Top Scholar

Chapter 249 Who is Sun Shan?

"Silence!" Zhang, the clerk, shouted upon seeing this. "If you make any more noise, you will be thrown out immediately!"

"..." The students fell silent.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?" Magistrate Lu asked with a stern expression.

Most of the students dared not utter a sound, but some seasoned veterans mustered their courage and spoke up:
"Reporting to our parents, we do not understand why we are being tested on the essay?"

Magistrate Lu glanced at him and asked, "You're not young anymore. How old are you? How many times have you taken the exam?"

“Reporting to my parents, I was born at the age of twenty-eight.” The old scholar replied, “I have taken the exam more than ten times.”

"Hmm." Magistrate Lu saw that the man's face was weathered and worn. Although he had shaved and dyed his hair, it was obvious that he was exaggerating his age. He didn't point it out, but simply asked:

"Then let me ask you, according to the regulations, what exactly is subject to a re-examination?"

"Your Honor, the fourth and fifth sessions will be held consecutively. The tests can cover classics, poetry, and parallel prose. The tests can be held in two sessions or just one. They can be either written or oral, and the decision is made by the county magistrate..." The old scholar's voice grew softer and softer as he spoke.

"Does a test poem count as a poem?" Magistrate Lu asked again.

"Yes," the old scholar nodded.

"Then what's so surprising about you?" Magistrate Lu asked.

"Because my parents have never taken the exam before..." the old scholar whispered, "so I was not well prepared."

"Is it because this county has never held such an examination before that you're taking a chance?" Magistrate Lu's voice turned cold as he said:
"You're already this old, and you haven't even prepared the most basic examination poem? With this kind of attitude towards learning, what are you even trying to achieve the title of Xiucai?"

Hearing that the master was angry, the old scholar hurriedly replied, "Prepared, prepared."

Now no one dared to object.

~~
The examination poem was a poetic form used in the imperial examinations. Because the title was preceded by the words "Fu De" (赋得), it was also called the Fu De style. It was an important part of the imperial examinations in the Tang and Song dynasties.

Although the current dynasty also retains the examination poems, they are not highly valued under the trend of Neo-Confucianism's practical application to the world. In particular, Hejiang has not held this examination for more than ten years, so candidates are terrified at the mere mention of it.

However, not all candidates were surprised; in fact, some had anticipated that the exam might include poems written in the style of calligraphy.

Because the county examination, to put it bluntly, was a selection examination for those who had passed the county-level examinations. The content of the examination was relatively arbitrary; basically, apart from the main examination, what was tested was decided by the county magistrate.

Previously, the magistrate did not take the imperial examination because of his family background and did not want to attract criticism. But now that he has been promoted to the rank of Wenlin Lang, he has finally been recognized by the civil service system, and no one will bring up his academic background anymore.

So even if it's just to celebrate and show that he's changed a lot now, he might very well take a poetry test!
Unexpectedly, it can only be said that you were working in isolation, lacked access to information, and did not have any expert guidance, while the students of Taiping Academy already knew all of this.

Yes, it's definitely not a trap...

Since things had come to this point, there was no choice but to bite the bullet and proceed. So Magistrate Lu had the clerk present the topic: "The plum blossoms amidst the thorns and brambles!"
Fortunately, even if you don't know the source of the poem, you can still do it just by looking at its meaning.

Moreover, Magistrate Lu thoughtfully provided rhyme books for the students to consult... so no one could accuse him of launching a surprise attack and catching everyone unprepared.

It's really too difficult to find fault with a county magistrate who has served for thirteen years.

However, the test takers were still quite frustrated because many of them didn't know what 'de li' meant...

So, is it okay to ignore it? Of course not!
Since examination poems are a type of literary form, they naturally have strict rules. The topics must be drawn from classics, histories, philosophical works, or poems by predecessors. The first couplet must introduce the topic, the second couplet must continue the topic, the middle and last couplets must be perfectly parallel, and the poems must rhyme with level tones and avoid repeated or inauspicious words.

I don't know what 'de li' means, how do I solve this problem?

But this is not the fault of Magistrate Lu; he can only blame himself for being uneducated.

Su Youcai, however, had no such worries, because this poem was from his ancestor Su Dongpo's "Two Poems on Plum Blossoms"! The first one reads—

In spring, the water in the secluded valley murmurs, and plum blossoms bloom amidst the thorns and brambles.

A sudden east wind blew, splitting the rocks; half of the snowflakes drifted with the wind across the mountains and passes.

Moreover, his greatest talent was composing poetry!

While others were still racking their brains, Su Youcai had already composed a poem. He quickly checked it in his mind to see if the poem had any flaws in terms of meter, rhyme, or parallelism, and whether it conformed to the norms of examination poems.

After confirming there were no problems, he raised his hand and reported, "Dear parents, the student has been accepted!"

Magistrate Lu waved his hand, and a clerk came to him with a tray. Su Youcai picked up a pen and neatly wrote a five-character, six-rhyme examination poem on the paper, then signed his name in the lower left corner.

The clerk then turned around and presented the tray.

At that moment, Su Youcai felt a lump in his throat, his vision blurred with tears, and he remembered more than ten years ago...

~~
It was my first time going for an interview, and I was still quite naive and overconfident.

It was a similar situation today, but after answering the question about the scriptures, I, still young and impulsive at the time, knelt down and said:
"Please, Your Excellency, grant me another test!"

"What else do you want to try?" the then-young Magistrate Lu asked expressionlessly.

He then said, "I am a student who is proficient in poetry, lyrics and songs. I beg Your Excellency to give me a topic!" Magistrate Lu immediately changed his expression and said, "'The current emperor values ​​literature. Why do you need to talk about the Han and Tang dynasties?' A student like you should only focus on writing. What's the point of learning those miscellaneous books that mock the wind and moon and sully people's conduct? Seeing how you are so focused on fame rather than substance, I know you are a restless and impatient person."

"This is unacceptable. Go back and think it over before coming back. Guards, get him out of here!" At Magistrate Lu's command, two fierce-looking clerks stepped forward, grabbed him by the arms, and dragged him out of the yamen!
"Go on!" The two clerks shoved him hard, and Su Youcai staggered backward. He didn't notice the steps under his feet and tumbled down, finally falling flat on his back.

The family members of the candidates waiting outside the government office burst into laughter.

He tried to get up quickly, but he couldn't.

In the end, it was his older brother who helped him up and carried him away from Yaqian Street...

~~
Su Youcai never imagined that ten years later, he would finally have the opportunity to compose a poem in front of Magistrate Lu...

Magistrate Lu picked up the manuscript paper and saw the poem:

"A Poem on the Gleaming Plum Blossoms Amidst Thorns and Grass"

'Thorns bury emaciated bones, sparse branches reveal their gnarled beauty.'

The harsher the frost of winter, the stronger the will and determination.

Fragrant scents linger among the wild grasses, a shadow stands before the tangled branches.

The trees sway, plum blossoms fall, snow stains the inkstone with crimson.

Frozen fingers stiffen and cannot grip, cold lamp keeps me awake all night.

As spring's arrival approaches, a refreshing breeze will fill the jade-like fields!

He skimmed through the poem briefly; the imagery was quite good, and the overall conception was coherent. The poem uses the plum blossom's solitary elegance amidst the thorns and brambles as a metaphor for the scholar's steadfast commitment to diligent study. It reveals character amidst desolation and aspirations amidst loneliness.

"The content and style are both excellent." Magistrate Lu nodded in approval, but as a test poem, the rhyme scheme still needed to be checked.

Magistrate Lu carefully counted the rhymes and found that the entire poem rhymed in the "Xia Ping Yi Xian Bu" rhyme group, with no issues of out-of-rhyme or repeated rhymes. Moreover, words such as "Yan" and "Yao Tian" also conformed to the characteristics of rhyming words in the "Yi Xian" rhyme group, with clear and bright pronunciations, without any muffled or obscure rhymes!
The phonetics and rhyme level is simply too high!

Magistrate Lu was deeply impressed. He had personally witnessed Su Youcai, who hadn't tried to snatch the rhyme book, yet had composed the rhymes so accurately and exquisitely from memory alone. He couldn't help but give him a thumbs up and praise him:
"You are a master of phonetics!"

"I am unworthy of such praise." Su Youcai took a deep breath, not wanting Magistrate Lu to see him shed tears.

In addition, the test poem must be in the oblique tone pattern. In short, each couplet of the poem must use the pattern 'oblique oblique level level oblique, level level oblique oblique level; oblique level level oblique oblique, level oblique oblique level level'.

Magistrate Lu checked the tones again, and they were still completely correct!
"Good heavens..." Magistrate Lu couldn't help but gasp. You must know, composing poems on the spot for an exam is extremely difficult.

Otherwise, even though the Tang and Song dynasties produced hundreds of thousands or even millions of examination poems, apart from Bai Juyi's poem, not a single one became famous.

What kind of monster is this, that he could achieve such impeccable meter and rhyme in such a short time?
Moreover, its artistic conception and style are excellent, perfectly meeting the requirements of examination poems to be "classical and elegant, with no errors in metrical rules," and can be directly used as an examination model!

"Excellent, excellent!" Magistrate Lu exclaimed, "In terms of poetry alone, you are even better than the top scholar!"

“My parents are too kind. ‘The current emperor values ​​literature, why should you talk about the Han and Tang dynasties!’ We students should only focus on writing. What’s the point of learning those miscellaneous books that mock the wind and moon and corrupt people’s conduct?” Su Youcai said seriously.

Magistrate Lu had no recollection of what he had said ten years ago. He simply sighed and said, "Well, you can't be so absolute. Go wait in the back for your meal."

"Yes, thank you, my dear parents." Su Youcai bowed deeply with a calm expression and followed the clerk to the back hall.

He originally thought that once he got over this obstacle that had blocked his path for half his life, he would be so excited that he would burst into tears, and might even be unable to help but shout.

But when he heard that he had finally passed the county examination, he felt only a sense of relief, and otherwise a profound peace...

~~
Following Su Youcai, the candidates of Taiping Academy also completed their examination poems.

Magistrate Lu waited patiently for half an hour before urging the rest of the people to hand in their papers.

However, among the other forty-nine examination poems, including those from Taiping Academy, the difference between them and those by Su Youcai was quite large, and not many were even completely compliant with regulations.

This is torture for those appreciating poetry, but perfect for the examiners.

Magistrate Lu selected three poems that were completely correct, and then chose the one with the fewest mistakes from the remaining poems. The county examination admission process for this year was thus completed.

Looking at the name on the last sheet of paper, Magistrate Lu said in a deep voice, "Li Qiyu."

"Your student is here!" Li Qiyu stepped forward with a sob in his voice and knelt down before his elderly parents with a thud.

He thought he had no chance, but he was lucky enough to get the last spot!
Magistrate Lu saw that he had a kind face and remembered that his father was the Tucheng Hundred-Household Commander who had warmly hosted him. Now that he had repaid the favor, he said in a friendly tone, "Let's go to the back and have a drink."

"Yes, I thank my parents." Since Li Qiyu had already knelt, he kowtowed to his parents again before wiping away his tears and walking towards the back hall.

The remaining forty-five students were all ashen-faced, on the verge of tears.

Magistrate Lu sighed softly and comforted them, saying, "It's alright. There will be another chance next year. Go back and review properly; nothing will be delayed."

The students felt a little better, bowed to thank their elderly parents, and then took their leave.

(End of this chapter)