Transmigrating to the Ming Dynasty’s Imperial Examination

Chapter 18

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The Cui family received the honor, and it was as honored as the other people in this row and the first class who received the honor.

After the imperial convoy left, the respectful and solemn people on the street seemed to suddenly come alive and rushed to the gate of Cui's house. Zhao Yinglin blocked at the nearest place to the door, and said wryly, "Congratulations to Cui Shixiong for getting the imperial honor. In the morning, I mistakenly saw a good person on a whim, please forgive me."

He is not much older than Cui Xie's body, and in the eyes of adults who graduated from college, he is still a middle-year-old boy who says that wind is rain.

Cui Xie didn't listen to his impulsive accusations at all, but seeing a young boy obediently bowing his hands to apologize to him, he bowed back and said gently, "This is a trivial matter, Shixiong doesn't need to let it go. in the heart."

He didn't take that to heart at all.

Zhao Yinglin should have been happy that he didn't care about his blunders, but after thinking of this, he felt a little resentful in his heart.

He also wanted to say that he had always believed that he was an upright gentleman after he exposed the evil servant, and had not listened to the words of those classmates who slandered him behind his back. But before he could say anything, his grandfather pulled him away from behind, held Cui Xie's hand enthusiastically and said, "Congratulations! Xiao Xie, you will become a loyal person in the court's honor in the future, let's see who dares to go outside. Nonsense, saying that you have a quarrel with your family."

Cui Xie thanked him for his concern. Seeing the crowd of people crowding towards the Cui family, he couldn't afford to entertain one by one, so he said loudly to the street: "Thanks to the help of all the high-ranking neighbors, I can send the evil servant to the officials for correction. , I just had time to clean up the yard and let the imperial envoy issue the decree smoothly. It is better to hit the sun if you choose a day. I will prepare a feast to thank the neighbors. A cup of wine."

Everyone said: "There is no reason to let the young master spend money! Today is your big day, we should congratulate you."

A few old neighbors gathered money and asked the restaurant to deliver a few jars of clear soju, and invited someone to slaughter a fat barrow and two yellow sheep that were produced outside the mouth. There are also sea bass from Qinglong River brought by water, eel from Hot Spring Fort, tender lotus root from Xiangu Temple, and navel crab from Sanli River... There are also local specialties such as big ginkgo, jintang pear, fig, sweet pomegranate, crispy Fresh fruits such as plums, peaches, grapes, and white chrysanthemums, as well as dried fruits such as walnuts, pine nuts, hazelnuts, and chestnuts, are probably worth a dozen or so silver.

The owner of the tavern who had ordered food when the Cui family first moved in took the initiative to bring the cook to the door, patted his heart and recommended himself: "I'm not boasting, my cook is no worse than the chef in Beijing, and he has clean hands and feet, Mr. Cui. To prepare a banquet, we use neighbors, wouldn't we be more dedicated than outsiders?"

Cui Xie could not refuse, so he had to thank them one by one, and asked Peng Yan to take the account book and write it down.

Everyone was beaming, saying that it was a rare event for many years, and they didn't care how much it cost.

Those scholars who were originally self-proclaimed and feared that they would be said to be clinging to power when they interacted with him, the fifth-rank son, also came to congratulate him. If you have money, you can send some pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and if you have a good writing style, you can send them your own poems. If you don't have it, you can write a few lines on the royal plaque on his door: "Your name is passed on for thousands of miles, and your kindness is ninefold". Feng Fei leaves Jinshidi, and holy grace is passed into the righteous people's house." The couplet never came to the door empty-handed.

When it was time for the banquet, the rich man Yang from Kaibuzhuang across the street also invited two beautiful prostitutes to sing songs. Don't look".

This day's banquet was open from evening to night, and the seats were lined up outside the Cui's house. Cui Xie sat on the chief, and people came to toast from time to time. At first, he drank fruit wine like sweet water, but after a few rounds of toasting and socializing, he was so drunk that his face was red and his ears were hot, and he couldn't sit up straight when sitting on the chair.

Later, he called Cui Yuan and replaced it with apricot cheese. The color was also light white like rice wine, but it was full of the sweetness of almond milk. He finally supported him and sat down.

At this banquet, he finally recognized all his neighbors, and also met Lin Xiucai who opened a school. He is about 30 or 40 years old. He is a member of the extension student. He is very good at writing the Book of Songs, and his knowledge is not bad.

Such a good teacher. Cui Xie offered him a few glasses of wine when he came to congratulate him, and proposed to be a teacher.

He also has the newly released aura of righteous people on him, and some of his shortcomings are also covered. Mr. Lin only felt that although his foundation was weak, Xiang Xue's attitude was very correct, so he replied: "I don't have any special rules for accepting apprentices in this school. If you are interested, you can come to your door at any time."

Cui Xie replied, "I was awarded the imperial decree, and I want to go to the ancestors' graves to tell the ancestors of this honor. If there is no accident, I will go to study with the master when the ancestors return."

Mr. Lin stroked his long beard and said, "Loyalty and filial piety are the foundation of the world, you can go, I have only support for you."

Choi Xie smiled and lowered his head.

He was going to worship his ancestors, not specifically to let the ancestors of the Cui family share the emperor's holy grace, but to see the names on the tombstones. When taking the imperial examination, the first thing to do is to write the names of the three generations of his ancestors on the front of the scroll, but he didn't know the names of his grandfather and great-grandfather, and he couldn't ask Cui Yuan and his son. But if you go to the ancestral tomb of the Cui family, you can naturally know from the tombstone.

The banquet continued until the curfew, when everyone helped his family clean up the tables, chairs, tableware, and chopsticks, and dispersed with the sound of bangzi. The next morning, they got up very early again and went outside the city to wait for the imperial envoy to return to Beijing.

The sky was only bright, and the imperial envoy's team appeared on the official road in the west of the city. The Cui family's car was pushed to the very back by the big cars of the city officials and wealthy households. He was short, so he simply stood on the driver's seat, watching from a distance the imperial convoy came out of the city gate and rolled past them. .

Eunuch Gao lifted the curtain of the car and said goodbye in a low voice to the local county officials and garrison generals who came to see him off.

It's hard for him to be able to show his face.

Unfortunately, his identity is not enough, and the righteous person who has awarded the award is not very valuable, and he can't get in front of the imperial commissioner. But there are so many people outside the city, Tai Ban is to show his face in front of the imperial commissioner and lead a line leading to Beijing. Only such a young man came to see him off in a serious manner, his eyes were clear and straight, and he did not climb up the eunuch at all. Climbing thoughts.

Xie Ying's eyes fell on his face for a while, and when he saw that he also saw himself, he nodded slightly at him as a farewell. This is a chance encounter, and the water has passed, so such a plain separation is just right.

If he is really promising, he will meet again in the future.

The convoy set off slowly, and then went to the capital without stopping. All kinds of horses and incense carts followed the team and sent them off. I don’t know how many long pavilions and short pavilions needed to be followed. Cui Xie only watched the convoy disappear into Maolin Tobacco, then he got into the car without any attachment and said: " Go back to town."

The seeing off team was almost gone, and the sky was falling over the official road, which was convenient for them to turn around. Just as they were about to do so, a soap clerk came up to stop them, lifted the curtain of the car and said, "Young Master Cui, wait a minute, our eldest master invites you to sit in the county for a while."

Cui Xie asked in astonishment, "The eldest master is looking for me, could it be because of a change in the case?"

Zaoli smiled and said: "A case of a master suing a servant can be changed, and it has been in the hands of the minister, and the Ministry of Punishment will also close the case for you. Go to the yamen and wait."

Cui Xie asked him to get in the car and drove to the county office together.

He sat in the flower hall for a few moments, and the county magistrate came to see him in person, followed by two book offices, each holding a wooden plate, on which was piled a letter of silver and a few feet.

The magistrate of Qi county said solemnly: "Cui Yishi has forgotten his life for the country, and is a role model for the people in Qian'an. The court has a decree to reward you, and the county should also reward you for this righteous act. Two Songjiang three shuttle cloths, talk to the county's heart, you just accept it, you don't have to refuse."

Cui Xie hurriedly stood up and saluted: "The villain has thanked the magistrate for his kindness."

The county magistrate Qi held his arm, did not tell him to salute, showed a gentle smile on his face, greeted his parents in Beijing, and asked him why he went back to his hometown alone.

Cui Xie's excuse for returning to his hometown to study has already been made, and at this time it is even more leaky. Even if he listens to himself, he has to believe that Cui Langzhong and his wife love him very much, and only send him back to his hometown to make him feel at ease to study.

Qi Sheng pondered for a while, and said in deep thought, "If it's just to take middle-school students, I can still help you—the year after the year is a big plan for the Ministry of Personnel, and I'm going to transfer to another place after the big plan, but I still don't know what to do. I have time to preside over this year's county examination. I don't know which scripture of Cui Gongzi's rule, but there is a written text in the time, and I can use it to call this county a view?"

Cui Xie really couldn't tell the truth, his eyes drooped slightly, and he replied: "The villain has not read many books, and he has not yet started to write, but one "Four Books and Chapters" is firmly remembered, and it can be said that it is recited."

Only learned four books? That is, what's the use of reciting it by heart, and the imperial examination is not only one of the four books! This Young Master Cui had just finished reading the Four Books so many years ago, is the remaining two years really enough for him to master the classics and write a decent Bagu and Strategy Theory

The county exam is not named, and the top check is not strict. It is not difficult for him to let a student go on the list. But if the papers are too bad, he ordered such students to pass the county exam, what will happen to the students who fail the exam in the future

The county magistrate thought about it, and said indifferently: "Since it is said that you are reciting it backwards, you can recite the "Analects of Confucius" again."

Among the four books, the Analects of Confucius records the words and deeds of the sage. The most important thing is that no scholar can memorize it wrong, so let this child memorize it.

Cui Xie replied: "I have to close my eyes to concentrate on the endorsement, please forgive me for my rudeness."

"Forget it, it's up to you to memorize it." The county magistrate didn't care whether he was memorizing well or not. He leaned in the official chair and listened at will, but listened to him starting from "Xue Er First". The original text was mixed with Zhu Zi's commentary. The voice is smooth and natural, as fluent as reading it from a book, and there is no mistake even after a few chapters.

Qi Sheng's contempt gradually subsided, he waved his hand to stop, and asked, "As long as it is in the Four Books, can you memorize it so fluently anywhere?"

Cui Xie reduced the PDF to the smallest size, and spread the entire page evenly in his mind, so he could clear all the words at a glance. Because it was in my mind, and there was no problem that the handwriting was too small to be read clearly, so I said confidently: "Students do remember, please feel free to test the school."