Chapter 6, the punishment book: Today's soup is yam, crabapple, and sheep liver soup... Ugh.
Lin Weiming read it twice listlessly, and then Zhu Bing explained the meaning of the article word by word, but he let it go in one ear and out the other, his mind already wandering.
Now things are really messed up. The already scarce good meat and vegetables in the dining hall are now even worse. Although the Imperial Academy's dining hall is more refined than that of the Biyong Academy because it is under the emperor's nose, the food is still only slightly better. It's not that there was a particularly egregious corruption scandal in the dining hall like at the Biyong Academy... They were probably corrupt too, but the reason the food was so bad was because the chefs in charge of the dining hall were all too clever for their own good.
The day before yesterday, they served a dish of honey-glazed sweet twisted dough sticks stir-fried with braised chicken pieces, which Lin Weiming found astounding. Yesterday, they served a dish that was utterly agonizing: pickled autumn pears with dogwood and cold cucumber salad. And today is even worse! I heard from a classmate in the next-door study room who went to the dining hall early for breakfast that today's soup is yam, crabapple, and lamb liver soup... Ugh.
However! Fortunately, one of the three head chefs fell ill, so these days, the registrar Pang, who is in charge of the canteen's food, ordered a few dishes from Shenji Fast Food Restaurant to supplement the menu, so that there would be more than two head chefs to cook and prepare the food.
So as long as you go to the dining hall early, you can still get good food!
But how could they possibly catch up now? The pack of hungry wolves from the neighboring Dingzizhai had just dashed past through the outer corridor, leaving only a few afterimages.
Lin Weiming reached out and rubbed his sunken belly, feeling a surge of sadness.
Forget it, let's go home and ask my mother to make some pancakes. That's better than drinking some yam, crabapple, and lamb liver soup!
Is this a dish that a human could come up with? It sounds terrifying.
Lin Weiming had completely lost interest in listening to the lecture, but he still managed to pretend. However, his friend Meng Boyuan, sitting in front of him, was so sleepy that his eyes were glazed over, his eyelids felt like lead, and he was swaying from side to side.
Cheng Shujun, who was sitting at the same table with him, silently pushed the big head that Meng Boyuan had thrown at him back, and Meng Boyuan swayed and leaned back on the table.
Just then, Zhu Bing, who was standing in front of the hall, suddenly shouted: "The government is based on harmony!"
Startled, Lin Weiming hurriedly flipped through his book. It turned out Zhu Bing had already covered several pages, and he hadn't been listening at all. Fortunately, there were many students like him; amidst the murmurs and complaints filling the room, a few scattered words of reply were uttered in the hurried turning of pages: "When the government is lenient, the people become complacent..."
Although Meng Boyuan was almost asleep, upon hearing the recitation around him, he stubbornly sat up, picked up the book, and began to recite along in a daze: "Slow...slowness is corrected by force..."
But before he could finish reading, he collapsed onto the table with a thud.
The commotion was quite loud. Zhu Bing immediately turned around, his round face turning sinister. He pulled out the rattan cane from his waistband and was about to rush over to teach him a lesson. Cheng Shujun hurriedly kicked his nemesis to his feet. He groggily straightened up and subconsciously continued reading aloud, the book obscuring half his face. Zhu Bing stared at him for a long time, but in the end, he just snorted heavily, put the rattan cane back behind his waistband, and turned around to continue leading the recitation.
Cheng Shujun wiped away a cold sweat; he, who had been listening attentively, was now terrified.
But after reading two sentences, Meng Boyuan became so sleepy that he leaned back. Lin Weiming, sitting behind him, tried his best to suppress his laughter and pushed him back, pinching his arm hard and saying in a low voice, "Meng Si! Hey! Wake up! Are you possessed by a sleepy bug? How come you're so sleepy? Where did you go to steal chickens last night?"
No one answered; the only response he received was a soft snore.
Lin Weiming stared in shock, turning his head to look at him. Meng Boyuan's eyelids were still half open, but he had already fallen asleep.
They even fell into a deep sleep!
I'm really impressed with him, he can fall asleep sitting up! He had no choice but to secretly support his back with his hand to prevent him from falling backward.
After a short while, the article was finally explained to the end. Zhu Bing glanced at the listless students and said, "After explaining this question, get out of class will be over. Now, who can explain how to analyze this article, 'On Leniency and Severity in Governance'?"
Upon hearing this, all the students immediately lowered their heads, staring intently at the books in front of them, as if a flower had suddenly bloomed on the pages.
"No one's saying anything? Then I'll call on someone! Cheng Shujun, you go first."
Cheng Shujun was startled and quickly stood up, but as soon as he stood up, the long bench on which the two of them were sitting suddenly lost its balance, and Meng Boyuan immediately tilted outward. Lin Weiming noticed this and hurriedly tried to grab his clothes from behind, but it was too late. With a "bang", he and the bench rolled heavily to the ground.
This immediately sparked a burst of laughter.
Meng Boyuan rubbed his eyes and got up amidst the laughter. Just as he was becoming more awake, he met Zhu Bing's eyes, which seemed to be shooting out two raging flames: "You brat! I have been teaching for more than ten years and I have never seen such an unruly student as you! You stay here and copy 'On Leniency and Severity in Governance' twenty times! Don't even think about leaving this room until you finish copying it!"
Half an hour later, it got dark. All the other students in Bingzizhai had left, leaving only Meng Boyuan, Lin Weiming, and Cheng Shujun still hunched over their desks, writing furiously.
Lin Weiming, suppressing his rumbling stomach, gritted his teeth and cursed as he copied, "What sins did I commit in my past life to have to be stuck with you, you nemesis! Meng Si, tell me honestly, what exactly did you do yesterday?"
Meng Boyuan yawned repeatedly: "It's nothing. My third brother was home on his day off yesterday, and my father insisted on making him teach me. When I couldn't memorize the lessons, he scolded me for being as stupid as a pig. My third brother spoke up for me, but he couldn't persuade my father. He pointed at my nose and scolded me for half an hour for no reason, which made me go to sleep at dawn."
Upon hearing this, Lin Weiming's anger subsided. He sighed and indignantly defended his friend: "Your father is... but my uncle is a genius known throughout the country! Yet my parents never compared me to him. It's like comparing bamboo strips to golden nanmu wood—there's no comparison. For a family to produce one outstanding individual is already a blessing from their ancestors' graves. Do you expect your family to have two such blessings? Why don't you tell your father to burn down your grandfather's grave? That would produce a huge amount of smoke."
Meng Boyuan pursed his lips and stared at him speechlessly: "You wait, tonight I'll have my grandfather come up and have a heart-to-heart talk with you."
Lin Weiming flipped over the page he had just copied and set it aside to dry. He grinned, revealing a smug smile: "Don't try to scare me. I don't believe in that stuff. If your grandfather could see this from beyond the grave, he wouldn't be happy to see your father tormenting you like this."
Meng Boyuan was dejected, lowered his head, and remained silent.
The Meng family originally had four brothers. The eldest son drowned and died young, while Meng Er was adopted by his uncle who had no children to continue the family line. Only Meng Qingyuan and Meng Boyuan remained in the family. The two were eight years apart in age, but Meng Qingyuan had already passed the imperial examination last year and was selected as the chief scribe of the Imperial Academy before the new year. He was not yet thirty years old and had already entered officialdom at a young age.
Everyone knows that the Imperial Academy only admits the children and nephews of officials of the seventh rank or above, collectively known as the Inner Dormitory Students; while the Biyong Academy admits students from good families, regardless of whether they are merchants or farmers, as long as they pass the examination, and they are considered Outer Dormitory Students. The Meng family was originally just a wealthy peasant and gentry family. It was only because Meng San was selected to study at the Imperial Academy this year and obtained an official position that the Meng family was able to move from the outer city to buy a house in the alley next to the Imperial Academy and also transfer Meng Boyuan from the Biyong Academy to study at the Imperial Academy.
However, the two brothers were worlds apart in talent. Meng San was already quite famous when he studied at the Biyong Academy. In the third year of the Baoyuan era, he and Xie Jiu, from the Xie family of Chenjun, took the imperial examination in the same year. For the next three years, these two completely overshadowed the students of the Imperial Academy. During those years, the Biyong Academy consistently swept the top three places in the prefectural, provincial, and municipal examinations. In fact, the rankings in all three examinations remained unchanged: Xie Qi was first, Meng Qingyuan was second, and Shang An was third.
Back then, the headmaster and professors of Biyong Academy were like they had taken a super tonic, wishing they could tear off the list of successful candidates and stick it on their bodies to walk sideways.
This prompted the teachers of all the colleges of the Imperial College to try their best to regain face, but they ultimately failed.
It wasn't until these three men entered officialdom that the top spot in last year's prefectural examination was won by a student from the Imperial Academy.
As for Meng Boyuan... his handwriting still looks like a dog's crawl.
Meng's father had high hopes for his son, but one success wasn't enough; it seemed he needed two dragons playing with a pearl to be truly satisfied and fulfill his life's purpose. This made Meng Boyuan's life at home a living hell. Even Lin Weiming could mimic a few of his father's favorite sayings: "Why don't you learn from your brother?" "Your brother passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi, and you can't even earn a Xiucai (a lower-level scholar)!" "You're so useless! Even that stubborn donkey at home that only knows how to kick its hooves and fart is more useful than you!"
Cheng Lin and Meng Boyuan were of similar age and temperament, and they studied in the same study. They were close friends, and every day they could hear Master Meng making sarcastic remarks about his son. He did this not only at home, but also to outsiders, always saying that he was far inferior to his elder brother.
In particular, Meng Boyuan had been engaged two years ago, but the marriage had been delayed. This was because the wealthy Meng had made a boast to the bride's family that Meng Boyuan should achieve fame and success and marry her in a grand manner. This made Meng Boyuan feel increasingly burdened and increasingly self-destructive.
They all felt indignant for Meng Boyuan, but they couldn't point out the mistakes of the other elders. Fortunately, Meng Boyuan was cheerful, otherwise he would have become depressed from being scolded and ridiculed every day.
Cheng Shujun patted Meng Boyuan on the shoulder without saying anything, but his left hand quickly copied another page for him. He also calmly reminded Lin Weiming, "Don't write too neatly, or Dr. Zhu will notice and we'll be in trouble."
Lin Weiming also quickly switched to his left hand to copy.
The three of them copied until their wrists ached. They handed in their punishment assignments to the cells where the doctoral students were taking a break, and then, rubbing their wrists and looking dejected, strolled out the back door.
The alley had already quieted down again. A few lanterns swayed under the eaves in the narrow lane, casting a hazy glow on the bluestone slabs and faintly illuminating the path beneath their feet. The three of them were starving, their stomachs practically sticking to their backs. They were about to go all out and climb over the wall to Chen Ji's place to eat grilled fish when they suddenly smelled a strong, tea-scented aroma of eggs.
The fragrance wafted on the breeze, and Lin Weiming sniffed. Following the scent, he took a few steps to the left and immediately saw a small, slender woman standing in front of a house on the left.
She wore a simple double-loop bun, with only a red ribbon tied around her head, and no other decorations. The plain green jacket was shrouded in dim light, making her look as delicate and ethereal as a night-blooming cereus.
She was bending down to move the rough earthenware urn with two handles on the charcoal stove. The burning coal briquettes inside the stove were still flickering with dark red sparks, illuminating her fair and beautiful profile.
The enticing aroma was wafting from the earthenware jar.
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Apple is an old name for the fruit.
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