After Huang Junping was carried away by his family, the onlookers gradually dispersed as they saw that there was nothing exciting to watch.
Mu Erpang went to tell Shen Cui that he was going to host a party. Shen Cui gave him a small silver ingot and told the young men to gather by themselves.
Originally, three out of the four of them passed the exam, and He Yan, the only one who failed, had no grudges, so the atmosphere was quite good.
Because Huang Junping's incident interrupted everyone, they felt sorry for each other and couldn't laugh anymore.
Zhang Zian felt the most sorry for him. "Brother Huang's words... are not very pleasant to the ears. The teacher also reminded him to be modest and not to be impatient, otherwise it would be easy to cause big problems. But he has been studying hard and diligently in the past few years... I didn't expect that he would fall into such a big setback today."
Failing a county exam is certainly not a big deal. After all, based on Huang Junping's level, he will have no problem passing the exam as long as he doesn't become complacent and fail to examine the questions clearly next year.
Although the magistrate who presided over the county examination already knew about his status, the magistrate was well-known for his uprightness and strictness. As long as Huang Junping was determined to mend his ways, the magistrate would not make things difficult for him in the future.
But the difficulty lies in the four words "reform with determination". Huang Junping has such a proud personality, and now he has been embarrassed in front of others. I am afraid that in the future...
Mu Erpang and Huang Junping were not close friends, but after hearing this, he sighed, "I praised the two He brothers for their broad minds and generous personalities, but Huang said that these were unimportant and that I was just talking nonsense. Alas..."
If Huang Junping had not been comparing himself with him at the beginning, and had not seen that his hall name was not as prominent as his, his mentality would have been affected.
When it came to the last round, he would not listen to Mu Erpang's words that he was not good at it. He thought that he had always been good at poetry and prose and would definitely be able to beat him in this round. He became complacent and arrogant to such an extent that he didn't even examine the topic carefully!
No wonder he wrote that scene so quickly. Isn't it easier to write a poem describing a woman's beauty than a poem about the heavy theme that the title actually implies?
Huang Junping's failure was precisely because of something he thought was not important in the path to the imperial examination!
And if he had a good enough attitude, he wouldn't have made such a big fuss and embarrassed himself so much.
After all, today is a good day for the three of them, so there is no need to be depressed because of other people's affairs. He Yan brought up the topic and said, "Didn't we agree to have a good discussion today? Forget about the unhappy things, brother Mu, please share some of your experiences with us."
Mu Erpang is a generous person, otherwise he would not be able to get along well with so many people in the academy.
He started with the last exam and talked about his own poems. "I was really lucky in the last exam. I suddenly had a flash of inspiration right in the exam room..."
Later, He Qing, He Yan and Zhang Zian also talked about the poem they wrote.
He Qing and He Yan both have no talent in writing poetry, but He Qing's poetry is better than He Yan's, perhaps because he is older, has accumulated more experience, and is more observant of small things around him.
Zhang Zian’s talent is stronger than all of them. The theme of his poem is quite conventional, but the overall effect is not much worse than the more novel one by Mu Erpang.
After listening to them, Mu Erpang silently ranked them in his mind. Among the several poems, the one he finally submitted was better than Zhang Zian's because of its novel idea and uniqueness. However, the one that was rejected in the draft was not as good as Zhang Zian's, and was only slightly better than He Qing's poem.
In other words, if it weren't for that hint of inspiration, not counting the results of the first four exams, just considering his actual level of poetry and prose, he would not have been able to rank in the top ten in the county exam list.
This is the benefit of communicating with fellow candidates. After all, many things cannot be understood just from a ranking on a list.
After finishing this discussion, several people moved on to other things.
There was no need to talk about things like the Mo Yi Tie Jing that were memorized by rote, so they just picked up the questions on the meaning of the scriptures that were being tested today.
This is Mu Erpang's home court. The others gave their answers first, and then Mu Erpang gave his answer last.
After he said this, He Qing and He Yan were fascinated. Even Zhang Zian didn't care about feeling sorry for Huang Junping and listened wholeheartedly.
After all, they didn’t feel a particularly obvious gap in poetry and prose, but as for the meaning of the scriptures... Mu Erpang’s level was far superior to theirs. They were truly convinced, and Zhang Zian even privately felt that Mu Erpang's lectures were no worse than those of his own teacher, Mr. Huang!
Afterwards they asked some appropriate questions, and Mu Erpang answered them one by one.
They had breakfast until almost noon. Fortunately, the stall owner was kind-hearted and saw that the young men were communicating very seriously, so he did not chase them away.
When they were about to part, Zhang Zian asked He Qing how he planned to get to the city.
He Qing said with some embarrassment: "Well... Actually, I didn't expect to pass the exam this time, so I didn't tell my family. I guess we need to discuss it again."
Zhang Zian nodded and said, "My family plans to follow the caravan. It will be safer if there are more people. If your family doesn't know how to go, you can go with me."
He Qing immediately agreed and thanked him. The people in their village may be somewhat familiar with the county town, but they are really at a loss outside the county town. Although Zhang Zian doesn't talk much and wears better clothes than most people, it can be seen that he is different from people like Huang Junping and does not look down on them, the farm boys.
After they agreed, Mu Erpang also said, "I'll also leave you the address of our academy. There are three brothers in our academy who are all stipend students, so we don't have to go out and find someone to act as a guarantor."
He Qing and He Yan studied hard with their clan grandfather in the village every day. In fact, they didn't know much about Cuiwei before Zhao Linsheng told them about Mu Erpang's origins.
Although Zhang Zian was active in the county town and knew Cuiwei, he only knew what happened in the past and did not know that Cuiwei's students had developed so well after moving to the provincial capital.
The three of them were all shocked. If I hadn't really appreciated Mu Erpang's temperament after getting along with him, and hadn't known his true level, I might have really felt jealous like Huang Junping.
What a great luck I have to be able to study in Cuiwei!
After they separated, Mu Erpang returned to Chahu Lane.
At this time, the door of the Shen family was open, and Daya and Erya each carried a basket of red eggs to distribute to the neighbors.
Two in a family may not be a lot, but the important thing is to share in the good fortune!
The neighbors were also very considerate. Seeing Mu Erpang coming back, they didn't dare to hold him and talk to him as they did before, and they all made way for him.
"The little case chief is back!"
"This Mu Erlang has always been different from others in my opinion. Now he has really become successful!"
After hearing a lot of congratulations, Mu Erpang politely called everyone and entered the house.
Zheng was busy in the kitchen with Chen and Li. Mu Erpang found Chen Cui who wanted to help in the kitchen but was ruthlessly driven out by Zheng. He asked, "Where did we get so many red eggs?"
Shen Cui explained, "After returning from the announcement of the results, your grandmother took out a large jar of red eggs, saying that she had prepared them secretly and hid them in a jar of pickled vegetables. Not only me, but even your grandfather didn't know about it. I think your grandmother didn't want to put pressure on you before the results came out, and she thought you would definitely do well in the exam, so she prepared them."
Thinking of the scene when they came back just now, Chen Cui's expression softened a little - at that time the neighbors saw them come back and asked them what they were doing so early in the morning?
Zheng proudly said that she went to watch the county examination results, and then deliberately kept the neighbors in suspense and waited for them to ask about the result.
After everyone's interest had been piqued enough, Zheng finally spoke up and said that Mu Erpang had passed the exam, and he had ranked first!
The value of the first place in the case is still very high. It has almost never happened that the first place in the case failed the provincial examination, so the success of the student can be said to be set in stone.
The neighbors were amazed and kept congratulating her. Zheng then went into the house and took out a number of red eggs like a magic trick, and asked Daya and Erya to distribute them to everyone.
"Just now your grandma asked me if we wanted to set up a few tables to celebrate. I thought there was no need to do a big thing since this was only the first party."
Mu Erpang nodded in agreement, and then Zheng, who was working non-stop in the kitchen, urged them to go inside and rest, and not to stand outside the kitchen like an idiot and breathe in the smoke.
Now, one of the mother and son is the head of a prestigious academy, while the other is the top scorer in the county examination.
But after being scolded by Zheng, he did not dare to talk back. He quickly said he understood and then they all went back to the house.
The county exam results are out, and the prefectural exam will be in April, which means they will have to leave the prefectural city.
There was nothing much to pack for Chen Cui. At her parents' home, Zheng didn't even let her wash her clothes. She had to wash and fold all the clothes she took off. The most valuable things in the gift were the few books that Mu Erpang often read.
Moreover, the house where Mu Erpang lives was previously occupied by Shuanzi Zhuzi. Now that they are leaving in two days, they should clean up and put everything in place in advance.
She didn't go back to her room, but followed Mu Erpang to his place.
Seeing that Mu Erpang was lying on the kang after returning to his room and still reading a book without saying much, she thought he was tired, so she said while tidying up the things on the table, "Your grandma just mentioned something to me. She said that you are thirteen now, and you are about to have a degree or fame, and you will have to continue to take exams in the future. You should call Erpang less, so as not to make your friends laugh at you behind your back."
Mu Erpang said no, "I like to hear my family call me like this, it's affectionate. No one will laugh at me because of my nickname. If there is such a thing, then they are not my friends."
Shen Cui responded, put the books on the table in order, and asked, "Are you worried about something?"
Mu Erpang hummed, sat up and said, "After watching Brother Wei and my junior brothers' performance, I thought I had some understanding of the imperial examination. After all, 'even if you haven't eaten pork, you must have seen pigs run'! Now that I have personally experienced it, I understand what 'knowledge gained from books is always shallow' means. I have truly experienced it, and I have also met a few people outside the academy, so I have some feelings..."
Earlier, Mu Erpang felt that he had been working hard in the past few years. Now he realizes that if one wants to succeed in the imperial examination, how many people would not work hard?
Hard work can be said to be the most basic thing on the road to imperial examinations.
Like He Qing, He Yan and Zhang Zian, he had a deep chat with them for the whole morning today, and he could feel their efforts from the content of their conversation - they could recite the Four Books and Five Classics by heart.
But due to some other reasons, the levels and expertise of the several people are completely different, and there is an obvious gap.
Zhang Zian, who studied with the Juren, at least had a rough idea of his own ranking like him.
This is actually a kind of identification ability, which is linked to vision.
However, He Qing and He Yan were unable to tell the difference. He Qing, who passed the exam, never even thought that he would pass this time.
And their level of understanding of the scriptures was indeed lower than his. The county examination was only the first hurdle. There were not many difficult things in the Book of Changes, so they were already finding it somewhat difficult to cope with them. Each one I watch will be more and more difficult, and I'm afraid I'll become more and more exhausted from carrying on with this.
Mu Erpang certainly didn't mean to laugh at them, but he couldn't help but sigh. He was indeed lucky, because his mother managed the situation well and allowed him to have access to excellent resources. So even though he started late, he was ahead of them. Even if his last test poem did not have that flash of new inspiration, he was confident that with his performance in the first four rounds, he could pull himself up to between fifth and tenth place.
The world is so big that there must be people who have better resources than him, who were educated earlier than him, who work as hard as him, or even harder than him. So what basis would he have to stay ahead of others then?
In fact, he only needs to concentrate on his studies these years and does not need to worry about the trivial matters in life. Unlike Zhang Zian and He Qing, they had to take the time to arrange the rules for the exam themselves.
Facing his mother, Mu Erpang did not organize his words. He just said whatever came to his mind. After he finished speaking, he was not the type of person who would complain about himself. He felt relieved and sat up to read the rhyme book he was familiar with.
Chen Cui immediately understood that he was "feeling" like writing a poem again, so she quietly left.
…
After two days of excitement at the Shen family, Shen Cui was about to take Mu Erpang back to the capital.
Although they didn't know when they would meet the Shen family again after leaving this time, the mother and son felt a little reluctant.
But Zheng thought more clearly than them. Although her eyes were red, she still said in a carefree manner: "There is nothing to be sad about. You two just keep moving forward! Especially Cuihua, our second fat man didn't do well in the exam later. I don't blame him, but you! Don't think that I dare not hit you just because you are old!"
After Zheng finished speaking, she "drove" them onto the Wei family's carriage and urged the driver to set off quickly.
The journey was boring, but Mu Erpang could sit still and read without putting down his book, while Chen Cui was ready to use the physical reward given by the system.
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