Chapter 576 Reason
Manbao and the other two struggled to squeeze out, but they found that squeezing out was even more difficult than squeezing in.
So much so that when the three of them came out, their clothes were wrinkled and their hair was messy.
Man Baojiang stroked his hair and said to Mr. Zhuang happily, "Sir, our second junior brother has passed the exam."
Mr. Zhuang was surprised. "Really?"
"It's true. We saw it as soon as the list was released."
Mr. Zhuang's eyes widened, his heart beating violently, "I saw it at a glance, it's..."
"Second Junior Brother was extremely lucky. He was right at the end, and we saw him first."
Mr. Zhuang: “…”
Mr. Zhuang's excitement slowly calmed down. An unexpected joy finally washed over him. He was so happy that he couldn't help but reach out and touch Bai Shanbao's head, praising him, "Not bad, not bad. Although you're last, you're enrolled two years earlier than planned."
This is an academic examination, not a Jinshi examination. Mr. Zhuang feels that the ranking is not that important, especially since Bai Shan is still so young. Once he enters the provincial school, he will have countless possibilities.
He encouraged him, saying, "When you go to the provincial academy, study hard with the teachers there. If you don't understand something, come back and ask me. In two or three years, you will surely catch up with those ahead of you."
Bai Shan now threw away the frustration of being last place and nodded vigorously.
He also knew that there were many good teachers in the provincial school, and those teachers' knowledge was no worse than Mr. Zhuang's. He could receive instruction from so many teachers at once, and his progress would definitely be faster.
What's more, he has more advantages than other students. He is young and has Mr. Zhuang standing behind him.
However, Bai Shanbao was also very loyal and said to Manbao Bai Erlang: "I will teach you when I come back from attending classes at the provincial school."
Bai Erlang declined politely, "I think it's enough to just listen to the teacher's lecture."
Manbao thought about the fact that he still had a class with Teacher Mo, so he said, "I can discuss this with you, but I won't have to attend class. I'm very busy."
Bai Shanbao looked down on them, "I think you are just lazy. Be careful that you won't be able to catch up with me in the future."
Bai Erlang was not provoked at all and said, "I couldn't catch up with you anyway."
Manbao said: "I don't care. Anyway, you can't do what I can do, but I can probably learn what you can do."
Bai Shanbao, who didn't know any medical skills but only had a little knowledge of herbal medicine: ...
He paused and then asked, "Are you going to be a doctor in the future?"
"I don't know. I just feel good when I treat patients and save lives," Manbao said. "There are many things I want to do, not necessarily becoming a doctor."
Zhou Silang immediately jumped up from behind and said encouragingly, "Manbao, being a doctor is great. If you can learn the medical skills well, you can go to the county town and buy a shop to open a pharmacy. We can sell all the medicines we grow at a low price to you. Think about it, there are only a few doctors in our county town. Even if they don't prescribe a medicine, they can make eight cents per patient. That's a business with no capital, not to mention you can make money by prescribing medicine."
Manbao said, "You said it so well, why don't you learn from it, Fourth Brother?"
"Me? Forget it," Zhou Silang said. "I think I can just grow some medicine and sell the ingredients to you doctors."
He was also curious, but Manbao took out a map of acupuncture points and asked him to memorize it, and Zhou Silang gave up after two days.
He hasn't even learned all the characters yet, but when he sees those characters he gets a headache and feels dizzy, so dizzy that he can't think.
Mr. Zhuang said, "Well, now that we know the rankings, there's no need to wait here to listen to the results. Let's go back first. I'll treat you to lunch at Ganxiang Tower."
Several people were stunned for a moment, then couldn't help cheering. Zhou Silang instantly forgot about studying medicine and said happily, "Sir, there will definitely be a lot of people eating today. Do you want me to reserve a table in advance?"
Mr. Zhuang smiled and nodded, "Alright, book an extra table. I'll invite Mr. Lan to come along."
Zhou Silang responded happily.
Mr. Zhuang did not go home. Instead, he asked Daji to take Manbao and the other two home and told them to read at home. He and Zhou Silang went to the Lan family to invite Lan Cheng.
Manbao and the other two agreed innocently and climbed onto the carriage happily. They decided to buy some delicious food on the way home and celebrate privately first.
Zhou Silang didn't think much about it. After sending Mr. Zhuang to Lan's house in a carriage, he happily drove the carriage to Ganxianglou to reserve a seat.
Mr. Zhuang's joy faded slightly when he entered the Lan family's house. He and Lan Cheng entered the study, and the first thing he asked was, "What's going on? How did Bai Shan get selected?"
Lan Cheng was stunned for a moment, then asked with a smile, "Why, you don't have confidence in your own disciple, and think he shouldn't have been selected?"
Mr. Zhuang smiled bitterly and said, "Of course I know he's good, but his answer to the last question was passable at first, but it was a little off at the end. The academic officials always look down on arrogant students. He didn't finish his answer, but he asked a sharp question in return. Even if his answer was good at the beginning, the academic officials wouldn't accept him. Besides, I know my student, and his answers at the beginning weren't particularly brilliant."
Lan Cheng nodded and said, "If it were in the past, he would definitely be eliminated, but these past two years are different."
Lan Cheng paused, pondering for a moment before saying, "After the flood in Yizhou, the prefectural school lost many students."
Mr. Zhuang was startled. "They..."
Lan Cheng nodded with a touch of sadness, saying, "Some were lost when the disaster struck, and even more were lost while helping with disaster relief. Of those who survived, they were disheartened and most left the prefectural academy to return home, or to pursue further studies elsewhere."
"Then why did you only get 150 people this year? I saw that the number of people you got in the past two years wasn't that high either."
Lan Cheng shook his head and said, "One hundred and fifty is just the official number. In addition, we will recruit an additional fifty this year. They are all children of officials of the sixth rank and above in Jiannan Road, aged between fifteen and twenty-five."
Mr. Zhuang was surprised. "So many? Then..."
"They're not currently enrolled. They'll only be accepted if they pass the first exam. Otherwise, they'll have to pay a hefty tuition fee." Lan Cheng said, "Actually, the situation is a little better this year because there are quite a few applicants. Last year and the year before, we didn't even fill our quota. We'd already relaxed the requirements, but still, only a few passed."
Lan Chengdao said, "Some renowned talents would rather go to Guannei Road, Jiangnan Road, or Shannan Road to study than stay in Yizhou. It's only been two or three years now, so we can't see anything yet. But in another two or three years, we'll send fewer and fewer students to the Imperial College, and fewer and fewer will take the Jinshi exams. Then we'll start to see signs of decline."
"Bai Shan's paper isn't very well written, but he has two strengths that others don't have."
Mr. Zhuang's eyebrows jumped. "Which two?"
(End of this chapter)
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