Top Scholar

Chapter 242 County Examination
Su Lu looked at the title of the poem about the meaning of the Four Books—"And the son of the star-studded school said the Book of Poetry."

It is known that this question is a combination of the first and second parts. The first part, "and all the stars revolve around it," comes from the Analects of Confucius, "Governing with virtue is like the North Star, which remains in its place while all the stars revolve around it."
The latter part, "Confucius said of the three hundred poems," comes from the same chapter: "Confucius said: The three hundred poems can be summed up in one phrase: 'Have no evil thoughts.'"

The two sentences are unrelated, so this is another example of 'interrupting a chapter without any connection'.

This type of question is quite difficult, but the question itself isn't particularly hard. This is because both the former and the latter refer to education and moral guidance.

Therefore, Su Lu immediately realized that the solution lay in grasping the intrinsic connection between "governing with virtue" and "poetry teaching without evil"—both are vehicles for the sages to impart their teachings to the world:

The North Star remains stationary in the center while all the other stars revolve around it, symbolizing a sage who unites people's hearts with virtue.

Poetry education can also rectify people's hearts and enrich human relationships.

The former is the embodiment of political virtue, while the latter is the carrier of cultural virtue. When viewed together, we can see Confucius's philosophy of governing the world, which integrates "governing" and "teaching" into one.

Once you figure out the question setter's trick, the "intercepting and matching" question becomes a regular "Four Books" question, and you can then simply write the essay as usual.

Su Lu held the sachet in his hand, gently inhaling its fragrance, which was as sweet as orchids and as sweet as musk. He closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, then picked up the Kui Xing Pointing-the-Dipper Brush, dipped it in the inkwell, and began to write with flowing strokes on the manuscript paper.

'Virtue establishes governance, foundation is established, and the Way is practiced; poetry is without evil intent, and all poems return to righteousness.'

'Virtue is the foundation of governance, like the North Star aligning and all other stars shining; poetry serves as a model, just as the words of sages are concise and the poems are well-structured.'

"It has been said that the way of the sage is one virtue and one righteousness. When virtue is established, governance flourishes, the foundation is solid, and transformation takes place; when righteousness is expressed in poetry, the principle is established, and the purpose is unified. Observing the stars' orbits reveals the foundation of governance, and savoring the meaning of poetry reveals the doctrine. The essence and function complement each other, and there is no two separate principles..."

'...'

Su Lu finished a 670-character essay in one go, put down his pen, and stretched his wrists slightly. It had taken him about half an hour to write this essay…

Although there was no time announcement in the examination room, Su Lu had practiced for many years and was now able to estimate the time quite accurately.

Since this problem about cutting and connecting is of utmost importance, he's not in a hurry to move on to the next one.

However, the most urgent thing is to drink some water to moisten his throat. He hasn't had a drop of water since he left home this morning, almost two hours ago.

Su Lu pulled out the bottom basket, took out the water bottle, and popped the stopper off.

The exam room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. The candidates were either deep in thought or working hard on their drafts when they heard this sound. They were all startled, and some even exclaimed "Ah!"

"What do you mean, 'huh'?!" the clerk in charge of the exam shouted angrily.

The test taker was almost driven to despair. Why didn't you ask the person why they kissed him, but instead asked me what?

Fortunately, he was a seasoned student who had taken the imperial examinations several times, and he knew that speaking at this moment would easily lead to trouble, so he lowered his head and dared not utter a sound.

Su Lu didn't dare to turn around and could only apologize silently in his heart. But he still had to drink the water. He took a small sip of the cooled 'mint and salt plum water' and felt a chill in his throat. The sourness of the salt plum and mint exploded in his mouth, invigorating him.

Su Lu didn't dare to drink too much. He took a few small sips and carefully put the stopper back on. This time, there was no sound at all.

After putting the water bottle back in the exam basket, he focused on perfecting his essay, his mouth still feeling refreshed and sweet.

Keep revising until you are satisfied...

Meanwhile, the second major question running in his mind—"The wise man communicates with those above, and the petty man communicates with those below"—had already taken shape in his mind.

This question comes from the Analects, Book 12, Chapter 1, and is a complete sentence. It's much simpler than the first question. Even the monthly exam questions when Su Lu first entered Taiping Academy were more difficult than this.

Of course, even with the simplest topic, the quality of the essay must be guaranteed.

Therefore, Su Lu did not rush into writing. Instead, he carefully examined the topic and conceived a plan from the beginning, making sure that his mental draft was sound before he picked up his pen to begin writing the draft.

'Upholding righteousness and reason is paramount, as attained by the virtuous; pursuing personal gain is inferior, as driven by the petty!'

After solving the problem, I finished it in one go, also around 670 words!
This time it took even less time...

Su Lu remained calm and meticulous, repeatedly revising his work until he felt there were no further changes to be made. Only then did he pack all the manuscripts he had written that morning into a paper bag.

Then he bent down, pulled out the second-tier exam basket, and gently placed it on the table. Next, he took the water bottle, slowly uncorked it, and took a leisurely sip.

Let’s eat!
Su Lu opened the layers of oil paper bags, placed the four kinds of pastries and smoked fish inside on a porcelain plate, then took out her chopsticks, picked up a piece and put it in her mouth. Her movements were elegant and composed, and she didn't make a sound.

But it has a smell...

The exam hall was soon filled with the aroma of ham and smoked fish, causing the students, who had been busy all morning, to involuntarily sniffle. Then, their stomachs began to rumble, like a chorus of frogs in a pond.

Their brains went completely blank; they couldn't think of anything anymore. They had no choice but to clear the table, take out various kinds of food, and eat lunch first…

Su Lu didn't dare to eat too much. She ate a small amount of four pastries and two pieces of smoked fish before putting down her chopsticks to avoid getting dizzy from the carbon monoxide later.

He drank some water to clear his mouth, and then he packed up his stall...

Su Lu took out a towel from the exam basket, wiped his hands clean, then carefully wiped the table clean before taking the draft paper out of the exam paper bag again.

Then he checked the two essays again. This time, besides refining the tones and rhymes to make the writing more rhythmic and powerful, he also checked the formatting of official and taboo names according to regulations... After finishing, he even rewrote two passages of the Classic of Filial Piety from memory. After comparing them with the first time and finding no errors, he took out the official answer sheet from the exam paper bag, filled in his personal information on the first page, and then turned to the second page to begin copying it stroke by stroke.

At this moment, he entered a state of extreme concentration, so focused that even if the sky were to fall, he wouldn't lift his eyelids.

After he had finished copying two passages from the Classic of Filial Piety and two essays in eight-legged essays, totaling 1,846 characters, in one go, he carefully put the brush back into the brush holder and closed the inkwell. Only then did he stretch his wrists and let out a long sigh of relief…

Su Lu checked it carefully again to make sure that all the text was copied correctly. By then, the ink on the scroll had completely dried.

He closed the exam paper, broke the ticket in half, took out a bottle of glue from the exam basket, used a stick to apply a little glue to the four sides of the ticket, and then carefully stuck the half of the ticket to his name column...

He covered the glue bottle and sat there, staring intently as the glue dried. He really didn't know what else to do.

Actually, if Mr. Liu hadn't taught him not to hand in his paper too early, he could have finished this much in the morning and even had time to go home for dinner.

He has done everything he could to slow down and buy time, but it's only just past 1 PM...

There are still two and a half hours left until the exam ends.

Oh my god, how am I supposed to get through these five hours? Will sleeping be considered disrespectful to the exam?

How about I give myself another problem to solve?
~~
Inside the cells to the left of Minglun Hall, Comrade Su Youcai presented a completely different scene.

His son was so bored that he was setting himself problems to solve, and he was still racking his brains trying to come up with the first puzzle...

Su Youcai's mind was indeed not as sharp as his son's, but it was not enough for him to memorize two passages of the Classic of Filial Piety in just one morning.

In fact, he had already used Su Lu's method to easily crack the question setter's thinking, connect the two parts, and understand what the article was supposed to convey.

But once he wrote it down, he felt dissatisfied with this and that.

So he decided to use the enumeration method...

In just half a day, Comrade Youcai has already used six methods to solve the problem: direct, indirect, overt, covert, forward, and reverse, and has written nine outlines!

He laid the nine sheets of paper flat on the table, crumpled his hair into a mess, but still couldn't pick out the one he was most satisfied with...

The clerks supervising the exam dared not look at him; they felt that even a single glance at him would suffocate them.

~~
In Minglun Hall, the original desks and chairs had all been moved to the examination room.

Instead, the county magistrate's large desk was placed there. On either side of the desk were rows of long tables, where County Magistrate Cao, Registrar Bao, Instructor Hai, and Assistant Advisor You sat in order.

The first exam is always a mess, so there's not much to proctor. Everyone was relaxed, drinking tea and chatting, having a great time.

But when proctoring exams elsewhere, the examiners always talk about their experiences taking the exams back then, bragging and telling anecdotes, seemingly enjoying themselves immensely.

Everyone here tacitly avoided discussing exams and the imperial examination system...

Because both County Magistrate Cao and Registrar Bao were Juren (successful candidates in the provincial civil service examination), and although Instructor Hai and Assistant Advisor You were both Imperial Academy students, they were Gongjian (tribute students), which was half a head higher than the Grand Master's regular Imperial Academy.

Therefore, the lord here has the lowest level of education... As long as you talk about the imperial examination, no matter what you talk about, even if it's self-deprecating or self-mocking, the lord might suspect that you are talking about him.

But here we won't talk about the imperial examinations; talking about romance is too unserious, and talking about river engineering is too much of a headache.

So after chatting for a while, everyone ran out of things to say.

"Sir, how about we go and inspect the field?" You Muyou suggested at the opportune moment.

"Alright, alright, enough chit-chat." Magistrate Lu nodded quickly, seemingly relieved. "Gentlemen, please follow me on my inspection tour."

Every time he proctored an exam, he felt like others were talking about him behind his back, and every word they said would put him on guard...

"Yes, sir." The two assistants quickly got up and followed the master out of Minglun Hall.

"Left or right?" Magistrate Lu stopped in his tracks.

“Go to the left, the left is the more honorable side,” You Muyou replied casually.

"Hmm." Magistrate Lu responded and walked to the first examination room on the left, immediately spotting Su Lu sitting in the first row by the window. His mood instantly brightened, and he said:

"I saw Su the Prodigy as soon as I stepped out of the house. He's sure to have great luck in the county exam this year."

"Let's go, let's see how he did?" With that, he led the group into the examination hall, went straight to his desk, and looked down at his answer sheet. The topic of Su Lu's essay was:
'Rites are the order of heaven and earth...'

Magistrate Lu was immediately dumbfounded, wishing he could kick everyone else out, and then tap Su Lu on the head and say:

"What are you doing? I'm being tested on the Four Books, why are you asking me questions about the Five Classics?"

P.S. This chapter is dedicated to the new alliance leader 'Cangcang Jianjia Xian', please continue to vote with monthly tickets!!!

(End of this chapter)