Chapter 48:

Chapter 48:

That is to say, after breakfast, Zhou Qilue took a few boys out of the inn. When he arrived in Masong County last night, it was already evening, and after several days of driving, the group of people were very tired, so they had a rest early. Didn't have time to go out for a walk. It was rare for Zhou Qilue to come out from the capital, how could Zhou Qilue stay in the inn to read.

Song Cun shook his head with a smile, didn't say anything, told him to pay attention to safety, and let him go out with a few servants. The county is not big and not very prosperous. It can't be compared with the capital city. He can't spend two days in it. , they will shout bored, and naturally they will not run out again.

And he memorized all the four books, five classics, and law books, and wrote all the silent ones, so he learned to compose poems in the inn. First, he wrote all the poems about plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum. He read it again, savored it again, and he didn’t know what other people saw. He felt pretty good about himself, at least he couldn’t make such poems before, and progress is a good thing.

Sure enough, Zhou Qilue went out for three days, and on the fourth day he didn't want to go out again. He lay down in the inn for half a day, and then went to harass Song Cun in the afternoon. Seeing Song Cun reading and writing poems in his room, he asked with a smile, "You What did you write?"

Song Cun asked him to read, and he glanced at it, read it, scratched his head, and said, "I don't know how to compose poetry either. Since you can write it, it must be good. I can't even write it. You can continue to write poems." , I'm going out!"

He remembered what his elder brother said, that Song Cun came to take the scientific examination, not to play, and it's fine that he doesn't like reading, so don't disturb Song Cun, so as not to miss his examination.

Song Cun glanced at his leaving back, looked down at the poem he wrote, and muttered, "Isn't it good? I don't know how to appreciate it."

Sitting down, frowning, changed two more words, nodded, feeling more satisfied.

Zhou Qilue turned around and went to the lobby of the inn. The waiter in the lobby greeted him warmly when he saw him.

The waiter in the shop asked: "Master, do you listen to the little song?"

Interest came to Zhou Qilue's eyes, and he asked, "Is there anyone singing ditties here?"

The shop waiter smiled proudly: "Only our inn has it."

Zhou Qilue threw him a piece of silver: "Call me over and sing two songs."

It was a father and daughter who sang the ditty, one singing the other, Zhou Qilue stopped them after listening to it twice, waved his hands in disappointment, and said, "You guys go down."

The father and daughter were a little apprehensive, they didn't know what offended the guest, and looked at him anxiously.

Seeing their uneasy expressions, Zhou Qi slightly said, "I'm going to read a book. Go back."

Song Cun had stopped writing poems, but was concentrating on reading a book. Zhou Qilue walked in with a dejected look on his face, but Song Cun ignored him and continued to read.

Zhou Qi slightly glanced at him, sat down on the chair next to him, sat for a while, saw that Song Cun ignored him, and wondered if the book was so good-looking?

Seeing a high stack of books on Song Cun's desk, he picked up one from the top, opened it, and found it was "Shangshu·Yao Dian", which was a bit boring. What's so interesting about this book, he couldn't read it for a long time I understand, I was going to put the book back when Song Cun looked up at him and asked, "What's wrong?"

Zhou Qilue smiled guiltyly, and said dryly: "It's nothing, it's nothing, you can read a book, I'm also reading next to you, so I won't disturb you."

Song Cun nodded, lowered his eyes and continued to read, but the corners of his mouth could not help but curl up.

Zhou Qi slightly grimaced, resigned to his fate and turned to the first page. Isn't it just reading a book, what's the big deal, he read.

He stumbled and read it from the beginning to the end without any interest. After reading it, he didn't know what he was reading. I couldn't help but look up at Song Cun, and saw that he was still not squinting, reading seriously without being disturbed by the outside world.

He sighed, then looked down, huh, translation? Regardless of him, keep reading. After reading it, he was pleasantly surprised to find that combined with the translation, he could understand "Shang Shu · Yao Dian", and even knew what it said.

He read it twice again from the beginning combined with the explanation, and he suddenly realized that the meaning of some words was like that, which was not what he usually understood. Who wrote the translation? It's so powerful that he, a student who sleeps in class, was fascinated by reading "Shangshu·Yao Dian".

Song Cun read the book for half an hour, closed the book, glanced to the side, and found that Zhou Qilue was fascinated by it, he raised his eyebrows in surprise, didn't bother him, stood up and stretched, and went downstairs, After leaving the inn, we walked around the street and bought some local snacks.

When he came back, he found Zhou Qilue lying on his couch. Zhou Qilue complained: "I thought you were just downstairs, and you didn't call me when you went out?"

Song Cun looked at him: "I saw you were obsessed with reading, so I didn't call you. Here, I bought you some snacks."

Zhou Qi sat up with a slight smile: "It's not too bad." After receiving the snack, he ate the tea, but he thought in his heart that no matter how hard he read the book, he wouldn't know that Song Cun was going out, but he just pretended not to know That's all.

Song Cun sat next to him, picked up a piece of snack, and began to eat slowly. After eating snacks, Song Cun planned to practice big characters. As soon as he picked up the pen, Zhou Qilue moved to his side with the book in his arms, and asked, "Who is so talented? Writing like this makes me so lazy?" Can anyone see it?"

Then he turned the book to Song Cun, "Look at the original text on the top, and the translation below! I didn't like to study the Four Books and Five Classics before, and I fell asleep every time I was in class. It turned out that the name of Emperor Yao mentioned in "Shangshu·Yao Dian" was Fang Xun also said how he made calendar festivals"

Song Cun said with a smile: "I have a set of books like this here. As for who wrote it and who made it, don't worry so much. Just ask if it helps you study the Four Books and Five Classics?"

Zhou Qilue said loudly: "It must be helpful, so helpful."

Song Cun said: "Since it is useful, copy it down and take it back to learn slowly."

"Ah?" Zhou Qi slightly stared at him in a daze, "So many? They have to be copied down, how long will it take?"

Song Cun said with a smile: "Don't be in a hurry, and don't be in a hurry. The Four Books and Five Classics have a total of about 220,000 words. You copy hundreds of words every day, you can memorize these hundreds of words and write them silently. After you finish copying them, memorizing them, and writing them silently, then you can take the examination for scholar."

Of course this does not include translations. But he didn't need to say it, lest Zhou Qilue be frightened.

Zhou Qilue asked uncertainly: "Is it enough to write only a few hundred words a day?"

Song Cun nodded and asked back: "Yes, it's that simple, otherwise how much do you think you have to learn every day?"

Zhou Qilue asked puzzledly: "Since you only learn a few hundred words a day, what kind of books do you read every day?"

Song Cun showed him the book he was reading. Zhou Qi slightly glanced at it and said, ""Yang Ji"? Is this the history book of the Yang Dynasty?"

Zhou Qilue asked him: "Are these also included in the scientific examination?"

Song Cun said: "This is not necessarily the case. It is always right to read more books."

Zhou Qilue felt that Song Cun's words were simple, but it made people who heard them feel very unusual. Of course, he felt that people who are willing to read books and take the initiative to read books are unusual, and it is difficult for him now. Since Song Cun asked him to copy this book, he just copied it. After searching for a long time in his room, he couldn't find a pen and paper. He stood there in embarrassment, walked into Song Cun's room slowly, and asked, "Song Cun , Do you have a lot of pens and papers? Me, I didn’t bring any pens and papers.”

In the pen holder of Song Cun, there are seven or eight pens, large and small, thick and thin. He pointed to the pen holder: "You can choose what kind of pen you like. I'm used to these. I don't know if you can use them." Are you used to it? As for the paper, it’s next to it, it’s already been cut, and you can use it directly.”

In Song Cun's room, it's no problem to sit two people. Zhou Qilue took the pen and paper and didn't return to his room. Just started writing on the other side of Song Cun's press, Song Cun glanced at it out of the corner of his eye, didn't say anything, and continued to write his own big characters

After Song Cun practiced his handwriting, he glanced at Zhou Qilue. He was a little surprised to see the handwriting he wrote. The handwriting was so neat and neat. I can write well."

Hearing this, Zhou Qilue raised his mouth proudly, the current Song Cun is very good in his heart, although he has not yet obtained the fame, but he puts him on the same level as his elder brother. And he is just an ignorant official's son. He was actually praised by someone who was as good as his eldest brother, how could he not be proud?

Since he was a child, he grew up listening to his parents and elders praise his eldest brother, but he never got a word of affirmation from his parents and elders. When he was excited, he said: "Of course I will practice my calligraphy well."

Song Cun said with a faint smile: "As your friend, I will definitely trust you."

Zhou Qilue was even more proud, and Song Cun said again: "If you are lazy, I will definitely supervise you from behind."

Zhou Qilue: "..."

In the days that followed, Song Cun read books, learned to compose poems, and practiced calligraphy every day. Zhou Qilue didn't go out to play either. Although he still had some resistance to reading and practicing calligraphy, with Song Cun's company, he completed the task.

Although he also found out that Song Cun hadn't told him the truth, it took him a long time to write four or five hundred words of the original text plus the translation, but he didn't shirk it. Who made him agree to Song Cun?

After more than ten days, some examinees moved in one after another in the inn, and there were more people in the county, mostly people who came to accompany the exam.

Zhou Qilue listened to the noisy voices outside, his heart was about to move, and he couldn't help but want to go outside to have a look. As soon as he stood up, Song Cun looked up at him: "Today's task is completed?"

Zhou Qilue sighed, sat down, picked up the book and continued to memorize it, and suddenly heard Song Cun's voice: "If you want to go out to play, just memorize the book quickly, after memorizing and writing silently, can't it be finished?"

Zhou Qilue thought so, so he quietly pinched his thigh to let himself regain his mind and sink into the book, not to mention it was very useful, he could memorize the rest in just one cup of tea. It took another two cups of tea to write them silently. After finishing writing, he stood up again and found that Song Cun was looking at him again. He said quickly: "I have finished reciting, and I have finished writing silently. Don't believe me, I will recite it to you?"

Song Cun said with a smile: "No, I definitely believe you, you are not a person who is not responsible for yourself."

Zhou Qilue said happily: "I'm going out."

Song Cun ignored him, and planned to review the Four Books and Five Classics again before the exam. After the review, he started to compose poems again. No matter how the poems were made, he tried to make two poems a day. , Write more, practice more, read more, you can always improve.

Zhou Qilue went out for a stroll, came back again, and said, "There's nothing interesting about it. Those people rushed into the inn and just stayed in the room. They were reading books, and I didn't know them. They don’t know me, and they can’t talk to them, so it’s not interesting.”

Song Cun said: "The exam is just a few days away. How can they have leisure time? When the county exam is over, it will be almost the same."

Zhou Qilue thought so too, thought for a while and said: "These people are much more diligent than those students of the Imperial College."

Song Cun smiled. Some of the students of the Guozijian are noble children like him, and officials like Zhou Qilue. As long as the family has a quota for the Guozijian, they can go to study. Some of the students from wealthy families are diligent, but more are not.

Of course, there are also those who are admitted by their own ability. Such students are all talented and famous. They are different from their studies, and they will not be in the same class as them. What Zhou Qilue saw was only a corner of the Imperial College.

Of course, there are also regulations today. If a wealthy family enters the Imperial College to study, they are only eligible to study there. If they want to gain fame, they must take the scientific examination.

He said: "Some of these students are from farmers. In this small county, no matter who the students are, I believe their family background is definitely not as good as ours. If they know how to work hard, why should we relax? It didn't give us a headache. Hanging the beam and stabbing the buttocks, just to complete the daily tasks, review the past to learn the new, can't it be done?"

Zhou Qilue thought about it, as long as he completed the daily tasks and reviewed the knowledge he had learned before, it would be easy to complete. He said, "It can definitely be done."

Soon it was the day of the exam, Zhou Qilue was even more nervous than Song Cun, he got up and waited before dawn, and he said, "I don't know why, when my elder brother took the Jinshi exam, I was not so nervous, you must Take the exam well, Song Cun."

Song Cun packed his test basket with a smile: "I'm not nervous about this exam, why are you nervous?"

Zhou Qilue said: "If you fail the exam, wouldn't we bah bah bah bah, you will definitely pass the exam."

After packing up their things, the two of them headed for the carriage. As they walked, they could still hear a few candidates muttering: "Those two candidates live in a superior room. Senior official, look at that carriage, how extravagant it is, if only I could take a ride too."

"That's right, they are from the capital city, and they are born with better conditions than us. They have been studying with their husband since they were young, and they will definitely be able to pass the exam."

Song Cun looked at the carriage, looked at Zhou Qilue, and said with a smile: "Your carriage is envied by them."

Zhou Qilue said indifferently: "What am I? There are a lot of such carriages in the capital. When they go to the capital in the future, they will not be surprised. They also said that we will be able to pass the exam if we study with Mr. Well, what did you get into the exam, I haven't even finished memorizing the Four Books and Five Classics, they don't think that the housekeeper's children are better than them in studying?"

When Song Cun arrived at the examination room, the gate of the examination room was already full of people, Zhou Qi frowned slightly: "There are too many people!"

Song Cun said: "I entered the examination room, you can go back, wake up so early, go back and catch up on sleep."

Zhou Qi slightly nodded: "After the exam, I will pick you up."

After a strict inspection and checking the household registration information, Song Cun entered the examination room and found his own examination room. He looked it over. The test room was relatively simple and did not affect the examination. He sat in the examination room and waited for the invigilator to distribute the test papers.