Wu Jin heard the voice, which sounded like Qi Chang. He quickly walked out, unlatched the door, opened the door, and looked under the moonlight, and it turned out to be Qi Chang.
Qi Chang was wearing an old blue shirt with hunched shoulders. When he saw Wu Jin, he smiled ingratiatingly and bowed his hands: "Master Wu."
Wu Jin turned sideways and invited him in: "You and I are both Jinshi in the same subject, so there is no need to call me like this. Just call me Wu Jin."
Qi Chang rubbed his hands cautiously and walked cautiously through the door: "No, no, I'm just a fellow Jinshi. I don't dare to be in the same year as the number one scholar. I, let me call you big brother."
Wu Jin nodded: "Come in and talk. You must have something to do if you come so late."
"Yes." Qi Chang followed him inside, quietly observing the situation in the Taoist temple as he walked.
The Taoist temple is clean and natural, with doors and windows everywhere open, without any obstruction. There is a path in the yard, paved with stone slabs, and swept clean. On both sides of the path, there are knee-high wildflowers, rustling inside, and suddenly a flower pops out. The big tabby cat jumped in front of Qi Chang. He shivered in fright, felt a chill on his back, and almost stumbled.
Wu Jin reached out and grabbed his arm firmly. After he stood firm, he let go and said with a smile: "Don't be afraid, I won't hurt anyone."
"No, I'm not afraid." Qi Chang followed Wu Jin into the guest room and quietly took a look at the situation in the room.
The house is so simple that it can be said that it is a bare house. It can be seen at a glance. The only thing that cannot be seen is the things on the table - a few books with rough edges, a few thick stacks of bamboo paper full of words, There are two bald pens on Beacon Hill and under the desk, there are piles of several policy articles that I have read.
Qi Chang was ashamed. He thought he was diligent, but the calligraphy he practiced after coming to Kyoto was not as much as those who arrived after Wu Jin.
He secretly thought that Wu Jin's calmness and confidence may come from such diligence.
"Sit down," Wu Jin poured him tea and put it in front of his eyes, "Are you hungry after coming so far?"
"I had eaten when I came here," Qi Chang whispered, "that Wang, Wang Jinghua, he came to see me."
When he mentioned Wang Jinghua, he couldn't help but flinch, obviously suffering from this man's cynicism.
"He said he lost the bet and he won't keep it, but his father passed away and he has to go back to his hometown to observe mourning for three years. After three years, he will come back to settle the bet with you."
Qi Chang looked at Wu Jin, who had an expressionless face, and said hesitantly: "Brother, is he thinking that if he passes the exam in three years and becomes an official, you won't be able to let him kneel down anymore?"
"I'm afraid there is such a plan," Wu Jin nodded, "Is Wang Yun alive or dead?"
"You don't know?" Qi Chang was surprised at first, and then suddenly realized, "That's right, you are studying behind closed doors here, and the results were released on the first day of the month. The person who sent the golden flower post did not find you, and you went to get the post yourself."
He added: "He drowned."
Wu Jin didn't go into details and just said: "Do you have anything else to do?"
Qi Chang became more and more embarrassed when he heard his question. He glanced at Wu Jin nervously: "Your calligraphy is good, and now you are the number one scholar. I would like to ask you to write a good calligraphy?"
"Okay." Wu Jin smiled, stood up, took out a large piece of paper from the cabinet, spread it on the table, replaced it with a large pen, looked at the yellowish paper thoughtfully, and carefully wrote down the four words "A gentleman has no blame" Big letters.
His words gradually took on their own rhyme and momentum, like winds and horses, winds and gods following people. After writing, he stared at it for a long time and realized that one stroke was not round enough, so he changed a piece of paper and wrote again.
Qi Chang stood aside, waiting for Wu Jin to finish writing, and immediately said: "Your handwriting is really powerful."
When the ink dried, Wu Jin rolled up the large characters, found a cotton rope to tie it, and handed it to Qi Chang: "I don't have a private seal, but thinking about it, it doesn't matter if I don't have a private seal."
Qi Chang didn't pay attention to his words. He held the scroll in both hands, thanked Wu Jin, and said goodbye to go back to the city.
Wu Jin sent him out of the Taoist temple and took out a fifty-tael silver note for him to spend. Qi Chang took it in his hand, his eyes wet, and he cried: "Thank you very much. If anything happens to you, just send me." , and they still treat me as Jiusixuan’s servant.”
Wu Jin patted him, said nothing, and watched him walk all the way to the city.
Qi Chang took the scrolls and banknotes and rushed all the way to the city. There was a bright moon in the sky, shining brightly. The spring willows on both sides of the road were swaying with the wind, shaking the broken shadows all over the ground, and it was extremely quiet.
He walked quickly, his heart lying in his chest, feeling a rare peace.
After the results were released on the first day of March, before the results of the palace examination were released, this group of fellow Jinshi had already started "running for official positions".
He and the Jinshi first took an examination of the Hanlin Academy together. After passing the examination as usual, the outstanding ones could enter the Hanlin Academy and become a Shujishi.
Qi Chang thought that he could not become a Shujishi, so he simply waited for the imperial examination roll call to be announced. When all the Jinshi had their places to go, he would pick the remaining remote place and become a small county magistrate.
Unexpectedly, in just a few days, those who had money and connections with the Jinshi began to make inquiries from all directions, trying to decide where to go before the roll call for the palace examination.
He thought that the poor and remote places that all the Jinshi were unwilling to go to, and even the Lingnan place that was no different from the exile, the seventh-rank magistrate and the eighth-rank county magistrate, all became meat and potatoes, and they wanted to "run" and "make use of it". "Silver" can go.
He didn't have that much money, he didn't even know where the Kyoto Yamen door opened, and his legs had nowhere to run.
Sitting in the room, he felt like he was waiting to die, confused and desperate. He didn't know if he had to take the exam again, or take the exam countless times to get a Jinshi degree.
After Wang Jinghua found him, another layer of anger was added to his despair.
"Why, my father surnamed Wang is gone, but he can still wear gold and silver, and have servants to serve him," he thought while sitting in the room. "He still has to take the scientific examination. If he also becomes a fellow Jinshi, Can I still be a Shujishi?"
He sat in the room for a long time, and then thought: "I have worked hard and put in a lot of effort, and God has opened my eyes to have a husband. He has been admitted to the same level as Jinshi. He is about to change his appearance and break with the past." , but the result is that I can’t even touch the edge of my official career, I’m no worse than others!”
His mind turned into a ball of withered grass, a mess that could not be sorted out. It was not until he learned that Wu Jin had become the number one scholar that the ball of withered grass suddenly disappeared from his mind.
His "way" has come!
Today he is here to run his course.
Qi Chang was thinking when he suddenly stumbled on a stone under his feet. He fell forward with a bang, subconsciously holding the word tightly to avoid breaking it.
Wu Jin's calligraphy is naturally good, but it's not worth a thousand dollars, not to mention it doesn't even have a private seal, so it's even less valuable.
What is truly valuable is the status of "number one scholar".
As usual, the new number one scholar was compiled by the Sixth Rank Hanlin Academy and regarded as the prime minister. In the future, he would be a close minister of the emperor. The fastest in the country was to be promoted from the number one scholar to the rank of counselor in power, in only eight years.
(End of chapter)
