Chapter 54 Thousand Silk Mounds and Green Cocoons
Xuan Yao, who was standing to the side, was startled by the six people's identical movements. He pressed his ears back and his golden-black cat eyes widened. He had no idea that the person who was reading would suddenly collapse.
He lightly jumped onto the table where Shao Yanzhe was lying, stuck his head out and sniffed him, only feeling slightly relieved after confirming that he wasn't dead.
He thought for a moment and remembered that he had been instructed before that if Shao Yanzhe and the others fell into a deep sleep, he should wake them up.
Xuan Yao immediately raised his cat paw to slap Shao Yanzhe's face, but just as he raised it, his eyes darted around, and the direction of the paw changed, slapping Zhou Jiming's face instead.
Suddenly, the silent room was filled with the sound of slapping.
Sigh~
Xuan Yao sighed, realizing that Zhou Jiming was completely unresponsive, and had no choice but to give up.
He knew that their souls had left their bodies again, and he just hoped they could return to their bodies before dawn.
He squatted on the table, his golden-black cat-like eyes glancing around from time to time, extremely vigilant.
This kind of detached state is exactly what those wandering ghosts love most. They were lucky yesterday and didn't encounter anyone trying to take over their bodies. He has to be on guard against wandering ghosts appearing and taking over his body.
Hmph! These two-legged creatures are useless; in the end, we still have to rely on Lord Cat Demon!
Xuan Yao raised its head high, its tail swishing rapidly behind it, its eyes gleaming with excitement.
On the other side, Shao Yanzhe and the other six people left their bodies in a daze. When they regained their senses, they found themselves with Mr. Liu.
Shao Yanzhe glanced around and noticed that the seating arrangement tonight was completely different from the previous one.
His original position was the third seat in the fifth row, but now he is the fifth seat in the second row.
He couldn't help but wonder if the current ranking was based on yesterday's test scores.
Just as he was making his guesses, Mr. Liu, who looked like a willow tree spirit, reappeared.
This time, instead of giving the scholars a test, he simply gave each of them a stack of books.
His face was stiff, and his emotionless eyes swept over the crowd.
He opened his mouth, and a cold voice rang out: "Memorize all of these books."
As he spoke, he waved his hand, and a stick of incense as tall as a person appeared beside him, with a red glow at the very top and a wisp of white smoke rising gently.
"I will inspect this incense after it has burned out!"
After he finished speaking, he closed his eyes, seemingly falling into a deep sleep.
The scholars sitting at their desks below stared at the ten books in front of them, most of them with expressions of utter despair.
With so many books, it would take them at least half a year to memorize them all. Asking them to memorize them in the time it takes for an incense stick to burn is less efficient than killing them now.
But that's all they thought about; they still honestly opened the book and tried their best to memorize it.
Shao Yanzhe took the books that were placed in front of him and looked at them one by one. He found that he had memorized all of them, but there were still some parts that he did not quite understand.
He glanced around and was surprised to find Wen Yanqing sitting next to him, though he didn't have the book he was holding.
Suddenly, he had a guess: the ten books in front of each person were probably not the same, and Mr. Liu probably distributed the books according to each person's level.
With this guess in mind, he looked up at Mr. Liu, who was standing quietly, his eyes filled with complex emotions.
Shao Yanzhe forcibly suppressed these emotions, picked up a book and started reading to reinforce his memory.
After finishing reading the ten books in front of him, he looked up, twisted his neck to stretch, and his gaze inadvertently fell in front of him, only to find that the incense stick in front of him had only burned one end.
He silently calculated the time; this incense stick's time was nearly four months.
His lips twitched involuntarily. Mr. Liu was indeed a great demon!
If the next few days follow this schedule and you still can't pass the test, then you might as well give up on passing the imperial examination as soon as possible!
Shao Yanzhe suddenly stood up, his sudden movement attracting the attention of those around him.
They stared at the scholar, not understanding what he was trying to do.
Mr. Liu, who was standing in front, opened his eyes and looked at Shao Yanzhe. A hint of doubt flashed in his eyes, but he just stared at him without speaking immediately.
Shao Yanzhe calmly held a book, pointed to a certain place in the book, and asked, "Sir, I don't quite understand this part. Could you please explain it to me?"
The scholars around him stopped turning the pages of their books, waiting for Mr. Liu's next reaction.
Despite being the center of attention, Mr. Liu's face remained stiff. He nodded and said, "Alright, come here and I'll explain it to you."
Shao Yanzhe took the book and walked over, standing next to the inhuman Mr. Liu, calmly explaining what he didn't understand.
The timid scholars below gasped in shock at the sight. This scholar looked pale and thin, but he was surprisingly bold to approach the ghost. Wasn't he afraid that the ghost might suddenly go berserk and affect him?
The timid scholar was puzzled, yet he also respected him.
In fact, Shao Yanzhe did not think that Mr. Liu would go berserk just because he asked a question.
As a teacher, my responsibility is to answer students' questions.
His actions did not cross any lines and would not cause a riot.
Mr. Liu took the book and began to explain it to Shao Yanzhe aloud.
"When we look at the sentence 'Zheng Bo Ke Duan Yu Yan,' the word 'Ke' is usually used to describe 'defeating the enemy,' but here it refers to the elder brother, Zheng Zhuang Gong, defeating the younger brother, Gongshu Duan, which implies that the two were already like enemies..." (1)
He explained the implied praise or criticism in the wording of the sentence very clearly, filled in the missing background, and even talked about the conflict of legislative ethics, which was very thorough.
Shao Yanzhe suddenly realized that these six words, seemingly plain, actually contained the legitimacy of power struggles between brothers, the relationship between ruler and subject, the responsibilities of brothers, and the power struggle itself. He also understood the influence of Confucius's Spring and Autumn Annals style of writing. (2)
"Do you understand?" Mr. Liu asked after he finished speaking.
Those cold eyes stared at Shao Yanzhe, as if if he just shook his head, he would know that a brain is a good thing, and that he shouldn't wait until he loses it to realize that.
Shao Yanzhe quickly cupped his hands and said, "This student understands!"
"Go down!"
After observing him for a moment and confirming that he truly understood, Mr. Liu allowed him to return to his seat.
Shao Yanzhe did not go back, but continued to ask questions.
Mr. Liu did not refuse; instead, he explained the contents to him very responsibly.
At this moment, Shao Yanzhe completely forgot about his current situation and asked all the questions he had not been able to solve at once.
After all, it was a rare opportunity for him to encounter such a knowledgeable and patient teacher, and he wouldn't be satisfied without getting to the bottom of it.
In this way, Shao Yanzhe spent about two-thirds of his time asking Mr. Liu questions.
After resolving all the issues and returning to his seat, Wen Yanqing glanced at him and then asked in a low voice, "Brother Shao, are you alright?"
Shao Yanzhe shook his head slightly. Just as he was about to say something, an angry voice suddenly rang out.
"I don't want to study anymore! Let me leave!"
He looked back and felt that the scholar looked familiar. After thinking carefully, he quickly remembered that this scholar was the one whose brain had been replaced with an old blockhead last night.
His face was full of pain, and his hands were unconsciously scratching his head, not caring that several strands of hair were pulled out.
"So difficult!"
"This is too difficult!"
"I simply can't do it!"
"Let me go!"
"I'm not taking the exam!"
"I don't want to participate in scientific expeditions anymore!"
"Please let me go!"
The more the scholar shouted, the more distraught he became. With a forceful effort, he swept all the books on the desk in front of him onto the floor.
Mr. Liu, who had just closed his eyes, slowly opened them and stared quietly at the scholar who was having an emotional breakdown.
Staring into his eyes, the already emotionally distraught scholar became even more agitated. His face turned red, his eyes blazed with rage, and he gasped for breath as his chest heaved. He was completely overwhelmed by this sudden surge of emotion.
He stumbled toward Mr. Liu and struck him in the chest.
But before his fist could touch Mr. Liu, a slender green willow branch emerged from the darkness and wrapped around the scholar's body in circles.
Soon, the scholar was entangled by the willow branch into a large green cocoon, and then carried by the branch into the air, finally disappearing into the darkness.
Mr. Liu glanced at everyone, said nothing, and closed his eyes again.
Shao Yanzhe glanced around with the book in his hand and noticed that the scholars were pale-faced, barely daring to breathe, and their hands holding the book were trembling slightly, clearly frightened.
He lowered his head, staring at the pages of the book in front of him, but he was thinking about something else.
Just now, at the moment the scholar who was hanging disappeared, he seemed to see countless things in the dark sky that looked like the large green cocoon.
A green cocoon hangs from each willow branch, swaying gently, creating a truly spectacular sight.
If each of these cocoons contains a scholar, then the number would be astonishing.
Shao Yanzhe felt a chill run down his spine. He had only glanced at it briefly, but he knew that the number of cocoons on it was definitely not just a few dozen or a hundred.
As he turned the pages of the book, his mind was filled with a myriad of thoughts, as if he were thinking about something, yet also as if he wasn't thinking about anything at all.
And so, time passed little by little, and the huge incense stick in front of us burned out completely at that moment.
Mr. Liu, who had his eyes closed, opened them the moment the incense burned out completely. He said, "Time's up! The exam will begin now!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the books placed in front of Shao Yanzhe suddenly disappeared, and an exam paper appeared on the table.
He glanced at it and knew that the contents of the test paper were exactly the same as those in the previous books.
With a wave of his hand, Mr. Liu brought out a brand new incense stick.
"The exam will last for one incense stick's time!"
"The exam begins!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Shao Yanzhe saw roots and willow branches reappear around him, twisting and tangling together to create a space similar to the cell.
Upon seeing this, he picked up his pen and began writing on the exam paper in front of him.
The test questions weren't too difficult for him; he finished the test in just two-thirds of the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. But he didn't rest; instead, he stared at the questions again and pondered them carefully.
This time, his answer was not as methodical as before, but rather incorporated some modern theories. It is unknown whether Mr. Liu can accept these advanced ideas.
Soon, the incense stick burned out completely.
Mr. Liu stared at everyone and said, "Hand in your papers!"
Author's note: (1)(2) Referenced from Baidu
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