Chapter 111: Ritual Completed

Song Lian, who went home for lunch at noon, heard these outrageous words as soon as he got home. He took off his boots and chased Song Yu to beat him. Even Li Nuo couldn't stop him.

In fact, Li Nuo had thought about sending his second uncle to the Dali Temple for reflection.

However, driving and archery can both be considered specialties.

But Li Nuo was not sure whether understanding the etiquette and laws of Daxia could be considered a special skill.

If that didn't count, there would be no need to bring my second uncle to the Dali Temple.

Moreover, etiquette is the easiest of the six subjects. It is similar to the political science subject in the postgraduate entrance examination. It only requires rote memorization and does not require too much thinking.

It is difficult to get a high score in this subject, and it is not easy to get a low score either. He just needs to memorize it. He passed the law exam and the civil service exam in one try, so he is quite good at memorizing.

Zhou Yu bowed to Li Nuo and said, "Brother Li, I have to go to the racecourse to practice driving. I'll take my leave now."

Li Nuo saw several figures walking slowly not far away and said, "Don't worry about driving practice yet. Finish the lesson here before leaving."

Zhou Yu was stunned: "Listen to a class, what class?"

Of course it’s mathematics class.

Two days ago, Li Nuo resumed giving lectures to several old gentlemen at Qingfeng Academy.

For a god of war like Zhou Yu who is good at only one subject, taking part in the imperial examination is actually a gamble.

I bet no one can surpass him in the imperial examination.

If you bet right, you will become the top scorer in the imperial examination. If you bet wrong, you will have to find another way out.

But gamblers usually don't have a good ending.

In every imperial examination, if they performed poorly or if a dark horse emerged, they would have no choice but to return home and inherit the family business.

However, Zhou Yu is different from those war gods who are only good at one subject.

He was among the best in the imperial examination, and his marksmanship was also good, but not as outstanding as that of the imperial examination.

If I were only good at these two subjects, it would be fine.

It just so happened that he was very good at law. If his mathematics could also be improved, then even if he did not get first place in the imperial examination, as long as his total score was in the top 100, he could still be admitted as a Jinshi.

Zhou Yu has helped him so much, so of course Li Nuo has to consider him more.

With the double insurance, if he still hasn't won, it means it's not in his destiny, and Li Nuo can do nothing about it.

At least he had a clear conscience.

Zhou Yu, who was kept back by Li Nuoqiang, was confused during the whole class.

His math skills were poor, even worse than Song Yu's.

What Brother Li talked about was not the mathematics he had learned at all. If those old men had not listened very seriously and nodded from time to time, Zhou Yu would even suspect that he was talking nonsense.

After the class, Li Nuo saw Zhou Yu's confused look and said to the teachers, "This is Zhou Yu, a friend of mine. His math is not that good. I hope you can take the trouble to teach him. It would be best if he can improve his math before the imperial examination..."

Mr. Chen cupped his hands and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Li. There is still half a year before the imperial examination. We old guys have nothing to do anyway, so we will definitely do our best to teach him well."

Several people have been feeling guilty about not getting him into the academy last time.

Mr. Li has finally asked them to do something for him, so naturally he has to do it properly and beautifully.

Mr. Lu looked at Zhou Yu and asked, "Boy, what are your usual scores in math?"

Zhou Yu came back to his senses and said, "Excuse me..."

Mr. Xu frowned, but still said: "B-lower, it's a little bit worse, but it's not hopeless. There's still half a year left. It's a bit difficult to get to the best, but it won't be a big problem for you to be promoted to A-plus..."

Zhou Yu was stunned when he heard this. What kind of nonsense is this old man talking about?

In half a year, his math grade went from B to A. He has studied math for more than ten years, but he doesn't even know if he is cut out for it?

Li Nuo bowed to the gentlemen and said, "I'm in charge, gentlemen."

Several old gentlemen were the ones who set questions for several subjects in the imperial examination. Li Nuo believed that based on their professional ethics, they would not deliberately reveal the questions to Zhou Yu, but in the process of teaching Zhou Yu, there would definitely be some subtle influence.

This is all he can do to help Zhou Yu.

After Zhou Yu and several old gentlemen left, a figure jumped in from outside, did twenty backflips, clapped his hands, and said to Li Nuo: "Brother Li Nuo, can you play the piano for me? I want to hear you play the piano..."

Although the code is extremely powerful and can easily acquire skills that others have practiced for a lifetime, its disadvantage is also very obvious, that is, its validity period is very short.

If you exceed the time limit and want to get it again, you will have to pay with your life.

Even if it was just for one day, Li Nuo couldn't bear to leave.

Li Nuo stretched out his hand and said, "I just finished teaching them a lesson and my hands hurt. I don't want to play the piano..."

The little girl said obediently: "Then I won't play it anymore. I'll rub it for you..."

Mu'er's little hands were soft. Li Nuo sat in the yard, enjoying the little girl's hand massage.

Until another little girl appeared in the yard and said angrily: "Song Ning'er, what are you doing again!"

Li Nuo still can't tell the difference between Mu'er and Ning'er.

The current Ning'er is no longer as arrogant and domineering as before. Instead, she has become as well-behaved and polite as Mu'er. Her progress in martial arts is also exceptionally fast, making it even more difficult for Li Nuo to tell her apart.

But there is no need to distinguish.

There's no point in catching Ning'er out every time, because she will pretend to be more convincing next time.

She pretended to be Mu'er just to get herself to play with her. Although it was possible that she had a little bit of evil taste in pretending to be a sister, it was harmless.

There is one benefit to two twin sisters fighting over something.

The two sisters each grabbed one of Li Nuo's hands, looked at each other, snorted coldly, and turned their heads away, but they did not stop massaging their hands.

At the Song Mansion, Li Nuo was enjoying a massage comfortably.

At the racecourse, Zhou Yu looked at the empty track and scratched his head in confusion.

These days, as long as he is here, those guys in the academy who are also good at the imperial examinations will definitely come, and even come earlier than him.

He was a little late today. How come all those people are gone?

Could it be that he felt that Yu Ke was no match for him and gave up on his own initiative?

But it was better if they didn't come, so that no one would compete with him for the track. Zhou Yu practiced for an hour alone, his whole body was clear, and in the end he didn't even have the strength to whip...

In the past, when Brother Li was supervising him, he could practice for two hours in a row.

Since he was not here today, Zhou Yu always felt that something was missing. After practicing for a while, he felt bored, so he left the horse farm and returned to the Zhou family.

He had just returned home and had not yet had time to take a shower when his mother told him that four old gentlemen had come to his house and said they were there to teach him mathematics.

Zhou Yu thought of the four old men he met in the Song Mansion today.

Until now, he still doesn't know the other party's identity.

All he knew was that they seemed to be mathematics teachers from a certain academy, and Brother Li asked them to help him improve his mathematics grades. He thought that was just a casual remark by Brother Li, but he didn't expect that they all found his home.

All he wanted now was to sleep.

If it was a gentleman invited by his father, he would not bother to pay attention to him at all.

But since it was arranged by Brother Li, he really didn't dare to act recklessly.

Zhou Yu simply took a shower and went to the study room to listen to the lectures given by the old men.

An hour later, Zhou Yu walked out of the study room refreshed.

These old guys are quite capable.

This hour passed so quickly that Zhou Yu didn't even feel the passage of time, and today's class was over.

The mathematical problems that had troubled him for a long time were solved by these old men in a few words, just like the girls in Baihua Tower, who took off their clothes one by one and revealed their perfect bodies.

For the first time, he felt that mathematics was not that difficult.

Before leaving, the old men said that starting from tomorrow, at this time every day, one of the four of them would come to Zhou's house to teach him mathematics, and asked him to wait at home and not run around.

When the doctor got down from the sedan chair, he just happened to see several old men walking out of their house, getting on a carriage, and driving away.

Those old men looked familiar, and he felt like he had seen them somewhere.

Soon he remembered that they were the four great mathematical masters of Daxia, who had many students all over the world throughout their lives. Now they had already retired behind the scenes and no longer managed the affairs of the academy.

Although they do not hold real power, their influence cannot be underestimated.

They are not only one of the people who set the questions for the mathematics subject in the imperial examination, but also the ones who make the final decision on the examination papers.

After returning to the mansion, the doctor asked his wife in confusion, "Why did those gentlemen come to our house?"

Zhou Yu's mother was surprised and asked, "Isn't this the math teacher that the master hired for Yu'er?"

he?

Zhou Ting shook his head.

If he was willing to spend a large sum of money to ask one of them to give his son some advice, it would not be impossible.

But since four old gentlemen came together and didn't ask for any money, how could he afford to do that?

Zhou Yu, who had just fallen asleep, was called up again.

He first practiced the imperial examination for more than an hour, and then listened to the mathematics lecture for an hour. He felt that he was exhausted both physically and mentally, and wanted to have a good sleep to replenish his energy, but he was unable to do so.

The doctor in charge of the driving department looked at him and asked, "What's going on with those old gentlemen?"

Zhou Yu said in a daze: "What's going on? That's the math teacher that Brother Li found for me. Dad, do you know them?"

After learning the origins of those old men from his father, Zhou Yu was no longer sleepy.

Are those old guys so powerful?

The doctor of the Imperial Department said: "More than amazing, they are the ones who set the questions for several subjects in each imperial examination. You must learn from them. Even if you don't win the top prize in the imperial examination, if you rank among the top in the six subjects combined, you still have a chance to become a Jinshi..."

Only then did Zhou Yu realize Brother Li's good intentions.

It turned out that he was worried about failing the imperial examination, so he specially found such a great teacher to help him improve his weak subjects.

Although Song Yu and he have similar interests.

But Brother Li is his good friend in life.

No, he is more than a good friend, he is actually a godfather!

At this time, Song Mansion.

After dinner, Li Nuo lay comfortably in the chair. He tilted his head to the right and took a bite of grapes peeled by Mu'er. Then he tilted his head to the left and took the apple fed by Ning'er and cut it into small pieces by himself.

In the fight between the two sisters, Li Nuo became the battlefield.

He ate a grape, stood up from his chair and said, "I'm full, I don't want to eat anymore. You guys go play, I want to read a book..."

Song Ning'er walked away biting the apple by herself. Song Mu'er snorted softly. The first bite of Brother Li Nuo was grapes, and the last bite was still grapes. He and her are still the best in the world.

Watching the two sisters leave, Li Nuo lay back down again.

He ate grapes with his first bite and with his last bite, which was of course intentional.

Although Mu'er is young, she is more cunning than his wife. If he doesn't eat her first, or doesn't eat her last, she will definitely doubt the best relationship between the two of them.

He lay down on the chair and picked up a book next to him.

He was reading "Jili". The imperial examination tested "Five Rites", and Jili was the best of the five rites, which mainly involved sacrificial ceremonies to the gods of heaven, earth, and human ghosts.

Candidates need to know when and when these sacrificial activities will be held, what the sacrificial process is like, what needs to be done in each link of the sacrifice, what music is played, and how to deal with various unexpected situations...

After passing the imperial examination, each successful candidate was selected and could independently hold various ceremonial activities.

Li Nuo read it and recited it silently in his mind.

There is no such thing as key points in the imperial examination. At that time, the examiners will randomly select five ceremonies from hundreds of ceremonies on the spot, and the candidates need to memorize all the ceremonial processes in full before they can respond with confidence.

If you fail to memorize one of them and it happens to appear on the imperial examination, that subject will be wasted.

In the next few days, Li Nuo recited the Five Rites.

Other people learn the Five Rites since childhood and have more than ten or twenty years to memorize them slowly. Li Nuo needs to memorize the same thing within five months, which is indeed a bit tight.

These days, he felt dizzy from memorizing books, so much so that during the family dinner at the Song Mansion, the way he looked at his second uncle Song Lian changed.

If knowing etiquette can be considered a special skill, it would be better to let my second uncle stay in the Dali Temple for two days.

He can save himself several months of hard work by staying for two days.

Song Lian felt uneasy at the look in Li Nuo's eyes. He coughed lightly and said, "I heard from Song Yu that you want to take part in the imperial examination?"

Li Nuo came back to his senses and nodded, "Yes."

Song Lian said: "If there is anything you don't understand about the etiquette department, you can come and ask me."

Li Nuo nodded and said, "Thank you, Uncle."

He decided not to use his second uncle as an experiment. Li Nuo would never eat from the Song family, live in the Song family, or arrest people from the Song family.

But after memorizing the book for a few days, he still felt that it was better to rely on others than on himself.

My second uncle was the Yuwenlang of the Ministry of Rites. Above him were the Langzhong of the Ministry of Rites, the Shilang of the Ministry of Rites, and the Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites.

The latter two were senior officials, and the Dali Temple had no power to deal with them. The Langzhong of the Ministry of Rites, like the Langzhong of the Ministry of Imperial Guards, was a fifth-rank official, and his official position was neither high nor low, just right.

Li Nuo had not thought of him before because the doctors were the heads of various departments, and the heads were responsible for controlling the general direction, while specific affairs were handled by the assistant doctors and the principals below.

The Langzhong of the Ministry of Rites is not necessarily the official who knows the most about etiquette and laws in the Ministry of Rites.

If the doctor from the Ministry of Rites is not suitable, then try a few of the heads of the Ministry of Rites.

Whoever wants to memorize this book can do so, but he doesn't want to do it anyway.

After dinner, Li Nuo asked Butler Wu to get the information of the doctor from the Ministry of Rites through the Mingjingsi.

As he expected, this doctor from the Ministry of Rites was the top scorer in the Rites examination in the sixth year of the Zhisheng reign.

The imperial court has always been very thorough in implementing the policy of assigning specific people to specific tasks. If one performs outstandingly in the rites department, he or she will almost certainly enter the Ministry of Rites or the Taichang Temple, which are departments responsible for rites, music and sacrifices.

If the Ministry of Rites doesn't work, the Taichang Temple can also try.

Last time, Liu Shang failed to light up the code in the first time, and Li Nuo thought that the requirements of the code had been raised. Later, he found out that Liu Shang just hadn't practiced for a long time and his hands were not fluent.

The Grand Master of Music has thousands of musicians under his command, and they don't need to play the instruments themselves, so it's normal for their hands to become rusty.

But the officials of the Ministry of Rites have to arrange the ceremony process themselves, and they will only become more and more familiar with etiquette. If ritual is considered a specialty, theoretically they have a great chance of meeting the requirements of the code.

The problem is that this doctor of the Ministry of Rites is worthy of being the top scholar in the subject of rites. He has been an official for many years and has always been cautious and polite. He is never late or leaves early, and he never visits prostitutes. Even the Mingjingsi has no evidence against him. What reason can they use to arrest him?

Forget it. Let’s not think about it anymore. Let’s leave this matter to the officials of the Dali Temple.

Ministry of Rites.

With a quarter of an hour left before leaving the court, Lu Sheng, a doctor in the Ministry of Rites, put down the book "Auspicious Rites" in his hand.

Although as a doctor in the Ministry of Rites, he no longer had to personally handle the specific ceremony preparations, he still had to be familiar with all the etiquette procedures.

If there is a problem with the ceremony that he has reviewed, he cannot escape blame.

He had memorized the Five Rites by heart and reviewed them every day. Since he became a doctor in the Ministry of Rites for more than ten years, he had not made a single mistake.

When the bell rang for the end of the court, he had already tidied up the table, put all the items back in their places, and wiped the table spotlessly clean with a rag.

After doing all this, he closed the door of the yamen and walked out of the Ministry of Rites.

When passing through the ceremonial gate, a middle-aged official came from behind.

Lu Sheng looked back and did not leave immediately. Instead, he stood in front of the ceremonial gate, saluted the middle-aged official, and waited for the other party to pass before walking through the gate.

After the middle-aged official passed through the ceremonial gate, he turned back and said, "We are both officials in the same yamen, Doctor Lu, you don't have to be so polite every time."

Lu Sheng smiled and said, "It should be so."

He was a doctor of the Ministry of Rites, and when facing the vice minister, he should let his superior pass first.

Although there are no clear regulations in the law and etiquette, this is the etiquette of being an official that he himself has realized.

Upon seeing this, the Minister of Rites could only shake his head and leave.

After the Minister of Rites left, Lu Sheng walked towards the gate of the Ministry of Rites. Outside, an official from the Ministry of Rites was about to cross the gate. Lu Sheng glanced at him and coughed lightly.

The official looked up and saw that it was the doctor. The foot that had already stepped into the door of the Ministry of Rites stepped back and stood obediently outside the door, waiting for the doctor to pass first.

In the Ministry of Rites, you can compete for the right of way with the Vice Minister and the Shangshu, but no matter how urgent the matter is, you have to let the Langzhong pass first.

Not only should you pay attention to this, but you should also be polite when you see the doctor, whether you are in the government office or outside. When you go to the doctor's office to report, if you see that the doctor's teacup is empty, you should refill it for him. When the doctor is taking a nap, you must not make any noise...

If you violate any of these taboos, although the doctor will not say anything at the time, you will be in trouble when you return to the Ministry of Rites.

Lu Sheng lifted the hem of his clothes, walked in a square step, crossed the threshold of the Ministry of Rites, and got on a carriage that had been parked at the entrance of the Ministry of Rites.

He couldn't afford a house near the Ministry of Rites, so he lived a little further away. During the peak period of time when people were leaving the government offices, it would take him about half an hour to take a horse carriage from the Ministry of Rites back home.

Although leaving the office two quarters of an hour earlier can save half the time.

But if an official leaves early, it is not only against etiquette, but also against the law. As a doctor of the Ministry of Rites, he naturally would not do such a thing.

The carriage started slowly and drove on the right lane.

Doctor Lu sat upright in the carriage, and even if the carriage was slightly bumpy, his body would not shake too much.

Phew!

Bang!

At a certain moment, as the driver shouted, the carriage suddenly stopped.

Lu Sheng had no time to react and his head hit the carriage heavily.

He covered his head and angrily lifted the curtain, only to see two officials standing in front of the carriage.

The official uniforms of the two men were somewhat special. On the left shoulder, there was a small tower sewn with silver thread.

This is the symbol of Dali Temple.

The Dali Temple was originally only in charge of criminal justice. After Li Xuanjing became the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple, the power of the Dali Temple gradually expanded and it was in charge of everything. The officials had been dissatisfied for a long time, but they were helpless.

Facing the two officials from the Dali Temple, Lu Sheng was not worried. He was upright and naturally was not afraid that the Dali Temple would find something wrong with him.

He looked at the two Dali Temple officials and asked, "My Lords, what do you mean by this?"

One of them looked at him and said, "Lord Lu, you are suspected of violating the law. Please come with us."

Lu Sheng was fearless, he straightened his chest and asked, "Oh, sir, can you tell me which law I have violated?"

The gaunt-faced Dali Chancellor smiled and said, "Article 176 of the Daxia Code, Miscellaneous Codes, stipulates that when walking on the streets, the humble should avoid the noble, the young should avoid the old, the light should avoid the heavy, the going should avoid the coming... The carriage should not be too fast. Lord Lu is in a hurry to go home after leaving the court, so he should also pay attention to safety. Even if he doesn't hit anyone, it is wrong to hit a cat, dog or livestock."

Lu Sheng moved his lips, but was unable to refute.

Is he driving fast?

It's a little faster.

Because there are government offices everywhere, this road will become extremely crowded in a while. If you don't drive quickly, you will find it difficult to move forward.

He just wanted to get home quickly.

Is this illegal?

It was indeed committed.

But he was not the only one who was speeding, so why did the Dali Temple target him?

He pointed at a carriage speeding by and said angrily, "This carriage is also going too fast. Why don't you arrest him?"

Another Dali Chancellor with a square face said, "That carriage is too fast and cannot be stopped. Lord Lu, please don't worry about others. You are a fifth-rank official. Even if the carriage is speeding, you will only be fined fifty coins and have to reflect on yourself for an hour. If you go to the Dali Temple with us earlier, you can go back earlier. When you come out, this road will not be congested, and you can still catch up with home for dinner..."

Song Mansion.

Li Nuo was reading a book. Suddenly, he felt something was wrong.

The more he read this book, the more familiar it became. When he closed the book, the contents of the book would automatically emerge in his mind.

It seemed that he had read this book "Jili" countless times.

He changed to a few other books and found the same effect.

At the end of the code, there appeared a portrait of a strange man.

Li Nuo was a little surprised.

He just wanted to give it a try, but he didn't expect it to actually work.

It turns out that being familiar with etiquette is also a special skill.

These officials of the Great Xia court are worthy of being the ones who have fought their way out of thousands of troops, and each of them has unique skills.

After the music examination and the imperial examination, his etiquette examination was finally successful.

Li Nuo threw aside those books on etiquette. Now, apart from archery, he only had the "article" subcategory of calligraphy, which he was not completely sure of.

He planned to go back to Li's house and move some new books over.

When I walked out of the gate of the Song Mansion, I happened to meet my second uncle who was returning home from the government office.

Watching Song Lian step into the door, Li Nuo subconsciously stopped and coughed lightly.

Song Lian paused, and stopped out of habit. He retracted his foot that had already stepped into the house, and stood outside the door with his head down waiting.

Li Nuo stepped over the threshold, called out "Second Uncle", and then got on the carriage.

Song Lian then walked through the door and took a few steps. He seemed to realize something and turned back to look at the carriage that had driven away.

It’s strange. When he saw Li Nuo just now, why did he feel like he had met a doctor?

Especially that cough, which made him feel as if he was back in the Ministry of Rites.

After being stunned for a while, Song Lian shook his head helplessly. He must have gotten used to hearing the doctor cough. Now when he heard someone else cough, he subconsciously wanted to give way...

(End of this chapter)