The city of Anqing is of extraordinary majesty, like a tiger lying on the plain. The tall city gate tower is like a tiger's mouth, swallowing up any passers-by and vehicles.
If Huaining County is wealthy, then Anqing Prefecture is prosperous.
Even at night, it is still bustling and crowded with people at the night market, making it look like a city that never sleeps.
If you don't really come to this era, it's hard to imagine that this dynasty can be so prosperous. This is just the county town. There are provincial capitals and the capital above. It's hard to imagine how prosperous the capital under the emperor's feet would be. Of course, this prosperity is an ancient prosperity, which is different from the modern prosperity, but it is more shocking.
The provincial examination was held in Anqing Prefecture. Students and scholars who passed the county examinations from various counties gathered together. Due to the large area, the bad habit of scholars looking down on each other was exposed. They did not believe in "there is no first in literature and no second in martial arts". Students and scholars from various counties and even towns formed groups and looked down on students and scholars from other counties and towns, and the open and secret struggles continued.
Zhu Ping'an, one of the top fifty students in Huaining County, was given special attention by other county and town students. As a result, the poem about being bitten by a snake and hearing a bird cry, his behavior of eating lunch and taking a nap in the examination room, and living in the woodshed were all dug up.
Then, students and scholars from other counties and towns became excited as if they had drunk half a catty of aged wine.
He couldn't even compose a poem, and he ate, drank, and took a nap during the exam. Haha, this is enough to make the top list in Huaining County, but if it were in our county, he would definitely not even make it to the first round of the exam. The standard of Huaining County is just at this level.
Isn’t this the target given to us by God
There are only so many places available for the entire Anqing Prefecture through the prefectural examination. If Huaining County has a bad reputation, the prefect will naturally have to consider it. Then wouldn't our other counties have more opportunities
As a result, interested students and scholars from other counties began to inquire about more information about Zhu Ping'an, including his appearance and preferences, etc., just waiting for an opportunity to make a fool of the entire Huaining County.
Hard work pays off
So, just on the fifth day after Zhu Ping'an settled in Anqing City, when he was dragged by his uncle and several other villagers to a restaurant to meet his uncle's friends, he was blocked by some students from several other counties.
My uncle's friend is the friend he used to have in the county town, the one who was his mentor and taught in the county school. My uncle's friend also passed the county and prefectural examinations and became a student, but he also failed in the academy examinations again and again. Because students do not have to take part in the county and prefectural examinations, my uncle's friend has been living a carefree life in Anqing Prefecture these days, just waiting to go to the provincial capital to take the academy examination.
The restaurant is a famous large restaurant in Anqing Prefecture, named: Jingxianlou. It is located in the prime location of Anqing Prefecture. It is large in scale, magnificent in decoration, and exquisitely furnished. There are maids and servants in gorgeous clothes coming and going, greeting the guests who come up to the restaurant.
Unexpectedly, when Zhu Ping'an entered Jingxian Tower with his uncle and others, he heard a cheer of surprise, and then was blocked by someone.
"After searching everywhere for a needle in a haystack, I still can't find it. Aren't these the great talents of Huaining County?"
"It just so happens that the poetry gathering of students from Taihu, Wangjiang and other counties is in full swing. The only drawback is that there are no people from Huaining like you. Meeting you at this moment is like a blessing after a long drought."
Several young scholars holding folding fans and dressed elegantly blocked the retreat routes of Zhu Ping'an and others, and without saying anything, they escorted them upstairs.
Downstairs is the human world, upstairs is heaven.
When Zhu Ping'an went upstairs, he happened to see the singer upstairs dancing the red sleeves dance. She was as light as a swallow, her lotus steps swaying in the wind. Suddenly, her sleeves swung open and fluttered, like a fairy from the sky descending to the mortal world. Her slender waist twisted and her lotus steps moved, as if a fairy was contaminated by the mortal world. His heart was moved.
It was completely different from modern songs and dances. Out of curiosity, Zhu Ping'an took a second look at it.
But in the eyes of some people, this is just a country bumpkin from a remote area who has never seen the world. He is already infatuated with a mere singing girl. How can he be accepted into a prestigious place
Sure enough, it was exactly the same as what I had inquired about. Some students from other counties upstairs looked at each other and smiled.
"Ahem, we are here to meet friends this time. Next time, we will come again to participate in a poetry reading." Uncle Zhu Shouren saw that there were students and scholars from other counties sitting at seven or eight tables upstairs. He felt something was wrong and politely declined.
A well-dressed student from Jiangning County laughed and said, "We are friends because of poetry. We are all here as friends. Where are your friends? We will ask someone to call them over."
The other students and scholars sitting at the table also gathered around, pulling and tugging at Zhu Ping'an and the others to sit at a large table in the middle. They were as enthusiastic as if they had met a long-lost relative, and they would glance at Zhu Ping'an from time to time, as if he were a rare treasure.
My uncle's friends were also warmly invited out of a private room. These students from other counties wanted the more people there, the better. The more people there were, the more embarrassed Huaining County would be, and the bigger the noise would be, so the Lord of the Prefecture would have to think more about it.
My uncle's friend is a fat man with a big belly. He has small eyes that you can't even see his eyeballs when he squints. He looks like he has indulged in excessive sexual activities.
After everyone greeted each other, the fat man sat next to the uncle and whispered with the uncle and others. At the end, he glanced at Zhu Pingan with strange eyes. Then the uncle and several villagers looked embarrassed, and looked at Zhu Pingan with blaming and complaining eyes.
It seems that they already know what these students from other counties are doing.
When the enemy comes, we will fight them; when the water comes, we will block it with earth.
Zhu Ping'an sat down at the table as if nothing had happened and started to deal with the dish of drunken crabs in front of him. He had been drooling over the Shanghai drunken crabs when he watched A Bite of China before, but he never had the chance. Now that the drunken crabs were in front of him, how could he resist
Well
It is indeed just as the rumors say, greedy and a glutton.
Students and scholars from other counties looked at Zhu Ping'an with disdain at the indecent way he ate two large crabs in a row using both his hands and chips.
Uncle Zhu Shouren and others also wanted to stay away from Zhu Ping'an and were blushing.
The poetry gathering held in Jingxian Tower was already planned by students from other counties such as Tongcheng, Taihu, and Wangjiang. It was not specifically targeted at Zhu Pingan and other students from Huaining County. They just wanted to get familiar with each other before attacking the students from Huaining County. Unexpectedly, good news came from the sky. When they heard that Zhu Pingan and other students from Huaining County were heading towards Jingxian Tower, the students from other counties discussed and decided that it would be better to make them look bad today.
So, some people went to block the way downstairs to prevent Zhu Ping'an and his companions from just passing by; some people went to call people, as it is better to share happiness with others than to enjoy it alone, and such a good thing is only interesting if more people are together to appreciate it; some people also used their personal connections to visit several famous sages in the county city, hoping that they could come so that everyone's comments would be more convincing.
Because the person who called for help had not returned yet, the students and scholars from other counties also held back and did not attack. They planned to launch a thundering attack on Zhu Ping'an and other people from Huaining County when everyone arrived.
So, now everyone is communicating happily together and the atmosphere is very good, which is called warm-up.
There is peace and prosperity, but also tensions are rising.