Do you know that it starts with Meng Tong?

The most excited person was Zhang Xu. He was lying on the wicker chair, but his hands and feet were restless. He was groping around like a monkey and chatting with Wei Chen.

Hearing that Wei Chen said that he would live on the first floor of the small building in the inner courtyard, Zhang Xu was so happy that he rolled around and pulled Wei Chen's arm and talked about his future plans for the small house.

Wei Chen listened quietly to Zhang Xu's chatter, occasionally echoing a few words softly, but he felt a lot of emotion in his heart.

It has been almost half a year since he came to this world, and Wei Chen still feels a sense of accomplishment for finally being able to provide his family with a decent place to live, and no longer having to travel around for a living.

Zhang Xu's voice became more and more tired as he talked, and soon he fell asleep on the wicker chair. Wei Chen also closed his eyes, listening to the rustling wind in his ears, feeling extremely peaceful in his heart.

……

In the early morning, the white fish belly appears in the east, and the quiet market becomes lively again, with small merchants and hawkers carrying poles selling everywhere.

On the street, Qian, the boss of Fuyuan Bookstore, picked up the tea bowl in his hand, rinsed his mouth, yawned, and directed his assistants to pull the door panels one by one in preparation for business.

At this time, a young man came to the door of the store, wearing a square scarf and clean starched clothes, with bright eyes and full of vitality.

Boss Qian saw the person coming clearly, quickly put down his tea bowl, and said with an enthusiastic smile: "Mr. Wei, are you here to buy paper for posters so early?"

Wei Chen smiled: "Yes, all the paper I bought last time has been used up."

"Young master is really studious!" Boss Qian praised, and then asked: "Or is it a large two-sided submission paper?"

"Yes."

Boss Qian nodded and gave instructions to the boy. The boy immediately picked up the paper knife, cut out the large stack of paper, making a wiping sound, and then neatly tied it with paper tape.

A large paper costs [-] yuan, which is a relatively expensive paper. Scholars use it exclusively to write papers.

Wei Chen paid the money, turned a corner into the alley with three large documents in hand, and walked dozens of steps to the door of his house.

After entering the door, Wei Ruyi happened to meet Wei Ruyi walking out of the house with a basin of water: "Brother Chen, you are going to buy paper again! Come and have breakfast quickly. I have cooked hot porridge and steamed buns."

"Okay, I know

Got it. "

Wei Chen responded with a smile and walked all the way through the front yard to the small building where he lived.

When I went upstairs and opened the window, I saw white walls and black tiles. In the distance, I could see boats passing by on the Youyang River.

The hustle and bustle outside the alley was mostly blocked by the saddle wall, making it a quiet place amidst the hustle and bustle. It was just right for reading.

After a while, Wei Ruyi brought breakfast. Wei Chen ate two meat buns and a bowl of hot porridge, then opened the articles of the Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties, put them on the desk, and read aloud.

The sound of reading loudly echoed like gold and stone, resounding throughout the two-story building.

Not long after, Wei Ruyi's shouting and cursing came from downstairs: "The sun is shining on your butt, are you still sleeping? Get up! Listen to your brother Chen, you have been working hard upstairs early in the morning!"

Zhang Xu reluctantly crawled out of the warm bed. While putting on his clothes, he said with a grimace: "I regret it. Being neighbors with Brother Chen is not fun at all. I want to go back to Xiyin Village!"

Wei Chen upstairs heard Zhang Xu's wailing and couldn't help but smile.

Zhang Xu is an eccentric boy, but he has no interest in studying at all. He may not be able to go to school in the future.

However, Wei Chen would not force him to do this. Zhang Xu was young and undecided. When he showed interest in a certain aspect, Wei Chen would naturally help him.

Wei Chen paused for a moment, took a sip of light tea to moisten his throat, then picked up the notes from the Eight Great Masters in his hand and read again.

He has now achieved some success in the Four Books and Five Classics and Cheng and Zhu's annotations. Now he is going to dabble in the texts of the Eight Great Masters to improve his rhetoric.

With Wei Chen's ability, he has naturally memorized the content of the article. However, the reason why the Eight Great Masters are called the Eight Great Masters has its own merits. The secrets in the article cannot be simply memorized. Comprehended.

For example, Han Yu's writings are as majestic as the great rivers, and Su Shi's writings are like the gushing springs of thousands of dendrobiums. Such articles have clear rhyme and sonorous tone. The more they read, the more interesting they become.

Wei Chen also read it over and over again, and then gradually got the true flavor of it.

After reading a piece of "Red Cliff Ode", Wei Chen felt that his thoughts were clear, his mind and body were relaxed, his mind was filled with endless inspiration, and he immediately felt the urge to write.

He immediately took out a large piece of writing paper, spread it out, held it down with a paperweight, then sharpened his ink, picked up his pen, and started writing on the paper.

Occasionally stop for a moment to consider the words, take a sip of light tea, and think carefully with the fragrance of tea between your lips and teeth.

After finishing the article, there was still half a pot of tea left. Wei Chen raised the paper and started admiring it. The more he read, the more satisfied he became.

This article has both rhetoric and ancient style. It can be called the best article he has written since he entered school.

Suddenly, Wei Chen felt a chill on the tip of his nose and looked out the window.

"It turned out to be raining."

The rain dripped messily from the eaves, hitting the black tiles, ticking, crisp and sweet.

Wei Chen gathered the papers in his arms, then closed the window, went downstairs and picked up his rain gear, informed Wei Ruyi, then went out alone and walked slowly along the river.

When he arrived at the free school, Wei Chen showed Lin Yan a dozen articles he had written in the past few days.

Lin Yan finished reading each article, stroking his short beard, and nodded slowly: "Yes, one article is better than the other, especially the last one, which is quite like the style of everyone in the Tang and Song Dynasties."

Wei Chen said: "Students were reading Mr. Dong Po's "Red Cliff Ode" today, and happened to read the sentence "Send a mayfly to the sky and the earth, a drop in the vast sea," so I felt inspired and wrote this article.

After hearing this, Lin Yan smiled and nodded: "Mr. Dongpo's writing style is wonderful and changeable, and it is difficult to imitate it easily. Although your article is far inferior, it can still be regarded as a bit of his authenticity."

When Lin Yan said this, Wei Chen was immediately flattered and hurriedly said humbly: "Mr. Dongpo is so talented that no student dares to compare with him. This article is just an occasional impression and cannot be counted."

"It's good to be neither arrogant nor impetuous."

Lin Yan's eyes flashed with appreciation, and he continued: "You have studied the articles of the Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties to this point. It is already very good. Next, you can start reading the selected works."

The anthology, also known as the "Selected Works of Zhaoming", was jointly compiled by literati organized by Prince Zhaoming, the son of Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties, and selected the works of more than a hundred famous writers from the pre-Qin Dynasty to the Southern Dynasties in the past thousand years.

If Wei Chen can understand this anthology thoroughly, draw on the strengths of many writers, and then stand out as his own, then he will truly have achieved great success in his craftsmanship.

Chapter 34 Time flies

The days of studying are dull, and it will inevitably become boring after a long time.

Fortunately, Wei Chen knew how to arrange his study and rest time appropriately. When he had nothing to do, he would take Zhang Xu out for fun, play chess, fish, or listen to a play and enjoy the scenery. This was a break in his days of rest.

Summer went to autumn, autumn passed to winter solstice, and in a blink of an eye, it was Wei Chen's second year in the Zhou Dynasty.

For more than half a year, Wei Chen not only read the notes of the Eight Great Masters and the Selected Works of Zhaoming, but also browsed through the collection of books in the Yixue Library. The amount of reading far exceeded any student in the Yixue, and even Lin Yan was ashamed of himself.

Lin Yan taught Wei Chen once every five days. No matter whether it was cold in winter or hot in summer, windy or rainy, Wei Chen was never absent once.

During this period, Wei Chen wrote so many articles that even he himself could not remember clearly. He only knew that the old manuscripts stacked in the corner of the room were as tall as a person.

Up to now, Wei Chen has learned from the three dynasties of the pre-Qin Dynasty, learned extensively from the Tang and Song Dynasties, and consciously made great progress in his writing. Although he has not yet reached the state of being a unique master, he can still be said to have made his mark.

As for calligraphy practice copybooks, there are countless.

If the dividends from Amber Wine hadn't arrived at the end of last year, I'm afraid that just the cost of this ink and paper would have caused Wei Chen to go bankrupt.

However, these investments have also been very effective. Now Wei Chen's pavilion style writing is dignified and neat, which is no longer the same as last year.

The spring breeze in February was chilling, and Wei Chen was sitting on the small building, staring out the window.

After nearly a year of preparation, the first fateful exam was finally coming, and Wei Chen was full of expectations.

This is the first step in the long road to the imperial examination, and you must take it well.

……

Today is the day to register for the county test.

At noon, students from Sheng's Free School set off under the leadership of Lin Yan and arrived in front of the county government.

There are only a dozen students behind Lin Yan, all of whom are natives of Youyang. Students from other places have to return to their place of origin to participate in the county examination.

Lu Qingzhou returned to Shangyuan County, and Tao Dazhi also returned to Jiangning. Among the seven people in Shangshen, only Chen Jun and Wei Chen participated in the county examination in Youyang.

There are a lot more tolerances in the Youyang County government office than usual. There is a post every three steps and a sentry every five steps to prevent students who do not understand the rules from running around.

Youyang is located in the south of the Yangtze River, where culture and education are prosperous. Youyang County is also one of the few counties in the Zhou Dynasty that is strong in imperial examinations. Every year in the county examination, thousands of scholars compete together, fighting to the death.

The number of people admitted to the county examination generally ranges from a few dozen to a hundred, and the admission rate is less than one-tenth.

Today, when registering for the county examination, thousands of people crowded in front of the county government office, and the queue formed a long queue. Wei Chen arrived late, so he could only stand in the back, looking at the queue that had not moved for a long time, and sighed helplessly.

Just when he was getting impatient, there was a sudden commotion in the team behind him.

"Get out of the way in front of me!"

The crowd obediently parted to make way for a five-foot-wide path.

Wei Chen looked around and saw an official with a stern face wearing a green robe and a handsome young man wearing a white shirt swaggering in from the door.

The originally very quiet crowd suddenly started to murmur in low voices, obviously very dissatisfied with this special behavior of jumping in line.

However, there are some people who are knowledgeable. They smiled and said to the unhappy students: "Do you know who he is? He is Wang Yaochen!"

Students have

Looking sideways, many people made sounds of realization.

"Wang Yaochen, it turns out to be him!"

"I heard that he went to Bailudong Academy to study at the age of ten. He studied under Luo Bingkun, who was the number one scholar 30 years ago. He studied for five years. It seems that he has finished his studies and left!"

"Looking at his posture, I'm afraid he's not here for Xiao Sanyuan!"

……

After understanding the reason of the matter, Chen Jun whispered to Wei Chen: "Brother Wei, I'm afraid this person is your strong rival in this county examination!"

Wei Chen smiled: "Which one is strong or weak can only be known after passing the test!"

Chen Jun noticed the edge in Wei Chen's words and couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. He still knew Wei Chen very well. Wei Chen would rarely take the initiative to seek the limelight unless necessary.

Seeing the confusion in Chen Jun's eyes, Wei Chen explained with a smile: "Brother Chen, you have to be low-key as a person and as an official. Only in the imperial examination, it is absolutely forbidden to be low-key. The better you do in the exam, the greater your reputation and your future." It will be brighter!

Therefore, no matter who comes, I will compete with him for the top spot in the county examination! "

"I see."

Chen Jun scratched his head and said with a shy smile: "I just want to avoid failing the rankings, but the battle for the top spot has nothing to do with me."

While he was talking, Wei Chen suddenly felt someone patting him from behind. When he turned around, he saw that it was a small official from the yamen.

"This is Wei Chenwei, a junior official. Please come with me."

After confirming Wei Chen's identity, the clerk led Wei Chen out of the queue, and like Wang Yaochen before him, started his journey of jumping in line.

Wei Chen felt a little funny in his heart: I was angry with others just now, but now it's my turn.

As expected, there was another angry discussion behind him.