Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

As expected, Xiu Zhu carried out her promise to ignore Wu Shigong, no matter how Wu Shigong teased her, she kept her mouth pouted and said nothing, which made Wu Shigong a little bored.When Wu Shigong was wondering whether to apologize just once, a house slave came to the door and said that a scholar named Sun Chengxiu had come to visit him.I thought: just to ease the mood of embroidered bamboo.So Wu Shigong hurriedly asked his servants to welcome Sun Chengxiu in, and went to the door to greet him himself.

Sun Chengxiu is Wu Shigong's only friend in the Imperial College, and Wu Shigong's only friend in his 17 years of life.As I said before, Wu Shigong in this life is a very introverted person, even a little autistic in character, so he basically has no friends, but when he was studying in the Imperial College, for some reason, he met his classmate Sun Chengxiu and became a A very close friend.

At that time, Wu Shigong was positive, trying hard to get close to those outstanding classmates who had the hope of being successful in the exam.However, due to his introversion, no one paid attention to him. Only Sun Chengxiu would patiently communicate with him and answer Wu Shigong's academic questions patiently.In addition, Wu Shigong also learned that Sun Chengxiu once stepped into the gate of Juren (the reason why he said that will be introduced below), which is why Wu Shigong admired him so much.Moreover, Wu Shigong is only introverted, not stupid, and Sun Chengxiu is sincerely treating her well, of course Wu Shigong can feel it.So Wu Shigong, who grew up in an indifferent environment, is very grateful to Sun Chengxiu, and feels like he is both a teacher and a friend.

Sun Chengxiu, whose courtesy name is Yaozhi, is a native of Daming Prefecture in Beizhili. He was known as a child prodigy in his hometown since he was a child. He passed the examination as a scholar at the age of 15, and took part in the provincial examination at the age of 16.But his luck ended there.At that time, Sun Chengxiu was indeed admitted to Juren, but was blocked by the examiner and fell out of the list.The reason for the failure is very ridiculous. It is not that the examiner has any grudge against Sun Chengxiu, but because the examiner thinks he is too young and wants to sharpen him.

Zhang Juzheng, the chief assistant during the Wanli period, was also messed up by the examiner for the same reason when he was young, but in the end Zhang Juzheng lived high in the temple and became a famous figure of a generation.This story of his childhood has also been sublimated into a teacher-student story.And the examiner who hindered Sun Chengxiu probably also wanted to perform the same teacher-student story, and make a couple.But no one thought that Sun Chengxiu's bad luck had begun.Next, Sun Chengxiu's parents died of illness one after another. Sun Chengxiu had no choice but to worry about Ding You. Sun Chengxiu missed the next three township examinations and wasted 12 years.And the examiner had already returned home because he was too old, and later died of illness, but left Sun Chengxiu with a feather.

After waiting for No. 12 years, Sun Chengxiu finally took part in the provincial examination with full confidence, but the result was sad and failed.Make persistent efforts, No. 15 years, continue to take exams, continue to mourn.At this time, Sun Chengxiu was over 30 years old. Because of Ding Youhe's study of scientific research, Sun Chengxiu had never married.Originally, Sun Chengxiu wanted to continue working hard, but at this time, something went wrong in Sun Chengxiu's family.His grandfather passed away.

Sun Chengxiu's family can be regarded as a farming and studying family in the local area, and of course it is a family of big landlords.His grandfather is the patriarch.And Sun Chengxiu's father is the second room in the family.After the grandfather passed away, the position of patriarch naturally fell into the hands of the eldest son, Sun Chengxiu's uncle.In the big house before, Sun Chengxiu had a cousin who was also very upbeat, and he passed the exam and became an official.If grandpa is here, with grandpa's favor, the family will continue to support Sun Chengxiu's studies, of course it will be no problem.But grandpa was gone, and the family asked Sun Chengxiu to give up the scientific examination and participate in the management of family affairs. Anyway, someone in the family has already become an official.But Sun Chengxiu studied with his cousin since he was a child. It can be said that he knows everything. His cousin's reading level is far inferior to him. How can Sun Chengxiu swallow this breath?His decision to the family is one hundred unwilling.

Just at this time, a classmate of Sun Chengxiu returned to his hometown to visit relatives.That man passed the Jinshi examination and became a powerful Beijing official.After learning about Sun Chengxiu's situation, his classmate gave Sun Chengxiu an idea.He asked Sun Chengxiu to find a way to go to the Imperial College to study, and to stay in the capital to participate in the scientific examination in Shuntian Prefecture.You know, Shuntian Prefecture has a relatively large number of admissions for scientific examinations, so it is easy to enter high school.In modern times, this practice has a special term called "college entrance examination immigration".And that classmate told Sun Chengxiu that even if he didn't pass the exam, as long as Sun Chengxiu studied at the Imperial Academy, he would still have a chance to become a miscellaneous official.This is also a way out.

After listening to this classmate's suggestion, Sun Chengxiu was suddenly moved.Seeing his classmate and his cousin being an official, he was even more envious, and secretly decided that even if he just studied in the Imperial College and became a miscellaneous official, it would be better than being a poor scholar without an official.So Sun Chengxiu begged his uncle to go to the Imperial College to study.His uncle is also kind, spending money to run things up and down, and relying on the help of his classmate, Sun Chengxiu successfully entered the Imperial College.Before going to the capital, Sun Chengxiu separated from his uncle, and brought all the land and house in his house to the capital with more than 600 taels of silver.

At that time, those who studied in the Imperial College were basically divided into three categories.The first type is older scholars who are basically incapable of further examinations, so they only want to be promoted after graduation; The third type is the children of Beijing officials and outstanding scholars from all over the country, who come to further study to improve their own level, and continue to take the scientific examination after graduation.

Sun Chengxiu of course classifies himself as the third type of person.However, after studying in Guozijian for a period of time, Sun Chengxiu found that her level was at most above average.Especially those children of officials and eunuchs, their level is far higher than that of Sun Chengxiu.In the Ming Dynasty, the level of reading in the south, especially the level of scholars in Zhejiang and Nanzhili, can be said to be outstanding, and those children of officials and eunuchs are basically southerners.With this discovery, Sun Chengxiu's fragile heart was a little bit broken.

We know that Sun Chengxiu was hailed as a child prodigy in his hometown before, and he was full of ambitions at that time, but in the end, he was over thirty and had not yet passed the examination, and even had the idea of ​​​​becoming a miscellaneous official. It can be seen that at this time He was already too fragile psychologically, and after being hit like this in the Imperial College, he felt even more confused and lost the goal of his struggle.Just at this time, Wu Shigong asked him for advice with great admiration, and they came and went again and again, and they crossed the age gap and became good friends.

But the day after the Dragon Boat Festival, Sun Chengxiu was studying in the Guozijian, and suddenly there was a bad news that a big explosion occurred in Wang Gong's factory.In the capital, in order to save money, Sun Chengxiu lived in the home of a fellow villager near Wang Gongchang. People at that time did not have the habit of depositing money in banks. Sun Chengxiu hid the remaining 200 taels of silver after spending these years. In his fellow countrymen.The big explosion razed his fellow villager's family to the ground, and his fellow villager's family died, and of course Sun Chengxiu's money was gone.At this time, Sun Chengxiu was poor except for the few taels of silver around him.You know, the money hidden in the fellow countryman's house was used by Sun Chengxiu to select miscellaneous officials if he failed in the exam after he prepared to study in the Imperial College.This time, Sun Chengxiu's last hope of becoming an official was cut off.

In addition, without living expenses, whether Sun Chengxiu can continue his studies in the Imperial College has become a problem.These days, he has almost spent his last few taels of silver.Today, he came to visit Wu Shigong. On the one hand, he knew about Wu Shigong's injury, and he really cared about Wu Shigong's health. Another purpose was to borrow some travel expenses from Wu Shigong to go back to his hometown.Because in the capital, he didn't know many people well, and he didn't want to ask his classmates who were officials in the capital to maintain his last dignity.But now, he is also completely discouraged about his future.

So, what appeared in front of Wu Shigong, who was full of joy and went out to meet his friend, was: Sun Chengxiu's pale face.Sun Chengxiu seemed to lose all vitality and floated over like a ghost.This surprised Wu Shigong, he suppressed his smile, and exclaimed: "Brother Yao, what's going on? How did you become like this?"