Chapter 391 The students' admiring eyes
"Ah?" They were puzzled.
The boss couldn't help laughing and explained, "The people who buy books are all scholars. They only come here in their spare time. Today they don't have a day off. If you want to sell all the eggs today, you have to go to the academy."
He Zheng asked, "Is the academy far from here? We have too many eggs and it's unlucky to go there."
The boss kept saying, "Not far, not far. It's just on the street behind us. We have a cart in our store. I can ask someone to help carry the books and eggs."
"Okay, let's go over there."
These shop owners were surnamed Xie, about forty years old. They had won the title of Tongsheng a few years earlier and enjoyed a period of fame, but they had failed the examination for Xiucai twice and did not hold out much hope for the imperial examination, so they settled down at the end of the street and sold books.
But when Mr. Xie arrived, the dean was asked to come and greet him personally, because he was the most promising student in their academy in a small place.
Boss Xie talked to the dean with great excitement, and the dean looked much more energetic. When he heard that the other party was a virgin, he even wanted to buy all the eggs.
But Boss Xie stopped him: "Dean, they said it's a cooperation, they hope both of us can win. He wants to sell eggs, I don't want to sell books, you know... I want to let the students in our college see hope."
The dean obviously felt that his dark eyes had brightened up again, and the old man asked tentatively: "You...you are still unwilling to give up?"
Boss Xie smiled and said, "Of course. I didn't even pass the exam to become a scholar, and I didn't even qualify to take the autumn exam. How could I be willing to accept this? The teachers all regarded me as the most promising candidate, and I'm not even fifty years old yet. Why would I give up?"
As he spoke, he looked at the children at the entrance of the academy and said with great energy, "I hope that the hope they bring to me can also be brought to everyone in the academy. I hope that more and more students, scholars, and even judges will be selected from here."
Passing the imperial examination is the highest honor in the hearts of these scholars.
The dean was also touched. He sighed and then smiled, "Okay, take them to the academy. I'll call all the students out."
"good."
Guangming Academy.
Under the protection of Silent, who was not far away, the five young boys sat on the small cart supported by Boss Xie, and slowly walked into the academy, holding several large baskets of eggs on the cart.
Zong Wenxiu asked worriedly, "Jincheng, their academy here is so shabby, do the students there really have the spare money to buy eggs?"
Zong Jincheng thought for a moment and said, "There should be some. After all, we give away eggs with every book purchase. Boss Xie said that the books here are cheap and you can buy one for 40 wen. Add in the 10 eggs we give away with each book, and that's 50 wen. Boss Xie agreed to only sell each book for 45 wen, and the reduction will come from the book price."
Shen Yibai chuckled and said, "Thank you, boss, for being so kind. We are so lucky."
He Zheng joked, "It will involve selling art later, Brother Bai, you have to be prepared."
"Ah? What kind of art are you selling? There's no need to reveal your identity, right?" Shen Yibai was instantly frightened. He was terribly embarrassed.
Zong Jincheng laughed and said, "Just memorize a book. You are good at this."
Shen Yibai felt relieved instantly: "Oh, that's easy, I can carry him from day to night."
There were more than 200 students in Guangming Academy. They were originally listening to the teachers reading in the house. Then they heard that a few boys had come to the academy, and the quiet academy instantly became lively.
"Where is it? Where is it? Are there really virgin boys? I thought no one took the virgin exam because it was too difficult."
"Really? Not only did they pass the exam, they also came to our college. Oh my God, could it be that the dean recruited them to study here?"
"A living, living boy, my goodness, if I could study with the boy, smoke would come out of my ancestral tomb!"
"Hurry up, hurry up, there are quite a few young men here. I guess it's time for the ancestral tombs in our village to start emitting green smoke one after another."
"Hahaha……"
Students of all ages were gathered together by the dean to listen to Boss Xie, their former outstanding senior, introduce the five young boys sitting on the stage.
Five kids between the ages of ten and thirteen greeted them confidently, "Hello, everyone."
The students below were furious again: "Five! All five are virgins?!"
"They are really young, they are all child prodigies."
"Nonsense, only those under the age of twelve can participate. They have to be much older to participate in the Tongzi Division."
"It's amazing! We can hardly pass the Tongsheng exam, but they have passed the Tongzilang exam at such a young age. That's equivalent to a Xiucai, and they can take part in the Autumn Examination!"
Boss Xie said with a smile, "These five young men are from the capital. They don't want to reveal their names and identities. We just want to have a simple exchange. If you have any questions, you can come up to the stage and ask them after buying a book. The number of places is limited, probably less than 100, and we will stop when all the questions are answered."
After hearing this, Shen Yibai teased He Zheng and the others, "The wool still comes from the sheep. I thought that the five cents was unilaterally reduced by Boss Xie. It turns out that we still have to answer the questions."
Zong Jincheng laughed and said, "Just answer it. It's much easier than memorizing it all the time. We can take turns answering."
Zong Wenxiu added: "Anyway, as long as we don't reveal our identities and don't lower the price, we can complete the mission. I see there are quite a few people below, and some have already started lining up to buy books."
Boss Xie didn't know why the five mysterious boys came here to sell eggs, but if he told them directly, it might reduce their influence in the students' hearts, so Boss Xie didn't mention anything about the eggs, letting the students think that he invited these boys to buy books.
The teenagers were completely unaware of his little thoughts, and the dean even diligently sent people to serve them tea and water, ready to face the students' bombardment of questions.
The first student was a 19-year-old boy. He asked He Zheng nervously, "Hello, boy. How many years of study did you have to pass the boy's exam?"
He Zheng smiled and said, "Two years. I started to read primer in June of the year before last, and passed the exam to become a Tongzilang in March of this year." Moreover, he was the number one Tongzilang this year, and number one in the country.
But he didn't say this, otherwise it would be very easy to find out who he is.
"Oh my God!" The young man couldn't believe it. He cast a shocked look at his classmates who heard it behind him. He simply couldn't believe it.
Child prodigies...are all of them so amazing?
Many of them had studied for more than ten years but still failed to pass the examination to become a student. As for the most difficult examination, they did not even have the courage to go to the capital to try.
The young man behind him hurriedly urged him to leave, and ran up to him excitedly and asked, "Excuse me, is the content of the boy's exam more difficult than that of the student?"
Wei Xinglu replied, "It's difficult. You have to test the Four Books and Five Classics. You have to be able to recite, understand, and translate. The number of questions is huge. We took the test for five days before we were released."
Another student came up and asked, "You have actually been to Gongyuan to take the exam. What does Gongyuan look like? Is it like an ordinary house? Our county exams are all held in academies or temples, and we have never seen Gongyuan."
Zong Jincheng complained bluntly: "The Gongyuan is just a bunch of small dark rooms where no one can see each other. There is nothing inside except tables and stools. Oh, and there are rats in there. There are so many rats, especially at night. I can't sleep well because of the squeaking of rats, for fear that they will crawl onto my face."