Red Mansion, Ningfu Scholarly Family

Chapter 42 Lin Daiyu studies hard

……

It was already time for lighting the lamps when Jia Rong returned to Ning Mansion. He originally thought that Jia Jing would be at home waiting to read the article he had copied out from memory. However, after asking the housekeeper, he learned that Jia Jing had not returned home since the morning court session.

Jia Rong guessed that it might be related to the recent rumors that Li Minzhi would be reinstated.

Although Li Minzhi and Jia Jing were of the same age, they did not have a very good relationship.

Even brothers can become enemies, let alone brothers of the same age.

Moreover, one of them is a descendant of military honors, and the other is a student from a poor family, so there are natural conflicts between them.

They had disliked each other for a long time when they were studying, and later they served in the same court. Jia Rong didn't know whether they had done anything dirty in private, but one thing was certain: Li Minzhi's reinstatement was not good news for Jia Jing.

Today there are four people in the cabinet.

The chief minister of the cabinet was Ye Gao, the second chief minister was Wen Ting, and the other two ministers were Wu Nan and Sun Xiaoye.

They are all old cabinet ministers from the period of the retired emperor.

In the past two years, as Emperor Wende's position has gradually stabilized, the voices in the court calling for expanding the cabinet have grown louder.

In terms of seniority, Jia Jing originally had some confidence.

However, although Li Minzhi resigned from his official position and stayed at home for a few years, his qualifications were not much worse than Jia Jing's. He was even the Minister of Rites several years earlier than Jia Jing was promoted to the Minister of War.

If it weren't for the pressure from Prime Minister Ye, he would have been a cabinet minister by now.

But I don’t know what Jia Jing thinks.

Of course, these things happening in the court have nothing to do with him for the time being.

If one wants to "discuss the affairs of state", one must at least have the title of a scholar.

Therefore, after passing the examination to become a scholar, the first rule the teacher teaches is often: scholars are forbidden to discuss state affairs!
However, it is almost useless.

The scholars' favorite thing was to get together and "discuss state affairs". With the rise of literary societies in recent years, it was even more serious. Gathering to discuss matters had become the norm. When a dozen scholars in colorful robes and square scarves stood at the gate of the yamen, the county magistrate would feel overwhelmed and speak in a humble voice.

"Rong'er, how did you do in the exam today? Did the examiner point out your point on the spot?" Xichun had pulled Lin Daiyu to Jia Rong's small study room at some point.

Jia Rong had just finished reciting the test paper in the examination room. He put down his pen and said with a smile: "No, this time I took the test under a pseudonym. Whether I can pass or not will depend on the announcement of the results in three days."

"hehe……"

Lin Daiyu laughed softly twice, walked forward to take Jia Rong's article, read it word by word, and then smiled and said, "Aunt will give you some comments."

"Shouyi's solution is good, very spiritual, and generous. I give it first place."

"The topic seems to be lacking in some aspects. It failed to extend the meaning of the topic, so it can only be given a second place."

"This sentence is very well opened, with a lot of thought and meaning, capturing the whole topic, and leaving a lot of room for the following four comparisons. I give it a first-class grade."

After listening for a while, Jia Rong opened his eyes wide and asked in surprise: "Who did you learn this from?"

Lin Daiyu put down the article, smiled and pointed to a pile of articles on the table.

Jia Rong suddenly understood.

All of these articles have been commented on, including by the president and teachers of Xishan Academy, Jia Jing, Lin Ruhai, and Li Minzhi.

Lin Daiyu must have seen all of these in the past few days, so she could make up stories and give him comments.

Jia Rong smiled and said, "What you said is all from the past. I have practiced the topic part of my writing now, let alone other things. I can do it smoothly and smoothly, connecting the previous and the next, without giving it an inappropriate grade."

"Oh." Lin Daiyu nodded and smiled, "I saw this sentence in the title, 'A man who fights for justice must be under the order of the emperor.' Why don't you add a sentence like 'What is the meaning of calling him a teacher?' to extend it?"

"Actually... you can add it this way, but it's okay if you don't. It makes the topic more concise and convenient for the introduction part later."

Who asked them to learn writing!

Such sharp words!
Lin Daiyu smiled lightly and didn't care.

My eldest nephew is shy, so as his aunt I have to give in to him appropriately.

"Humph, I think the more you learn, the worse you get. You're even worse than Miss Lin!"

Jia Jing came back at some point and appeared under the window.

Several people hurriedly stood up to greet him.

"Master."

"Daddy."

"Uncle."

Jia Jing nodded and went into the house. He looked at Lin Daiyu and sighed, "If you were a man, you would inherit your father's literary ambition."

Lin Daiyu blushed and said, "Thank you for the compliment, uncle. I just read your review and it was all made up."

"Better than him!" Jia Jing glared at Jia Rong.

Jia Rong nodded hurriedly: "Yes, yes, Aunt Lin is much better than me."

Jia Jing said sternly, "You're still not convinced. How old are you, Lin? How can others be modest? How about you?"

Jia Rong: “…”

Jia Jing continued, "Don't think that you can get a good ranking in eight-part essays just by solving the topic. When you really get to the provincial and imperial examinations, you can't make any mistakes from solving the topic to finishing the essay."

"Show me the essay you wrote on this exam!"

"Please have a look, Master."

Jia Jing took it and looked at it carefully.

After a while, he put down the test paper.

"The article is okay, but don't be so proud from now on!"

Jia Rong offered the teacup and said with a smile, "I'll remember that."

Jia Jing took a sip of tea, put down the tea bowl and said calmly: "I heard that I failed the exam this time?"

"Yes." Jia Rong said, "No one knew about it beforehand. It seemed to be a last-minute decision."

Jia Jing nodded: "This is actually a good thing for you. If you can get one of the top few, it will be enough to shut up some people."

……

Lin Daiyu and Xichun found some time and hurriedly left the study.

"Didn't you say that the master never scolded Rong'er? What happened today?" Lin Daiyu said with a smile.

Xichun smiled and said, "Maybe Sister Lin is too good and has outshined Rong'er, so Master is getting anxious."

Lin Daiyu smiled and said, "I only have a rough understanding. I can't really write an article. I need to go back and study it carefully."

She has decided.

I must write a good article to surprise my father.

Let her father know that she is no worse than men.

"Alas." Xichun shook her head and sighed, "I really can't bear to read those articles at all. Drawing and doing math are more fun."

Lin Daiyu smiled and said, "Then you can paint, and I will write an inscription for you. Who knows, a good painting may be passed down through the ages."

"Yes."

Xichun clapped her hands happily and said with a smile: "Sister Lin, let's become famous through the ages together!"

……

Gongyuan.

The marking of papers is in full swing.

There are more than 5,000 candidates for the Shuntian Prefecture Examination this time, and each of them has five essays, which means more than 25,000 essays.

In addition to the chief examiner Zhou Zhengguan, there were ten other examiners. Each of them needed to read more than 2,000 essays within two days... Of course, that was impossible.

Basically, people just watch the first show.

Just like the examiner He Gufeng, he read more than 800 essays in one morning, of which only about 100 were carefully read. Some were even rejected directly because they only looked at the poor introduction of the first art.

Why must the first performance be outstanding?

Here's why!

"The Bible does not teach the princes, because they do not know that there is a king."

He Gufeng, who was originally a little drowsy, suddenly became more awake after seeing this solution and couldn't help clapping and cheering.

"wonderful!"

Zhou Zhengguan happened to be out inspecting the scene. Seeing this, he smiled and said, "What's so interesting? Could it be that there are some brilliant articles?"

"My lord is here."

He Gufeng stood up and bowed, smiling, "Please take a look, sir. This candidate's essay is really rare!"

"Oh?"

Zhou Zhengguan smiled: "In that case, I'd better take a closer look!"

(End of this chapter)