The Fourth Master's Favorite Concubine from the Qing Dynasty

Chapter 42 Troubled Times
There seems to be a lot going on this fall.

First, the Jiangnan Township Examination is in full swing, and many students who have read poetry and books are waiting for the results to be announced in September. When the results came out, many famous candidates performed abnormally, but the names of Wu Bi and Cheng Guangkui were on the list. These two people are both sons of wealthy Yangzhou salt merchants, and are basically semi-literate. Many Hanchuang students were unwilling to study hard. Such results also chilled the scholars. In order to express their inner anger, these candidates changed the "Gongyuan" on the plaque to "Sold out". In order to satirize the chief and deputy examiner Zuo Bifan, Zhao Jin, and Jiangnan students also wrote a couplet: "Zuo Qiuming has no beads in his eyes, and Zhao Zilong is full of courage."

This incident caused quite an uproar. Galli, the governor of Liangjiang, wanted to calm down the matter as soon as possible. He used suppression methods and arrested more than ten candidates. Zhang Boxing, the governor of Jiangnan, and Li Xu, the weaver of Suzhou, reported the incident to the emperor respectively. Emperor Kangxi was very angry after receiving the memorial, so he sent Zhang Penghie, the Minister of Household Affairs, and He Shou, the Governor of Water Transport, as imperial envoys to investigate the matter.

Qingyou couldn't help but feel lucky that her eldest brother had passed the exam two years ago, but she didn't expect that what happened this year would also affect her family.

Although the Geng family has been protected for generations, they can take the imperial examination with the approval of the Holy One, and because their ancestral home is in Jiangnan, they can only return to Jiangnan if they want to take the imperial examination.

There are many talented people in Jiangnan, and all the students are well-read in poetry and books, and have great literary talent. My eldest brother also took the exam three times before passing the exam. Since his eldest brother Geng Chun passed the exam two years ago, he suggested that he be sent directly to serve as an officer. The gold content is enough. This shows how difficult the scientific examination in Jiangnan is.

My eldest brother also wants to try out for the National Examination next year. As soon as the Jiangnan fraud case came out, people were panicked. Even his eldest brother was affected and questioned about his real ability to "raise people".

I originally thought that those who are clean will be cleansed themselves, but the rumors are getting worse and worse. As a last resort, in order not to disturb the eldest brother's studies, Amma specially asked E Niang to come to the house to find her, and wanted to ask the fourth master to help send the eldest brother to the newly established school of the court. Aofeng Academy, firstly, in order to avoid the disturbances in the capital and prevent these things from disturbing the eldest brother's studies and his family's affairs. He knows that his eldest brother has definitely won all this with his own strength, but there are some in the capital. People want to use the Jiangnan fraud case to pour dirty water on their eldest brother. Who is behind this is still unknown, but Qingyou knows in her heart that it must be to disturb her eldest brother's review and to defeat him from the bottom of her heart. Without clarification, the suspicion on Geng Chun will not be cleared away;

Secondly, for Geng Chun's studies, in early February every year, Aofeng Academy would put up a recruitment ticket.

In the past, it was because "my parents are here and I don't want to travel far away." Amma and Er Niang were reluctant to let their eldest brother go on a study tour, so they did not let him apply for the exam, and the candidates they recruited were students with excellent academic performance from all nine prefectures and prefectures in the province. . Although my eldest brother is excellent, he is not within the scope of the province.

At Hengwen Academy, every beginning or middle of the month, the mountain chief presides over the study and testing. Sitting high in the hall, the students preached or discussed the meaning of the scriptures, and the students sat around and listened quietly to learn together. Later, Gongxue was abandoned and changed to lecturing and mainly part-time lecturers. Later, lectures were discontinued, and eight-legged essays and test poems were the main subjects of study for lecturers. Every year before February 2th, the academy's governor and governor will visit the academy in person to hold a selection examination. The major questions in the examinations for students and supervisors, and the small questions in the examinations for children, all consist of an eight-legged essay and a five-character and six-rhyme poem. Those who are selected will attend monthly classes on schedule, twice a month. The sixth day of the lunar month is the teacher's class, and the sixteenth day is the official class. The order is in order.

Aofeng Academy's purpose is to promote Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, with teaching, learning, research, and compilation as its scriptures, and famous people as its weft. It regularly recruits talents from all over the province and hires famous people from all over the world to give lectures. It is highly valued by the court.

Therefore, Aofeng Academy has a very good reputation among the public, but because the registration time has already passed, the government had no choice but to find the Fourth Master. Thinking that Aofeng Academy was built for Zhang Boxing, the governor in the 46th year of Kangxi reign, Fourth Master wanted to give it a try because of their close friendship with him.
Qingyou knew E Niang's purpose and said he would try his best.

What he didn't see was that this incident was noticed by another person in the house. That person was a young eunuch next to Niu Hulu Gege, and Niu Hulu Gege ordered Shuzi Fujin's eldest brother to commit fraud in the imperial examination.

Since teaching Hongli how to read and write, Niu Hulu Gege had only focused on composing poems and pairings before, and had not seriously paid attention to the Four Books and Five Classics. This time, he realized the difficulty of the imperial examination and heard about the Jiangnan fraud case. Then I thought that Shuzi Fujin's eldest brother was from the Jiangnan imperial examination, so he connected the two things and ordered people to go out to spread rumors.

I thought that if it was true, it would not only severely injure Shuzi Fujin, but also cut off her escape route. If it was not true, it would be impossible to clean up if she was offended by this rumor. It's a good thing to kill two birds with one stone, so why not do it.

In the evening, Qingyou sent people to guard outside the house, waiting for the fourth master to come back to the house and immediately invite him to Lihuayuan.

Yinzhen simply didn't have much to do today. He returned home earlier than usual. Yinzhen also understood that Qingyou came to him because of Jiangnan's fraud case. Now this matter has caused a stir in the capital, and this matter is also Brother Qingyou was vaguely involved, so in order not to make Qingyou anxious, Yinzhen also walked quickly to Lihuayuan.

When Qingyou saw Yinzhen coming, she went straight to the point:

"Master, I must have come to you this time for some reason. I believe you also know that my eldest brother is currently involved in the Jiangnan fraud case. After my family members came to the government today, they wanted to invite you. The Fourth Master helped me to plead for mercy and sent my eldest brother to the newly established Aofeng Academy. My eldest brother admires Governor Zhang very much, so I thought of the Fourth Master to see if he could edit a letter and say a few kind words for my eldest brother."

Yinzhen didn't expect that Qingyou's request was so simple. He was still thinking about it on the way here... Forget it. He was afraid of hurting Qingyou's heart by saying it. Since Qingyou can make this request, it proves I have some confidence in Gengchun's talents.

"That's no problem. I will revise a book tomorrow. You also ask your elder brother to relax. This matter must have been done deliberately by someone. If you are upright, you are not afraid of the shadow. There will be a result soon."

Qingyou thanked Yinzhen and ordered someone to bring dinner. Previously, because she was worried about this matter, Qingyou had no intention of eating dinner. Seeing that Yinzhen looked like this, he had just finished doing things outside and had just come back, so Just have a meal together.

This is the most satisfying dinner I have had in these days. Qingyou probably didn't know that this was about to be the most comfortable dinner she and Yinzhen had had in the past few months.

(End of this chapter)