Chapter 111: A Mistaken Entrance and an Erroneous Exit

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Moreover, Prefect Lu was not only frugal in his meals, but his official robe and sedan chair were also well worn, with nothing new from inside out. Naturally, this earned him unanimous praise from the scholars.

“Excellent! Although Prefect Lu is a patrol official, at heart he remains a studious man who practices self-restraint and modesty!”

“Seeing is believing—the rumors are simply false!”

Little did they know, it was because Prefect Lu was superstitious; he believed that the sedan chair carried his official fortune and the robe symbolized his rank, so he dared not replace them, fearing he would have to start accumulating luck all over again. After eleven years, however, no great fortune had come his way...

Only Li, the local gentry of Tucheng, secretly wondered. Last night, Prefect Lu had been quite indulgent—he devoured a lamb leg and a dog leg and drank half a jin of ten-year-aged Er Langtan liquor. How was it that today he was back to pretending? Could it be that he sang the song of whichever mountain he arrived at—that upon entering the academy he must act like a scholar?

It must be so. How admirable!

Li’s imagination ran wild, elevating his opinion of Prefect Lu considerably.

Only the attendant knew the truth: his master was suffering a relapse of an old ailment, requiring a light diet to avoid internal heat, and he must restrict his food intake to lessen the burden on his body...

~~

After lunch, Prefect Lu intended to take his usual midday rest.

Suddenly, he recalled he was in an academy where napping might be looked down upon. To avoid being branded as lazy, he had his attendant brew a cup of bitterly strong tea, frowned as he drank it, then shakily made his way to the main hall.

Inside, Chief Zhu and the others had long been waiting respectfully.

Prefect Lu felt a surge of relief—had he taken a nap, they would have been left waiting outside, and that would have been embarrassing... He summoned his strength and cupped his hands in greeting.

“Thank you all for your patience.”

“Your efforts are much appreciated, sir,” the scholars replied with respect. After half a day’s interaction, they had all come to regard Prefect Lu with sincere esteem.

The attendant placed a hollow cushion on the official’s chair and helped Prefect Lu sit down.

The servants served tea again, and the group began with some casual conversation. Qian, once a close aide to Prefect Lu, took the lead in easing the atmosphere, which quickly became relaxed. As Prefect Lu let his guard down, he couldn’t help but yawn widely.

“Ah... ha...”

“Sir, you have traveled far and worked hard. Would you like to rest a little longer?” Zhu Li offered kindly.

But Prefect Lu, still burdened by psychological strain, was convinced they would mock him behind his back if he did and waved them off.

“No need. During busy times, I go three days and nights without sleep. A simple journey is nothing.”

“You are truly diligent and conscientious, sir!” Qian Huairen said with heartfelt admiration, though he knew Prefect Lu’s routine was three meals and two naps, needing six hours of sleep.

Prefect Lu gave him a grateful look, cleared his throat, and said, “Let’s begin the examination.”

“Please, sir, set the questions,” Chief Zhu said with a bow.

But there was no need to ask—everyone knew the test would be on literary composition. Poetry and couplet writing were the domain of officials from the imperial examination proper; as a patrol official, Prefect Lu was more concerned with practical matters, with no room for such literary flourishes.

Sure enough, Prefect Lu produced three envelopes from his sleeve and spoke gravely:

“To assess academic achievement, nothing surpasses literary composition. I have prepared one question each for the scholars of the upper, middle, and lower study halls. After Chief Zhu has them compose their essays, I will personally review the papers and reward excellence.”

“Understood,” Chief Zhu took the envelopes, noted the labels ‘Upper’, ‘Middle’, and ‘Lower’, and handed them to Qian Huairen, Dean Chen, and Master Zhu respectively.

“Your orders, sir,” the three accepted the packets and departed to their respective halls.

~~

Qian Huairen carried the envelope marked ‘Upper’ to the upper study hall.

There were only twenty students in the upper hall, all seated together in a classroom.

After the students respectfully greeted him, Qian Huairen opened the envelope and read the question:

“Do not fear to correct past mistakes.”

This was a simple question from the Four Books, the most basic kind, usually not even assigned to those in the lower hall anymore.

Qian Huairen frowned slightly. Why so simple? He knew Prefect Lu’s level—though a patrol official, his scholarship was genuine.

At this time, only students with the title of ‘shengyuan’ qualified to donate to become patrol officials; ordinary commoners, no matter how wealthy, could not.

The purpose of the donation was to study while serving as a patrol official, eventually enabling one to become an official. Unlike later dynasties that allowed direct donation for official rank, this era required this route.

Thus, those who mock patrol officials often lack the qualification themselves...

Qian Huairen sensed something was amiss, but relying on his experience with bureaucratic intricacies, he calmly announced the question.

“Such a question for us to answer?” The students stared in disbelief.

“Humility! Humility!” Qian Huairen slapped the table and scolded, “Prefect Lu wishes to test your scholarly attitude. Would you neglect simple questions during the county examination?”

“Yes, we understand,” the students admitted, lowering their heads to write.

Meanwhile, the lower study hall was in an uproar.

“Such a question for us too?” The students similarly gaped.

But their reaction was quite different from the seniors', because the question they received was a “patchwork” question—

“Is it the foundation of human nature? Confucius said: ‘Fine words and an ingratiating appearance.’”

A patchwork question combines disconnected passages from the classics to test students’ ability to integrate meaning and interpret principles.

For example, this question’s first half is from the Analects, “Filial piety and fraternal duty are the root of benevolence,” a core concept explained by Youzi.

The latter half is another passage: “Confucius said: Fine words and an ingratiating appearance rarely accompany benevolence.”

At first glance, they seem unrelated, requiring the student’s own understanding to connect and reconcile.

There are many rules involved, differing greatly from a complete question.

As noted by the famous minister Qiu Jun in his commentary, “Recently, exam questions often forcibly splice passages, fragmenting meaning—connecting where it should not connect, severing where it should not sever.”

Thus, during the academy’s foundational years, students were not taught patchwork questions.

However, because the grandmaster’s provincial exam frequently employed patchwork questions to prevent plagiarism of standard essays, the academy introduced instruction on them in the final year.

Therefore, this question should be for the upper hall, not for the novice lower hall students.

Master Zhu also sensed the problem and told the students, “Wait here a moment.”

He rushed to the upper hall, saw the question Qian Huairen had written on a whiteboard, and realized what had happened.

He quickly handed the question to Chief Zhu.

Qian Huairen understood immediately—Prefect Lu must have confused the questions for the upper and lower halls.

Master Zhu whispered, “We should switch them quickly.”

“...” Chief Zhu thought for a moment, then shook his head.

“Why not?” Master Zhu asked, puzzled.

“Is the question wrong?” Qian Huairen pointed to the whiteboard question softly.

“Too simple,” Master Zhu said.

“Is too simple really wrong?” Qian Huairen pressed.

“No,” Master Zhu shook his head. “But the lower hall’s question is too difficult; the students can’t handle it yet.”

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“Then teach them,” Qian Huairen whispered. “Perhaps Prefect Lu and Chief Zhu agreed to increase the difficulty to select the best of the best.”

“Is it necessary to force this?” Master Zhu sighed. “Wouldn’t honesty be better?”

When Ban Gu praised Prince Liu De of Hejian for “studying diligently and seeking truth from facts,” he coined that phrase...

“No, Old Zhu,” Qian Huairen was more exasperated. “We invited him here not to test the students.”

“Why test the students then?” Master Zhu began to understand.

“Exactly. Our goal is to please him, to raise his opinion of our academy so that more students can pass the county exam,” Qian Huairen said. “If we give them a question they can answer and then cause him annoyance by making it harder, damaging his pride, how can he think well of us?”

“So we need to help him save face?” Master Zhu asked.

“Precisely,” Chief Zhu nodded. “It’s not difficult, and Prefect Lu will appreciate it.”

“Understood,” Master Zhu was convinced. Though not a great scholar himself, Chief Zhu was savvy with such subtleties.

~~

Master Zhu returned to the lower hall with the question.

“To those of you who asked, this is the question,” he said.

“We don’t know how to answer, sir,” the students wailed.

“I will teach you now,” Master Zhu proceeded to explain the rules and methods of patchwork questions clearly and simply.

“Begin,” he said at the end, easing their nerves, “It won’t affect your scores anyway—just treat it as harmless practice.”

“Yes, sir,” the students reluctantly began.

Su Lu recalled what Master Zhang had once said: solving questions is like solving riddles, especially patchwork ones. As long as you can link the two parts logically and expound on Confucian principles, the question is solved. The rest follows methodically.

Fortunately, the two parts of this question shared the character ‘benevolence,’ giving the students a clue.

But relying only on that character was insufficient to unify the context logically.

The first ‘benevolence’ referred to filial piety and brotherly respect as its foundation; the second said flattering words and false appearances rarely accompany true benevolence.

Untrained students might be confused.

Though untrained in patchwork questions, Su Lu had practiced many more complex types and quickly grasped the core of this question—he had to solve it backwards!

Starting with the latter phrase: “Rarely benevolent,” the key word besides ‘benevolence’ was ‘sincerity.’

Connecting that to the first phrase, he realized filial piety and fraternal duty arise from genuine sincerity, so the first phrase could be interpreted as “Sincerity is the root of benevolence!”

Sincerity is the root of benevolence; without sincerity, benevolence is rare!

Having unlocked this, the rest was straightforward. In less than half an hour, Su Lu completed his essay, then carefully checked, revised, and copied it neatly. He silently counted down:

“Three, two, one...”

Sure enough, the wooden clapper sounded, signaling the collection of papers.

This was no trivial game but a training in time management.

Without clocks, this skill was vital during examinations.

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