Top Scholar

Chapter 187 Super Dad
After that day, everyone at Zhengyizhai studied even harder. Liu Dachuan taught with all his might, the students studied with all their might, and Su Lu did everything he could to help them!
Besides his various writing techniques for the civil service exam, there are also the Pomodoro Technique, mind mapping, palace memory, Feynman Learning Technique... all sorts of amazing parenting tips!
The students not only studied during the day, but also stayed up late into the night, eagerly absorbing the knowledge they had gained from their teacher and godfather, constantly practicing and improving, raising their level day after day!

And so, the monthly classes began in mid-February.

Whether it was because the questions were easier this time or because everyone's level had indeed improved, everyone felt good after the exam and believed that they had definitely made progress!
This was of course inseparable from the godfather's enthusiastic support, so Deng Zhaizhang suggested that everyone treat Su and Zhu to a meal, firstly to express their gratitude, and secondly as a belated welcome.

"Do you have to pay for meals when you eat out?" Zhu Zihe asked curiously.

“Of course.” Deng Dengying looked at Zhu Zihe strangely: “Who would eat without paying?”

“A headmaster could do it,” Zhu Zihe shook his head and sighed, “but unfortunately I don’t have that kind of luck; I just never seem to meet one…”

"Zihe!" Su Lu has to keep an eye on him now, otherwise, with Zhu Zihe's mouth, he might get hit over the head one day.

He then apologized to his eager classmates, saying, "I really don't have time today. The academy is on holiday, but we don't get a break. I still have to go study the classics with my teacher."

"Doesn't your teacher get a day off?" the classmates asked.

“The master can rest for half a day every day,” Zhu Zihe said dejectedly. “So he doesn’t feel tired, nor does he think we are tired.”

“If the master rests, then we rest too.” Su Lu’s mindset was quite mature, after all, he came from humble beginnings. “Let’s go, if we delay any longer we won’t even have time to eat.”

"Let's go, let's go." Zhu Zihe followed behind dejectedly, forced to switch from top student mode to bottom student mode again...

The classmates looked at the two figures with sympathy and couldn't help but sigh with deep regret that they had been so wise not to choose the Book of Rites.

Even top students are being tortured like this. If they chose the Book of Rites, wouldn't they be left with nothing?

~~
That afternoon, Su Lu and Zhu Zihe noticed that Mr. Gangshan was somewhat distracted during class.

Zhu Zihe thought to himself, "Serves you right for not being human. Now you're finally tired, aren't you? You're over fifty years old, why are you working so hard?"
He then said respectfully, "Sir, are you a little tired? Perhaps we can stop here for today?"

“If you want to slack off, just say so.” Mr. Gangshan was unmoved and snorted, “I’m not tired! I’m just thinking about how my ninth brother is going to the examination hall for the third time today. It’s so cold in the capital, I don’t know if he can handle it…”

“The imperial examination is indeed too grueling,” Su Lu and Zhu Zihe agreed wholeheartedly.

After the imperial examinations were reopened in the eighteenth year of the Hongwu reign, the metropolitan examination was set to be held in three sessions. The first session was held on the ninth day of the second month, with three questions on the interpretation of the Four Books and four questions on the interpretation of the classics.

I left the examination hall on the 11th after finishing the exam.

On the 12th, they entered the examination again to test their writing skills in practical documents such as imperial edicts and memorials.

I left the examination hall on the 14th after the exam.

February 15th, which is today, is the third time to enter the venue to test five current affairs strategies, examining practical issues such as water conservancy, border defense, and taxation.

The exam also lasted three days, ending on the evening of the 17th when everyone left.

Before the eighteenth year of the Hongwu reign, candidates who passed the provincial examination would be interviewed ten days later to assess their riding, archery, arithmetic, judgment, and practical administrative abilities.

However, due to the collective opposition of the civil officials, the practical skills examination was discontinued after the eighteenth year of the Hongwu reign, and only the first three examinations were held.

But that would take nine days, from the ninth to the seventeenth! Only those in good physical condition could endure it, which explains why Mr. Liu had to be carried out of the examination hall…

This wasn't even the hardest part. After Yongle moved the capital, the imperial examinations were held in Beijing. February in Beijing was still freezing cold! The candidates had to endure nine days in cell-like rooms without doors—it's terrifying to even think about!
Therefore, the examination hall had to allow candidates to bring their own charcoal braziers for warmth. However, in the seventh year of the Tianshun reign, a fire broke out in one of the braziers, killing more than seventy candidates. Fire management became much stricter, and fires could only be lit after dark and had to be extinguished at dawn.

But it's cold even during the day! If it's cloudy and snowing, what's the difference between day and night? The candidates could only grit their teeth and persevere; many were even carried out of the examination hall. Even those who passed all three exams would fall seriously ill upon returning home.

Zhu Zhang was genuinely worried that his younger brother's health wouldn't be able to handle it...

Zhu Zihe was the one who knew how to comfort people: "Don't worry, sir. This is the fifth time Uncle Jiu has done it. He should be used to it by now."

"Hmm..." Zhu Zhang thought about it and agreed, so he composed himself and continued teaching.

Zhu Zi was so frustrated. He should have known better than to comfort him; he could have slacked off for the whole afternoon...

This is a classic case of "lifting a stone only to drop it on one's own foot."

~~
Heshan Hall.

After grading the papers in the afternoon, the teachers stretched their limbs, somewhat puzzled. Usually, they could clearly distinguish the students from the two dormitories without even removing the name tags, but this time, why couldn't they tell them apart?

"Were the questions too easy this time? It doesn't seem like there's much of a difference in ability between the test takers," Mr. Ji said, expressing everyone's concerns as he handed in the exam papers.

"Yes, a little..." Zhou Shanzhang nodded, he had been reflecting on himself lately.

Su Lu's words kept echoing in his ears. His "Three-Stage Promotion and Recruitment Method" did indeed violate the sage's principle of education for all. However, the imperial examination itself was to select the most outstanding talents, and teaching the best was the most reasonable choice.

Zhou Shanzhang looked somewhat bewildered, and his hand unconsciously became a little lighter. Of course, due to the strong inertia, it was only a tiny bit lighter; the question was still quite difficult. "Surely it won't leave no room for a significant difference?"

"But this time it's really close. Especially the students in the second half, they're getting much closer to the first half." Mr. Ji said, puzzled, "It's possible for individual students to suddenly have a breakthrough and make significant progress. But it's impossible for the whole class to have a breakthrough and make progress together, right?"

"..." Headmaster Zhou recalled Headmaster Pang's words and slowly said, "Headmaster Zhu of Taiping Academy did mention that a student named Su Lu has a special ability. He can help his classmates improve."

"Hahaha, how could that be?" The gentlemen couldn't help but laugh. "Then it will be so easy. We can just throw him into Chengxinzhai and we won't have to do anything. We can just sit back and enjoy the fruits of his labor!"

"Everyone, please be quiet! No frivolous talk is allowed in Heshan Hall!" Mr. Ji hurriedly shouted.

"Yes..." The gentlemen quickly fell silent.

"Just remove the masked name and you'll know," Headmaster Zhou instructed, as he himself was quite curious.

"Okay." Mr. Ji replied, and then led his men to remove all the anonymous names, and now they all matched up.

As the teachers looked at the ranking list that Mr. Ji had copied down on the spot, the students from the two schools were no longer clearly separated... Not only did Su Lu and Zhu Zihe occupy the top spots, but Deng Dengying and another student from Zhengyi School named Lei Shengyuan also squeezed into the top thirty!
In other words, a total of four students from Chengxinzhai fell into the lower bracket...

What's even more alarming is that while the rankings of the other Zhengyizhai students haven't changed, the gap between them and the Chengxinzhai students has narrowed significantly. If this trend continues, it's likely that Chengxinzhai students will be pushed down in every subsequent exam.

"Headmaster, this is a bit tricky." Mr. Ji and the others all thought that Headmaster Zhou was personally leading the class to demonstrate his teaching skills.

If students from Zhengyizhai keep surpassing those from Chengxinzhai, wouldn't that be constantly slapping him in the face?
Could Zhou Shanzhang, who was extremely concerned about his image, accept this?
Then, Headmaster Zhou looked at the ranking list with a complicated expression and said in a calm tone, "Isn't this a good thing? When I established the three-dormitory promotion and demotion system, I hoped that students would compete with each other, with some rising and some falling. If it were as clearly divided as before, how would it be different from two stagnant pools?"

“Yes, the headmaster is absolutely right! They are all our students, and we would be happy if any of them did well on the exam.” Mr. Ji quickly praised, “It’s laughable that we are so biased and narrow-minded.”

The gentlemen were starting to lose their composure; Mr. Ji was being sarcastic again…

Zhou Shanchang pretended not to notice the sarcasm in Mr. Ji's words and waved his hand, saying, "Go ahead and get busy."

"Yes," the gentlemen replied in unison as they took their leave.

~~
The results were announced the next day, and cheers erupted in front of the notice board!
The cheers were all from the students of Zhengyi Zhai. Firstly, their adoptive father and his followers had finally made it onto the list, and they even took the top two spots right from the start! This made it impossible for the people of Chengxin Zhai to say that they were good students anymore!
Secondly, cheer for themselves—although only Deng Zhaizhang and Lei Shengyuan made it into the top 30, a breakthrough from zero is the most valuable!

This shows that the gap between them and Chengxinzhai is not insurmountable! As long as they continue to work hard, they can also squeeze into the upper half of the bracket!
For every person who rejoices, there is someone who grieves, such as the Lee brothers.

This time, Lee Tsung-wei fell to thirty-fourth place, while Lee Tsung-sheng dropped even further to thirty-eighth...

If things continue like this, it's hard to say what will happen to Lee Chong Wei, but Lee Chong Sheng will definitely resort to fasting.

Young Master Li dared not imagine what kind of treatment awaited him if he ended up in Zhengyi Zhai. It would definitely be worse than being in prison!

"Impossible, absolutely impossible..." Young Master Li was starting to panic. He had clearly managed to raid the enemy this time!

Actually, his grades were decent; it's just that others caught up with him. Looking at the Zhengyizhai students around him, Li Zongsheng muttered, "Can anyone tell me what's wrong with them?"

Many people at Chengxinzhai also felt a sense of crisis, whispering among themselves, worried that they might be squeezed out like Li Zongsheng...

Only the truly outstanding students like Baiyun Mountain and Lei Jun wouldn't care how much progress Zhengyi Zhai had made. After all, they wouldn't be pushed down. Bai Sanshao, on the contrary, was quite happy; finally, he wouldn't have to see that idiot Li Zongsheng constantly hovering in front of him.

The two were concerned about Su Lu and Zhu Zihe's writing, which had surprisingly improved again...

Moreover, his progress is very obvious, especially Su Lu's eight-legged essay, which has a natural feel to it.

"Is the old headmaster's special tutoring really that effective?" Bai Yunshan asked in surprise. Actually, the headmaster had given him a lot of guidance, and he had made progress, but not as noticeably.

He really wanted to ask Su Lu for advice on how he had improved. But the two schools were currently too opposed. Obviously, it wasn't suitable to ask him for advice at school; he could only see if there was an opportunity outside of school.

(End of this chapter)