Chapter 57 part 1

Sorry for the late post! I'll try to post earlier tomorrow.

The academy has a study room, which is only open to students who have entered class A.

The study is not big. It is in a small building and on the upper and lower floors contains all the books in the Qingyuan Academy since its opening. These books are not worth mentioning to those big academies, but to places like Huyang Township, they are extremely rare.

The reason Qingyuan Academy can still exist under such disadvantages is partly because of the master of the school, Lin Miao, but more for the book collection in this study.

Ancient books are divided into four major parts of Jing Shi Zi Ji ¹. Before Zhu Xi ², Confucian scholars used the reading of the Six Classics and other Jing Fu books as the foundation of their studies, followed by the other three parts of Shi, Zi and Ji. When they start studying Zhu Xi, the order of reading the scriptures can be adjusted. They read the four books and the five scriptures first, and then the others.

The Qingyuan Academy also follows this procedure. After students are familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics, they can begin to study other classics while studying.

Of course, these books are not the only ones in the study, there are also some literary scripts and question banks that readers love.

The so-called Wenfu question bank is some classic test essays from the past dynasties. For example, "Thirty Thousand Selections of Big Questions", "Big Questions of Wenfu", "Small Questions of Wenfu", "Four Books Prepared for Purpose", etc., are all necessary sample essays for scholars to take the imperial examination. These essays will be divided into four different categories based on the four books, and the following are divided into major topics and minor topics, and each proposition will contain a different model essay.

"That's it!" Mao Badou said with excitement, touching the book in his hand.

Not only him, Chen Jian and Li Datian were also the same.

For a student who still doesn't know how to do eight-part essays, these sample essays can be used as guidance, which can save them a lot of effort. Therefore, after Mao Badou inquired clearly about the situation, he hurriedly pulled the three of them.

"It's not in vain that I went deep into the enemy, revealed my inner thoughts, and spent a lot of money."

Speaking of this, we must talk about what had happened before.

If the students in Class B wake up earlier than the chickens and sleep later than the cats, then the students in Class A are truly in a fairyland on earth.

Although there are two classes in the morning and evening every day, the Xiansheng does not necessarily come, and the students are not necessarily constrained to be in the lecture hall, but can study freely in the academy. The teacher's lecturing time has also been greatly reduced, and the students tend to self study.

No one is restrained, and the few newcomers to Class A can't help being a little slack. Especially Mao Badou, who has nothing to do all day long, has the appearance of resuming his old habits.

This was the case until the first ten-day test that a few people who entered Class A had to take. The test was to make an eight-part essay, the subject of which was given by the school head.

Several people suffered the first time. Except for Xue TingRang, the essays made by the other three were simply terrible and horrible.

Afterwards, all the essays of the students who were admitted to Grade A were posted for everyone to study and learn from each other. Among them were the last three essays, which many people sneered and laughed at saying even such people can even get into Class A.

The three of them were very embarrassed, and even Xue TingRang could not be laughed at.

In fact, these people are also a little wronged. Firstly, they didn’t know that there would be a test. Secondly, they have just learned to write an essay, so it is extremely difficult to write an excellent article.

Xue TingRang had also thought about whether to teach them, but he didn't want to arouse people's suspicion. In addition, although he had that dream, the specific memories in that dream were extremely vague. However, with previous experience, he knew that he only had to study hard, these things hidden deep in his memory would one day be unearthed, and at that time, he would benefit infinitely.

Returning to the present, Mao Badou was quite upset after being ridiculed, but he turned his head away and started to act strangely. After a few days, he suddenly said that he had found a good way to make studying progress and brought the three of them to the study, which contained these Wenfu question banks.

Xue TingRang flipped through the book in his hand, smiled and shook his head and inserted the book back.

"Why did Tingying behave like this?" Chen Jian asked curiously after seeing Xue TingRang's behavior.

"It's nothing, in fact, this book is not very useful." After a pause, he said again: "But you can take a look and try using it to study."

Everyone didn't understand why he said that, but they didn't think much.

This set of Wenfu has more than forty volumes, but the students cannot borrow more than two books at a time, so the four of them choose two books they like, and they find Zaifu at the entrance of the study to register the books. After going back, they went back to studying carefully, which will not be described in detail.

Ten days passed in an instant, and it was break time again.

It was Gao Sheng who came to pick up Xue TingRang back this time, but Zhao'er did not come. After asking, he found out that tomorrow is the day when Xue Cui'e gets married, and Zhao'er was held back by the main room to work at home.

Xue TingRang suddenly realized this and he hurriedly got off the bus and went back to the academy to ask for leave. Nowadays, in addition to Lin Miao, the curator of Class A, there is also a gentleman surnamed Mo. Xue TingRang went to the office and did not find Mo Xiansheng, so he could only find the curator.

After listening to Xue TingRang's statement, Lin Miao did not ask much and granted him two days off.

Before leaving, Lin Miao said to him that even if he was taking a break, he should not put off his homework until he returns. He also said that if he didn't understand anything in the future, he could come to him.

Xue TingRang looked back at Lin Miao in surprise.

Although he only entered Class A recently, he knew that it was extremely rare for the school owner to say this. Everyone knows that the owner of the library never taught anyone alone. There are not many people in the entire academy, and the owner's remarks are obviously informal, which means that as long as he has anything to solve his doubts, he can come to him.

No wonder Xue TingRang was so surprised.

As if he understood Xue TingRang's doubts, Lin Miao said, "I promised the virtuous brother Mo that I will teach you carefully, so I won't break my promise."

Xue TingRang gave a slight sigh, this school owner is really a weird person, so if he wants to teach, let him. If you say this kind of words that detract from the favor, even a good intention in itself will be easily misunderstood.

"Thanks to the host." He made a polite and respectful attitude.

Lin Miao nodded, and Xue TingRang left.

Back in Yuqing Village, the Xue family was lively.

People came and went in the yard. Two large earthen stoves were built in one corner of the yard. A large pot was placed on it. The pot was filled with water and it was burning now. A group of women are sitting around picking and washing vegetables, a few women are cutting meat, and a few other women are plucking chicken feathers in hot water, and they are very busy.

These women are all daughter-in-laws of Xue family. There are unwritten rules in the family. If any family is having a wedding, women of the same family will come to help.

For weddings in the countryside, there are some customs. The man’s family must complete them, and the woman’s family must as well. Although there are teams in the countryside who specialize in helping people make noodles, they are usually invited by more affluent people, and most of them still do it themselves.

Making wedding noodles by yourself means there is a lot of work to do in advance. Making so many dishes is too much work for one day, so meat dishes and the like are prepared in advance and used the next day.

As soon as Xue TingRang entered the door, someone greeted him.

Those who greeted him were women who were older by seniority, so not greeting them out of respect was impossible. After all those greetings, Xue TingRang was already dry in the mouth, so he hurriedly found an excuse to go back to the house. As soon as he walked to the door, he saw Zhao'er walk out.

"Zhao’er."

Zhao'er nodded: "You go back to the house for a while, and I'll do some work." After that, she hurried to the stove.

Xue TingRang returned to the room, put the book bag on the table, took out the dirty clothes he had brought back, and leaned on the kang thinking about things.

He was thinking deeply when a laugh outside broke his concentration.

He carefully listened to what seemed to be a few women talking and laughing, and there were sounds of Zhaoer among them, but it was too noisy outside and the voices were unintelligible.

And as he was listening, he slowly fell asleep.

1. name of the Chinese classics. Jing meaning classics, Shi meaning historical works, Zi meaning philosophical works belonging to schools of thought other than Confucian, and Ji means literary works ↑
2. a Confucian scholar and influential Neo-Confucian in Song Dynasty. His contributions to Chinese philosophy include his editing of and commentaries to the Four Books, which later formed the curriculum of the civil service exam in Imperial China from 1313 to 1905; and his emphasis on the process of the "investigation of things" and meditation as a method for self cultivation. ↑