If you want to figure out why Cheng Qingshu made such a laugh and died of anger after laughing, you have to go back to a quarter of an hour ago.

The first thing He Nan said to Cheng Qingshu when he squatted down was: "Do you think that you alone have a miserable childhood?"

This sentence stopped Cheng Qingshu, and after coughing vigorously twice, he asked He, "What do you mean by this?"

He Nan kept his voice extremely low, until except for Cheng Qingshu in front of him, the others pricked up their ears and couldn't hear it, and said slowly: "Actually, our childhood seems to be the same, and I haven't been much better than you." ”

Thirteen years ago, the assassination of Emperor Sheng implicated several counties in the northern region, and nearly 1,000 officials and their families were imprisoned in the county of Axeyang alone, and more than 3,000 people in the seven surrounding counties were involved in the case.

He Nan's father was the county magistrate of Qingming County, a subordinate of Axe Yang County, and naturally he was not spared, and after a thorough investigation of the assassins failed, he was beheaded with more than 100 officials from the seven counties.

He Nan grew up eating hundreds of meals since then, although it is much better than Cheng Qingshu who was a beggar, after all, there are uncles and other relatives to help, plus He Nan's father is fair and honest, known as prestige, and has won the hearts of the local people, but no one bullies him. But the hairless phoenix is not as good as a chicken, and his life is also very depressed.

When He Nan was thirteen years old, the local school had nothing to teach him, and he planned to leave his hometown to study. His uncle took him to Baiyu Jingzhong, hoping that he could find a place in the prosperous capital.

The high-class schools and schools in the capital are not comparable to the schools in the poor countryside, and those who can study here are either rich or expensive, and the only mountain and river school that can accept the children of the poor - its difficulty is as difficult as the government examination has persuaded ninety percent of the students. What's more, Shanhe Mansion has never been a place to raise idlers, and there is also a quota and a strict time limit for the number of students to be recruited by the opening of the mansion every three years.

How many more years can there be in life? If we don't stay this time, I'm afraid there will be no place for him in this capital. He didn't want to wait, and he couldn't afford to wait.

Forced by the situation, He Nan made a bold decision - to hit the fish and dragon drum. Fish and dragon drum, as the name suggests, you can know that those who play this drum will have the opportunity to skip the written test and leap into a dragon, which is called the fish and dragon drum test in the mountain and river school. This fish dragon drum test is the only special exam in Shanhe Academy, and the examiner is Li Mastiff, the head of Shanhe Mansion.

The normal government examination process of Shanhe University is three written examinations, the first examination is poetry and arithmetic, the second examination is the scriptures and articles, and the final examination is the law and current affairs - in fact, the subjects of the Shengguo Imperial Examination are probably the same, but the order is slightly different. Since the Yamakawa Prefecture itself is a judicial office, the law item is put on the last test, and the candidates who get the top few in the final examination will enter the interview.

Different from the normal government examination process, after the beating of the fish and dragon drum, the whole interview is completed. The written test still has time to think, revise their answers, and refine their writing, but the difficulty of the interview is different, no matter what the examiner asks, you have to answer quickly, there is no time to sort out your thoughts and modify the wording, not to mention that the examiner of the fish and dragon drum test has always been the head of the mountains and rivers Li Mastiff Chun in person.

Every time the palace is opened, there are many people who want to face Li Mastiff by hitting the fish and dragon drum, hoping to leave a deep impression in front of this premier member of the imperial court, but the difficulty of wanting to pass the fish dragon drum test can be imagined, and those who are smart and want to win Li Mastiff's favor through some unconventional and maverick answers have all been eliminated without exception, so in recent years, there are fewer and fewer people who dare to hit the fish and dragon drum. And at that time, no one dared to beat this drum - passing the written exam can also enter Shanhe University and become a protégé, why bother to find those who do not happily cut off their own path to study?

Prior to this, dating back to the establishment of Shanhe Academy, there were only thirteen people who passed the Fish Dragon Drum Test, and all of these people became Li Mastiff's personal disciples without exception.

He Nan was not very interested in becoming a "personal disciple", and his top priority was to stay in Shanhe Mansion to study first, so he hit the fish and dragon drum when he was desperate.

A thin and short young man, carrying a drumstick bigger than his head, facing the eyes of everyone around him with different looks, standing in front of the door of the Shanhe Academy and constantly beating the huge fish and dragon drum, the deafening drum and heart finally attracted Li Mastiff Chun's visit.

Li Mastiff Chun was also surprised to see Xiao He Nan, because most of the students recruited by Shanhe Mansion were about seventeen or eighteen years old, who had already read a lot of books and even participated in the imperial examination, such a young child was not common, and this little guy actually dared to beat the fish dragon drum - it seems to be the first case of drumming at this age, right?

Li Mastiff Chun looked at Xiao He Nan and asked, "Do you know what it means to hit this drum?"

He Nan dragged him as if someone else owed him money since he was a child, and said with a glare: "Of course I know, the fish and dragon drum test of the Mountain and River Academy." I'm from Axeyang County in the north, and because of the long distance, I missed the first and second tests, so I could only hit the fish and dragon drums. He also learned that he had missed the government test after he arrived in Bai Yujing, and he was helpless to listen to others say that the fish dragon drum test was a remedy, so even if it was difficult, he had to bite the bullet.

Li Mastiff nodded, and asked again: "Then do you know who I am?"

Xiao He Nan nodded: "Mansion Chief Li." In fact, He Nan didn't know who he was, but he still had some eyesight, and the onlookers around him were very in awe when they looked at this old man, and this old man's gestures were also outstanding, so he simply guessed big.

"Okay, then I'll take you to the examination room for an interview now, are you ready?" Li Mastiff Chun grabbed Xiao Henan's hand and walked to the Shanhe Academy. Shanhe Mansion has one government and two courts, the front yard is the Judicial Office Shanhe Mansion, and the back yard is the Shanhe School for teaching.

After entering the examination room, Li Mastiff Chun asked He Nan to sit down in the first place, and he sat down in the first place, and his expression became very serious - Shanhe Academy is the best way out for the children of poor families in the world to move towards their careers, and it is natural to be strict and unswerving, even if Xiao He Nan is only thirteen years old. Along the way, Li Mastiff Chun had already asked Xiao He Nan some basic information, and ordered someone to record his name in the candidate roster, so that he could be regarded as a candidate.

The content of the interview is actually the same as the written test, but it is more difficult. Li Mastiff first asked He Nan a lot of poems and songs, the content of the Four Books and Five Classics for him to recite and interpret, He Nan's mind is smart, these things are naturally difficult for him, no matter what he asks, he can open his mouth to come, and he can explain the meaning can also be seven, seven, eighty, eight,

However, the above content is memorized, and the rote memorization is obviously not enough for candidates to easily get Li Mastiff's high opinion, at best, it can only be said that the memory is better. Besides, Li Mastiff, who can memorize countless books and has a mouth like a river, has seen too much, and it is easy for them to say something other than books.

Immediately afterwards, Li Mastiff Chun also took the subject of "Laws and Regulations" for He Nan, originally he thought that it was understandable that Xiao He Nan only had some vague concepts of law at this age or did not understand the law at all, but He Nan memorized the laws and regulations that Li Mastiff took very clearly, although he also forgot some places, but in general, he was eight or nine times out of ten.

The reason why He Nan is so clear about Sheng Guo's "National Law" is also very simple, he recalls his father's charges read by the prisoner on the execution ground all the time, and he later flipped through the "National Law" only to find that there is no answer in the "National Law" - in terms of his father's mistakes, dismissal is already an excessive punishment, let alone beheading.

It was because of the emperor's anger that my father would ...... But can the emperor put his personal emotions and likes and dislikes above the law? This is a question that He Nan has been thinking about for seven years, and when he thinks of this, he can't help but be a little silent, and he doesn't know where his thoughts are wandering.

Li Mastiff Chun knocked on the table and pulled Xiao Henan's wandering thoughts back into the exam: "In your opinion, which is more important, talent or morality?"

Xiao He said without thinking: "It's all important, if you have to say that you choose one-the reason why people are human beings and not beasts, is naturally because of virtue." ”

Li Mastiff just wanted to nod and ask the next question, but he didn't expect Xiao Henan to add: "But if I had to choose, there is no doubt that I would choose talent." ”

Li Mastiff said softly and asked, "Why is this?"

Xiao He Nan puffed out his cheeks and said in a tone that pretended to be vicissitudes: "Because of this world, no matter whether you are talented or not, people with noble virtues are more tired of living...... People without virtue are born with many fewer restrictions than them, and without virtue is without scruples, they do not think about the suffering of the common people, but do harm to everyone. And the virtuous man...... The more noble the virtue, the less able he looks down on the suffering of all sentient beings, and in the end he confines himself in a cage. ”

The head of the house nodded, not knowing whether it was approval or understanding, and then he asked: "Then what do you think of the development of talented and unvirtuous people in their careers? What about virtuous and untalented people? If it were you, how would you use these two?" This question seems to be similar to the previous question, but in fact the connotation is completely different, the former question is at most the candidate's personal opinion and tendency on talent and virtue, and this question has entered the category of "current affairs".

This question directly excludes the two mentally handicapped options of "no talent and no virtue" and "talented and virtuous", and the principle naturally needs not be said. People without talent and virtue are basically useless, and people with both ability and political integrity - where to find so many?

Xiao He thought for a while, and replied: "If you have to use it between the two, it is natural to make the best use of people's talents and materials; from small shops and restaurants, to all departments of the imperial court, there are masters and auxiliaries, in my opinion, people with talent and no virtue are suitable for auxiliary, and people with virtue and no talent are suitable for being masters." The former is highly capable and can make great contributions, but if no one is restrained, it will cause great trouble; although the latter lacks talent, his noble moral conduct can be used as a flaunt to rectify the atmosphere...... However, this is a more ideal situation, in fact, talented people are more able to eat than virtuous people, and it is difficult for virtuous people to control, but they put the cart before the horse. ”

"Oh?" Li Mastiff Chun was a little interested in He Nan's opinion, and he had asked other interview candidates this kind of question before-among them, there were examples of official rank to classify people, if there were talented and unvirtuous people who could achieve the upper three grades, and those who were virtuous and untalented could only be subordinated to the former;

"Of course, if a person is an emperor, then it doesn't matter whether he is virtuous or talentless. "Humanity is childish words, and He Nan really dares to say anything...... He has been like this since he was a child. "Anyway, the whole world is his, whatever he says is what he wants, and he does whatever he wants. ”

You must know that talking about the emperor is a felony of ten deaths, but Li Mastiff didn't take it too seriously. Because He Nan is indeed a child, it is inevitable that he does not understand these people's sophistication, and Li Mastiff naturally does not need to go online with a child.

So he didn't hear He Nan's yin and yang weirdness at all.

The more Li Mastiff asked, the more He Nan dared to answer, and the question and answer lasted from the evening until dawn the next day, and the result was that Li Mastiff really liked this little guy. There are many prodigies who can speak well, but in addition to this, He Nan also shows his strong personal style - the ability to think independently is the most valuable at this age.

His last question came back to square one—if you had a choice, would you choose to be a virtuous person, even if it would be difficult.

He Nan didn't give a one-glance answer, and this time he didn't deliberately flatter, but it was quite interesting: "My name is He Nan, it's already difficult, and it doesn't hurt to make it even more difficult." ”

Li Mastiff Chun said the same thing to He Nan before he left Shanhe Mansion later, which was an echo of Xiao He Nan's past.

There is another person who has passed the Fish Dragon Drum Examination of Shanhe Academy.

He Nan, overnight, the fish jumped into the dragon gate.