Top Scholar

Chapter 58 A Talented Decision

Before attending the academy, Su Lu could only understand the difficulty of the county examination through the setbacks suffered by his father and clansmen.

After entering the academy, his feelings became even more direct—of the sixty classmates who had gone through layers of selection, at most five or six could pass the county examination.

My older brother actually ranked third in the county-level exam! His ability is simply beyond imagination; even in an academy full of top students, he's a true academic genius!

"Then is it certain that you'll pass the imperial examination, brother?" he hurriedly asked.

"The chances are pretty good, I'd say." Su Youcai, who had failed the county-level exams ten times in a row, said with a wry smile, "But I've heard that the prefectural exam is the most rigged among the three smaller exams. Sigh... I've never taken the prefectural exam, how can I say for sure?"

"Don't worry, Chun-ge'er will definitely pass the exam!" The eldest uncle happened to come out to urinate and, upon hearing this, exclaimed in a voice that shook the roof: "The county school has ten places for each subject, so Chun-ge'er is definitely a spot!"

“Then Uncle will be the old master from now on,” Su Lu said with a smile. “Let’s see if you centurions will still dare to bully us.”

"You're quite the vengeful one, aren't you?" Uncle slapped Su Lu hard on the back and laughed loudly, "He won't dare to do it now, I have connections!"

The uncle's so-called "having connections" referred to Commander Ma. Taking advantage of the opportunity to act as a go-between for Commander Ma, he quickly schemed and became one of Commander Ma's "insiders".

Of course, a cunning old fox like Ma Qianhu, who won't act until he sees a clear benefit, can't be expected to promote you without sufficient incentives.

However, this was enough for Uncle to use his influence to greatly improve his situation at the centurion's office.

Now Chun-ge has passed the county examination with extremely high marks, and the small Erlang Hundred Household Office is almost too small to contain his uncle...

~~
That evening, the family held a grand banquet to entertain the relatives who came to offer their congratulations, and even people from several families with different surnames came to offer their congratulations.

There were so many people that there wasn't enough room to sit inside the house or in the courtyard, so they ended up having to set up a banquet in the alley.

The chickens, ducks, pigs, and sheep in the clan are now in trouble. They had barely survived the New Year and thought they could finally have a few days of peace...

Of course, such banquets never result in losses, because all the congratulatory guests have given monetary gifts.

We feasted our guests with nine large bowls of food, and when we tallied up the accounts that evening, we even made a net profit of 1,300 coins.

"Our dearest relatives and friends are much more generous than they were when my third brother got married," the eldest aunt said happily, twirling the money. She still harbored resentment about the five taels of silver she lost on her younger brother's wedding.

"Of course." The eldest uncle sat cross-legged by the fire pit, chewing on betel leaf rolls with the old man, and said proudly, "Our Chun-ge has brought honor to the clan. Can he be like the third brother?"

“Praise your son if you want, but don’t belittle my son,” the old man said irritably.

"Hehe, I told you my brother isn't good enough?" The eldest uncle chuckled sheepishly, calculating, "In two months, Chun-ge will pass the provincial examination, and we can hold another banquet. The gifts for our dearest relatives and friends can't be less than this time, can they?"

"That's a lot more!" Auntie exclaimed excitedly. "The price is one for the county exam, but it'll definitely rise for the prefectural exam. Once Chun-ge passes the provincial exam and becomes a husband, I won't care how much you offer!"

"Save your breath, don't ruin Chun-ge's good luck with your nonsense." The old man scolded his aunt, but he hadn't gone out for a walk yet, clearly in a good mood today.

"It's alright, my son is a reincarnation of the God of Literature, nothing we say will affect him!" Auntie said nonchalantly, then started missing her son again: "Oh dear, I definitely won't be able to sleep tonight. Husband, is Chun-ge really not coming back?"

“Yes,” the eldest uncle nodded. “Didn’t the letter say that the provincial examination is in less than two months? So he won’t travel back and forth anymore and will stay at the third brother’s house to prepare for the exam.”

"This child, how long does it take him to come back? Doesn't he know his mother misses him?" his aunt complained.

"You unlucky woman, the Chishui River is flooded in the spring, are you going to ask him to take a boat?" Her uncle glared at her.

"I wouldn't dare. Traveling by water at this time of year is like walking through the gates of hell," Auntie quickly shook her head.

“Brother Chun is frail; what if he gets tired from traveling by land?” Uncle added, “Besides, Chun Shengmiao is frequently committing crimes, and I heard that the Duzhang barbarians have also made a comeback…”

As mentioned before, Yongning Garrison did not have a garrison school, so students had to go to the nearest county, Hejiang, to take their exams. The two places were quite far apart; it was a hundred li (approximately 50 kilometers) from Erlangtan to Hejiang County, and there was no official road connecting them…

The official road built by Emperor Hongwu back then went directly north from Lincheng to Yibin, completely bypassing Hejiang County. More than a hundred years have passed, and the two places still lack a major road connection. Without waterways, the only way to travel between them is by traversing mountains and valleys.

"Then don't let him come back. Let him stay at his uncle's house and study hard." The aunt immediately found a solution.

“But even if he doesn’t come back, we can go and see him.” The uncle’s tone suddenly changed, clearly indicating that he also missed his son.

"Great! Let's set off tomorrow!" Auntie couldn't wait to hear that.

"Don't rush, wait another half month." The eldest uncle was thoughtful and considered things carefully. "The third son's wife will give birth in three months, and family members need to be there to watch over her during labor."

"That's more like human speech," the old man snorted. Don't be fooled by how hard he beat his third son; in reality, the third son was spoiled rotten by him.

"I can't help it, I'm raising my grandson like a child in his old age..." "Sigh, alright." The eldest aunt nodded reluctantly.

~~
Actually, Su Youcai was present throughout the family chat. Although he wasn't usually very talkative, Mr. Su was unusually silent tonight…

Stepping out of the main room, looking up at the starry sky and taking a few deep breaths of the night air carrying the smell of fermented liquor, he felt less depressed.

After returning to his room, Su Lu had just finished his homework for the day and was memorizing the third essay of the day.

Seeing his quick-witted and studious son, Su Youcai smiled with relief.

It's time to let go of the past and look to the next generation...

"Father, if you're not satisfied, then keep trying. There are plenty of old scholars in their fifties or sixties who are still taking the imperial examinations. You're nothing compared to them." After finishing his reading, Su Lu finally had time to comfort him.

"I just put it down, and you're teasing me again." Su Youcai said with a wry smile, "Your father didn't even pass the county exam, he's too far behind. He's not taking the exam anymore, he'll never take it again in his life."

“If it’s because of family circumstances, there’s no need for that. My godmother is more capable than I imagined. I reckon with her share of the profits, the two of us could pass the exams together,” Su Lu said.

“Money is certainly one aspect, but it’s not just about money.” Su Youcai leaned against the headboard, his expression forlorn. “It’s that I’m already outdated…”

"Huh?" Su Lu was packing his book box when he heard this. He turned to look at Su Youcai and said, "You're not a piece of trash, how could you be outdated?"

"You think you're all grown up now that you've gotten into the academy? How dare you talk to your father like that?" Su Youcai glared at him, then gave a wry smile. "People become outdated too. The essays I studied back then were in the 'Imperial Style' of the Three Yangs. They aimed to 'praise the emperor's virtues, sing of peace and prosperity, be elegant and refined, suit one's temperament, and express self-reproach and lament.'"

"This writing style is now considered a monstrous flood, heavily criticized for being listless, verbose, and almost monotonous, even worse than the 'Xikun style' of the Song Dynasty," Su Youcai said helplessly.
"I actually agree with that reasoning. But when I was young, the whole government and the public regarded the official style as the way to go, and it was impossible to get into school without it."

"But when I finally managed to study diligently for ten years to prepare for the exam, the tide suddenly turned. The Seven Masters started to revive the old ways, denigrating the official script to nothing, catching everyone off guard. This trend even affected this place. That old dog, Lu Zhaoye, the magistrate of Hejiang County, because he came from a regular official family, was most afraid of being called uncultured. In order to show that he could keep up with the progress of the literary world, he actually stopped accepting any official script works, which ruined my life..."

Su Lu listened silently, his face full of sympathy. Inwardly, however, he thought to himself, "This is the third reason I've heard from Comrade Youcai that he failed the county exam."

The first reason was that the old man had offended the county magistrate, and because of the old man's influence, he refused to take the bribe.

The second reason was that the county magistrate was asked to test him with poetry and prose, but he was deemed to be neglecting his duties and was therefore rejected.

Here comes the third one... But it's understandable. People always find excuses when they fail. With the number of times my dad has failed, he could probably come up with several more.

Of course, he couldn't rub salt into his father's wounds, so he shut his mouth and silently listened.

But the next moment, Su Youcai said something surprising: "By the way, I have already resigned from the academy with the old patriarch."

"What?" Su Lu's mouth dropped open. "When did this happen?"

“We went to the outhouse together tonight while we were having dinner, and I told him to find someone else,” Su Youcai said calmly. “Don’t worry, I didn’t act on impulse; I’ve been thinking about it for a long time.”

"Huh?" Su Lu closed his mouth. It wasn't his place to inform his father of his decisions. But he still asked, "Why? Didn't we do quite well in the clan exam this time?"

“That’s because you and Su Dan are exceptionally outstanding, it has little to do with me. Anyone could have taught you.” Su Youcai said sadly, “But I am partly to blame for the other students not passing the exam.”

Su Lu understood what he meant. Although the academy's entrance exam was "beyond the syllabus," many elementary schools taught essay writing based on the given topics, and as a result, their students were not affected and even benefited.

Although no one blamed him at the time, his father felt very uncomfortable. However, he was overwhelmed by the tuition fees and couldn't care less about this or that later.

The second blow to the father also came from the academy. The sudden implementation of the "promotion and ranking system" meant that students could no longer learn current affairs texts step by step after enrollment, as before...

Back when Chris Lee was at that age, it didn't matter if his skill level was a little low at first; he could catch up later.

If you fail three times in a row, you'll be expelled. They won't give you a chance to take your time.
If a student hasn't learned how to write a problem-solving essay before enrolling in school, they're basically doomed...

Su Youcai's self-blame was palpable; he hadn't eaten or drunk anything for days and had lost a lot of weight... Su Lu saw this, but firstly, he didn't have time to ponder his father's worries. Secondly, he figured men were made of iron and he'd be fine in a while.

Unexpectedly, the metal fatigued this time, and Iron Man cracked...

"Actually, it's because the academy changed its headmaster, and there was a drastic change in its philosophy. No one could have predicted that, so my father can't be blamed on me," Su Lu said truthfully.

“What I think is not important. What is important is that the clan school must start teaching essay writing, otherwise we might lose everything by the end of the year.” Su Youcai said bitterly, “Since we’re going to teach it, we should teach it the current way. An outdated old man like me should just step aside.”

P.S. The formulaic content will only appear once. I'm putting it in the public version so everyone can read it for free. Those who like it can read it, and those who don't can skip ahead. No one will accuse me of scamming them. Although this is much harder than writing stories or filler content…

Furthermore, I had to write in more detail since I was just starting out; after all, how can you become a top student if you don't study at all? Haven't you noticed that the pace has quickened since the last chapter? An exciting story is about to unfold!

(End of this chapter)