Ancient people used tea bowls to drink tea, and they still wore tea lids.

Normally, serving tea without talking or drinking means serving tea to see the guests off. People with discerning eyes will stand up and say goodbye.

But in order to avoid misunderstanding, holding the tea bowl in your left hand and the tea lid in your right hand to flip the floating tea leaves is a hint to the other party to speak.

Shi Zhongkui understood what the other party meant, reached into his sleeve, took out a three-finger-wide wooden box, and placed it on the main table.

He took a few steps back without saying a word and waited.

When the county magistrate saw this, he put down the tea cup and opened the wooden box with a slightly changed expression.

Take out a folding fan with a carved wooden handle.

After a while, several voices of "Wonderful, wonderful" came from the living room.

Shi Zhongkui couldn't tell the quality of the 20 fans that were passed down from Shi Daizi's family. The inscriptions on the fans, as well as the paintings of Xiang Fei, palm bamboo, elk, and polygonatum odorifera, were not good or bad.

But judging from how fond the county magistrate is of a set of two jade bamboo fans, it seems that the fan in the hand of the stone idiot is indeed a good thing.

This time one was given to me, but the other one was of course given to him by the county magistrate’s distant cousin, the old man from the private school, before the county examination.

According to the old scholar who has received the approval of the county magistrate and will soon work as a clerk in the Ministry of Industry, the jade-bamboo-carved folding fan is not outrageously expensive, only 200 taels of silver per hand.

But it is said that the person who painted it was not only a famous calligrapher from the previous dynasty.

There are also seals left on the fan by several famous calligraphers and painters of the same era, and one of these famous calligraphers is an ancestor of the same clan as the county prince.

And when the old scholar asked Jia Quan to come to inform him, the real purpose was the fan in Shi Duozi's hand.

This also shows that there are many people who know about the good things that Shiduzi has in his hands, and many people even know who's inscriptions and seals are on the fans.

The old guy also knew that Shi Duozi valued the family fan more than his life, so he never thought of forcing him in the first place, and he had no qualifications to force him.

After all, he was just a scholar. If he forced the idiot to death and didn't get the fan, even if he didn't have to face a lawsuit, he wouldn't be able to keep the private school open.

After all, no one dares to send their children to study under a teacher who drives his disciples to death.

After some testing, Shi Zhongkui decided to give up when he saw that Shi Zhongkui had not moved for more than 40 days.

It wasn't until Shi Zhongkui came to the door again carrying a 50-pound bag of rough noodles. After a careful comparison, he determined that Shi Zhongkui's knowledge was no problem not to mention the county examination, but also the scholar examination.

Only then did he make up his mind to recommend it to the county magistrate, and then he and Shi Zhongkui walked around in the rain and mist.

Fortunately, Shi Zhongkui is not the stupid idiot he used to be. After returning home and thinking about it carefully, he finally understood.

At the same time, he also wanted to understand that the old scholar could only be regarded as a person who studied for tricks, and compared to Jia Yucun, he was simply a good person.

Now that the old scholar got what he wanted, he took a letter with him and was waiting to work as a scribe in the Ministry of Industry.

The county magistrate retrieved the calligraphy treasure left by his ancestors. Shi Zhongkui's test scores were not really ranked first, but there was no problem in the top five.

After that, of course everyone is happy.

And it's great joy.

To be honest, the county examination basically tests the familiarity with the Four Books, and the Five Classics are not tested at all.

In other words, as long as you memorize the four books thoroughly, you can basically pass it.

But just like that, there are still some people with gray hair who have not even passed this level.

The first place in the county examination is the first case, which is not a great honor, but the first place is the first place. Shi Zhongkui is somewhat famous in Daxing County.

Unfortunately, basically no one cares.

Comparatively speaking, it's like getting first place in the primary school entrance examination, and everyone will forget about it in a few days.

But if he takes the upcoming prefectural examination and ranks first in the college examination, he will be Xiao Sanyuan.

If you are also first in the provincial examination, the general examination, and the palace examination, it is called the Great Sanyuan.

There are only two people in the entire history who won six yuan, and only one of them won six yuan in a row.

This is the true giant among academic masters, the first in history and unrivaled by anyone.

Of course Shi Zhongkui thought about playing a small three-yuan, a big three-yuan or something.

However, in addition to one's own level, the National Examination and the Imperial Examination also depend on luck.

But if after Xiao San Yuan, I get the first Jie Yuan in the provincial examination.

The emperor might want to create an auspicious sign. The six-yuan success would be the most auspicious thing.

Thinking about the world of Red Mansions, the current emperor has a Supreme Emperor on his head. This is really not impossible.

With this expectation, let alone two fans, if the prefect is willing, Shi Zhongkui will immediately send another set of fans.

"Zhong Kui, I see you are speechless, right?"

Shi Zhongkui cupped his fists and bowed down, "I dare not hide this from Lord En County. I was born late in life and my elders died young, so I really have no chance to receive the teachings of my teacher."

The county magistrate smiled. Although Shi Zhongkui didn't say it clearly, the word "teaching" made it clear what he meant.

"In that case, how about this county naming you Boqian?"

Shi Zhongkui thought for a moment and couldn't help but secretly thought that this county magistrate, who looked to be 30 to 40 years old, was still very good.

The word Zhong in Zhongkui is homophonic to Zhong in Zhongju.

The intention was to win the first prize in one fell swoop.

The word Bo between brothers means first, and Zhong means second. It is indeed appropriate to use the character Bo in all cases.

The most important thing is the word modesty.

Kui versus Qian means that while winning the championship, one must also be humble and polite.

This statement definitely means expectation, and it does not mean that you have to be a true gentleman.

But the ancients' attitude towards calligraphy was not only the teacher's expectations of him, but also an important way to leave a first impression on people.

The importance of words is far more important than the names chosen by parents when they were children.

From now on, in officialdom, in letters between relatives and friends, in articles written by oneself, and in paintings, the surname plus the prefix will be used.

In other words, the name Shi Boqian will be used far more often than Shi Zhongkui in Shi Zhongkui's life from now on.

"Thank you, Master, for the words. Students are polite here."

Shi Zhongkui held the hem of his robe with both hands and made a formal bow.

Seeing that he was so knowledgeable and could understand everything at once, the county magistrate happily stroked his beard and said with a smile, "Get up."

"Thank you, Master."

Yu Honggao didn't care whether the cheap students were too busy trying to make ends meet or whether they didn't really recognize him as a teacher.

His purpose is very clear.

Use the fan to plan for a higher official position for yourself and leave Daxing County.

Shi Zhongkui didn't care whether this cheap teacher was decent, let alone whether he was planning the ancient fans in his hand.

Unless you are the seat teacher during the general examination, that is, the examiner who selects you as a Jinshi.

Although the relationship between the examiner and the students in other scientific examinations has the title of master and apprentice, it is not as strong as imagined.

If this teacher has no future, all he can do is send gifts during the holidays, accompanied by letters of thanks.

On the contrary, it is different.

So to put it bluntly, this relationship is just that one wants to have wings and the other wants to have a backer.

If something happens to the teacher, you can help him out, but you don't have to sacrifice yourself for him.

Of course, if you accept death with a righteous heart or have ulterior motives, that's a different matter.

Yu Honggao thought that Shi Zhongkui, who was not even a scholar, could not imagine that he was that far away.

But I never thought that a modern person would not fall in love with someone so easily.

Even if you remember the other person's kindness, most of them just look for opportunities to return it.
Chapter completed!