The clerk led Wei Chen through the ceremony gate, through the lobby, and all the way to the second hall.
There were already three people sitting in the hall, and the one sitting in the middle seat was the county magistrate, Feng Jing. On the left was the county magistrate, and on the right was the county education edict.
There were also three people standing in the hall.
One is a little older and is still wearing a t-shirt, and should be a junior student in the county. The other is Wang Yaochen, the top scholar whom I met before.
In addition, there is also a young man with a handsome appearance and a thin body, who is parallel to Wang Yaochen and probably like Wang Yaochen, is a student favored by Magistrate Feng.
Wei Chen respectfully saluted the three Shangguan, and then stood together with Wang Yaochen and the young man.
Feng Zhixian said with a smile: "I've called you young heroes here today, firstly, to ask Yuan Yong to be your guarantor, and secondly, to let you get to know each other. You are all among the best, and they will definitely serve me as great Zhou Dongliangs in the future. , I want to get closer to you in the future."
When the county magistrate spoke, several people did not dare to disobey, so they spoke first.
Lin Sheng was twenty-two years old, Wang Yaochen was fifteen, and the other boy was also fifteen, only four years older than Wei Chen.
Lin Sheng cupped his hands and signed up his name: "I'm Wu Yan. I'm the name of Yuan Yong. I've met three of them."
Wang Yaochen also said: "Senior brother, you are polite. I, Wang Yaochen, whose cursive name is Boyong, have met my senior fellow apprentice."
The handsome young man also bowed and saluted: "I am Sheng Changbai, the cursive character is Cheng. I have met my senior fellow students."
The young man smiled heartily at a few people, but Wei Chen looked at him blankly as if he had been shocked by electricity, almost stunned on the spot.
Bolan?
Is he also taking the county exam this year?
Although Wei Chen had a lot of surprises and doubts in his heart, after all, there were only a few Shangguan here, so he couldn't be rude. He quickly adjusted his mood and introduced himself politely like the previous people.
"I'm Wei Chen. The teacher hasn't given me my cousin's name yet. I've met three senior students."
After the few people greeted each other, Wu Yan signed and stamped his signature on the back of the three candidates' test cards, officially becoming the guarantor of the three juniors.
After doing this, Magistrate Feng told the three people: "The fifteenth day of this month is an auspicious day, and I have been ordered to hold the county examination on that day."
Then he encouraged the three young people who took the county examination and told them to study hard and not to be careless.
Seeing that the county magistrate had reached his conclusion, everyone sensibly stood up and left. Magistrate Feng twisted his beard and nodded, leaving only Mr. Wu Yan to speak.
At this point, Wei Chen's registration journey for the county examination is officially over.
In fact, according to the principle that money must be collected for doing things in the yamen, registration for the county examination requires a regular payment of 100 yuan. However, these three candidates are all potential stocks in the eyes of the county magistrate, so of course all fees are free.
Wei Chen and the others walked out of the county government office. Wang Yaochen said in a calm tone: "I have already booked the inn, so I won't say more to you. Let's go first."
After that, he turned around and left in a hurry.
So arrogant?
Wei Chen couldn't help but curl his lips, but he didn't pay much attention.
After Wang Yaochen left, only Wei Chen and Sheng Changbai were left.
Sheng Changbai looked at Wei Chen, with a smile on his lips, and chanted slowly: "Stick to the green mountains and never let go. The roots are still in the broken rocks. After thousands of hardships, they are still strong, no matter how strong the east, west, north or south winds are."
I had long heard from my father and uncle that Aunt Wei was an outstanding person in the same clan. She wrote a song "Bamboo and Stone" at the age of ten, which attracted students from Jiangnan to copy it. When I saw him today, he was really handsome, smart and extraordinary! "
Wei Chen laughed and said, "Brother Sheng really embarrasses me for saying that. You have studied scriptures since you were a child and have a long history in your family. Just now the county magistrate was praising your talent and learning. You are the real young hero!"
The two complimented each other and smiled at each other, feeling quite sympathetic to each other.
Sheng Changbai had heard of Wei Chen's name when he was in Yangzhou.
One day, when Sheng Hong was teaching his son, he suddenly took out a song called "Bamboo and Stone" and asked Sheng Changbai to read it and savor it.
After Sheng Changbai finished reading, he immediately clapped his hands and exclaimed: This poem is written with great force, sonorous and powerful, and the spirit of a gentleman comes out vividly on the page!
Sheng Changbai felt that the meaning of the poem was very consistent with his own ambition, and he couldn't put it down "Bamboo and Stone". He immediately asked Sheng Hong who wrote this poem.
Only after asking this question did I know that the author of this poem was not a famous poet or a well-educated Confucian, but a Mengtong who was several years younger than me. Moreover, this Mengtong had some connections with the Sheng family.
From that day on, Sheng Changbai became deeply curious about the name Wei Chen.
This time when Sheng Changbai returned to his hometown of Youyang, apart from the top priority of taking the county examination, the other thing he had to do was to visit Wei Chen and see the true face of this legendary child prodigy in Lushan.
Today at the county government office, Sheng Changbai finally got what he wanted and met Wei Chen. He felt deeply that this boy was indeed extraordinary, and Sheng Changbai immediately wanted to make friends with him.
On the other side, Wei Chen looked at Sheng Changbai with straight eyes.
Sheng Changbai wanted to get to know Wei Chen, so why didn't Wei Chen want to get to know Sheng Changbai?
This is the talent of the prime minister who will join the cabinet twice in the future!
Wei Chen is not a person who plans carefully, but when an opportunity is presented to him, he will never let it go.
What's more, Sheng Changbai has good character, is upright, and is a true gentleman. Wei Chen couldn't want to make friends with such a person.
Wei Chen immediately invited him warmly and said, "Brother Sheng, we are destined to meet each other. We are not far from my humble residence. Can you please give me a favor and have a casual meal?"
Sheng Changbai naturally would not refuse and agreed graciously.
"Being respectful is worse than obeying orders."
When the two returned to Wei Chen's house together, it was already dark.
Wei Ruyi was cooking in the kitchen. When she saw Wei Chen coming back, she quickly put down what she was doing and said with a smile, "Brother Chen is back? Hey, who is this young man next to you?"
"Aunt, this is the second son of the Shengtong family in Yangzhou."
Wei Ruyi said in surprise: "It turns out to be Brother Bai. We haven't seen each other for a few years and he has grown so big!"
Sheng Changbai bowed respectfully: "Junior Sheng Changbai, I have met my aunt."
"Oh, how can this happen!"
Wei Ruyi was flattered and quickly helped Sheng Changbai up. She smiled and said, "Since you are here, let's have dinner at home today. The slave family will prepare more food."
"Thank you very much."
Sheng Changbai obviously had a reserved temper, and when he saw Wei Ruyi smiling at him, he blushed for a moment.
Wei Chen saw his embarrassment and pulled him to the second floor of the small building.
The attic on the second floor is Wei Chen's bedroom and study room. Although it is small, it is well-equipped. Wei Ruyi comes in to clean it every day, and the room is spotless inside and outside.
However, in the eyes of Sheng Changbai, a young man from an aristocratic family, Wei Chen's small building can't help but be a bit shabby.
Sheng Changbai frowned and said, "I didn't expect that Xian Di's family is so poor. Although my family background is much better than Xian Di's, my knowledge is much worse. I'm really ashamed."
Wei Chen almost laughed out loud when he heard Sheng Changbai say that his family was poor.
It seems that Sheng Wei, an old fox, kept the matter of his business partnership with him very well. He probably only told Sheng Hong, and even Sheng Changbai, his nephew, didn't know about it.
Wei Chen is poor?
Poor ass!
At the end of last year, the winery received a dividend of 12,000 taels of silver, and it is still buried underground in the backyard!
As long as Wei Chen wanted to, he could change into a large house with three rooms in a minute.
It's just that Wei Chen and the Zhang family both enjoy the fireworks in this small courtyard, and they have feelings for it after living there for a long time. They don't want to move out, so they have always lived here.
Wei Chen smiled and asked Sheng Changbai to sit down and pulled out a jar of wine from the corner of the room.
Sheng Changbai frowned slightly and politely advised: "Brother Xian, you are still young and drinking alcohol will harm your health!"
"Brother, this is fruit wine. It's not very alcoholic. It won't hurt if you drink a few glasses."
As Wei Chen spoke, he opened the seal on the wine jar. In an instant, the entire attic was filled with the sweet aroma of wine.
Sheng Changbai smelled the aroma of wine and his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Sweet but not greasy, full of mellow aroma, this is amber wine!"
