Qi Mo understood the implication behind Governor Qi's words: not investigating would earn the gratitude of everyone in Fengzhou, while pursuing the truth would make enemies of all the prominent families.
"Zhan Feiyu might not care about these families in Fengzhou, but Mo'er, don't forget about the Chen family. If the Chen family makes a move, all those scholars in Fengzhou who aspire to official careers through the imperial examinations will become Zhan Feiyu's enemies," Governor Qi had to admire Zhan Feiyu's strategy. Setting aside her scholarly talent, her astuteness surpassed that of many.
Looking at his contemplative eldest son, Governor Qi patted his shoulder, "In the future, when you clash with others in court, think about what Zhan Feiyu did today. Be lenient when you should be, but for scoundrels like Chai Yi, you must be decisive and strike hard!"
When Zhan Feiyu first faced Commander Liu, she was also overbearing and aggressive, leading to Commander Liu's leg being broken a second time. Yet, she was magnanimous towards these families in Fengzhou. A balance of firmness and flexibility was the way to navigate the world.
"After all this talk, won't she still have to get married and eventually stay in the inner chambers to manage the household and raise children?" Qi Yan interjected with resentment, wishing to see Zhan Feiyu's wings clipped so she could only be a virtuous woman bound by traditional virtues.
Governor Qi was almost angered to death by his younger son. With a stern face, he sneered, "She could marry even a prince. In the future, you'll be kneeling and bowing to Zhan Feiyu!"
"I..." Qi Yan was choked with anger but couldn't utter a retort, so he turned away and sulked.
Qi Mo couldn't help but smile. It was good that Zhan Feiyu was so powerful that his younger brother could only look up to her. This way, he wouldn't harbor any thoughts of revenge. Just like this time, why did Zhang Changsong and the others kidnap Qi Heng? It was out of fear of Zhan Feiyu.
Upon returning to Nanxuan Prefecture, Zhan Feiyu received a letter from Scholar Gu from the capital. As expected, she was thoroughly scolded. Along with the letter came a small stack of homework.
"Teacher, this is definitely retaliation!" Zhan Feiyu exclaimed in horror as she flipped through the papers, genuinely questioning if this was just ten days' worth of homework. It looked more like a month's worth of work.
And what did "set up a number room" even mean?
Zhan Feiyu looked out the window at the bright sun, then turned to He Sheng behind her, "On such a hot day, staying in a number room will surely lead to heatstroke!"
He Sheng looked at the nearly frantic Zhan Feiyu sympathetically and hesitated, "I'll have someone build the number room in the shade."
So it still had to be built? With a look of resignation, Zhan Feiyu waved her hand, suddenly regretting going to Fengzhou. "Fine, build it sturdily. In three years, there's the provincial examination, and one has to stay in the number room for nine days."
After He Sheng left, Zhan Feiyu resignedly sat down at her desk and began her homework with the spirit of Yu Gong moving mountains. "A gentleman who is not grave lacks dignity; learning makes one not ignorant. Uphold loyalty and faithfulness; do not befriend those who are not your equal. When you have erred, do not fear to correct it."
This quote is from "The Analects: Xue Er." It means Confucius said: "A gentleman, not grave, lacks dignity; learning can make one not ignorant; one should uphold loyalty and faithfulness, and not befriend those who are not of the same way. When one has erred, one should not fear to correct it."
The topic was not complicated; in fact, it was quite standard. However, Zhan Feiyu knew that the more ordinary the topic, the harder it was to make an essay stand out.
From the county examination to the prefectural examination to the final imperial examination, there were anywhere from a few hundred to over a thousand candidates. Each examination required writing at least three "zhiyiwen" (essay on current affairs). For the examiner to select good essays from thousands of papers, the opening must be brilliant.
If the chief examiner's questions were tricky, or even biased and strange, it was easier to stand out. Ordinary topics tested each candidate's essay foundation. If the opening was common, the essay might sink without a trace.
While grinding ink, Zhan Feiyu pondered. Since there were gentlemen, there were naturally their opposites, the petty men. And Confucius consistently distinguished between gentlemen and petty men based on their moral cultivation.
In "The Analects," "gentleman" refers to a person of virtue and the goal of Confucius's teaching and nurturing of disciples.
Zhan Feiyu glanced at the topic again. To become a gentleman: first, one must be solemn; second, one must be good at learning; third, one must be honest and trustworthy; fourth, one must admire the virtuous; and fifth, one must know when to correct one's mistakes.
By the time the ink was ready, Zhan Feiyu had already conceived the essay. She picked up her brush, dipped it in ink, and quickly wrote the opening sentence: "For a gentleman in learning, it is essential to possess substance and exhaust the Way."
Perhaps it was because she had fully grasped the meaning of a gentleman, her thoughts flowed like a spring. The thesis sentence was also written in one go: "Indeed, substance without solemnity and learning that is not firm cannot be. However, if the Way is not fully realized, how can one achieve success?"
Time passed little by little. He Nuan had finished packing her luggage and was about to ask Zhan Feiyu if she wanted to order dinner. However, after glancing through the window, she quietly withdrew.
When He Nuan reached the backyard, bricks and wood for building the number room were piled in an open space. Two craftsmen were already busy.
"Have the foundations already been dug?" He Nuan asked in surprise, looking suspiciously at He Sheng. Had her elder brother secretly accepted benefits from Scholar Gu? Otherwise, why was he so enthusiastic?
"It's just a number room. It can be built by evening," He Sheng said in a deep voice. How big could a number room be? If it weren't for preparing for the provincial examination in three years, there wouldn't be a need to dig foundations; bricks and wood would suffice.
Thinking of the cramped and narrow number room, He Nuan couldn't help but laugh, "Miss will definitely hold a grudge."
Scholar Gu was far away in the capital, and Zhan Feiyu couldn't reach him. Therefore, this grudge would surely fall upon He Sheng, who was responsible for building the number room. Who told him to be so proactive? The letter was received in the morning, and the number room would be built by sunset. In the summer heat, it could be used after two or three days of drying.
He Sheng glanced at the gloating He Nuan, "Miss likes to study; she won't be angry."
Miss did study diligently, He Nuan agreed and nodded, "Scholar Gu assigned a lot of homework. I'll go to the kitchen to make some soup to nourish Miss."
In the study, if Zhan Feiyu knew about their conversation, she would definitely say, "Unless my brain is waterlogged, who likes writing 'zhi hu zhe ye'?"
"If you look at the green mountains, they are not mountains; one must write a five-character, six-rhyme poem. If you look at the water, it is not water. If ancient people had human rights, Zhan Feiyu would not have chosen the path of the imperial examinations..."
Zhan Feiyu was currently finishing up: "A gentleman should also know what is important! The sage discusses learning, with the internal and external complementing each other, and their achievements are indispensable; they are connected from beginning to end, and their order cannot be disrupted. This can be called meticulous."
Half an hour passed. Zhan Feiyu put down her brush, stretched her stiff shoulders, placed the finished essay by the window, and weighed it down with a paperweight. After the ink dried, she would revise it, then transcribe it neatly before sending it to the capital.
Her peripheral vision swept across the stack of homework beside her, and Zhan Feiyu, with a pained expression, continued.
...
Far away in Zhongzhou, at the Chen Residence.
Unlike Zhan Feiyu's small courtyard by the side of the official road in Shangsi County, the Chen Residence occupied a vast area, spanning half a street from East Street. The five-courtyard mansion was hidden among tall trees.
The garden on the west side had a lake. Every summer, the ladies of the Chen family loved to row on the lake, picking lotus leaves and lotus seeds, which perfectly fit the saying: "In Jiangnan, one can pick lotus; how lush the lotus leaves are."
"Father, people from Fengzhou have returned. Chai Yi is dead, and everything has been handled." Scholar Chen's expression turned grim at the thought of Zhan Feiyu.
The Chen family was forced to send assassins to the Fengzhou prison to silence witnesses. Although the matter was resolved, the Chen family had lost face.
Old Master Chen, wearing a cotton long gown, was trimming a potted plant with scissors. He wore a straw hat on his head. If not for Scholar Chen's respectful demeanor, outsiders would have thought he was just an ordinary elderly gardener.
"Look at the trunk of this Juniperus chinensis," Old Master Chen snipped off the branches growing to the side with two cuts.
Scholar Chen glanced sideways, "This shape resembles a dragon."
"Indeed. Initially, it only resembled a dragon by a third. With gradual nurturing and trimming, it now has a basic form," Old Master Chen said slowly, handing the scissors to a nearby attendant. "Jade cannot be made into a useful object without being worked on, and trees are no different. How can people be different?"
Scholar Chen followed his father into the house, and the servants who had been waiting immediately offered scented soap for washing hands.
A moment later, Old Master Chen sat at the head of the table, picked up his teacup, and took two sips. "His Majesty is in his prime, and the princes have all come of age. I have nurtured this Juniperus chinensis for five years. The First Prince wishes to transform into a dragon, but unfortunately, time is insufficient and ability is lacking."
Everyone understood the principle. Scholar Chen said with a wry smile, "Father, the First Prince is in the capital. Even if he wishes to lie low, the other princes are all cultivating their own factions. The tree may desire stillness, but the wind will not cease."
This was what was meant by onlookers seeing clearly while participants were confused. It wasn't that the First Prince was impatient, but being in such an environment, how could he be free from desire? If he lost the initiative to other princes, the entire game would be lost.
Old Master Chen put down his cup, narrowed his eyes, and observed the equally impatient Scholar Chen, "You say that young girl is a disciple of Gu Qingzhou, so why does she still have to study so hard?"
With Scholar Gu as her teacher, Zhan Feiyu could be said to have ascended to heaven. She didn't need to do anything. After reaching adulthood, whether it was the princes of suitable age or the scions of noble families in the capital, they would undoubtedly come knocking to propose marriage.
Before Scholar Chen could speak, Old Master Chen continued, "Furthermore, movable-type printing was submitted to the court by Zhan Feiyu. With such an achievement worthy of being recorded in history, does she need to worry about her future? As long as Gu Qingzhou submits a memorial, His Majesty will not be stingy with a title."
"Even setting aside this matter, earlier in Nanxuan Prefecture, Zhan Feiyu gained fame by stepping on the Chen family's rice shop. Prince Yu and the court's military generals will remember this favor," Old Master Chen said calmly about this matter, indicating that the hundred thousand piculs of grain were not even a drop in the bucket for the Chen family.
Old Master Chen leisurely stirred the tea leaves in his cup. "According to the scout's report: Zhan Feiyu studies until the hour of the rat, wakes up before dawn, and does this every day. If she misses a day due to other matters, she will make up for the missed homework even if it means staying up all night. Gu Qingzhou once joked with His Majesty that Zhan Feiyu's stunted growth was due to staying up late to study."
How bitter was studying? Anyone who had taken the imperial examinations knew it was truly ten years of hard study in obscurity! If it were a student from a poor family, even the most handsome scholar would become a disheveled figure with a skinny horse.
In Old Master Chen's eyes, Zhan Feiyu was the child of someone else's family. At this moment, he could only sigh, "For the First Prince to gain His Majesty's favor, he should not be recruiting officials and cultivating factions in court, but should be like Zhan Feiyu. Once he has achieved merit and built his career, why worry about not reaching that position!"
Old Master Chen had a treasonous thought he did not voice: even if His Majesty did not ultimately establish the First Prince as the crown prince, as long as he possessed sufficient strength and controlled the military power, why should he care about the title of crown prince? The struggle for imperial power would ultimately be reduced to the adage: the winner takes all, the loser is vanquished.
"Zhan Feiyu has already made an enemy of our Chen family," Scholar Chen did not want to boost others' morale while dampening their own. Moreover, given the First Prince's temperament, Zhan Feiyu was in Nanxuan Prefecture, so things were relatively peaceful.
But once Zhan Feiyu entered the capital, Scholar Chen knew without a doubt what would happen. It would be better to eliminate her while she was still weak and nip the problem in the bud.
After a long silence, Old Master Chen finally began to speak, "There is just over a month until the imperial examination."
Scholar Chen's face lit up with joy, but Old Master Chen had already closed his eyes to rest. Scholar Chen knew he could not ask further, so he got up to leave. With his father's intervention, Zhan Feiyu was doomed!
In the dark of night, a figure silently infiltrated an ordinary small courtyard. This alley was close to the examination hall, so houses in this area were rented out long in advance when the imperial examinations were held.
"This handwriting is not difficult to imitate," inside the room, by the candlelight, a young man sitting at the table quickly flipped through seven or eight pages of paper, comparing each character. "The standard 'guan ge ti' is the easiest to imitate. The style of the calligraphy is nascent, but the brushwork is insufficient. A month is enough time."
The man in black standing by the table took out two silver notes and placed them on the table, each worth five hundred taels. His hoarse voice rang out, "After the job is done, there will be another thousand taels. Remember, it must be imitated to the point of being indistinguishable from the original. You will be rewarded handsomely in the future."
"Don't worry, I know what to do," the young man replied with a smile, his expression more relaxed than ever.
More than the two thousand taels of silver, he cared more about his future. Even if he became a seventh-rank county magistrate later, as the saying goes, "Ten years as an honest prefect, a hundred thousand in silver!" A county magistrate might not be as good as a prefect, but it could at least ensure his lifelong prosperity and wealth.
Zhan Feiyu was unaware that the Chen family planned to make a move during the imperial examination. Even if she knew, she would be powerless.
As officials of the Chen faction were spread throughout Jiangnan, the Chen family could easily interfere not only in the imperial examination but even in the provincial examination.
In the blink of an eye, more than half a month had passed. July seemed even hotter. Emerging from the number room built in the backyard, Zhan Feiyu rushed to her bedroom, "A Nuan, I need the 'Mei Ren Zhuang' scented soap. I stink..."
He Nuan pursed her lips and smiled. In this weather, one could break out in a sweat just by staying indoors, let alone in that cramped number room, which was like a steamer.
And Zhan Feiyu had entered the number room twice since it was built. With the idea of sharing blessings and hardships, she had even invited classmates from the county school who were participating in the imperial examination a few days ago, earning her the title of "provoker of heaven's wrath."
After washing up, Zhan Feiyu, smelling the faint floral scent on her body, finally felt alive. "I remember the Third Young Master is coming today?"
On that day, Zhan Feiyu, along with Scholar Wei and the Zhu Changyun brothers, returned to Nanxuan Prefecture first. Ming San stayed in Fengzhou to handle the follow-up matters. A few days ago, Zhan Feiyu received a letter from Ming San, stating that he had returned and would come to Shangsi County after two days of rest.
He Nuan took a cloth to wipe Zhan Feiyu's wet hair. "Yes, he should be here in an hour. Does Miss want to go to the official road to welcome him?"
Zhan Feiyu's past ten-plus days had been miserable, but fortunately, she had finally finished Scholar Gu's stack of homework. "Yes, it's a good opportunity to get out and stretch my legs."