Volume 5: Fellow Traveler Chapter 769: Partiality
This kid surnamed Liang seems to like to meddle in other people's business? Why is he a bit like the fourth prince? He just sent away a follower who couldn't be shaken off, and now another one came. Although Chen Xianzhang, the teacher, tried to stop him, Liang Chu insisted on going and gave up. Isn't this a bit too indulgent? Ge Yong didn't help him, so he couldn't get rid of this kid!
When leaving the Ge Mansion, Zhang Shou felt a headache. However, Liang Chu became very quiet and honest at this time. Even after getting in the car with him, he did not talk nonsense, which was very different from the fourth prince who was always talkative.
Therefore, Zhang Shou could only pretend that this guy didn't exist, and kept a stern face all the way, just like a helpless uncle who was dragged into trouble by his second uncle. And Ah Liu, who switched with the driver and drove himself again, didn't say a word, and drove fast all the way. After at least two quarters of an hour, he stopped the carriage, jumped off the driver's seat, and opened the door of the carriage.
"Master, we're here."
Hearing Ah Liu's voice, the first person to get out of the carriage was Liang Chu. He had just arrived in the capital a few days ago and had heard of Zhang Shou's reputation, so he was no stranger to Ah Liu. However, he just glanced at Ah Liu and did not ask rashly. Instead, he looked curiously at the guard who was claiming to be the second son of the Duke of Zhao's mansion and came to report the news.
Zhang Shou followed Liang Chu out of the car and found a two-story building facing the street in front of him. On the plaque were four big characters, "Suzhou Guild Hall". His expression suddenly became subtle. You know, he brought Ah Liu here to taste the chef's skills, and the head of the Suzhou Guild Hall, Hua Hui, was an old acquaintance of his.
Even Mr. Hua Si, the richest man in Suzhou, joined hands with Cao Wu of Shunhe Escort Agency because of his matchmaking, and is now operating the sea escort business. Although it has just started, it is said that the two sides have a good chat. The two have previously agreed on his shares and plan to give him an additional 10% of the shares in addition to the shares he originally agreed to invest in.
Zhang Shou really wanted to refuse with righteous words...but after thinking it over, he accepted it with a smile.
But on the eve of the wedding, he gave it to the emperor. The emperor planned to make a fuss in the Linhai Camp and the Zhenhai Camp. After all, some interests need to be balanced. The emperor's return gift was also very generous. He gave Zhu Ying a box of gifts and privately gave him a Tianjin business. As a result, the Hua and Cao families did not know that they had a strong backer behind them.
Just as Zhang Shou was thinking this, Zhu Yi coughed lightly, lowered his head and said in a pleasing manner, "The Second Young Master quarreled with a few candidates here and then started fighting. I saw Hua Hui, the leader of Suzhou Guild Hall, come out to mediate, but the Second Young Master was still adamant and even forced people to apologize. The two sides were on the verge of a fight, so I hurried over to report the news to my son-in-law."
Zhang Shou glanced around and found that Zhu Ying was nowhere to be seen. He became a little suspicious. When he heard the noisy sounds coming from the Suzhou Guild Hall, he couldn't help but frown.
If it was really Zhu Yi who came here to give him the news, and it took half an hour to go back and forth, which is an hour... After a full hour, the turmoil still hasn't subsided, so the matter must be true, but it's indeed a big deal!
Sure enough, when he walked in with a sullen face, he heard Zhu Er's signature yelling: "I'm going to hit you, so what? You look down on me because I failed the imperial examinations time and time again, and because I only wrote a few agricultural books, unlike your collections of poems and essays that are circulated outside? Bah, you think you are proud to be sung by those girls in some building or courtyard, right?"
"If you have the guts, ask Twelve Rains from Tingyu Cottage to sing your lyrics, and I'll at least give you a word of admiration!"
As he said this, Zhu Er put one foot on the stool and slammed the high table beside him with one hand. He acted like a street bully. Zhang Shou hadn't seen someone like this for a long time. At this moment, he suddenly remembered the time when he visited the Duke of Zhao's mansion and Zhu Er rushed in to talk to him.
That time, because of Ah Liu, Zhu Er came with great enthusiasm but returned in defeat.
This time, no one on the other side could control the unruly Zhu Er. One of the young men had a red and swollen face, as if he had been slapped before, and the other two were also full of anger. However, Zhang Shou saw that the people around them looked at them without any sympathy, but pointed and poked at them... This time, he immediately knew what was going on.
It is obvious that regardless of whether Zhu Erbang’s gang members are from the Suzhou Guild Hall, at least these three are definitely outsiders.
As expected, Zhu Er seemed to think that what he said was not harsh enough. After a faint smile, he put his foot down, flicked the hem of his robe, and continued to speak: "It is said that scholars look down on each other, but you should never look down on someone I respect!"
"You're scolding me for not knowing the classics and history, not being good at poetry and prose, and for only writing two agricultural books that no one reads in all these years, and for never being able to pass the imperial examination? Hey, don't you know that agriculture is the foundation of the country? Don't you know that what you eat is grown in the fields, and the cotton you wear is also grown in the fields, and the silk used in silk clothes is made from mulberry leaves, oak leaves, etc., which are fed to silkworms and then make cocoons?"
"Do you think you can live without food and clothes while holding on to your proud poems? It is because the world is full of scholars like you who are lazy and ignorant, yet still talk nonsense, that the yield of farmland in the world cannot be increased, and there are so many people in the world who work hard but cannot fill their stomachs! Because people like you don't understand these things at all!"
Although Zhu Er's words were very rough, if you look into them carefully, you can definitely find a lot of mistakes in them. However, in a place like Suzhou Guild Hall, it was absolutely politically correct in those days to angrily scold three candidates whose hometown was Nanjing Yingtian Prefecture.
Suzhou is a major silk weaving town, where the imperial court's weaving and dyeing bureau is located. Its annual tax is the highest in Nanzhili, and there are countless wealthy families and scholars. However, Nanjing Yingtianfu is the capital of Nanzhili, and is one of the only two cities in the world that can be called a capital. Even in each imperial examination, Nanjing can select 60 scholars, while Suzhou can only select 40.
However, when it comes to the Nanzhili provincial examinations, the situation is different. The number of candidates for the Nanzhili provincial examinations has increased from 80 at the beginning of the founding of the country to 135 now. If we count the number of candidates for the provincial examinations in each prefecture, Suzhou and Changzhou always occupy the first and second places, and Yingtian Prefecture can only take the third place at most.
As for Songjiang Prefecture, which is second only to Suzhou in wealth... Suzhou people said they don't care about it at all! Who made your number of juren ranked fourth in the entire Nanzhili ? Occasionally, you would surpass Yingtian Prefecture...
Therefore, even though the two old scholars that Zhu Er defended were not from Suzhou at all, and there were no other scholars from Suzhou in the guild hall at that time, since they were against the people of Yingtian, it naturally did not prevent those who lived in the guild hall from standing firmly on Zhu Er's side. Especially this sentence, when you are lazy and don't know how to distinguish between grains, I don't know who took the lead in making a noise and shouting "good".
After the shout, there was thunderous applause. When Zhang Shou saw Zhu Er's jubilant and happy face, and then saw people bowing and thanking everyone for their cooperation, he felt as if he was watching a street performer thanking those who gave him tips to feed him. However, just as he was about to continue watching from the side, he did not expect that a voice that he could not ignore had already sounded behind him.
"That's right. If you say that agricultural books are not as good as classics and history, then that's understandable, but how can agricultural books be inferior to poetry and prose? My master's teacher, Mr. Kang Zhai, once went to the fields with his disciples to farm. While working, he taught and understood the truth. The students did not feel ashamed, but proud. Don't say that you are just a juren now. Even if you pass the imperial examination this year and are selected as a commoner, what does it matter?"
"If your mind is crooked, your path to study will be crooked. If your path to study is crooked, how can you not be crooked when you are an official in the future! If the second son of the Duke of Zhao hit someone today, that would be 100% wrong, then you are 100% wrong!"
"It doesn't matter whether you pass the imperial examinations first or last, but at least you should know how to respect the elderly and love the young, and you should also understand the hardships of farming!"
Zhang Shou couldn't help but suck his teeth gently.
He knew that the person behind him would definitely not stay there and wait for the result. As expected, he was just like a firecracker that exploded at a touch... In this situation, it would be better for him to fail this exam. Otherwise, no matter if he was selected as a scholar, sent to a local official, or awarded a noble position such as a doctor of the Imperial College, he would probably be fired at from all sides and offend people to death.
No wonder most of the time, these days, let alone taking the imperial examinations, even the electors of the provincial examinations would often suppress those who are too young but talented for one or even two terms, because in a place like the officialdom, young and energetic guys - especially those under 20 years old - are like a drop of water in a seemingly lukewarm oil pan, which can easily cause oil to splash everywhere and hurt others.
Therefore, the examiners who appreciate talents will let people spend three years to temper their temperament and then come out to take the examination to become officials. Although the result of this is often to turn the sharp and ambitious young people into slippery and greasy young people...
Thinking of this, Zhang Shou had not considered it at all. He himself was not even twenty years old. When he found that many people were looking in this direction, he laughed and shouted, "It is said that frivolous and frivolous men often get angry for the beauty, so I thought that today, Brother Zhu, you were back to your old ways, but I didn't expect that you were angry for the sake of a wise man, which is completely different from the past. But no matter what, hitting people is wrong."
The situation of the three Nanjing-born scholars was different. The instigator, who was covering his face, now blushed red, while the other two regretted that they had accompanied their companions to the Suzhou Guild Hall to seek justice for the humiliation they had suffered in the past for the sake of loyalty. However, they ended up meeting the second son of the Duke of Zhao's mansion, who did not care about the consequences at all and had an extremely powerful background!
It wasn't enough that their companion got beaten, but all the guys in Suzhou Guild Hall actually joined in the commotion. A green boy even jumped out and said some sarcastic remarks. Now there was a guy who called Zhu Er "Brother Zhu Er"!
However, Zhang Shou finally said something fair - hitting people is wrong, so the young scholar who was covering his face felt that he had grabbed a life-saving straw and shouted indignantly: "That's right, you beat me in the street, this is a crime you can't escape. No matter if you are the second son of the Duke of Zhao's mansion or someone else, I am right to sue you in the Shuntian government office!"
Although Mr. Hua Si left the capital after attending Zhang Shou's wedding, Mr. Hua Huishou was still there. He had just tried to be a peacemaker but returned empty-handed. Now that Zhang Shou had also arrived, and the young man who accompanied him was actually trying to stir up trouble and criticize others, he was naturally overwhelmed.
Fortunately, Zhang Shou did end his speech with a rebuke to Zhu Er. He was just planning to take the opportunity to smooth things over, but he didn't expect that a certain guy would get so angry and say such harsh words.
He was thinking that things were bad when he suddenly saw a smile on Zhang Shou's face. He suddenly remembered his personality. There was no doubt that Zhang Shou was a ruthless person who would take revenge for any slight. Would he help the right person instead of his relatives? No way! Zhang Shou had always been the one who protected his relatives, friends and students the most!
In an instant, Hua Huizhu made up his mind. He immediately rushed out with a fake smile and said, "Mr. Juren from Yingtian Prefecture, you just said that Mr. Zhu beat you up. Apart from your two friends, are there any other witnesses?"
As soon as Zhang Shou spoke, many people in Suzhou Guild Hall recognized him - and even if they didn't recognize him, they could ask the people around them or guess who he was. After all, there was only one person in the whole capital who could call Zhu Er "Brother Zhu Er" and had such a good appearance.
So, after hearing Hua Huishou's words that were obviously biased to the extreme, people looked at each other and someone immediately laughed, "That's right, you were the one who got scolded and slapped yourself in the face, so how come you blamed the Second Young Master? There's no such thing as a fraud!"
When Zhu Er found out that Zhang Shou had actually come, he was a little panicked for a moment, but he found that Zhang Shou first praised him a few words when he came, and then lightly said that hitting people was wrong . He knew that Zhang Shou was defending him, and his face immediately showed joy. Even though the guy he had beaten was yelling at him, he didn't take it to heart at all.
Sure enough, the next moment he was overjoyed to find that following Hua's blatant partiality, the rest of the Suzhou Guild Hall followed suit. Not only that, some even shouted, "Our Suzhou talents are out meeting friends. When they come back, ask them to write a few brilliant articles and spread them out. This is really a great story!"
"Yes, yes, please ask them to go out and have the other candidates judge for the case when they meet for the essay!"
Following the noise, the faces of the three young candidates who were just filled with righteous indignation suddenly turned pale. They were not from the same class this year. The one who was beaten was a new candidate this year, and the other two were candidates who passed the exam three years ago. They were just accompanying their companions to get back at each other. It was said that they had been scolded by these two old candidates who took advantage of their seniority and had been upset for many years.
Who knew we would be in such a difficult situation now!
Seeing that the three people had been roasted on the fire, Zhang Shou glanced at the two dull-faced old men beside Zhu Er, thinking about saying hello. However, the words on his lips were once again snatched away by a young scholar behind him.
"Have you two elders really written agricultural books? I am Liang Chu from Guangdong, and I am also a candidate for the imperial examination. I would like to ask you two elders' surnames and names, and where you live now? I would like to visit you later on behalf of my master. My master, Mr. Baisha, has always respected people who practice what they preach."
