Farmhouse Green Plum

Chapter 107 School Examination

This is so stiff. It shows that he doesn't want to have any contact with people from Rongshu Village at all.

Song Ying was very curious about what the people of Rongshu Village had done to make Mr. Shen, the top scholar, so disgusted that his descendants did not care about their hometown ties in front of Mr. Wu, a fourth-rank official.

Wu Tixue didn't seem to notice Shen Yonghui's indifference to the villagers of Rongshu Village at all. He smiled and said, "It's okay. You will live in Qingshui County in the future. There will be plenty of opportunities for communication."

The young master of the Shen family is going to live in Qingshui County for a long time? Didn't the Shen family move to the capital?

After chatting with Shen Yonghui for a while, Wu Tixue looked at Zhang Xiucai again and asked, "How far have the students in the community school progressed?"

Mr. Zhang didn't know about this. He just arrived at Wutong Village last night, so he said honestly: "To answer the Grand Master, I am not a tutor at the community school."

Wu Tixue was stunned.

Magistrate Hu's face turned cold, and he scolded: "You are not a private school teacher. What did you say just now? How dare you be so presumptuous in front of the education commissioner!"

Magistrate Hu was a very powerful official. When Zhang Xiucai was glared at by him, his legs went weak and he knelt down: "Please forgive me, sir. I, I, sir..."

Mr. Zhang's mind went blank and he stammered and couldn't speak.

However, no one laughed at him, and the villagers were also frightened by Magistrate Hu.

Song Ying couldn't help but complain in his heart: These officials, when talking to them, have to require that they are students. After arranging for them to be students, they blame others for interrupting them.

Fortunately, Wu Tixue came to his senses and said to Magistrate Hu, "Brother Hengrui, it's okay."

He raised his hand again to signal Mr. Zhang to get up.

Mr. Zhang's hands and feet were weak and he couldn't stand up after trying several times. A villager nearby stepped forward and helped him up.

Wu Tixue looked at everyone and asked, "Who is the tutor of the community school?"

The old man quickly stood up and said, "In reply to the Grand Master, I am Wang Huilin."

Wu Tixue saw that he was hunched over and had white hair, so he said to the yamen runner, "Please give the old gentleman a seat."

Then he asked casually, "How old are you this year, old friend?"

Wang Huilin looked ashamed, "In reply to Grandmaster, I have not yet entered school."

Tongsheng took the annual examination and was admitted to the prefecture, state or county schools to become a student, which was considered to be a progress in learning, commonly known as a scholar.

Hearing this, Wu Tixue's expression faded a little, and he asked, "How far have the disciples' studies progressed?"

Wang Huilin naturally noticed the change in Wu Tixue's attitude, but he could do nothing about it. He passed the county and prefectural examinations at the age of 25, but was stuck at the academy examination and never passed.

"To reply to Grand Master, there are different levels of learning. Some disciples have already read the Four Books, some are reading the Three Hundred and Thousand Books, and some have just entered school and are studying "What to Know about Children" and "Elementary School."

Hearing him say this, Wu Tixue's expression eased a little and nodded: "That's right, a teacher's purpose is to teach and answer questions. When you teach, you should teach step by step."

Wang Huilin bowed respectfully and said, "I will remember the Grand Master's teachings."

Wu Tixue looked at the students and asked gently, "Who among you has read the Four Books?"

Yuan Qing and the three older boys stepped forward and answered in unison: "To reply to Grandmaster, I have read some of your words."

Wu Tixue pointed at the oldest one and asked: "How far have you read the Four Books?"

The young man was the grandson of the village head, and his name was Zhang Shao.

At that moment, Song Ying saw the headman's face light up with joy, but then he became nervous again.

Zhang Shao was shocked, not at all nervous, and answered loudly: "I have finished reading "The Great Learning" and "The Analects of Confucius", and am now reading "Mencius" diligently."

Wu Tixue nodded: "Zhu Xi once said, first read the Great Learning to determine its scope; then read the Analects to determine its foundation; then read Mencius to observe its development; then read the Doctrine of the Mean to seek the subtleties of the ancients.

Now that you have finished studying the Analects, let me ask you, if you speak with sincerity and act with respect, you will succeed even in a barbarian country. What is the next sentence?

Zhang Shao thought without hesitation: "If one's words are not faithful and one's actions are not sincere and respectful, how can one be successful even if he is in the state?"

“How do you explain this sentence?”

Zhang Shao frowned and thought, "It means that he is loyal, faithful and respectful and never forgets it. No matter where he is, he can always see him. Even if he wants to leave him, he can't.

Then, every word and action will naturally be loyal, faithful and respectful, and the barbarians can do it..."

Zhang Shao was referring to the annotations in Zhu Xi's Collection of Annotations, which was the official standard answer. His answer was quite fluent, but Wu Tixue showed no expression.

He just nodded and turned to look at the remaining three people: "What have you learned?"

Zhao Ziliang and another young man, Hou Tianming, gave the same answer as Zhang Shao, that they had finished reading "The Great Learning" and "The Analects of Confucius" and were now studying "Mencius".

Thinking about Wu Tixue's answer to Zhang Shao, Yuan Qing changed his mind temporarily: "In reply to the Grand Master, I have only studied the Great Learning and have only a rough understanding of the Analects."

He was obviously younger than the other three, but Wu Tixue didn't think he was inferior to the other two and continued to test him: "There is a saying in the University that one should be sincere in mind and upright in heart. What is sincerity in mind? What is upright in heart?"

Zhao Ziliang pondered for a while, then stammered, "The so-called sincerity of intention... is not to deceive oneself, such as hating bad smells, and... loving beauty. The so-called upright heart... the so-called upright heart..."

I could barely answer the first sentence, but I don’t know the answer to the second one.

Song Ying could not help but be stunned. Zhao Ziliang started to learn at the age of ten, and it had been eight years since then, but he hadn't even memorized "The Great Learning"!

Among the Four Books and Five Classics, "The Great Learning" is the simplest.

Zhao Ziliang was so anxious that he was sweating profusely. When he was anxious, his mind went blank and he couldn't think of anything.

Wu Tixue showed disappointment and looked at the remaining Yuan Qing and the other two.

Hou Tianming looked at his nose and his heart, and gave up directly. It was not that he did not want to show off, but he was actually worse than Zhao Ziliang and did not know how to explain a single word.

Yuan Qinglue waited for a while, and seeing that Hou Tianming had no intention of speaking, he had no choice but to answer: "The so-called right mind, if you are angry, you can't be right; if you are afraid, you can't be right; if you are happy, you can't be right; if you are worried, you can't be right."

"The Master said: A man of noble character and integrity will not seek to live at the expense of his integrity, but will rather sacrifice his life to achieve his integrity. Why?"

Yuan Qing: "If a virtuous person seeks to live when he should die, his heart will be at peace, which will harm his virtue. If he dies when he should die, his heart will be at peace and his virtue will be complete."

Wu Tixue showed praise on his face, and suddenly asked: "Panxi Yi Yin, Zuo Shi A Heng, what do you mean?"

Song Ying was surprised. Aren't they testing "The Great Learning" and "The Analects of Confucius"? Why were they suddenly testing "Thousand Character Classic"?

Yuan Qing was also stunned. He obviously did not expect Wu Tixue to suddenly test him on the Thousand Character Classic. However, he had explained every word to Song Ying in the past half month and remembered it very clearly.

He immediately said, "King Wen of Zhou met Jiang Shang at Panxi and assisted his wise ruler, while King Tang of Shang honored Yi Yin as Aheng."

Wu Tixue smiled and said, "Not bad, your skills are very solid."