Red Mansion, Ningfu Scholarly Family

Chapter 213: First Name Volume

……

Everything was ready, Jia Rong looked at the first question.

"Song Yu is about to go to Chu." One chapter.

The title is more than 280 words long!

You should know that an eight-part essay consists of only about 300 words. It is usually difficult to grasp the key points of using a 300-word article to explain 300 words of sage teachings.

However, Jia Rong just smiled faintly.

Recently, he has been studying how to crack and write long-length eight-part essays. He also discussed with others at the Qingshe literary gathering how to crack, solve and approach this type of essay.

It can be said that we have taken advantage of the opportunity.

While the rice was still not cooked, Jia Rong scribbled the main points of his first article on a piece of straw paper.

When the Qin and Chu states were in dispute, Song Yu tried to resolve the dispute by "talking about its disadvantages", while Mencius was against talking about "benefits" and advocated using "benevolence and righteousness" to resolve the dispute between the two countries.

From Jia Rong's current point of view, Song Yu is of course right. After all, times have changed, so thoughts must also change accordingly.

Between countries, interests are above all else.

As for benevolence, it’s enough to be one’s own people.

Do the Tartars have any regard for humanity?
Do Westerners believe in benevolence?

If Meng Sheng had come to the Southern Song Dynasty, he would definitely not have talked about benevolence with Wanyan Aguda of the Jin Dynasty, nor would he have talked about righteousness with Huang Taiji and Dorgon in the late Ming Dynasty. He might have talked to them about what it means to be strong and powerful!
There are too many associations.

Back to reality...

Meng Sheng is always right at any time. The central idea of ​​all articles should follow Meng Sheng's thoughts.

The answer is:
"The Second Sage heard that there were people who persuaded the ruler with benefits, and he then exhausted their desires and expanded them with reason."

Then, Jia Rong, in accepting the topic, used his skillful and elegant classical Chinese writing style to explain in detail the harm of talking about profit and the benefit of talking about benevolence, step by step and in depth.

The whole text is concise and well-structured, with clear layers, a broad vision and awe-inspiring righteousness. Anyone who reads it will be inspired and shout out:
This boy is truly a kind and righteous man!

He must have been deeply influenced by the teachings of Confucius and Mencius since childhood, and truly learned from them!
The most important first piece of writing has been roughly completed on rough paper, and will need to be polished later. As the saying goes, "an article determines everything", Jia Rong dare not be careless on the stage of the Autumn Examination.

The slightest carelessness will result in three years of hard work.

The fragrance of the tribute rice has spread far and wide, attracting countless gluttons to swallow their saliva.

Jia Rong put down his pen and filled a bowl.

Then he took out the marinated meat strips.

A delicious meal.

Then began the second of the seven chapters on craftsmanship.

"How can respect and frugality be expressed through voice, laughter or appearance?"

There is no normal one.

Jia Rong sighed.

This question comes from "Mencius, Li Lou", and is a question taken from an article. It is quite difficult to solve the question, especially because the words and phrases with the same meaning as the previous sentence in the article cannot appear, otherwise it would be considered as an offense.

It’s a violation!
"Those who regard music and laughter as benevolence, how can they be humble and frugal?"

Here, Jia Rong used a counter-breaking method to solve the problem.

Take the question of "learning and practicing it from time to time" as an example. If we solve it according to the principle that "learning" should be "practicing it from time to time", then it is the correct way to solve it.

On the contrary, if you solve a problem by learning but not practicing it from time to time, it is the reverse solution.

The advantage of this way of introducing a topic is that it can avoid being monotonous and often make people's eyes light up. When Jia Rong read several articles written by Ma Hanlin, he seemed to like using this way of introducing a topic.

……

sunset.

Now is the last moment of the first exam in the autumn.

Jia Rong carefully checked the seven articles again to see if there were any violations of rules and regulations, especially avoiding the emperor's name, temple name, etc. He wrote his resume and place of origin in the designated place...

"carry out an assignment!"

Jia Rong folded the test paper, his voice was calm but full of unspoken confidence. On this most important day, he showed his peak strength.

The old soldier outside bent down and opened the door of the examination room, saying with a smile: "It's the fifteenth day of the eighth month. I wish you success in the examination."

Jia Rong seldom bothered him these days, and he knew it was not convenient to talk much at this time, so he stood at the door obediently like other soldiers.

The words he said today when leaving the room were not a compliment from him, but a sentence that all the soldiers would say after the candidates left the room.

Jia Rong cupped his hands.

"Thank you for your good words."

After leaving the low examination room, the weather outside was good, with light clouds and breeze. The afterglow of the setting sun shrouded the entire examination hall in a faint red glow.

It seems to indicate good luck.

Outside, the dragon gate had already been opened.

Many people who handed in their papers early have already left the examination room and gone to find somewhere to get drunk.

Those who handed in their papers for the provincial examination early usually did not understand the questions and guessed randomly, or did not know how to write at all and just wrote a few random sentences to get by, or even gave up directly and lamented about life on their papers.

Of course, these are what Jia Rong heard from others.

As soon as he came out of Longmen, a large group of people surrounded Jia Rong.

"Brother Shunzhi, may I ask how you solved the first question?"

"My opening question is 'Abandoning benevolence and justice in favor of profit, and using great ambitions for small purposes.' How do you think?"

"Brother Shunzhi, my solution is..."

Jia Rong naturally answered each question modestly with a smile, and was not polite to those who kept pestering him: "I am just a small candidate, not an examiner. If you want to be more confident, I suggest you go back and write it out by heart, and ask those famous scholars."

Everyone suddenly realized and hurried back to write the article from memory.

Jia Rong now had some free time.

"Shunzhi, hehe."

There was another person around.

Jia Rong looked at the person who came and asked in confusion, "You came out so early, why don't you check it out for a while?"

Ye Mengshu smiled slightly: "I have tried my best. There is no point in changing it over and over again. Besides, I just came out a little earlier than you. I thought you would not hand in the paper too late, so I waited for a while."

"How did Shunzhi do in the exam this time?"

Jia Rong: "Oh, it's not very good."

Ye Mengshu clapped his hands: "Then it's stable."

Jia Rong asked, "What do you mean?"

Ye Mengshu said seriously: "Every time you say that you didn't do well in the exam, it means that you did too well. We all know it, and you don't need to explain."

Jia Rong: "...How about you? How did you do in the exam?"

Ye Mengshu said: "I... feel okay."

Jia Rong clapped his hands and said, "It's over. Every time you feel okay, it's mysterious. Go back and write it down so we can show it to you."

Ye Mengshu: "Okay...are you still waiting for Brother Xie?"

Jia Rong thought for a moment and said, "Let's not wait any longer. We don't know when he will come out. Let's go to the inn and recite the dictation first. When he comes out, he will find us."

You can hand in the paper before dark. Today the weather is fine and there is still half an hour before dark.

Ye Mengshu was about to nod when he suddenly saw an acquaintance walking towards him with a smile on his face.

It was Song Yu whom I hadn’t seen for a long time.

"Shunzhi, Mengshu, long time no see."

Song Yu took the initiative to step forward and say hello.

Ye Mengshu said, "So it's Brother Song. You remembered to come back. Why didn't you go to Jiangnan to take the provincial examination?" Song Yu didn't pay attention to Ye Mengshu's ridicule. Instead, he laughed and said, "I was afraid that I would snatch the title of Jieyuan from them in Shuntian Prefecture, so I came back."

This sentence made everyone laugh.

The barriers are gone.

Ye Mengshu said, "Why don't you come to our Qing Society and get involved with them?"

Song Yu said: "If I don't join them, how can I know why their writing is better than ours?"

Jia Rong praised: "That makes sense!"

Song Yu said, "I have gradually discovered in the past two years that the literary style in the provinces south of the Yangtze River is indeed flourishing, much better than ours. Take literary societies for example, I know of more than 20 of them, and some are even as large as the British Society. They hold two literary gatherings every month, and invite great scholars to come and evaluate."

"Oh? Who pays for it?"

Jia Rong asked.

He knew that hosting a literary gathering cost a lot of money and ordinary scholars could not afford it.

Song Yu said: "Sometimes it is funded by wealthy merchants from Jiangnan, and sometimes by local officials and gentry. There are even restaurants that host such literary gatherings for free in order to attract scholars and literati."

Jia Rong: “…”

How come he has never come across such a restaurant?
Next time, I will change the venue!
"But in the past two years, we have had Brother Shunzhi, Brother Xu, and Brother Ye, masters of eight-part essays, to support us, so we are not much behind them."

Ye Mengshu said unhappily, "Just the three of them? Aren't there any of me?"

Song Yu shook his head and said, "You still need to work harder. The scholars in several provinces in the south of the Yangtze River only know about the three heroes of the Qing Society. Who knows you?"

Night Dream Book: "...It's so hurtful!"

"Look, I'm going to become famous all over the world this time!"

Jia Rong smiled and said, "Okay, we'll wait and see."

The three of them returned to the inn they had booked while talking. Not long after, Xie Jiwen also came back, looking haggard.

"Hey, that crappy exam room kept me up for two nights. You guys study the exam questions. I'm going upstairs to sleep."

After saying that, he went upstairs holding the railing and went to bed.

Jia Rong and the others did not force him, and each of them wrote out their own articles from memory.

I read the Night Dream Book first.

Jia Rong's writing seemed fine, and was slightly better than his usual writing at literary gatherings.

"Sure, Old Night!"

Song Yu also began to look at him with a new respect.

"Haha."

Ye Mengshu waved his fan and smiled softly: "Do you think I play every day? You all know that I was the most hardworking one in the past when we were in Xishan Academy. It was just that I was taken to brothels by Lao Xie a few times and was delayed. Otherwise, I would be one of the four heroes of Qingshe now."

Song Yu smiled and said, "Don't make excuses. Xie Jiwen has more fun outside than you, so it doesn't delay anything."

"He... can't be compared." Ye Mengshu waved his hand and said, "His father is from a family of Hanlin scholars, Shunzhi's grandfather was also a Jinshi, Xu Lian's family background must be not simple either, only I come from a poor family..."

"So you should work harder, read more books, and go to brothels less!" Jia Rong continued what Ye Mengshu said.

Song Yu said: "Yes, among all the people I know, the one I admire the most is you, Shunzhi. You are a real son of a noble family, the grandson of the cabinet minister. Your status is not much different from those grandsons of princes, right?"

"With such status, he still sticks to his heart, is humble and eager to learn, and never sets foot in places of fireworks. It is really admirable!"

Jia Rong felt a little embarrassed by the compliment, and he saluted modestly and said, "Brother Song, you are too kind. My family background is just a blessing from my ancestors. There is nothing to be proud of. Knowledge is my own."

"well said!"

Song Yu clapped his hands: "A distinguished family background is only a blessing from ancestors, knowledge is one's own!"

Xie Jiwen also bowed: "Thank you for your advice."

Jia Rong shook his head gently and said, "Let's not talk about this anymore. Just read some articles today and go to bed early. Although the next two exams are not that important, we must go all out and leave no regrets!"

"Shunzhi is right. Give it your all and leave no regrets."

Next, we looked at Song Yu's articles. The one Song Yu selected from the Five Classics was "The Book of Songs". The topics of the articles were not too difficult and were of a standard type. They most tested the understanding of the main idea of ​​the article and the basic skills of the candidates.

Song Yu took a different approach from mediocre literary topics, and several of his articles were novel and radical, making them a refreshing read.

"The article is very good, but it depends on the examiner!"

Jia Rong said with a sigh.

If the examiner likes this type of article, he may decide it as excellent and recommend it directly to the examiner. If the examiner finds it old-fashioned and stiff, he may directly reject it and it will never reach the examiner's desk.

Song Yu said, "I won't take this risk. My writing is so mediocre that I'm afraid it will be difficult to get in."

"Let's not talk about me for now. Take a look at your articles, Shunzhi. I've been in Jiangnan for the past few years, and your name has become a household name."

"Hey!"

Jia Rong sighed, "It's all just empty reputation."

Then he showed his article to the two of them.

……

The last exam of the Autumn Examination was over on August 12th.

Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching.

Every autumn examination, the chief examiner, deputy chief examiner and examiners of the provincial examinations all have to examine the papers in the Minglun Hall of the Imperial Examination Hall and spend the Mid-Autumn Festival together. This is a custom and an honor, and no one will be dissatisfied with it.

Emperor Anping was eager to recruit talented people when he took office at the beginning of this year, so the chief examiner, deputy chief examiner, and examiners he sent were all fair and selfless people with good character. Even during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, they did not drink too much or rest. They just had a quick meal and started the intense marking work again.

"We must be fair and just when marking the papers. All papers, regardless of their quality, must be carefully reviewed from beginning to end. We must not allow students to fail after only reviewing the first part of the paper!"

Ma Hanlin would inspect each room every day and repeat what he had just said. Everyone could only nod in agreement. He would always review articles until late at night before resting.

It took five or six days to mark only half of the test papers.

Deputy Chief Examiner Tang Baoyu walked over to Ma Hanlin with more than a hundred test papers and said with some worry, "President Ma, five days have passed since the Autumn Examination, and only less than half of the papers have been reviewed. I'm worried that the announcement of the results will be delayed."

Ma Hanlin waved his hand and said, "The dates for announcing the results vary from place to place. It doesn't matter if it's one or two days later. I will explain this to the emperor."

Tang Baoyu nodded in relief and said with a smile: "I feel much more at ease with your words. Although the grading of our papers was slow this year, there were indeed many articles that were eye-catching, especially these few. They are so fascinating that people can't stop reading them. They are endless aftertaste."

"Oh." Ma Hanlin's eyes lit up slightly, and he said, "Bring it here quickly, so that I can feast my eyes on it."

Tang Baoyu put down the test paper in his hand. On the top was an article recommended by the "Book of Rites" department. On the top was the examiner's red mark "Suitable to be the first in this department".

Ma Hanlin frowned slightly and said with a hint of displeasure: "You've only read half of it, and you've already picked the top volume of the Book of Rites? How hasty!"

Tang Baoyu smiled and said, "President Ma, please take a look at the article first."

When he first received the first-place paper, he was somewhat puzzled. It was only after he finished reading all seven papers in one breath that he suddenly understood why the official in the Book of Rites department had so hastily decided on the first place in his department in advance!

You should know that although the chief examiner and the deputy chief examiner are the ones who ultimately decide the top paper, they will generally give face to the officials in the Five Classics Room and give priority to the top-ranked paper recommended.

And it also involves the competition for the top prize in the imperial examination. If the top prize winner cannot stand the test, how can he compete with the other candidates?
With a hint of suspicion, scrutiny, and even criticism, Ma Hanlin carefully read the article in his hand.

After a while.

Ma Hanlin turned a page and found that there was nothing after that.

After reading all seven articles in one go, I actually felt a sense of loss.

"how?"

Tang Baoyu asked with a smile.

Ma Hanlin praised: "I can't stop reading it, and it's endless aftertaste when I think about it carefully."

He pointed at the paper and said, "This candidate's seven essays are impeccable from beginning to end. Their profound and elegant style is in line with the spirit of Han Yu and Ouyang Xiu, the principles of Cheng Yu and Zhu Xi, and the understanding of the past. It is obvious that they have reached the highest level of ancient prose techniques. I feel... they have the artistic conception of the articles written by Grand Master Zeng in the past."

Tang Baoyu naturally knew that Grand Tutor Zeng was Zeng Yongwei, the first and only top scholar in the imperial examination since the founding of Daxia, and the founder of the eight-part essay using the ancient Chinese style.

"It's really much better than the other candidates. No wonder the Book of Rites room chose the top paper in advance!"

……

(End of this chapter)