Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 74: New Edition of Ge's Quotations (Part 1)
"Ha ha ha ha……"
In Yuehua Tower, Zhu Ying no longer cared about her usual tense demeanor in front of Princess Yongping, and suddenly laughed so hard that she fell on the lap of the Madam. Zhan Jin and Liu Yin, who were standing beside her, tried to lower their heads, but they couldn't hide their smiles.
The lady patted Zhu Ying's back gently and said angrily, "Yingying, I've told you so many times to sit and stand properly. Look at you, you are so unruly! Concubine Yu indulges you, so at least you should restrain yourself a little!"
"It's okay. Yingying is cute because of her straightforward and willful personality."
The one who spoke was Concubine Yu. She was in her early thirties, with a slightly thin face, wearing a moon-white shirt and a plain lotus-green long skirt. Her black hair was tied into a very simple bun, and she wore no gold or silver jewelry, only a unique wooden hairpin to tie it up. The only thing that looked more expensive was the pair of mutton-fat jade bracelets on her wrists.
She smiled gently at the old lady. When she saw Zhu Ying finally straighten up and wipe away the tears from her laughter, she stepped forward to apologize to her. She then pulled the man to sit next to her on the couch and said, "What the young man said was just an angry remark. Is it really that funny?"
Zhu Ying raised her chin slightly with pride, and even glanced at Princess Yongping below her. Then she said with a smile, "Xiao Qi is usually calm and cautious. He only puts on the airs of a senior brother when he teaches those guys in Qingfeng Xulai Hall on behalf of Shou. He is especially fierce to lazy people! When I heard him scolding those students just now, it reminded me of the way he scolded Zhang Chen!"
After saying that, she snuggled into Concubine Yu's arms again and laughed with great joy: "Your Majesty, just wait and see. If the subordinates can't help but scold Qi Liang next, Ah Shou will definitely not sit idly by. Then there will be a good show to watch!"
Princess Yongping had been sitting quietly to the lower right of Concubine Yu. Seeing Zhu Ying becoming more and more frivolous, she couldn't help but frown.
Different from Zhu Ying's glamorous and gorgeous style, she, like her mother, Concubine Yu, advocated simplicity. She had a melon-shaped face and always wore light-colored clothes such as wormwood green, lotus purple, aqua blue, and frost. She did not wear jewelry made of gold or silver, but mostly bamboo and jade. Her delicate melon-shaped face always had a hint of melancholy , making her a beautiful woman that I felt pity for.
At this moment, seeing that Concubine Yu just shook her head and the lady-in-waiting smiled without saying anything, and no one blamed Zhu Ying for her gloating attitude, she finally couldn't help it.
"Although Zhang Shou is a disciple of Grand Tutor Ge, Grand Tutor Ge left Beijing for a few months a few years ago, but he never left again. He didn't teach Zhang Shou for too long. And many of these selectors became famous in the imperial examinations, and I don't know how many collections of contemporary essays they have compiled. Even if the disciples of the Ge School have extraordinary status, is it necessary to make enemies easily? We should ."
"What do you mean peace is the most precious thing? Was it Ah Shou who first provoked him? Wasn't it that old bastard who didn't have eyes and thought he was easy to bully! Besides, I also heard what Xiao Qi said, it was Grandpa Ge who said it himself!"
Zhu Ying had made up her mind. As long as she insisted, it was Grandpa Ge who said it!
It's simply far-fetched... No, it's unreasonable!
Princess Yongping didn't want to talk to Zhu Ying, but Concubine Yu looked at her reproachfully. Even if she gritted her teeth, she could only lower her head to hide the anger in her eyes and whispered, "Even if it was Grand Tutor Ge who said that those selectors could not be compared with Grand Tutor Ge in terms of reputation and official positions, but the young man surnamed Qi swept all the selectors in with just a few words. Doesn't it make people think that Grand Tutor Ge is biased?"
As she spoke, she stood up slowly and said in a deep voice, "I'll ask someone to go down and appease them. We can't let things get out of hand before the literary gathering even starts! Zhang Shou is still young, and if he suddenly offended so many people today, wouldn't his future be bad!"
After saying this, Princess Yongping nodded slightly to Concubine Yu, and then went straight out of the private room that the owner of Yuehua Tower specially prepared for her and never opened to outsiders. When she got outside, she was about to give a few instructions to someone, but she heard another voice coming from below. Thinking of what Zhu Ying had just said, she couldn't help but come to the window, opened the bamboo curtain a crack, and then looked down.
"Sure enough, what kind of arrogant person teaches what kind of disrespectful students he has!"
Seeing that Xu Fengyang, the famous selectman in the capital with a rat-like beard, was so angry that his hand was shaking with anger as he pointed at Qi Liang, she did not look at the old and famous scholar anymore, but looked directly at Zhang Shou.
He was an easy-to-recognize young man. Firstly, Chang Ning, the steward of his mother, Concubine Yu, was by his side. Secondly, Zhu Ying had just arrived and had boasted to her and her mother how many times that she was a pure and elegant bamboo gentleman. Her ears were calloused. Although the young man was not wearing blue clothes but indigo, he was still handsome at first glance.
But she always hated Zhu Ying's personality of judging people by appearance. She looked away from them and looked at the angry candidates. But the next moment, Zhang Shou's voice reached her ears.
"You just said that my disciple is disrespectful to elders. I taught him that. So, I have to ask you, are you his father? His teacher? Or an official of the court? If you are none of those, how can you be called respectful to elders?"
Seeing the middle-aged man with a rat-like beard and a mean face turn pale, Zhang Shou continued calmly, "However, if you say that you are Xiao Qi's predecessor in the imperial examination, then that is correct. The wise are respected, and it is wrong for him to speak so rudely. Moreover, his father failed in the imperial examinations many times, and he vented his resentment in the collection of contemporary essays, which is indeed a bit biased."
In Yuehua Tower, Princess Yongping's expression finally eased a little. She thought that Zhu Ying had just praised Zhang Shou to her mother, Concubine Yu, and Lady Zhao for his harsh words while praising him as a kind and gentle gentleman. She didn't agree with it, but now she heard with her own ears that Zhang Shou was so impartial and fair.
"Humph, it's good that you know! Like disciple, like teacher. He blames others for his father's repeated failures in the exams, which is enough to prove..."
Before Mouse Beard could finish his words, Zhang Shou interrupted him and asked, "I haven't asked for your name yet. What collections of contemporary literature have you compiled?"
"I'm sorry that you two, a pair of teachers and students who don't read books, have never read my Xu Fengyang's "The Elegant Poems of the Capital"!"
As Xu Fengyang spoke, he proudly stretched out his hand, and immediately a servant came running over with a book. He then proudly took it in his hand and raised it lightly: "This is a collection of contemporary essays that many Confucian students in the capital have carefully studied. Only those who are uneducated and unskilled can't understand it!"
"Oh?" Zhang Shou laughed, and the next moment, he saw a figure flash in front of him, and then a book was handed to him. It was Ah Liu who snatched it directly from the person's hand and handed it to him.
Seeing that Ah Liu had understood what he wanted to do before he even said anything, he felt angry and amused at the same time. He ignored the angry look of Rat Beard and casually flipped through the thin booklet.
He casually glanced at the titles and introductions of the eight-part essays, and finally stared at the price tag of six volumes, 1,200 words per set, for a while. Finally, he closed the book and laughed again.
"After reading this book, I finally understood why the teacher, who won the first place in the imperial examination and was unprecedented in history and whose contemporary writings were unrivaled in the world, had never published a collection of works like this. No wonder the teacher always said, 'Those who learn from me will live, and those who imitate me will die!'"
Not far away, Ge Yong and Qi Jingshan quietly arrived. Qi Liang's words just now were already explosive enough. When Ge Yong heard Zhang Shou's words, he found that his old friend's eyes were looking straight at him, and he was immediately furious.
Old man, I have never seen such a disciple! He just publishes books and quotes for his teacher! He publishes mathematics books that he himself is obsessed with, and the quotes are very similar to his style!
If Zhang Shou was not gifted in studies... Well, if he was not gifted in studies, how could he have accepted someone as his disciple without even performing the formalities of becoming his apprentice?
Just when he was about to argue that it was not me who said that, he heard Qi Jingshan say leisurely: "Although you are famous all over the world, since you retired, I haven't heard you say such serious yet insightful words for many years!"
Ge Yong immediately swallowed back the words that were about to come out of his mouth, and snorted complacently: "Humph, those scholars who can only memorize the contemporary books and pass the exams are indeed parasites! It's their duty to learn from me, but it's their damnedness to imitate me!"
