On the way home, Chen Yichen secretly regretted it because he suddenly remembered that he had seen a painting called "Scenery Picture of Nandu Fanhui" in the National Museum.

This scroll is like the Qingming Festival, vividly depicting the life scenes of Nanjing City in the Ming Dynasty, leaving a deep impression on Chen Yichen at that time. The street market in the center of the scroll is called Nanshi Street.

"If I had known this, I wouldn't have pretended to be this kind of slap. I promised that boy Zhao Hongjie would go to Nanshi Street to stroll."

Of course, regret is regret. Chen Yichen's decision to go back first was not just because he was pretending. It was more because the amount of information he saw and heard today was too large, so he needed to calm down and sort it out carefully.

In the villa at the end of the alley, Shen was weaving cloth. When he saw his son coming back, he asked unexpectedly: "Chen'er, why did he come back so early today?"

"The teacher taught not much today, so he got off school earlier."

Shen did not have any doubts about Chen Yichen's words. He put down the spindle in his hand and stood up and said, "You're hungry, mom, go and prepare your meal now."

"Mom, don't rush to cook. I'll go back to the house to read a book first."

When Shen heard Chen Yichen say he wanted to go back to the house to read a book first, Shen was subconsciously stunned. It seemed that he had not seen his son so diligently over the years, which made her a little worried and said, "Chen'er, nothing happened in the mansion, right?"

"It's okay, don't worry, mom, I'm preparing for the county trial next year."

Chen Yichen quickly explained, it seems that sometimes the changes are too big, and what they bring is not surprise, but shock.

"Okay, okay, then Chen'er, you can study with peace of mind."

Shen's face was filled with a gratitude when he was sure that nothing happened to his son and just planned to study hard.

"Mom, I'll go back to the house first."

After Chen Yichen finished speaking, he turned around and walked towards his room. However, when he reached the door, he vaguely felt that Shen's reaction was a little strange just now. Even if it was not normal for him to become diligent and studious, why did the first thing he thought of was something happened in Duke Cheng's mansion?

Thinking of this, Chen Yichen stopped and turned around and asked, "Mom, when I was a child, I lived in Duke Cheng's Mansion, right?"

Shen said in a little puzzled manner: "Chen'er, why did you suddenly ask about this?"

"It's nothing. Today I met Chen Qingtong, the only daughter of Taining Hou. She still remembers what happened when we were young."

Hearing Chen Yichen mention Chen Qingtong's name, Shen smiled and nodded and replied: "Yes, Qingtong liked to play with you when she was a child. I still remember that whenever you were not in the house, the little girl would sit on the threshold and wait for you to come back."

"Then why did we leave the Duke's Mansion back then?"

Chen Qingtong's appearance today also reminded Chen Yichen of some dusty memories.

I was not denied by Zhu Yong since I was born. When I was a child, I was treated like a concubine's son. I lived normally in the Duke of Chengguo's mansion, and I only chose a good day to include it in the genealogy.

But all this was suddenly changed. Chen Yichen vaguely remembered that night, when his mother took her away from the Duke Chengguo Mansion in panic, and since then she has lived in this corner of the street, never mentioning what happened back then.

Although his mother, Shen, was a maid, had a gentle, kind, kind, respectful, frugal, and neither competed nor robbed. In theory, it would not anger Duke Cheng. And more importantly, in the third year of Xuande (1428), Zhu Yong was granted the title of Prince Taibao and officially in charge of the Beijing camp, he rarely returned to the Duke Cheng's Mansion in Nanjing. He was not in Nanjing at all during that time, and there was no way to offend him. Therefore, there must be hidden information about this matter.

Chen Yichen used to live a waste of life, only had ideas but no action, and never delved into these things in the past. But Chen Yichen now is different. He knew that it was not easy to recognize one's ancestors and his mother for his sake, and he had to understand what had happened.

When Chen Yichen asked this, the smile on Shen's face instantly froze, and his eyes dodged back: "It's all things from the past, there is no need to mention it again, just study hard."

Seeing his mother's emotions change, Chen Yichen could basically determine that his guess was right. Something happened back then. However, since his mother did not want to mention it, Chen Yichen did not continue to ask, so he nodded.

"I see."

Back in the house, Chen Yichen sat in front of the desk, looking at the Four Books and Five Classics placed on the table, as well as the interpretations and notes written by the sages, and began to think about how to succeed on the road to fame and fame in the shortest time.

My current identity is Mengsheng, and I am a primary school student in the future. Of course, the actual difficulty is definitely far beyond that of primary school students.

The ninth year of Zhengtong, that is, next year, the college entrance examination will be held, which will be held for three years and two exams. The first examination is called the county examination, which is the chief examination by the county magistrate, which is equivalent to the entry-level examination. Those who pass the examination will be qualified to participate in the second provincial examination.

The government examination is an advanced examination and is presided over by a prefect or an official at the same level. If the government examination is passed, then the identity of a child will be obtained.

Although Tongsheng is the most basic imperial examination status, it can be called a watershed for scholars. If even Tongsheng fails to pass the exam, he will probably feel a little uneasy when calling himself a scholar outside.

This is why, in Chengguo Gongshu, Li Da mocked Zhao Hongjie for his identity as a Tongsheng. It is indeed a bit embarrassing that he had not even officially obtained the identity of a scholar for several years.

After passing the county and the government test for two levels, the next is the last level of the college examination. The chief examiner is the supervisor of the academic administration, and the admission is a well-known "scholar" in later generations. It is equivalent to having formal fame and reputation, and the first place in the college examination will be called the head of the case.

If the child is a watershed that distinguishes scholars, then scholars are equivalent to a watershed that is a class, and from then on they are considered to have entered the literati class, and have the privilege of being exempted from corvee labor, not kneeling when seeing the magistrate, and not being able to use punishment at will.

Chen Yichen is not ambitious at the moment and feels that he can easily achieve fame and honor in high school, such as juren, Jinshi, etc., so he only focuses on the basic identity of a scholar.

But then again, scholars are not that easy to take exams. They need to have a deep understanding of the Four Books and Five Classics, and have a certain level of poetry and theory.

Let’s put the theory of poetry and lyrics aside, take the main Four Books and Five Classics as an example. Just from the number of words, the Four Books and Five Classics only have 170,000 words, so it is not difficult to memorize them by rote.

However, the imperial examination is not just for you to write it down, but to take one paragraph or sentence to make a standardized and formatted topic essay. This is the well-known eight-legged essay.

If you want to write a good eight-legged essay, in addition to your own understanding, you also need to refer to the conceptual arguments of the Wenzong masters, such as the famous Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, and then imitate the tone of the ancients, "to establish words on behalf of the sages."

To use the simplest and most crude explanation, the so-called eight-legged essay on the imperial examination is simply a "reading notes" for the predecessors!

It is very simple to buy a college entrance examination exercise book in later generations. Who has not spent two five-year college entrance examination simulations? But in ancient times, it was not a scholarly family or a wealthy official. It was not an easy task to have a huge library of books and collect such "inferior examination teaching aids".

Compared to Chen Yichen, he was lucky. Although he was kicked out of Chengguo Duke's Mansion, he could at least study in a private school in the outer courtyard and enjoy the top educational resources in ancient times.

What Chen Yichen needs to do at present is to convert this educational resource into actual results. Without plug-ins and system help, the only thing that can be relied on is his own efforts.
Chapter completed!