Time flies, and half a month has passed in the blink of an eye.
In the past half month, the apprentices have been getting up early and going to bed late every day, working hard and have completely entered the state for the exam.
However, the disciples always felt empty inside because they hadn’t seen their master’s voice, smile or appearance all day.
Especially the eldest brother, who actually used his wonderful brush and ink to draw a portrait of Zhao Hao based on his memory. Not only did he hang it in front of the table for daily greetings and reports, he even got an incense burner to burn incense.
Fortunately, his fellow junior fellow apprentices joined forces to stop him, which allowed Master Zhao to receive incense before he was even a teenager.
The eldest brother was very angry about this and argued that why Xuelang could build a golden statue for the master, but I couldn't burn incense for the master in advance? They even built ancestral temples for officials!
"Master can bear it, but this is unscientific!" The third junior brother hugged him tightly.
"That's right, you are not qualified to be a senior brother in the field of science, as you are practicing superstition!" The second junior brother snatched the incense burner from his hand and said, "I think during this period when Master is not here, why don't I take charge of the affairs of our sect temporarily?"
"The sect rules set by the master are still posted on the wall. Are you trying to rebel?" The eldest brother struggled desperately.
As everyone was making a fuss, they suddenly heard a loud bang in the backyard, which frightened them all.
After coming to their senses, they hurried to the backyard to check Zhao Shizhen and Zhang Jian's laboratory.
When they opened the door, steam rushed into the room. Everyone hurried to open the windows for ventilation. Only then did they see Zhao Shizhen and Zhang Jian sitting dejectedly against the wall, both with expressions of despair.
In the middle of the room, there was a still burning coal stove, with a cast iron pot more than a foot high leaning on top.
A long crack appeared on the tank, and steam continued to pour out...
"You're not hurt?"
The brothers quickly helped the two up and saw that they were just hit hard and were not hurt. They were relieved and asked:
"Failed again?"
"Hmm..." Zhang Jian had no confidence to begin with, and now he was extremely frustrated: "Master has already given us the drawings, and we can't do it well just by copying them. It's really useless..."
Zhao Shizhen also said with wide eyes: "My uncle said that this thing must be built to be two meters high to be useful. We can't even make a one-foot model now..."
"Get up, both of you!" The eldest brother patted the two men on the head, pulled them up, and encouraged them with a smile: "Didn't the master always teach us that failure is the mother of success? You have only failed a few times? Isn't it too early to give up?"
"That's right. How could you two achieve such a miraculous achievement in just half a month?" The second senior brother also laughed.
"After the Spring Examination, we will help you find a solution!" Third senior brother Wang Dingjue also comforted.
"I think this is normal. Master often says that science is very profound. You haven't learned anything yet..." The fourth brother's comfort was always so rational and constructive: "You might as well do what you can do first, and then ask Master for advice on difficult problems after he comes out of retreat."
As for the fifth senior brother...well, he was not in the backyard at the moment, but was called to the west courtyard gate by the guard.
~~
When Yu Shensi walked to the door, he saw a lot of neighbors gathered in front of the hitching post outside the gate, laughing and watching the fun.
He separated the crowd and came closer, and saw a servant protecting a gray donkey tied there, and arguing with the golden monkey from last time.
"What's up?"
Yu Shensi walked forward, glanced coldly at the golden monkey, and thought to himself that this boy was quite brave to come alone.
"He wanted to steal our donkey." The servant hurriedly said to Shen Si, "He also said that we insulted him."
"How did we insult you?" Yu Shensi looked down at the little man.
"My name is Jin Xuezeng, and you named this donkey Jin Xuezeng. What is your intention?"
Jin Xuezeng said angrily: "Now even the people in the Hangzhou Guild Hall know that you have a donkey named Jin Xuezeng."
"Wow, so he is Jin Xuezeng's master..."
"His name is also Jin Xuezeng. Is it such a coincidence?"
"Don't mention it. They are both skinny and gray, but they look quite similar..."
The crowd of onlookers began to talk about it.
No matter how thick-skinned Jin Xuezeng was, he couldn't stand this. He was so angry that he jumped up and down and said, "This is insulting to culture, this is insulting to culture, this is not what a scholar does!"
"You Jin, stop slandering me." Yu Shensi spat at him, "My master was kind enough to let us tie your donkey at the door and wait for you to come and pick it up. We were afraid that you didn't know, so we wrote it in big letters to let everyone know. How can this be considered as a disgrace?"
"You can't just write my name on the donkey." Jin Xuezeng jumped up and said, "At least write 'Jin Xuezeng, your donkey is lost' or something like that?"
"Who said we didn't write it?" Yu Shensi sneered and patted the donkey's left butt. The donkey turned around and faced the crowd with the side against the wall.
"Jin Xuezeng's donkey!" Everyone laughed and said, "He was just telling the truth. It's not really an insult."
"..." Jin Xuezeng was stunned for a long time, then he burst into laughter, rubbing his head and said, "I didn't expect that your master is such a wonderful person."
"My master has many wonderful qualities." Yu Shensi sneered, untied the reins and threw them to him, saying, "Take Jin Xuezeng's donkey and get out."
The donkey has been on display for half a month, and the number of people who come to visit every day is much greater than those who come to see the popular science exhibition. By now, tens of thousands of people in Beijing know that there is a donkey named Jin Xuezeng in Chunsong Hutong.
Otherwise, it would not have reached Jin Xuezeng's ears.
Now that you have gotten rid of your anger, are you still holding on to someone else's donkey to make donkey meat BBQ?
Seeing that there was nothing exciting to watch, the neighbors dispersed, and Yu Shensi turned around and prepared to go in.
After walking a few steps, he found that the golden monkey was following him and wanted to go in with him.
"What are you doing?" Yu Shensi turned around and Jin Xuezeng bumped into his chest.
"Oh, go in and become my disciple." Jin Xuezeng rubbed his head and grinned.
"You can't go in." Yu Shensi said flatly.
"Why not? I have solved ten more questions recently, so I can go two more times." Jin Xueceng, relying on his small body, tried to crawl under his armpit.
"If you say no, then it's no." Yu Shensi retracted his arms, clamped his neck, threw Jin Xuezeng out and said:
"I let you in but you refused. Now you want to come in? No way." Yu Shensi sneered and was about to close the door.
"I think what you said is wrong." Jin Xuezeng shamelessly squeezed forward again, leaned half of his body into the door and said:
"You sent me that letter, didn't you? If our master didn't want to accept me, why would he bother writing to me?"
"He is my master, not your master." Yu Shensi emphasized first, then sneered and said:
"Besides, the master doesn't need a disciple like you. He wrote this letter just to tell you that you did something really stupid that day!"
As he said that, he kicked Jin Xuezeng out and slammed the door shut. "Leave it to me, you'll have a lifelong regret!"
"Open the door, can't I just admit my mistake?" Jin Xuezeng knocked on the door and begged, "Can't I just admit my mistake? I can't recognize a great man. If I didn't know the contents of the letter, I would definitely fail the test..."
"Don't be so ruthless. Give me a chance to correct my mistakes..."
But no matter how hard he knocked, the door remained tightly closed, with no intention of opening at all.
"Oh, I really regret it..." Jin Xuezeng was tired of taking pictures, so he sat down by the door, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
I thought to myself, I refused to come in even though people invited me, and now I’m begging to come in but still can’t, I really am such a cheapskate.
ps. The second update is here, please give me monthly votes and recommendation votes~~
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