Rise From the Humble

The sun sets and the sun rises, time flows; kissing the years crazily, splashing the fragrance of ink and orchid.

In the pen holder where Zhu Ping'an was splashing ink, practicing calligraphy, and washing, time was like sand in the palm of his hand, passing quietly between his fingers. The birthday of the old lady of the Linhuai Marquis Mansion was coming in the blink of an eye. The Linhuai Marquis Mansion was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, and everyone was happy. Preparing for the old lady's birthday tomorrow.

Zhu Pingan also prepared a birthday gift for Mrs. Linhuai Marquis, which was a calligraphy and painting written by Zhu Pingan himself. The paper is fine Chu leather paper that Zhu Ping'an bought outside. It is as white and smooth as a mirror. The fibers are pounded very finely and are evenly intertwined. It is as beautiful as silk. This kind of paper absorbs ink evenly. Use it to make calligraphy and painting, and you can enjoy it for a lifetime.

When writing and painting, Zhu Pingan also thought about it.

In ancient times, where the bells and pans were full of food, every time an elderly person celebrated his birthday, people would always send birthday poems or couplets. Most of the birthday poems were worn out, so some poets pointed out the difficulty: "It's not difficult to live longer." If the words are all about wealth, it will be mundane; if all the words are about fame, it will be flattering; if all the words are about gods, it will be vain." Looking at many birthday poems and couplets, they are basically inseparable from the words "Fu is like the East Sea, life is as long as Nanshan" and the like, this kind of birthday greeting is almost useless.

After Zhu Ping'an thought for a moment, he dipped his hands in ink and wrote a calligraphy and painting on the fine Chu paper:

"Don't even mention it, it's the Guanyin Bodhisattva who lives in the world. Even this year, his appearance is sixty, and he is only sixteen when he sees the bottom path.

Don't use incense candles to celebrate birthdays, don't wish for turtles and cranes. All you need to do is to gently lift the pen and add a stroke on the cross. "

Add a stroke on the cross and it becomes a thousand years old. This kind of birthday greeting is indeed a blessing that is much greater than that of the East China Sea and the Nanshan Mountain.

Of course, this birthday greeting is not Zhu Pingan's original work. It is a birthday greeting written by Xin Jiaxuan to wish a relative of his family his 80th birthday. Zhu Pingan changed the eighty to sixty, also in order to meet the birthday of the old lady of Linhuaihou Mansion.

In addition to this calligraphy and painting, Li Shu also asked Baozi's little maid to send a jade carving for Magu's birthday, and asked Zhu Pingan to send it up as a gift at that time. Li Shu was very thoughtful, afraid that Zhu Ping'an's gift would be looked down upon by the Hou Fu's eyes.

Zhu Pingan put the things back together, lit up the oil lamp, and sat at the desk without letting go of the scroll.

At this time, it was already dark and the earth had fallen asleep. Except for the gentle breeze blowing and the occasional barking of a dog, the prosperous Hou Mansion was silent.

The grandma of the Hou Mansion is in the old lady's room, telling the old lady about the arrangements for tomorrow's birthday. The old lady is very satisfied with the grandma's arrangement, the main reason is that the few shops in the mansion have made a lot of money every day, and the business is very good.

In order to expand profits, the old lady agreed to Grandma's plan and invested all the funds available in the house. Although it is a lot of investment, judging from the income in the past few days, the profit can be multiplied several times.

The old lady felt that she was many years younger, and she was in a very good mood, almost catching up with the mood when she drove that vixen from the third family's family out of the Hou's mansion.

The eldest grandma is in an even better mood. On the surface, several shops in the house have made so much money, but in fact they have made more money. It’s just that they all go into the pocket of the big house. Her whole family has paid so much for the Hou Mansion. , it is natural to have more. Today, I got the old lady's approval to invest all the money in the house. The profit will be doubled at least several times. This time, my big house can get a huge amount of income, and I no longer have to point to the third house to the house. There is a subsidy. With money, you can also walk away the relationship and let your master's position move up.

In a good mood, everything is fine. The eldest grandma cared about the daily life of the old lady, and the old lady loved and asked the eldest grandmother to go back to her room to rest earlier.

In short, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are in perfect harmony.

While the Linhuai Marquis Mansion was quiet in the dark night, the Shuntian Gongyuan far to the southeast of the capital was brightly lit, and the grading had come to the last moment, and the examination rankings had come to an end.

In the court hall, the fellow examiners worked overtime. At this moment, all the test papers have been marked and the recommended papers have been marked. The chief examiners Xu Jie and Yan Maoqing also worked day and night to mark all the test papers recommended by the fellow examiners. The chief examiners Xu Jie and Yan Maoqing even "searched" for two buried test papers among the failed papers, and finally won the 400-point test paper. All 400 places for this Enke examination have been selected.

The 400 test papers to be admitted were laid out one by one on several long sheets. Each test paper on the long form has five colors of fonts. This is because the marking officer also has strict regulations on the color of the pen used on the test paper. The purple pen is used by the examiner and other officers, the blue pen is used by the co-examiner and the inner curtain officer, the vermilion pen is used by the transcription officer, the yellow pen is used by the reading officer, and the ink pen is used by the chief and deputy examiners. Together they are collectively called "five-color pens", so The 400 test papers that are about to be admitted have fonts in five colors.

The ranking of these 400 admitted test papers is also a lot of work.

According to the practice of previous years, the examiners often have disputes over the ranking work, because the ranking of the exam is too important.

Why is it so important? Because the ranking of this conference is almost the ranking of the upcoming palace examination. The emperor will rearrange the rankings of new scholars in the imperial examinations that are conducted by the emperor himself. However, if there are no accidents, the imperial examination rankings will not differ much from the general examination rankings. The emperor only makes slight adjustments based on personal preferences. Generally, they will not change much. The first scholar will usually be the top scholar. Lang. The first, second and third place in the first class of the palace examination will be the first, second and third place. Ninety-nine percent of these three people will be in the top ten in this examination.

The ranking of the examination is the last step in grading, and it is also a step to test the quality of this examination.

Therefore, the ranking of this examination is of great importance. Examiners, whether they are the chief examiner or fellow examiners, will often argue and express their own opinions on this ranking.

400 test papers were placed one by one on several long tables, and nearly thirty test papers were placed additionally. These thirty test papers were additionally selected by the examiner Xu Jie during the marking process. They are all for this examination. The above work is also the focus of this examination ranking.

Under the auspices of the examiners Xu Jie and Yan Maoqing, the ranking of 400 test papers was carried out in an orderly manner. Everyone expressed their opinions and argued with the examiners. Although there were constant disputes, the ranking work was still carried out in an orderly manner.

In addition to the nearly thirty additional test papers, the rankings of the remaining three hundred test papers came to an end amid a flurry of saliva, and all were ranked.

Immediately afterwards, twenty of the thirty-point test papers were also ranked, and the remaining ten were also determined to be the top ten. However, among the top ten papers, who was ranked first and who was ranked second? The examiners who were the third examiners could not agree on the same opinions. They were bickering and arguing endlessly. Some examiners had drank two cups of tea and still felt dry in the mouth and could not stop talking.