Liu Yan immediately felt something was wrong, and quickly put his hand down, clenching his fist uncomfortably.
"Don't mention this matter again." Liu Yan frowned and said, "Anyway... remember to be careful tomorrow." Mu Zhuohua said with a smile: "Thank you, Your Highness, for tipping me off. Your Highness has been checking whether there is any news about the Eagle Claw, the Supreme Immortal Fruit, and my mother's life experience these days..."
"You are busy with the imperial examination these days, and there will be a palace examination soon, so you don't have to worry about these things for the time being."
Mu Zhuohua was a little surprised, wondering whether Liu Yan was hiding something from her, or really cared about her future...
Seeing Liu Yan's figure walking away, Mu Zhuohua suddenly remembered something and shouted to Liu Yan's back: "Your Highness, remember to take care of me tomorrow!"
Liu Yan's back paused, and he walked faster.
The hairpin poetry meeting was held in the Royal Garden.
The Royal Garden was the residence of the Princess Zhenguo in the past. After the Princess Zhenguo got married, this place became vacant. Every spring when the flowers bloom, it will be open to the public for sightseeing, and the Hairpin Flower Poetry Contest will be held on this occasion.
There are hundreds of flowers and herbs in the garden. The Hairpin Flower Poetry Contest randomly draws a flower or herb and writes a poem on it. You can choose your own or someone else's. The one who is recognized as the best poem of the same flower will get this flower king.
The weather was very good on the day of the Hairpin Flower Poetry Contest, with gusts of warm wind and faint fragrance of flowers. There were ten tables in the garden. The scholars were all wearing bachelor's clothes and bowed to each other. Among the crowd, only one person was the most eye-catching, and that was Shen Jinghong. Shen Jinghong won the first place in three games and was a well-deserved champion. With such talent and such a handsome appearance, I don't know how many women were confused.
One of the candidates was joking at this time: "You all know the grand scene when the results were announced that day. Our Young Master Jinghong was in such a mess!"
Another person laughed and said, "The practice of selecting a son-in-law under the list has a long history, but this is the first time we have seen someone competing for a son-in-law under the list. It is said that on that day, dozens of noble families in Dingjing wanted to marry Young Master Jinghong. When they heard that Young Master Jinghong was in Wenzheng Tower, they ran to him as fast as they could and surrounded the building. Fortunately, Young Master Jinghong knew some martial arts and escaped by jumping out of the window through the back door. The messenger who brought the good news followed him all the way, and everyone on the street laughed so hard."
Everyone laughed as they talked. Although some people felt jealous in their hearts, they all showed sincere congratulations on their faces.
Shen Jinghong held the wine pot and smiled faintly: "Please don't make fun of me. How can I have a family without success?"
A scholar said: "Mr. Shen, you are too serious. You are a great talent who has won the top three places in the imperial examinations. How can you say that you have not succeeded in your career? In my opinion, passing the imperial examinations after the big one is a double happiness."
Shen Jinghong did not continue the conversation, and said seriously: "If you are not a top official, you can't talk about marriage."
When this was said, everyone was stunned.
Since Shen Jinghong came to Beijing, he has done a lot of earth-shaking things. He never stops talking until he is shocked. He always slaps others in the face, but when he says this today, he is afraid that he will slap himself in the face. Although he was a talented scholar who won three first prizes in the imperial examinations, he was born in a poor family and had no foundation. He had to wait for his career in the court. Even if he was successful in his career, it would take at least ten years for him to be promoted to the first rank. By then, he would be over thirty years old. Men in Chen State generally got married at the age of twenty. If they were unmarried at the age of thirty, people would maliciously speculate that they had hidden diseases, just like the current Prince Ding, who had such a bad reputation just because he was not interested in women.
Several people who had a good relationship with Shen Jinghong hurriedly laughed and changed the subject, but this sentence was bound to spread.
"Let's not talk about Master Shen. Have you ever seen the other strange person on this year's list?"
"Are you talking about Mu Zhuohua who ranks seventeenth?"
"Yes, she is a woman. This is the highest ranking since women participated in the imperial examination, not to mention that this woman is only eighteen years old. And..." The speaker glanced at Shen Jinghong, "This person's classics are as famous as Master Shen."
"Heh." One person sneered and said disdainfully, "For the classics, rote memorization is enough. The real talent of a person is still in poetry and policy questions. This person's poetry is average, and policy questions are only above average." "Did
you buy the collection of this year's papers yesterday?"
After each joint examination, the Imperial Academy will publish the papers of the joint examination that year for all scholars to study and judge, so as to avoid cheating in the examination room and unfair grading. There are eight volumes of this joint examination papers, which are almost in short supply, so many students have not bought them yet, and those who have bought them have not had time to finish reading them.
When someone asked this question, only a dozen people said they had bought it.
The scholar who asked the question earlier said, "I bought these eight test papers on the first day, and I finished reading them after several sleepless days. Please allow me to talk about it. This year's test papers, the classics section, only printed two papers, which are the correct papers of Mr. Shen and Miss Mu. The questions are really biased and clever. They can answer them correctly, which shows that they have a good memory and a clever mind. I admire them."
Everyone bowed to Shen Jinghong, and Shen Jinghong smiled in return.
"As for the second section, poetry and prose, the works of us who have been on the list of tribute scholars are all on it. Mr. Shen's masterpiece ranks first, and he really deserves his reputation. I also read Miss Mu's poems, and they are indeed mediocre, but it is not easy to write without deviating from the topic."
This was pertinent, and everyone nodded.
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"Let's talk about the third section, I have read all the articles this year and found one thing." This person kept everyone in suspense. Seeing that everyone was staring at him, he cleared his throat and said mysteriously, "There are 100 people on the list this year. Among the 100 policy questionnaires, 99 of them said that we must fight against the barbarians. They answered the policy of pacifying the barbarians. However, there was one paper from the second grade, which advocated peace, but answered the policy of raising the barbarians."
Everyone was shocked when they heard this, and they discussed in disbelief: "Advocate peace? Advocate peace with Beiliang? Beiliang invaded the border of our Chen State, and the evil intentions are not dead. How can they humiliate and negotiate peace! How can such a paper be ranked in the second grade!"
Shen Jinghong lowered his eyelids and raised his glass to cover his slightly upturned lips.
He naturally heard Liu Chen scolding Mu Zhuohua, and also learned the content of this policy questionnaire from Liu Chen, but his opinion was different from Liu Chen's.
Interesting, very interesting. There are ideas, a lot of ideas.
Unfortunately, most people don't think so, especially after they know that the one who advocates peace is a woman, their anger turns into contempt.
"That's understandable. It's human nature for a girl to be afraid of death. No wonder she advocates peace."
"Women are women. They are weak by nature. This official battlefield is not the place for them."
Everyone was talking and laughing. With a common target, the atmosphere was very harmonious.
"I'm afraid Mu Zhuohua doesn't dare to come today."
"If she dares to show up, she should have shown up at the previous poetry meeting."
"With her talent for poetry, it would be embarrassing if she came."
Everyone was talking happily when they suddenly heard a pleasant laugh: "I heard the magpie cry when I went out this morning, and I knew something good would happen. Sure enough, I heard someone mentioning my name from afar."
As she spoke, the person had walked around the rockery and came to the garden. She had a slightly childish face, two smiling almond eyes, and not very ostentatious facial features, but she looked friendly. Although she was wearing a refined and handsome scholar's robe, you could tell she was a girl by the voice and the person.
The girl bowed to everyone and said with a smile: "Mu Zhuohua greets you all. I am not talented and ranked 17th. I dare not worry about you so much."
People present were caught talking behind others' backs. They all claimed to be gentlemen. After hearing what Mu Zhuohua said, they all looked a little embarrassed.
Mu Zhuohua took two steps towards Shen Jinghong, the most conspicuous person in the crowd, bowed and said with a smile: "I haven't had time to congratulate Brother Shen on winning the first place."
Shen Jinghong had a handsome face and eyes like glass. His eyes swept across Mu Zhuohua's face, and he smiled and nodded: "It was just luck."
Mu Zhuohua sighed: "Brother Shen's talent has long been known throughout Dingjing. There is no doubt about this, but what I admire most is not Brother Shen's talent."
Not only Shen Jinghong, but others also turned around curiously to look at him. Shen Jinghong raised her eyebrows slightly, and smiled at Mu Zhuohua: "Mu...Miss, what do you think?"
Mu Zhuohua said sincerely: "I don't deserve your advice. Brother Shen is extremely talented, and what is even more rare is his mind and bearing. I remember that when Brother Shen first came to Dingjing and made his mark, he attracted so much jealousy and criticism. Brother Shen remained unmoved, and laughed at the heroes. He was not shaken by the words and actions of villains at all. It is really admirable."
Who at the scene didn't understand Mu Zhuohua's indirect criticism? Everyone's face suddenly became ugly.
One person sneered: "Brother Shen is really talented and knowledgeable, and everyone knows it."
Mu Zhuohua admired: "Not bad, not bad, I should learn from Brother Shen, and shouldn't study behind closed doors. Now only the examiner knows this little bit of Taoism, so I can't blame others for being ignorant."
The word "ignorant" made everyone blush and angry. They knew that the other party was scolding them, but they couldn't find a word to refute.
Mu Zhuohua said leisurely, "In the past, I heard Hanshan ask Shide, if someone in the world slanders me, bullies me, humiliates me, laughs at me, despises me, despises me, hates me, and cheats me, how should I deal with it? Shide replied: Just tolerate him, let him be, let him be, avoid him, endure him, respect him, ignore him, wait a few years, and you will see what happens. Brother Shen, what do you think?"
Shen Jinghong smiled but did not answer, "What do you think, Miss Mu?"
Mu Zhuohua shook his head and said, "This Shide is not a good person."
Shen Jinghong was very interested and asked, "Why do you say that?"
Mu Zhuohua asked seriously, "People bully and humiliate me, despise me, is it the world's fault or my fault?"
Shen Jinghong said without hesitation, "People are arrogant and ignorant, so it is naturally their fault."
"Brother Shen, that's a brilliant idea." Mu Zhuohua cupped her hands in agreement. "You and I read the books of sages and should act like sages. If we see others making mistakes, can we just turn a blind eye? Tolerance is retreating, and avoidance is indulgence. Duke Zheng of Zheng defeated Duan in Yan. He knew that Duan was unjust and dishonest, but he let him do it and let him commit many unjust acts until he killed himself. This is simply a vicious character and is not what scholars like us do."
Mu Zhuohua's speech was well-reasoned, and everyone nodded involuntarily as they were led by her train of thought.
Shen Jinghong smiled and said, "That makes sense. So what do you think we should do?"
Mu Zhuohua said solemnly, "A real man should fight to the death when he sees injustice. Although we are just weak scholars, we should learn from Brother Shen to be brave and courageous. If we can't fight to the death, we should give him a wake-up call. If people bully me, insult me, laugh at me, and look down on me, you should beat him, scold him, despise him, hate him, and educate him with your own actions, so that he knows what it means to be both civil and military!"
"Ha!" Several people laughed out loud, and then immediately covered their mouths with red faces.
The most embarrassed person in the scene was Wen Shizong, who was given the four words "civil and military" by Shen Jinghong in Wenzheng Tower. He is now extremely sensitive to these four words. When he heard these four words, he felt that he was being scolded. But today, Mu Zhuohua was even more vicious than Shen Jinghong and directly scolded more than half of the people in the garden. Those who previously talked about others behind their backs now had their faces flushed to the color of pig liver, while others had a clear conscience and were all smiling and watching the joke.
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Jinghong had been perfunctorily dealing with everyone for a long time, only at this moment did he laugh sincerely, nodded lightly, and said with his hands clasped: "Your Excellency's insights are truly insightful. They have enlightened me. No wonder you were chosen as the seventeenth. You really have unique insights, and I admire you very much."
Mu Zhuohua politely waved her hand and said: "Brother Shen, you are too polite. I was just memorizing by rote. I took an unconventional approach in policy essays. It was luck that I was favored by the examiner. When it comes to poetry, I am even more ashamed of myself. I came to the poetry gathering today with the mentality of learning. Just now I heard someone say that I was afraid of losing face and dared not come. This is wrong. Saints can ask questions without shame, let alone I am just a junior student. There are differences in how people learn. I should learn more from you brothers. What is there to be ashamed of?"
Mu Zhuohua said frankly and openly, putting herself in a very low position without being humble or arrogant, and instead shutting up others who were trying to make things difficult for her. Moreover, she was the youngest candidate on the list, and most of the people on the stage were one generation older than her, so they didn't want to embarrass her.
Everyone was stunned by Mu Zhuohua's words, and then they heard crisp applause from not far away.
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