Farmhouse Green Plum

Chapter 514: Admission

"This month's wages..." Yuan Shan stopped talking halfway through her words.

Today is only the seventh day of the New Year, and I have only worked for seven days. How can I have the nerve to ask for wages?

Unexpectedly, Mrs. Tao said, "The magistrate's wife is kind. Although you only worked for seven days this month, I appreciate your meticulous work and the good care you took of the orchid, so I'm giving you two taels of silver."

"2 taels!" Yuan Shan was surprised again, and sighed that Mrs. Chen was so generous. It was a pity that there was no such generous employer.

Let’s not talk about how lively the Yuan family was the next day. On the ninth day of August, Yuan Qing set out from home early in the morning. After arriving at the county town, he met up with Lu Xu and Pu Yan, and then they took a carriage to the provincial capital.

The carriage was not hired, but belonged to the Shen family. Shen Jing thought it would be inconvenient for Yuan Qing to come to the city so early, so he asked his coachman to come a day in advance and pick up other classmates in Qingshui County.

We set off early and arrived at the provincial capital smoothly at the beginning of the Si hour.

In the court, all the new students wore round-necked blue shirts. Prefect Shen pinned flowers made of colorful silk on their hair, and then they went out and walked to the prefectural school.

Shen Jing, who was behind the court, looked at him with envy. When Prefect Shen, who had finished wearing the flowers in his hair, came in, he was immediately furious when he saw him like this. "What's the point of being envious now? If you had worked harder earlier, you wouldn't be looking at him so eagerly now."

Shen Jing felt wronged. "I've worked very hard. This time it was just too difficult."

"It's difficult for you, and it's difficult for others too. You haven't studied hard enough, and you don't reflect on yourself, and you keep making excuses for yourself. I think the academy's exams are still rigged. Usually, there are only five or six people taking the exam, but with the exams being rigged, except for a few poor students, none of you young masters passed.

"I need to talk to the elders about accepting more children from poor families into the academy this year."

Shen Jing didn't dare to speak. If he had known earlier, he would have waited on the street.

The streets were bustling with activity, no less than the day when the results were announced. People were scrambling to get to the front to see the new students.

At the Yunlai Inn, Shopkeeper Fei was sitting on the second floor, sipping wine and cracking sunflower seeds. Hearing the gong sound approaching, he threw away the shells, stood up, and leaned over to look.

I saw a group of scholars wearing round-necked blue shirts and flowers in their hair walking slowly towards me. The light blue sky after the rain made each of them look elegant and refined, with handsome appearance.

He sighed, but envy flashed in his eyes. When he was young, he also wanted to pass the imperial examination. Unfortunately, those books of sages were too hypnotic to read. After several years of hard work, he barely passed the county examination.

He simply stopped studying, but he still felt regretful. Whenever the new students were paraded in the streets, he would lean on the railing and watch.

Soon, the students came closer, each of them full of vigor and high spirits, making people even more envious.

Suddenly, he felt that there was a familiar figure in front of him. When he took another look, he was so shocked that he almost dropped the wine jug. Wasn’t that the medicine boy beside the young doctor?

How could he be among the new students?!

When the students were paraded through the streets, their rankings were also strict. The one who fell behind would either be ranked second or third.

He is so young and ranks so high. Unless something unexpected happens, his future will be bright!

Shopkeeper Fei began to think back to that night, wondering if he had offended the other party in any way. As he thought about it, he almost wanted to cry. It seemed as if he had despised the other party for being just a medicine boy.

There were so many people watching that Yuan Qing naturally didn't notice his gaze. At that time, he had achieved fame and a happy marriage, and was feeling very proud of himself. He didn't even pay attention to where he was going. He just felt like his feet were stepping on clouds, and before he knew it, he arrived in front of the provincial school.

There are two stone tablets on the left and right of the door, one of which says "Civil Officials Getting Off Sedan Chair" and the other says "Military Officials Getting Off Horses".

At this time, the yamen runners stopped beating the gongs, and only someone could be heard shouting, "The new students have arrived, and they are opening up their households!"

The vermilion-painted doors covered with yellow copper nails were opened one by one, and a magnificent hall came into view. The green glazed tiles looked shiny in the sun.

This is the Dacheng Hall, where Confucius is the main deity enshrined, and his co-deities include the Four Companions, Yan Hui, Zeng Shen, Kong Ji, Mencius, and the Twelve Philosophers; the adjacent East and West Verandas are where Zhu Xi and other Confucian sages of all dynasties are enshrined.

The entire academy was silent; even the wind became gentle when it reached here, as if it did not want to disturb the sages inside.

"Please welcome the new students!"

As they shouted, the members folded their hands in salute, bowed their heads and continued to move forward.

As you enter the Lingxing Gate, you can see a crescent-shaped green pool with roses planted by the pool. It is the flowering season now, and the deep red and light red flowers are in full bloom.

This is the pond.

Only those with honors can pass through the Pan Bridge over Panchi, while the rest can only go around it.

When a new student walks across the Pan Bridge for the first time, it is called "entering the Pan". After crossing the bridge, from now on he will be a scholar among the four classes of scholars, farmers, artisans and merchants, which is a class leap.

After crossing the Pan Bridge and climbing the stairs to the outside of the Dacheng Hall, everyone performed the ceremony of washing their hands before entering the hall to worship.

After the ceremony, they retreated to Minglun Hall, which was the lecture hall of the provincial school. A plaque with the words "Mingde Qinmin" was hung on the hall, and the students of the provincial school had their morning reading here every day.

In addition, there is Zunjing Pavilion, which is the library of the provincial school, storing the Four Books and Five Classics as well as imperially compiled classics.

The Education Office is where the teachers and instructors work and live.

I heard that the academies in wealthy areas also have shooting ranges for practicing archery.

Inside the Minglun Hall, all the people bowed and chatted with each other, and those who were on good terms even started to rank themselves according to their seniority.

After a while, Tao Tixue arrived and all the students came to greet him. Tao Tixue first gave them a speech, warning them not to slack off in their studies just because they had achieved fame.

It also stated that those who performed poorly in the annual examinations would be demoted from stipend students to additional students, and additional students would be demoted to attached students, and attached students would have their academic titles revoked. It was a very strict rule, like a basin of cold water poured on the shoulders of all the students, putting their minds at ease.

After a slap in the face, Tao Tixue gave a sweet treat and asked someone to distribute 2 taels of silver as an incentive to each student. This made the students' previous dissatisfaction disappear, and they felt that Tao Tixue was generous and magnanimous, and his teachings were all for their own good.

Yuan Qing was also very happy. As a student from a poor family, these two taels of silver were of great use to him and could solve many problems.

After that was the Hairpin Flower Banquet. Poetry was inevitable at the banquet for scholars. Fortunately, the academy examination also tested poetry and prose, so even those who were not good at poetry could still write a well-balanced poem in response to the order.

At first, everyone was a little reserved, but halfway through, a middle-aged student with wrinkles on his face stood up unsteadily and said, "For thirty years, I have wasted my time as a scholar, and my rice fields have dried up. Today, I will take off my green straw raincoat and dare to borrow clothes from Confucius!"

As soon as he uttered the last word, he fell to the ground with a thud and fell into a deep sleep.

Several students in their forties and fifties present felt the same way and couldn't help but shed tears.

Although the other students are young, it has not been easy for them to study in recent years, and they can also empathize with them.

At this time, another student hit his bowl with chopsticks and chanted Huang Tingjian's poem: "The generals talk about being granted titles. I play the flute and sing a long song alone on the tower. All things are gone with the wind and rain, rest. The golden bridle on the south of Ximatai.

Don't delay when urged to drink. The wine of this autumn tastes like that of last autumn. The flowers smile shyly at the old man's head. Even a hairpin of flowers in white hair cannot relieve sorrow.

For a moment, even Tao Tixue became sad.