Chapter 045: Military General's Son
On February 17th of the ninth year of Zhengtong, there were still two days before the county examination, and Shen's mother had already prepared food, warm clothes and other daily necessities for Shen Yichen.
The most eye-catching thing among them was a bag of boiled red eggs. Shen was not very educated and didn't know the lofty meanings of things like the six rituals and the gift of repair. She just thought that the red eggs could bring some good luck.
Looking at what his mother had prepared, Shen Yichen was moved and amused. The county examination was different from the provincial examination and the metropolitan examination. It would not be held for several consecutive days.
You will enter the examination room in the morning and come out on the same day. You will not stay overnight in the examination room, so you only need to prepare three meals a day.
Even if you are more resistant to hunger and are in a good mood before the exam to eat breakfast, you can skip lunch and come out to eat in the evening. You don’t have to bring any food at all.
In theory, the county examination consists of five examinations, which means it takes five days. In fact, the most important one is the first examination of eight-legged essay, and the other four are icing on the cake.
Because as long as you pass the first test, you have already obtained the qualification for the next stage of the provincial examination. Some young and frivolous scholars, after obtaining the qualification for the provincial examination, are too lazy to write the next four tests seriously, and just do a rough job and hand in the paper and leave.
Of course, "a loving mother's hand sews clothes for her son", these things are all the mother's love. After Shen Yichen took them with a smile, he went alone to the location of the county examination - Xiajiang Examination Hall.
Not only Shen Yichen, but all the students in Jiangning County have gathered in the inns and restaurants around the examination hall. There are probably thousands of people there.
Under normal circumstances, the number of schoolchildren in a county would not be as exaggerated as thousands. However, Nanjing was one of the two capitals of the Ming Dynasty after all, with relatively strong economic strength, and many families could afford to support a scholar.
Another reason is that Jiangnan has been a place with a flourishing literary culture since ancient times, and there are countless families with long traditions of passing down the imperial examinations, which resulted in a large number of students taking the exam. This is also one of the important reasons why the imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty were divided into the North and South lists.
Shen Yichen came to a familiar inn and stayed there. Although his home was not far from the examination site, transportation in ancient times was too slow. If he stayed at home, he would waste a lot of commuting time every day, so it was better to stay in an inn.
"Hey, Yichen, I've been waiting for you for a long time, why are you here only now?"
Shen Yichen chose to check into the inn one day before the county exam, but Zhao Hongjie had already moved in three days ago.
The reason is that the annual county examination time is a legitimate time for Zhao Hongjie to leave home, away from the various rules and regulations at home. For him, it is like heaven.
However, Shen Yichen, who had left home early in previous years , did not show up this year. Zhao Hongjie had been sitting in the lobby of the inn waiting for two days, watching the students coming in and out for a long time, and finally waited for Shen Yichen to arrive!
"The exam is tomorrow, why are you here so early?"
"Why do you need to ask? Of course, we're out to play!"
Zhao Hongjie's eyes widened with an expression that said Shen Yichen was incorrigible. Could it be that Shen Yichen had really become stupid from studying so much that he had forgotten all the carnivals that took place twice in three years?
"I finally understand why you are still a schoolboy..."
Isn’t this the same logic as how to sleep well and get up to have fun the night before the college entrance examination?
“…”
This sentence left Zhao Hongjie speechless.
Without paying any more attention to Zhao Hongjie, Shen Yichen carried his luggage and went to check-in in the room with the inn waiter.
Shen Yichen chose a low-end single room with a square-shaped door, which cost fifty coins per day. If converted into rice, it was roughly equivalent to fifty yuan per day in modern times.
However, starting from the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, as silver continued to be mined and flowed in, the price of silver dropped significantly, and the value of one tael of silver was probably 50% lower than that of the early and middle Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, the value of one tael of silver was even lower than 20%.
In terms of purchasing power alone, this daily rate is expensive for ordinary people. However, scarcity makes things valuable. With the influx of thousands of schoolchildren, all inns are overcrowded, and naturally the room rates have risen accordingly.
Fortunately, Shen Yichen is a regular customer here. At the same time, the group of brothers in the private school in the outer courtyard of Chengguo Mansion need to "book the whole place" in this inn twice every three years, otherwise they cannot get it at this price.
After putting away his luggage and sitting in the room for a while, Shen Yichen felt a little bored. At this time, he was not in the mood to sit down and read a book, so he hesitated for a while and went to the hall to see if Zhao Hongjie was still there.
It makes sense to get excited before the exam, otherwise I really don’t know what to do…
However, when Shen Yichen returned to the hall again, he saw not only Zhao Hongjie, but also Li Da and his small group from the outer courtyard, who were having a heated conversation on their own.
Why not both sides? Because Zhao Hongjie was like a weakling, sandwiched between Li Da and the others, and the smile on his face was uglier than crying.
"Brother, you are bullying your classmates again."
Although Zhao Hongjie was a hopeless case, as a good friend, Shen Yichen could not just turn a blind eye to him being bullied. So he walked over, patted Li Da on the shoulder, and sat down carelessly.
When Zhao Hongjie saw Shen Yichen appear, he felt like he saw a savior. His expression was so aggrieved that he looked like he was about to cry, and he immediately moved closer.
After all, this is not a school now. Without the protection of teachers and the rules of the Chengguo Mansion, if we are really beaten up by Li Da and others, we will have no place to seek justice.
"How many times have I told you not to use that name!"
Li Da lowered his voice and said this almost through gritted teeth. Ever since the poetry reading that day, Shen Yichen used this name every time he saw him.
I can still bear it when there are few people around, but in public, with so many of my younger brothers present, and being addressed as my good brother, do I still need to save face?
"Don't you claim to be a real man? Are you going to break your promise?"
Shen Yichen didn't care about Li Da's jumping up and down at all. Instead, he stared at him with a smile. This kind of protest was not the first time. Anyway, the guy compromised in the end.
As expected, after hearing Shen Yichen's words, Li Da was like an eggplant hit by frost, and he lost his previous momentum.
Seeing that Li Da was silent, Shen Yichen did not continue to tease him. In fact, after getting to know him slowly over this period of time, his impression of Li Da had changed a lot, or he discovered that the other party was not that bad in nature.
Take the "good brother" incident as an example. Everyone has their own opinion. It was just a joke at the poetry meeting that day. If it were Shen Yichen himself, he probably wouldn't have followed it seriously afterwards. But Li Da was stubborn and kept his word. No matter how angry he was, he gritted his teeth and admitted it.
In addition, Shen Yichen had stayed in the Ming Dynasty for a long time and witnessed the cannibalism in feudal society. Compared with the children of officials who bullied men and women, Li Da did not visit prostitutes, gamble, or do evil. After school every day, he did not cause trouble outside, but practiced swords and sticks in his mansion.
And this kid regarded Guan Erye and Yue Ye as his idols, and he always said that he wanted to be a hero like them. So every time Li Da wanted to cause trouble or was dissatisfied, Shen Yichen would tease him with the words "real man", which basically worked wonders.
In vertical comparison, there are certainly many people with better ideology and morality than Li Da. But in horizontal comparison with the children of officials of the same class, Li Da has far exceeded the passing line in feudal society.
"Okay, if you have nothing else to do, Zhao Hongjie, let's go to another table to eat."
Shen Yichen patted Zhao Hongjie on the shoulder, motioning him to get up and leave, and go to another table to eat with him.
Although the impression of Li Da is not that bad, it does not mean that the relationship between the two sides is very good. It is best to maintain a state of non-interference.
"Shen Yichen, are you planning to eat at this inn?"
Hearing Shen Yichen asking Zhao Hongjie to eat, Li Da asked back.
"Yeah, what's wrong?"
"What's there to eat in this inn? Tomorrow is the county exam. I'll take you to Zuixianlou for a good meal!"
Li Da waved his hand and invited Shen Yichen to go out for dinner.
After all, Shen Yichen's eating habits at the poetry gathering were just as bad as his. We were classmates after all, so he should be generous today.
"My dear brother, if I refuse your invitation, it would be disrespectful."
Shen Yichen also has his own obsession when it comes to the issue of brotherhood. He must not let this kid Li Da take advantage of him.
"what about me?"
Hearing that Li Da had invited Shen Yichen, Zhao Hongjie asked pitifully, if all his classmates left and he was left alone in the inn, it would be too lonely and miserable.
"Let's go together. Your behavior really brings shame to our military sons!"
Every time Li Da saw Zhao Hongjie looking weak, he got furious. Disciples of a military family should hold their heads high and act with dignity when they are outside, unlike this kid.
But Li Da didn’t think that the more he saw Zhao Hongjie angry, the more afraid he became, forming a vicious cycle.
"You bully the weak with your strong behavior, and you don't earn any face for the son of a military commander."
Shen Yichen had never been intimidated by Li Da before, and he would not indulge him now. Everyone has a different personality, and becoming the son of a military general was not something Zhao Hongjie could choose.
Just like my past self, I might have been a disgrace to the sons of noble families in the eyes of Duke Cheng.
"I……"
Li Da wanted to explain, but after thinking about it carefully, it seemed that bullying the weak was not what a real man should do. Seeing that he would take the county exam tomorrow, he did not bother with Shen Yichen.
So he flicked his sleeves, turned around, strode out of the inn and walked towards Zuixianlou.
At the same time, the fat white man Zhang Qi ran two steps quickly, caught up with Li Da and asked, "Brother Da, why are you so tolerant of Shen Yichen's slave-born child?"
"Yeah, Dago, what's going on?"
"We are not in a private school now. We don't have a teacher to rely on. We don't need to spoil him."
Not only Zhang Qi, but other students from other colleges also echoed the sentiment.
In the past two months, Li Da seemed to have become a different person. He did not even take the initiative to cause trouble when facing Shen Yichen. He even chose to swallow his anger when the other party teased him.
In the past, when I was in a private school, I could explain that I was afraid of being punished by the teacher and the family rules, so I had to keep quiet. Now that I am in an inn, why is it still like this?
Didn't this maid give birth to a son and became famous for her poetry? She wasn't included in the family tree by Duke Chengguo. There's no reason for Li Da to be really afraid of her, right?
