the ruling counselor at the fastest time.

(End of this chapter)