The sun rises in the east, and the orange light illuminates the sky little by little. The roosters crow one after another, full of life.
On the criss-crossing field roads, Wei Chen was carrying a large book box and followed Wei Ruyi, wandering slowly.
Today is the day when Wei Chen leaves home to study.
What Wei Ruyi brought home yesterday was not only the gratifying twelve taels of silver, but also Wei Chen's qualification to enter the Sheng Family Free School.
Wei Chen has never been against reading. In his previous life, he stayed in school and worked in the library as soon as he graduated from graduate school, purely out of his love for books.
What's more, Wei Chen has now traveled to ancient times. Although it is a strange world of knowledge, this world still adheres to the principle of "everything is inferior, only reading is good".
Although there are three hundred and sixty professions in the world, in the Great Zhou Dynasty, if you want not to be bullied by others, if you want to get ahead and make a career, there is only one way out.
That is to be an official, a civil servant, and you must be a civil servant with a Jinshi background!
Of course, becoming an official is still too far away for Wei Chen, who is only ten years old now. Studying hard and passing the examination to be a student member (that is, a scholar) is the most practical thing.
In the past, when Wei Chen read history books and watched TV dramas, he felt that ancient scholars and even civil servants were nothing special. Only those who passed the Jinshi examination could be considered a figure.
But after actually staying at the bottom of this ancient world for a while, Wei Chen understood what it means to be hierarchical and have a clear distinction between superior and inferior. He also understood how difficult it is to become a scholar.
Studying is the only chance to change the destiny of children from poor families.
If you become a student member, you don't need to worship the county magistrate, and you are exempted from the corvee penalty. You can travel around the country without restrictions on road guidance, and even the threshold of your own family can be three points higher than that of ordinary families.
As long as you have fame and fame, you are different from ordinary people. Even the lowest level of scholar fame is a talisman that no one else can ask for. The elders do not dare to trouble you, the squires dare not trouble you, and the government officials do not dare to trouble you. I dare not trouble you.
Otherwise, even if you have tens of thousands of dollars, you will be nothing more than pigs and sheep raised by those in power.
Therefore, since the beginning of time travel, Wei Chen had made up his mind to go to school and take part in the imperial examination.
He has a photographic memory, and his starting point is much higher than ordinary people. As long as he can endure the loneliness of studying hard in a cold window, it is not difficult to become a scholar no matter how high the elimination rate of the imperial examination is.
If you have the guidance of a famous teacher, it should be no problem to promote people to Jinshi.
"Perhaps, ten years later, I can earn a scholar's memorial arch for Xiyin Village and come back. Then the civil servants will get off their sedan chairs and the military attaches will dismount their horses. What an honor it will be..."
Wei Chen thought happily all the way, and before he knew it, he had walked more than ten miles and found Youyang County in front of him.
Taking advantage of the fact that the sun was still not too fierce, the people rushed into the city. They patrolled the city gates, and officers and soldiers checked passers-by. Most of the people could only block the city gates.
In Wei Chen's eyes, the city walls were getting higher and higher, and the official roads were becoming more and more congested. Wei Ruyi slowed down and took Wei Chen's hand.
After queuing up and entering the city gate, the two of them arrived at the county seat.
Youyang County is not a big city, but it is very prosperous. The wide and smooth stone road is full of people, and the sounds of sellers, shouts, laughter and curses are mixed together, making it endlessly noisy.
On the left side of the road are rows of small buildings with white walls and black tiles, some with two floors and some with three floors.
There are various storefronts on the first floor of the small building, with all kinds of signboards and guises hanging on the facades.
Some are very elegant, such as "Songhezhai" written in seal script, "Jiuqifeng" written in cursive, etc., and some are very straightforward, such as "Wang Mama Clay Mask Feng Medicine Shop" and "Li Family Kung Fu Needle Shop" wait.
Some small shops simply do not write the name of the shop, and directly draw the items for sale on the flag, such as scissors, iron pots, etc., which are clear at a glance and very easy to recognize.
On the right side of the road is a clear river with no end in sight. Boats and boats on the river are connected end to end. Every ten feet away, there is an arched stone bridge for pedestrians to cross.
Willow trees are planted on both sides of the river. Under the emerald green silk-like weeping willows, from time to time, punting boat ladies wearing bright clothes row past in front of you.
"What a scene of prosperity!"
The prosperity of Youyang County refreshed Wei Chen's impression of the poverty of ancient society, and he couldn't help but admire it.
But think about it, Youyang is located in the water town of the south of the Yangtze River, which can be called the most elite and blessed place in the Great Zhou Dynasty. The economy and people's livelihood are naturally not bad. If it were moved to the northwest border, I am afraid it would be a different situation.
As soon as they entered the city, Wei Ruyi took Wei Chen to the grocery store under the name of the Sheng family. After selling the straw mats she had laid yesterday, she also bought celery, lotus seeds, red beans, dates, longans, and six dried lean meat strips. something.
These are the six apprenticeship rituals prepared for Wei Chen.
When students and teachers meet for the first time, they must first give a gift to show respect, which is called a gift.
Celery means diligence and studiousness, lotus seeds mean painstaking education, red beans mean ambitious plans, dates mean early high school, and longan means enlightenment and wisdom.
Dried lean pork strips are considered a hard product and are used to express the disciple's gratitude to the teacher.
Wei Ruyi was very concerned about Wei Chen's schooling. She tied each of the six apprenticeship rituals with a red string and placed them in a gift box with its own small drawer. It looked very exquisite.
Seeing the way Wei Ruyi carefully organized the apprenticeship ceremony, Wei Chen couldn't help but sigh in his heart. The respect people of this era have for knowledge and teachers is indeed far from what later generations can compare with.
The two people, one large and one small, left the grocery store and walked along the street to Sheng's Free School in the south of the city.
Wei Ruyi handed the gift box to Wei Chen, and did not forget to tell her: "Brother Chen, this Sheng's Free School is different from the social school you were in before. The gentleman here is a scholar. When you enter the school, you must respect your teachers. Friendly classmates..."
Wei Chen felt helpless and amused. He had been reading books for more than ten years in his previous life, so he still didn't understand this?
However, he also knew that this was Wei Ruyi's care and love for him, and he patiently listened to Wei Ruyi's instructions without showing any sign of impatience on his face.
Wei Ruyi saw this and was very pleased, thinking: Brother Chen is much more sensible after being ill.
Seeing that it was getting late, Wei Ruyi finally stopped nagging. After saying goodbye to Wei Chen, she let Wei Chen go to Sheng's Free School alone.
Wei Chen carried the book box and walked to the door. When he looked up, he saw a large archway standing there.
On the two floors of the middle gate, there is a plaque with the word "Jinshi" written on it. On the right side, there is a vertical inscription of "Ding Chou Examination in the Fifth Year of Jingping" in small regular script. On the left side, there is a vertical inscription of "Chinese-style top three, sixty-nine Sheng Hongli".
The predecessor of the Sheng Clan School was the Sheng Clan School, which mainly provided education for the children of the Sheng family. Later, with the support of Sheng Wei, it began to recruit poor students from all over Youyang and provided free food and accommodation, which is now the Free School.
Sheng Hong had been raised in his hometown when he was young, and the Sheng family clan study was the place where he was enlightened. At the age of fifteen, Sheng Hong entered the sect of a famous Confucian scholar under the arrangement of his aunt, and later passed the Jinshi examination in one fell swoop.
The magistrate of Youyang County at that time, in accordance with regulations, built the Jinshi Archway at the gate of Sheng's righteous school to encourage those who came after him. There is not only one such archway here, but also one in the township where the Sheng family's ancestral home lives.
"It seems that Senior Red Wolf is quite famous in Yuyang's hometown!"
Wei Chen raised his head and stared at the tall Jinshi Archway in front of him in trance, feeling a little more yearning for the upcoming school life in his heart.
