"Chen'er, have you decided to go to the capital?"

When Shen heard his son's sudden change, he was a little unbelievable, and the change was too fast.

"Well, I decided to go to the capital to meet the prince and then consider my future plans."

Although Chen Yichen decided to go to the capital, he did not make sure that he would go to the Imperial College to study. What specific choices he made depend on how he borrowed the power of the Duke of the State!

After all, the difficulty of taking the Juren in the provincial examination is far greater than that of the boy exam and the scholar exam. He has never liked to fight unsure of the battles.

"Okay, it's time to meet the prince, it's time to meet him."

For Shen, it is almost impossible to change her ideas like Chen Yichen.

So she was even happier that her son could change her mind, go to Duke Cheng, and pick up the father-son family relationship that had been broken for many years.

"Mom, then I'll go to the room to prepare. Since I decided to go to the capital, I have to leave as soon as possible."

There is not much time left for Chen Yichen to decide. After all, there are only three months left before the provincial examination. There was no such means of transportation as high-speed rail aircraft in ancient times, so this trip could be called high mountains and long roads.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were two ways to go from Nanjing to the capital. The waterway was the famous Grand Canal of Beijing and Hangzhou. In slow condition, it took three months for scholars to go to Beijing to take the exam.

The reason is that after the canal is loaded with canal transportation, it will often be blocked with dry water and there will be a period of ice in winter. Civilian ships do not have priority right of way along the way, and they will stop and queue up for passing, which will take a very long time.

If you take the land route, the speed depends on how much money you have. If the road leads smoothly, you can reach the capital in the entire route by rushing the station in half a month.

If you don’t have money, you can only walk with your feet. It may take a few months for thousands of kilometers. Anyway, it’s not too short.

However, the current time is not the spring examination when the scholars set off in autumn and rushed to the capital to participate in the imperial examination, but the autumn examination in the provincial examination that can be referred to in Nanjing.

In addition, there is plenty of rain in spring and summer, the canal flow has increased significantly, and there is no trouble of ice-cold period. As well as the few civilian boats taking the exam and no queues, the theoretical speed of the boat will increase greatly, and it will take only a month to go from Nanjing to the capital.

Even so, Chen Yichen had to make a quick decision, otherwise the daylily would be cold when he arrived in the capital.

"Okay, mom, prepare for you too."

"Um."

In this way, Chen Yichen returned to his room. In fact, he decided to go to the capital and was affected by something.

That doesn’t matter whether you are included in the genealogy or not, and you don’t want to be Mrs. Zhu, but my mother, Shen, must be given the title of Mrs. Zhu!

The reason is that as an illegitimate child, he was at most despised and ridiculed by others. Due to his status as a Duke, many people dare not do it clearly.

There are also maids who received a son who was very well received in ancient times. After all, they were not evil people, so the humiliation they suffered was not as serious as they imagined.

But his mother, Shen, was completely different. After Cheng and Zhu Neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty, feudal ethics had a strong oppressive nature to women. They had no status to have children out of wedlock and were driven out by the "husband's family". All kinds of factors were put in front of outsiders and could not be raised.

So over the years, the criticism and humiliation my mother has suffered far exceeded her ten or a hundred times.

If you want to change all this, the root cause lies in Duke Cheng Guo Zhu Yong. It doesn’t matter whether you have feelings or not, and it doesn’t matter whether you meet in the future. As long as he can give his mother a title, it’s enough!

That night, Chen Yichen and his mother did not sleep well because they knew very well that going to the capital was not only a journey, but also a turning point in their lives.

Early the next morning, Chen Yichen made a decision and set off for the capital within three days. However, before leaving, he still needs to meet two mentors and say goodbye to them.

When he arrived at the familiar private school in the outer courtyard, Li Tingxiu was preparing lessons in the study. When he saw Chen Yichen standing at the door, his eyes immediately showed surprise.

"Yichen, why are you here?"

Chen Yichen has now won the reputation of a scholar, so there is no need to study in the private school of the outer school, unless he goes to the private school of the inner school.

"Sir, the student is here to say goodbye to you."

"Say your goodbye? Where are you going?"

It is obvious that Li Tingxiu was surprised. Chen Yichen had just made three yuan in small and medium-sized yuan. The provincial examination for the Great Era was right in front of him. Where was he going?

"The student received a letter from his father's family and will go to the capital soon."

"The Imperial College of the Capital?"

As soon as he heard that he was heading to the capital, Li Tingxiu immediately realized that Chen Yichen was going to the Imperial College in the capital.

Because if you want to take the imperial examination for the provincial examination, there is also a Jiangnan Tribute Academy in Nanjing, so you don’t need to go to the capital.

Moreover, it is Duke Cheng’s letter to his family, so there are not many options, and it is likely that he will go to the Imperial College to study in the capital.

"Well, my grandfather wants me to go to the Imperial College for school, but the students have not made up their minds yet."

“Why?”

"I want to take the provincial exam in a row."

Continuous examination?

When Li Tingxiu heard Chen Yichen's thoughts, he was a little surprised.

The provincial examination is usually in mid-August, and there are only three months left for full completion. It is not known how long it takes to go to the capital. What does Chen Yichen use to prepare for review?

Generally, new scholars will choose to skip this provincial examination when they encounter such a big competition and reserve sufficient preparation time for themselves. It would be fine if Chen Yichen didn't jump, but he had to travel thousands of miles to the capital to take the exam. Are you too anxious?

"Yichen, it may not be safe to take the provincial exam even if you take the provincial exam."

"Anyway, if you don't pass the exam, you'll have to wait for three years, so why not give it a try."

Chen Yichen performed very easily. If he didn’t take the exam, he would have to wait for the next provincial examination in three years. He would not lose money when he tried it.

"But the mental state of the exam after failing the exam is absolutely different."

When he said this, Li Tingxiu smiled bitterly. He had failed the imperial examination, which led to his increased pressure on the imperial examination and his mentality was still unable to adjust.

That is why I finally chose to take office as the President of Chengguo Mansion. On the one hand, I adjusted my mentality, and on the other hand, I could also have a sense of accomplishment in teaching and educating people.

"Sir, you probably forgot. I've failed the exam for many years."

"ah……"

Li Tingxiu laughed a little. He really forgot about Chen Yichen before, even taking the exam for a child for many years. He was very experienced in failing the exam...

"Since that's the case, I won't say much more to my teacher. Let's meet again when the spring of the next year begins!"

"Sir, did you decide to take the Bchou exam in the 10th Year of Zhengtong (1445)?"

It was Chen Yichen's turn to show a look of surprise on his face. After Li Tingxiu failed the Gengxu exam in the fifth year of Xuande (1430), he had missed several sessions of examinations in more than ten years, and even decided not to take the imperial examinations again.

Unexpectedly, he would change his mind and decided to go to Beijing to take the spring exam next year.

"Well, seeing you makes me have the fighting spirit."

"I hope that in the spring exam next year, students will be able to share the title with their husbands and create a good story."

Listening to the students' passionate words, Li Tingxiu just smiled faintly. He had long lost Chen Yichen's enthusiasm.

After saying goodbye to Li Tingxiu, Chen Yichen did not leave directly, but walked through the corridor where he often walked and stood outside the lecture hall window and watched.

This time, he found that the lecture hall was much empty, and those familiar figures were no longer there.

Have they left?

For some reason, when Chen Yichen saw this scene, he felt empty inside. He experienced the feeling of breaking up after graduation in his previous life.

After leaving the Duke Chengguo Mansion, Chen Yichen went to Lin Zhen's villa without stopping, and told him again about the news that he was going to the capital and preparing to take the provincial examination.

Compared with Li Tingxiu, Lin Zhen's journey to the imperial examination in the later period was much smoother. Moreover, as the top scholar, he had already reached the peak of literati, so he did not stop Chen Yichen's eager thoughts.

If you fail the exam, you will treat it as accumulating experience, after all, you are still young.

"Yichen, I have experienced the ups and downs of officials as my teacher. Although I have no ambition to return home after retiring, I also understand that the capital is the place where young people show their strengths."

"There are no other teachers who can help you too much. After you leave, sending a few letters to me as my old friend in the capital in the same year, it may help you in the future."

To be honest, Chen Yichen knew very well that he would retreat as Lin Zhen’s top scholar. In the Jingshi Civil Affairs Group, there would definitely be a deep network of contacts.

However, this time he came to say goodbye purely for the friendship between teachers and students, without any interest relationships, and did not think about using the teacher's connections.

Perhaps Chen Yichen is not the kind of person who uses any means to achieve his goal.

This is true for Zhao Hongjie and Lin Zhen.

"Sir, I am grateful to you."

Chen Yichen does not take the initiative to use people close to him, but refuses if there is a shortcut, that is stupid and pedantic.

So after Lin Zhen proposed it, he also agreed with the situation and did not have any false politeness.

And he gave a deep gift because Chen Yichen knew very well that these few short letters may be worthy of the ten years of hard study by others!

"As teachers and students, you and me do not need to be polite."

Lin Zhen smiled and raised his hand, signaling Chen Yichen to get up.

He also admires Chen Yichen's direct personality, and accepts help as a brisk manner, and remembers it in his heart. Unlike many hypocritical people, who speak kindness and morality, but do despicable things.

"These letters were written to the teacher who was the teacher back then, Mr. Wang, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, Mr. Qian, the chief of the Hanlin Academy of Fang Shi, and Lin Hengjian, an old friend of the same hometown and the same year."

"Yichen After you arrive in the capital, remember to find a good time to visit them."

"Don't worry, sir, the students remember it firmly."

Chen Yichen nodded respectfully. Lin Zhen was willing to recommend him with his connections. Of course, it was impossible to remember these people when he needed help, or ask them to take the initiative to help.

Connections are just equivalent to laying bridges and building roads. How to operate specificly and how much help can you get depends on your own abilities in the end.

Don’t think that relying on the title of a top scholar’s ​​disciple, you can lie down and wait for the boss to violently feed him. These are all real power officials in the capital, which are completely different from the struggle between Nanjing and the retirement officials. They are probably too lazy to look at you in front of you.

Lin Zhen was worried that Chen Yichen would not understand the tricks in his youth, so he specially reminded him that he must pay respect and leave a good impression so that he can find help at critical moments.
Chapter completed!