Becoming a literary master starting from the story of Minglan

Chapter 63 Zhuang Ru
In fact, normally, a newborn baby only needs a nickname. Only when the baby reaches school age will the baby be given a formal name, and then the elders will give the baby a courtesy name when the baby is of age. That's all.

The reason why the Sheng family is different is that the Sheng family has a weak foundation and few descendants. In the entire Sheng clan, every male member is highly valued.

Of course, being born as the eldest son of the legitimate wife is even more extraordinary.

In short, Sheng Hong's decision to name Tuan Ge'er Sheng Changquan in advance was simply in accordance with the Sheng family's rules and was not considered particularly out of line.

……

Since Sheng Hong came to the capital to serve as Cheng Zhilang, the Sheng family has basically settled down in Tokyo. Therefore, after everything was settled, Sheng Hong began to find teachers for his children and prepare them for their studies.

At that time, the teacher with the best reputation, the best scholarship, and the most disciples who passed the imperial examinations was an old gentleman named Zhuang Ru.

Zhuang Ru was a thin but vigorous old gentleman. Although his hair was white and his face was aged, his wise eyes could always see through people's hearts and understand the students' thoughts at a glance. Therefore, all his students respected and feared him.

Therefore, it is only natural that Mr. Zhuang Ru has such outstanding students.

In fact, Sheng Hong had already invited Mr. Zhuang to teach at his residence several years ago. He sent several cartloads of gifts and wrote more than a dozen sincere letters. However, Mr. Zhuang's teaching quality was highly praised and his students had a high success rate, which made his business very good and he was always busy.

Moreover, if it weren't for the fact that the old master Sheng Xu and Mr. Zhuang Ru had some familial ties, Sheng Hong probably wouldn't have been able to get on Mr. Zhuang's good side at all.

After all, throughout history, renowned teachers have never lacked students. In addition, Mr. Zhuang Ru was already at that age, so physical temptations were no longer of much use to him. What could move him was only the emotional and rational connection.

Old Master Sheng Xu and Old Master Zhuang Ru were born in the same year and took the provincial examination together. They both passed the provincial examination and had a good relationship. If it weren't for Old Master Zhuang Ru's bad luck in not being able to participate in the metropolitan examination, they might have been able to enter officialdom together and work together to achieve great things.

Unfortunately, when Mr. Zhuang was preparing for the provincial examination the following year, his mother passed away, and he had to observe the mourning period, so he missed one examination. Three years later, when he finally finished the mourning period and was preparing for the provincial examination again, his grandfather passed away, and he had to observe the mourning period again, missing another three years.

After several attempts, Mr. Zhuang Ru gradually lost interest in taking the imperial examinations, feeling that he was simply not destined for it. He lay in bed in a daze for three days and three nights. When he finally woke up, he made up his mind to give up the examinations and only hoped that his family could enjoy their old age in peace.

Gold shines wherever it is. Who would have thought that although Mr. Zhuang Ru himself was not destined to take the imperial examinations, his students were all outstanding. Not every one of them could pass the imperial examinations, but every two or three sessions, someone would be able to participate in the palace examination and become one of the top three.

As a result, the reputation of Master Zhuang Ru as a renowned teacher became instantly famous and was fully recognized by everyone. Countless families rushed to invite the old master back to their homes to teach their students, but they were always unsuccessful.

Even the Sheng family's situation this time was just a coincidence.

A few months ago, when Mr. Zhuang celebrated his fiftieth birthday, he drank too much at the banquet and unfortunately caught a cold. He was bedridden for more than a month before gradually recovering. After examining him, the doctor advised the old gentleman to stop teaching and focus on recuperating. He suggested that it would be best if he did not take on any more students and instead concentrate on his health, which would allow him to live a few more years.

Mr. Zhuang touched his old bones, which were not much weight left, and finally decided that his old life was more important. He closed his private university and prepared to devote himself to retirement.

However, after years of teaching and nurturing students, Mr. Zhuang Ru felt depressed and stifled when he had free time. Over time, he found that his health was even worse than before.

Just then, Sheng Hong, as a nephew, sent a large cartload of gifts, hoping to persuade the old gentleman to come out of retirement and teach his good-for-nothing sons a lesson. The old gentleman, mindful of his friendship with Master Sheng Xu and also because he was simply too bored to stand it, accepted Sheng Hong's invitation and prepared to come to Beijing.

Sheng Hong was overjoyed and hurriedly sent his eldest son, Sheng Changbai, along with the family steward to Shandong to invite Mr. Zhuang Ru to come to the capital. Along the way, he could serve the scholar, learn from him, and make a good impression.

It has to be said that Sheng Hong really went to great lengths for his children.

More than a month later, Mr. Zhuang Ru leisurely arrived at the gate of the Sheng Mansion. Accompanying him was his wife, who had a strong voice. Mr. Zhuang Ru's daughter had married far away to Jinzhong in her early years, and his son had become an official in a county in the south. The details were unclear, but it was known that Mr. Zhuang Ru disliked the environment there and seemed to have had some conflicts with his son.

Seeing that the renowned teacher was coming, Sheng Hong specially set aside a small garden on the west side of the mansion and spent several days renovating it for Mr. and Mrs. Zhuang to live in.

The elderly couple had only two or three servants with them, but they carried twenty or thirty heavy bags of supplies, indicating that they were quite wealthy and that their income from teaching was also quite high.

Originally, Sheng Hong invited Mr. Zhuang Ru to his residence for the sake of his two sons' studies. However, being a little cunning by nature, he ultimately felt that good teaching resources should not be wasted. So, after respectfully discussing with Mr. Zhuang, he added a fee to include the three girls and the youngest boy, Tuan Ge'er, as auditors.

However, Tuan Ge'er is still young, so this can only be considered a reservation. We plan to send him to a private school when he is three or four years old, where he can receive some guidance from Mr. Zhuang Ru.

Of course, the latter few are all supplementary. Right now, the most important thing is still the two brothers, Sheng Changbai and Sheng Changfeng. They will be taking the imperial examinations in the next few years, and they need the guidance and instruction of Master Zhuang Ru.

So, the day before school started, Sheng Hong called all his children to him and gave them instructions. Even Sheng Changquan, who was still breastfeeding, was brought over by someone.

First came Changbai and Changfeng. As usual, Sheng Hong started by talking about governing the country and benefiting the people, and ended by talking about bringing glory to one's ancestors. He would add a couple of sentences about loyalty to the emperor and patriotism in the middle. Both boys nodded in agreement. Changbai answered seriously, while Changfeng bowed his head and said yes.

Two more chapters owed...

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(End of this chapter)