Red Mansion Reader

Chapter 22 The road ahead
After leaving Lin's house on the 24th, he stopped and walked all the way, and when he returned to Shanxi Village, it was already March.Wang Xianming, who is over fifty years old, has a feeling that time flies and I am already old.

The carriage slowly entered Shanxi Village, and the cool spring breeze blew slowly to fiddle with the door curtains, faintly bringing the sound of neat reading.The voice was so ethereal, and Wang Xianming couldn't help but walk into good memories.

When the carriage stopped, Wang Xianming couldn't wait to lift the door curtain, and he got halfway out, and then retracted with a 'like a ghost'.He only bumped Liu Shi who was about to get up behind him into his arms.

"A man of his age is still so frizzy in what he does." Mrs. Liu steadied herself, but did not pay attention to the weirdness on Wang Xianming's face.He raised the curtain on his own and got out of the carriage.

Then, Mrs. Liu, the teacher's wife, enjoyed the scene of being stared at by more than a dozen pairs of eyes.

Liu Shi herself is also stupid, what's going on?If you go out by yourself, why is the door of a good house blocked by others?
That's right, this place is Shanxi Village.The house with the fence wall is the door of my own house.The lock on the door was bought by herself.

The group of people surrounding her were naturally students from the county.When everyone saw a woman coming down, they were stunned on the spot.He hurriedly got up and saluted, another elder stood up and asked, "Excuse me, this is Mr. Wang's frame."

Liu nodded subconsciously, as if she had confessed to Lao Di on the spot.

There was a burst of suppressed cheers from the crowd, and the leader continued to ask: "May I ask if you are the teacher's mother Liu?"

These two words awakened Liu Shi like an electric shock, she saw her face turned cold, and wrote down this person's face.He said coldly: "It's the old man, I dare to ask you here - what is your business?"

These people didn't seem to understand Liu Shi's expression at all, they just saluted again and shouted in unison: "Welcome master and teacher mother back home, I have been waiting here for a long time, please accept us."

It's bad, it's bad, even Liu's self-proclaimed daughter Zhuge is all waxed at this moment.

Dumbfounded, Mrs. Liu looked at the group of students who were bending over, and had no choice but to raise her hand and knock on the carriage. "Old man, come down, you are not here to seek revenge."

Someone hiding in the carriage had no choice but to obey his wife's order and slowly climb down from the carriage.at this moment.

"Dong dong dong."

There are distant and near gongs, attracting everyone's attention.A hairy kid still wearing crotch pants, carrying this broken gong while running while beating, followed by a few older ones, also beating gongs and drums, shouting: "Welcome the teacher who is the head of the county's trial case back to the village."

"Double Happiness, Chen Qi, what are you doing?" Shimu Liu shouted at the two leaders.These two idiots are simply selling people.

Shuangxi wiped his runny nose, and said, "Big brother...it's big brother."

It was rare for Qisuo to see Liu Shi get angry, so he had no choice but to raise his hand and point somewhere behind him.

Well, now even Wang Xianming knows the instigator.

"Second and third sons, I already know the reason for your visit. It's just that the old man is a little tired today, so it's better to allow us and my wife to rest for a while. We are choosing a time for tomorrow. Let's sit down and make a long-term plan."

Wang Xianming said to the students, hearing what the elder said, there is no reason for them not to agree.They all took their benches and said goodbye and left.

When they were all gone, Wang Xianming turned dark and said to Shuangxi and Qisuo, "Let that scoundrel come to see me immediately."

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Even if Chen Heng wanted to continue hiding, his mentor ordered him to come.He was also smart, he brought some dried fruit from home, and started to smile as soon as he entered the house, he helped Liu Shi make tea, and moved a stool for Wang Xianming, what he showed so diligently was called diligence.

After silently watching the disciples finish everything, Wang Xianming said: "Sinister, come and sit down."

Well, you won't talk until I'm done.Chen Heng twitched the corners of his mouth, raised his sleeves to wipe off the sweat on his forehead, turned around and sat down with a smiling face.

"Is this all a good thing you did?"

Wang Xianming asked sharply.

If you don't call yourself at this time, you won't even think about the days before the government test.Chen Heng had already made a plan in his mind, and took out the copy of the rehearsal for several days, and said: "Forgive me, Master, I am indeed at fault for half of this matter, and let me speak slowly."

So he explained what happened in the county one by one.When Chen Heng said that he was in the inn, he was 'stopped and asked' who his mentor was.Although Wang Xianming's face was calm, Chen Heng could tell from his twitching beard that Master was also happy.

"So you got the county chief?"

Seeing that the master's tone was a little slow, Chen Heng was also certain in his heart. He got up and saluted: "Fortunately, I did not disgrace my life. I have lived up to my master's teachings and the expectations of my elders."

Wang Xianming was silent for a long time before he couldn't help laughing and said, "Okay, okay."

The old man couldn't help but think of the scene when he returned to his hometown in frustration more than two years ago.Compared with that day, we are looking at today.He immediately understood the artistic conception of spring breeze proud of horseshoe disease.

After laughing, Wang Xianming realized that he hadn't tied up his apprentice yet, so he hurried forward to hold Chen Heng's arm. Looking at his growing body, he couldn't help telling him, "You must prepare well for the next government examination. And don't relax just because of official rules."

Chen Heng nodded and said yes, he has a calm temperament, Wang Xianming is also very relieved about this, so naturally he will not continue to say more.

Seeing that the atmosphere had returned to harmony, Chen Heng cleverly changed the topic to Yangzhou and asked about Wang Xianming's experience during his trip.Wang Xianming also had this intention, so he told his disciples what happened in detail after hiding Lin Ruhai's name.

Reading and reading means not only reading a subset of classics and history, but also broadening your knowledge.If you can't do this, you'll be just a bookworm in the end.Chen Hengshuo stayed in Shanxi Village, so the world he could see was limited after all.Naturally, Wang Xianming would not let go of every opportunity to open his eyes.

When Wang Xianming told about the things in Lin's residence, Chen Heng listened with high spirits, and thought to himself: Businessmen these days really have a hard time, luckily they chose the road of studying.

After the master finished explaining the plan of the magistrate and others, Chen Heng couldn't help but also said: "It's a good trick to invite you into the urn and kill people with a knife."

Wang Xianming took a sip from his teacup and continued: "The life of the salt merchants in Yangzhou will only become more and more difficult in the future. I think the prefect dares to plan like this, and the imperial court's intentions are behind it. You should pay more attention to this when you go to the government examination."

"Disciple understands." Chen Heng took it for granted, and decided to hide away from these people in the future.

Wang Xianming told some more jokes about the salt merchants before turning the topic to Chen Heng's future path, comparing the Chongzheng Academy in Jinling with the Academy in Yangzhou.

This Chongzheng Academy has been famous all over the world for a long time, and it was the place that scholars in the south of the Yangtze River yearned for as early as the previous dynasty.Since the founding of Dayong, most of the Jinshi who passed the Jiangsu examination went out from it.It's just that this academy is very difficult to get into, and more than half of the places that can be recruited in a year are taken up by the children of the aristocratic families in Jinling.

It is also because of this that in the past ten years, there have often been bad reviews.I often hear news that the disciples of the academy have cockfights and horses, and I don't know if the teaching inside is still as focused on teaching as before.

Jiangsu's culture and education have been sluggish in recent years, and Chongzheng Academy will take half of the blame.

As for the Yangzhou Academy that is being rebuilt, although the reputation of its predecessor was not obvious, it now has the support of the magistrate.Sitting behind the magistrate is the imperial court. At this time, it is like dry wood and fire, and it looks like a big fight.

After listening to the master, Chen Heng had made up his mind, but he asked Wang Xianming first, "What do you think, master?"

"Chongzheng Academy has been famous for a long time, and has produced many Jinshi. After you enter, you will be in high school and in the officialdom. You will also have more friends from the same school. And when the college examination begins, the imperial examination will start to be very different. This matter, I told you about this. Chongzheng Academy has been immersed in it for a long time, who knows what secret teaching methods they have."

"It's just that Chongzheng Academy's fees are quite high, which is what I'm worried about. Compared with it, if you can enter the top ten in this government examination, as long as you intend to enter Yangzhou Academy, the academy will waive a certain fee. I just don't know what level the masters of the academy are, and whether they can teach you carefully."

Chen Heng nodded, he understood what Master meant.The imperial examinations in the Yong Dynasty were somewhat different from those in previous dynasties.

If the county examination and government examination are regarded as advanced primary school literacy graduation, then the college examination starts, and the knowledge points of junior high school and university are tested, and the difficulty can be said to increase rapidly.

Taking the college examination as an example, those who aspire to be a scholar must study books such as "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic" and "Dayong Law", because these are required questions.Ordinary old students, who haven't learned the essence themselves, how can they teach their disciples.

Only places like Chongzheng Academy with a wealth of successful experience, accumulated from generation to generation, may not really have the art of leaping a carp over the dragon's gate.

After the court examination, the "Dayong Law" in the rural examination will have a large range of questions, and there will be strange cases and important cases collected from all over the country on the examination papers for scholars to judge.

Because of the fame of raising people, as long as there are people from above to support them, they can go to a local county magistrate to enjoy the official experience.If a parent officer doesn't even understand these things, he will become a stupid official who caressing about human life when he goes out.

Chen Heng really embarked on this road, only to realize that the so-called imperial examinations are not like the ones in the past novels, which are mainly based on the Four Books and Five Classics from beginning to end.

At each stage, there will be books to read at each stage.How can the National Talent Discussion Ceremony recruit all the stupid scholars who only know what to say.

Just like the classics and meaning questions in this county test, the students' talent and hard work in reading are considered.Starting from the college examination and the township examination, the policy questions that are gradually increased are to measure the knowledge and ability of the students.

After being screened layer by layer, it continued until the test, the meeting of the best of the best.Those who can pass the exam are all top-notch students in the world.

Otherwise, how could there be: the past was so dirty that it was not enough to boast, but now there is no limit to debauchery.The spring breeze is proud of the horseshoe disease, and one day I saw the poems of Chang'an flowers.

After Chen Heng turned his head and thought carefully, he said, "I want to go to Yangzhou Academy."

Although Wang Xianming was not surprised, he still asked, "Why?"

Chen Heng said with a smile: "Jinling residence is not easy."

Wang Xianming fell into silence and let out a long sigh, which seemed to understand Chen Heng's consideration.It is indeed more difficult for peasant children to study.He was still considering the pros and cons of the two academies, but what Chen Heng wanted to consider was living in that place, which would put less pressure on his family.

　Thank you book friends for your support, newcomers and new books can receive your approval.It made my anxious heart relax a lot, and I feel less nervous about writing.I went out to take a look, and we are on the list of newcomers and new works in the history category: we are ranked 29th, hahahaha, I am a little proud.

　　Let's follow Chen Heng and uncover the big drama in Yangzhou.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)