Chapter 77: The Best of the Best
After Shen Yichen had an idea for solving the Four Books test, he did not rush to write the eight-legged essay, but opened another test paper on the Five Classics.
The test paper for the Five Classics is different from that for the Four Books. It contains five questions, each taken from a passage in one of the five classics. The candidate chooses the question that corresponds to the classic he or she is studying.
For example, if Shen Yichen is studying "Shangshu" as his main book, then he should choose the "Shangshu" questions among the five test questions.
The title is: The human heart is dangerous, and the heart of Tao is subtle.
This question is taken from "Shangshu·Yushu·Dayumo", which is the first eight characters of the famous "Sixteen-Character Heart Transmission" in Confucianism.
The complete version of the sixteen characters is: The human heart is dangerous, the heart of Tao is subtle; be precise and single-minded, and hold to the middle.
It is said that these sixteen words originated from the story of the abdication of Yao, Shun and Yu. The ancient sages entrusted the important task of the world and the people with the two words "Tao" and "heart".
To put it in simpler terms, the human heart is dangerous and difficult to calm, while the heart of Tao is subtle and difficult to understand. Only by carefully observing and concentrating on keeping it can we stick to a correct and impartial path.
To be honest, compared to the Four Books, which modern people can still understand the general meaning of, much of the content in the Five Classics is simply like a book of heaven, with all kinds of rare characters and unpopular grammar that are obscure and difficult to understand, making people feel overwhelmed when reading them.
Even when translated into vernacular modern grammar, it still seems not so smooth and is comparable to metaphysics.
This is why, whether in ancient or modern times, the Five Classics are far less popular than the Four Books. Because let alone a deep understanding, even the basic understanding is not possible for ordinary people, so how can it be popularized...
Shen Yichen looked at the complicated Five Classics question in front of him and thought about it carefully. Combining it with the background story, he could roughly understand what the questioner wanted to express.
That is, human hearts are hard to predict and the truth is hard to understand. What should you do?
If Shen Yichen had not gone to Lin Zhen for advice and did not know Sun Ding's writing style, he might have thought of solving the problem by focusing on the last eight characters of the original text .
The key to the answer is to have a clear mind and a clear and focused goal, which is the right way to go.
But now that Shen Yichen knew Sun Ding’s life motto, “A priest must first practice virtue,” he naturally focused his answer on virtue.
Since human hearts are hard to predict and the truth is hard to understand, we must stick to our own virtues, not be led astray by the outside world, and put benevolence and righteousness first, etc...
It can be said that this type of answer is in a completely different direction from the original idea.
This is why it is important to guess the examiner’s writing style preference, which may even be the key to whether you are admitted!
With a direction in mind, Shen Yichen picked up his pen and wrote down the opening eight-part essay: The debate between the human heart and the Tao heart is dangerous in the slightest.
After opening the topic, the author quotes the conversation between Confucius and Mencius about the heart of Tao in the Analects. In the middle part, the author uses Wang Yangming's understanding of "Yun Zhi Jue Zhong" in "Records of Rebuilding Shanyin County School".
It can be said that at this point, the college entrance examination was no longer difficult for Shen Yichen.
"Sir, I think Shen Yichen's writing is powerful and his talent is solid."
The person who said this was the director of the Imperial College, who was assigned as one of the examiners for this year's college examination. He had heard a little about the relationship between Shen Yichen and Sun Tixue, and knew that the other party valued this candidate very much, so he had been observing him.
"Shen Yichen is extremely talented in poetry, but it's too early to make a conclusion about his talent and writing skills."
When Sun Tixue received praise from his colleagues for Shen Yichen, he did not respond. On the one hand, it was to avoid suspicion, and on the other hand, he had indeed not read many of Shen Yichen's articles, especially the Five Classics and Eight-Legged Essays.
But if Shen Yichen heard this, he would probably be speechless. This Sun Tixue said it completely the opposite. It is obvious that my weakest subject now is poetry, but I am quite confident in my writing.
"The rest of the students look good too. The quality of candidates for this year's college entrance examination is very high."
Those who can survive in the officialdom are all shrewd people. Sun Ding did not respond, and the Director of the Imperial College naturally understood that the other party was avoiding suspicion.
So the topic was not focused on Shen Yichen alone, but shifted to everyone, which seemed to make things fair.
"That's true. It can only be said that the literary style of Yingtian Prefecture is flourishing."
There is nothing wrong with what Sun Ding said. Yingtian Prefecture and Nanzhili region have always been major cities for the imperial examinations. The average level of candidates is relatively high, and those who are able to be brought to the court to take the examination are the best of the best, so naturally they cannot be too bad.
"Master, it seems that the southern barbarian writes quite fast, which is really rare."
This sentence was said by another examiner. His focus was on Meng Fan. It was really bizarre that this descendant of a surrendered chieftain could answer the imperial examination.
"Be careful with your words."
Sun Ding reminded that although the candidates below might not be able to hear clearly the whispers in the hall, the hall was generally quiet now, so it was inevitable that the words would flow into the ears of the candidates, causing some unnecessary interference.
Besides, Meng Fan has already surrendered to the Ming Dynasty after all. Even if you think these Tubos are barbarians in your heart, you should not say it in front of them.
Especially in this kind of examination room, you still need to be careful with what you say and do.
"What the Superintendent of Education reminded me of is something I will keep in mind."
The examiner also realized that he had made a mistake in his words, and quickly admitted his mistake and chose not to speak anymore.
Time passed by, and Shen Yichen soon entered the stage of copying the test paper. The main difficulty of eight-part essays lies in solving the problem. As long as you have a clear idea of how to solve the problem, the number of words you actually need to write is not very large.
Each article is about 700 to 800 words, and two articles are equivalent to two college entrance examination essays in later generations. If you are fast, you can finish it in two hours.
This is why Shen Yichen always handed in his paper early and was able to catch up with lunch. Because if you were in the future Chinese language college entrance examination, you would only have one hour to write the essay, otherwise you would not be able to finish answering the questions in the beginning. He was already used to this speed.
After finishing the last stroke, Shen Yichen checked to make sure there were no typos, then stood up and handed in the paper.
When he stood up, without the blocking of the cell wall, naturally all the examiners and candidates focused their eyes on Shen Yichen.
Is it so that he can solve problems so quickly?
Xu Donghai's eyes were filled with surprise. No wonder he handed in the paper early and always fell behind Shen Yichen.
Especially for the provincial examination, Xu Donghai had deliberately sped up his test-taking speed since he saw the test questions, hoping to be the first to hand in his paper and get the chance to be examined by the chief examiner in class. However, Shen Yichen beat him to it in the end.
At that time, he didn't know how much faster Shen Yichen was than him. Now that he witnessed the other party's speed of handing in the paper with his own eyes, Xu Donghai realized that it was much faster!
Most of the other candidates had similar expressions, except for Meng Fan, a descendant of a chieftain. It was not known whether he just didn't care or it was just his nature. He didn't even raise his head, as if he didn't care at all about other people's papers.
"My dear teacher, I have finished my answer. Please examine me in class."
Just like the previous provincial examination, after Shen Yichen handed in his paper, he directly asked the chief examiner to examine him in class.
Regardless of the fact that he and Sun Tixue already knew each other, just the fact that he could solve the college examination this time gave Shen Yichen far more confidence than the "gamble" of the prefectural examination.
If nothing unexpected happens, I will be selected on the spot!
Faced with Shen Yichen's confident look, Sun Tixue rarely showed a faint smile on his face.
This kid really lived up to my expectations. His knowledge, intelligence, stability and so on have all reached the level of a dragon among men.
While other candidates were still solving the questions, Shen Yichen already dared to put himself to the test in class. The gap was indeed very obvious, and it was no coincidence that he won the first place twice.
Seeing the smile on Sun Tixue's face, the other candidates felt mixed emotions...
From the moment he entered the hall until now, the Grand Master had always maintained a serious expression on his face, and even his whispered conversations with his colleagues contained obvious words of reprimand.
It can be seen from every detail that the grandmaster is strict in his teaching and does not treat others with leniency.
But the problem was, he just smiled at Shen Yichen. Didn't this clearly tell everyone that the Grand Master admired him very much?
He was the first in the prefectural examination and the first to hand in his paper in the academy examination, and he was also required to be tested in class. Even if there were no hidden rules for the imperial examination , Shen Yichen's performance would not be far from being selected in class.
All the previous rumors about the case leader's cheating have now become a joke!
However, many times, the final changes are often unexpected. Faced with Shen Yichen's request for an on-the-spot test, Sun Ding finally shook his head.
"The college entrance examination is a test for official positions, so the selection process should be more rigorous. A decision can only be made after reading the essays in detail."
"Also, this time we are taking the test in the hall. There are other candidates in the hall. If we take the test in the hall, it will affect others' test taking, so let's go back and wait for the case to be reported."
Sun Ding gave two reasons for his refusal to take the test in class. The first was that the academy examination was for the title of scholar, which was a real class promotion and was fundamentally different from the empty title of student in the prefectural examination. One could not pass it easily.
The second point is that there are other candidates taking the exam at the scene, and testing your conversation will inevitably affect others. So it is better to follow the normal examination process and go back to wait for the results of the examination.
If Shen Yichen had been asked about Sun Tixue's refusal during the county examination, he would probably have wondered whether he had offended the chief examiner.
But now he has at least escaped from the situation of being penniless. To exaggerate a little, he must have someone with connections behind him, so Sun Tixue would definitely not deliberately hold him back.
So Shen Yichen bowed his head and said, "Yes, Grandmaster, I will take my leave."
After saying this, he left without any hesitation.
Sun Ding stroked his beard and showed more appreciation for Shen Yichen's decisive action.
He originally thought that Shen Yichen would think too much and feel psychologically pressured, so he explained a few more words, but now it seems that he was overthinking.
When they arrived at the Dragon Gate, the soldiers stationed there now recognized Shen Yichen. After all, he had handed in his papers early and come alone three times in a row, so it was hard for them not to remember this conspicuous move.
Moreover, having won the first place twice, it was obvious that this candidate had a bright future. The gatekeeper respectfully opened the gate and escorted Shen Yichen out.
Stepping out of the Xiajiang examination hall again, Shen Yichen's state of mind was obviously different from before, and he was more calm and composed.
It can also be said with confidence that from today on, Shen Yichen is no longer the commoner with little influence, but has stepped one foot into the scholar-official class of the Ming Dynasty!
