On July 28, the autumn breeze was cool and the weather was fine.

Early in the morning, from East College Street to the gate of the School Department, it was already crowded, and the first people to gather were not the readers, but those vendors who sold fruits, sweet wine, and snacks.

One after another, the students who took the township examination arrived, and many students who did not obtain the qualifications for the township examination also came, and they wanted to see if the famous Zeng Yu could pass the assessment; Those children in Nanchang City also came, Zeng Yu's story of taking the make-up exam is very inspiring, they are here to understand how Zeng Yu successfully entered the school through the guò make-up exam, and it doesn't matter if he takes the exam again-

At the beginning of the hour, from the White Horse Temple Square to the School Department was already crowded, Zeng Yu and Zheng Shi and their entourage arrived when they couldn't get out of the way, and it was difficult to move forward, Zeng Yu gave his hands over the top, and said loudly: "Everyone, please let go, let go, otherwise you will miss the next exam." ”

Zheng Shi said loudly: "This is Zeng Xiucai of Guangxin Mansion, let everyone let him go, don't delay his exam, otherwise there will be no excitement." ”

The crowd made a "whooshing" sound, and soon gave way to a three-foot empty passage, Zeng Yu walked between these two human walls, he smiled, listening to those congested spectators judging his taste, praising and ridiculing, Zeng Yu did not move, and when he was about to arrive at the school office, he heard someone shouting "Mr. Zeng", and looked sideways, but it was Yan Shaoqing who was escorted by several strong slaves to cheer for him-

Zeng Yu greeted with a smile, waved his hand and strode over, came to the gate of the School Department, arched his hand with Zheng Shi and others, and walked up the steps alone, at this time, two people walked out of the door, the one in front was as thin as a bamboo pole, and his neck was like a goose, and he called: "Zeng Sheng——"

When Zeng Yu raised his eyes, it was Zhang Guangtang, a professor of Guangxin Mansion, and the person behind Zhang Guangtang was Li Jiaoyu of Yongfeng County School, and hurriedly stepped forward to salute, Professor Zhang's slender neck twisted around, and he looked very helpless, and said: "I and Li Sixun and a few people arrived in the provincial capital yesterday, and I was very surprised when I heard that you were going to take the assessment, and asked Lord Huang about it, so I know what it is, alas, don't be indignant, let alone panic, the good student essay is, with your current knowledge, the assessment is as easy as a breeze." ”

Yongfeng County learned that Li Jiaoyu also comforted Zeng Yu, and Zeng Yu was quite moved.

……

Jiangxi Provincial Punishment According to the Inspectorate Yamen is located in Nanchang City West College Street, only half a mile away from the School Office, the noisy sound of the School Office over there, calling friends and friends to the side of the Department of Investigation and Envoy became a kind of "buzzing" vast and dense deep sound, is about to get on the sedan chair to go out of the inspection envoy Wang Zongmu frowned and asked the sedan side officer what is the movement?

The messenger bowed down and said: "If you go back to the master, it is the people who are watching the excitement over there of the School Department, and I heard that a Xiucai surnamed Zeng will be assessed today, so they have gathered early." ”

Wang Zongmu snorted: "How lively and beautiful is it to assess a show!" ”

Suddenly, a person said: "Brother Xinfu, this Zeng Xiucai is not an ordinary Xiucai, Yanfu Xixi, Daozong East Bed, and the legendary experience of making meritorious contributions to thieves, I dare not say that I am famous all over the world, in Jiangxi, there are really not many people who don't know Zeng Yu's name." ”

The person who spoke was dressed like snow, and walked quickly from the house to Wang Zongmu, this white-robed guest was the mysterious guest who talked with Zeng Yu at the White Horse Temple that day, Zeng Yu did not speculate and walked away, the white-robed guest with two servants also left the White Horse Temple, moved into the Yamen of the Inspectorate, and became the guest of the envoy Wang Zongmu——

Wang Zongmu smiled and said: "Judging from the two eight-strand texts sent by Huang Tixue and the letter, Zeng Yu is good at ancient Chinese words, quite skillful, and open-minded, and it is not inappropriate for Huang Tixue to allow him to take the make-up examination. ”

The white-robed guest said: "This matter is not about the merits of the article, but about the dispute between loyalty and treachery." ”

A middle-aged man with a seven-rank civil official crown stepped forward and whispered: "What Brother Fengzhou said is extremely true, the distinction between loyal ministers and traitors is the first priority, and the eight-strand article is the last skill. ”

Wang Zongmu said: "Zeng Yu is not deeply involved in the world, and his relationship with Fenyi is also shallow, although his qualifications are required to be reviewed, but no one has interceded for him, except for Huang Tixue. ”

The white-robed guest was silent.

The seven-rank official said: "Maybe it was in a hurry, they didn't have time to arrange." ”

Wang Zongmu waved his hand, motioned not to say those things, and said: "Don't say it, get on the sedan chair, get on the sedan chair, the first day is approaching." Then he asked the white-robed guest: "Will Fengzhou go with you?" ”

The white-robed guest said: "I won't enter the school department, just mix in the crowd and watch the excitement." ”

Pai Jun shouted, majestic and quiet, according to the inspector Wang Zongmu and his entourage came to the school office, the deputy envoy Huang Guoqing had already been waiting outside the Yi Gate, Huang Guoqing beside a square scarf shirt Xiucai to Wang Zongmu Shi salute said: "Student Zeng Yu to see Lord Wang. ”

Wang Zongmu looked at Zeng Yu twice, seemed a little familiar, and asked, "You are Zeng Yu, have you ever been to Lushan Bailu Cave Academy to listen to my lectures before?" Three years ago, Wang Zongmu served as the deputy envoy of Jiangxi Provincial University, repaired Wang Yangming Temple, reopened Bailulu Academy and personally presided over the lecture.

Zeng Yu said: "In the autumn of the thirty-eighth year of Jiajing, the students went to Bailu Cave to listen to the lecture, and it was Huang Tixue who presided over it at that time. ”

Wang Zongmu let out an "oh", thinking that he thought that Zeng Yu was a little familiar, he should have remembered the wrong person, and said: "Do you have any complaints about the company's requirements for your assessment?" ”

Zeng Yu said: "Lord Wang, it was the student who asked for a re-assessment in the book, for the sake of Huang Tixue's reputation and the student's innocence, as long as the assessment is fair, just and open, the student is not afraid of the assessment." Zeng Yu was gentle and elegant on the surface, but his tone of words gradually became crazy.

Wang Zongmu was a little displeased, Zeng Yu's words were thorny, but Huang Xuezheng was on the side, he didn't say much, this assessment was already a bit unknown, Huang Xuezheng was against this assessment, and said: "This assessment is still presided over by Huang Tixue, this department is only for supervision, and the imperial examination is an important weapon of the country, how can you not be cautious." ”

The other three officials of the supervision and assessment also arrived, namely Nanjing Lin Yushi, Jiangxi Province Liu Yushi, and Yuanzhou Mansion Guo Tuiguan, and Wang Zongmu and Huang Guoqing After seeing the ceremony, they went to the Minglun Hall of the School Administration to sit down, Zeng Yu also followed the court, stood respectfully, looked at the supervisors, and thought: "This Lin Yushi from Nanjing should be the original Linchuan Zhixian Lin Run, and Mr. Xie Zhen is a world friend, last year in Linchuan Mr. Xie ran for my make-up examination, or asked Lin Zhixian to introduce Huang Tixue, I didn't expect the time to change, Lin Zhixian has become Lin Yushi, but he is coming to assess me, which is really ridiculous. I thought again: "I heard that Lin Runfu took up the post of imperial history, and he violently impeached Yan Shifan's sworn friend Yan Maoqing, and now he wants to borrow me to make trouble, and the officialdom is really overturned." ”

The official of the school department brought a small square table and a chair, and placed pen, ink, paper, and inkstone on the table.

Wang Zongmu said to Huang Guoqing: "Lord Huang, let's solve the problem." ”

Huang Guoqing said: "It's still Lord Wang's question, Lord Wang is also a scholar." ”

There were some things that Huang Tixue didn't say clearly, and Wang Zongmu also felt embarrassed, and coughed and said, "Then let's decide the topic with the book." ”

Turning the book is to turn the book at will, and find a sentence on which page to do the test questions, which is very common in the imperial examination, in order to prevent the examiner from leaking the test questions.

Huang Tixue: "Is it a small question or a scripture question?" Or both? ”

Wang Zongmu said: "Let's only test small questions, limited to one and a half hours, how about it?" ”

Huang Tixue said: "But it's up to Lord Wang to decide." ”

The scribe held the four books, and Wang Zongmu picked up the book of Analects and said, "The topic of the Analects is made." Just as he was about to turn the book, he suddenly looked up at the door again, frowned, and said, "Quiet, quiet." ”

The Minglun Hall of the School Department is facing the Yimen, the distance between the Yimen and the gate is only ten zhang, although the noise of thousands of people outside the gate does not affect the speech of the officials in the hall, but the "buzzing" sound is still annoying, so some officers run out to drink so that everyone must not make noise-

Outside the hall was quiet, Wang Zongmu flipped through the book and flipped it casually, it was "The Fifteenth of Wei Linggong", and said to Zeng Yu: "Zeng Sheng, you write an eight-strand essay with the title of 'All Evils Must Be Investigated', which shall not be less than 400 words. ”

The complete sentence of "all evils must be investigated" is "all evils must be investigated; What is good for all, must be investigated", which means that even if a person is disgusted by everyone, you cannot dislike him as everyone else, but you must independently investigate whether this person is really as hateful as everyone says; In the same way, a person is liked by everyone, you should not follow the trend, you must have your own investigation, you can't believe what others say, Confucius is teaching disciples to have independent thinking and judgment, not to be confused by appearances -

Zeng Yu said with a smile: "'All evils must be investigated; All the good, must be observed', this test question is very good, is to explain the student's current experience, students since the make-up examination into the school, the mistake of the thief meritorious service, the court rewarded, many praise, can be described as 'the good', you adults are now assessing students is 'must be observed', students can not be vigilant and introspective. ”

Huang Tixue heard Zeng Yu say this, and couldn't help laughing.

Wang Zongmu was slightly red-skinned, a little ashamed, and said: "Then hurry up and answer the question, now the first day of the year has just passed, and the paper will be handed in at the beginning of the afternoon." ”

For this kind of small topic eight-strand text, today's Zeng Yu is handy, while grinding the ink while hitting the abdominal draft, an inkstone is thick, the abdominal manuscript is already there, not busy writing, but to the waiting errand said: "Please take a piece of parchment paper, don't cut." ”

The errand went to get a piece of parchment paper, this kind of non-cutting parchment paper is more than five feet long and more than two feet wide, the paper is flexible, not easy to break, Zeng Yu did not sit down, but stood on the table and waved his wrist, writing on this piece of parchment paper, the word is the size of a pigeon's egg, using the style of Minan Palace, writing "All evil must be investigated", Wang Zongmu, Huang Guoqing and others sitting high in the hall can see the handwriting on the paper, and they can't help but wonder, thinking what Zeng Yu is doing?

I saw Zeng Yu write two sentences, and then stopped writing and pondered, and the two lines of handwriting on the paper were:

"Concerning the likes and dislikes of men, they will be the same as them. And the reason for it, covering the good and evil, and the sympathy of the world, people may hide their private ears, but can they not investigate the reason? ”

This is a breakthrough and undertaking of "all evils must be investigated", Wang Zongmu, Lin Run and others stared at it carefully, silently, but Huang Tixue nodded with a twist, such a broken topic and a subsumptuous, blameless, Huang Tixue was originally a little worried that Zeng Yu was young and vigorous, and he was easy to be impetuous when he encountered setbacks, but when he saw these two sentences, he was relieved, and he was very pleased, Zeng Yu's good article was also for him Huang Guoqing to earn face.

After the title is the original title, that is, why did the sage post the words in the question, I saw Zeng Yu write:

"The master showed people that the good and evil in the world are easy to blame, and the gentleman's view of the law is not to be followed."

Huang Tixue couldn't help nodding, and said in his heart: "This is the words for the sages." ”

Then the back is to speak, to talk about the noble discussion, should be false and not real, pay attention to the reasonable, high-minded, ancient words, Zeng Yu wrote:

"This is a person, things are not close to human feelings, actions are ignored by many mouths, living in the countryside and the villagers hate it, standing in the country and the people of the country are cheap, and the evil is not the same? However, the mavericks are not harmonious, the loners are vulgar, and everyone is evil, and they may not be selfless. ”

Wang Zongmu is also a famous writer of eight strands, has been a deputy envoy for three years, has read no less than 100,000 eight-strand essays, his eyesight is extraordinary, and he often knows that the level of the candidates is high as soon as he sees the problem. ”

I saw Zeng Yu writing while thinking, time passed slowly, the handwriting on the big paper gradually became fuller, and the main part of this eight-strand essay came out:

"It is necessary to test the truth of his actions, and investigate the subtlety of his mind, which is really hateful, and I will be evil, otherwise it will not harm him as a gentleman, how can I be suspected of violating the public! If it is evil and it is detected, then the evil is out of public and not hidden from private interests. There are also people, the line must conform to the people's feelings, and the things must be the same as the customs, and the villagers call it in the township, and the people in the country are virtuous, and the good ones are not the same? However, the decoration is to fish the name, the thief is to flatter the world, although everyone is pleasing to it, or may not be all public ears. It is really good to look at what it means and what it enjoys, and I will be good, otherwise I will know that it is not a villain, and I can be willing to favor the public? It is good to observe it, and it is good to do it out of public interest and not hide it from private interests. ”

Not to mention that Huang Tixue praised Zeng Yu in his heart, that is, Wang Zongmu, Lin Run and others were also watching attentively, Wang Zongmu almost clicked on the section and admired, Zeng Yu's article was closely related to the topic, and proposed that people "good, evil, and evil" must figure out whether their intentions are public or private.

It took about an hour, Zeng Yu basically wrote a large piece of paper, and there were slight alterations during it, but the whole was still clean, standing and writing for so long, it can be seen that Zeng Yu is young and healthy, which makes the old and sick Huang Tixue envious, and I saw Zeng Yu finally write:

"Oh, those who favor the likes and dislikes of the crowd rarely lose themselves; Those who like and dislike themselves will not lose people; When the sage said this, isn't it a good way to observe people? ”

This is the end of the whole article, after writing the last sentence, Zeng Yu will spread this piece of paper on the table on the ground, and then take another roll paper to write, this kind of roll paper is the county test, the government to try the kind of test paper, there is a red line horizontal grid, the provisions of 14 lines per page, 18 words per line, at this time can not use Mi Fu unbridled line Kai, changed to a strict law of the small Kai, the field house composition to use this kind of calligraphy, Zeng Yu this year on the calligraphy work quite diligently, Xiao Kai he teacher French Wen Ming, Wen Zheng Ming Xiao Kai was born in Wang Xizhi's "Huang Ting Jing", "Le Yi Sticker", With a sharp edge into the paper, the penmanship is strong and elegant, and the knot is relaxed, which has a great influence at that time.

In less than half an hour, Zeng Yu transcribed the words on the large piece of paper on the rolling paper, and carefully wrote his name, age, and place of origin, and then handed the rolling paper to the scribe next to him, and the scribe forwarded it to Huang Tixue.

Huang Tixue has read the full text, knows it in his heart, and said: "Present it to Lord Wang, and Lord Wang will mark the papers." ”

Wang Zongmu took the roll of paper, glanced at the handwriting, and said in his heart: "Calligraphy is also good, it is indeed not a person who does not learn and does not know how to do it." Wen Yan said: "Zeng Sheng, once you have finished answering the questionnaire, you can step down." ”

Zeng Yu had long expected that there would be no comments on the spot, so he folded the draft parchment paper into his sleeve and said goodbye.

"Wait."

Lin Yushi on the side asked, "Zeng Sheng, what is the intention of taking away the draft?" ”

During the imperial examination, in order to prepare for the examination papers, the draft was also to be handed in, but now it is not a formal examination, Zeng Yu was even more disgusted with Lin Run's tone of judgment, and replied: "Thousands of students outside the gate are waiting to see the students' essays, and the students post them for everyone to see, which is called public." ”

Lin Run was about to propose the regulation that the imperial examination should be submitted as a draft, but Huang Tixue spoke first: "Zeng Sheng is writing in front of everyone, do you still need to check the papers, let the students outside the door take a look at this composition, and see how everyone evaluates?" ”

Since Huang Tixue said this, of course Lin Run didn't want to say anything more, so he could only watch Zeng Yu stride out of the instrument with the draft.