Daming: Grandpa Emperor, please get up and sit on my throne!

At this point, he raised his hand to cover his mouth, lowering his voice as he spoke, "We are now studying at the Imperial College. If we pass the imperial examinations in the future, will you really have to memorize the books as well as study in the officialdom?"

"There are so many things going on in the court, both overt and covert!"

"Officials in the court all have to come to places like this in private. If you want to gain a firm foothold in the court, how can you rely solely on the few books you read every day? How can you succeed if you don't understand these things?"

"Weizhe, this is also a kind of learning!"

People's minds are most active when they are making excuses for themselves.

When I want to be lazy and have fun, I can always find an excuse or statement to numb my brain as quickly as possible, no matter whether the excuse or statement is right or wrong, reasonable or not, as long as I believe it.

Moreover, the excuse he made was not completely unreasonable in reality - the ways of the world and the complicated relationships and social interactions have always been the same in society throughout history.

However, Xia Yuanji was stubborn.

He still directly declined, saying, "Brother Zhou's words... are not without reason, but I still think that I should focus on preparing for the exam first, and achieve success. It won't be too late to think about other things later."

He has his own goals and ideals.

He wanted to do something practical for the Ming Dynasty, and even more so for the people of the Ming Dynasty. In his heart, he did not really think highly of the so-called "human relations" and "having to do it" arguments.

However, he wasn't completely stubborn. After refusing, he even bowed slightly and added, "If I can pass the imperial examination one day, I will then ask you for your guidance."

Naturally, the others had nothing more to say.

They could only remain silent, with an embarrassed and disappointed look on their faces. Those with more straightforward personalities even rolled their eyes at Xia Yuanji.

"Then I'll go ahead and go to the Nan Paper Shop to buy some ink." Xia Yuanji nodded politely to his roommates, then left.

The other people who stayed here immediately looked unhappy.

Although Xia Yuanji did not mean this, they were indeed played tricks on them after all.

In addition, Xia Yuanji also used concrete actions to expose the high-sounding excuses they found for themselves:

You need to be familiar with the ways of the world, the ways of your future superiors and colleagues, so that you can thrive in officialdom. When you achieve officialdom, you'll have plenty of time to learn. Why bother with all this now? If not for your own amusement, what else is it?

Of course, there is another point.

It's true that we are classmates and roommates, but we are also competitors.

Not to mention that it was like thousands of troops crossing a single-plank bridge, and the imperial examination was held only once every three years, even the low-level competition in junior high schools, high schools, and university dormitories in later generations, where people were unwilling to study but couldn't bear to see others studying, was common.

What's more, this kind of competition is held every three years, and the number of people recruited from all over the country is at least dozens, and at most hundreds. How fierce is it?

Watching Xia Yuanji slowly disappear into the crowd towards the South Paper Shop.

Someone immediately started complaining indignantly, "What a nerd! He just loves to daydream all the time. He's the most pedantic and rigid person. There's no need to call him that!"

This naturally aroused the indignation of several other people.

Then they all echoed:

"He's the only one who's diligent and studious! He's the only one who's grateful for the emperor's grace, right? With his current state, even if he really passes the imperial examination next year and enters the Imperial Academy, he won't have much of a future!"

"There's still a whole year to go! Why rush?"

"There are so many people who study every day and every night, but not all of them make the list, right? Does he really think he can get the top scorer?"