"This Fang Yun was a fool who knew nothing before. How come he has become so powerful today? What a cruel method! The first person in the case must be selected by Magistrate Cai himself. If I offend him, I will offend Magistrate Cai." Manager Zhen was confused.
Fang Yun bowed to everyone and said loudly, "I used to work in this Jixiang Restaurant, working hard to earn 500 copper coins every month. Just yesterday, Manager Zhen fired me and didn't even give me a penny of my previous wages. He also threatened to kill me. Today, County Magistrate Cai held a gathering of students at the Jixiang Restaurant. I attended the banquet on time, but Manager Zhen didn't let me in. Although I, Fang Yun, am a poor scholar, I have a backbone. I will not go to this Jixiang Restaurant. Tomorrow I will go to apologize to the county magistrate. Everyone, look for Manager Zhen and Jixiang Restaurant. Here, we only look at the clothes and not the people."
After Fang Yun finished speaking, he raised his leg and walked away.
Shopkeeper Zhen was hesitant. He saw someone looking down from the second floor out of the corner of his eye. He looked up subconsciously and saw that almost all the important figures of the county were upstairs, including Magistrate Cai, Lord Wang, and Mr. Su from a prominent family.
Especially Mr. Su, who was in his fifties, looked at Manager Zhen with an especially cold look.
The gentry of the prominent families in the county wanted to make friends with the most promising student, but the owner of a restaurant actually wanted to drive away the top candidate who was most worthy of making friends and had the most promising future
Shopkeeper Zhen was so frightened that he turned pale and felt like ice was frozen in his bones. It was not a big deal to offend Magistrate Cai, as he would leave after his term of office. However, Mr. Su had been rooted in Ji County for many years and his family was a prominent family for three generations. The consequences of offending him would be more serious.
Shopkeeper Zhen gritted his teeth and quickly followed Fang Yun, saying, "Fang Yun, I was blind and didn't know you were the top candidate this year. Please forgive me since we have known each other for many years."
Fang Yun stopped and said, "Manager Zhen, you are too polite. You did nothing wrong. This Jixiang Restaurant is your place. You have the right not to let me in. Of course, if you let me in now, I also have the right not to go in. Goodbye."
Shopkeeper Zhen remembered Su Juren's eyes and didn't care about his face. He hurried forward and grabbed Fang Yun's sleeve, begging: "Mr. Fang, please forgive me. I look down on people. My eyes are on my buttocks. I only recognize clothes and not people. I sincerely admit my mistake and I will compensate you for your wages."
A light cough was heard from the second floor, and Magistrate Cai said, "If you have something to say, come up and say it. It's not proper to argue in the street!"
After saying that, County Magistrate Cai glared at Shopkeeper Zhen, then looked at Fang Yun and smiled.
Fang Yun immediately bowed and said, "Since the county magistrate has spoken, I will obey." After saying that, he walked into the Jixiang Restaurant without hesitation.
Shopkeeper Zhen was extremely shocked. He realized then that Fang Yun's intention to leave was fake, and he was actually waiting for Magistrate Cai to say something. If he was determined to leave, it would be disrespectful to the magistrate. So he deliberately shouted riddles downstairs to attract the attention of Magistrate Cai and others, and finally cheated his restaurant, killing two birds with one stone.
"Has he been pretending before? This kind of scheming is nothing, but it's terrible when it appears on a child!" Shopkeeper Zhen suddenly found that he had no power to resist Fang Yun.
The two men went up to the second floor. Standing at the door of the upper room of the Tianzihao building was a tall and strong barbarian. Fang Yun looked at him for a few more times and then walked in.
Room No. 1 was very large, with three tables already set up inside, and nearly twenty people sitting at them, all of whom stood up at this moment.
Although Magistrate Cai was dressed in casual clothes and even had a smile on his face, he still had an awe-inspiring majesty. This was due to his talent, his cultivation, and his official position.
"Tell me, what's going on?" Magistrate Cai asked with a smile.
Shopkeeper Zhen knelt on the ground with a plop, and slapped his face fiercely, saying, "Your Highness, this is all my fault! I was despicable and shameless, and I withheld Mr. Fang's wages. I was blinded by greed, and I am willing to compensate you."
"Who told you to speak?" County Magistrate Cai said lightly. His tone was very light, but it made Shopkeeper Zhen's hair stand on end and his eyes full of fear, like a rabbit being stared at by a lion or tiger.
No one around spoke, and almost everyone had a hint of mockery in their eyes.
Shopkeeper Zhen lowered his head dejectedly, and only then did he realize how huge the gap between his status and that of a top-ranked student was.
Fang Yun bowed first, and then told the truth about what happened between him and Shopkeeper Zhen.
Everyone was furious. Mr. Su said in a stern voice, "I never thought that Ji County would produce such a beast! If you just forbade Fang Yun to take the discarded vegetables home, it would be understandable, but why did you insult him! Fang Yun's riddle poem is absolutely correct. You only care about clothes and not people! You are worse than pigs and dogs!"
Shopkeeper Zhen was so frightened that he was shaking all over.
Fang Yun smiled and said, "Today is the Tongsheng Literary Gathering, but it was delayed by my personal affairs. I am willing to drink a glass of wine as an apology. Shopkeeper Zhen, since you have admitted your mistake, I forgive you. Go down."
Shopkeeper Zhen looked up at Fang Yun blankly. Seeing Fang Yun's smiling face, it seemed that he really forgave him, but he knew in his heart that this matter would definitely not be resolved so easily.
"How magnanimous! Everyone sit down and don't let that villain ruin your mood. As for the wine, there is no need to punish you." Magistrate Cai made no secret of his admiration for Fang Yun.
Everyone sat down.
There were three tables in total. The first table was headed by Magistrate Cai, and seated at it were officials or prominent families from Ji County. The lowest rank was a scholar, and there was only one seat reserved for the top candidate.
The second table is for the students of this year, and the third table is for the famous scholars in the county.
There is one Jinshi and three Juren here. Except for the Tongsheng, the others are Xiucai.
Fang Yun was polite and sat down at the first table. Just as he sat down, the door opened.
Fang Yun turned his head and saw Fang Li and Fang Zhongyong walking in together.
Fang Zhongyong immediately bowed and greeted him, but Fang Li just bowed and looked around, finally his eyes fell on Fang Yun's head, his eyes blazing with anger.
Fang Yun seemed not to notice.
After the two took their seats, the literary gathering officially began. First, Magistrate Cai toasted to all the saints, then he toasted to the King of Jing and the Queen Mother, and finally he toasted to all the students.
The theme of this literary gathering revolved around the county examination. Magistrate Cai first talked about the first question of asking the sage for advice: Where was Confucius in the 27th year of Duke Zhao
This is equivalent to a Jinshi giving a lecture, and it is also helpful for the meaning of the classics. Not only will the students listen carefully, but the scholars and juren present will also listen carefully to prepare for the future imperial examinations.
Those scholars and candidates who had just learned the test question also thought about it seriously. They all knew that Confucius was in Qi and Lu that year, but since Magistrate Cai asked this question, the answer would naturally not be simple.
Magistrate Cai said, "This question is extremely obscure. Even a scholar might not be able to answer it correctly. I was able to answer it because I read some books in the capital. Fang Yun, tell me how you answered this question."
Everyone was looking at Fang Yun. The worst thing in studying was to know the results but not the reasons behind them. If Fang Yun could not explain this problem clearly, his reputation as a top-ranked student would be greatly tarnished.
Fang Li interrupted and said, "Zhongyong didn't answer. Please teach me, Master, and educate this useless child of mine."
Fang Zhongyong looked embarrassed, then looked at Fang Yun and made an apologetic expression.
Fang Yun nodded slightly to show that he knew. He had known for a long time that although Fang Zhongyong was a little arrogant, he had always been taciturn and had no bad reputation. On the contrary, his father Fang Li was flaunting himself everywhere in the name of the father of the child prodigy, which made many people dislike him.
Fang Yun pondered for a moment, organized his words in his mind, and said: "At first I thought the answer to this question was simple, and only wrote Qi and Lu. But when I wrote the sixth question, I saw that it was about the Book of Rites, and I was inspired. I remembered that the Book of Rites said that Confucius went to the funeral of Ji Zi's eldest son..."
Afterwards, Fang used his own language to sort out the idea of the problem and explained it in the most solid way without any mistakes.
When Fang Yun finished speaking, many of the students and scholars present were still thinking about it, while the others who had already understood it completely praised him.
Fang Li's momentum suddenly weakened. He was also a student and was well aware of the difficulty of this question. He also understood that Fang Yun's approach to solving the problem was simply perfect.
"Fang Yun is a man of great talent, I am not as good as him." Fang Zhongyong whispered, his voice a little melancholy but without resentment.
Magistrate Cai smiled and said, "What a good Fang Yun! Although this idea is complicated, it is exactly the most suitable for Tongsheng. If you use my method to solve the problem, I will definitely suspect that you are cheating."
Magistrate Cai then went on to talk about his process of solving the problem. He used several rarely circulated books to solve the problems, and most of them were not found in Fang Yun's world of strange books. Not to mention Fang Yun, even Wang Yuanjun and Su Juren had not read them.
After comparison, everyone looked at Fang Yun differently, and believed that Fang Yun's method was the right way.
Then everyone continued to discuss some topics about asking for the Holy Word, and Magistrate Cai even extended it to the "meaning of the scriptures."
The so-called sutra meaning is to use a sentence or part of the classic works of the saints as the topic, and the candidates write an essay to explain the meaning therein.
If "asking for the words of the saints" is to memorize the ways of the saints, then "the meaning of the scriptures" is to understand the ways of the saints and form one's own insights.
When Magistrate Cai finished his speech about inviting the Holy Spirit, the food was served. Everyone ate and drank for a while before discussing poetry.
Magistrate Cai asked for the words of the sage, so Wang Yuanjun of the Academy of Literature was about to start speaking poetry, but Fang Li spoke first, "My son's poetry is outstanding, but he only got a B. Magistrate Cai said that Fang Yun's poetry is outstanding in Mingzhou. Can you let us see his poetry for the county examination?"
Many people remained silent and looked at Wang Yuanjun secretly.
Wang Yuanjun didn't expect Fang Li to be so ignorant of the rules. To put it more strictly, he didn't distinguish between superiors and subordinates, which was a big taboo.
Wang Yuanjun said expressionlessly, "I originally wanted to leave Fang Yun's test paper at the County Academy for future candidates to admire, but after I passed his poem to the State Academy Master Li Daxueshi, Li Daxueshi said that he would send the original poem to the State Academy, saying that this poem is not only the best in the county exam this year, but also the best poem in the county exam in hundreds of years! Li Daxueshi said that this poem will definitely be published in the next month's "Sacred Way" monthly magazine!"
The room was seething.
"Did Grand Secretary Li really say that? How could a student's poem be given such treatment when it is enshrined in the provincial academy of literature?"
"The best poem in the county exam? That's a pretty impressive title."
"If he can get on the "Sacred Way", wouldn't the county have another literary memorial archway? Plus the unprecedented double armor, Fang Yun will get two literary memorial archways."
"It seems that no one in Ji County has ever attended "The Holy Way"?"
"Indeed not."