Chapter 244: The Capital's Counterattack (Part 3)
Hearing that Gao Pang had passed the imperial examination, Chen Mingtai opened the door of his study and walked out. The prefect's advisor was not happy to see Chen Mingtai, and his expression was not only surprised, but also a little confused.
But the lawyer was here to do business, so he quickly said, "Congratulations, Mr. Chen. Mr. Gao was chosen as the top scholar. As Mr. Gao's teacher, the prefect would like to invite Mr. Chen to a banquet."
"Do you have the test paper?" Chen Mingtai asked, as if Gao Pang's selection as the top scholar had nothing to do with him.
"Yes! Yes! The essay written by the number one scholar is extraordinary!" The lawyer hurriedly took out the copied test paper from his arms.
Chen Mingtai picked it up and read it. He finished the 2,000-word article in a moment. After reading it, Chen Mingtai was even more confused and surprised. After a long pause, he actually said, "Please go back and report to the prefect. I have not been feeling well recently. Please wait a little longer."
The master was shocked. Chen Mingtai was a well-known scholar with the title of Juren. As long as Chen Mingtai had no crime, even if he did not see the prefect, the prefect would not be able to do anything. But the situation before him was beyond imagination. As the master of the top scholar, he was not happy at all. This was already unacceptable.
However, Chen Mingtai asked to send the guest away, and the lawyer had no choice but to leave Chen Mingtai's house with full of confusion.
During dinner, Mrs. Chen noticed that her husband was in a very low mood. She secretly nodded to her daughter. Miss Chen pretended not to notice. When her father went to the study again in the evening, Miss Chen brewed a pot of tea, prepared some dried fruit snacks, and brought them to her father's study.
Unlike what she had imagined, Chen Mingtai was still sitting on the chair, closing his eyes like an old monk in meditation. Miss Chen grabbed her father's arm and said, "Dad, why are you unhappy? Isn't it a happy thing that Senior Brother Gao got the top score in the exam?"
"If Gao Pang passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi, I would be happy. Even if he passed the imperial examination and became a Tanhua or a Bangyan, I would not be so upset. But I did not expect that Gao Pang passed the imperial examination and became a Zhuangyuan."
Miss Chen didn't understand at all, but she felt that her father was really unhappy. She poured tea and handed it to Chen Mingtai, "Dad, this is strange. Senior Brother Gao is so unpopular in your eyes?"
"Why are you asking these questions, girl?"
"I just have never seen Daddy so unhappy. Did Senior Brother Gao offend Daddy?"
Chen Mingtai was depressed, and he couldn't find anyone he could trust to talk to. At this moment, regardless of whether his daughter understood or not, Chen Mingtai continued to talk to himself, "Do you think people can walk around naked in the world?"
After hearing her father's question, Miss Chen blushed for no apparent reason. Then she answered decisively, "No."
"Of course not. You need to dress well when you go out. To be a human being, you need to put on something besides your original nature. What can you put on? It's learning."
Miss Chen still didn't understand, but she nodded as if she understood.
"The best thing is to cover the whole body with virtue, which is called righteousness. It is not easy to do so. The next best thing is to cover it with skills. This is the study of the world."
Miss Chen understood now. She tentatively continued her father's words, "Dad, this is exactly what we want to learn, right?"
"Noble integrity and knowledge of the world cannot be learned. If you have it, you have it. If you don't have it, you don't have it. It's not so easy to be selected as the top scholar. If Gao Pang is a fool, he will never be selected."
Miss Chen thought for a moment and asked in confusion, "What did Senior Brother Gao learn?"
"Alas..., a year ago, the other gentlemen all felt that Gao Pang was putting the cart before the horse and was arrogant. They all thought that he should be expelled from the sect. I blamed him because I wanted Gao Pang to understand that if he fails in his actions, he should look for the reasons within himself. I didn't expect Gao Pang to go out to travel. I don't know what kind of adventure he had that made him make such rapid progress in his skills."
"Isn't art the study of managing the world?" Miss Chen tested cautiously.
"The most treacherous and evil people must have great wisdom and courage. The skills that treacherous and evil people have are comparable to the study of the world. But can they be compared with the study of the world? Look at this article!"
Miss Chen has been studying with her father since she was young. Although she did not study for the imperial examination, she was able to understand some things. After taking Gao Pang's essay and reading it, Miss Chen said to Chen Mingtai, who continued to meditate with his eyes closed, in confusion: "Dad, although I don't understand this article very well, it seems to make sense."
"It's not just reasonable, it's extremely reasonable." Chen Mingtai opened his eyes. Under the light, his eyes were bright and even looked sparkling.
Chen Mingtai took the policy paper but didn't even look at it again. "Gao Pang would never have thought this way more than a year ago. Everything written in this policy paper is what he hates. After he came back, I read his article and felt that he had improved. He is no longer self-righteous. But I didn't expect Gao Pang to make such rapid progress in his skills."
Miss Chen was confused and could only think according to her own feelings. After a moment, Miss Chen's expression changed a lot, "Dad, are you saying that what Senior Brother Gao wrote is against his will?"
"You underestimate him. Gao Pang is using a trick! When I first read the scroll, I was not sure. Now I am sure that what Gao Pang said and wrote has nothing to do with what he thinks. Gao Pang writes whatever the court wants to see, and says whatever the court wants to hear. If I had not taught Gao Pang for so long, I would not dare to make such an assertion!"
Miss Chen couldn't help but shudder. If what her father Chen Mingtai said was correct, Gao Pang was now a person completely wrapped in "art". Because the "art" Gao Pang had learned was too strong, it was impossible to see what kind of person Gao Pang was who was wrapped in art. Just thinking about such an existence, Miss Chen felt inexplicably afraid.
Just when she didn't know what to say, Miss Chen heard her father Chen Mingtai say with a bitter smile: "This is fate! It's fate that we will suffer from him in the future. It's my fault. If I really valued talent, I should have brought Gao Pang to my side and taught him every day. If I felt that Gao Pang had bad intentions, I should have kicked him out of the family early and cut off all ties with him. Now that things have come to this, there is nothing to say. Whatever happens in the future is fate."
Miss Chen was so frightened by her father's words that she dared not even breathe. Although she still did not understand what Gao Pang had done and what kind of monster he had become, the ominous feeling in her father's words made Miss Chen feel as if a heavy burden was weighing on her heart.
"A-choo!" Gao Pang sneezed loudly on his way back to Zhenjiang.
If possible, Gao Pang did not want to go back to Zhenjiang. However, he had no choice but to go back. The top scorers and Jinshi all returned to their hometowns and participated in the local government's "praising officials" parade in their registered places.
The scholars who were praised for their achievements rode on tall horses, wearing red and colorful ribbons, with yamen runners beating gongs in front of them to clear the way, and yamen runners gathered on both sides. They walked up and down the main roads for the local people to look up at and admire.
Rubbing his nose, Gao Pang closed his eyes and recalled how he paraded along Qipan Street with the runner-up and third place winners to show off their official positions.
Being a Tianjie Guan is already an honor, but there is a higher honor than this. When the Qing Emperor Hong Zhou announced the list of the top three, he recognized Gao Pang as the top scholar in the first year of Kunlong in the Qing Dynasty. When Gao Pang and the other top three left, the gate of the Forbidden City, which was only opened for the emperor, was opened for Gao Pang and others.
When Huo Chong was trying to kill Yongzheng, he broke into the Old Summer Palace, and the gate there was opened by Huo Chong. Now the gate of the Forbidden City is opened by the order of the Qing emperor to the rebels who are taught by the rebel leader. Is there anything more ridiculous than this?
Sitting on the bow of the boat moored on the canal in the night, Gao Panggang sighed. Then he heard someone on the shore shouting, "Excuse me, is that Brother Gao on the bed?"
Hearing this familiar voice, Gao Pang was startled. But he saw a tall figure standing on the shore, shouting at the bow of the official ship: "Is it Brother Gao?"
Hearing someone shouting and calling Gao Pang's name in a Hebei accent, the officer on the boat got angry and jumped onto the shore and yelled at the person, "Who are you? You're shouting and yelling so late at night. You've disturbed the number one scholar. You can handle the consequences."
Gao Pang also hurriedly went ashore and said to the officers, "Brothers, this man is an old friend of mine. I didn't expect to meet him again."
After hearing what Gao Pang said, the officers said nothing more.
In the darkness, Lei Hu's face was filled with a mischievous smile. "I only heard that Brother Gao went to the capital to take the imperial examination, but I didn't expect that Brother Gao actually won the first place. Mr. First Place, I am honored to meet you."
The officer saw Gao Pang and Lei Hu holding hands and being very close, so he returned to the boat. Gao Pang asked in a low voice: "Did the master send you here?"
"The master sent me here, but I'm not here to see you. I just heard that you won the first place in the imperial examination, so I came to see you." Lei Hu said, and then asked, "Mr. First Place, are you going to be an official in the imperial court?"
Gao Pang felt that Lei Hu's words were full of ill intentions. Although he felt uneasy, he unexpectedly felt that he was not afraid. Instead, he chuckled and said, "If I go to the court to be an official, I will not return to Zhenjiang."
Lei Hu saw that his threats were completely useless to Gao Pang, and he couldn't really do anything to Gao Pang, so he could only ask: "Why don't you go back now?"
"After all, I have so many friends in Zhenjiang and family. If I disappear halfway, I'm afraid people will pay attention to me. Even if I leave, I will go to Zhenjiang first. No one will think that I will go to Shandong then."
"Oh! I wish you wouldn't lie to me."
"It's great that you came. Send someone to Zhenjiang to pick me up." Gao Pang responded to Lei Hu's request.
The two discussed an escape route, then said goodbye to each other warmly and went back.
Gao Pang returned to the cabin and felt that he had changed beyond his imagination. If he had encountered such a thing before, he would inevitably feel uneasy. Although he knew he would feel uneasy now, he was calm as water. What was once a big deal was just a small matter now. It might not even be considered a big deal.
On the second day of March, the news that Gao Pang, the top scorer in the imperial examination, "suddenly fell into the water and disappeared" on the river from Zhenjiang to Yangzhou reached the capital, causing a slight panic in the city.
However, Gao Pang was only a Han Chinese, so the matter would be a headache for Zhenjiang Prefecture. At this time, the most important thing for the court was to launch a new round of attacks on the traitor Huo Chong.
The chief commander was Ortai, who performed extremely well in the transformation of the natives into officials in Yunnan and Guizhou, and the deputy commander was Yue Zhongqi, who made meritorious contributions despite his crimes. Regardless of how the outside world evaluated it, this was the best combination of generals and commanders that the court could offer.
