Chapter 928 Buying Test Papers
Manbao and Baishan Bai Erlang also stood at the second gate and watched the Yang family leave. Mr. Zhuang turned his head and saw that they were motionless, so he coughed lightly and said, "Well, so many people have dug stones and paved the road for you, it's time for you to work hard."
Bai Shan and the other two bowed and responded in unison, then went back to the study with Mr. Zhuang to study.
Manbao finished his new lesson, recited it silently several times, and finished his homework. He sank into his consciousness and glanced at the time in the system. When he felt it was almost time, he stood up and said, "Sir, I'm going out."
Mr. Zhuang waved his hand and said, "Go ahead, go ahead."
Bai Shan took the time to look up from his book and said to the window, "Daji, you take Manbao away."
Daji agreed and went to the front yard to drive the carriage.
Manbao turned around and found a large piece of white paper. He picked up a pen and wrote a line of large characters on it - Collecting papers (papers for the Guozixue and Taixue mid-year exams, year-end exams and final exams).
After finishing his writing, Manbao blew on it in front of Mr. Zhuang's stunned eyes, and when it was almost dry, he rolled it up and left. He also stretched out his hand to say hello to Mr. Zhuang, "Sir, I'm really leaving. Shanbao, remember to help me wash my brush."
Bai Shan then realized that she had not washed her pen yet. Just as he was about to express his objection, Manbao had already run away.
Bai Shan couldn't help but mutter, he hated washing the brush the most.
Manbao carried her small backpack, which contained pen, ink, paper and inkstone. These were always available and might come in handy.
When they arrived at the gate of the Imperial College, it was just the time for them to get out of school, and many students came out together.
Manbao immediately took out the large piece of calligraphy and handed it to Daji, "Hurry up and stand in front of the gate."
Daji: ...
The two stared at each other for a while, and Manbao asked, "Is there a problem?"
Daji blushed—humiliated! He silently unfolded the large paper and stood opposite the gate of the Imperial College.
Manbao nodded with satisfaction, put the backpack at his feet, and stood beside him with his hands behind his back, waiting with satisfaction.
The students who filed out looked at the white paper held out in Daji's hand, then at Manbao, and left one after another. However, some stopped to look for a while, then couldn't help but step forward, waving their folding fans, and said, "Young lady, do you want to collect the papers?"
Manbao nodded, "You have?"
He smiled and said, "I'm a student of the Imperial College, so how could I not have it? But the test paper is at home, and it's too troublesome to get it. How about I read it out and you write it down?"
Manbao smiled and said, "Of course."
She turned around, took out paper and pen from her backpack, and smiled at him, "Read it."
The other party raised an eyebrow, obviously not expecting her to be so well prepared, and said with a smile: "No hurry, how about we talk about the price first?"
Manbao said, "One penny for a set of papers."
"Only one penny?"
"One penny is a lot, isn't it?" Manbao said. "I didn't ask for your answers, and you didn't write the test. I didn't even ask you to write it out. You even waived the cost of pen, ink, and paper. Just repeating it and earning one penny isn't a lot, is it?"
"But this is the test paper from the Imperial Academy."
"Yes, that's why I gave you one penny. If it was from another academy, I wouldn't have given you even ten cents."
Student: ...
Manbao was ready and asked, "Are you going to sell it or not?"
The other party was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said, "Sell it, listen carefully."
He coughed lightly and then, with his hands behind his back, recited: "The Kanggao says: 'One must be able to manifest virtue.' The Taijia says: 'One must look back at the clear mandate of Heaven.' The Didian says: 'One must be able to manifest lofty virtue.' All of these are self-evident."
Manbao looked at him quietly.
Seeing that Manbao hadn't put pen to paper, he asked, "Why aren't you writing? Don't you know how to write? It's okay, I'll help you write it, and I'll give you an extra penny as a fee."
Manbao dodged his hand and asked, "And then? Is this the topic of the policy paper?"
"No, this is a scripture."
Manbao asked angrily, "Are you testing the Great Learning by copying the sutra?"
The student blinked, "Yes, the Great Learning is the most important part of the Book of Rites, so of course it will be tested."
Manbao thought about it for a moment and felt that what he said made sense, so he asked, "Does your Imperial College often test the Great Learning?"
"It's okay, do you remember it or not?"
Manbao glanced at him and wrote only the word "University" on the paper. He then continued to ask, "Where do the questions in the sutras come from? Are they all from the "University"?"
The student looked at her and said, "Teachers love to give questions from the Book of Rites."
Bai Shan had memorized the Book of Rites, a thick book, but Bai Erlang probably had a hard time. "Which part of the Book of Rites?"
The student said, "The price is different now."
Manbao looked at him suspiciously and asked, "Forget it, let's put aside the sutras and stuff. What was the topic of the policy essay you took the exam at the end of last year?" This is the most important thing.
The student blinked and made up a story, "To be sincere in one's intentions means not to deceive oneself. That's all."
Manbao bit the end of his pen and looked at him. After a while, he asked doubtfully, "Which year's end-of-year exam was the scripture you just gave me?"
“It’s from last year.”
Manbao gritted his teeth and asked, "Would your teacher put the Tiejing and Celun in the same book when setting questions?"
The student coughed lightly and said, "Why is this impossible? We just studied The Great Learning."
Manbao looked at him suspiciously, "You're so old and just starting to learn 'University'?"
The student couldn't help but touch his cheek and asked, "Am I very old?"
The students who had been trying hard to suppress their laughter could no longer hold back their laughter and burst out laughing, "Feng Zongping, stop teasing me, young lady! Last year's Imperial College policy paper clearly said, 'Is the South strong? Is the North strong? Is it strong in both? To teach with kindness and gentleness, and not to retaliate against injustice, is the South's strength. Gentlemen should live in this way.'"
Feng Zongping was about to laugh and fight back when he caught a glimpse of Manbao quickly writing down the words "Zilu asked about strength in the Doctrine of the Mean" on a piece of paper. He couldn't help but be stunned for a moment and looked at Manbao seriously again. "What are you asking about on paper, young lady?"
Manbao said angrily, "You lied and cheated me, and you've lost all your money."
Feng Zongping smiled and apologized, saying, "I didn't mean to do that. It's just that this is the first time I've seen someone collecting papers at the Imperial College, so I couldn't help but be curious. Which bookstore are you collecting papers for?"
"I'm here to collect them for my junior fellow student. He's going to take the Imperial College entrance exam, and I want to get him some papers to do."
Feng Zongping laughed and said, "This exam is different from the one we took at the end of the year."
Manbao asked curiously, "Why is it different?"
"The easy ones are much easier, and the difficult ones are even harder," he said with a smile. "After all, we've studied in the Imperial College for several years. The easy papers can't be easier than the final exams, right? Wouldn't that mean we've made no progress since we entered the academy?"
"That makes sense. If your chief priest were to give questions to the first-grade students, what book would he choose from?"
See you tomorrow
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
