"Bowen, why can't we wait until dawn to talk about something? Why do you have to wake me up at this time?"
Zhu Rushi, the magistrate of Taoyuan County, walked out of the inner courtyard wearing a robe with a somewhat annoyed look on his face.
He looked at Xu Pingsheng, who was all wet and frowned slightly, and warned, "You know the temper of my family. If you don't give a reasonable explanation, be careful of her cursing your ancestors for eighteen generations."
There is a tigress in Zhu Zhixian's house, which is extremely fierce and everyone knows it.
Xu Ping usually wouldn't dare to provoke him and would just hide away, but tonight he came with a surprise, so he was naturally confident.
"Sir, what else can be done? The poem is finished!"
Xu Pingsheng suppressed the excitement in his heart and couldn't wait to put the robe in his arms on the desk, carefully spread it out and opened it, revealing the folded red paper.
His fate for the rest of his life was all determined by this thin piece of paper.
However, Zhu Rushi acted quite calmly, with no surprise in his eyes, but full of sleepiness.
He knew Xu Pingsheng's level.
He has just enough ink in his stomach to be a decent scholar in Taoyuan County. It's okay to write a few life-or-death limericks on weekdays, but if he wants his poems to impress those old scholars at the Hanlin Academy in the capital, , is absolutely impossible.
This time, when Xu Pingsheng was given the task of writing poems, it was not because he had any expectations of him, but simply because he wanted to find someone to take the blame.
I believe Xu Pingsheng himself has already seen through this, but what can he do?
Xu Pingsheng should understand this officialdom and worldliness.
"Haha, it's quite efficient, so I'll say you can do it."
Zhu Ru was smiling and patted Xu Pingsheng on the shoulder to encourage him.
Then he casually opened the piece of paper while thinking of a perfunctory speech.
"This word is really ugly, Bowen, you are upset."
Zhu Ru took a quick look and commented on the font first.
Xu Pingsheng blushed and quickly pointed to the signature on the edge:
Xu Xingmu, a government official in Taoyuan County, Juhai Prefecture, Tianlong Province, Daxia Dynasty.
"It turns out it was written by this guy Feng Lin..."
Zhu Ru was a little surprised. He glanced at Xu Pingsheng, and then there was a hint of contempt in his eyes.
Tiger poison doesn't even eat its seeds. In order to survive, you Xu Bowen turned this cauldron on the head of your illiterate son. Are you still a human being?
It's a shame that you always pretend to be a loving father, bah!
He was quite disdainful and continued to read the poem, "Hey! Feng Lin can do it. The title of this poem is really good!"
Zhu Rushi's eyes suddenly lit up, and he couldn't help but praise repeatedly, ""White Clothes Wins the Snow·Respectfully Invite the Sword Master to Fall Sword in Tai'an City", it not only flatters the Sword Master, but also points out the needs of the Sword Master, good! Good! Good!"
He became a little interested and immediately continued to look down. As his eyes moved, his body trembled slightly, his expression gradually became outrageous, and his pupils began to dilate... Soon, he was the same as Xu Pingsheng an hour ago. Just like that, I fell into a state of complete confusion and shock.
Silence! Deathly silence!
Zhu Ru was staring at this poem, deeply immersed in it, unable to stop.
I couldn't come back to my senses for a long time.
He just kept repeating those two sentences in a low voice with trembling lips, "Except for the triple snow on your body, who in the world is worthy of white clothes..."
"My lord? My lord!"
When Xu Pingsheng saw the magistrate's bird-like painting, he knew that he too had been impressed by the poem.
He hurriedly woke him up and said excitedly, "Time waits for no one, hurry up, stamp it with the Yamen seal, and send it to the capital!"
Zhu Ru was awakened by the excitement. After a moment of recovery, he took a deep breath and said two words, "It's not urgent."
Xu Pingsheng panicked, "Aren't you in a hurry? Although Master Juggernaut gave you three days to submit the poem, the news has been reaching us one after another. It has been two days since we arrived, and now there is only the last day left. We must hurry up!" "
Zhu Rushi reluctantly put down the paper and said, "I have my own sense of time, so you don't have to worry about it. Now I just ask you, if this poem fails to gain the attention of the adults in the Hanlin Academy, what should Feng Lin do?"
Xu Pingsheng was stunned for a moment, then quickly shook his head, "Anyone who is not a fool should know the weight of this poem."
Zhu Rushu shook his head and said, "There are exceptions to everything. Are the officials responsible for the review of the Hanlin Academy just like those who do nothing and do not understand the art of poetry? If they write down this poem, then the emperor will unify it. Damn it, didn’t Feng Lin lose his life in vain?”
At this point, he sighed, "Feng Lin is still young and cannot afford such risks!"
Xu Pingsheng's face gradually darkened, and he asked in a deep voice, "Then what do you think we should do?"
"It's easy to handle! Instead of taking personal responsibility, it's better to share the risk."
Zhu Ru said.
Xu Pingsheng's tone became colder, "May I ask, sir, how to share it?"
Zhu Rushi smiled and said, "It's very simple. Just remove the five characters "Xu Xingmu, the yamen servant" from the signature. This poem will not be submitted in the name of an individual, but in the name of the yamen. Our Taoyuan County is a whole, and what we pay attention to is unity. , Haha, we share both honor and disgrace, Bowen, don’t you think so?”
After speaking, he stared at Xu Pingsheng closely, with a smile on his face, but his eyes were very cold and full of warning.
Xu Pingsheng's face was already livid. He never expected that Zhu Rushi could be so shameless.
He really wanted to grab the poem and go to the capital alone to compete. Before leaving, he would spit on Zhu Rushi's pig face and tell him to go and have fun.
But he doesn't have the backbone.
The backbone of scholars seems so weak and humble in front of power.
He was used to being submissive, and this time was no exception.
"Everyone listens to adults."
Xu Pingsheng finally unclenched his fist and whispered back.
Just the trembling of his old face indicates that he is unhappy inside.
Zhu Rushi smiled and nodded, very satisfied with Xu Pingsheng's performance.
He made a statement on the spot, saying that as soon as the matter was over, the vacant clerk's seat in the yamen would be given to Feng Lin, which would make up for it and slightly reduce Xu Pingsheng's humiliation and anger levels.
After a while, Zhu Rushi wrote the poem himself and copied it exactly, except that the five words "Yamen Xu Xingmu" in the signature had been erased by him.
After stamping the Taoyuan County Yamen seal, carefully sealing the edges and binding, and spreading oil paper to ensure that the poetry paper would not be soaked by the rain, he summoned the courier and the fast horse, took the express delivery shop sign, and headed for the place in the rain. Rush to the capital.
...
At the same time, in the distant capital of Beijing Normal University, almost all the officials of the Hanlin Academy were dispatched. Under the leadership of the half-white-haired Hanlin bachelor, they worked overtime and reviewed poems and essays sent from all over the country, provinces, prefectures, and counties throughout the night. First trial.
Those with better quality will be sent to the academy, where the dean will make the final decision.
Those with poor quality will be directly put on the blacklist, waiting for the reckoning in the future.
Now that more than half of the three days have passed, the top students in the Hanlin Academy have yet to find a perfect poem. Most of them barely passed the preliminary review and were sent to the academy to make up for it.
There are occasionally a few excellent works, but they are also suspected of plagiarism from the ancients.
For this reason, Mr. Wang Zhihuan, a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy and concurrently serving as the left minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, slammed the table more than once in private and cursed that all the scholars in the world had fed their brains to dogs and could not even compose a serious poem. come out.
As the time for submitting poems approached, the sighs in the Hanlin Academy became louder and louder. Mr. Wang had completely broken his guard. He stopped pretending and directly pointed at the bullshit poems and essays on the table in front of all his colleagues and exhaled the fragrance. .
A group of young men in the Hanlin Academy remained silent. They looked at the normally steady and well-educated Boss Wang, who was so rude, and they were sighing for a while.
No one to dissuade, only empathy.
Da Xia poetry has actually declined to such an extent! How sad!
Time soon came to the last night before the poems were handed in. Most of the poems had been reviewed for the first time, and no one paid attention to the remaining poems from remote states and counties.
Just when everyone was disappointed with this feat of nation-wide poetry creation, a piece of red paper wrapped in thick butter paper came from the distant Taoyuan County.
It landed on Mr. Wang's desk intact with the privilege granted by eight hundred miles of expedited delivery.
