Autumn goes and winter comes, spring leaves and summer solstice comes.
In the blink of an eye, we have arrived at the fifth year of Tianyou.
This year, Wei Chen was fourteen years old.
In the past two years, Wei Chen has been reading, writing articles, and training the two little girls of the Sheng family, and has lived a contented life.
At the beginning of every year, he and Sheng Changbai would go back to Jiangning Mansion to take part in the annual examination. By the way, they would stay in Youyang's hometown for two or three months, accompanying Wei Ruyi and his family of three.
The little guy Zhang Xu has now grown into a young man. When he was ten years old, Wei Chen specially asked Chen Jun to enlighten him.
However, Zhang Xu has no interest in reading. When he was a child, he was woken up by Wei Chen's reading every morning early in the morning, which made him understand how hard it is to take the imperial examination.
Zhang Xu asked himself that he did not have Wei Chen's talent and perseverance, so he had no confidence in participating in the imperial examination. In contrast, the business of being a merchant was more to his liking.
After Wei Chen discussed with Wei Ruyi and his wife, they arranged for Zhang Xu to work at Wu Quan Winery and let him work as an apprentice with Zhang Ming.
Today's amber wine is sold all over the country under the name of tribute wine, and Wei Chen and the Zhang family's shares in the winery are already priceless.
But for Wei Chen, more money is just a number, and he no longer cares about it.
According to the letter sent by Wei Ruyi, Zhang Xu did a good job in the winery. Even Sheng Wei praised him for being smart and a good business prospect. Zhang Ming was ready to train Zhang Xu as his successor and let him be hired in the future.
Take over the people in the winery.
As for the Sheng Family School, Sheng Changfeng and Qi Heng made rapid progress in their studies under the guidance of Zhuang Jun. Last year, they both passed the college examination and became a scholar.
However, Sheng Changfeng and Qi Heng were really unsure about the provincial examination in August this year. In the end, they both chose to study hard for three years and wait for the next provincial examination to take the exam again.
Therefore, only Wei Chen and Sheng Changbai participated in the Qiu Wei this year. In fact, there was also Gu Tingye, but Wei Chen and Sheng Changbai returned to Jiangning to take the provincial examination, while Gu Tingye returned to his hometown in Jiangxi.
There were still more than two months until autumn, so Wei Chen and Sheng Changbai packed their bags and set off together to prepare for the exam in Jiangning.
Before leaving, Sheng Hong and Wang Ruofu took their whole family to the pier to see Sheng Changbai off.
When they parted, Minglan and Rulan were both in tears. Wei Chen tried his best to persuade them, but he finally made them laugh out of tears.
Seeing his two younger sisters reluctantly surrounding Wei Chen, Sheng Changbai's eyelids twitched suddenly, feeling that something was not quite right.
At the end, I comforted myself in my heart: It must be Mr. Wei Chen who has done his duty and created such a strong teacher-student friendship...
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The passenger ship sailed slowly, and the figures on the pier gradually disappeared. This was the third time Wei Chen took a boat down to the south of the Yangtze River. Looking at the beautiful scenery on both sides of the strait, Wei Chen couldn't help but sigh.
From scholar to scholar, from scholar to scholar, these are the two most critical levels in the imperial examination.
Every three years in the Great Zhou Dynasty, 300 Jinshi candidates will be selected from 3,000 candidates. Each province also holds a provincial examination competition every three years, and 90 candidates will be selected from 3,000 candidates. Therefore, scholars often say that the provincial examination is more difficult than the national examination.
Yin Xiucai’s statement.
If he fails to pass the examination, no matter how talented Wei Chen was before, he was just a small scholar. As time goes by, he will inevitably gradually fall out of the mainstream scholar circle.
From the first year of Tianyou's reign to the fifth year of Tianyou's present, four years in time, Wei Chen has worked hard to build a career and made all kinds of preparations, all for the chance of taking the provincial examination.
Once you cross over, it’s like a carp leaping over the dragon’s gate, and the road will be smooth from now on!
Entering Jiangning City from Shuimen, Wei Chen and Sheng Changbai went directly to the Sheng family's old residence in Huagaifang to stay.
Huagaifang is not far from Jiangnan Gongyuan, the hometown examination venue. Both are located on the north bank of the Qinhuai River. It is densely populated and bustling, where well-dressed people live together.
Across the water, on the south bank, is the famous Old Qinhuai Courtyard, a place where famous singers and concubines gather for feasting and feasting.
Every autumn, scholars from Jiangnan Province gather in Jiangning, and they often come here to hang out. As for whether they want to hang out on the north bank or the south bank, everyone has their own ambitions.
On the second day after Wei Chen arrived in Jiangning, he followed the teacher's instructions and brought gifts to visit his senior brother Shen Du.
When Shen Du saw Wei Chen, he first asked about the teacher's current situation, exchanged some pleasantries, and finally got down to the topic: "Xingyun, do you know who is the president of the Jiangnan Province Provincial Examination this time?"
The president of the rural examination is actually the examiner of the rural examination. Generally, he is not held by the academic administration of the province, but is appointed separately by the court and presides over the examination from the central government to the local government.
In order to prevent requests for requests, the candidates for the examiner will not be announced to the outside world before the exam, and the candidates can only inquire on their own.
The earlier you know who the examiner is, the better you can figure out his essay and prepare for the provincial examination. This is an off-site advantage.
Every time at this time, the candidates are like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each showing his magical powers.
When Wei Chen heard Shen Du mention this matter, he suddenly became energetic: "Senior brother, what news did you find out?"
Shen Du nodded and lowered his voice: "It's Wang Wenqing, the minister of Dali Temple."
"Is it him?" Wei Chen was surprised.
Unexpectedly, the former Jiangnan Academic Affairs Officer, who has been promoted, will return to Jiangnan Province to preside over the provincial examination.
Winning the appreciation of the scholar Wang Wenqing was the first turning point in Wei Chen's life. Since then, Wei Chen's reputation has skyrocketed, and his reputation as a child prodigy has spread throughout Jiangnan.
It was also because of Wang Wenqing's reputation that Wei Chen was able to use his power to make Sheng Wei willing to partner with a child like him on an equal footing.
Although Wang Wen was transferred away from Jiangnan early in the morning, there was no actual master-disciple relationship between him and Wei Chen, but just because of his support back then, he could be regarded as Wei Chen's master.
In March this year, Wei Chen made a special trip to Wang's house to hand over a greeting card.
However, although Wang Wenqing met Wei Chen at that time, he did not show too much affection towards Wei Chen. He only said a few words to Wei Chen and then served tea to see off the guests on the grounds that he was busy with official duties.
Wei Chen was originally a little resentful towards Wang Wenqing for not remembering his old relationship, but now that he thinks about it, he is too superficial.
Perhaps Wang Wenqing had heard the news at that time and knew that he was likely to serve as the examiner of this Jiangnan Provincial Provincial Examination, so he deliberately did not get too close to Wei Chen.
This is not because Wang Wenqing does not miss his old relationship, but that he is protecting Wei Chen to prevent Wei Chen from being criticized in the future.
Thinking of this, Wei Chen couldn't help but sigh.
Shen Du didn't understand Wei Chen's feelings. After revealing the candidate of the examiner to Wei Chen, he solemnly told him: "Xingyun, after you go back, you must carefully study the articles examined by Examiner Wang. If you don't have everything at hand, you can come to
I’ll take it here, and you must eat it all.”
Wei Chen bowed and thanked: "Thank you so much, senior brother."
Shen Du waved his hand and said indifferently: "You don't have to thank me. If you want to thank me, just thank the teacher. Everything was arranged by him. I was just following orders."