Song Wan Yue waved her hand in panic, “Forget it, I’m most afraid of any great Confucian, big brother go by yourself, I’ll sleep honestly in the inn tomorrow.”
Song Si was still uneasy, “Remember what you said, if you dare to go out on your own, I’ll have someone send you back.”
Song Wangyue really had no intention of going out and nodded honestly, “Don’t worry, big brother.”
Knock, knock.
Along with a knock on the door, a familiar voice rang out at the door, “Brother Song Si.”
Sun Jin?
The two siblings glanced at each other, and Song Si got up to open the door.
“Brother Song Si, you’re finally here!”
Sun Jin stood at the door with an excited look on his face, “I arrived three days ago, and every day I sent my fellows to inquire at various inns, you are really calm, the day after tomorrow is going into the examination hall, and you only arrived today.”
His voice was not small and drew others to look over, Song Si only had to move his body away, “Brother Sun come in and talk.”
As soon as Sun Jin stepped into the room, he saw Song Wan Yue and hurriedly arched his hand, “Miss Song.”
“Young Master Sun.”
Song Wangyue had already stood up and nodded her head slightly.
“You are …… this time.”
“Purely to accompany my big brother on a trip.”
Sun Jin was relieved, Da Cang Bo had made a lot of money because of the sound of the pills, even some of the medicine halls in the capital had heard about it and went to him to buy goods, if Song Wan Yue came to the capital to do business with the pills, Da Cang Bo would have to lose some of his customers.
“You talk to big brother, I’m going back inside.”
“Be my guest, Miss Song.”
When Song Wan Yue went out, Sun Jin sat down in a bold manner, “Brother Song, I’ve missed you since we parted in the capital, I originally wanted to go to your house to learn from you, but my father said it was inconvenient for you to live in the academy, that’s why I didn’t go, how are you?”
“Quite well.”
Sun Jin slapped his thigh happily, “That’s good, with your learning, this time the exam will no longer be a success.”
“Brother Sun has spoken too soon.”
“Not too early, I have confidence in you, when you have high school, don’t forget to give me a hand.”
……
He sat in Song Si’s room for more than an hour before Sun Jin left, he came early and stayed at the high school building, and Master Sun accompanied him to the capital.
The following day, after breakfast and a little reading, seeing that it was the hour, Song Si took the Dean’s message for Old Mr Xu and went downstairs to enquire with the shopkeeper about Old Mr Xu’s place of residence.
“Have you seen it?”
The shopkeeper pointed to some students who were walking in a group, “They are also visiting the Xu residence, just follow them.”
The Xu family was a family of great scholars, and in addition to Old Mr. Xu, Mr. Xu, Mr. Xu and Mr. Xu were also very learned people, and in the year of the exams, all the scholars who came to take the exams would go to the house to pay their respects.
When Song Si went out with his things, he saw the students get into the carriage and hurriedly asked the coachman to follow them.
The Xu family was far from the inn where they were staying, and after walking through several streets and turning several corners, they saw many scholars far ahead, lining up in a long, regular line and handing in their name cards.
The few scholars in front of them also hurriedly went to the queue after getting off the carriage.
The students in the queue were pointing at him, and Sun Jin got off the carriage just in time to see him, and hurriedly trotted up to pull him along, lowering his voice, “Brother Song, don’t jump the queue.”
The students who came were all scholars, and all had writing skills. Once Song Si’s queue jumping was publicized by them, even if Song Si eventually won the first prize, he would still be criticized for it.
“I won’t jump the queue.”
“Huh?”
Sun Jin froze.
“I’ve been asked by the Dean to deliver something to Old Mr. Xu.”
After saying that, he continued to walk towards the door.
Sun Jin froze for a moment and followed him. Old Mr Xu was already old and seldom received the students, it was always Mr Xu the Great and Mr Xu the Second who received them, if they were to meet Old Mr Xu by the light of Song Si and receive his personal guidance, they would surely benefit greatly.
When the two arrived at the door, the Xu House butler looked at them with a smile, “Are you two ……?”
Song Si handed him the dean’s letter, “I am a scholar from Qingping County, and I have been asked by our dean to bring something to Old Master Xu.”
“You two wait a moment.”
The butler turned to go in.
Song Si glanced at Sun Jin, who cheekily arched his hand towards him, and Song Si could do nothing about it.
The butler soon returned, his attitude a few degrees warmer than earlier, “Two of you, please follow me.”
The two followed him inside, walked through the long corridor, turned two more corners and arrived outside a quiet little courtyard, the butler stopped, “Our master is inside, please go in.”
The two men thanked him and pushed open the door of the courtyard, and the strong smell of books came to them.
The two men quickly stepped forward and saluted, “Greetings, Old Mr Xu.”
“Please do not salute.”
The two men stood up straight.
“You are the scholars from Qingping County?”
Song Si sounded respectfully, “In reply to old sir, the student is, he is an old friend of the student, the student asked the dean to bring you a piece of good emblem ink.”
“Anhui ink, good good good.”
Old Mr. Xu stroked his beard and turned to enter the room, “You two follow me in.”
Sun Jin was delighted and winked towards Song Si, who ignored him and went in, handing the box containing the emblematic ink to Old Mr. Xu with both hands respectfully.
Old Mr. Xu took it and put it on the table, opened the box and smelled it, “Good ink, Si Zhi has a heart.”
Si Zhi is the dean’s first name.
When he finished, he closed the box and placed it to one side, asking Song Si, “Is Si Zhi okay?”
“Everything is fine with the dean, he misses old sir and has wanted to return to the capital many times to see you, but the college is so busy that he can’t find the time.”
“Good, good, good, you go back and tell him that I am also in good health, I don’t need him to miss me, tell him to do well in the academy and train up pillars for the country.”
“The student will definitely pass on the message.”
“I read in Si Zhi’s letter that you were the Jieyuan of Qingping Prefecture last year?”
“It’s all because of the Dean’s teaching of the student.”
“No pride, no arrogance, good, very good.”
“I am ashamed to be complimented by the student, old sir.”
“Sit down, since you are Si Zhi’s favoured disciples, I will instruct you.”
“Thank you, sir.”
……
A girl of fifteen or sixteen entered the courtyard, followed by two maids with steaming cups in their hands, the girl opened her mouth just to shout when a book-drying boy hurriedly whispered, “Miss Sun, the old gentleman is seeing a guest.”
The girl covered her mouth, a pair of soulful eyes turned, waved her hand to indicate the two maids to stop where they were, and she tiptoed to the door, her ear pressed against it.
“Sun ……”
The boy who had just spoken was about to say something when another boy stopped him, Miss Sun had always been liked by the old man, even if he knew she was eavesdropping, the old man would not be angry.
The girl listened for a while feeling bored and stood up straight, the gold bracelet on her wrist accidentally touched the door and made a slight sound.