Chapter 72 Wrong After All
On the other side, after Shen Yichen and the other person walked out of Zhanyuan, the fat white man Zhang Qi finally reacted and said in a daze: "Brother, are we just leaving like this?"
"Otherwise, what are you still doing there?"
"Show off! Didn't you see how those bastards looked? Of course we have to sneer at them fiercely now!"
Zhang Qi didn't care about the so-called gentleman's words and deeds at all. In his opinion, the right way is to avenge a grievance and take revenge.
The group of guys were so aggressive before that they were almost ready to fight. Now that eldest brother Shen Yichen was slapping them in the face with poetry, he naturally had to humiliate them to vent his anger.
"It doesn't matter. These people don't interest me."
The "dramatic change in temperament" shown by Shen Yichen was more due to the needs of the plan, rather than being domineering like a dandy boy to seek some psychological satisfaction.
Even if we take a step back, even if Shen Yichen wanted to show off by stepping on others, he had no intention of looking for these young men at the flower-viewing party.
Don't be fooled by their seemingly good status and talents, in fact, they are just empty names. They have no status or power in the family, and their talents are not real geniuses. Isn't it like a group of weaklings fighting each other?
What I did today was enough to suppress the rumors about cheating in the imperial examination at the Chengguo Mansion Private School. There would not be much point in doing anything else.
Moreover, many things are too much or too little. Today, not only the young masters and scholars are present, but also the nobles and ministers of Nanjing City in Jingmiao Hall. If they see that he is aggressive, according to the logic of this era, he may not get praise, but disgust.
Shen Yichen is very clear about the principle of knowing when to quit after having experienced success for two lifetimes.
The only thing that made Shen Yichen feel a little unhappy was that his actions were equivalent to saving Zhu Qingyu and others in disguise.
To be honest, if Shen Yichen was not kidnapped on a boat at the private school of Duke Chengguo's Mansion, he would have wanted to report to the Confucian Education Promotion Office. There must be something fishy about the fact that these Zhu clan members were able to pass the palace examination!
"Brother, where should we go next?"
"Everyone go home."
"Just going back like this? No need to have some fun?"
"What do you want to have fun with?"
"I heard that a Hu singer has recently come to Taohua Tower. She is very beautiful and unique. How about we go and take a look?"
Shen Yichen was amused when he heard this. The Hu singers of the Ming Dynasty were most likely from Central Asia or Russia, or to put it bluntly, Mao girls.
I didn't expect that after going back hundreds of years, someone would invite me to see Mao Mei...
Under normal circumstances, Shen Yichen might have gone to take a look out of curiosity. But now he had the interest but not the time.
"Forget it, let's wait until the college entrance examination is over before going to have a look."
The college entrance examination will be held in mid-May, which is only a few days away. More importantly, the prefectural examination will formally test questions on the meaning of classics, which is a brand new challenge for Shen Yichen.
Therefore, he planned to make good use of the remaining time to make his basic knowledge of the scriptures more solid.
"All right……"
Zhang Qi showed a trace of disappointment on his face, but he quickly adjusted himself and said, "Brother, you must work hard and win the first place in the school again, and make our outer school proud!"
The thing that the outer courtyard private schools were most ridiculed for by the inner courtyard private schools was the gap in academic achievements.
The only scholar in the entire outer courtyard private school was Zeng Mengjian several years ago. Although many people passed the examination and became students later, no one passed the academy examination.
The reason is that the chief examiners of both the county and prefectural examinations were local officials of Yingtian Prefecture, such as the magistrate of Jiangning, the prefect of Yingtian Prefecture, and so on.
If you are a local official, you can't avoid the social skills of the local tyrants. It's just like in modern society, if something happens locally, many people's first thought is to find someone to say hello and solve it.
When applied to the imperial examination, it implies taking care of one's own children and nephews.
However, the chief examiner of the academy examination was the provincial education official, who was appointed by the imperial court to be in charge of the imperial examination and education work in each province. It was equivalent to directly parachuting in an "imperial commissioner of education."
Being parachuted in means that there won't be so many complicated relationships with local powerful people. In addition, most of them are censors who have the power to report to the emperor, so it is not easy to expect them to show favoritism.
Therefore, most of the students in the outer courtyard private schools stop at the status of tongsheng, and they really need to prove themselves by becoming a scholar, otherwise they will be laughed at by the relatives in the inner courtyard and cannot raise their heads.
Shen Yichen has already won two first prizes, and he only needs to take one more step to achieve the achievement of the minor top three. This may not be comparable to winning the major top three prizes, but it is not something that ordinary people can do, and it is enough to fight back against the group of people with connections in the inner courtyard.
"Just do your best."
Shen Yichen had thought about winning the top three prizes in a row, but there were too many factors that influenced this kind of thing, and even luck played a big part.
Unless Duke Chengguo Zhu Yong personally supports him, there will be no absolute certainty.
After saying this, Shen Yichen said goodbye to Zhang Qi and walked home alone .
But halfway through the journey, Shen Yichen suddenly changed his mind and headed towards the courtyard of his master Lin Zhen.
Because after Shen Yichen's palace examination was over, through that gamble between "etiquette" and "order", he realized the importance .
The chief examiner of the college entrance examination was Sun Ding, the academic official, who was considered an old friend of his master Lin Zhen. Shen Yichen had no intention of greeting him privately or showing favoritism. However, if he could learn about Sun's literary style preference and then cater to his preferences, there would be nothing wrong with this.
Before, Shen Yichen had been reluctant to disturb Lin Zhen about this matter, fearing that the other party would think he was too utilitarian and affect his personal impression.
After the incident at Zhaowen Academy, Shen Yichen was certain that he had formed a fixed image of being cautious in Lin Zhen's mind. If he went to see him at this time, he would not have to worry about any negative impact, on the contrary, he would be praised by Lin Zhen.
This kid finally got it and realized that young people should be more enterprising and ambitious!
As for some things, it is true that no matter how hard you try, flowers may not bloom, but if you plant willows by accident, they will grow into a shade.
What Shen Yichen didn't know when he went to Lin Zhen's courtyard was that after the flower-viewing party was over, his "Sword Like Rainbow" and the saying "I write three kilograms of broken poetry a day" spread to every corner of Yingtian Prefecture at an extremely fast speed.
It even surpassed the previous "Linjiangxian" and "Jinmingchi", after all, this time the remarks were too explosive. After the Wei and Jin Dynasty madmen, with the development of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty, there were very few literati who would make such wild remarks as Shen Yichen.
What's even more outrageous is that Shen Yichen not only said it, but he actually did it and overwhelmed everyone else, turning his wild words into reality.
Coupled with the two poems that were circulated before, Shen Yichen now has a vague feeling of being the leader of the literati in Yingtian Prefecture. No one has ever thought that in Jinling, a place with many talents, the one who stands at the top now is a 17-year-old boy.
Naturally, all the rumors about Shen Yichen cheating in the imperial examination have disappeared.
If anyone dares to question Shen Yichen's talent at this time, there will definitely be someone who will retort, saying that if you have the ability, write a poem that can be compared with Shen Yichen. If you can't, how can you have the nerve to question others' cheating?
The best way to respond to doubts is to use absolute strength and leave others without any doubt!
In the Taining Marquis's Mansion, Chen Ying happened to pass by his daughter's room, but saw through the windowsill that Chen Qingtong was looking at the poem written by Shen Yichen, smiling foolishly.
Seeing this scene, Chen Ying felt complicated. He didn't know how to deal with the relationship between his daughter and Shen Yichen. Should he continue to break up the couple or let nature take its course?
"Ahem... Is this poem really that beautiful?"
Chen Ying deliberately cleared his throat twice to remind Chen Qingtong of his arrival, and expressed his dissatisfaction with his daughter's romantic situation.
"Daddy, I...I just want to take a look."
Suddenly seeing his father appear behind him, coupled with the previous warnings and six-month house arrest, made Chen Qingtong panic.
He was afraid that this would anger Chen Ying and result in even stricter supervision.
Seeing his daughter like this, Chen Ying couldn't help but sigh, shook his head and said, "Qingtong, there are many talented people in the world. Shen Yichen is indeed outstanding, but he is not outstanding among the crowd. Sometimes you should broaden your horizons."
"Dad, is it true that Brother Yichen is not outstanding among the crowd?"
After Chen Qingtong finished speaking, he moved his gaze to the poem on the desk. The meaning was very clear.
This rhetorical question left Chen Ying speechless for a moment. Indeed, among the children of nobles and officials that he was familiar with, no one could match the talent of Shen Yichen.
Even if other scholars are as talented as Shen Yichen, how much better can their status and family background be than his? Is there any difference?
Marquis of Taining Chen Ying never considered himself a snobbish person. After all, to reach his rank, the only higher rank was duke.
As for the difficulty of being promoted to Duke, unless the Ming Dynasty has a new emperor to be established again and he has the merit of following the emperor, otherwise it is basically impossible to even think about it.
Therefore, Chen Ying has already reached the pinnacle of the officialdom and no longer needs to curry favor with anyone, so he naturally cannot be considered a snobbish person.
But precisely because of his importance to his daughter, he judged Shen Yichen with the most vulgar eyes, and even though he knew the other party's talent and prospects, he still broke up the couple.
Looking back now, I was wrong after all.
"Qingtong, my biggest worry in this life is how to help you find a good family. This way, even after a hundred years, I can give an explanation to your mother in the underworld."
"I have always used the most stringent standards to examine Shen Yichen. Even though he has many advantages, he has never been recognized because he is not in a high position."
"Today's flower-viewing party also made me think clearly. The brilliance of some people cannot be suppressed. Shen Yichen is definitely not a mediocre person. Just as the poem says, only by becoming a marquis and a general can his soul-stirring talent be realized."
"So...so Dad won't interfere with your feelings anymore. As long as you can be happy in the future, that's all that's fine."
Taining Marquis Chen Ying finally chose to compromise for the sake of his daughter. Perhaps compared to her husband's power and status, Chen Qingtong's happiness was the most important thing.
