The daily life of a peasant girl taking the imperial examination

"You are all beginners. The most important thing in the early stages is to dare to think and dare to write, and to practice a lot. But you can't be clueless. I have some policy essays written by your seniors here. Go back and read them, and try to write a dozen or so articles on the same issues. Submit them to your seniors for review in two days."

"Remember, do not deliberately imitate its sentence structure and format, otherwise your writing will appear very stiff..." Master Wang instructed.

After Zhuge Yunshu and the others asked several more questions, the lesson officially ended for the day.

After bidding farewell to Master Wang, Zhuge Yunshu, Wang Yi, Zhang Hao, and Xie Yu left the study together.

"Senior Brother Xie, may I ask you a question?" Wang Yi asked shyly.

"Junior sister, please speak."

Zhuge Yunshu felt that after spending half a day with this senior brother, he always gave people the feeling of being a humble gentleman, gentle and refined. He always had a smile on his face when he spoke, as if he had no other expression besides smiling. In short, he was too amazing. He wondered if he would get tired of doing that all day.

"Did you also start by familiarizing yourself with model essays and imitating them, senior brother?" Wang Yi blushed, this was the first time she had asked such an unreasonable question.

“I wrote my first policy essay when I was five years old. Before that, I had never come across any articles in this field.” Xie Yu thought for a moment and continued, “However, you are different from me. It would be best if you practiced diligently according to the method given by the Master. In time, you will surely achieve results.”

Zhuge Yunshu: "..."

It's just like Versailles, isn't it?

"Junior brothers and sisters, I have something to attend to, so I'll be leaving now."

After saying this, she walked away into the distance. When she reached a secluded corner, she quickly patted her stiff cheeks with both hands.

Watching the departing figure, Zhang Hao couldn't help but sigh, "I must study hard. Maybe in a few years I can be as handsome and charming as Senior Brother Xie!"

"Senior Brother Zhang, the first point is achievable with a little effort, as for the rest... well, I admire your courage." Zhuge Yunshu thought that if Zhang Hao were in modern times, he could take Senior Brother Xie's photo to a plastic surgery clinic and get plastic surgery based on it; there would still be hope.

"Your looks are a gift from your parents, why make things so difficult for yourself?" Wang Yi looked Zhang Hao up and down, her face full of disbelief.

It was like hearing a huge joke.

Zhang Hao: "..."

Can't a person have a dream? You can't take a joke.

After returning to their dormitory, Zhuge Yunshu and Wang Yi sat at their desks, looking at the sample essays on policy.

Zhuge Yunshu thought about what Senior Brother Xie had said, "You are different from me," and for some reason, she felt very sad.

She's already reached genius level in terms of intelligence, and she refuses to believe that she can't write a good article.

These past few days, Zhuge Yunshu has spent all his time in his dormitory except for meals.

He even made excuses to refuse Wang Yi and Su Chun's invitation to study together in the library.

Was it easy for her to get into the system for serving the country and its people to study?

I really hope the system upgrade will change the entry method. This sudden, dramatic entry method is extremely inconvenient.

After Wang Yi left, Zhuge Yunshu entered the system to study.

She copied all the questions from the sample policy essays onto a piece of paper. Looking at the first question, "Among three people walking together, there must be one who can teach me. I will choose their good points and follow them, and correct their bad points," she wrote down her thoughts on it.

Zhuge Yunshu thought about it carefully before picking up his pen to write.

First, write down the source of this quote from the Analects, Book 1, Chapter 2. Second, briefly explain the meaning of the sentence. Finally, state your own opinion.

For example, this sentence tells us that if we want to gain something, we should humbly ask for advice... and so on, thus establishing the core argument.

The argument is validated from several angles, with numerous references and examples cited throughout... Finally, a summary is given.

With undivided attention, Zhuge Yunshu wrote three short essays, each eight hundred words long, in just half an hour.

Zhuge Yunshu opened the course on policy discussion, when suddenly a serious-looking teacher appeared, walked up to her with practiced ease, picked up the articles in her hand, and sat down at her desk to read them.

The old man was quick to observe, but his furrowed brows made her uneasy.

However, Zhuge Yunshu quickly adjusted his state, after all, he was really smooth when writing the article today.

A moment later, the old man in black picked up a ruler, tapped it on the table, and said, "Stretch out your hand."

Zhuge Yunshu obediently cooperated with the old man and hit him five times.

She couldn't refuse to cooperate. She had previously thought that the famous teachers in the system were just virtual characters, so she tried to talk back to them a few times. Then she was reported by the famous teachers, and after the system verified it, she was judged to be disrespectful to teachers and was deducted 500 points as a result.

This broke her heart.

But I must say, these famous teachers in the system, despite their thin and weak appearance, really hurt when they slap your hand.

Do you know where you went wrong?

"Writing too badly?" Zhuge Yunshu looked puzzled. She felt that she had improved!

As a result, I got hit again.

Zhuge Yunshu: "..."

Respecting the elderly and caring for the young, and honoring teachers and valuing their teachings are traditional virtues; don't get angry.

"I've told you so many times, you have to check your work after you finish writing. Look at these pieces of yours, every single one has typos," the old man said, puffing out his beard and glaring at his opponent.

Although the student in front of me is quite talented, he is just too impetuous.

Zhuge Yunshu looked at the old man's circled mistake and felt extremely embarrassed. She still remembered the promise she had made to him last time, and now she had been proven wrong.

"I will definitely remember this next time," Zhuge Yunshu assured her once again, swearing that she had forgotten to check because she was too excited this time.

"Things shouldn't happen more than three times, I hope you'll remember that. However, your article this time is indeed much improved, with clear arguments, reasonable evidence, and very practical viewpoints... But, you're too audacious. You need to think carefully about what you say. After all, you'll be loyal to the court in the future, and a narrow-minded ruler might lose his life if he sees you writing such bold statements."

"Furthermore, as a scholar, even if one's writing is not eloquent, one should still have the necessary cultural foundation. Your plain writing, though simple and clear, will certainly not be accepted by many."

After the old man finished speaking, he analyzed each article for her word by word, highlighted the bad parts, and explained the pros and cons.

In short, Zhuge Yunshu gained a lot from this lesson.

It turns out that writing an article isn't just about having fancy words, clear arguments, and novel solutions.

The important thing is that you also need to consider the historical context, the taboos of those in power, and a series of other factors in order to write a good article without any problems.

Throughout history, countless arrogant and talented people have lost their lives because of this, which serves as a cautionary tale.

To paraphrase a famous teacher, you are writing articles, not writing destinies. People must learn to be flexible and never act in a rigid and inflexible manner.

"Alright, that concludes today's lesson. Pay special attention to the points I pointed out that need revision. Rewrite a few more papers for me to review next time you come to class."

As soon as he finished speaking, the old man disappeared from the system.