Ning Que was very good at controlling his emotions, or rather, he was good at suppressing his emotions pitifully, turning the dark night into sunshine on his face. He rarely showed the scenes of the distant world. However, today, when he entered the Academy and entered the examination room, he looked at the peach blossoms outside the window and listened to the words of comprehensive mathematics. He could not help but think of the bitter life of practicing both arts and sciences in the winter and summer.
But it was also because of his bitter life that the question on the ink scroll was not difficult for him. After the answer flashed in his mind, he could not help but sigh in a low voice, "Isn't this question too f * cking stupid?"
It was indeed very stupid, because the answer was two.
Ning Que used his wrist to grind the ink and dip the brush in the ink. He wrote down his answer very carefully on the paper, "The Headmaster of the Academy drank two pots of wine and cut all the peach blossoms on the mountain."
…
…
In the distant pavilion, the Taoist looked at the black and white chess pieces on the chessboard. His right hand stretched out in the air and kept plucking, as if he was playing the zither or playing in the spring breeze. Suddenly, his index finger slightly paused. With this movement, a matte black chess piece jumped out of the chess urn beside the chessboard and fell on the chessboard with a clap, right at the intersection of the vertical and horizontal lines.
As the leader of the South School of Haotian Taoism and the Nation Master of the Tang Empire, it was not surprising that Li Qingshan could play such a move easily. What was strange was that he frowned very hard at this time, as if he was a little afraid of the monk opposite him.
The monk called himself Huang Yang and was now stationed in the Wanyan Tower Temple in the Southern City of Chang 'an. It was said that he once went to an Unknown Place in the Wilderness to cultivate the supreme Buddhism. A few years ago, he met the Emperor of the Tang Empire by chance and became his sworn brother. Since then, he was known as the Younger Brother of the Emperor of the Tang Empire. However, this monk pursued ascetic cultivation and usually sat in the Wanyan Tower to recite translated sutras and rarely contacted people outside the temple.
Monk Huang Yang quietly looked at the chess pieces on the chessboard. His eyelashes slowly blinked, and a white chess piece slowly rose from the chess urn to the chessboard and then fell slowly without making any sound. It was extremely gentle. The white piece landed and sealed off a certain Qi hole. He didn't seem to make any movements, but with a slight shift of his gaze, a black piece that had been eaten was moved outside the chessboard. There were already seven or eight pieces there.
No one dared to disturb the Nation Master of Tang and the Emperor's younger brother when they were playing chess. The little monks and Daoists were far away from the side of the road and did not have the chance to see the two masters playing chess. Otherwise, if they were to see such a marvelous scene, they would definitely be in awe.
Li Qingshan looked at the black and white pieces on the chessboard and shook his head. He changed the subject. "When his majesty is in the palace, only one person remains. When his majesty leaves the palace, there are two waiting for him. When did this rule start? Who in this world would dare to do anything to the Tang Emperor? Moreover, His Majesty is going to the Academy today. Who would dare to cause trouble in the Academy? "
Huang Yang smiled and looked at him. "I don't know."
Li Qingshan said in frustration, "You should have heard about what happened to Chao Xiaoshu, right? It's such a pity. If he could enter the Knowing Destiny State more than ten years ago, we wouldn't have to follow His Majesty as bodyguards every day. "
Huang Yang shook his head. "If he hadn't experienced Jianghu for these years and had the Lucky Chance to see the lake in the palace, who would dare to say that he could enter the Knowing Destiny State?"
Li Qingshan shook his head and said, "During those years, you must have been chopping firewood in that temple, so you didn't know the specific situation. Chao Xiaoshu had the chance to enter the Academy. With his talent, he would definitely enter the Second floor. If he could enter the Second floor, he would be fortunate enough to be enlightened by the Headmaster. Then it wouldn't be difficult for him to enter the Knowing Destiny State."
Huang Yang was silent for a long time. He said softly, "If he could enter the Academy and be enlightened by the Headmaster, it would be a blessing indeed."
Li Qingshan looked at his clean face and suddenly said with a self-deprecating smile, "Everyone says that we can never meet, but they don't know that we really can't meet the Academy."
The monk and the Taoist in the pavilion were the Dharma Protectors of the orthodox Front Gate of Buddhism and the leader of the South School of Haotian Taoism. No matter what they thought, their status meant that they would never step into the Academy. Just like today, when the Emperor of Tang led his ministers to attend the opening ceremony of the Academy, the two most respected supermundane powerhouses of the Tang Empire could only sit quietly in the distance and play chess.
"When will the Headmaster leave?"
"He will leave Chang 'an after the semester begins."
"Headmaster, you've worked hard."
Huang Yang looked at Li Qingshan quietly and said, "I still want to know how tall the Headmaster is."
After a long silence, Li Qingshan said, "My master once said that the Headmaster is as tall as several floors."
Huang Yang was slightly stunned, and a sincere smile slowly appeared on his face. Then he slightly opened his lips and let out a sigh. The sigh was like the spring breeze passing through the willows, with an indescribable meaning. "The Second floor is already very tall, but the Headmaster is as tall as several floors … That's really tall."
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After the math test in the morning, Ning Que, who was complacent and proud before, was suddenly dumbfounded. Sangsang's worries were very reasonable. A poor lad who was busy eating hot and sour noodles with fried eggs, chatting with girls at the House of Red Sleeves, killing enemies at the Spring Breeze Pavilion in the rain, and worrying about how much he earned today would not have the time to memorize the Academy Entrance Examination questions. Even if he did, it would be useless. He lived in the deep mountains and grasslands all year round and did not know those things. It was not a problem for him to write the Article on the Response of the Tao from memory, but it was impossible for him to think about other things.
Ning Que did not intend to be a hero who did not answer the questions. That would be too pretentious, just like the younger brother of the Royal Master in the Separation Pavilion outside the Academy. Therefore, he changed his pen and carefully filled the two papers from beginning to end. As for whether the answers had anything to do with the questions, it was not within his consideration. He only hoped that the instructors of the Academy would sympathize with him because of his neat and tidy papers.
During the process of answering the questions, he also thought about it carefully, because he knew that his only advantage in these two subjects was probably that his handwriting was much better than others. Therefore, from the beginning of the math test, he put all his attention on the pen and ink, and … he deliberately used the Hairpin-style Small Regular Script, which he was the least familiar with.
He did not use the Hairpin-style Small Regular Script to hide anything. Well, it was indeed to hide his gender. He wanted the instructors to think that the owner of the paper was a beautiful, idiotic lady from an official's family who was good at writing, so that they would give him some unspeakable marks.
The bell rang again, and the written exam was over. Ning Que walked out of the examination room disinterestedly, spread his hands to Sangsang, who was full of expectation, and showed an innocent expression. He accompanied Chu Youxian, who had come to find him, to have lunch prepared by the Academy, and then began to prepare for the wushu test in the afternoon.
Ning Que was very confident about the three exams in the afternoon. Therefore, facing the eager eyes of the instructors of the Academy and the examiners of the Ministry of Rites, as well as the room full of musical instruments, he did not hesitate to … give up.
"I'm not a musician in the House of Red Sleeves, and I don't know how to play the flute." Thinking of these stupid words angrily, he followed the crowd of candidates to the lawn outside the Academy. On the lawn, there were dozens of military horses, and the captain of the Military Ministry stood beside them, looking at the eager or pale students indifferently.
The course of Archery was about archery, and the course of Driving was free to choose whether to ride a horse or drive a carriage. Of course, Ning Que chose to ride a horse. He had been dealing with horses and arrows all these years on the grassland of the City of Wei, so he believed that he would not be worse than anyone else.
On the lawn in the distance, Sangsang, who was holding a big black umbrella, clenched her small fist and encouraged him.
He smiled, cheered himself up, and walked to the field.
…
…
When the candidates of the Academy Entrance Examination were about to take the last three exams, in a spacious and clear room in the Academy, the instructors were gathered around to mark the papers of the three exams in the morning. Most of the instructors were white-haired and had experienced such scenes many times, so they were naturally not nervous. They held a teapot and smoked a pipe, leisurely and leisurely, occasionally dropping ink to mark, and occasionally raising their heads to chat with their peers. An instructor commented on the difficulty of today's papers.
"This year's Academy Entrance Examinations were set by Eldest Senior Brother. He has a gentle temperament, so naturally it won't be too difficult. If it was still set by Second Senior Brother like last year, who knows if a large number of people would have fainted from crying today?"
"It's fine if it's Etiquette and Calligraphy, but this question in Mathematics is purely a gift. Everyone knows that the Headmaster of the Academy is a wine addict. A pot of wine is half, and then half, and then the other half becomes a drop. Is the Headmaster of the Academy going to use his sword to cut the drop of wine into half? How can so many candidates get such a simple Mathematics question wrong? I really don't know what their brains are made of! "
An instructor asked curiously, "It's not simple, but I'm more concerned about how many pots of wine did the Headmaster of the Academy drink when he first entered the West-Hill Divine Mountain? How many pounds of peach blossoms did he pluck? "
Someone laughed and said, "The Headmaster of the Academy drank seven big pots of wine that spring and plucked all the peach blossoms from the West-Hill Divine Mountain."
"But there is a legend that the Headmaster of the Academy was the one who drank wine, but the one who plucked all the peach blossoms from the West-Hill was the Youngest Uncle who followed the Headmaster of the Academy. I also think that the Headmaster of the Academy is more elegant, and the Youngest Uncle's violent personality is more suitable."
At the mention of the Youngest Uncle, the instructors were silent for a while and then returned to normal. Someone laughed and said, "But the peach trees on the lawn of the Academy were planted by the Headmaster of the Academy himself. Every time the old Taoist priests from the West-Hill Haotian Palace came, their faces looked worse than if their mothers had died. I really think the Headmaster of the Academy is very bad!"
The instructors in the marking room laughed. Mocking the world's most sacred West-Hill Divine Palace was like a daily routine for them, and their laughter was very arrogant.
It must be said that the Academy in the south of Chang 'an was really a wonderful place.
The instructors gradually stopped laughing and began to focus on marking the papers. An instructor looked at the ink scroll in his hand and read aloud, "The Headmaster of the Academy drank two pots of wine and plucked all the peach blossoms from the mountain … The answer is correct. I noticed that this candidate named Ning Que answered the fastest, so he can be ranked A."
"I have no objection to the A grade, but I have a question. Why did the candidate answer two pots of wine instead of two pots of wine?"
"Or is this his personal habit? Or is there something special about the two words? It's really puzzling. "
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