A silvery moon was shining through the pines, the limpid brooks were gurgling o’er the stones. (TN: “Autumn Evening in My Mountain Abode” by Wang Wei)

If the star shines on me one day, Lu would ride the horse for you. 

This old xiucai was over fifty this year. He became a gongsheng more than twenty years ago and was a student in Ziyang Academy. It was a pity that he failed every year in the xiangshi examination, but he was the clearest among the students present about the situation in the imperial court. When everyone heard what he said, they came over.

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The old xiucai said: “Grand Secretary Luo was a serious Songqing Party member and a key talent of theirs. When the late emperor was still in power, the Songqing Party members had great power in the court. Although something happened to the leader of the Songqing Party, Zhong daru, later and half of the Songqing Party members were imprisoned, no one in the world does not know that the Songqing Party members were truly virtuous ministers who benefited the common people! Therefore, even if Zhong daru conspired against the emperor, the current emperor did not execute him, but instead imprisoned him for twenty-five years. Except for Zhong daru, the other members of the Songqing Party who had nothing to do with the rebellion were not punished, and Grand Secretary Luo is one of them.”

A young xiucai said: “I have never heard of the Songqing Party members.”

The old xiucai glanced at him: “Of course you don’t know, Zhong daru has been in prison for twenty-five years, and the Songqing Party had been dispersed long ago. The great scholars among them are either dead or scattered. I’m afraid you don’t know, even our Gusu City Governor Liang Song, Liang daren was also a member of the Songqing Party back then!”

“Is that so!”

Tang Shen opened his eyes wide and said in his heart: Is that so!

As early as when the old xiucai mentioned Zhong daru, Tang Shen had a feeling. He guessed that Liang Song was also a member of the Songqing Party. As expected, Liang Song was indeed, and given his status, he was probably quite prestigious in the Songqing Party.

The old xiucai continued: “The current emperor is really magnanimous and did not punish the Songqing Party members. I don’t know the rest, but most of the Songqing Party members love to study “Spring and Autumn” and are good at “Zuo Zhuan”. Our Liang daren is like this, I wonder if Grand Secretary Luo is the same?”

Soon the subject moved on and everyone started talking again about the xiangshi examination next year.

Sun Yue listened to the old xiucai‘s words and kept them in mind: “”Spring and Autumn”, okay, I will study “Spring and Autumn” carefully in the next year, just in case luck befalls me and I pass the exam!”

Tang Shen suddenly sneered and said, “Not necessarily.”

Sun Yue paused suddenly, then said in annoyance: “Tang Shen, why do you say that I will not necessarily pass!”

Tang Shen came to his senses and realized that he had just said the wrong thing and Sun Yue had misunderstood him. He hurriedly explained: “I’m not saying that you may not pass, I was just thinking about what the xiucai said just now and didn’t pay attention to your words for a moment. My “not necessarily” is a refute of his words, not of you.”

Sun Yue: “Hmmph, it better be so. So you think what he said is wrong? Maybe Grand Secretary Luo doesn’t like “Spring and Autumn”?”

Tang Shen: “How do I know this? Why don’t I ask Mr. Liang for you tomorrow?”

Sun Yue’s eyes suddenly lit up: “I’m afraid Tang Shen is an auspicious omen sent by the heavens to save me and help me pass the exam!”

Tang Shen smiled, and seeing that Sun Yue didn’t say anymore, he started thinking again.

The old xiucai said that the emperor was magnanimous and did not blame the Songqing Party members. This may not necessarily be the case! If there was really no blame, why would Zhong daru be imprisoned for more than 20 years? Why was Liang Song sent to Gusu City as governor? Even the great Grand Secretary Luo, despite his outstanding literary reputation, was just an idle Grand Secretary of the Hanlin Academy.

Magnanimous?

Not necessarily!

After class, Tang Shen went to Liang Manor and handed in the two eight-legged essays and test poems he had written today.

After Liang Song finished his review, he asked Tang Shen to change a few sentences on the spot. Tang Shen said: “Sir, I heard that the examiner who will come to Jiangnan Academy next year to invigilate the examination is Grand Secretary Luo.”

Liang Song was stunned: “So it is him?”

Tang Shen: “It’s just a rumor. The examiner for next year’s xiangshi examination has not yet been officially decided.”

Liang Song said: “I haven’t contacted Luo Changji for twenty years, and I haven’t seen him for many years. We should be able to meet him at Jiangnan Academy next year.” After a pause, he added: “You have to take the xiangshi examination next year, but now you can study some more “Gongyang Commentary”.”

Tang Shen’s eyes flickered: “Grand Secretary Luo likes “Gongyang Commentary”?”

Liang Song lightly flicked his forehead and scolded him with a smile: “This little rascal, it’s all good if you know. Yet you have to say it out loud, you’re just asking for a beating.”

Tang Shen blinked innocently.

Tang Shen told Sun Yue that Grand Secretary Luo liked “Gongyang Commentary”. Fatty Sun was very happy, insisting on treating Tang Shen to a meal of boxiagong from the most famous Xixia Tower in Gusu City. As soon as he finished speaking, he froze and murmured: “I’m being stupid again, isn’t it you, Tang sanyuan, who opened Xixia Tower? You, Tang Shen, have only been in Gusu City for a year and a half. But you have become a big shot, and even my parents have mentioned you.”

Tang Shen: “Don’t want to eat at Xixia Tower anymore?”

“Eat, why not! Little boss Tang, would you like to eat a dine and dash meal?”

Tang Shen: “Ha, what a wonderful thought! Sun Yue, treat me!”

Sun Yue scolded: “You are a penny pinching xiucai, you!” But there was a smile on his face.

This was not the first time for Sun Yue to come to Xixia Tower. He and Tang Shen entered the restaurant and went directly to the seating area on the second floor. When the waiter in the restaurant saw that it was Tang Shen, he served him more enthusiastically. Sun Yue ordered his favorite chicken soup pot, and five portions of Xixia Tower’s famous mutton slices. By the time the two of them were done eating they had worked up a sweat and felt extremely refreshed.

Before going out, Sun Yue saw a notice posted outside Xixia Tower.

“Eh, collecting essay competition? Collecting essay, en… collecting essays for essay competition, which is appropriate. Tang Shen, what are you doing at Xixia Tower?”

Tang Shen glanced at it: “As you said, collecting essays.”

Sun Yue looked at the essay rules carefully.

“The Xixia Cup Essay Contest will collect all kinds of stories on legends and myths from the 15th day of the twelfth lunar month to the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month. All people in Gusu can submit essays, and the text is required to be within 5,000 words, and the content is not limited. Essay Contest No. 1 winner will receive a special ‘Xixia Luminous Cup’ made by Xixia Tower…”

After reading the rules, Sun Yue exclaimed: “My good fellow, Tang Shen, you have spent a lot of money! Did you suddenly become kind-hearted? Instead of being an auspicious god, you want to be a philanthropic god and help those poor scholars in Gusu City?”

Tang Shen: “When was I never a philanthropic god? Tang’s Logistics is right there as proof. Fatty Sun, please open your eyes and take a look.”

“No, I keep feeling something is wrong. You can’t just be doing good deeds like this.”

“I am indeed doing good deeds.”

Sun Yue was puzzled, but Tang Shen smiled slightly.

In the next half month, Sun Yue finally knew what Tang Shen wanted to do and what he was doing.

The essay competition in Xixia Tower was promoted by the workers of Tang’s Logistics and caused a sensation in the entire Gusu City. There were not many stories written at this time. The reason why many scholars wrote stories was because they could not pass the exams and become an official. They could only write some essays and submit them to bookstores to earn some meager wages for their manuscripts and make a living this way.

In Tang Shen’s essay competition, the first place would get a rare treasure, the luminous cup, which was worth one hundred taels of silver!

The scholars in Gusu City went crazy.

It was just a fantasy story, who couldn’t write it?

Everyone wrote and submitted their manuscripts one after another. In just five days, Accountant Lin received more than 70 completed manuscripts. He said with emotion: “Little boss, the reward for your essay competition is really enviable. If I wasn’t too old to write anymore, I would also want to write an essay to participate!”

Scholars from poor families participated in the competition for prizes, but scholars from wealthy families also participated. The reason was that a certain dandy scholar said in a certain poetry meeting: “The essay competition in Xixia Tower is really interesting. No one had done anything like this in Gusu City before, only collecting fantasy stories. It’s just a luminous cup, yet those poor scholars write essays like crazy. A distant cousin of mine wrote five essays in ten days!”

Another dandy said: “Oh, no need to talk about their literary talent. If we don’t happen to not care about the luminous cup prize, I’m afraid the top ten spots in the essay competition will all be ours!”

Everyone laughed.

Someone suggested: “Why don’t we give it a try and let those poor scholars know our level.”

“Then let’s give it a try! If I get that luminous cup, I don’t want it. I’ll just give it to my cousin, hahahaha.”

Regardless of the reason for participating in the essay competition, after the submission period ended, Accountant Lin received a total of 251 manuscripts. These short stories range from fairy tales to romance. There were even a few essays with lead scenes!

The audition review was done by Tang Shen, Accountant Lin, and some talents from Tang’s Logistics. When Tang Shen suddenly saw an explicit essay, he didn’t react at first. When he finally realized what he was reading, he silently took the essay out of the manuscript and took it to his room to read at night.

“Looking back and hugging each other with passion… switching positions by turns.”

Tang Shen’s face turned red.

F**k! These ancient people who write porn were always tactful and indirect. But why did it feel more alluring than the stuff written by modern people!

After the New Year, Tang Shen would be fifteen years old. In ancient times, he could get a wife at this age. He read pornographic stories all night, and originally thought that he might dream about something he shouldn’t dream about. Unexpectedly, after a night without dreams, he woke up the next day feeling refreshed from a good night’s sleep.

When he got up in the morning, Tang Shen looked at the few pornographic stories and sighed expressionlessly: “Sure enough, I am still too upright.”

He then burned all the pornographic stories.

The audition ended, and Tang Shen, Accountant Lin and others selected thirty essays.

No one would have thought that they would actually send these articles to Gusu Bookstore and publish them directly in the daily newspaper!

When they saw their essays appearing in the newspaper, the scholars who submitted them were stunned. They hurried to see the notice on Xixia Tower.

“Xixia Tower possesses the rights to handle all submissions.”

Scholars: “…”

This Tang sanyuan was really good at doing business!

If they had lived for another few thousand years, these scholars might have used a more appropriate word to describe Tang Shen: “this evil capitalist!” But now, they could only sigh helplessly. But soon, they discovered that Tang Shen didn’t really want to submit their manuscripts to bookstores to make money.

“That’s right. How much money could you make by submitting manuscripts to newspapers? Tang sanyuan has offered a luminous cup as the top prize.”

Ten essays were published in the newspaper every day, and they were all published in three days.

On the fourth day, there was a notice for an essay competition in the newly published newspaper. The scholars who submitted manuscripts burst into laughter after seeing the notice.

“It turns out that essay competitions could be done like this!”

All Gusu people who have purchased newspapers in the past three days were the judges of this essay competition. Whichever article you like, you only need to cut out that article and cut out the dates of all three issues of the newspapers then glue the articles together with the dates of the three issues of newspapers and send them to the bookstore. And this was considered the overall voting process.

The people of Gusu have never seen such a novel thing. They were just ordinary people. In fact, not many were literate. Those who could buy books and newspapers were those who had scholars in their families. Most of these scholars did not submit articles. They just heard about the essay competition and bought the newspapers to read.

Others submit articles and you select your favorite.

It was as if they had become the examiner!

In the past, others were the examiners and they were the examinee. Who would have thought they could be examiners for once in this life?

All of a sudden, all the newspapers that had not been sold out in the previous few days were sold out. The Gusu Bookstore received countless votes. The name of Xixia Tower once again became a topic of conversation for people in Gusu after dinner. The business of Xixia Tower was booming.

A luminous cup worth a hundred taels of silver, in exchange for such sensational marketing in Gusu City.

When Liang Song learned about this, he smiled and said, “You little boy, there is a reason why you don’t want to study. You are very cunning.”

Tang Shen said aggrievedly: “Who said that I don’t want to study anymore? I do so much homework every day, yet sir still says that I don’t want to study!”

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Liang Song: “Oh, please!”

“Sir, you slandered me. I feel aggrieved. Can’t I even say anything about it?”

“Tang Shen.”

“Sir?”

“Begone with you!”

“Okay!”

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