The filthiness of the past is nothing to boast about, but today I have boundless thoughts; I ride my horse at a gallop in the spring breeze, and I can see all the flowers in Chang'an in one day.
As soon as Zhu Ping'an left the mansion, he saw Zhang Siwei and Wang Shizhen, who were as triumphant as described in the poem. They were both very elegant to begin with, and now they were even more in high spirits. This imperial examination was very eventful, and although they were not as unreasonable as Zhu Ping'an to win the top spot, they both made it to the top of the list. Wang Shizhen was ranked 82nd, and Zhang Siwei was slightly behind at 93rd, but both were among the top 100.
"Zihou, you finally came out." After Zhu Ping'an came out, the two of them walked forward with a smile.
"Brother Ziwei and Brother Wensheng, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for a long time. I'll be your host today and there will be plenty of food and wine." Zhu Ping'an apologized with a smile.
"We remember what you said. But it's not possible today. Let's do it another day." Zhang Siwei clapped his hands, smiled, then shook his head.
"Why? This is not your style. Last time the results were announced, you were like gluttons, showing no mercy. Don't laugh at the muddy wine of the farmers. In a good year, there are enough chickens and pigs to entertain guests. Today I have brought enough money for wine." Zhu Ping'an smiled and tossed the Fat Duck purse in his hand.
"Zihou, do you really not know or are you pretending not to know?" Wang Shizhen asked with a roll of his eyes.
"What?" Zhu Ping'an looked confused.
"Zihou, I really don't know what to say about you. You are very smart and intelligent, but you don't know the rules of the officialdom." Wang Shizhen shook his head and said, "We have passed the examination and we have to go to see our teacher as usual. I didn't see you come to see us a few days ago, so today we are here to see you and go to see our teacher."
"Students from all over the world may be close by, hundreds of miles away, or far away, tens of thousands of miles away. They speak different languages and have different names and names, but once they pass the imperial examination, there is a chief examiner, who is called the chair teacher; there are co-examiners, who are called room teachers; people on the same list are called classmates; sons of classmates are called nephews; sons of chair teachers and room teachers are called generation brothers; chair teachers and room teachers call us disciples; and those who are selected by disciples are called grandsons; grandsons of disciples are called their teacher's teacher, who is called grand teacher." Zhang Siwei continued Wang Shizhen's words and explained to Zhu Ping'an.
Oh, disciple, I see. I was negligent.
Upon hearing this, Zhu Ping'an remembered the concept of disciples and teachers, which was also well understood in modern times.
The Ming Dynasty was the heyday of the development of the ancient Chinese imperial examination. The relationship between the master and the students generated by the imperial examination was unprecedentedly developed. The competition for the imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty was unprecedentedly fierce. The number of candidates who met the admission standards for each examination was far greater than the number of admissions. In the context of whether the candidates passed the examination or not being very accidental, the admitted candidates would inevitably be grateful to the examiners who admitted them. Therefore, it became very natural to respect them as "masters" and call themselves "students". Under normal circumstances, candidates only respect the second chief examiner and the co-examiner who directly admitted them as masters. There is a difference in the titles between the chief examiner and the co-examiner. The chief examiner is called "seat teacher" and the co-examiner is called "room teacher".
After the results of the imperial examination were announced, the first thing the students had to do was to submit a "disciple card" to the master, and then "pay a visit" and "pay a courtesy visit" to the master to confirm the relationship between the master and the students.
"Oh, thank you Brother Ziwei and Brother Wensheng for the reminder. Ping'an almost missed something big." Zhu Ping'an acted as if he had suddenly realized something and bowed to thank the two men.
In fact, Zhu Ping'an still disagrees with the rules of the master-disciple relationship handed down from the Ming Dynasty. The relationship between the master and the disciple is just because of an exam. One side is the examiner. The other side is the examinee. The examiner is ordered by the emperor, which is arranged by the government in today's terms; the examinee follows the system to take the exam, and passing the exam means that the level is up, although there are some other factors in between. But passing the exam and being admitted is a right that you should enjoy. The two are official affairs, and there is no such thing as giving favors or receiving favors. However, I don't know who started it and when, but such a strong sense of personal relationship was formed: as long as you admit me, you are my mentor; as long as I admit you, you are my disciple. What was originally a matter of course, now you have to be grateful for passing the exam and being on the list.
In the early Ming Dynasty, the master and his disciples maintained a normal relationship of "being bound together by righteousness", but later the number of masters and disciples who were "bound together by profit" increased, especially in the late Ming Dynasty, because the master-disciple relationship had become one of the important factors contributing to the intensification of party struggles and political corruption.
Of course, Zhu Ping'an was not pedantic. Although the system of teacher and student had many drawbacks, there were also benefits to having a teacher. As the saying goes, it was easier to get things done with someone in the court, and the teacher would also provide guidance, promotion and protection to his students. Especially in this joint examination, the teacher of himself and others was Xu Jie, who was a tough guy who brought down Yan Song. With such a strong person around him, why not hold on to him
Therefore, Zhu Ping'an, Zhang Siwei and Wang Shizhen went to the homes of their teachers Xu Jie and Yan Maoqing to deliver "disciple letters", and "paid a visit" and "presented an audience" to Xu Jie and Yan Maoqing to confirm the master-disciple relationship.
As for the examiners who directly admitted each of them, they were different. They would wait until they had jointly "paid a visit" to and "presented a respectful audience" to Xu Jie and Yan Maoqing before proceeding.
Of course, one cannot go empty-handed when visiting the master. Zhang Siwei took Zhu Ping'an and Wang Shizhen to a high-end ink studio to select the best ink as a gift for visiting the master.
Ink is an important material for writing. The quality of ink not only affects the artistic expression of calligraphy and painting, but also good ink does not fade for a long time. It is a very popular collection. Because pen, ink, paper and inkstone are the four treasures of the study, using ink as a gift is both high-end and elegant. It is the best gift to visit a teacher.
"This ink is named 'A Pool of Spring Green', which is derived from the line 'The wind suddenly rises, rippling a pool of spring water' in the poem 'Visiting Jinmen' by Feng Yansi, a poet of the Southern Tang Dynasty. This ink is the best among micro-inks. The graphic design of this ink is quite ingenious, the shape is exquisite, and the font is smooth, free and powerful. The water ripples, and a coiled dragon swims in it, leisurely and contented, giving people a sense of transcendence. This is also the most popular ink today, without a doubt."
Zhang Siwei was quite knowledgeable about ink. After looking at it in the ink studio for a while, Zhang Siwei pointed to one of the inks and spoke to Zhu Pingan and Wang Shizhen.
Zhu Pingan curiously took the ink that Zhang Siwei pointed out in his hand. The ink was round, with convex edges on both sides and gold-coated all over. On one side, the four characters "一池春绿" were written in positive script. On the other side, there was a positive picture: a convex coiled dragon in the sea water, winding around like a centipede. On one side of the ink was the four characters "水云居制" in positive script, and on the other side was the four characters "小华逸史".
The shop assistant carefully took a piece the size of a fingernail from the sample, put it into the inkstone, and then took out the pen, ink, paper and inkstone and gave them to Zhu Ping'an and the other two to test the ink.
The ink was as smooth as jade, with a pleasant fragrance. Seeing that the two had no intention of trying their hand at writing, Zhu Ping'an smiled slightly, took a step forward, took the brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote the word "ink" one by one. His writing was indeed smoother than before.
"Zihou, great calligraphy!" Zhang Siwei and Wang Shizhen praised Zhu Ping'an's calligraphy.
"I just like you to tell the truth." Zhu Ping'an put down the brush and smiled.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Siwei and Wang Shizhen couldn't help but shake their heads and point at Zhu Pingan and laugh.
After laughing, the three of them bought a few pieces of "A Pool of Spring Green" at Mozhai, which were packed in gift boxes by the shop assistant. After paying, they carried the gift boxes and headed towards Xu Jie's residence. (To be continued.)