It was not Wei Chen who spoke, but Sheng Wei.
He changed the Sheng Clan School to the Sheng Clan Free School, recruiting students from all over Youyang, and also provided free food and accommodation to poor students. He spent real money on the free school every year, which had his own far-reaching considerations.
Even if Wang Xuezheng was able to come to Sheng's righteous school this time, Sheng Wei was secretly working hard.
Sheng Weisa went out with a full one hundred taels of silver to feed a master next to Wang Xuezheng and let him blow the wind in Wang Xuezheng's ear.
Sheng Wei knew in his heart that if Master Xuezheng was allowed to leave today, the reputation of Sheng's Yixue would be completely ruined, and all his plans would be in vain.
Therefore, Sheng Wei could only stand up and ask Wang Xuezheng and Feng Zhixian to stay.
However, Sheng Wei was in too much of a hurry at the moment, and his hasty behavior was inevitably a bit inappropriate. Simply speaking, his action of stopping the two Shangguan was very reckless, especially since he was just a merchant, so it was even more inappropriate.
If you meet a mean and arrogant Shangguan, you may have to punish him on the spot.
Feng Zhixian turned around and looked at Sheng Wei with a very unhappy look on his face.
This Sheng Wei is usually well-informed and bold in his actions. Why is he so clueless today?
Just when Feng Zhixian was about to reprimand Sheng Wei, he saw another person coming forward, it was Shi Kai, a student in the free school.
Shi Kai took a step forward, bowed and said in salute: "It is not that there are no disciples in Yi Xue who can be cultivated. Please try again, Master Xuezheng!"
Wang Xuezheng turned sideways and took a look at Shi Kai. Seeing that he was not wearing the Sifang Pingding scarf, he knew that he had no fame, and immediately asked: "Who are you?"
Shi Kai said: "Shi Kai, who was born late, luckily passed the government examination three years ago, and now he is listed as sitting in the free school."
Wang Xuezheng nodded when he heard this. He did not look down upon Shi Kai because he was just a boy. Instead, he said warmly: "Be calm when facing big events. Be calm and then you can be at peace. After being calm, you can think about it. After worrying about it, you can gain. As a teacher, you should carefully teach this principle to your students."
Shi Kai knew that Wang Xuezheng was talking about Chen Jun's timidity just now, and he immediately looked ashamed. Chen Jun was his elected representative, and he was also to blame for what happened.
Shi Kai gritted his teeth, took a step forward, and said loudly: "Master Xuezheng is here, I would like to ask you to try again for the last person."
Wang Xuezheng smiled and was noncommittal.
Shi Kai was overjoyed immediately, knowing that Wang Xuezheng acquiesced, and quickly said to Wei Chen behind him: "Wei Chen, you memorized the four books well, why not let Master Xuezheng take the test?"
Memorize the Four Books?
Hearing what Shi Kai said, everyone present shook their heads secretly.
Among the Four Books and the Five Classics, the Five Classics can be taken as electives, but the Four Books are compulsory courses. Anyone who is aspiring to take scientific examinations will not memorize the Four Books by heart?
Nowadays, Shi Kai actually asks the academic master to memorize the Four Books for the examination. Isn't it ridiculous?
However, some people followed Shi Kai's gaze and saw a young Meng Tong standing up, it was Wei Chen who was alongside Chen Jun just now.
After seeing Wei Chen's age, everyone understood Shi Kai a little bit.
At this age, it is quite good to be able to read something like three hundred thousand books. It is indeed quite rare to be able to memorize scriptures like the Four Books.
When Wei Chen saw Shi Kai nodding to him, he immediately cheered up, took a big step forward, gave a deep salute to Wang Xuezheng and said: "Student Wei Chen, please ask Mr. Xuezheng to come up with a test for the school!"
Wang Xuezheng had met Wei Chen before, but at that time he was focused on Chen Jun, who was taking the exam, and didn't pay much attention to this Mengtong who looked to be only about ten years old.
At this time, he looked at Wei Chen again and realized that this Mengtong was calm and mature, and his demeanor was much better than the previous Chen Jun.
Wang Xuezheng couldn't help but his eyes lit up and he praised: "You have such dignity and magnanimity at such a young age!"
Hearing Wang Xuezheng's praise, Sheng Wei and Shi Kai couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief. Even Feng Zhixian, who had previously been determined to leave, also took a look at Wei Chen.
Wang Xuezheng smiled and asked: "Just now, your husband said that you have learned the four books. How are you memorizing them?"
Wei Chen replied: "Returning to Master Xuezheng, my students have been studying Mencius for the longest time. It can be said that they have learned it by heart."
Before Wei Chen finished speaking, he heard Sun Zhigao in the crowd sneer: "Recite it backwards like a stream? Why don't you recite it backwards for me to see?"
Ever since Sun Zhigao heard that Wei Chen handed Shu Xiu over to Shi Kai, he had been quite dissatisfied with Wei Chen. He felt that Wei Chen was deliberately humiliating him, so he never wanted to see Wei Chen.
Forget it on weekdays, seeing Wei Chen showing off his face in front of Wang Xuezheng, Sun Zhigao couldn't help but made a sarcastic comment out of some unknown reason.
The rest of the people present were a little stunned when they heard Sun Zhigao say these words, not knowing what Sun Zhigao meant.
Aren't you from the same family? Why are you trying to break things up?
When Sheng Wei heard the news and saw that the person speaking was his good son-in-law, he was so angry that he almost had a myocardial infarction. He wanted to go over and slap Sun Zhigao hard.
What is the situation now?
The Sheng's righteousness represented by Wei Chen has both prospered and suffered losses along with the Sheng's righteousness.
As a free school teacher and the son-in-law of the Sheng family, Sun Zhigao actually undermined his own people in public. He was extremely stupid!
But Sheng Wei also knew the virtues of his son-in-law. He only cared about himself and probably didn't care about the honor and disgrace of the Sheng family at all.
At this time, Sheng Wei could only hope that Wei Chen could live up to his expectations and handle himself appropriately in front of the academic master.
Wei Chen looked calm, turned around, cupped his hands, and said loudly: "Thank you, Mr. Sun, for the tip!" Then he turned to Wang Xuezheng and asked respectfully: "May I ask Master Xuezheng, can students memorize "Mencius" backwards? ?”
When Wang Xuezheng saw Wei Chen's calm look, he couldn't help but be stunned. Then he laughed, waved his hand and said, "Let's get started!"
"It is true that there is no existence, and it is true that there is no existence. It is also like this, and the people who live there are holy and close..."
Wei Chen put his hands behind his back and spoke slowly with the measured steps of a scholar when reciting a book. His words were pronounced clearly without any hesitation or pause.
"It is also necessary to conquer the enemies of the state and not the enemy of the country. It is also necessary to conquer the enemy from below. There is a rule, and this is better than the other..."
When Wei Chen finished reciting the article "Mencius is dedicated to his heart" word for word, everyone present opened their mouths with disbelief on their faces.
This kid is really reciting "Mencius" backwards!
Sun Zhigao still didn't believe it, so he found a copy of "Mencius" and compared it word by word with what Wei Chen had memorized. The result was that it was all correct.
"... It is my country's best interest to have a general. He came from a thousand miles away and called me the king. Wang Huiliang met Zimeng."
After the last word fell, the whole hall fell silent. Everyone stared at Wei Chen with shock on their faces. Those who were interested quietly looked at Wang Xuezheng's face and waited with bated breath for his evaluation.
Wang Xuezheng was silent for a while, and then suddenly asked: "Young man, do you have the paper beside you that I can take a look at?"
Shi Kai and Sheng Wei were overjoyed when they heard this, knowing that Master Xuezheng had recognized Wei Chen's talent and learning, and that they were about to conduct a further examination of Wei Chen.
