Rise From the Humble

"Thank you, Mr. Li, for your understanding." Zhu Pingan thanked Li Chunfang with his hands.

"Zihou and I don't need to be polite. The chief assistant is waiting for you inside. Come in quickly." Li Chunfang shook his head slightly and smiled.

Zhu Ping'an smiled slightly, bowed his hand to Li Chunfang again, then straightened his appearance and walked into Yan Song's office room.

"Enter Zhu Ping'an at the end of school and pay homage to the Chief Assistant."

Zhu Ping'an walked into the room, and without saying a word, he bent down in the direction of where he was sitting and bowed in salute. He said that he was a junior and had a respectful look on his face.

"Haha, Zihou is here, no need to be polite, please get up quickly." Yan Song, who was sitting upright, stood up with a gentle smile, his attitude was very kind, just like the grandfather next door.

"That's right, Zihou, why don't you get up quickly? We, Mr. Yan, admire young talents like you the most. You are so polite, don't you think you are outsiders?"

Then, a strange but somewhat familiar voice sounded above Zhu Pingan's head, and then a pair of hands helped Zhu Pingan up.

Zhu Ping'an stood up and then raised his head to look at everything in the room. The first thing that caught his eye was the kind-faced, white-bearded old man who got up from the seat and walked towards him. It was Yan Song, the chief minister; and then there was the gentle man who supported him by his side. The middle-aged official with a serious Chinese character in the middle is none other than Zhao Wenhua, who presided over the scientific examination in Yingtian back then, and is now the right minister of the Ministry of Industry and the chief envoy of the General Affairs Department.

"Thank you, Chief Assistant, and thank you, Mr. Zhao." Zhu Ping'an bowed his hands to Yan Song and Zhao Wenhua and thanked them.

"Look at you, you are so polite as you talk." Zhao Wenhua held Zhu Pingan's hand, then turned to Zhu Pingan's shoulder and patted him, smiling and shaking his head.

"Okay, stop standing, let's sit down and talk. I am an old man, not like you young people."

Yan Song was very kind, smiled and teased, and waved to Zhu Ping'an and Zhao Wenhua to sit down and talk.

So the three of them took their seats separately, and Zhu Ping'an took the initiative to sit at the bottom of the table, sitting upright and half-full of the chair as a sign of respect.

"Actually, speaking of it, I can be considered Zihou's teacher." After sitting down, Zhao Wenhua said with a smile.

"Oh, Wenhua, how do you say this?" Yan Song was very interested in this, and asked with a smile while stroking his beard.

"Haha, my adoptive father didn't know something. The year before last, I was appointed as the academic officer of Nanzhili and was transferred to Sichuan. I took over as the academic officer of Nanzhili and presided over the provincial examination. It was also that year that Zihou went to Yingtian to take part in the provincial examination. Speaking of which, the person who took the scientific test before the provincial examination was Zihou from the school I took the exam for." Zhao Wenhua explained with a smile.

It is no longer a secret that Zhao Wenhua recognizes Yan Song as his adopted father. Everyone in the civil and military circles of the Manchu Dynasty knows this. Zhao Wenhua has long been accustomed to calling Yan Song his adopted father, and he does not feel any embarrassment. Yan Song is over eighty years old. Now, at this age, it’s enough to be my grandfather, let alone my father.

Well

When Zhu Pingan heard this, he was slightly startled. In fact, it was like this in general terms, but strictly speaking, it was not like what Zhao Wenhua said.

Zuoshi is the honorific title given to the examiners of provincial examinations and joint examinations by people who have passed the examination.

However, as the academic examiner, Zhao Wenhua only presided over the subject examination before the provincial examination. The examiner for the subsequent provincial examination was not Zhao Wenhua. The examiners at that time were Zhang Tao and Wang Da, both Hanlin bachelors. So strictly speaking, he The teachers for the provincial examination were only two bachelors, Zhang Tao and Wang Da.

However, speaking generally, the scientific examination is also part of the provincial examination. Zhao Wenhua is the one who takes the examination and is considered a master.

Because Zhao Wenhua said this in front of Yan Song, and Yan Song looked happy to see it happen, Zhu Ping'an would not get into trouble at this time and engage in any debate between teachers and teachers.

Seating Master, Seating Master.

If there are too many lice, this one is not enough.

Counting this way, I have two masters in the Yan Party. One was Yan Maoqing, the seat teacher during the joint examination, and the second one was barely regarded as Zhao Wenhua, the seat teacher during the provincial examination... Yan Maoqing was Yan Song's capable general, and Zhao Wenhua was Yan Song's adopted son and capable general. Both of them were pillars of the Yan Party. .

Haha, why do you think you are a young Yan Dang? Zhu Ping'an smiled silently in his heart.

However, in fact, Zhu Ping'an also knew that because of the memorial to impeach Zhao Daying, everyone in the Yan Party would hate him to the core.

What seemed like Zhu Ping'an's long mental activity was actually only a second.

"What Mr. Zhao said is absolutely true. It's Ping'an who was rude. I hope he can atone for his sins. Student Zhu Ping'an has met with his master."

Zhu Ping'an raised his head and glanced at Zhao Wenhua and Yan Song, then smiled and apologized, then stood up from his seat, preparing to salute Zhao Wenhua.

"Look at you, I was just joking, but you took it seriously." Zhao Wenhua shook his head and smiled, and got up from his seat affectionately. Corporal Li Xian stretched out his hands to hold Zhu Pingan's arms, preventing Zhu Pingan from bowing down. Big gift.

"Thanks to the great love of all the teachers, the student got a first-class score in the subject examination and was promoted to the provincial examination. Once a teacher is a lifelong teacher, how can the students dare to forget it."

Although he was stopped by Zhao Wenhua, Zhu Ping'an still made a gesture of saluting, said something against his will, and had a serious look on his face. To anyone who looked at him, he looked like a good student.

"You, it's enough if you have this heart, why bother to stick to these etiquettes."

Zhao Wenhua said with a smile, and kindly pulled Zhu Pingan to the seat, pressed Zhu Pingan's shoulders, and asked Zhu Pingan to sit down, looking like a gentle teacher.

"Oh, and why Wenhua never mentioned this to me." Yan Song picked up the tea cup, took a sip of tea, and looked at the two of them with interest.

"It's not my fault. The thing is, last year, when I proposed to study in Nanzhili, it happened to be the provincial examination. As the examiner, I presided over the examination. At that time, Zihou handed in his papers very early. When I first met Zihou, I thought Such a young boy was the supervising student of some noble family. I thought to myself that he probably had no real talent and learning. Because he was young, he thought that if his writing was good, he would be given a second or third class. Unexpectedly, when I saw the test paper submitted by Zihou, I was impressed and admired it. Seeing that Zihou was just a child, I couldn't help but feel doubtful. I was afraid that he would know the answer to the test question early, so I asked another question on the spot to test the test. thick."

Zhao Wenhua stood up, picked up the teapot and refilled the tea for Yan Song, and slowly told Yan Song the scene of Zhu Ping'an's scientific examination.

After Zhao Wenhua poured tea for Yan Song, he came to Zhu Pingan with a teapot. Zhu Pingan quickly stood up, took the teapot from Zhao Wenhua, filled it with tea for Zhao Wenhua, and then poured himself a cup of tea.

"Oh, what question did you ask?" Yan Song asked.

"What's wrong with this?" Zhao Wenhua replied.

"Wenhua, you are trying to be difficult on purpose." Yan Song smiled and shook his head. Yan Song was very familiar with the imperial examination. The imperial examination was just a formality, and the question asked by Zhao Wenhua was too difficult.

"My adoptive father wrongly blamed me. At that time, Zihou's test papers were too good, and he was only thirteen years old. I was also curious about his talent, so I took the test. If the test paper was really written by him, the general questions would not be as good as his own. Talent." Zhao Wenhua explained with a wry smile.

"Well, Zihou, how did you answer that time?" Yan Song nodded, looked at Zhu Pingan and asked.

"Looking back to Shoufu, Ping An responded like this at that time. People in ancient times regarded this as etiquette, but I must follow it now, but it may not be consistent with ancient etiquette. People in ancient times regarded it as righteousness, but I must follow it now, but it may not be true. It is consistent with the ancient meaning."

Fortunately, it was me who asked the question. If it had been anyone else, I would have forgotten the answer. Zhu Pingan has a photographic memory, not to mention the questions he answered at that time. This kind of question is not difficult for Zhu Pingan. Zhu Pingan thought for a while and then repeated the answer to Yan Song.

"Good." After hearing this, Yan Song stroked his beard and nodded appreciatively.