The Bookish Scholar of the Red Mansion

Chen Qi left Yangzhou on the third day of July, but he waited until July 22nd before returning with his family.

I don’t know what delayed them on the way. As soon as Chen Heng and his classmates got the news today, they immediately ran to Jia Yucun to ask for a half-day leave.

Jia Xuezheng originally didn't want to agree. It's not deliberately making things difficult, it's just that the provincial examination is approaching, which is a top priority in the academy. How many academies in Yangzhou are staring at the results of Leyi Academy.

Although it has nothing to do with this group of children, it is always not good to come in and out, and it may affect the scholars' preparation for the exam. After much thought, Jia Yucun agreed with Chen Heng alone and persuaded the others to go back.

After being allowed to leave, Chen Heng happily walked through the streets and alleys and ran all the way to his door. Then he saw his family, whom he had longed for, slowly getting off a bullock cart. Chen Heng also knew that the old cow leading the cart was the one he had raised since childhood.

Now he is twelve years old and is a real old cow.

grandparents.

Chen Heng rushed to the front of his family in three leaps. The wind rushed into his open mouth, and even the sound of his tongue trembled.

Heng'er?!

As soon as Chen Gaishan turned his head, he saw a figure running towards him. For a moment, even the fatigue from the journey disappeared. He quickly stepped forward and held his eldest grandson in his arms.

Good boy, good boy. Chen Gaishan couldn't help patting Chen Heng's back, Do you miss me grandpa?

I think so. Chen Heng couldn't help laughing.

Grandpa misses you too. Chen Gaishan responded with a smile, but his wife scolded him, You miss your grandson and you are still stubborn in the village and refuse to leave? Heng'er, don't listen to your grandpa's nonsense. He is all fooled. .”

Grandma, it's okay. Grandpa didn't come in the end, but he obviously still misses me in his heart. Chen Hengduo, with his clever temper, took the initiative to pass the steps to Chen Gaishan.

That's right. Chen Gaishan held Chen Heng's hand and smiled proudly at Mr. Zhou, Go inside first, your father and the others are busy inside.

As soon as the three men crossed the threshold, they saw other family members. Not to mention Mrs. Gu who couldn't help wiping away tears, her two sisters and two brothers were really happy and gathered around Chen Heng asking questions.

Brother, sister, aren't you dreaming? This is really our future home?

Brother, which room is for me?

Chen Heng responded one by one with a smile. When Chen Qi and Chen Huaijin saw a few young men who wanted to talk more, they hurried up and grabbed one with each hand, telling them to hurry up and get to work.

When his sister and brothers were taken away by the adults, Chen Heng stood in front of his mother Gu, and couldn't help but said softly: Mother.

Mrs. Gu, who was already crying, couldn't stop her tears from crying because of the word Mother. She thought for a long time, and the thousands of words in her heart finally turned into one sentence, This Mid-Autumn Festival, my mother will make you moon cakes to eat.

It is now the end of July, and the Mid-Autumn Festival is really not far away.

Chen Heng stepped forward and hugged Mrs. Gu gently, saying, Okay, I want to enjoy the moon with my mother and go out to watch the lanterns together.

Mrs. Gu didn't say any more, but held the clothes on the child's back tightly with both hands. Hot tears fell one by one on Chen Heng's hair and face.

Seeing that Mrs. Gu couldn't stop crying for a while, Zhou and Chen Qi hurriedly came up and started to persuade each other. It took a long time to persuade Mrs. Gu to hold back her tears.

After coaxing Mrs. Gu, the family quickly devoted themselves to decorating their new home. In order to facilitate the adults to go out and do things on weekdays, they all chose the rooms on the first floor.

The children's rooms are all located on the second floor. Only men are divided into left and women. Chen Heng's room is the first one in the attic on the left, followed by the two brothers Chen Qingyue and Chen Yin.

These two little boys are also sensible and know that they may give their eldest brother a test in the evening. He ran into Chen Heng's room very diligently and was busy.

Chen Hengquan pretended that he didn't know about their little thoughts. He just thought about how he would test them that night.

There is only one bad thing about moving. Even these two boys, who were already studying at the Master's house, suddenly had to change teachers, and I didn't know if they could get used to it.

But there is no such thing as perfection in human affairs. Chen Heng also thought about it, since even grandpa can handle it. Sooner or later, Master and the others will be brought to Yangzhou.

For now, just look for famous teachers and strictly supervise their studies. Wait until they pass the Tongsheng test and see if they can get into the academy.

With a countermeasure in mind, Chen Heng let go and ordered the two of them to work.

Brother, how do you think your younger brother is doing?

Seeing Chen Qingyue's flattering smile, Chen Heng tried hard to suppress the smile on his lips.

Very good. I'll give you one more question as a reward tonight.

When Chen Qingyue heard this, he couldn't even frown.

Chen Heng, the second younger brother, has a temperament similar to that of his second uncle. Discipline is definitely indispensable when dealing with such a person.

Chen Yin is only five years old and can't quite see it yet. Most of the time, he would do whatever Chen Qingyue did. Maybe it's because he hasn't seen Chen Heng for a long time, so the child still feels a little strange.

Chen Hengzheng wanted to pull him over and cultivate a brotherly relationship. Mrs. Gu had already shouted in the courtyard: Chen Heng, it's time to eat. What are you doing upstairs with your brothers? Come down here.

The long-lost chatter rang in his ears again. Chen Heng smiled, picked up Chen Yin, and led Chen Qingyue downstairs quickly.

This meal was lunch. Everyone was very excited to move to their new home. Everyone on the table was talking about their own words. The two sisters, Chen Qing and Chen Xian, were discussing the decoration of their rooms.

Mrs. Zhou took her two daughters-in-law and said that she would send some food to the neighbors as a way of saying hello.

Chen Gaishan and Chen Qi are two master craftsmen, and they are having a headache about what furniture to build first. When they moved this time, they only brought bedding and clothes that were convenient to carry, but not any other large items.

As for Chen Huaijin, it would be nice if he doesn't cause trouble and get scolded.

Chen Heng was greedy for the atmosphere on the table. This scene seemed to return to the time in Shanxi Village. Even the cry from the green bull became much more pleasant.

That night, Chen Heng naturally slept at home. On the second day, when Chen Qi sent his child to school, Mrs. Gu was no longer sad and shed tears. Now she could go to the academy to find him at any time as long as she missed her son.

Compared with this distance, it is not a big deal for the children to live in the academy.

…………

…………

A few days later, it was the last day of July.

The atmosphere in the academy became more and more tense day by day.

The rural examination is coming soon, and the chief and deputy examiners appointed by the imperial court also arrived in Yangzhou City today.

This is the second time that Yangzhou City has held a provincial examination. In addition to two examiners, one positive and one negative, Yangzhou Prefecture itself has to select ten fellow examiners.

The same examiners are also called room examiners because they each live in a room in Gongyuan to review papers. Most of these quotas are held by Jinshi in the government, magistrates of prefectures, county magistrates or others. The conditions for becoming a Jinshi and promoting people are indispensable.

The number of housing examiners is not fixed. Each province has its own standards, which generally depend on the number of candidates.

In places like Jinling, Zhejiang, Shandong and other places, housing examiners will choose a large formation of eighteen people.

In Fujian, Jiangxi, and Guangdong, there will be twelve or three people. Yunnan, Guizhou and other places have the fewest, with only eight people.

As soon as the principal and deputy examiners arrived in Yangzhou, they moved into the house arranged by Wei Yinghong in advance. The officers and soldiers escorted all the way from the capital guarded the interior, while Xin Geng personally led the troops to guard the outside. The two groups inside and outside did not meet each other, each patrolled their own roads, and the guards were very tight.

Masters from major academies in Yangzhou also seized the last opportunity to provide extra lessons for the scholars who were taking the exams. Of course, Leyi Academy is not exempt from customs. Jia Yucun, Xu Jinhou, and Jin Shenzhi take turns serving Cui Youdao and Du Yunjing.

During the last provincial examination, most of the scholars who came out of Leyi Academy became monks halfway. People like Cui Youdao have been studying in the academy since they were children. Only if they can pass the examination can the reputation of Leyi Academy be truly established.

Nowadays, there are more than fifty talents in the academy, and there are more than thirty people who are qualified to participate in this provincial examination. There were only twenty-nine people who were interested in signing up.

All the masters asked them to mention points again and again. In previous years, they took out the test essays of Jieyuan in the rural examination and talked about them again and again. In such a tense atmosphere, Chen Heng and others had to be careful.

It was not until the sixth day of August that all the examiners held an entry into the curtain ceremony and officially entered the examination room, and candidates could go and register.

Today is also the day when Chen Heng and others see off Cui Youdao and the others. After these scholars have signed up, they can go home if they are close to their home. If they are far away, they can choose to stay in an inn, or of course, they can go back to the academy.

However, there are still classes in the academy every day, and the masters are also worried that the sound of children reading will disturb them. In short, the main thing is that one can stay and go at will, so that the talents can prepare for the exam with peace of mind.

On this day, a large group of children lined up on both sides of the screen wall, with an empty path in the middle. Every time a scholar passed by, everyone cheered for him in unison. Regardless of their usual relationships, these people go out today to represent the face of the academy.

Cui Youdao and Du Yunjing, the leaders, received the loudest cheers. Not only the children, but also the wives also think that they have a high chance of winning the first prize.

After sending the scholars away, the masters also took advantage of the situation and announced that they would be on vacation today. In recent days, they have been very tired in order to make up lessons for Cui Youdao and the others.

I wonder if there will be so many people sending us off when we go to take the provincial examination in a few years. Jiang Yuanbai patted his chest with lingering fear, Seeing them going out like this, even I started to get nervous.

Xue Biao smiled a little and said mischievously: Don't worry, you will pass the scholar examination first.

Chen Heng laughed loudly when he heard this, and suddenly discovered that Xue Biao also had a bad mouth.

The ninth day of August is the day when the provincial examination begins, and the examination lasts for nine days. There is one test every three days. After each test, you can go home and rest for one night, and then come back to Gongyuan to continue the test on the next day.

There are only nearly a thousand candidates taking the provincial examination in Yangzhou this year. Compared with Shandong, Zhejiang and other places, the number is far small. However, compared with the last provincial examination, there were already half more people.

Because of the small number of people this time, the release of the results was moved forward to early September.

In this provincial examination, Cui Youdao High School won the first place, and the second place was Du Yunjing from Leyi Academy.

Twenty-nine people from Leyi Academy participated in the examination, and a total of 20 of them passed the exam, and their reputation spread to all the prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River.

Two chapters and six thousand words completed. Hahahaha, I'll see if I can code out the third chapter. If it's not after 10:30, you don't have to wait. You can rest peacefully.