Man Bao thought about it and accepted his apology, but there was no need to think about inviting him to drink.
She found a shaded spot under the wall of the Imperial College and stood under it to hide from the sun.
Some of the students who were watching felt bored and said goodbye to Feng Zongping one after another. In the end, three people were left behind.
The three of them also hid under the wall. Man Bao raised his head and stared at them, "Why don't you leave?"
Feng Zongping smiled and said: "We have nothing to do, so I'll just wait with you. By the way, you look young, isn't your junior brother even younger? He's fourteen already?"
Feng Zongping looked at Man Bao suspiciously. She looked like she was only twelve or thirteen years old. Wouldn't his junior brother be even younger?
Manbao knew the rules of the Six Studies and only accepted students from fourteen to twenty-one years old. However, "they came to study at the emperor's will."
In other words, there is no more.
Feng Zongping was surprised, "Your accent is not from Chang'an. Where are you from?"
Man Bao looked at him without saying anything.
Feng Zongping said with a smile: "In this way, I ask you a question, and you can also ask me a question. You can't lie or say you don't know. If you really don't know, we will fill it in with the next question until
What’s the answer?”
Man Bao thought this was a good idea and nodded.
Yun Xinxuan and Yi Ziyang looked helpless on the side.
"Where is the little lady from?"
"I am from Jiannan Road."
Feng Zongping: ...This answer is really broad, but he also figured out the meaning. Although she spoke in Mandarin, she was obviously from the Sichuan area.
"May I have your name?"
Man Bao said: "It's my turn to ask, among all the Confucian classics, which one do you most admire for offering wine?"
Feng Zongping: “Of course it’s The Analects of Confucius.”
Man Bao said: "My surname is Zhou, and my name is Zhou Man. Which book do you most like to read Mo Yi from when offering wine?"
Feng Zongping thought for a while and looked at Yun Xinxuan.
Yun Xinxuan smiled and said: ""Da", I guess, and "The Analects of Confucius" I often smoke too."
Feng Zongping asked quickly, "What is your junior brother's name?"
Man Bao: "Baicheng."
Feng Zongping stood there and saw that she didn't speak anymore, so he asked, "Where is the other one?"
"Are you going to ask two questions at once?"
Feng Zongping got lucky and said aggrievedly: "No, you ask me first."
"Among the students you know who are applying this time, how many do you think will be able to get into Taixue if they take the exam normally?"
Feng Zongping looked at her for a while and said, "Two."
"Including the junior brother who is slightly stronger than me?" Man Bao said, "Answer my question first."
Feng Zongping was silent for a moment and then replied: "Including, what is the name of your junior brother's father and what official position he held?"
Manbao made a "two" sign, indicating that these were two questions.
Feng Zongping nodded and said, "I know, you can ask another question later."
Man Bao said with a smile: "My junior brother's father is Bai Li, and he has never held an official position."
Feng Zongping blinked, reacted, pointed at Man Bao and said: "You are so treacherous, don't your two junior brothers have the same father?"
Man Bao looked at him and asked, "Is this a problem?"
"No!" Feng Zongping said quickly: "Forget it, just ask me."
"In the summer, gentlemen, what questions do you like most when taking poetry tests?"
Feng Zongping looked at Yi Ziyang. Yi Ziyang thought for a while and said: "Well, there are also bamboos and the like. Sometimes you can point to a corner in the garden and ask us to write poems. That's a lot."
Man Bao wrote them down one by one. Seeing that Feng Zongping wanted to ask questions, she stopped him and said, "Okay, I don't have any more questions."
Feng Zongping couldn't hold it in anymore and said: "I only have one last question. You can also ask me another question."
Man Bao thought for a while and nodded, "Okay, you can ask."
"Who are you sir?"
"Zhuang Xun, whose courtesy name is Xunmei," Man Bao asked with a smile, "Are you a descendant of the Minister of Justice?"
Yun Xinxuan and Yi Ziyang also looked at her in surprise.
Feng Zongping asked, "How do you know?"
Man Bao didn't have to wait for his answer. She smiled and said: "I have a friend who is very similar to you. His father used to be in the Ministry of Punishment. When you asked me just now, I thought, wouldn't your father also be in the Ministry of Punishment?
?But I thought, my father is not from the Ministry of Punishment, it’s okay if my grandfather is from the Ministry of Punishment. What a coincidence, your surname is Feng."
Feng Zongping glanced at Yun Xinxuan. He was the one who called out his name. He asked, "Who is your friend?"
"Like him, you always have many questions, but unlike him, he never asks me these questions directly." Man Bao saw Bai Dalang coming out with a book basket, so she waved to them and said
: "I'm going home, see you later."
Bai Dalang came over with a red face. When he saw Feng Zongping and others wearing the Confucian uniforms of the Imperial College, he bowed his hands and then got into the carriage with Man Bao and left.
"Senior Brother Bai, why is your face so red?"
Bai Dalang said: "Done in the sun."
"Have you bought the papers?"
Bai Dalang nodded, took out two pamphlets from the book basket and said, "They are all here."
Manbao flipped through it and said in surprise: "It's quite complete. Are you sure it's true?"
"No one in the Imperial College will fake it, don't worry."
Man Bao: "How much does one volume cost?"
"This volume is mainly about scriptures and ink meanings, which costs five taels of silver. This volume is about strategies and poems, which costs ten taels of silver."
Man Bao opened his mouth wide, and it took him a while to find his voice, "Senior Brother Bai, this is a handwritten copy. It is just the questions for the mid-year exam and the final exam in the past three years. Is it so expensive?"
Bai Dalang nodded.
"I haven't even asked the questions for the big exam yet."
"I have the past exam questions there. I bought them from some contacts when I came to Beijing to take the exam. I spent twenty taels of silver on them. They have all the questions from the past ten years."
Man Bao sighed, "Making papers is really profitable."
Bai Dalang also felt, "But this paper is not easy to buy. The papers of the Imperial College are rarely circulated outside the school. At most, there are a few copies in some big bookstores, but they are only sold quietly to some wealthy children. Most people don't buy them, and they don't even inquire.
I can’t find out.”
When Bai Dalang was able to buy it, it was Mr. Zhuang who took him to see Mr. Lan. Mr. Lan gave him a letter. After arriving in the capital, he found a connection with an academic official to buy it.
Although there were no repeated questions in this year's exam, by looking at the exam questions from previous years, he could roughly know the scope of the questions asked by the PhD students, and which books had more questions and which books had less questions.
You will feel more confident when taking the exam.
Man Bao put the book away and said to Bai Dalang: "Senior Brother Bai, when you get back, go to Shan Bao and Bai Er and ask for money. They also have my five taels of silver in there."
Originally, she thought that five taels of silver, plus the piece of silver given by Bai Shan, would be enough. Who knew the paper would be so expensive?
Man Bao looked at the paper in his hand, rolled his eyes and asked, "Senior Brother Bai, you said I asked my nephews to copy the paper and sell it, can it be sold?"