Chapter 568
This year, the provincial school still only accepted 150 students. Of course, it was impossible for the King of Yizhou to read all 150 thick examination papers.
What’s more, the academic officials submitted 180 essays, and they had to select 150 from them.
So he only flipped through the top few, which were the ones at the top. After flipping through them, he asked, "Are there any controversial articles?"
The academic officials looked at each other and said, "Your Highness, we have simply ranked the students. Everyone has different opinions on each paper, so it is normal to have some disagreements."
The King of Yizhou frowned, dropped the papers in his hand, raised his chin and said, "Then find the papers of the last ten and let me see them."
"yes."
Bai Shanbao's paper was among the bottom ten.
The King of Yizhou flipped through the papers of the top three, and by comparing them with those of the bottom ten, he could naturally make a comparison. He simply flipped through them without looking at them carefully, and then threw them down one by one.
Finally, seeing Bai Shanbao's paper, he paused, then raised the paper in his hand and asked, "Isn't this paper pretty good? Although it's far from the top three, it's much better than the ten papers drawn from the same place. It should at least be within the top 150, right?"
A student officer took a look, lowered his head and replied "yes".
But some academic officials were not convinced and said, "Your Highness, why don't you take a closer look at the last question?"
The King of Yizhou then looked up the answer to the last big question. After studying it for a while, he smiled and said, "I finally have it, but it's a bit too arrogant."
After saying that, he threw the paper into the pile of nine papers, obviously not intending to pass it.
Lord Zhang took a look at it, walked over, picked it up, and said with a smile, "I'm really curious about what this person wrote that made the prince so angry."
After saying that, he also opened it.
After reading it, Master Zhang kept smiling and said gently, "He is quite arrogant, but it is normal for talented people to be a little arrogant. If the government school can teach him well, he will definitely become a pillar of the country in the future."
Immediately, a student who liked Bai Shan reminded him, "Master Zhang, please look at the candidate's hometown. He is only twelve years old this year."
"Oh?" Zhang Dale hurriedly flipped through the information stuck on the front. After seeing it clearly, he laughed and said, "He really is only twelve years old, Your Highness. This makes him even more teachable."
The King of Yizhou took it and glanced at his place of origin before nodding and saying, "You are still a young man, so it is understandable that he is arrogant. In that case, let's accept him."
Some of the school officials breathed a sigh of relief because Bai Shan was a really good talent.
"However, even if he is admitted, he cannot be given a very high ranking. I think 150th place is good enough, so that he won't become more arrogant after entering school."
Everyone quickly agreed.
The King of Yizhou stood up and said goodbye, "Alright, I'm not good at grading these papers either. I'll leave the final ranking and admissions decision to Lord Zhang."
In Yizhou City, apart from the King of Yizhou, Lord Zhang has the highest official position, so there is no pressure at all to let him be responsible for the King of Yizhou.
Everyone bowed and hurriedly saw the King of Yizhou out.
Then everyone started to review and determine the rankings.
However, Bai Shan has been locked in at the 150th place. No matter how bad the person ahead of him is, he will not move up one place; and no matter how good the person behind him is, he cannot squeeze him out and take his place.
But overall, Bai Shan's performance is still good, so the academic officials do not feel guilty about fixing this ranking.
Manbao and his friends spent most of the day and finally made their own kites. They also made one for Mr. Zhuang.
Mr. Zhuang's was the simplest. Manbao and the others really couldn't find any good pattern for him, so they simply drew a picture of Confucius sitting upright on it, and then copied a few chapters from the Analects of Confucius on it.
The characters are neat and small, so you can tell they are words from a distance. But once they fly into the sky, you probably won't be able to see anything, just a bunch of ink dots.
Bai Erlang said he wanted to make a kite in the shape of a big insect. It really was a big insect. He took great pains and with the help of Manbao and Bai Shanbao, he finally cut out a big caterpillar. Manbao drew the insect's mouth for him, and then he took paint and painted it all over the place, and finally began to tie it up with bamboo sticks.
If you ignore the insect's head and add some scales to its body, it will be a dragon, not a insect.
Bai Shanbao made an extra-large tiger. He cut many pieces of paper to make it. After coloring it, the whole tiger looked majestic.
Manbao got several beautiful flower pictures from Keke, and then painted them according to the pictures. After ruining several pieces of paper, he finally managed to draw a picture that he thought was the best.
Then everyone made their kites and went to see Mr. Zhuang for evaluation.
Mr. Zhuang carefully examined the four oversized kites before him, reached out and picked up the one with a painting of Confucius and a famous quote from The Analects, and nodded. "That's right, let's go out for an outing tomorrow morning."
The three of them cheered happily, and Manbao asked Mr. Zhuang expectantly, "Sir, which of our kites do you think is the most beautiful?"
Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang both looked at him eagerly.
Mr. Zhuang pointed to the kite in his hand and said, "This one is the best looking."
Bai Erlang was unconvinced, "Sir, you only have one Confucius on it, and you only drew a few strokes, it's very blurry, and you haven't even added any color."
“So it’s the best looking.”
Three disciples: ...
Manbao looked at his own painting unconvinced, then turned to Zhou Silang and said, "Fourth Brother, look, my kite is done."
Zhou Silang took a look and praised, "Not bad, not bad. Didn't you say you wanted to make a colorful kite at the beginning? Why are you painting a mountain now? This colorful mountain is really beautiful."
When Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang heard this, they couldn't help but burst into laughter, holding their stomachs, and almost couldn't hold on to their kites.
Manbao pouted angrily, turned around, took his kite back into the house, and decided to ignore them tonight.
Zhou Silang didn't know what he said wrong. Seeing Bai Shanbao and the others almost falling to the ground laughing, he curled his lips and said, "Could the painting be flowers?"
Bai Shanbao nodded with tears in his eyes, so happy that he couldn't speak.
Zhou Silang could only apologize to his sister in his heart, then took a look at Bai Shanbao and the others' kite and praised them, "Your kite is well made."
Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang laughed and showed smug smiles.
Early the next morning, after breakfast, everyone got on the carriage and set off.
Instead of leaving the city, they went to Qixia Mountain inside the city.
There is a Taoist temple on Mount Qixia. There are many villas of wealthy families at the foot of the mountain. There are wide woods and grasslands halfway up the mountain. Mr. Zhuang often came here to play with his classmates when he was young, so he knew that it was also a good place to fly kites.
Many children nearby like to go there to fly kites in spring.
The next chapter will be around 2 p.m.
(End of this chapter)
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