The First National Preceptor of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 254

At this moment, a commotion arose in the crowd. Someone said, "We're not very educated either. We heard that Jinzhou's father was a scholar from the next village..."

"That's right, my father is a scholar from the next village. He'll be able to pass the imperial examination next spring."

The father from Jinzhou smiled slightly. Xu Tian thought to himself, "What exactly do these people want? Don't disturb him while he's having breakfast!"

A man dressed in blue stepped forward.

"Master Xu was very clever and brave yesterday, as everyone saw. But the Grand Tutor's Mansion is not a proper school; it doesn't even have a sign."

Xu Tian glanced at the steward unconsciously. The steward just shook his head helplessly. His master usually couldn't care less about these things. Besides, although his master had a high official position, he only earned a small amount each month. If he didn't teach these children in the palace, where would he get the spare money to rent a house outside to run a private school?

Xu Tian looked at the man in the blue cloth shirt in front of him and could only smile.

"Let's tentatively name it Hongwen Academy. The plaque will be ready in a few days."

"Grand Tutor Xu is exceptionally good to children, but we still want to test his abilities."

Xu Tian was somewhat speechless. "I'm so friendly that I'm letting you all criticize me?" He did have a teacher's certificate, but he couldn't actually produce it right now.

How is the exam conducted?

“Since none of us understand, why don’t we have the father from Jinzhou give us a couplet?”

"Since that's the case, then this student will make a fool of himself. The first line of the couplet is: Heaven is the chessboard, stars are the pieces; who dares to play?"

Xu Tian, ​​being a teacher in modern times, immediately raised his head and straightened his chest.

My second line is: "The earth is the pipa, the road is the strings; who can play it?"

Xu Tian glanced around furtively. The people around him were very satisfied with him, so he had no choice but to maintain the smile on his face. After all, he was the Grand Tutor appointed by Li Er. If he didn't have any knowledge, wouldn't that be deceiving the emperor?

The father from Jinzhou then said, "Then I'll give you another couplet. My first line is: 'A fan blows the wind, the wind comes from the fan, the fan moves and the wind is generated.'"

Xu Tian closed his folding fan, took two steps forward, and slowly recited the second line of the couplet: "The waterwheel carries water, the water follows the wheel, the wheel stops and the water stops."

"I admire you, Grand Tutor. This is truly wonderful. You are quick-witted, talented, and learned."

"Then how about I test you again?"

Xu Tian narrowed his eyes. Who gave you the nerve? Are you done playing?

Just then, a student's parent stood up and said, "My family sells chickens, and I want to test your math skills."

Considering the advanced state of modern big data and data analysis, Xu Tian had no intention of crushing the ancient, incompetent scholar in arithmetic.

Arithmetic is fine too.

Master Xu of Hongwen Academy looked so calm and collected that even the young girl next to the Vermilion Bird Tower couldn't help but blush and her heart race, throwing a handkerchief at him.

Xu Tian's lips twitched, and he removed the handkerchief from his head.

"Master Xu, listen carefully. There are pheasants and rabbits in the same cage. There are 35 heads and 94 feet. How many pheasants and rabbits are there?"

"It's very simple. There are twelve rabbits, and the total number of rabbits is twenty-three. Am I right?"

"Yes, absolutely right. We truly admire Grand Tutor Xu's talent. Don't you all agree?"

Another round of applause erupted from the crowd. Jinzhou's father was somewhat suspicious; even he would have needed to think for a moment to solve this problem, but Xu Tian had answered it so easily.

Xu Tian immediately felt a surge of confidence and then bought a box of folding fans.

"The question asked is very simple: just subtract the total number of heads from the total number of feet, multiply by the number of chicken feet, divide by the number of rabbit feet and subtract the number of chicken feet to get the number of rabbits."

"Wait a minute, although Jinzhou's father is exceptionally talented, Jinzhou is studying at Hongwen Academy, so he will inevitably have to go easy on him."

"If the two of them had discussed it beforehand, wouldn't we have wasted our time?"

The speaker was a rough and uncultured man, and his words were quite harsh.