Walking under one archway after another, Zhang Shou listened with great interest to Zhu Ying's talk about the glorious history of Ge Yong.
Although this teacher, like his fiancée, was a gift from heaven, the importance of a famous teacher is unquestionable.
"The first place in the imperial examination, the seventh place in the imperial examination. These two memorial archways are to commend Grandpa Ge's achievements in the imperial examination. Anyway, I have never heard of a place like him in the world. Originally, those who passed the imperial examination could also have memorial archways, but that was considered a big deal only in small places. In the capital, even Jinshi did not have the right to build memorial archways on the streets. Grandpa Ge was a special case."
"A teacher for generations. This is a commendation for Grandpa Ge's high status in the Imperial College and the academies of the world as he served as the teacher of the emperor and the prince. When he was about to retire, the emperor felt that he was not good enough to his teacher, so he gave him the title of Grand Tutor and then bestowed this memorial archway."
"Generations of scholars. This is even more amazing. The Ge family has produced five consecutive Jinshi. The second generation was a Jinshi at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. This scholar, who was quite influential in the literati circle, was dissatisfied with the current situation and resigned. Then he defected to the Taizu of that time. It is said that the Taizu of this dynasty, who was a commoner, was able to win the hearts of the literati. The Ge family is small, and often only one family is passed down. It is not easy to produce five Jinshi in one generation."
"He is an unrivalled eloquent speaker. This is about how Grandpa Ge persuaded an envoy who had defected to the Northern Di and then returned to show off his power to the point that he vomited three liters of blood and died when Grandpa Ruizong was on a northern expedition. Moreover, when Grandpa Ge was young, he persuaded barbarians and mountain bandits to surrender. Emperor Yingzong always used him as a pacification specialist and sent him wherever there was trouble. He never failed once. He is really amazing!"
"Master of Mathematics. This is the only memorial archway that Grandpa Ge persuaded several of his disciples to build. He said that he didn't care about the other memorial archways. If he didn't have this one, he would have to die with his eyes open. Those disciples were all university scholars and ministers, so there was nothing they could do but agree to his wishes."
As he walked and listened to his teacher's great achievements, Zhang Shou couldn't help but think that this was a perfect example of a time traveler.
But when he finally passed the archway of the Grandmaster of Mathematics, he heard Zhu Ying's story and compared it with Ge Yong's childish attitude. He finally couldn't help but ask, "When he was an official, he was not like this now, was he?"
There were more than just them who came to pay their respects to the archway. Zhang Shou never mentioned the word "teacher" often, but Zhu Ying always called him Grandpa Ge. Even if someone looked at her sideways, she didn't take it seriously. She laughed so hard when she heard what Zhang Shou said.
"You can tell a person's future from the age of three. Do you think he was like this back then? Grandpa Ge was only 19 years old when he won the first place in the imperial examination. Because he was the grandson of the emperor, he was in mourning for three years. After he was reinstated, he took the imperial examination and won the first place. As soon as he entered the officialdom, he directly contradicted the then Prime Minister. Fortunately, Grandpa Yingzong protected him..."
Next, Zhu Ying recounted Ge Yong's many great achievements that had offended people everywhere. Zhang Shou certainly began to doubt his life, thinking that such a bad-tempered old man should have been killed long ago, how did he rise so quickly? Even the scholars around him who pricked up their ears to listen to the explanation, some of them who were from other places and had little knowledge, were very curious about how this famous Grand Tutor Ge could have such a successful career.