Chapter 1141 Lin Daiyu asks for medicine, Jia Yucun tests her
Wait until Jia Zheng gets off work.

The four Qingke took out Su Mingzhe's calligraphy and said goodbye:

"Old Master, your talent and knowledge are enough to get you into the imperial examination. Even if you take part in the provincial examination, I'm afraid you will have some confidence. The four of us dare not hinder your future no matter what. Please find another famous teacher to teach you!"

After listening to the words of the four guests and looking at the square page of "The Great Learning", Jia Zheng felt both happy and melancholy.

"That little bastard's reputation has long been ruined. Where can I find him another master?"

The four Qingke looked at each other, and Shan Pinren took the initiative to remind them:

"I'm afraid the old man has forgotten someone!"

"Who?"

"Lord Jia Hua Jia Shifei who lives in the front yard!"

A month ago, Jia Yucun followed Lin Daiyu to Beijing and asked Jia Zheng to help him plan his "reinstatement".

The book says that Jia Yucun waited "less than two months, when a vacancy arose in the Yingtian Prefecture of Nanjing, so he sought to fill it, bid farewell to Jia Zheng, and took up the post on a chosen day."

Now, Jia Yucun has only been in Beijing for a month, and the vacancy in Jinling Yingtian Prefecture has not yet become available. He is still living in the guest room in the front yard of Rongguo Mansion, waiting for the vacancy to be filled.

When Jia Zheng heard that the four people were talking about Jia Yucun, he was overjoyed and immediately sent someone to invite Jia Yucun.

the other side.

Su Mingzhe, who was accompanying Lin Daiyu in painting, had no idea that Jia Zheng was going to find a new teacher for him.

It was a cold day.

Su Mingzhe and Lin Daiyu did not go out either. They hid in the green gauze cabinet and painted pictures of ladies.

Lin Daiyu wore a plain narrow-waisted long skirt and served as a model for Su Mingzhe.

Su Mingzhe drew a few strokes and walked over to instruct Lin Daiyu to strike a new pose.

Suddenly, Lin Daiyu heard the sound of the door opening, and quickly slapped the man's strange hand on her waist, and moved away a little:
"Brother, please draw well and don't do anything weird!"

The maid Zijuan came in with a bowl of spring water. Seeing the two people trying to avoid suspicion, she immediately laughed and joked:
"I'm not an outsider, why are you two avoiding me?"

"Who's avoiding you?"

Lin Daiyu didn't like communicating with outsiders, but Zijuan was particularly close to her. They had only been master and servant for more than a month, but they could already tell each other all kinds of jokes.

Seeing the two girls playing around, Su Mingzhe could only laugh dryly and asked:
"What time is it now? Is it almost time for dinner?"

"That's not the case. But, Second Master, didn't you say that the 'Peking Yuan Pill' is most effective when taken in the afternoon?"

As Zijuan spoke, she poured out a small yellow pill with cinnabar patterns on it from a jade box and put it into the bowl of spring water.

The pill dissolved in water.

Lin Daiyu took the bowl of water and drank it slowly. She felt a warmth rising in her abdomen and flowing throughout her body.

This was already the third Peiyuan Pill she had taken.

The problem of panting when walking that I used to have has long disappeared.

Not only that, problems such as lung heat and cold hands and feet when sleeping at night have also been greatly alleviated.

After Lin Meimei took the medicine, Su Mingzhe smiled and said:

"This medicine is a bit strong. Sister Lin will probably feel sleepy after taking it. You might as well lie down and rest for a while. We'll see you in the evening."

"Wait a minute, second brother."

As Lin Daiyu spoke, she grabbed the man's sleeve and said with a slightly red face:
"Second brother, last time you said that this Pei Yuan Dan can be taken by men and women, young and old, right?"

“It is indeed available to everyone.”

Su Mingzhe first affirmed it, but then explained:

"Although the effect of my pill is mild, we still need to prevent the patient from being unable to take the medicine. For example, someone as weak as you, Yu'er, can only take one pill every five days, while an ordinary person can only take one pill every three days. Yu'er, who are you going to give this to?"

"I want to send some to my dad."

Lin Daiyu's clear eyes revealed a feeling of longing as she said:
"Now my second brother has cured my old illness, but my father is busy with official duties every day and has been in poor health..."

"Yu'er's words reminded me!"

Su Mingzhe was afraid that Lin Daiyu would feel homesick and start crying again, so he quickly blamed himself and said, "It's all my fault. I was obsessed with beauty and only cared about you, Yu'er, but forgot about the elders at home!"

"Bah, you can't spit out ivory from a dog's mouth!"

Lin Daiyu never expected that a man would dare to tease her in front of her maid. She felt so embarrassed that she could only push the man out of her boudoir angrily.

Su Mingzhe walked out of the door, and did not forget to turn around and smile:

"Don't worry, Yu'er. I will refine a few more furnaces in the next few days and will definitely not forget your uncle's share."

When Lin Daiyu in the room heard this, her pretty face brightened, she smiled, then lay down on the bed and fell asleep.

The next day.

Jia Zheng sent someone to ask for leave and did not go to work.

After Su Mingzhe learned about this, he had no choice but to come to Rong Xi Tang to study on time.

When he arrived at Rong Xi Tang, he found that the four guests were gone, but there was a stranger.

Jia Zheng introduced it to his son:

"Ying'er, this is Mr. Jia Shifei. He is a Jinshi, well-read, and has great literary talent. He is now a guest at home. Your father invited him to come and give you guidance for more than a month. It is better than you learning by yourself behind closed doors and going astray."

Su Mingzhe did not guess Jia Yucun's identity at first, but knowing that he was a Jinshi, he did not want to neglect him, so he immediately bowed and called him "Sir".

Jia Yucun smiled and said:

"Brother Baoyu, please don't be so formal. We are from the same clan. I am a few years older than you, so you and I can just call each other brothers!"

"Then I am overstepping my authority!"

Su Mingzhe responded.

Jia Yucun was living under someone else's roof, so he couldn't put on airs, so he began to test Su Mingzhe in a gentle tone.

Regarding Jia Zheng's second son, Jia Yucun once heard Leng Zixing, the son-in-law of Jia Rui, the housekeeper of Rongguo Mansion, say that this kid is a "drunkard and womanizer" who doesn't like to study.

Therefore, when Su Mingzhe asked him to take a test, Jia Yucun did not take it seriously. The questions were relatively basic, all of which were "standard questions" from the Four Books and Five Classics.

After a while, Jia Yucun found that Su Mingzhe answered fluently, and he knew that Su Mingzhe had solid knowledge, which was completely different from what Leng Zixing said.

Jia Yucun immediately became more serious, and unconsciously increased the difficulty of the questions, starting with some "profound questions".

Su Mingzhe continued to answer calmly, without a trace of nervousness.

Jia Yucun asked more than a dozen questions in a row, and found that he could not stump this "problem boy".

At this point, Jia Yucun looked at Su Mingzhe with a little more appreciation:

"Brother, let me ask you another question: 'Today, we all ride on the same track, write the same text, and follow the same moral principles.' Do you know how to solve this question?"

Su Mingzhe was stunned when he heard this. Was he going to be tested on his eight-legged essay?

Although the Daqing Dynasty inherited the Ming system, it also implemented the eight-legged essay system for selecting officials.

However, the eight-legged essay was only used to select scholars in the provincial and metropolitan examinations.

There is no need to take the eight-legged essay in both the examination for the scholar and the palace examination.

For the examination for the scholar, the scope of questions was set only within the Four Books and Five Classics, with some common sense knowledge points and poetry and songs added in at most.

Su Mingzhe is not even a student now, but Jia Yucun actually wants to test him on the eight-legged essay. This makes him stunned.

However, after being stunned for a while, Su Mingzhe still answered directly:
"This sentence comes from The Doctrine of the Mean, Confucius said: "If you are stupid, you like to use your own ideas..."

After reciting a passage from the original text, Su Mingzhe explained the original meaning of the text again, and then began to solve the problem based on the mutual connections between the Four Books and Five Classics.

After listening to this, Jia Yucun felt that Su Mingzhe's approach to solving the problem did not conform to his own Confucian doctrine of the mean.

However, he also discovered that Su Mingzhe's approach to solving the problem was extremely ingenious, and he definitely had in-depth research on the eight-legged essay.

Thinking of this, Jia Yucun looked at Su Mingzhe as if he were a monster.

This little fellow seems to be only twelve years old. At such a young age, he has already made such a thorough study of eight-legged essay. With such talent and talent, with a little effort, he will surely be able to pass the imperial examination one day.

By then, the Jia family, which is already on the decline, will probably have to rely on this kid.

(End of this chapter)