Chapter 044 Preparation for the Exam
Li Tingxiu walked into the lecture hall and taught as usual, without mentioning anything about the Winter Solstice Poetry Festival.
Because in his eyes, as long as you enter this school, you are just a student, no matter how famous you are outside, it has nothing to do with it.
In the classroom, all we have to do is teach and answer questions.
After the morning class ended, the students in the private school finally couldn't help themselves and started to discuss the story of Shen Yichen's poetry reading last night.
But compared to their previous recklessness, they now spoke more low-key. Perhaps this was the reality. When Shen Yichen's status and fame greatly widened the gap with his classmates, those who looked down on him before now had to bow their heads.
The popularity of the Winter Solstice Poetry Festival reached its peak in the following period of time. The main reason was that Shen Yichen's poem "Jinmingchi" was continuously sung by Qinhuai geishas and gradually spread across the country.
But popularity will always decline one day. After about a month, the name Shen Yichen began to be gradually forgotten by people.
The reason for this, apart from the time factor, was more importantly that Shen Yichen had no achievements. No matter how unparalleled his poems were, if he couldn't even pass the exams as a student, he couldn't establish a high image in the hearts of scholars.
There may be a lot of people who agree that Shen Yichen is talented, but few people will learn to imitate Shen Yichen and regard him as their idol.
Soon it was the end of the year, and in Nanjing, a city in the Jiangnan region, a rare heavy snow fell.
Standing in his own courtyard, Shen Yichen looked at the snowflakes falling from the sky. He did not think that this was a beautiful sight and write poetically like traditional literati.
Instead, he knew that the temperature in Nanjing was getting lower and lower, which meant that the temperature drop during the Little Ice Age in the Ming Dynasty was getting more and more serious. From then on, natural disasters became frequent, grain production dropped sharply, and violent social unrest occurred, which eventually became one of the straws that broke the camel's back for the Ming Dynasty.
Shen Yichen never had much compassion for the world in the past, but now living in this era, he would occasionally wonder if he had the ability to turn the tide and save the people?
"Chen'er, it's cold in the yard, come back to the house quickly."
Seeing her son standing in the middle of the yard admiring the snow, Shen shouted, "If he caught a cold or something, that would be a big deal."
"Okay, I'll go back now."
Shen Yichen responded and walked into the house.
At this moment, a table full of New Year's Eve dinner has been prepared on the table. Although the family is not well off, Shen would rather treat herself badly than deprive her son of food.
So chicken, duck, fish and meat were prepared, hoping that Shen Yichen would be well fed and in good health to study in the coming year and make progress in the imperial examination.
The mother and son sat at the table, eating and chatting about family matters. But most of the time, it was the mother Shen who was talking and Shen Yichen who was listening.
When they were finishing the meal, someone outside the window started setting off fireworks. The bright fireworks in the sky attracted the attention of the mother and son, but they both had something on their mind.
When Shen Yichen saw the fireworks, he couldn't help but think of the night he and Chen Qingtong were on Nanshi Street. Since that night, he never saw Chen Qingtong again. He wondered how she was doing now.
But in Shen's heart, she was thinking of Duke Chengguo Zhu Yong.
"Chen'er, the Duke went to the north to attack Mongolia, and I don't know how he is doing now."
Shen was not very clear about these major family and national affairs, so she could only ask her son.
"They should have left the capital by now, and will soon meet the Three Wuliangha Guards."
If Shen Yichen remembered correctly, on the eleventh day of the first lunar month in the ninth year of Zhengtong, Duke Chengguo Zhu Yong and eunuch Sengbao sent troops to Xifengkou, Earl Xing'an Xu Heng and eunuch Cao Jixiang sent troops to Jielingkou, Governor Chen Huai and eunuch Danzhu sent troops to Gubeikou, Governor Ma Liang and eunuch Liu Yongcheng sent troops to Liujiakou, each leading 10,000 elite soldiers to fight in different routes.
At the same time, the Oirat tribe of Mongolia and the Jianzhou Guard of Liaodong took the opportunity to encircle them and eventually defeated the three Uriankhai guards.
However, this battle did not yield any major gains. They only recovered some people and livestock that were looted by the three Uriankhai guards. A careful calculation showed that even the cost of sending troops was not recovered.
And more importantly, the three Uriankhai guards, who had been able to swing back and forth between the two sides, completely turned to Yesen of the Mongolian Wala tribe after this expedition, which laid the hidden danger for the future Tumu Incident.
It can be said that in the northern expedition against the three Uriankhai guards in the ninth year of Zhengtong, except for winning in face, they lost miserably from the tactical and strategic perspectives.
"Swords and guns are blind. The master is old now and is on the battlefield. I hope he will be careful and take care of his health."
Shen's face was full of worry. Even though Duke Chengguo Zhu Yong was a "scumbag", she still did not hold any grudge against him.
Shen Yichen didn't know what to say about this scene. Emotionally he couldn't accept it, but intellectually he knew very well that this was the traditional thinking of women under the feudal ethical system: obey your father at home, obey your husband after marriage, and obey your son after your husband's death.
No matter what Zhu Yong did, even if he abandoned Shen, as long as he was alive, his mother had to obey this so-called "husband".
Even the original Shen Yichen had extremely complicated feelings towards Zhu Yong, with both love and hate. Seriously speaking, love far outweighs hate. If Zhu Yong was willing to acknowledge his son, he probably wouldn't have any hate for him.
"Don't worry, mother. The master will be fine."
Although Shen Yichen now has no more complicated feelings towards Duke Chengguo Zhu Yong, the blood relationship with him as his father is inseparable, so it is always good to be safe and sound.
After hearing Shen Yichen's words, Shen nodded and didn't continue talking, but the worry in her eyes could not be wiped away.
After the first month of the lunar year, news finally came from the north about Duke Chengguo's victory in his northern expedition to Mongolia. Zhu Yong defeated the Mongolian army twice in Fuyuchuan and Reshuichuan, and was commended by the emperor. He was officially promoted to Taibao, one of the Three Dukes.
At the same time, Zhu Yong's titles also reached their peak at this time. He held the titles of Duke Chengguo, Governor of the Central Army Governor's Office, Special Advancement of Ronglu Doctor, Right Pillar of the State, and Grand Guardian, etc.
Not counting the titles, there are many officials who have spent their entire lives looking up to the first-rank title. It can be said that except for the royal family, Zhu Yong has achieved a position that is second only to the emperor.
However, Shen Yichen knew very well how much water there was in this so-called victory report. But at the moment, he did not have the energy to pay attention to this war far away, because the Yingtian Prefecture County Examination in the ninth year of the Zhengtong Period of the Ming Dynasty was about to come.
Not to mention Shen Yichen, the entire private school in the outer courtyard of Duke Cheng's Mansion was filled with a tense atmosphere, just like the eve of the college entrance examination in later generations.
Many guys who are usually uneducated, such as Li Da, began to cram for the exam, hoping that they could get lucky in the county examination and pass the exam to become a student or a scholar.
After school that day, Shen Yichen did not go home directly, but went to Li Tingxiu's study as instructed by Li Tingxiu.
The table and the shelf were still furnished. Li Tingxiu sat in front of the desk. Shen Yichen came in and bowed, saying, "Sir, the student is here."
"Um."
Li Tingxiu nodded and said, "Yichen, do you know why your master asked you to come here?"
"The students probably guessed it was about the county exam."
"That's right. The county exam will start in a dozen days. I have a few words to tell you."
"Sir, please speak."
"Has the guarantee been arranged?"
The so-called guarantee means that all students who want to take the county examination need to apply to the county ritual room and fill in their own place of origin, name, age, three generations of resume, appearance and other information.
In addition, they also needed to form a partnership with five other candidates and find a local student to act as a guarantor. They had to ensure that all their information was true, that they were not the descendants of prostitutes, actors, servants, or slaves, and that they were not in mourning for their parents before they were allowed to register for the exam.
This was not the first time that Shen Yichen took part in the county examination. To be precise, he had taken part in every county examination, so he was familiar with all these preliminary preparations and had already completed them.
"Sir, everything is ready."
"Do you have spare pens, ink, paper and inkstone?"
In the imperial examinations, pens, ink, paper and inkstone are details that cannot be ignored. Once a problem occurs in the examination room, it would be like crying out to heaven and earth for help.
It's impossible for you to knock on the "house" next door and say, "Brother, can I borrow your pen and ink?"
If such behavior occurs, the person may be expelled from the examination room and never be hired again. If it is serious, it may be considered cheating and there is a real possibility of being exiled to the army or beheaded.
Therefore, stationery such as pens, ink, paper and inkstone must be prepared, and there must be extra backups.
"Sir, everything is ready."
"Have you prepared winter clothes and food?"
Shen Yichen answered the first two questions seriously, but when Li Tingxiu asked this question, he couldn't help but burst out laughing.
This is completely different from the strict teacher image in the past. He is like an old nanny, starting to worry about even the child's dressing and eating.
"What's so funny?"
"Sir, have you forgotten how many times I took the county exam?"
Hearing this, Li Tingxiu was stunned for a moment. It might be because Shen Yichen's performance was too outstanding recently, and he forgot that this kid used to be a "repeat offender" who couldn't even pass the examination to become a student.
“Ahem.”
At this time, Li Tingxiu cleared his cough twice to cover up his embarrassment.
"From what you said, it seems that you are still proud of having taken the exam so many times?"
"Sir, no..."
Seeing Shen Yichen behaved, Li Tingxiu felt that he had restored a little of his dignity as a teacher, so he said, "Yichen, unlike before, I am not worried about your academic knowledge this time."
"But the imperial examination is not certain after all. I, your teacher, only hope to see you nominated for the prestigious award."
The list of successful candidates for the Jinshi degree is called the Golden List or the Imperial List, while the list of successful candidates for the Xiucai degree is generally called the Draft List or the Red List. Li Tingxiu had no other hope in calling Shen Yichen this time, except to see his student pass the exam.
"I will definitely live up to your expectations."
Shen Yichen bowed very formally. From Li Tingxiu's lovely inquiries, he knew very well that this was the teacher's concern and attention to him.
In a sense, Li Tingxiu is not only Shen Yichen's academic teacher, but also his mentor in life. Through his own actions and words and deeds, he made him understand what a teacher's way, morality and soul are.
