Chapter 026 Mysterious Senior
"Sir, is there anything wrong with what you wrote?"
Looking at the changes in Li Tingxiu's expression, Shen Yichen was actually very nervous inside.
After all, this was the first time I wrote an eight-part essay, and I wasn’t even sure whether I had answered the question correctly.
If I go off topic, then today's article will be in vain.
“No, it’s well written!”
Li Tingxiu controlled his emotions and tried to keep his tone calm, but in fact, his heart was already in turmoil.
Shen Yichen's article is not only precise in its introduction, but also in its continuation of the topic and the last four parts which are neatly arranged and parallel, all of which are of excellent standard.
If this essay is used for the examination for Juren or Jinshi, it may seem a little immature. But if it is used for the examination for Xiucai, Li Tingxiu believes that if he is the chief examiner, this essay will definitely rank among the top.
Now the problem arises. Although I am not Shen Yichen's first tutor, I have been in the private school of Duke Chengguo's Mansion for three years and have witnessed Shen Yichen's two college entrance examinations.
Li Tingxiu usually doesn't teach things like poetry creation. After all, the ancient times also emphasized exam-oriented education.
But Li Tingxiu knew very well what level Shen Yichen had in writing eight-part essays. Even when he asked him to write this article today, it was because Li Tingxiu had looked through Shen Yichen's previous exam papers last night and was determined to help him make up for his shortcomings.
Unexpectedly, the quality of this article is not a shortcoming at all!
"Shen Yichen, you have made great progress recently. Not only are you able to answer questions accurately, but you have also memorized the words of the sages behind them. You are a teachable young man."
"Thank you for the compliment, Mr.
Shen Yichen replied modestly that, in fact, for him, the most difficult part might be to solve the problem. As for the later part, "speaking on behalf of the saints", it was a memory-intensive part and was not that difficult.
"However, this article does not offer any new ideas for solving the problem. The words of the sages are basically copied from Zhu Xi's annotations. Also, the last two strands are repeated in the text. If you don't know how to tie them up, you can use a fictitious analogy instead of including them."
"Also, the writing time is a bit long. When you actually enter the Imperial College, you will need to copy the test paper in addition to answering the questions, so you may not have enough time."
Just when Shen Yichen was feeling a little overwhelmed by the praise, Li Tingxiu started pointing out a bunch of his shortcomings.
Compared to Shen Yichen's previous work, this essay is naturally a masterpiece. However, since it has shown potential and progress, it can no longer be judged by the previous standards, but needs to be higher and stricter!
“Students understand that the article does have many shortcomings.”
Shen Yichen gladly accepted Li Tingxiu's comments. After all, no one knew the quality of the article better than himself.
You are right, sir. Most of the ideas in the article are actually borrowed from Zhu Xi's annotations.
This kind of borrowing cannot be defined as plagiarism in the ancient imperial examinations, because they are all "speaking on behalf of the saints."
However, not plagiarizing does not mean being outstanding. If a mediocre work is put in the college examination for the scholar, the examiner will not say anything and may even think that the student has solid basic skills.
Once you enter the provincial examination, or even the higher level examination, the palace examination, everyone is a top student who has fought their way through thousands of troops, so there is no such thing as a lack of solid basic skills. At this stage, you need to compete to see whose essay is more brilliant and whose views are more touching.
In addition, when writing the last few paragraphs, Shen Yichen really couldn't think of any original and antithetical words of the sages, so he could only use repetitive descriptions with similar meanings.
Li Tingxiu also told Shen Yichen how to solve this situation, which is that in the real imperial examination, if you really can't think of it, you can just leave out the last two parts of the essay, or change the eight parts into six parts, which is always better than repeating the description.
"I was able to remain humble and learn from others. It seems that some of my worries were unnecessary."
"What are you worried about, sir?"
Shen Yichen hadn't realized what Li Tingxiu was thinking, so he asked back out of curiosity.
"Nothing, it's getting late today, you should go back first."
Li Tingxiu naturally didn't need to express his worry about hurting Zhongyong. It was already past the time to leave class, so it was time for Shen Yichen to go home first.
After hearing this, Shen Yichen subconsciously glanced out the window. Through the gaps between the sycamore trees in the courtyard, wisps of golden afterglow from the setting sun shone through. It seemed that this article had indeed taken him a long time to write.
"Yes, sir. I'll take my leave."
Shen Yichen bowed , turned back to his desk, picked up his school bag, and prepared to go home.
But when he walked to the door, Li Tingxiu's voice came from behind him again: "By the way, Shen Yichen, you haven't chosen the sutra yet, right?"
The so-called "original classic" means that the scholars in the imperial examinations chose one classic from the Five Classics, namely, "The Book of Songs", "The Book of History", "The Book of Rites", "The Book of Changes" and "The Spring and Autumn Annals" to specialize in, and this classic was called the "original classic".
To use the expression of later generations, it is equivalent to choosing a major when taking the college entrance examination. If you like finance, you can study finance; if you like computers, you can take the computer major; if you like digging soil and moving bricks, you can choose civil engineering.
In ancient times, the imperial examination was said to test the Four Books and the Five Classics, but in fact the status of the Five Classics was far lower than that of the Four Books. According to the regulations on the interpretation of the classics for examination, "each scholar should test one classic", so in the end the examination only tested the Four Books and One Classic.
"Yes, the students have not yet selected this sutra."
Shen Yichen turned around and replied that in fact, it was not that he did not choose this classic, but that he did not even read the Five Classics at all...
The reason is very simple, that is, the first two examinations for students in the academy only test the Four Books, and do not test the relatively difficult Five Classics.
Only in the last exam, where you need to pass the exam to get the title of a scholar, will you be required to take the Four Books and Five Classics. However, the Five Classics questions account for a very low proportion of the score, so as long as you don't write too outrageously, you can basically pass the exam if you do well on the Four Books questions.
According to Shen Yichen's previous level of knowledge, he would be thankful to pass the examination to become a student. He had no idea of becoming a scholar, so how could he have the extra energy to study the Five Classics?
"In that case, come to the private school during this month's holiday, and I will take you to meet a senior."
senior?
Shen Yichen was a little curious, so he said, "Sir, may I ask which senior you are?"
"I'll know when I see you. This senior is very knowledgeable, even my teacher is far better than him. If you are lucky enough to have him help you choose this sutra and give you some pointers, you will benefit a lot."
Is it that powerful?
Although Master Li Tingxiu did not pass the imperial examination, he passed the imperial examination in his twenties, which was definitely a top elite in that era. Even he claimed that he was far inferior to him, so this senior must be at least a Jinshi, and maybe even a high-ranking first or second-class Jinshi.
"The student thanks you, sir."
No matter who he is, he must be a great person. Shen Yichen would like to thank him first.
"There's no need to be too polite between teachers and students. Go back."
Li Tingxiu strictly abided by the teacher-student relationship, but did not care about superficial formalities. He waved his hand to signal Shen Yichen that he could leave.
After bidding farewell to the teacher, Shen Yichen left the Chengguo Mansion. Perhaps because he stayed at school too late today, Zhao Hongjie, who usually waited for him at the door, was nowhere to be seen.
Walking back to his own villa along the street, Shen Yichen pushed open the gate. This time, the first thing that caught his eye was not the familiar weaving scene, but a red lacquered wooden box placed in the middle of the courtyard. His mother was standing next to the box with her back to him.
What’s going on? Why is there an extra box?
Shen Yichen felt puzzled, so he asked, "Mom, what's going on?"
Shen Yichen's voice woke up Shen Shi, who was distracted. She turned around and found that her son had returned.
"Chen'er, you're back."
Shen looked at Shen Yichen, forced a smile on her face and continued, "It's nothing, it's just a gift from someone else."
Yeah?
Shen Yichen felt that the atmosphere was a bit strange, so he walked over to take a look and found that the wooden box was well-made and decorated with patterns of phoenixes, flowers and birds.
Based on Shen Yichen's expertise in archaeology, this should be an official wooden box from the Ming Dynasty. Even if it did not come from the official class, it must have come from the wealthy class at least.
Let's not talk about what's in the box, the box itself is worth a lot of money. My family is at most a small peasant class, who would give such an expensive gift? There must be some hidden reason behind it.
