roccoschili Chapter 82 0080 [The New Classmate and Feng 3 Yuan]
Chapter 82 0080 [The New Classmate and Feng 3 Yuan]
Chapter 82 0080 [The New Classmate and Feng Sanyuan]
Yu Zhongxun had four sons and five daughters, and there weren't enough people to sit at one table when they ate.
With so many children, they certainly weren't all born to the principal wife, Lady Su.
There were also concubines.
With wives, concubines, and children, the family was quite large, and the house wasn't very big, so to be honest, they lived in a very cramped place.
In some TV dramas, even low-ranking officials of the fifth or sixth grade in the Northern Song Dynasty, who weren't extremely wealthy, could own large mansions and have numerous servants in the capital. That's pure fantasy!
When Su Xun took his sons Su Shi and Su Zhe to the capital for the imperial examinations, they rented a meditation room at Taiping Xingguo Temple for a year. After his sons passed the examinations, Su Xun borrowed money from relatives and spent 8000 strings of cash to buy a house in the capital.
Even until Su Xun died, he was still unable to pay off the mortgage, and Su Shi and Su Zhe had to repay the money on their father's behalf.
Despite being a prime minister, Ouyang Xiu has never bought a house and has always lived in rented accommodation.
Yu Jing borrowed money from relatives to pay for this house in Beijing, and only paid off the debt a few years ago.
Because the area is too small, they dare not keep too many servants, as there are not enough rooms for them to live in.
Yu Zhongxun's four sons and five daughters did not have dedicated pageboys or maids; the whole family shared a few male and female servants.
This was one of the reasons for Madam Su's dissatisfaction; she also wanted to live in a large mansion and have a large retinue of servants. As Yu Jing's daughter-in-law, she could only stay in this small house.
Fortunately, her husband was about to be transferred to a post outside the capital, and he could stay in the official residence in Chongzhou. Lady Su couldn't wait to leave the capital.
"This is Xu Lai, courtesy name Xingzhi, a disciple accepted by the old master."
Yu Zhongxun introduced his concubine, children, and younger brother: "He is studying at the Imperial Academy and will live at home from now on."
Xu Lai repeatedly bowed and greeted him.
When the Yu family heard that Xu Lai was going to stay permanently, some members were curious, some were happy, and some were indifferent.
Upon their first meeting, they simply got to know each other without much interaction.
It was already dark after dinner, so Xu Lai took a shower and went straight to bed. Perhaps because it was near the street, there was a constant stream of noise coming into the room.
It took quite a while after nightfall for things to quiet down a bit.
The next day, he got up, washed up, ate breakfast, and went to school. Accompanying him were Yu Sigong, Yu Sichang, and Yu Shuying, who were respectively Yu Zhongxun's eldest son, second son, and younger brother.
They were not all students of the Imperial Academy; Yu Sichang studied at the Kaifeng Prefectural School.
But their academic performance was about the same; all three uncles and nephews were academic underachievers, and they were able to get into good schools entirely through connections.
As soon as Yu Sigong stepped out, he said to Xu, "Xingzhi, when the ten-day weekend arrives, I will take you to a banquet and introduce you to some new friends. Fanlou is too expensive, we definitely can't afford it, but we have other good places to go."
Xu Lai politely declined.
If he agrees and continues to follow Yu Sigong around aimlessly, he will sooner or later be regarded as a hanger-on by the other party.
It would be better to state your position clearly: you came to the capital to study wholeheartedly.
"Haha," Yu Shuying teased his nephew, "Xingzhi is my father's disciple, so naturally he studies hard. Don't lead him astray."
Yu Sigong argued, "How can you call it leading him astray? I'm introducing him to friends so he can expand his network in the future."
The group chatted and laughed as they left the Vermilion Bird Gate and soon arrived at the Imperial Academy and the Kaifeng Prefectural Academy.
At this time, the Imperial Academy was not large in scale, and its campus had not yet been moved outside the city.
Xu Lai was led to complete the enrollment procedures. Pointing to the area to the south, he asked, "Is that also the Imperial Academy? It's deserted; I can't see a single person."
Yu Shuying said, "That was the Imperial Academy. Only the teachers were on duty there every day, and the students never came to study. I used to study at the Imperial Academy, but I never attended any classes. My older brother sent me to a private school."
"Do it!"
As they were talking, they suddenly heard someone shouting, and when they turned around, they saw Lu Zhiyuan.
This kid enrolled yesterday.
Lu Zhiyuan said, "We must be in the same dormitory."
"Why?" Xu Lai asked.
Lu Zhiyuan smiled and said, "Our dormitory is newly built, and all the students come from the tribute mission."
Well, they're all people with connections.
The scale of the Imperial Academy was indeed constantly expanding.
Before the Qingli era, there was only the Imperial Academy, which only admitted the sons and grandsons of nobles and ministers. So the Imperial Academy was created and affiliated with the Imperial Academy, so that children from commoner families could also study there.
Gradually, the Imperial Academy became a mere shell of its former self, while the Imperial College expanded its enrollment year by year, almost taking over all of the Imperial Academy's buildings.
This year, taking advantage of the tribute to the new emperor, many local officials sent people to the Imperial Academy, and the school simply opened a separate study room for those with connections.
Xu Lai bid farewell to the Yu family uncle and nephew and went to the dormitory with Lu Zhiyuan.
Unlike the small courtyard of the Guangzhou Prefectural School, the Imperial Academy's dormitory was a large classroom. The dormitory head and the dormitory supervisor sat at the back of the classroom, like guardian deities watching over the entire class.
There are fewer than twenty people in their dormitory.
"There are empty seats over there," Lu Zhiyuan said, pointing to a spot against the wall.
Xu Lai carried his books over and sat down. At the next table was a chubby little boy, fair-skinned and harmless-looking.
The chubby boy glanced at Xu Lai and immediately became interested.
Because everyone in this restaurant was related to someone else, they were all dressed in very luxurious clothes, except for Xu Lai, who was wearing a coarse linen shirt.
"My name is Xu Anshi, courtesy name Shaozhang, from Xiangyi County, Kaifeng Prefecture. And you?" the chubby boy asked.
Xu Lai introduced himself, saying, "Xu Lai, courtesy name Xingzhi, is from Qingyuan, Guangzhou."
"Guangzhou? That's quite far. No wonder you have such a heavy accent," Xu Anshi asked curiously. "Are there many foreigners in Guangzhou?"
Xu Lai said in a serious tone, "Yes. One of the subjects in the annual examination at the Guangzhou Prefectural School is to send students out to sea by boat, where they not only have to deal with the foreigners, but also learn how to fight against pirates."
"Really?" Xu Anshi was extremely surprised.
Xu Lai continued, "The Guangdong Military Commission also promised that any Guangdong scholar who passed the imperial examination would be rewarded with a Persian woman. This practice has become the norm."
Xu Anshi finally realized: "Haha, Xingzhi is always joking. I almost believed him. You know Lu Zhiyuan?"
He also wrote it in the style of "行之" (xingzhi).
"I recognize him. We came to Beijing together from Guangzhou," Xu said.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!!!"
As the two chatted, the school bell of the Imperial Academy rang.
The headmaster immediately called out, "Everyone, go to the lecture hall. No need to bring books; Mr. Feng will be lecturing on poetry and prose today."
Xu Lai asked, "Who is Mr. Feng?"
Xu Anshi said, "Feng Sanyuan, a Hanlin Academician and Prefect of Kaifeng."
Xu Lai was stunned when he heard this.
What's going on?
The prefect of Kaifeng neglected his official duties and actually came to give a lecture to the students of the Imperial Academy?
No wonder the proportion of imperial examination graduates among the students of the Imperial Academy was so high. It was not only because of the high quality of the teachers, but also because the examiners for the next imperial examination were very likely to be one of the teachers from the Imperial Academy.
Once you figure out the teacher's habits, it's easy to predict the questions correctly.
Xu Lai followed his classmates to the lecture hall, which was a huge classroom. Students from many different schools came to listen to the lecture, and there were a hundred or two people sitting densely packed together.
Listening to the murmurs and whispers nearby, Xu Lai finally understood: Feng Sanyuan was not a name, but a nickname for that teacher, Feng.
Feng Jing achieved the triple crown!
Today, Feng Jing did not teach poetry writing techniques, but instead led the students to appreciate "Changmen Fu".
To be honest, the lecture was so long-winded that Xu Lai felt like yawning.
waste time.
This wastes both Xu Lai's study time and the Kaifeng prefect's office time.
After listening for a while, Xu Lai pretended to go to the toilet and secretly slipped back to his dormitory to study "The Righteous Meaning of the Book of Rites".
Less than 15 minutes into his self-study, the chubby Xu Anshi returned, laughing heartily, "I hadn't seen you for a while, I thought you'd fallen into the latrine."
"My stomach isn't feeling well, so I won't be going to the lecture," Xu Lai casually made up.
Xu Anshi said, "Don't make excuses. Do you think that even winning the triple crown is nothing special?"
Xu Lai chuckled.
Xu Anshi said, "Feng Sanyuan's poetry and prose are actually just so-so. They are strict in terms of form and full of allusions, but they have no other merits. They are only good for the imperial examinations."
"I haven't seen it, so I can't comment," Xu Lai said honestly.
Xu Anshi laughed and said, "Then I will recite a poem by Feng Sanyuan for you: The writings of Confucius fill the world, the way of Confucius fills the world."
Those who grasp the text become high-ranking officials and nobles; those who grasp the principles become starving men.
"What a fine poem!" Xu Lai exclaimed.
Xu Anshi said, "He himself was a master of its writing."
"Hahaha."
Xu Lai couldn't help but laugh. This chubby kid was hilarious. And he was so bold, daring to tease Feng Jing without any restraint.
It's worth noting that both of Feng Jing's wives were Fu Bi's daughters!
"What are you laughing at?" Lu Zhiyuan asked as he strolled back.
Xu Anshi asked, "Why aren't you paying attention in class anymore?"
Lu Zhiyuan said, "If I listen any longer, I'm afraid I'll fall asleep on the spot. Feng Sanyuan's lectures are all about rules of prosody and allusions, things that even a village school teacher knows."
"But if we learn all his skills, we might also be able to pass the imperial examinations in three rounds," Xu Anshi said with a smile.
Xu Anshi in history passed the imperial examination twice and became the top scholar!
This chubby boy is no ordinary person. One of his maternal uncles was a top scholar in the imperial examination, and the other maternal uncle was the Minister of Rites—the one who wrote about the joy of spring on the red apricot branches.
The three of them were joking around with Feng Jing when another student slipped away and ran back.
Lu Zhiyuan introduced them: "Bangyan, this is Xu Lai, courtesy name Xingzhi, a disciple of Yu Xiangong, the Guangdong Military Commissioner. Xingzhi, this is He Xunzhi, courtesy name Bangyan, the grandson of the late He Jianyuan."
He Xun glanced at Xu Lai's clothes with a hint of disdain in his eyes, but still greeted him politely.
Xu Lai could sense the arrogance in that tone, but he smiled back indifferently.
Xu Lai's original work, "New Thunder," written for Yu Jing, had already become a popular anecdote and circulated within the Imperial Academy.
But it only circulated for a short time, and now no one mentions it anymore.
The students in this dormitory were all related to the new emperor, and they had never heard of Xu Lai's deeds.
He Xunzhi had already guessed that Xu Lai was quite talented after hearing Lu Zhiyuan's introduction, but he still subconsciously looked down on his family background.
There was no point in talking to someone who didn't see eye to eye. Xu Lai exchanged a few words with the chubby boy, then sat back down to study the "Rites and Proverbs".
My first day at the Imperial Academy was spent studying.
I met several new classmates and learned what Feng Jing looks like.
When Chu Cheng returned home from school in the evening, he said to Xu Lai with a smug look on his face, "I will be taking the civil service examination in a few days, and I may be leaving the capital soon."
Judging from his happy expression, it was clear that Yu Zhongxun had taken him to see the officials of the Ministry of Personnel.
Xu Lai also planned to visit the officials on his day off.
This was a task assigned by Yu Jing, instructing him to visit Ouyang Xiu after arriving in the capital.