After discussing with Chen Ji for half an afternoon, Shen Ao rushed to see Mrs. Zhou, who complained angrily that she had not seen him come to the house after coming back for so long.

Shen Ao sweated heavily, and hurriedly said: "I have something to do in the past few days. ”

Mrs. Zhou turned angry and said with a smile: "Don't delay, if you are busy, you can come and walk more when you have time." ”

Shen Ao responded.

Seeing that the Spring Festival is approaching, the selection has officially begun.

The first test is naturally piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and even scripture articles, the emperor recruits sons-in-law, of course, you can't just test IQ, after all, IQ has no standard to measure, if you choose an illiterate person, then it won't be made fun of?

Therefore, the first exam is exactly the same as the art exam, the first one is Jingyi, and the title of Jingyi is called "A Gentleman Goes to Benevolence, Evil Becomes Famous." This sentence comes from the Analects, and the full text is: Wealth and nobility are what people want, and they are not obtained by their ways, and they are not everywhere. Poverty and cheapness are the evils of man, and if you don't get it by your way, you won't go. A gentleman goes to benevolence, and he becomes famous? The gentleman has no end of food, and the time must be so, and the upheaval must be so.

This sentence is easy to understand, that is, wealth and nobility are what people want, and if you do not follow the generally accepted principles, you should not get them; Poverty and cheapness are hated by people, and if they do not follow the accepted principles, they should not be discarded.

The full text only named one essence: "A gentleman loves money and takes it in a proper way." ”

In fact, this scripture question is not difficult, it can be described as a fool's version of the imperial examination, Shen Ao only used the most conventional method to solve the problem, wrote: It is the old gentleman who has good wealth, and there is a way to take it, it is the old gentleman who is cautious and virtuous, there are people who are virtuous, there are people who have soil, there is land and there is wealth, and there is wealth that is useful. The virtuous are also the first, and the rich are also the end.

Writing an article, is to set up a memorial arch, anyway, as good as possible, no matter what your character is, anyway, it is to sing a high note, obviously a gentleman loves money, but to write a nonsense chatter, saying that to take the way, take the way is not enough, but also to say that the most important thing for a gentleman is virtue, with virtue, there is land, with land to have wealth, and finally come to a conclusion, virtue is the foundation of the gentleman, and wealth is only a leaf.

Just one sentence, the words of Confucius a little polish, a great archway will be glittering erected, the next thing, is just to repair the archway trimming scissors, grease and powder.

After handing in the scriptures, I passed the painting theory and book exams, and only then did I have the qualifications for the real selection.

All the way through the test, it was not difficult for Shen Ao.

In the second day, it was the official wisdom test, and after last night's selection, only a few dozen people were left among the thousands of people, which shows that it is easy for Shen Ao to write scriptures, calligraphy and paintings, but for others, it is not easy.

The examination room for the wisdom test is in the yamen of the Ministry of Rites, and the candidates are waiting in the corridor outside the yamen, entering one by one, and the examiner asks questions, but what is the content of the test, Shen Ao doesn't know.

When Shen Ao arrived at the examination room, he saw Cai Lun waving a fan and waiting, and when he saw Shen Ao, Cai Lun also greeted him with grace, Shen Ao went over and greeted him, but they all had ghosts and never mentioned the exam.

The candidates began to enter in turn, many candidates went in, but most of them came out with a look of chagrin, and when it was Cai Lun's turn to go in, he only entered for a moment, and when he came back, he looked energetic, walked to Shen Ao's side, and said with a smile: "Brother Shen, let's see you when the palace exam." "Say that, and walk away.

Shen Ao began to enter, and he was not the first time he had come to the yatang of the Ministry of Rites, so he was not unfamiliar at all, several examiners stood on both sides, Shen Ao did not wait for their orders, sat down loudly, and hugged everyone: "Please ask your lords to ask questions." ”

Shen Ao is also a well-known figure, and when the examiners saw Shen Ao, most of them knew each other, but they just muttered in their hearts, isn't this person already married to a wife? He has his share in everything that is lively!

The examiners slandered in their hearts, but they didn't dare to underestimate this Shen Siqing, they all had a correct attitude, coughed for a while, and the examiner at the top said: "There is a person in ancient times, named Tao Yuanming, have you ever heard of Shen Siqing?" ”

Shen Ao smiled: "Mr. Wuliu's name is known to the world, how can I not know it?" ”

The examiner nodded his head and couldn't help but continue: "But does Shen Siqing know that this Mr. Tao is a squint?" ”

Squint? Shen Ao was stunned for a while, he had read countless ancient books, and he really hadn't heard that Tao Yuanming had an eye disease, looking at the examiner's appearance, he understood in his heart, this is a trap, if he said he didn't know, then this exam didn't have to continue, he would say that you were lonely and unheard, but if you said you knew, he would ask, why did you see Tao Yuanming is squint?

Where is this intelligence test, it is simply digging a pit and waiting for someone to jump in, Shen Ao believes that with his jump, they don't mind coming to help shovel the soil at all, and bury themselves by the way.

Shen Ao smiled and said, "I know." ”

can only answer like this, if you don't know, you will be eliminated, you know that there is still a glimmer of life, whether he knows it or not, let's talk about it first.

The examiner suddenly became interested and said: "Shen Siqing is really well-informed, no wonder he is famous all over the world, so the old man wants to ask, why is Tao Yuanming squinted?" ”

Seeing the poor dagger, the real killing is coming; Since Fang Cai replied and knew, if he couldn't give a reason at this time, he couldn't say it.

Shen Ao's face still maintained a calm smile, and his brain was running rapidly, constantly recalling Tao Yuanming's life and works.

"Shen Siqing, there is only time for a stick of incense, please answer quickly, if you can't answer, the old man can only ask you to appear."

............ "Time is running out, doesn't Shen Siqing have an answer yet?" That being the case......"

"Wait!" Shen Ao suddenly opened his eyes and said loudly: "I already have the answer." ”

The examiner looked at Shen Ao with interest: "Shen Siqing, please speak." ”

Shen Ao said with a smile: "Picking chrysanthemums to the southeast, leisurely see Nanshan, this is a sentence in Mr. Wuliu's poem "Drinking", obviously picking chrysanthemums in the southeast, but you can see Nanshan leisurely, so visible, Mr. Wuliu is naturally squinted, otherwise it is obviously facing the southeast, but why can you see Nanshan? ”

The examiners laughed one after another, and the examiner couldn't help but smile, and said, "Shen Siqing really lives up to his talent, admire!" After that, he hugged Shen Ao and continued: "So far, only two of the dozens of candidates have found the answer, Shen Siqing can go, and at this time, just go to the Emperor Ji Palace to take the test." ”

Shen Ao returned the salute, stood up calmly, and walked out. He had a bit of luck in his heart, the difficulty of this topic is not small, not only must he be quick, but he also needs to know Tao Yuanming well, if he doesn't know Tao Yuanming's poems, no matter how smart he is, I'm afraid it will be in vain.

Out of the Ministry of Rites, Shen Ao returned home, Zhou Ruo saw him first, the two confronted each other on the corridor, Zhou Ruo looked Shen Ao up and down and said, "Husband, where did you come from?" ”

Shen Ao thought for a while and said, "Exam." ”

"I knew you were going to choose, huh!" Zhou Ruo stomped his feet and turned around to leave.

Shen Ao hurriedly stopped her and said with a wry smile: "If you have something to say, madam, can you listen to my explanation." ”

"Explain, explain what?" Zhou Ruo turned his face away with anger, but he didn't leave immediately, he was willing to listen to Shen Ao's explanation.

Shen Ao said the cause and effect, and finally said with a bitter face: "Speaking of which, I am the real wrong, this time it is really not to attract bees and butterflies, it is really a last resort, besides, if your husband is the kind of person who is unkind and wise, Ruo'er will not look down on him, right?" ”

Zhou Ruo said angrily: "In this way, you still have merit?" ”

Shen Ao said very modestly: "I can't talk about any credit, the main thing is that Ruo'er is properly trained, not because of her husband's good character, but because of Ruo'er's high level of leadership." ”

Zhou Ruo couldn't help laughing, laughing and crying, and complained: "You unconscionable thing, you have brought people here with three heads and two days, today it is the emperor, and tomorrow God knows who it is." You have a wife, you ran to participate in the selection, which made Long Yan angry, look at how you end, you don't think about yourself, you should think about us as a family. ”

Shen Ao hugged her movingly and said, "Don't worry, I already have a perfect plan, do you see when your husband has suffered?" Don't be afraid, don't be afraid! But there is one thing I want to tell you first, Ming said that no matter what happens to me, don't panic, tell your father, tell him not to interfere, just act as if nothing happened, and tell him that I will be fine soon. ”

Zhou Ruo listened to his instructions, but she was still worried, Shen Ao comforted her again, and went to ask Zhen Zhen and Tang Mo'er to get together, told them about the finals, and instructed them again, so they went to eat together.

The next morning, Shen Ao was dressed in a new costume, and entered the palace in a carriage at dawn, and when he arrived at the palace gate, he saw Cai Lun again, he knew in his heart that yesterday the examiner said that two people answered the answer, and most of the other person was Cai Lun, but it was not unusual, this topic was difficult, it was difficult, and only a stick of incense was stipulated to come up with the answer, and there were only two kinds of people participating in the selection, one was a nerd, and the other was a nerd, and although the other was flexible, most of them couldn't even enter the first shortlisted exam, but the nerd couldn't pass the second exam, Therefore, although there are thousands of applicants, only Shen Ao and Cai Lun are really qualified to enter the palace.

Cai Lun was able to be shortlisted, Shen Ao disagreed, Cai Jing was the host of the selection, the answer was already known, and it was not difficult to tell Cai Lun in advance to let Cai Lun join the competition.

Although the Cai family is high and powerful, it has never been married to the royal family, which is really a matter of being in the throat for Cai Jing, and now let Cai Lun come out to pursue Princess Anning, with the status of Princess Anning in the emperor's heart, the status of the Cai family can be truly stable.

Therefore, the Cai family is determined to take Princess An Ning, but it is just ...... Shen Ao smiled in his heart, glanced at Cai Lun in disgust, and thought to himself, "Want to marry a princess?" Hmph, let's see if you can pass my level first, if I don't compare you today, I will write the word Shen upside down! ”