From the sixth day of the first lunar month, Shen Rui became a little tail, following Wang Shouren to visit friends and go to banquets.

Although Wang Shouren has just arrived and established the year, he has long been famous in Beijing, and he is the son of the champion, and the people who have made friends are all Jinshiju.

On the eighth day of the first lunar month, Shen Rui saw the third champion he saw after coming to the Ming Dynasty, which was the leader of the Hongzhi Sixth Year Palace Examination - Mao Cheng, a native of Kunshan, Nanzhili.

Although Shen Rui had never seen Mao Cheng, he had heard of his name for a long time. Mao Cheng is the second champion of Suzhou Mansion in recent decades, and on the way from Songjiang to Suzhou Mansion, He Taizhi thought about it several times.

Mao Cheng lost his father at a young age and was raised by his grandfather. He was the champion in the sixth year of Hongzhi, when his grandfather was 100 years old, it can be described as "double happiness", it is said to be a good story of Shilin, and the magistrate set up "Renrui Zhuangyuan Fang" for him in Suzhou Mansion.

If it weren't for the haste when he came, He Taizhi would not forget to take Shen Rui and Shen Jue over to see it.

Mao's grandfather was very old, and he died two years after Mao Cheng won the champion. Mao Cheng is a great-bearing grandson, and Ding has been worried for three years, so he is still the editor of the Hanlin Academy, and he has not been promoted. However, he is the champion, after all, he is not an ordinary Hanlin petty official, I heard that he is liked by today, and he often goes in and out of the palace to listen to lectures. According to this Jane's posture in the emperor's heart, after this year's "Jingcha", Mao Cheng will definitely be promoted.

On the way to Mao's house as a guest, Wang Shouren and Shen Rui talked about their relationship with Mao Cheng.

In the sixth year of Hongzhi, Mao Cheng won the top prize, Wang Shouren participated in the examination for the first time, and met Mao Cheng before the examination.

Unlike other scholars, Mao Cheng is not a scholar, but a craftsman, and he took the exam as a supervisor, so he was rejected by the examiners. Wang Shouren was high-spirited at that time, he had always made friends freely, and he was not picky about his background, but he was very close to Mao Cheng.

Mao Cheng is square and has the style of an ancient gentleman, and Wang Shouren has lofty ambitions and a heart for his family and country, but the two unexpectedly surrendered.

The two new friends and confidants happily went down to the exam hand in hand, and one of them passed the exam, and the high school champion was the one in the palace exam; One will try to land and leave Beijing gloomily.

If you are someone else, you will not be comfortable for a long time, and you can't say that you will gradually become estranged.

Mao Cheng and Wang Shouren are both gentlemen, open-minded, and their friendship has become deeper and deeper, and they have become irreversible friends over the years.

Hearing that Shen Rui was Wang Shouren's first apprentice, and he had accepted it four years ago, Mao Cheng paid a lot of attention to Shen Rui, and after giving the gift, he began to take the examination for Shen Rui's knowledge.

In his opinion, Wang Shouren is young, and a few years ago, it was too late to study for the sage book after the second Ministry of Rites exam landed, and he was interested in accepting students, which must be Shen Rui's outstanding talent, which made Wang Shouren "happy to see the hunt", so he should not miss it.

As for Shen Rui being still young four years ago, Mao Cheng didn't take it to heart. Suzhou Mansion has a prosperous literary style, and there is no shortage of young talents.

No, after Shen Rui took the school exam, Mao Cheng was very surprised.

Shen Rui's four books and five classics are quite familiar, and the subset of scriptures and history is also involved, but the poems and texts are only mediocre, the poems are plain, and the texts are slightly blunt, which is really not very brilliant.

Mao Cheng is a great-grandson, burdened with the responsibility of bloodline reproduction, and married early, but the first born are daughters, and he got the eldest son when he was about to die. Just in time for this generation's naming with the word "Chi", Mao Cheng named his eldest son "Chi", which is similar in age to Shen Rui, only fifteen years old this year.

After Mao Cheng called his eldest son Mao Chi to greet Wang Shouren, he ordered him to take Shen Rui down to entertain.

After two years of waiting, Mao Chengfang said curiously: "I see that Shen Rui's qualifications don't seem to be outstanding, why did Bo'an accept him as a disciple?" He was born in a scholarly family, a family of gentry, even if he didn't have Bo'an's care, he couldn't afford to read, why did this apprentice come here? ”

Among the scholars, the relationship between teachers and students is the most important, no less than that of blood relatives.

Accepting disciples is not a simple matter, and sometimes the disciples are not careful, and the teacher will also be implicated.

Like Wang Shouren, who accepted students seriously and brought them out to socialize, he seemed to be very serious about Shen Rui. But Shen Rui is here at his age, and his talent is not obvious, compared with the Wang family's father and son, he is really not outstanding.

Wang Shouren said with a little pride on his face: "Brother Xianqing, do you think that my student Shiwen is mediocre and his poetry is shallow, so he thinks that Brother Rui's qualifications are ordinary?" ”

Mao Cheng nodded and said, "That's nature." In addition to learning, Shen Rui acted generously, and he was not restrained in his answers, but he was much more stable than ordinary teenagers. But the road to the imperial examination, everything else is secondary, and learning is the first priority. ”

Wang Shouren stretched out three fingers: "I'm a student, I was delayed when I was a child, and I couldn't memorize all three hundred thousand when I was nine years old. I have only been studying seriously for three years, and I have only studied for half a year, does Brother Xianqing still think that my qualifications as a student are ordinary? ”

Mao Cheng was surprised: "It's so strange that Bo'an values him so much, I look at his four books, but it's solid, I really can't see that he has only studied for three years, and the county and government exams are no hindrance." In this way, if he hadn't delayed in his early years, he would have passed the hospital examination at this time. ”

Wang Shouren and Yourong looked: "Although he started a few years later than others, he is still diligent, and he knows how to read without being supervised." I look at it when I was so old and sensible, if I had known what I wanted back then, I wouldn't have been so reckless, and I wouldn't have been so far, I couldn't get up or down, and I wouldn't have made a career a long time ago."

Mao Cheng snorted lightly and said, "Are you still late?" It's just that you were too smooth before, so you will fall into the first two subjects, and the middle jinshi in your twenties have been talked about by you late, according to you, I, the thirty-odd party jinshi, shouldn't I beg for food? Those who are still in their forties and fifties are still ready to end, let alone live......"

Wang Shouren is not a complaining character, but with a sigh of emotion, the topic of the two turned to current affairs.

In the small study of the Mao family, Shen Rui, a little guest, was accompanied by Shen Chi.

Shen Chi is not tall and looks gentle, and he is not slow to treat Shen Rui because he is younger than him, and he is extremely attentive to his guests.

served tea and snacks, and then he accompanied Shen Rui to find topics to talk about, talk about the four books, talk about poetry, and talk about Shiwen.

Shen Rui's article is only middle and lower in the eyes of Mao Cheng and others, but in Mao Chi's opinion, it is already very remarkable to be able to make a previous article at this age.

When talking about his origin, when he knew that Shen Rui was a native of Huating County, Songjiang Prefecture, Mao Chi said like a little adult: "Although the literary style of Songjiang Mansion was weak in the early years, it was full of talents in recent years, although it could not be compared with Suzhou Mansion, but it was not far behind, the list of Chenghua for 23 years, the champion of Hongzhi for 3 years, and the legend of Hongzhi for 6 years were all from Huating County...... Speaking of this, I remembered something: "Brother Shi is a person from Huating County, and Shen Bachelor, who has been enrolled in Hongzhi for three years, is he of the same clan?" ”

As for the style of writing in Suzhou? Needless to say, in the sixth year of Hongzhi and the ninth year of Hongzhi, the champions of the two subjects in succession were all from Suzhou Prefecture, which is enough to show that the literary style of Suzhou Mansion is prosperous.

Shen Rui nodded and said, "Shen Zhuangyuan is the junior brother. ”

When Mao Chi heard this, his face was a little eager: "A few days ago, I was fortunate to go to Bachelor Shen's house with my father, Bachelor Shen has a beautiful appearance, a great figure, and excellent knowledge, and he is also a gentleman in the world."

In the officialdom, seniority is ranked according to grade and seniority, although Shen Li is more than ten years younger than Mao Cheng, he is a senior scholar, and the grade is here, even if Mao Cheng is from the top rank, he needs to bend down to pay a visit.

Shen Rui listened to Mao Chi's words with a smile on his face.

If Shen Li hadn't been dignified, he wouldn't have been taken by Xie University when he was still a person, and his wife was a young daughter.

As for what Mao Chi said about Shen Li's "great figure", it is also in comparison, just because the Mao family's father and son are not high.

As for the appearance, Mao Cheng has a long face, a short beard, white and elegant, if he really looks crooked melons and cracked dates, even if he is outstanding in writing and wins the champion, he has already been thrown to the corner, where will he often be summoned by the palace and often accompany the king.

It's just that Mao Chi is not only not tall, but also has a round baby face, and he looks younger than his actual age. is in the same place as Shen Rui, even if he is holding an old shelf, if he really wants outsiders to look at it, he will think that Shen Rui is older.

Although Mao Chi is the eldest son in the family, his parents and sisters have always been pampered, and they are familiar with Shen Rui when they chat, and they are more casual in their words and deeds, and they unconsciously bring out a little squeamishness.

Referring to the Chunshan Academy where he studied, Mao Chi said with a bitter face: "I really don't understand what the masters in the academy think, the senior brothers are going to take the children's exam when they are more than ten years old, and the masters are not afraid of pulling out the seedlings to help me plan to return to Suzhou Mansion at the end of this year, and next year, where is it late?" But in the eyes of the Master, it was as if I was not angry. It's really incomparable to them," said with a little hesitation: "I have procrastined until now, and it is not that I have not read much...... I'm just worried about the bad ranking......"

Shen Rui was depressed when he saw him mention the exam, where else did he not understand.

The son of the champion is not easy to be, for example, if Wang Shouren didn't have a champion father, he wouldn't be so demanding of himself.

As the folk saying goes, the back waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves, the blue is better than the blue, and the generation is stronger than the generation is the world's expectation of the son.

But the champion is already Wen Kui, unless his son is also the champion, even if he wins the list, he is "the son is not as good as the father".

Ordinary people take the exam, and if they win the same Jinshi, the ancestral tomb is smoking; When the sons of these champions take the exam, even if they enter the second grade, they will be said to be long and short.

Wang Shouren is in his twenties, and he is considered young and promising among the scholars who are in each subject, but just because he has a champion father, he has become a stain for the first two times before, and he is said to be "the son is not as good as the father".

Shen Rui nodded and said, "My nephew Shen Lin of the Champion Mansion seems to be worried about what the world brother is worried about. ”

When Mao Chi heard the mention of Shen Lijia, his spirit was shocked: "It turns out that there are still people who have the same disease......

The mood is obviously much better, and this kind of appearance of knowing that others are also troubled, and I feel a lot more peaceful in my heart looks very funny.

On this day, Shen Rui saw a statue of Wenqu Xing, and gained a new friend from the little man's chattering attributes......