In his previous life, Guo Gan relied on the fact that his grandfather was the Minister of Rites, so he knew the specific questions of each exam in advance. But even though he knew, he was still a useless guy and could not write a good answer at all.
But the Guo family is a family of scholars and literati, and the Ministry of Rites is in charge of the imperial examinations.
The Minister of Rites and his son both took the imperial examinations. The Minister of Rites was the top three in the imperial examination that year, and his son was slightly inferior, but he was also a successor. However, his grandson was mediocre in talent.
Therefore, Minister Guo invested all kinds of resources in his training and gave various gifts to his grandson at the Imperial College, hoping that he would learn more.
Guo Gan had no outstanding talents in his childhood. No one thought he had any talent for studying. He was even very naughty and liked to cause trouble everywhere.
But as time went by, everyone suddenly discovered that Guo Gan seemed to be getting better and better at studying, and he completed the homework assigned by the teacher very well.
He could even write very good and relevant poems at various poetry gatherings, and he became famous in Kyoto for a while. Everyone said that Guo Gan, the grandson of the Minister of Rites, had become smart and their family's talent for reading had finally been revealed.
Since then, Guo Gan has enjoyed being sought after by everyone and has been the center of attention in various occasions.
But what everyone doesn’t know is that this is not due to his own strength at all, but because there is someone behind him doing this for him.
For every exam, big or small, someone would complete it for him, and in the end it became his own ability. The same was true at the poetry meeting, someone would write for him, but the credit was his.
In Kyoto, it is normal for almost every child of aristocratic family to have one or two book boys to accompany them in their studies.
The book boys can eat and live with their masters, and enter and leave the academy together.
Every time the teacher was teaching, a special area would be set up in the cubicle for the servants to sit, so that they could serve their master anytime and anywhere.
But the best thing is that they can also learn a lot from it.
When it comes to studying, it all depends on talent. If you have good talent, you can learn anything quickly and apply it to your own studies.
This is the case with the book boy beside Guo Gan.
He had been following Guo Gan since he was young, serving as his book boy, accompanying him in reading and practicing calligraphy. When he was young, no one discovered his talent in reading, and his favorite thing to do every day was to read and study. However, Guo Gan was a very bad guy, and he treated him more as a playmate, hoping that he could accompany him in fooling around. Whenever he saw him studying hard, he would sneer at him, and even punish him in the name of his master.
No one knew when Shangshu Guo suddenly discovered this uncut jade, so he discussed with his son and began to train this book boy, letting him take the exam on behalf of Guo Gan.
The Guo family has a lot of say in Kyoto. They have a daughter who is a royal concubine and gave birth to the emperor's eldest son. They are in great glory. He is also a second-rank minister. Although the Ministry of Rites does not have much to gain, they are very good at cultivating talents through imperial examinations.
Minister Guo would never allow his grandson to be so mediocre in studying, which would be a slap in his face. So he felt that if he acted in this way, he would have himself as a guarantee and the support of the King of Chu and the Royal Concubine, so he was not afraid of any problems at all and acted more boldly.
In the beginning, he just asked his book boy to complete his homework and write poems for him, but now, he directly writes articles for the imperial examinations.
Before each exam, Guo Gan only needed to memorize the article written by the scribe, remember it in his heart, and then write it down from memory during the exam. Facts have proved that they made the right bet.
In his previous life, Guo Gan became the runner-up thanks to the answers given by the book boy, and also used some tricks to snatch Xiao Hechuan's place in the Hanlin Academy. Unfortunately, he was not worthy of the position, and relying on false knowledge, his true colors were exposed when he really needed it.
Once he entered the Hanlin Academy, he would be noticed by the emperor. Often when he went to court, the emperor would call on him and raise questions based on current affairs, asking him to answer, but he would stammer and be unable to answer. Over time, the emperor began to doubt his ability as the runner-up in the imperial examination.
Then how did Xiao Hechuan know all these things?
These events started after Helian Jing was named the crown prince. At that time, Xiao Hechuan had already entered the Ministry of Revenue as a worker at a young age based on his ability.
Helian Heng was imprisoned, the imperial concubine also fell out of favor and was sent to the cold palace, and the Guo family fell into decline. The emperor treated Shangshu Guo leniently because he was a veteran of three dynasties. He only demoted him a few ranks and planned to send him to a remote area to serve as an official. But at this time, the servant boy beside Guo Gan suddenly stood up and revealed all the lies that Guo Gan had done over the years using him.
Just think about it, if someone keeps your knowledge and learning to himself for a long time and relies on himself to get ahead overnight, while you put in so much effort but can only hide behind the scenes forever, would you be willing to accept this?
The answer, of course, is unwillingness!
At that time, the Guo family had already fallen and was no longer a threat, but he only had one chance to plead his case, and this was also the only chance to change his fate, so he could not miss it. Before the Guo family left Kyoto, he went to knock on the drum to redress his grievances.
This incident caused quite a stir in Kyoto at the time. After being confirmed, it was determined that all of Guo Gan's achievements had nothing to do with him, but were all done by his servant.
And he himself is just a good-for-nothing dude.
The emperor was furious. He felt that the Guo family's behavior was a challenge to his imperial power. They were treating him like a monkey and playing tricks on him right under his nose.
The emperor immediately took back the imperial edict and sentenced the entire Guo family to exile. However, as for the book boy, since he had no choice, the emperor gave him a chance, freed him from slavery, and gave him the opportunity to take part in the imperial examination in person, to display his true strength and brilliance, and to become a useful talent for Daqing.
And he did live up to everyone's expectations and became the new top scholar. His talent was no less than Xiao Hechuan's, it was just that Xiao Hechuan's luck was slightly better than his.
A few years later, the emperor passed away. After Helian Jing ascended the throne, he became the prime minister of the dynasty and had great power in the court.
However, although this book boy had a talent for studying, he lacked political ability. Even though he passed the imperial examination and entered the Hanlin Academy, he had been a slave for too long, suffering oppression and coercion, which caused his character flaws. He liked to care about things and was petty. With such a character, he could not go far or climb very high.
He entered the Hanlin Academy and worked hard for many years. Until Xiao Hechuan was about to die, he was still quietly holding the fifth-rank position.
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