Red Mansion, Ningfu Scholarly Family

Chapter 28: The Imperial Scholar and the Imperial Courtesan

……

After I finished my morning filial duty and punched in, I ran into Lai Er as soon as I walked out the door.

Lai Er nodded and bowed as he stepped forward to apologize: "Uncle, you are so filial."

He comes here to get scolded every day, but he still persists. There is no other explanation except that he is truly filial.

Jia Rong nodded slightly and said with a smile, "How was the service here last night, Mr. Lai?"

Lai Er hurriedly said: "Good, very good!"

"That's fine. Just serve here well. When the master gets better, you will have your own benefits."

"Don't worry, sir..."

When Lai Er raised his head, Jia Rong had already left the yard, and his back in the morning sun seemed to be covered with a layer of fiery red light.

Lai Er suddenly felt deeply worried.

In the future, Ningguo Mansion will definitely belong to Jia Rong, this is indisputable. It is even possible that the old mansion will skip Master Zhen and pass the title of the mansion directly to Jia Rong!

Passing down the title to a grandson is not without precedent in the current dynasty.

In this situation, Jia Rong's preferences are crucial, but for some reason, Lai Er always feels that Jia Rong dislikes him.

If Jia Rong is not happy, he may be left out in the cold in the future.

Especially the other steward in the mansion, Zhao Laoer, who was also an old man who had followed him for several lifetimes and posed a great threat to him.

What do you want to do to please me?

……

Mu Garden is a private garden and usually does not receive outside guests. It is only open on the eve of the Flower Festival and the Double Ninth Festival every year, and the owner will issue business cards to make friends through literature.

The "wen" here does not refer to the poems and songs of the previous dynasties, but specifically refers to the eight-part essay.

Since the Ming Dynasty expelled the Mongols and established its rule, Taizu established the imperial examination system of selecting scholars based on the eight-legged essay, and also had a rule that no official position could be granted without passing the imperial examination.

This led to the scholars being tempted by wealth and fame, and they all consciously and voluntarily studied Confucian classics, carefully studied the teachings of Cheng and Zhu, put themselves in the shoes of Confucius and Mencius to experience their thoughts, imitated the words and meanings of the ancients, and thus established the orthodox Confucian moral values.

Over time, apart from the Four Books and Five Classics and other Confucian classics, other Tang poetry and Song lyrics have not been taken seriously. Some corrupt scholars even regard these "useless things" as "minor things" and believe that men who delve into poetry are not doing their job properly.

This also resulted in the fact that the poetry of this dynasty was far less brilliant than that of the Tang and Song dynasties. All that was left were eight-part essays that spoke on behalf of saints, full of flowery and eloquent language.

The Tang Dynasty had poetry, the Song Dynasty had lyrics, and the Yuan Dynasty had songs.

Our great Xia Dynasty had the eight-legged essay.

People at that time were very proud of it!

After more than a hundred years, eight-part essays have been deeply rooted in the hearts of every scholar. There are countless eight-part essay societies in the market. There are even rumors that a scholar in a certain province openly wrote saintly essays in a brothel in order to win the smile of a beautiful woman! !

When the provincial education commissioner learned about this, he was so angry that he almost vomited blood, and no one knew what happened to him in the end.

……

"Master, we have arrived at Mu Yuan."

"Well, go play, and remember not to run too far."

Jia Rong had been there twice, so he naturally knew the rules of Mu Garden. No servants or minion boys were allowed to enter. Although there were not many great scholars chatting and laughing there, there were definitely no unlearned people coming and going.

Xiao Zhu agreed happily and went to play.

"Hey, Brother Zhao is here too!"

"Haha, isn't Brother Li here too?"

"Hey, I heard that the great scholar from Jiangnan, Mr. Li Minzhi, was invited. Is that true?"

"How could it be false? The news has spread. If the host is not invited, won't he lose face?"

"Haha, that's true..."

As they were talking, they took their business cards and entered Mu Garden.

"Snapped!"

Jia Rong gently opened his folding fan, on which was a finely crafted business card.

The servant at the door hurriedly stepped forward and took it respectfully.

"It turns out that it is Master Jia who has come. Please come in."

Jia Rong nodded lightly and stepped into the garden.

"Shunzhi, you are here as expected!" Not far away, three people came towards them, all dressed in green shirts, with jade pendants hanging from their waists, looking very elegant and dashing.

Jia Rong bowed and said, "Thank you, Brother Song, Brother Ye."

"please."

Several people walked in leisurely, fanning themselves.

"Shunzhi, you may not know yet, but the great scholar from Jiangnan, Mr. Li Minzhi, has already arrived and is in the pavilion inside." Ye Mengshu said seriously.

Jia Rong nodded and said, "I heard about it."

Li Minzhi and Jia Jing were of the same year. Li Minzhi was the top scorer in the Yimao Imperial Examination. He worked in the Hanlin Academy for ten years and was promoted to the position of Minister of Rites. Later, he was ostracized in the court because he offended the Prime Minister Ye Gao. He resigned in anger and returned to his hometown. From then on, he no longer cared about court affairs and devoted himself to academic research. He has always had a high prestige in the literary world of Jiangnan.

Song Yu said anxiously, "Hurry up and leave. If we can get some advice from him, it will benefit us for the rest of our lives."

Xie Jiwen smiled quietly and said, "I also heard that Miss Yun Qian, the courtesan of Yunlou, was also brought by the master. I wonder if it's true?"

"Impossible?" Ye Mengshu was shocked. "How could such a literary gathering invite an Oiran? Wouldn't that tarnish the writings of the sages?"

Xie Jiwen waved his fan and said, "Brother Ye, what you said is wrong. How noble and pure are girls. Only the filth of the world can taint them, and there is no reason for them to taint others."

"……rational!"

"Maybe Miss Yun Qian is tired of listening to poetry and songs, and wants to learn eight-part essays?"

"I think I can teach her."

"Nonsense! How can a girl learn eight-part essays? What should we do if they learn it? Didn't you hear that a few days ago, a courtesan in Qinhuai, Jinling, wrote an eight-part essay in public and defeated the former provincial examination champion?"

"What? This is outrageous!"

"The Confucian scholar cannot defeat the Confucian scholar?"

"Impossible! Jing Kui must have copied it!"

"I don't know. I heard that Jing Kui has already jumped into the river, so there is no way to investigate."

Everyone: "..."

Where is justice?

Because Mu Garden was built outside Kyoto, it is naturally not comparable to those "little jades" within a few miles of the city. The garden is more than ten miles long and wide, with rockery, lakes, pavilions, terraces, bridges, flowing water, exotic flowers and plants, and winding rivers. It has both the charm of Jiangnan gardens and the grandeur of northern gardens.

The four of them chatted and gossiped all the way, crossing mountains and rivers, and finally arrived at the magnificent main hall of the front garden.

To the north stands a three-story red-painted hall with glazed tiles, glass windows, carved beams and painted buildings, giving it an air of wealth and elegance.

There were fifty or sixty tables and chairs placed in the open space in front of the hall, with all kinds of writing brushes, inkstones, and paper on them.

As soon as Xie Jiwen, Jia Rong and others arrived, someone immediately came forward to greet them: "Dear gentlemen, please come in person. This is the first exam. To pass this exam, you need to do an eight-part essay. The question is on the wall over there. The rules..."

"Go ahead, we know."

Song Yu waved his hands impatiently.

The first subject is just to keep out some dandy young men who are just filling in the numbers. You can pass it by just writing an eight-part essay with a coherent title.

The villagers were drinking, and those who wanted to fight went out, so they went out.

The title is written in black and white on the front, very conspicuous.

Someone is already writing furiously below.

Some were still scratching their heads.

Some even brought books with them and were flipping through them.

There were even a few playboys cursing at the door.

"You have to do some work to get in? I shouldn't have come if I had known!"

"That's right. I might as well go horseback hunting. I spent so much effort to get the business card."

"That's right, I think Miss Yun Qian is definitely not in there, so it's better not to go in."

"No noise!"

An old man walked out of the hall with a serious voice and sharp eyes.

The playboys immediately stopped talking and went out in shame.