Chapter 106: Grading Papers
Inside the Ritual Education Institute, twenty veteran scholars who were instructors of the Lu Clan had finished lunch early and begun anxiously grading papers while fanning themselves. With fewer than three hundred exam papers, each person received only about fourteen or fifteen, and they only needed to select the best one from their stack without ranking them. For these old pedants who had dealt with parallel prose their entire lives, it truly did not take much time.
Outside the Ritual Education Institute, the examinee disciples and their fathers and brothers hid under the shade of trees, anxiously awaiting the final result. Lu Yun did not want to appear so disheveled, so he suggested to Lu Xin that they should just go home. Unexpectedly, Lu Xin disagreed and pulled Lu Yun to find a spot in the crowd, making him recite the essay he had just written.
Lu Yun felt embarrassed and somewhat resisted, but since Lu Xin insisted, he had no choice but to clear his throat and prepare to begin reciting. Before he could even open his mouth, a mild voice sounded beside the two of them. “Tenth Uncle, your nephew also wrote a purple zither rhapsody, and I humbly ask Uncle to offer your guidance.”
Lu Xin ranked tenth among his peers, so this call was naturally for him. Lu Xin and his son looked toward the voice and saw that the speaker was none other than Lu Song, the son of Second Steward Lu Xia, one of the three already decided quota holders of the Lu Clan.
Lu Song was an object of admiration among the clan disciples, so his every move naturally drew attention, and countless gazes immediately fell on Lu Xin along with Lu Song.
“Why is Young Master Song associating with Lu Xin?” The crowd of disciples immediately became full of doubts. In their view, a young man with such a bright future as Lu Song should keep his distance from someone as unlucky as Lu Xin.
“Don’t you all know?” Lu Song smiled as he looked at the crowd and cupped his fists toward Lu Xin. “Tenth Uncle was the Top Scholar of the Grand Competition twelve years ago, the foremost writer of the Lu Clan!”
“What? Really or fake?!” The young Lu Clan disciples all looked toward their own fathers and brothers and received affirmative answers.
“Damn! Why didn’t you say so earlier, kid?!” Lu Lin, upon hearing this, pushed through the crowd and squeezed to Lu Xin’s side, his face full of smiles. “Tenth Uncle, please take a look at your nephew’s essay too. Could it really be worthless?!” As he spoke, he glared fiercely at Lu Song. Lu Song gave a bitter smile and begged for mercy. “I was just joking with you. You took the Martial Examination, so why compete in writing?”
“I want to excel in both civil and martial arts, what’s it to you?” Lu Lin smugly raised his brows. He was the top expert among the younger generation of the Lu Clan and had advanced to Black Rank three years ago. He was considered someone who could open the Ren and Du Meridians in just a few years, one of the two selections to preserve the Lu Clan’s face in the Martial Examination. After speaking, he turned to Lu Xin respectfully. “Tenth Uncle, when we heard the exam topic earlier, the three of us also wrote essays. Please offer your corrections.”
Seeing this, Lu Bai looked somewhat helplessly at Lu Lin and Lu Song, then walked up to Lu Xin and handed over his own essay. “Please review it, Tenth Uncle.”
“Haha, the waves behind push the waves ahead. As their uncle, I may not necessarily keep up with you all.” Lu Xin happily took the three essays and smiled. “I’ll just appreciate the great works of my three worthy nephews.”
Hearing that the former Top Scholar would critique the essays of Lu Bai and the other two, the crowd of disciples immediately surrounded them. This was a rare learning opportunity. Even Lu Xi crowded over. He wanted to see what was so impressive about these three that they could surpass him.
“Let’s first look at Nephew Lin’s…” Lu Xin looked toward Lu Lin’s essay, read it aloud with proper cadence, then gazed at Lu Lin with full appreciation and smiled. “Worthy nephew, you truly live up to being accomplished in both civil and martial arts! This line ‘five tones used together, movement and stillness simple and easy, great swells with small attachments, heavy beats followed by light, broken yet restored…’ truly explains the ancient zither thoroughly and elucidates the reason profoundly. The rhythm is forceful and resounding, like drinking strong liquor!”
After praising it, he offered a few simple pointers, each one sharp and to the point, causing Lu Lin to suddenly see the light, regretting only that he had not sought Lu Xin’s guidance earlier.
After critiquing Lu Lin’s essay, Lu Xin looked toward Lu Song’s and read aloud similarly: “The world believes it was made by Meng Tian. Now upon observing the instrument, its upper part resembles heaven, its lower flat like earth, its hollow center aligns with the six directions, the bridges imitate the twelve months, when set it arrays the four images, when struck it produces the five tones…”
After reading, Lu Xin praised, “The structure and style have reached the level of a master. Given time, Nephew Song will surely shine in the literary world and leave his name in history.”
Lu Song smugly glanced at Lu Lin, then said respectfully, “Please offer your guidance, Tenth Uncle.”
“If one had to nitpick flaws in worthy nephew’s essay, it would be that it somewhat deliberately pursues momentum, making the writing slightly vague…” Although Lu Xin praised Lu Song highly, he also pointed out quite a few flaws. Strangely, Lu Song kept nodding, and by the end he was even sweating profusely. “Fortunately, Tenth Uncle pointed them out, or your nephew would have gone astray! It’s laughable that I was previously complacent, thinking my essay had no flaws.”
“Worthy nephew, do not belittle yourself. The path of writing has no end. I am holding you to a higher standard,” Lu Xin smiled, smoothing things over for Lu Song. “In truth, I myself cannot fully achieve it either.”
The crowd burst into laughter. They could not help but immerse themselves in this enjoyment of surging literary inspiration, temporarily forgetting to care about the grading results inside the courtyard.
Originally, Lu Bai had little interest in asking Lu Xin for pointers, but now he straightened his attitude and listened seriously to Lu Xin’s guidance. His essay was somewhat inferior to Lu Song’s, so there was even more room for improvement. After Lu Xin’s guidance, Lu Bai immediately comprehended much, revised several sentences on the spot, and indeed improved greatly!
Seeing Lu Xin’s pointers take immediate effect and benefit talents like Lu Song and Lu Bai so greatly, the other disciples hurriedly asked Lu Xin to critique their own works. Even their fathers and brothers cast aside their concerns and begged Lu Xin to guide their sons.
Faced with the crowd’s clamoring requests, Lu Xin raised his hands in surrender. “Even if I had three heads and three mouths, I couldn’t critique them one by one.” Then he came up with an idea. “How about this: everyone write out their own essays and post them on the wall, and we critique them together?”
“Good!” Lu Song and the other two immediately voiced their approval loudly. “This will surely become a beautiful tale!”
The crowd deeply agreed. Although there was only one quota, learning belonged to everyone. They hurriedly took out paper and brushes, some crouching on the ground, some leaning against the wall, and silently wrote out their own essays.
Lu Xi’s attendants all looked toward him and asked softly, “Young Master, should we write?”
“Write, why not write?” Lu Xi wanted to seize this chance to make a name for himself and would not miss the opportunity to show off in front of the crowd. Immediately, someone crouched on the ground, using his back as a desk, for him to dictate his essay.
After half an hour, more than two hundred essays were posted all over one outer wall of the Ritual Education Institute. By then, many clan members from other places had heard the news and rushed over, vying to see this rare spectacle, surrounding the entire outer wall impenetrably.
.
Outside the Ritual Education Institute, voices boiled tumultuously, and inside the courtyard it was also very lively.
At this time, the twenty instructors had all selected their favorite essays, then gathered together to jointly decide on the three finest works to submit to Steward of Ritual Education Lu Yi for final judgment.
This process took far longer than before. The old pedants each stuck to their views, arguing until their faces were red and ears flushed, unable to decide which three to recommend for a long time.
Lu Yi, waiting at the back, grew somewhat anxious and worried that something might go wrong, so he could not help but go to the front to check.
Seeing the steward arrive, the veteran scholars finally stopped arguing and rose one after another to greet him. Lu Yi nodded, gesturing for everyone to sit. He himself knelt sat at the head position and asked the lead instructor, “Why hasn’t it been decided after so long?”
“There’s actually nothing to argue about, because the best one has no controversy at all.” The lead instructor gave a bitter smile and replied, “There’s another one that is somewhat inferior but still better than the others. These bookworms are arguing over who to pick for third place.”
“Since there’s one universally acknowledged as the best, what’s there to argue about?” Lu Yi felt greatly reassured upon hearing this and thought to himself that it must be Lu Xi’s essay.
Because Lu Xi’s essay was none other than one ghostwritten by him, the Steward of Ritual Education!
Lu Yi’s literary talent was naturally exceptional to become Steward of Ritual Education. In fact, his reputation in the literary world far surpassed Lu Xin’s. After all, Lu Xin had only shocked the world once back then and then remained silent for over ten years, with few people still remembering that former Top Scholar.
