Chapter 130

Last year, the Hongle Headmaster had organized the exam papers from various counties and sent them to Cuiwei by mail.

Everyone else in the academy had already written them once, but at that time, Mu Er Pang hadn’t finished studying the Five Classics yet.

Although he could ensure that he could write what he had learned correctly, there were still quite a few questions he hadn’t done.

Now, they were brought out to be used as practice exam papers.

Shen Cui also found a room in the academy to use as a “simulation examination room.”

Mu Er Pang’s imagination wasn’t as great as Wei Shu’s, so the effectiveness of the “simulation examination room” was average.

It wouldn’t give him a real sense of the exam, but it would help him concentrate.

It was just to let him, who had never taken the exam before, adapt to the high-pressure environment in advance and train his psychological endurance.

He wrote one exam paper each day, and after finishing it, Lao Buyu would evaluate it.

Then, the next morning, he would continue with the mock exam.

Before the year was over, Mu Er Pang had completed all the county exam papers organized by the Hongle Headmaster.

After several simulations of the exam, the strengths and weaknesses of Mu Er Pang’s papers became apparent.

Lao Buyu was very pleased. He hadn’t made any mistakes in those pasting classics and ink interpretation questions, indicating that over the past three years, he had memorized the Four Books and Five Classics thoroughly.

As for the questions on the exam papers – using sentences from the classics as prompts for the candidates to write their own essays to explain the meaning in their own words, similar to comprehension questions – Mu Er Pang also answered them perfectly.

This achievement was not solely Lao Buyu’s merit because when it came to interpreting personal understanding, each students had its own strengths, and it could be said that there was a hundred schools of thought contending.

Although Mu Er Pang’s progress was not as fast as the others in the academy, when other teenagers discussed, they were willing to include him and share with him.

Their perspectives had broadened significantly since entering the Perfectural school compared to before.

Especially Mei Ruochu, this young teacher patiently explained some more difficult things to Mu Er Pang, which for him was a bit challenging.

So his interpretation essays were exceptionally well-written.

But Mu Er Pang started learning late, spending the past few years studying the Four Books and Five Classics.

The disadvantage was that he wasn’t good at writing poetry.

When it comes to writing poetry, it’s something that scholars all understand.

It needs to be neatly structured, with no loss of rhyme, limited to the official rhymes from rhyme books, using oblique tones, avoiding repeated words in the poem, and maintaining a solemn and elegant tone, avoiding frivolity and vulgarity.

It also requires citing classics and making good use of allusions.

However, knowing the format of poetry doesn’t mean one can write good poetry.

Some people have a natural talent for poetry, like Mei Ruochu, who could write poetry effortlessly at the age of seven, producing exquisite lines that would astound anyone without needing much deliberation.

Others may have average talent in this regard, like Wei Shu and Wei Xi, who are not as good as Mei Ruochu in poetry writing.

However, through time and accumulation, by reading and contemplating more, they can perform well in exams by accumulating enough knowledge and understanding, similar to how people write essays for exams in later generations.

Mu Er Pang doesn’t possess exceptional talent for writing poetry, and he hasn’t had much time to accumulate experience.

Although he has memorized the rhymes from rhyme books and can cite and use allusions, his overall poetry is somewhat dry and lacking.

Of course, this “lack” is relative to his proficiency in pasting classics and ink interpretation.

Considering he’s only thirteen years old and has only been studying for three years, achieving what he has already is quite remarkable.

Lao Buyu still believes that, given Mu Er Pang’s current overall level, passing the county exam shouldn’t be difficult. However, now that his shortcomings are known, they shouldn’t be ignored.

The poetry test is also part of the subsequent series of exams, where the county exam tests for five-character verses and six rhymes, and the provincial exam tests for five-character verses and eight rhymes, which will become increasingly difficult.

At that time, Mei Ruochu, Wei Shu, and Wei Xi had all returned from out of town.

They had left on the twentieth of the December and returned before the eighth of January.

Since the Perfectual school didn’t start until after the Lantern Festival, they obviously were concerned about Mu Er Pang taking the county exam and had deliberately shortened their time with their families to come back.

After returning, they heard about Mu Er Pang’s shortcomings in poetry and literature.

As Mei Ruochu was the most outstanding in poetry and literature in the academy, he privately approached Shen Cui to discuss.

Shen Cui didn’t indulge in beating around the bush, but he frowned, hesitant to speak, clearly indicating his dilemma.

Shen Cui didn’t rush him, only asking, “Is it about Mu Er Pang’s poetry writing?”

Mei Ruochu confirmed and paused for a moment before finally asking, “I want to ask, does the Headmasyer have… that kind of ability to distinguish my poetic talent from Han Shan’s?”

Shen Cui was taken aback by the question, momentarily unable to grasp what he was saying. Mei Ruochu continued, “I mean… I know the Headmaster has some ‘extraordinary’ abilities, things that ordinary people cannot do.”

Shen Cui understood Mei Ruochu’s intention.

Mei Ruochu, knowing that Shen Cui had helped him turn the tide, regarded Shen Cui as an all-powerful deity and wanted to share her own poetic talent, which wasn’t outstanding, with Mu Er Pang.

Despite having endured some misfortune before, he occasionally displayed a hint of youthful innocence.

Mei Ruochu, always the most stable and mature one in the academy, unexpectedly asked such a fantastical question.

Shen Cui couldn’t help but tease him, saying, “There is such a thing, but if you were to give your ‘talent’ to him, you wouldn’t get it back. You may not be able to write such good poems in the future.”

When he heard that there might be a solution, Mei Ruochu stopped worrying. He smiled and said, “Don’t think I’m arrogant. If my poetry and literature are lacking, I’ll try to improve my essays. Overall, I may not rank as high, but I never expected good results after my previous misfortune. Passing the prefectural and provincial exams already exceeded my expectations.”

Seeing him genuinely believing her, Shen Cui quickly became serious and said, “I was just teasing you. I don’t have that kind of ‘ability.’ Even if I did, I wouldn’t do something selfish and harmful.”

Mei Ruochu looked ashamed and apologized with a bow, “I misunderstood.”

Shen Cui didn’t blame him. He could tell that Mei Ruochu treated Mu Er Pang like a younger brother, willing even to share her most precious talent.

In fact, if she really wanted to help her son take a shortcut, knowing that he was lacking in poetry, she could simply find some excellent poems from modern times. As long as it was confirmed that the poet had not appeared in this alternate reality, she could ask the people in the academy to help modify them to better fit her son’s background and knowledge.

Then, she could make her son memorize hundreds of them at once. But she didn’t want to do that.

Throughout the journey, although the system had helped a lot, it had only provided auxiliary benefits.

If these benefits were given to someone who wasn’t diligent or willing to learn, they would be useless.

Therefore, most of Mu Er Pang’s progress was due to his own efforts.

Whether it was distributing other people’s talents or taking shortcuts, both would be unfair to Mu Er Pang’s years of hard work and would belittle him.

“In that case, let’s not talk about it again. But I have another idea, and I’d like to share it with you,” Shen Cui said.

Just like modern exam candidates prepare by accumulating famous quotes and stories, Shen Cui had also read Mu Er Pang’s county exam papers and looked at many questions in the system’s simulated question bank, summarizing some common poetry topics – such as the four seasons, common flowers and plants, and of course, praising peace and prosperity, expressing personal aspirations, and so on.

She planned to have Mu Er Pang write a poem for each topic.

Once written, others in the academy couldn’t directly help him edit them.

They could only provide some pointers on what wasn’t good enough, then let him go back and think about it himself.

After he came up with improvements, he could show them again…

If he were to encounter similar topics in the exam, his pressure to write poetry on the spot would be greatly reduced.

Of course, if he wasn’t lucky enough to encounter them, the poems he had written in advance would serve as practice, which would still help him improve.

After explaining her plan, Mei Ruochu found it very feasible and nodded repeatedly.

He even prepared to add a few more poetry topics he thought might be included in the exam.

Shen Cui stopped him, fearing it would affect his luck, so he let Lao Buyu, Wei Shu, and Wei Xi review them instead.

In the end, they compiled nearly twenty poetry topics.

Mu Er Pang soon began systematic poetry practice. Although his poems weren’t very good, he was quite prolific.

He could write a poem a day, and after receiving pointers from the people in the academy and then thinking about it for a couple of days, he could produce a poem that was generally satisfactory.

By the time he finished writing and revising twenty poems he was satisfied with, it was late January, and it was time for him to return to his hometown for the exam.

For the county exam, it was necessary to have guarantors, and Shen Cui currently had three guarantors, all of whom were willing to stand as guarantors for Mu Er Pang.

However, before the exam, the guarantors needed to appear in person to confirm their guarantee.

Since they were all in the prefectural school, going back and forth would delay their classes for several days.

Especially considering that Mei Ruochu’s luck was closely tied to the imperial examinations, Shen Cui didn’t dare to let him get too close to the exam venue.

So, Shen Cui didn’t let them go. Instead, she suggested finding guarantors from the county school, just like when Wei Xi took the exam.

Shen’s family had some influence in the county town, so it wouldn’t be too difficult.

To relieve the worries of everyone in the academy, Shen Cui took Mu Er Pang and boarded a carriage bound for Yongning County.