Top Scholar

Chapter 375 Martial Arts Examination

Besides the Xiqing Academy, the Shu Prince's Palace also housed as many as fifty-four study rooms of varying sizes. The current Shu Prince, Zhu Binhan, frequently stayed in one called Songyunxuan.

After he fell ill, he needed to rest and often read and calmed his mind in this quiet study.

Unfortunately, he couldn't escape the peace and quiet today; his sister was spinning around in the study like a top...

The King of Shu was not bothered and continued reading his book while the young princess paced back and forth.

"Brother, aren't you annoyed?" The little princess's self-awareness was unusual for royalty.

"How could that be?" the King of Shu said with a gentle smile. He himself was sickly, but seeing his sister so energetic made him genuinely happy.

"Brother, what I mean is, if you find it troublesome, just take me with you," the little princess pleaded. "Today there's a song and dance performance by the top scholar, the kind you only see once in your life!"

"What song and dance performance? That's a ceremony for the Deer Cry Banquet." The King of Shu said speechlessly, "Besides, wouldn't it be presumptuous of us to attend such an occasion?"

"And he calls himself the King of Shu? He can't even grant his little sister this small wish," the young princess muttered under her breath.

"Who says I can't satisfy you? You just want to hear Jie Yuanlang sing and dance, right? Simple, I'll summon him tomorrow and he'll perform for you all day long," the King of Shu laughed.

"That won't do!" The young princess shook her head resolutely. "I only want to see the top scholar sing and dance at the Deer Cry Banquet. Once we're out of that place, if anyone dares to force him to sing and dance, I'll fight them to the death!"

"Why?" the King of Shu asked, knowing the answer already.

“Because singing and dancing are in accordance with etiquette at the Deer Cry Banquet, but not at other occasions!” the young princess said.

“It would be against etiquette for me to take you there, so just wait patiently for the results,” the King of Shu said, then ignored her.

The young princess had no choice but to give up, but she was incredibly frustrated... It was like her only idol was having a concert, but she couldn't buy a ticket even though she had the money.

After waiting anxiously until the afternoon, Eunuch Qi finally brought back a thick book.

Inside are the surveillance files from the Provincial Administration Commission today, which naturally include the complete record of the Deer Cry Banquet. From beginning to end, everyone's words and actions are clearly remembered.

This was not the work of the Prince of Shu's residence. On the contrary, after the Jingnan Campaign, princes had become the subjects of surveillance, and their every move was monitored and recorded in this way.

But even the strictest rules will eventually fall apart over time. After nearly a century of continuous courting and bribery, princes in various regions had basically managed to control the Embroidered Uniform Guards who were monitoring them.

Some ambitious individuals even turned the local Imperial Guards into their henchmen, making them do dirty work, and even treasonous tasks.

A model vassal king like the Prince of Shu would certainly not harbor any ill intentions, but it would be harmless to make a call to the Embroidered Uniform Guard and request a look at their surveillance files.

Eunuch Qi was speechless. Everyone else did this for ulterior motives. But the Prince of Shu did it simply to help his sister chase after her idol…

The brother and sister couldn't wait to watch the entire process of the newly appointed scholars attending the Deer Cry Banquet.

At first, the descriptions were all procedural. The King of Shu was not very interested and wanted to turn the page quickly, but the little princess refused. She wanted to savor every page that recorded Su Lu's words and deeds.

"Oh my, he's wearing a scholar's round-necked robe and an official's hat! How handsome he looks..."

"Oh dear, the top scholar has started singing 'The Deer Cry,' those guys are in luck, they'll surely be hearing celestial music and their ears will be instantly clear..."

"The top scholar is starting to offer toasts, so drink less..."

A few simple words were enough for the young princess to conjure up a rich picture in her mind, and then she would swoon over the Su Jieyuan she had imagined.

The King of Shu was quite helpless. Luckily, his sister didn't plan to meet him in person, otherwise he would have definitely given her away for free...

This is what is meant by the most fatal flaw: self-deception.

When she saw the Lizhe Society members making fun of Su Lu's poetry at the Deer Cry Banquet, the young princess flew into a rage and slammed her hand on the table, saying, "Brother, send an edict to the Chengdu Prefecture and tell them to prohibit these people from holding an illegal gathering!"

“They’ve become the Grand Secretary again, and the Chengdu Prefecture might not necessarily listen to me.” The Prince of Shu coughed twice and urged, “Turn the page quickly, let me see how the top scholar handles it.”

"Hmm!" The young princess angrily turned to the next page, and then was captivated by that poem for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea...

"Indeed, national misfortune is a poet's fortune. This is the best poem that the top scholar has ever written..." After a long pause, she finally spoke, tears streaming down her face:

"It's just so heartbreaking to read. I wish he had never written this poem."

"Alas..." The King of Shu also put away his playful expression and said slowly, "The world is like this, and no upright gentleman can remain indifferent."

“That’s right…” The young princess nodded, her admiration boundless. “The top scholar has integrity and is a role model for scholars in Sichuan. Naturally, he should speak out against injustice!”

"Yes," the King of Shu agreed, "He has indeed set an example for the scholars of Shu."

He sighed and said, "But the bigger the tree, the more the wind blows. Before, he was just a minor scholar, so no one cared what he said, and it didn't matter if he cursed Liu Jin a few times. But now he's the top scholar in a province, and so many eyes are watching him..."

"I know what else I can do besides stand by and watch!" the young princess said, rubbing her hands together eagerly.

"I will protect him just as Princess Yuzhen protected Wang Wei!"

"Cough cough..." The King of Shu coughed and said with a wry smile, "Can my Ming Dynasty princess compare to the Tang Dynasty princess?" "No..." The little princess lowered her head guiltily, put her two slender index fingers together and said, "But I will do my best."

He then looked up at the King of Shu and said, "Besides, don't we have an elder brother?"

"He's going to the capital to take the imperial examination. Once he leaves Sichuan, I'll be of no use to him," the King of Shu sighed.

"However, I am still somewhat useful in Sichuan."

As he spoke, he instructed Eunuch Qi, "Give two of the century-old Liaoning ginseng roots that the late Emperor bestowed upon me to Commander Qin's mother to help her recover. Also, tell Commander Qin that Scholar Su is my... friend, and ask him to look after him."

"Yes," Eunuch Qi replied respectfully. He realized that it seemed not only the young princess was infatuated with Su Jieyuan, but the prince was also somewhat similar, regarding Su Jieyuan as a source of spiritual sustenance.

~~
After the Deer Cry Banquet, the scholars did not rush back to their hometowns, but instead stayed in Chengdu to socialize and strengthen their bonds.

As the top scholar in the provincial examination, Su Lu naturally had many social obligations. But he had a more important matter to attend to while he stayed behind—to help his second brother with the provincial examination.

The military provincial examination began three days after the results of the civil provincial examination were announced!
The reason they were not held at the same time was that Liu Bing was also the chief examiner of the military provincial examination.

Two days before the exam, Ma Qianli arrived at the Luzhou government office, travel-worn and weary.

"Head of the study hall, what brings you here?!" Su Lu, Lin Zhihong, Li Qiyu, and other classmates from the Sheng Shen Zhai were pleasantly surprised to see him suddenly appear.

Ma Qianli disappeared for a year and four months. He grew a head taller, his shoulders broadened by half a foot, and he became more capable and powerful. His scholarly demeanor had almost completely disappeared.

He looked at Su Lulin and Zhihong, who were both wearing the round collar of the Juren (a type of scholar's robe), and even Li Qiyu and Cheng Wanfan were wearing the Lanshan (another type of scholar's robe). He couldn't help but sigh with envy before he smiled and said, "My grandfather sent me to Shaolin Temple to learn martial arts. My master only let me go down the mountain last month to participate in the martial arts examination. I rushed here and finally made it."

"Oh, you've become a monk?" Li Qiyu exclaimed in shock. "Then how will you have a son like Xiao Qianhu?"

"Do you even understand what a lay disciple is?" Ma Qianli said irritably.

"Have you completed the registration and everything?" Su Lu asked with concern.

"Don't worry," Ma Qianli said with a smile, "my grandfather has arranged everything."

"That's good..." Su Lu was relieved. Commander Ma was the epitome of reliability!

“However, I only know how to take the civil provincial examination, but I have no idea how to take the military provincial examination,” Ma Qianli said.

"Shaolin Temple doesn't teach this?" Li Qiyu asked.

“Nonsense,” Ma Qianli said.

Su Tai then told Ma Qianli, "The military provincial examination also consists of three parts. The first part is about military strategy, classics and policy essays. The second part is about horsemanship and archery, and the third part is about martial arts. But it's different from the civil provincial examination. If you don't pass the first part, you won't be able to participate in the later parts."

"So, for us martial arts students, the first round is the most difficult." He paused and chuckled, "Of course, Master Ma certainly doesn't need to worry."

“Sigh.” Ma Qianli shook his head and said, “I’ve only read the Seven Military Classics, and I haven’t prepared anything else.”

Seeing that he was still quite uneasy, Su Lu smiled and said, "Then let's do a few sets of questions."

“Okay.” Ma Qianli didn’t even have time to rest before starting to work on the past exam questions that Su Lu had gotten for Su Tai.

You don't know until you try, and once you do, you're shocked. When Ma Zhaizhang saw the questions, it was like a high school student looking at an elementary school test—he exclaimed in surprise, "Wow, it's this easy?"

“Because you are only at the level of a scholar,” Su Tai said, “but the martial arts provincial examination is for us martial artists.”

“I am a martial artist now,” Ma Zhaizhang emphasized.

"You're doing a classic 'abandoning the pen for the sword' move, a classic case of 'downward strike'," Su Lu laughed.

"Who knows if the exam will be that easy?" Ma Zhaizhang said cautiously.

The first test turned out to be surprisingly easy...

The papers were easy to grade. The results were released two days later, and unsurprisingly, Ma Qianli topped the list, with Su Tai in second place…

But for Ma Qianli, the real test is yet to come.

The following day, the second round of the military provincial examination was held at the military training ground of the Sichuan Provincial Military Command.

The exam content was exactly the same as last year's annual examination. The first test was on horseback archery. Candidates had to use a six-strength horse to ride a horse three times on a sixty-zhang track, shooting nine arrows. Three arrows hitting the target was considered passing.

Candidates who make it to the second round must have worked very hard; otherwise, they wouldn't have made it past the first round.

They can read books and write characters, so they naturally practice archery even more diligently. When they ride horses, their arrows are like shooting stars, and they can usually hit the target five or six times, far exceeding the qualified standard!
Su Tai hit the bullseye with all nine arrows, achieving the best score in the entire competition in mounted archery, demonstrating a significant improvement in his skills compared to a year ago!

Everyone was holding their breath for Ma Zhaizhang, and the martial arts students were especially eager to see this scholar make a fool of himself...

Then he leaped onto the horse's back and galloped away. His posture was as steady as a pine tree and as solid as a rock, and he and his mount were one!
Once on the track, Ma Qianli drew his bow to its fullest extent, and the arrows shot out like shooting stars chasing the moon, as fast as lightning—he fired nine arrows in quick succession, each hitting the bullseye, drawing gasps of amazement from the entire audience!
P.S. This is a post I'll edit later. Please vote with your monthly tickets!
(End of this chapter)