Traveling through time and space to become a child, supporting the family by catching fish and shrim

If the atmosphere is awkward, someone has to step forward and break it.

Fortunately, there are plenty of people like this at the party.

"Sir, you just mentioned two scandals in Nanhe County. What was the other one?"

The young man closed his paper fan, tapped his palm, and said, "The other thing...ah, I feel ashamed to talk about it."

"People laugh at me for being crazy, I laugh at them for not seeing through me... I think everyone has heard of this poem, right?"

Everyone nodded.

“This poem has gone viral.”

“It’s really well written and full of talent.”

"Now the villagers say that it's a foolish dream for me to take the imperial examination. I use this poem to fight back against them, and the effect is very obvious."

The young master said, "My fellow students all think this poem is well written, right?"

"But if I tell you that this poem was written by a peasant boy doing business, what would you think?"

The crowd was in an uproar.

"That's impossible! This poem couldn't have been written without some life experience."

"It's not that a student can't write, but it's absolutely impossible for a student who does business to write."

"Could it be that you hired someone to write it for you again?"

"Why does this happen every year? What do the officials in Nanhe County do for a living?"

The young master said, "It is said that this poem was actually written by a scholar who accepted Tongsheng as his disciple and wrote this poem specifically to help him become famous."

Hearing this, Chen Lang's expression suddenly changed.

The most worrying thing still happened.

There are only two successful candidates in Nanhe County. With a little investigation, the so-called truth of this matter will be made public.

Naturally, these people didn't dare to confront Sheng Chuliang, but they would be happy to spread the rumor everywhere and madly attack Chen Lang's reputation.

Because they did not want to be stepped on by a rural boy, and even more so, they did not want to see a rural boy write a poem that would be passed down through the ages.

Therefore, these scholars would be willing to try anything that could hit Chen Lang.

They would be even happier if they could take this opportunity to bring down Sheng Chuliang.

Regardless of the dynasty or system, attacking authority is something that makes ordinary people very excited.

Chen Lang believed that there must be someone behind this incident!

As for who it is, it’s not difficult to guess.

In the entire Nanhe County, there is only one person whom he has offended and who is capable of doing this.

Zhao Xiongwei!

Damn it, I let you go, but you kept asking for trouble.

I'll deal with you when I get back!

The discussion on the other side continues.

"Since you know the truth, why don't you expose the ugly faces of this teacher and student?"

The young master sighed: "What good does it do to know the truth? Do you have evidence?"

"As long as that scholar insists that he never wrote poems or essays for his students, no one can do anything to him."

"Besides, we are just ordinary candidates. We are far from qualified to compete with a Juren."

"As for filing a complaint with the government...officials protect each other. Why would they harm their colleagues over something like this with no evidence? They might even turn around and beat up the person who filed the complaint."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Someone sneered and said, "I don't think this is a bad thing."

"A mere county exam forced that candidate to write such a brilliant poem. This is enough to prove that his apprentice is a complete idiot."

"The upcoming provincial exam will be the death of this person! If he fails, we will have evidence."

"Even if we don't take action, someone else will."

"After all, this person passed the county exam, which means that someone else didn't even pass the county exam."

"To ruin someone's future is like killing their parents."

When the students heard this, they immediately laughed and praised the candidate for being right.

Now you don’t have to do anything, just wait for the candidate to fail.

Chen Lang's expression returned to calm, but a great sense of crisis surged in his heart.

This time, we really cannot afford to make any mistakes in the provincial examination.

If you fail the exam, both you and your teacher will be in big trouble.

The candidates in the inn cursed the Nanhe County bureaucrats a few more times and then shifted the topic to the provincial examination.

"I heard that the prefect's writings have appeared in the book market now, and some people are even offering high prices to buy his calligraphy. I heard that an unfinished manuscript he once wrote has been sold for ten taels of silver in the book market, and the article he wrote when he passed the imperial examination has sold for over fifty taels."

Upon hearing this, some people present showed joy on their faces, obviously they had already purchased the magistrate's original works in advance, while more people looked miserable.

It’s not that they don’t want to buy, but they can’t afford it.

The price of ten taels of silver is a sky-high price for ordinary candidates.

As for fifty taels...that's even unimaginable.

"Forget the prefect's original handwriting. Even those imitations of his writings sold in the book market start at two taels of silver."

"The other day someone offered to sell me the prefect's original calligraphy for only three taels of silver, but I didn't buy it because it had too few words. Now that I think about it, I was really stupid."

"Brother, this is where you're wrong. The prefect's original calligraphy, let alone the few words, even if it only had one, three taels of silver wouldn't be expensive at all."

"That's right. Although the provincial examination is just a minor test, we both need to be fully prepared. If you can't even bear to spend three taels of silver, how can you hope to achieve fame and honor?"

Hearing these words, Chen Lang's eyes suddenly lit up.

This is an opportunity.

You bastards want to mess with me, so I'm going to disgust you first!

After thinking quickly and formulating a plan, Chen Lang burst into laughter.

Everyone stopped discussing and looked over in unison.

Someone frowned and asked, "Brother, what are you laughing at?"

Chen Lang said: "Because you are ridiculous."

This sentence was like lighting a firecracker, instantly exploding the scene.

The young man who had been waving the paper fan before flung it open again and sneered, "We are all candidates in the same class, yet you call us ridiculous? What's your intention?"

Wang Zheng, who was sitting next to Chen Lang, quietly moved his stool to the side.

He just wanted to trick Chen Lang into giving him a few meals, but he didn't want to offend the scholars present because of this guy.

Chen Lang slowly stood up and said sarcastically, "When I first heard what you said, I thought everyone was abiding by the teachings of the saints and couldn't tolerate any sand in their eyes."

"But the fact is, he's so absorbed in studying unorthodox techniques that he even beats his chest and stamps his feet over not being able to buy the prefect's authentic work. Isn't that ridiculous?"

"The provincial exam is coming up soon, and instead of focusing on studying, you're here talking about how to figure out the examiner's thoughts. Isn't that ridiculous?"

"Our dynasty's imperial examination system is designed to gather talented individuals from around the world and benefit the common people. But you only care about fame, wealth, and power, with no respect for propriety, righteousness, or integrity. Isn't that ridiculous?"

"You look down on the mercenary greed of merchants, but your current behavior is even more shameless than that of merchants."