Wang Jin's words actually aggravated Xie Xiuwen's desire to become a disciple.
He was right. Chief Xu Shanzhang paid more attention to people with both political integrity and talent. This is why he has only accepted a few people as his direct disciples over the years.
Of course, Xie Xiuwen actually felt that even if Xu Shanchang had talents he valued, he would not dare to name them all. After all, he was already very respected with the title of Imperial Master. If he recruited more students, I'm afraid some people will think too much.
Chief Xu Shan will not come back until next month. Now that Xie Xiuwen has learned the news, he must make full preparations.
The following days for Xie Xiuwen became extremely busy.
There is a library in the academy, and each student can enter the building to read or copy with his ID card.
The library is one of the reasons why Mingshan Academy is famous.
Some students from poor families will come here to copy books. There are dedicated people in the library to arrange such work, which can also reduce some of the burden.
When Xie Xiuwen was studying here before, he copied a lot of books.
Xie Xiuwen read an article that day and thought it was particularly exciting, so he thought about copying it and taking it home to study it carefully.
Not all books in the collection can be taken out. For example, the volume Xie Xiuwen is reading cannot be taken out of the library, so he had to ask the steward for pen and ink to copy it.
It was a coincidence that Fan Xing and others also came to the library to borrow books. When they saw Xie Xiuwen writing furiously at the table, they naturally started to feel sarcastic again.
"Hey, isn't this Xie Zicheng! I heard that your family's income this year has been good, so why did you start copying books again? Since you have extra money, why do you have to compete with those poor scholars for food?"
"That's right, Xie Zicheng, aren't you rich? Now you are still here copying books, how can those really poor students get along?"
"Haha, I don't know if he is really from a well-off family, or if he is deliberately showing off to increase his worth!"
Xie Xiuwen ignored their cynicism, but several students not far from him turned to look.
These are the poor students who came here to get a job copying books.
The reason why they pay attention to Xie Xiuwen is simply because they know that Xie Xiucai's handwriting is very good. Several gentlemen in the academy have praised his handwriting. If he really comes to copy the book, then what can they do? I'm afraid the subsidies I received will also be reduced.
Xie Xiuwen was concentrating on the whole process and seemed not to be affected by these people. Whether it was sarcasm or suspicious eyes, he turned a blind eye and only focused on copying the book.
Fan Xing saw that he didn't pay attention to him at all, and his anger naturally increased.
When he was deliberately in trouble, he was stopped by his classmates.
At this moment, Fan Xing realized where he was.
Although he acted arrogantly, this was the library of Mingshan Academy, and he knew it was not a place where he could act wild. Someone happened to hand him the steps, so he walked away with a sullen look on his face.
Now that the troublemakers are gone, there is no excitement to be seen, so the students will naturally disperse.
After Xie Xiuwen copied the article, he carefully put it in his arms and put the original book back to its original place. Everyone knew that he must have read a wonderful article, or had a sudden inspiration. Not really here to copy books to subsidize Shu Xiu.
No one noticed that a middle-aged man in a white gown in the corner was stroking his beard and looking at Xie Xiuwen's back with a smile.
The clerk in charge of registering in the library came over and bowed his hands: "Mr. Xu, I don't know that you are here in person, but what are your orders?"
"Who was the person who was embarrassed when copying the book just now?"
In a few words, the little clerk introduced everyone present in detail, and he did not forget to give a reminder at the end.
"That Fan Xiucai is the son of the Fan family in Fucheng, and he is in Class A with Xie Xiucai."
Manager Xu frowned: "We are an academy here, not a market place. The atmosphere of the academy still needs to be maintained."
"yes."
When Xie Xiuwen returned to his dormitory, he couldn't wait to take out the article he had copied and pondered over it again and again. He didn't even know Douzi brought him water.
A few days passed. Xie Xiuwen went to the library to study every day when he had free time, often forgetting to eat and drink.
What Xie Xiuwen was looking through in the library now was not some examination questions from the previous provincial examinations or general examinations, nor the wonderful works of students. Instead, he was looking at the more obscure geography and some more practical books.
Books of this type are not popular in the library and can be said to have been lying there gathering ashes.
The geography collected here is not drawn by the government, but mainly describes some customs and geography or geographical features. There are no pictures, only text.
In addition, Xie Xiuwen also read a large number of public documents and newspapers.
Of course, most official documents are from more than ten years ago, or even decades ago.
The most recent one in Di Bao was about ten days ago, which shows how capable Mingshan Academy is.
Xie Xiuwen read through a lot of these, or it was because he suddenly remembered that Guabao had reminded him before that since the imperial examination was to select officials for the imperial court, how could these students know nothing about important affairs of the imperial court?
Xie Xiuwen didn't react at the time, he just felt that Guobao didn't understand what it meant: he couldn't hear what was going on outside the window, and he only read the books of sages.
However, that day when he heard Wang Jin talk about Chief Xu's intention to accept a disciple, he suddenly realized that even though several of Chief Xu's disciples were not top-notch people in the imperial examination, they were all really capable and able to win. A person with great trust in the court.
Therefore, if you have all your talents and knowledge but don't care about the important affairs of the court, how can you really become famous?
Xie Xiuwen immediately slapped his forehead and said secretly: "Sure enough, my dear baby was right to remind me! I was careless."
In a blink of an eye, it’s the monthly exam again.
Mingshan Academy is divided into four classes: A, B, C and D. The number of students in each class is different, but Class A has the smallest number of students, while Class D has the largest number of students. They are taught in a large class format.
According to the rules of the academy, if a student scores a lower grade in three consecutive monthly exams, he will be demoted to a lower class.
Although Xie Xiuwen has always hidden his clumsiness, he still belongs to the upper-middle level of Class A every time he takes the exam, so it is not his turn to be demoted.
But now that he knows that Chief Xu Shan is coming back, Xie Xiuwen is still hesitant about whether he wants to be in the spotlight?
Although it may not be a good thing to be beautiful in the forest, if it is mediocre, Chief Xu Shan may not be able to take a fancy to it!
In this way, Xie Xiuwen performed stably and excellently in this monthly exam. The final result was that Xie Xiuwen ranked third, which was his best result since entering the academy.
Fan Xing felt frustrated when he saw his ranking, and when he saw Xie Xiuwen's beauty, his eyes turned red with anger.
"Xie Xiuwen, if you dare to do anything under my nose, I won't forgive you!"
