The Bookish Scholar of the Red Mansion

Chen Heng has the habit of going out early. When he stood in front of the Gongyuan, there were not many people queuing up. Scholars from the following seven counties gathered together to participate in this government examination, as well as candidates from Yangzhou City.

Therefore, there was an endless stream of people coming to see him off, and some even drove up and asked their servants to stand in line. He sat in the carriage and waited until it was almost his turn before entering.

The admission process is similar to that in Taixing, but the inspection is more detailed than before. The cover of the brush was opened, and even Chen Heng was asked to take off his coat. Fortunately, that was the extent of it.

After this step was completed, Chen Heng took his A-7 number plate. This is specially reserved for the head of each county. From Jiayi to Jiaba, they are all located close to the prefect.

When he walked to his own room, Chen Heng looked around curiously. Stretch out your hand to measure the length and find that the fingertips on both sides are still some distance from the wall. When he sat inside, he unexpectedly felt quite spacious. This feeling was also wonderful.

It's just that the seat under his butt is too stiff. Even Chen Heng frowns a little at the thought of sitting on it until dark. There is a wooden board that has been inspected by the official in the corner. There are raised grooves on the walls on both sides. When the time comes, you can press it up and use it as a desk.

Bang bang bang.

The salute outside continues, which tells the candidates to hurry up. If they don't come, the Gongyuan will be closed.

After another moment, the crisp sound of drums was heard outside the Gongyuan. Because he was close to the prefect's seat, Chen Heng could hear the sound of the door closing.

Behind the seat of the prefect is a statue of Confucius. As usual, after the three prayers, the test papers were carried out of the ceremony room. Chen Heng didn't have to do anything. The admin staff would deliver the test papers to him.

When everything was ready, Chen Heng heard a majestic voice coming from above his head, saying: Start.

Then several government officials held up inscription plaques and began to walk around the Gongyuan.

The first is that if the name is not correct, the words will not be correct. If your words don't go your way, things won't happen.

The second is that it is useless to pluck a hair and benefit the world.

After taking a pen and copying out the questions, Chen Heng couldn't help but fall into deep contemplation. The first question is relatively easy to understand. It comes from The Analects of Confucius: Zilu Chapter. If you just take this question, it is not difficult to write the article. It itself is a famous sentence through the ages, but any master with some knowledge will explain its examples to his disciples.

But with the second question, it would be interesting. This question comes from Mencius, and the meaning of the context is: Yang Zi advocated that for me, even if it was to pluck out a hair of his own to benefit the world, he was not willing to do it.

Why would the prefect ask such a question?

Is it because it's too difficult?

No, on the contrary, it is too simple. Including Chen Heng, many students who wanted to strive for the top fell into deep thought. Writing essays is a very interesting thing, and most of its evaluation criteria depend on the cultural accomplishment of the examiner and their expectations of the problem.

However, since the development of the imperial examination, a group of people have also summarized the writing method of seeking stability. That is, regardless of the examiner's intention in setting the question, you just write according to the question and include the teachings of the saints and saints. Although you can't get a high score, it usually won't be too low. As for whether you succeed or not, it depends on other factors. The candidates performed well.

This group of people often believe that the imperial examination is about who makes fewer mistakes, and it is difficult to evaluate the good and bad points, so they can test it out freely.

Chen Heng naturally did not want to choose this path. On the single-plank bridge of the imperial examination, any mentality seeking stability may be pushed off the bridge by brave and radical latecomers.

fight.

If it's because the government exam has guaranteed it, relax your requirements for yourself. What about the future college examinations, provincial examinations, and general examinations?

Chen Heng naturally understands the principle of working hard in one go.

Scholars can decline but cannot rise.

What's more, the master said that only by getting into the top ten in the government examination can some of the fees at Yangzhou Academy be exempted. Chen Heng also wanted to save this money for his family. Having made up his mind, Chen Heng put all his thoughts into the unsolved idea.

So how do you write so that you can write something new and impress the examiner?

Chen Heng was a man of two generations, even if he put aside his talents and learning. The macro-consciousness cultivated during more than ten years of study in my previous life is not comparable to that of ordinary scholars.

After careful consideration, Chen Heng chose ‘benefiting the world’ as his solution.

His first sentence was: The foundation of the world is the country, the foundation of the country is at home, and the foundation of the family is the people.

But he doesn’t put the ‘one dime’ argument in opposition to it.

Many years of experience in his previous life told Chen Heng that if you overemphasize the contradiction between a pair of things, you will lose the real connection between them, and even blind yourself.

In fact, there is only a primary and secondary distinction between the two. A dime of profit does not grow on its own, but comes from the benefit of the world.

Just like everyone needs parents and elders to support them, the relationship between Yimao and the world is exactly like this.

A dime of profit from anything is just a way to support oneself by borrowing from all the people in the world. If there were no people in the world, how could there be a dime of profit?

Therefore, instead of saying pluck a hair and benefit the world, it is better to say pluck a hair and return the world.

This is the same principle as people who need to take good care of themselves and raise them to grow up.

If a person reaches adulthood and despises the person he raised because he is old and frail, wouldn't it be against human ethics to abandon him?

After laying the foundation of his writing, Chen Heng took a deep breath, continued to write, and began to break the topic of not to do.

This kind of discussion about human nature, even in later generations, everyone holds on to his own opinions, everyone talks about his own reasons, and every family has its own tone.

Chen Heng thought for a while and decided to use Lao and Zhuang's method to clarify his point of view.

He wrote: It is said that in ancient times, there was a fisherman who hated this hard process because he had to go out to sea to fish every day. After several days of hard thinking, the fisherman came up with the idea of ​​building a dike on the river to solve the hardship of going to sea.

The fisherman took the young people from his village to build a dam on the nearby river to trap the fish that wanted to swim down the river. He only needs to leave his house a few dozen steps a day and cast a net to catch much richer food than before.

The fisherman was proud of his cleverness, and the villagers often praised him. As time went by, no one in the fishing village went out to fish. Instead of repairing their boats, every household only weaved fishing nets.

Suddenly one day, there was a heavy rain in Xiangdi upstream, and the river water surged overnight. The dikes built by the villagers were overwhelmed and the sleeping fishing village was swallowed up overnight.

At this point in his writing, Chen Heng has almost expressed his meaning. The experiences of the past many years were slowly integrated at this moment, and he suddenly tasted the ease of having clear thoughts.

At the end of the article, Chen Heng suddenly had a thought in his mind and wrote: Treating all the people in the world as the mother of a hair, taking it from the people and using it for the people, this is the way.

I re-read the outline last night, and suddenly I had a new understanding. Considering the protagonist's future governance, I felt that it needed to be revised.