Xiangye

Chapter 122

This person was completely insane, Gao Wen couldn't bear to see it.

Yes, that's the way the world is.Everyone has seen the beauty of a Chinese-style scholar when he was a master, but who knows how many down-and-out scholars are under the feet of a scholar on the list?

Not to mention the county and government examinations, in the bitterly cold Northwest, as long as you have studied for a few years, understand the format of stereotyped essays, and even just know how to solve the questions, you can pass.But after the entrance examination, the competition began to be cruel and fierce.The hospital examination is eleven or twelve, or even one out of fifteen.The next township examination is [-] out of [-], and [-] out of [-] in the general examination.Compared with such a high elimination rate, what is the civil service examination of later generations?

It is considered good to be able to produce one Jinshi out of thousands of scholars by going through one level after another like this.In the end, the vast majority of people can only become the bottom cornerstone.

If I, Gao Wen, hadn't memorized the No. [-] Scholar Stereotype Essay before crossing, I'm afraid I would have the same fate.

……

After sitting for a long time, feeling a lot of emotion, Gao Wen pulled himself together, sharpened his ink quickly, and prepared to finish the paper overnight.

He hadn't had any water or rice for a day and a night, and he already showed signs of hypoglycemia.There is still a whole day to go, if I delay, I am afraid that I will not be able to survive.It's better to take advantage of the strength now and get things done as soon as possible.

After grinding the ink, I didn't bother to write a draft, tried my best to stabilize my mind, and started to transcribe word by word.

The first question "The Way of Sincerity" is the most difficult of the three questions. If the average person is not good at learning skills, it may take a long time to figure out what is going on after getting it.That's right, this is the title of the last section of the pagoda. It is taken from "The Doctrine of the Mean", "The way of sincerity can be known in advance. The country will prosper, and there must be auspiciousness." The first four characters.This sentence is not very eye-catching in the book, but the next sentence is very famous, "When a country is about to perish, there must be evildoers. Seeing a turtle, it moves the four limbs. When disasters and fortunes are approaching, the good must be foretold; the bad will be foretold." Therefore, sincerity is like a god.”

It probably means that before the Spring and Autumn Period, tortoises and tortoises were used to predict the luck of things. Why is this?It is sincerity. If a person can reach the state of sincerity, he can know in advance. The so-called fore-knowledge actually means that he can predict the future development trend of things.When the country is about to prosper, there will be auspicious signs; when the country is about to perish, there will be evil spirits.The country is like this, and the development of everything is like this.

If this sentence is to be extended, it will not be finished in three days and three nights.Candidates write articles, and it is easy to deviate from the topic while writing.Moreover, this topic is a bit big, and it is very difficult to solve it in one sentence.

Fortunately, there was a model essay, so Gao Wen didn't have to bother with that, and just wrote on the paper, "Sincerity is clear, and it is determined by its own way." This is a problem.

The next step is to inherit the title, which follows the format of the eight-legged essay, and should start with "husband": "The sincerity of the husband is not intentional, but the truth can be known beforehand, and the so-called sincerity is clear." The original author of this sentence is right. Well, I have to say that Ma Shiqi is a man of knowledge and great wisdom.This sentence means that sincerity cannot be done intentionally, just like what the Buddhists say, that is a sign.Only after people learn and understand, and understand what is the Dao of heaven and earth, can they naturally know how to predict.And how to improve personal cultivation and realm, the key lies in the word "sincerity".

After writing the title, it is the starting point. According to the prescribed format, it should start with the word "and".

"And the reason why the world develops things and makes things happen, everyone depends on what they know."

……

Read the book a hundred times, and other meanings will emerge.

In the past, Gao Wen also memorized this model essay in a hurry, but this time copying the paper, he thought it would be a boring thing.Not wanting to copy it over and over again, he gradually became immersed in the meaning of the article.The more I copied, the more I admired Ma Shiqi in my heart, and I even figured out what I didn't understand when I was studying.This person's mastery of Confucian classics is really good, and his language is fluent and simple, with a taste of pen and ink that is unclear.If it is placed in later generations, at least it is a master of Chinese studies.If you can be eloquent again, hundreds of forums and a few books will be published, it will definitely sell crazy.

I don't know how long it took, until I finished writing the sentence "The Tao can be known beforehand, and the one who knows it can do a lot. This is the so-called Tao." With a sound of "cracking", a little spark jumped out of the oil lamp, and it dimmed, but the wick of the lamp had been burned out.

Gao Wen was in a state of excitement at the moment, his palms, forehead, feet, and vest were hot, and he felt an indescribable joy.In the dim light and shadow, looking at the ink dripping all over the paper, I was surprised: This article has about [-] words, and it takes more than an hour to copy it. Why do I feel that it is just a moment?
This Ma Shiqi's article is so beautifully written!

……

After writing this, Gao Wen couldn't stop, he stretched out two fingers and pulled out the lamp wick, regardless of the burning of his hands.

Then bright lights, and then copy the second question "A Hundred Miles of a Great Country".

The hundred miles of the place in a great country comes from "Mencius" in the original text. Lu, Lu is enough to farm on his behalf.” It is about how much land should be governed by the princes of various countries at that time, and how much salary should be received.

The country of dukes and marquises is a big country, and Qinglu occupies one-tenth of Junlu, Dafulu occupies one-fourth of Qinglu, Senior Sergeant's salary occupies one-half of Dafulu, and Zhongshi and Xiashi are doubled.Common people who are officials, and those who are not ordered to be scholars, have a higher salary than farmers.Scholars are not allowed to farm, so farming is done with salary.

I learned this high-level text when I was studying, and I took the test later, and I did a few fill-in-the-blank questions.It was the first time for him to write an eight-legged essay.Immediately, I became interested and wanted to know how this Ma Shiqi wrote it.

Immediately, he wrote: "Jilu is ruled by other countries, and we can see the power of the former kings. Husband and Lu are the same, and the monarchs will kill them with the country, not with the big officials. That's why the power of the former kings is justified..."

……

After finishing another question, the sun has risen by this time.The oil in the lamp was almost exhausted, and there was green smoke curling up.

As a former writer, Gao Wen copied thousands of words of "Journey to the West" every day. Gao Wen's hands were extremely fast. As for this question, his hands were already hot.Do not stop, continue to deal with the third question.

The title of the third question is "The Destiny of Nature", which comes from the first sentence of the opening chapter of "The Doctrine of the Mean", "Tianming is called nature, and the way of being straightforward is the way; cultivating the way is called teaching."

This sentence is so famous, not to mention scholars in the Ming Dynasty, even in modern society, any Chinese student can recite it casually.

The beginning of this sentence clearly means that people's natural endowment is called sex, doing things according to nature is called Tao, and self-cultivation according to the principles of Tao is called teaching.Introducing the topic from Tao can not leave for a moment, emphasizing the issue of prudence and independence, requiring people to strengthen their self-cultivation and do things according to human nature.

This sentence also emphasizes the Confucian "human nature is good." At the beginning of human beings, nature is good, and there is nothing wrong with doing things according to nature.It's just that the sincerity and goodness of our nature living in the world are blinded by the world of mortals. We need to trace the source through learning to find the goodness and foundation at the beginning.

This topic is not difficult to say, anyone who has studied for a few years and knows how to write an essay has done it.Moreover, this sentence is also a must-choice in the anthology of time in the market. As far as Gao Wen is concerned, he has read at least a dozen articles.As for the quality, it is also mixed.

This year's college examination, the old man said, the first two questions are a bit difficult, especially the second question "A Hundred Miles of a Great Country" discusses the salaries of princes and officials, which can easily confuse candidates.The difficulty of these two questions alone is enough to pass more than half of the candidates.

However, even if the game goes on halfway, there are still four hundred children left.Only 50 people will be selected for this hospital examination, and the winner must be determined in the third question.

When the third question was asked, the examiner suddenly deviated from the normal practice of devoting special questions to difficult questions, and came up with bad street questions such as "Learning when you learn", "Threesomes must have my teacher", as if The composition question in the college entrance examination suddenly gave you "The Most Unforgettable Thing" that elementary school students often wrote.

Just because the topic is so simple, it is not so difficult to write something new and stand out from the hundreds of candidates.

"Hey, actually, I don't have to worry too much." Gao Wen stretched his weakened wrist, and muttered: "Old Yang Yanlin, Yang Ge, this time it's up to you. Can you compete in Jiangxi's cruel competition?" The province has fought a bloody road, and finally passed the entrance examination to the Shuji of the Imperial Academy, is it still afraid of a mere academic examination?"

"Yang Xiang, Gao Wen, I am optimistic about you!" Gao Wen puffed up his cheeks, and blew out the oil lamp with a cry.

A ray of golden sunlight projected into the test house from the outside and fell on Gao Wen's face, it was so warm.

……

After a whole morning, Gao Wen finished the third question.

The things to be done have been done, and it is up to God to arrange for me to be able to pass the scholar examination and get a fame.

Of course, with the level of my essays, among the candidates in Pingliang Prefecture, it would be difficult to put an awl into a sack, unless the examiner is blind.

I heard people say that Mr. Xu, the chief examiner of this subject, is an editor of Hanlin, so he is not blind.In this way, Gao Wen has nothing to worry about.

The submission time for this exam is at dusk, and there is still one afternoon.Gao Wen was so hungry that his whole body was limp, and he didn't know how much water he drank.With a little movement, you can clearly hear the sound of clear water splashing in your stomach.

The most important thing now is to lie down and sleep. When you fall asleep, you won’t know you’re hungry.

After staying up all night, I was already exhausted.But just now I copied three excellent stereotyped articles, and while copying, I also tasted the meaning of the articles. My brain was really excited, but this sleep was very restless. It was really a dream.

For a while, I dreamed that I was back in the modern world and was eating Chongqing hot pot, stuffing hairy belly, yellow throat, and nine-foot goose intestines into my mouth without stopping; , Australian lobsters poured into the fire one by one; after a while, I dreamed that Shi Youyi's scallion pancakes were ready, and the aroma was so strong that one could almost float into the sky... Anyway, besides eating, I still eat.

Just when I was having fun, I heard a "crash".

Gao Wen woke up from the dream, and saw someone coming in from the cellar, and shouted: "Get up, don't sleep, get out, get out."

It turned out that the time to hand in the papers had come.

Gao Wen got up from the bed and found that his face was covered with saliva from his dream.

……

Gao Wen didn't know how he got out of the scene, and how he went to the signing room to get back the things he had deposited there.After two days and two nights of hunger, my feet were as soft as cotton, and my body felt cold.

"Finally the exam is over, and I can finally have a big meal!" Gao Wen looked up at the sky at 45 degrees, his eyes filled with tears of emotion: "This exam, I am so miserable!"

(End of this chapter)