I, Sun Shan, and the Imperial Examination

Sun Shan returned to the main hall and drank a sip of water. Huang came out of the granary and took out a few golden chicken biscuits. She handed them to Sun Shan and said lovingly, "You must be hungry. Eat something first to fill your stomach."

After Sun Shan took it, he didn't need to say thank you, and the family didn't need to say thank you all the time.

After taking a bite, he said, "Grandma, it's delicious. You should try it too."

Huang refused and said without blinking: "Grandma doesn't like it, so you eat it." She refused to eat it anyway. She went into the bedroom, took out needle and thread, and mended her clothes while there was still sunlight.

Sun Shan walked to the yard and secretly gave a piece to his third and fourth sisters, saying in a low voice, "Don't say anything. Don't let mother know."

The two sisters' eyes lit up and they nodded quickly. If Shanzi didn't want us to say anything, we wouldn't be able to say anything either. If Su knew that we had eaten Shanzi's biscuits, we would either be beaten or scolded.

Su would not scold or beat her in front of her younger brother, grandma, or father. She would wait until they were not around to do so. At home, Xiaoman and Hanlu disliked their mother the most.

After leaving the yard, Sun Shan came to the cowshed and saw his second sister Lixia feeding the cows with straw. He stuffed her with a chicken biscuit, and then went to the kitchen to stuff one for his eldest sister Guyu.

Guyu ate the biscuits and said, "Eat them yourself next time. I don't like them." She was caught off guard and her brother stuffed them into her mouth. She couldn't spit them out even if she wanted to. She touched Shanzi's little head and found that her brother was a good person who loved his sisters.

Sun Shan ran to the firewood pile again. Su was collecting the firewood. These were dried today and needed to be piled up and stored for burning.

Sun Shan stuffed a biscuit into Su's mouth and said with a smile, "Mother, these are the chicken biscuits that grandma gave me."

Seeing that her mother-in-law was not around, Su said anxiously, "Don't give it to mother, she doesn't like it." But she felt sweet in her heart, because she was indeed my child and she knew how to love me.

Sun Shan said innocently, "The chicken biscuits are delicious. Mother wants some too."

Su was even more moved. She tapped Sun Shan's forehead and said happily, "It's delicious. Just eat it yourself. Don't give it to anyone else. Got it?"

Sun Shan nodded, flew to the kitchen, and helped his elder sister light the fire.

Among the Sun family, the Su family has the worst temper and is also the least likable.

But Su was the best to Sun Shan, and gave Sun Shan all the good food and clothes.

Sun Shan considered himself a man of pure good character, and he did his best to be filial to the Su family within a reasonable range.

Time passed quickly and the meal was ready in a flash. It was still a bit cold in early spring, so they had dinner in the main room with a charcoal fire burning and oil lamps lit. Afterwards, Sun Shan started another day of teaching.

The eldest sister Guyu learned the slowest and forgot many words. The second sister Lixia learned the best. Her secret was to practice while herding cattle. The more she practiced, the more proficient she became.

Sun Shan said approvingly, "Second sister, you did the right thing. Learning to read depends on practice. Once you are familiar with it, it will naturally hide in your head and cannot be erased."

Xiaoman and Hanlu said crisply: "We will write every day when we have time."

He glanced at the poor student and said encouragingly, "Sister, you have to practice too. Don't give up."

After hearing what her sisters said, Su thought that as long as Shanzi didn't interfere with his studies and finished his work, he could practice however he wanted.

Paying the tuition for one person is equivalent to the whole family studying, which is too good.

He said to Sun Shan, "Shanzi, you should also teach my mother." He thought that he could not fall behind, and the more he learned, the more worthwhile the tuition would be.

Sun Shan was overjoyed and taught Su 5 new characters. Anyway, he just taught a few characters every day and let him learn as many as he could. He should take his time.

The next morning, Sun Shan arrived at Zheng's School on time and started a new day of study.

Master Zheng teaches very clearly and with enough patience. He will not just teach casually and then let you study on your own.

He explained the contents of the textbook very clearly. As for whether it was correct or not, Sun Shan knew that some of the knowledge was wrong, but he couldn't tell where it was wrong. He could only learn more and understand it slowly.

It is better to have no books than to believe in books blindly. Similarly, it is better to have no teacher than to believe in teachers blindly.

Master Zheng’s teaching speed became faster and faster, and he taught more and more new characters every day.

The one who suffered the most was De Ge'er, who was often scolded by the teacher.

Sun Shan suspected that he was going to shut himself in and become tired of studying. But after so long, De Ge'er was still very strong. He was beaten, felt pained, and felt embarrassed. He was sad for three minutes, and then continued to do what he was supposed to do, and he continued to be scolded and beaten as he pleased.

At the same time, I learned more and more, and my handwriting became smaller and smaller. I was able to squeeze all the words into the nine-square grid without them sticking out.

Master Zheng said approvingly: "Sun Dingde, not bad, you have made progress, your handwriting is clear and no one needs to guess."

Sun Shan was speechless at the compliment. He didn't know whether it was a sincere compliment or an ironic one.

De Ge'er didn't understand the teacher's hidden meaning at all, and said cheerfully: "Teacher, I also feel that my handwriting is getting better and better, hehe."

Well, the parties involved were in a good mood, and his classmates Sun Shan and Yang Qingbei didn’t need to comfort him.

After learning the new knowledge, Sun Shan and his two companions would go to the small pond to practice calligraphy every day.

Master Zheng teaches in large or medium classes.

From the intermittent sounds of reading in the classroom, Sun Shan had a general understanding of what the two classes were going to learn.

The senior class, which is the class that is about to graduate, can already recognize most of the characters. Mr. Zheng mainly teaches "Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art", which is mathematics, and teaches some knowledge used in mathematics in daily life.

When Zheng Dalang in the county town is on vacation, let Zheng Dalang teach the students how to do accounting.

Zheng Dalang worked as a waiter and accountant at the "Jinbangtiming" bookstore. He was considered an expert in accounting and knew more than Master Zheng. So he was asked to teach.

As for the middle class, Mr. Zheng also teaches them to recognize characters and some practical documents, such as official documents, letters, couplets, etc., which are mainly used in daily life.

As for the Four Books and Five Classics, they adopted the method of learning by selection. That is, there was no need to buy all the books, only "The Analects of Confucius", "The Book of Songs" and "The Book of Changes". As for other books, they taught selected passages and let students copy them by themselves.

Sun Shan didn't understand why Master Zheng chose to teach these three books: "The Analects of Confucius", "The Book of Songs" and "The Book of Changes". Perhaps it was Master Zheng's personal hobby.

Zheng's school simply taught students to recognize characters and common knowledge, and never touched on the imperial examination.

Sun Shan practiced calligraphy and read silently at the same time. When he could recognize enough characters, he would express his determination to take the imperial examination and transfer to the county town to study under a scholar.

The money that Sun Boming and Su have earned over the years should be enough to support him to spend a few years in school.

Sun Shan thought that if he still failed to pass the imperial examination at the age of 23, he would give up the imperial examination and go to the provincial capital to live with his eldest aunt, work as a worker, and at the same time look for ways to make money and strive to give the Sun family a better life.

As for why he gave up after the age of 23, it was because he had just graduated from college at that age. If he failed to pass the examination to become a scholar at the age of college graduation, it would prove that Sun Shan was really not a good student in the Daqian Dynasty. It would be futile to persist, so he should not drag down his family.