Chapter 30: First Encounter with Lu Bing
Lu Dianzhang's main purpose of coming here was to support his own child, but when he heard the magistrate of Jing say that the boy who caused the accident was his son, his momentum suddenly weakened.
It was normal that Jing Zhongkuan was not allowed to visit Prince Xing. Prince Xing could put on airs in front of the county magistrate, but the officials in Prince Xing's mansion did not have that qualification.
If you want to live in Anlu for a long time, you need to rely on the local officials.
Prince Xing has separated from the local political system. You are just an official in the prince's palace, and your authority is limited to the Prince Xing's palace. If you offend local officials, how can you survive in the future?
The county yamen runners come to your house every day to cause trouble. Can you bear it?
Relying on the support of Prince Xing’s Palace?
King Xing doesn't have time to meddle in your affairs!
Zhang Zuo greeted Jing Zhongkuan with a smile, then said that the selection was about to begin and tactfully ordered him to leave.
Jing Zhongkuan was not an ignorant person. He gave his son a firm look, and then, accompanied by Lu Dianzhang and others, he went to the east gate of the palace.
The selection exam begins when Zhang Zuo appears again.
At this time, the guards of the palace had brought in tables and placed them under the shade of the big elm tree. Two children sat at each table. They were all small long tables with no stools. The tables were filled with pens, ink, paper and inkstones. Given the height of these children, they could basically only write while standing.
For the children who come to take the exam, the written test is basically predictable, but they still feel a little confused and at a loss.
For example, the four-year-old child of the Lu family, with his head just above the table, holding a brush high in his hand, it was probably impossible to see what he was writing. Fortunately, the guard standing by protected the child and quickly found a stone to put under his head.
Zhu Hao's desk mate was the son of the magistrate of Beijing.
"He's too young to take part in the election... It's good enough for a little kid to know a few words, but you're asking him to write? Humph!"
Master Jing obviously looked down upon the boy from the Lu family.
There was nothing he could do. He was the son of the county magistrate. Last night, his father even hosted a banquet for several officials from the palace, asking them to look after his son.
Zhang Zuo walked under the big elm tree and said with a smile: "You have come here to participate in the selection of the royal reading companions. I think you have made all the preparations. Now I will give you the questions... Listen carefully, and write down the first ten sentences of the Analects from memory. The handwriting must be neat and there must be no deviation..."
Before Zhang Zuo finished speaking, Master Jing had already started doing the questions.
This is called striking first to gain the upper hand.
Dictation is probably the least technical test, which depends entirely on knowledge background. The faster and neater you write, the better. It is best if you have no mistakes. Once you understand the question, you don't need to listen to the nonsense that follows.
For the candidates present, this exam was not difficult, and they began to write one by one. Zhu Hao was the kind of person who had more leisure time, and he also had the mind to observe the state of the "test partners" present to judge the situation. He was most concerned about the two relatives - Mr. Jing and the young master of the Lu family.
This question was seriously "beyond the syllabus" for a four-year-old child, but the young master of the Lu family still picked up a pen and started writing and drawing on paper.
There's something strange!
Could it be that someone leaked the questions so that he could prepare in advance?
…
…
The question is, what counts as one of the first ten sentences of The Analects?
There were no punctuation marks in this era, and the sages' speeches could not be paused. Even in the imperial examinations, questions on segmentation could not be asked in random sentences, but had to be segmented into entire sentences. This would test the examinee's knowledge reserves.
All this was not a difficult task for Zhu Hao, and he prepared to start writing immediately.
The handwriting needed to be designed and could not be too neat. After all, with his calligraphy skills in his previous life and diligent practice since traveling through time, he could write seal script, clerical script, regular script, running script, and even cursive script with ease.
However, if the handwriting is too amazing, it will not look like a child's handwriting and will cause unnecessary trouble. If the handwriting is too sloppy, it will make you look unskilled.
This requires a good balance.
Zhu Hao thought about it for a moment and made up his mind. He had to make sure his handwriting looked neat, but not too high in calligraphy attainments. He also made some minor changes to the handwriting, trying not to involve the expression of the brushstrokes. Such handwriting looked good, but lacked spirit, and still looked like it was written by a child...
Just as Zhu Hao wrote down a few words in succession and was very satisfied with the "child style" he had created, his hands were already moving quickly.
Mr. Jing was originally very confident, thinking that no one could surpass him. But when he glanced at his deskmate who had started from behind but had surpassed him, and whose writing speed was obviously more than twice as fast as his, he suddenly became nervous and tried to write faster.
For ordinary children, no matter how good their calligraphy skills are, if they write fast, the strokes will inevitably be sloppy and out of shape.
"Slow down, don't worry, I'll wait for you."
Zhu Hao heard the rapid breathing coming from the side, glanced sideways, and said to Master Jing with a smile.
Master Jing rolled his eyes in return, then turned his head to continue writing.
Meanwhile, Zhu Hao had almost finished writing the first ten sentences. He wanted to wait to avoid being suspected by others for writing too fast, but unexpectedly, the examiner Zhang Zuo walked up to him and stopped to look at him.
There was no need for him to hide anything now, so he just finished writing the last sentence.
"Sir, I've finished writing." Zhu Hao put down the brush.
Zhang Zuo's eyes fell on Zhu Hao's words and nodded in approval: "Very good, how old are you?"
"Eight years old."
Zhu Hao answered very naturally.
"At the age of eight, he has such good calligraphy skills. His future is limitless... Well, it has the style of Liu..." Zhang Zuo nodded repeatedly.
The official from the palace who was supervising the exam with Zhang Zuo came over and praised Zhu Hao's handwriting: "Great handwriting! Even many older people may not be able to write like this, and at such a fast speed."
The exam was not formal at all. Before the final marking, the examiner praised one of the candidates highly, which was very unusual.
Zhu Hao was not happy at all. Instead, he felt a little worried. Was he trying to flatter me to death?
In terms of relationship with the palace, he only secretly interacted with Zhu San and Zhu Si, but the two children did not participate in the invigilation. This was entirely based on his own ability, but there were so many people with connections present...
This kind of exam is actually to select playmates for the little prince. People use their connections to select their own people, which doesn't seem to be confusing public and private.
…
…
The first exam is over.
A small number of students either did not start writing when Zhang Zuo called for a stop, or made typos or wrote things that were simply unbearable to look at, and they were on the verge of being eliminated.
Many people with connections do not have enough knowledge and think they can get to the top by relying on personal connections, but they don't know that the palace is still very rule-abiding. At least Young Master Lu... is young and his handwriting is flimsy, but he can write down all the words from memory.
Regardless of whether he is a relative or not, just for this rigorous attitude... he is worthy of admiration.
A total of twenty-three people passed the first assessment.
Overall, there are still quite a lot of people who pass the level, but only about one-third of them pass.
Young Master Jing was the second one to hand in his paper. He thought he would get some praise, but he found that Zhang Zuo and others did not make any comments on his handwriting, so they shifted their attention from the young master of the Lu family to Zhu Hao.
"Don't be discouraged if you haven't finished yet. Follow this uncle next to you out of the house. Someone will give you a small basket at the door. Open it after you get home."
Zhang Zuo arranged for the guards to lead the eliminated candidates out of the palace.
It was obvious that King Xing did not intend to treat these test takers unfairly. Even if they failed the exam, they would be given some "consolation prizes". Only the losers knew what was in the small basket, and Zhu Hao did not want to find out.
"The rest will wait for a while. Another teacher will come to test us later!"
…
…
Halftime break.
Zhang Zuo led his men away, leaving behind a few guards from the palace's ceremonial guard department to maintain order.
Many of the children know each other. Even if they are not familiar with each other, it only takes a sentence or two for them to establish a relationship. Without so many scheming and conflicts of interest, they will soon gather in groups of three or five to talk and play.
Master Jing stared at Zhu Hao with a sharp gaze: "Who is your teacher? Why do you write so fast?"
Zhu Hao pretended to be innocent and said with a smile: "You write very quickly. I just often recite these sentences, so maybe I am used to it."
"Huh? Did someone tell you the questions in advance?" Mr. Jing's eyes lit up, and he immediately found an excuse for his failure, treating Zhu Hao as a relative.
Zhu Hao thought about it and realized that he was indeed a person with connections. In fact, he was the instigator of this selection.
But this relationship...
"Whatever you think."
Zhu Hao shook his head and didn't give a direct answer.
Master Jing made a big fuss, and then he glared at Master Lu, who was only four years old and had no one to play with, and said sternly: "Hey, you crybaby, how come you can recite those sentences at your age? Who taught you?"
The tone is sharp and aggressive!
Young Master Lu's face showed fear again. He turned around and looked around. It seemed that he wanted to go and complain and seek support from the adults.
Zhu Hao came to the rescue: "If someone dares to take the exam, shouldn't the ability to recite and memorize be a basic quality? Why are you so fierce?"
The young master of the Lu family was originally very scared, and was looking everywhere for Lu Dianzhang with his little eyes. When he heard what Zhu Hao said, he instantly looked at Zhu Hao with moved eyes, and a look of admiration and closeness appeared on his face. It seemed that he regarded Zhu Hao as his backer.
Master Jing just snorted and said nothing.
Zhu Hao looked at Master Lu and asked with a smile, "Is your last name Lu?"
"Um."
Young Master Lu treated Zhu Hao as a friend and nodded frequently.
"What's your name?" Zhu Hao asked again.
Young Master Lu answered seriously: "My name is Lu Bing. My father and mother both work in the palace. I... I also want to enter the palace and be a book boy for the prince..."
