Chapter 1306: Chapter 1303: Teach You a Trick

He wasn’t naive enough to blurt out everything.

At Third Uncle’s Mansion, the first lesson he learned was to keep his mouth shut.

During the time of Third Uncle’s troubles, he deeply realized that staying calm was the way to solve problems; talking too much wouldn’t help; one had to be composed.

Seeing that the others had not yet started discussing the exam papers, he walked to the window and silently waited because Zhong Yan had not yet arrived.

He waited for about fifteen minutes.

There was a noise outside in the corridor.

It was Zhong Yan’s Attendant Student who entered, saying to everyone, “Thank you for waiting for so long. My young master was detained outside by a familiar classmate, talking for a bit, but he is coming now.”

Chu Zhang had also extricated himself by then, his face still red as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“What’s the matter?” Chu Sheng looked at his cousin, somewhat puzzled.

Chu Zhang pursed his dry lips, “I was surrounded by many classmates asking questions, and I didn’t know how to answer, so I got a bit anxious.”

Compared to Chu Sheng’s flexible mind, Chu Zhang’s nature was more straightforward, and he was not good with words, but he was diligent in his actions, even in his studies.

Upon hearing this, Chu Sheng burst out laughing, “Then you could have just said you didn’t know; no need to be so nervous.”

“I’m afraid of offending people.” Chu Zhang scratched his head, somewhat troubled.

“Let me teach you a trick,” Chu Sheng, knowing his cousin was sincere yet tongue-tied but wanted to change this predicament earnestly, said. Encouraging him not to dwell on his slow speech was a bit difficult.

“What is it?” Chu Zhang eagerly asked.

Chu Sheng said with a smile, “When someone asks you a question and you don’t know how to answer, shift the topic to studying.”

“For instance, if someone asks you why you ate noodles in the morning or if there was a special trick to it, you can say that while eating noodles in the morning, you thought of a passage you had forgotten, and you had to look it up in a book, and then remembered it, and so on. Naturally, the conversation would shift to the books, and surely you won’t run out of topics.”

After listening, Chu Zhang felt as if he had discovered a new world, but he still earnestly asked, “Is that all right? Wouldn’t it make people angry?”

“We are all scholars; if we’re not discussing the books we read, what’s the use of all that idle chatter?”

“At most, people might think you’re a bookworm,” Chu Sheng touched his nose, kindly reminding him.

Chu Zhang laughed, satisfied, “It’s fine. I actually wanted to talk about a few books with them. Big brother, thank you.”

“As long as you’re happy.”

Perhaps because Chu Zhang was easy to talk to, it wasn’t long before he was called over by the students to talk again.

With his big brother’s recent advice, when Chu Zhang didn’t know how to answer, he finally knew how to handle it.

A frail scholar asked, “Chu Zhang, I heard you’ve been mostly staying at the inn lately and haven’t come out to join the poetry sessions? Do you have any secret reviewing techniques?”

“We’re such good friends, you can’t keep it to yourself. If there really is a good method, you’ve got to share it with us.”

“Yes, yes, Chu Zhang, has Lord Chu mentioned how scholars should take the exam?”

Chu Zhang moved his lips, instinctively wanting to follow their lead but was at a loss for words.

Suddenly thinking of what his big brother had said, he stuttered, “Lately, while staying in the inn, I read the annotations on the Four Books and Five Classics because there are many parts I can’t remember, so I could only memorize them multiple times.”

“Like in ‘Mencius,’ the ideal of benevolent governance ultimately points to ‘The Way of the King,’ which is the highest realm of Mencius’s political ideals.”

“Mencius articulates brilliantly in his writings: ‘If the farming season is not neglected, grains are too numerous to consume; if the fish and turtles are not fished regularly, they are too numerous to consume.'”