Several people continued to chat.
Bookseller Yu smiled after returning from the counter: "How was your chat?"
Seeing this, Yu Yunruo stood up and said, "Since my uncle is here, Yunruo will take his leave."
The other party immediately retreated.
Seeing this scene, Bookseller Yu looked at the faces of the three of them and said with a smile: "I have packed up the places where you guys are staying. Please come here."
"Thank you."
Immediately, Bookseller Yu led several people to the backyard room.
In front of Bookseller Yu's residence is a shop, with an attic built above, where the shop assistants live.
Behind the shop is a small courtyard, separated by a hanging flower door. The main house in the courtyard is a large house with three bays facing south, and there is a wing room on the east side.
The wing room was packed up for Zhang Yue and the three of them to live in.
In the evening, Bookseller Yu set up a banquet in the house to entertain everyone. He Qiyan had friends in Jianyang, but he did not attend the banquet. In the evening, Bookseller Yu brought his wife, two sons, and an infant daughter out to meet the guests.
Except for the men, the women all went to another room to eat.
Yu Shushang said to Zhang Yue and Guo Lin: "My place is very cramped, so please bear with me."
Zhang Yue said with a smile: "Shopkeeper Yu can give me a place to stay. I am very grateful to you."
Bookseller Yu said with some deep meaning: "Actually, when guests came in the past, they could all leave the side room and the back room. But now the back room is occupied by my niece, so the yard is not very spacious."
"It's not that I'm mean to my niece. My brother was very kind to me when he was alive. It's just that my wife doesn't like her and treats my niece badly, which makes me feel uneasy at home now."
"Yun Ruo has now reached the age of marriageable age, and I don't dare to find her a husband casually. She said she wanted to find a scholar as her husband, so I would rather use all the money as a dowry and hope that she will get married as soon as possible. What a good husband!"
Zhang Yue glanced at Guo Lin and said with a smile: "Brother Guo is a good person, and he will definitely be a good match for niece Ling."
After hearing Zhang Yue's words, Guo Lin almost choked to death on the food he was given, and hurriedly said: "I can't do it, I can't do it."
Boss Yu was a little embarrassed when he saw this and said: "Eat the food, eat the food."
After the two finished eating, they returned to the house. At this time, He Qi also came back.
But he said that He Qi had a place to seek refuge in Jianyang, but he didn't go. He thought that Zhang Yue and Guo Lin would have connections in Jianyang, and he also planned to borrow some money from them. But now that they were just staying at a businessman's house, he suddenly lost interest.
He Qi just went to an acquaintance to ask about his future, and was told that he would be sent to Bianjing this time. The Jinshi Scholarship at Nanjing Imperial College had already been decided, and He Qi's future was bleak.
Although He Qi repeatedly asked for help, the other party still shook his head. He couldn't help but feel disappointed when he heard this.
Now when He Qi came back and saw Zhang Yue, Guo and Lin laughed in the room and said, "Did shopkeeper Yu just ask you two to marry his niece?"
Guo Lin was stunned and said: "Brother He is really good at predicting things."
He Qi smiled slightly and said: "As expected, Sanlang just now I saw that the woman seems to be interested in you. This is just the choice of Pingque."
Zhang Yue smiled and said, "Brother He, don't make fun of me. I just recommended you to Shopkeeper Yu."
"Me?" He Qi sneered, "That woman will never pick on me."
"Why?" Guo Lin said.
He Qi smiled without saying anything.
The next day, the three of them dressed up and hired a donkey cart to go to the state school.
Came to the state to study.
But apart from Zhang Yue and several others, there were also many students from various prefectures and counties standing there.
Such as Shaowujun, Ouning County, Jianyang County, and Chongwu County. Of course, the largest number of students are from Jian'an County. The Prefecture School was also originally built in Jian'an County, but in the second year of Zhiping (2002), the Prefecture School was destroyed by fire, so it was moved to Jianyang.
In the Jinshi list for the second year of Jiayou's reign, Jian'an County produced a total of nine Jinshis, and Jianzhou as a whole had nearly twenty Jinshis. Many of them were listed in the imperial examination or changed their registration to Kaifeng Prefecture.
So is it difficult to become a Jinshi?
It’s not difficult.
The proportion of Jinshi from the north to the south in the Song Dynasty had become seriously unbalanced by the Renzong Dynasty.
The imbalance is so great that after every subject examination, more than 90% of the candidates are from the south. But what is very interesting is that when it came to selecting the prime ministers, the Song Dynasty still followed the ancestral teachings of Song Taizu and followed the story that "southerners cannot be prime ministers." It was not until Zhang Dexiang and Wang Qinruo that he made an exception, but generally the prime ministers were still from the north. .
Therefore, it is understandable why Wu Yu and Wu Chong actively entered into marriage alliances with prominent families in the north.
At this moment, the students are divided into their own circles, half of which are state school students. The places to go to the Imperial College were selected by the state schools, so scholars from the state schools had a unique advantage in this regard.
This time, among the nine Jianyang-born Jinshi, three were Imperial College students. Of the three to four hundred Jinshi quotas for each subject, the imperial court would always allocate eighty to the Imperial College.
Everyone chatted separately. Zhang Yue didn't want to continue chatting with Guo Lin and He Qi. He turned around and wandered for a while, admiring the aura of the top student, getting to know a few people, and expanding his network.
"Brother, I am from Jinshizhai, a state school, right? I am Zhang Yue, a Confucian classics student from Pucheng County."
The other party said with a cold and arrogant face: "Journalists? Does the Imperial College recruit economics students?"
Zhang Yue......
"This brother has extraordinary temperament. I am studying Zhangyue from Pucheng County."
"I met my brother, he studied under Yang Dangfeng in Xiazhou."
"Dangfeng, what a good name!"
"That's true, but Brother Zhang's name is a bit ordinary."
Zhang Yue......
"This brother learned it in Xia Pucheng County."
"Huh? Pucheng County School?"
"Exactly."
"I only heard that there is Nanfeng Academy in Pucheng, and Zhang Ziping, the number one scholar in modern science, came from here. Only people like this are worthy of being friends with me."
Zhang Yue......
"This brother..."
"I don't have time to chat with you, and I don't have time to know your name. I entered the Imperial College when I came here. As for who you are and what your name is, it's all the same to me."
Zhang Yue walked around and came back and couldn't help but sigh, what kind of academic master are these!
Each one of them is crazier than his second brother!
Just as I was sighing alone, an academic officer came down and said: "Give me all three of your policy papers. I will come up to the hall as soon as your names are read out."
Zhang Yue and others handed in the papers recording Shi Ce.
Soon, in the Master Hall, names began to be called one by one. Three people entered the Master's Hall one after another. After entering, they left more than a quarter of an hour later.
From morning to noon, Zhang Yue, who was used to eating snacks, was so hungry that his chest pressed against his back.
Guo Lin shared the cooking cakes he brought with him to Zhang Yue and He Qi.
After everyone chewed a few mouthfuls, they heard the academic officer shout: "Pucheng County Academician Zhangyue, Guo Lin, why bother!"
The three of them were in a hurry, swallowing the cooking cakes while packing up, and then walked into the Master Hall together.
From then on, I saw several long desks on the table, and they were Zhou Xuezheng, assistant teacher, and Zhi Le. The person sitting in the middle must be Li Xuezheng from Zhouxue, and Assistant Professor Sun was also present.
Everyone looked at the three people discussing their strategies.
Someone on the side said: "If you go to the Imperial College in the imperial examination, you will have to leave your hometown and live in the capital forever. Can you bear the pain of leaving your hometown and saying goodbye to your family? You don't need to answer me immediately. You can think about it yourself."
After a while, the person asked: "Have you thought about it?"
The three of them said together: "In order to study and understand the holy way, I dare not give up the hardship."
The man nodded and said: "The hard work is one, and the road is hard is two. From Jianzhou to Bianjing, Nanjing is a long way, and the road is not peaceful, and there are groups of thieves from time to time. If you are not careful, you will lose your life. If you arrive In Bianjing or Nanjing, if you fail to pass the imperial examination, you will have to return to Jianzhou. Not only will your efforts be in vain, but you will also have to suffer from this displacement."
"You can think carefully about this, and don't rush to answer me."
Public security in the Song Dynasty was indeed not very good.
The courtiers have said that since Xibi (Xixia) used troops, they have been destitute of material resources and resentful, and the court cannot appease them. As a result, swarms of thieves have sprung up and robbed the cities of three or four states. The thieves are small and big, and they become giant thieves.
Thieves dare to openly rob even a heavily fortified state city, what else can they not dare to do, let alone pedestrians on the road.
Rich and powerful families who hire servants to protect them dare not speak comprehensively, let alone scholars like them who have no power to restrain themselves.
No wonder Zhang Heng practiced archery desperately. It turned out that it was not to exercise his body, but to save his life on the road.
The distance from Bianjing to Pucheng is thousands of miles. If you fail the exam, you have to go back again.
Thinking of this, Zhang Yue was indeed a little worried.
"Would you like to go?"
"I'm willing to go!" Zhang Yue replied unanimously.
It seems that everyone's thoughts are average. Even though the chance is slim, they still have to give it a try.
Seeing the three people's answers, Li Xuezheng in the hall smiled and said, "Don't ask. They traveled thousands of miles with their swords. They were scholars of the Han and Tang Dynasties. How can they not be as good as the ancients now?"
He Qi's expression suddenly changed and he said: "What Xuezheng said is absolutely true. As the saying goes, reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles. Studying abroad means reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles. Students have this ambition."
Zhang Yue thought to himself that He Qi showing such urgency could certainly catch the examiner's attention, but it also had its disadvantages. If you meet an examiner who likes rules, this will be bad.
But right now, there is no one to blame.
Li Xuezheng nodded and said, "That's good." Then he looked at Guo Lin. Guo Lindao: "In the Spring and Autumn Period, my master led his disciples to travel to the fourteen countries in the West and traveled thousands of miles. Although the horses were tired and the chariots were tired, after returning home, they wrote the Six Classics, which will shine through the ages."
Zhang Yue said: "Li Taibai went abroad with his sword. He was poor in the south and crossed the underworld sea in the east. Ban Dingyuan turned his body to the extreme land and was a minister thousands of miles away. Both Li and Ban are role models for scholars of our generation." "
Li Xuezheng all stroked their beards, nodded and said, "Not bad."
Then Li Xuezheng said again: "Even if the state does not recommend you to go to the Imperial College, it can still recommend you to at least study in the state. Are you going back to the county to study? Or go to the state to study?"
It's a problem now.
But He Qi was the first to say again: "Students have long admired the demeanor of the upright elders. If given the opportunity, of course they are willing to go to the state to study!"
There are advantages and disadvantages to answering this way.
Zhang Yue and Guo Lin both agreed to go back to the county school.
Li Xuezheng stopped talking here, and several other academic officials asked the three of them several questions about Shi Ce.
Finally, Li Xuezheng said: "I will review your strategy in detail later. You go down first and you will know tomorrow."
The three of them bowed and left together, which took exactly a quarter of an hour.
