Chapter 811: This Test Paper Requires a Score of 60
The graduate student exam papers, several pages thick, landed with a soft thud before Shi Kefa.
Shi Kefa was utterly confident in himself!
He was an Imperial Scholar, after all.
Did they even know what an Imperial Scholar was?
Only the brightest academic minds of the Great Ming Dynasty earned that title.
He glanced down, and the first half-page was all poetry—verses like "Sunlight on Incense Burner Mountain creates purple smoke." What a laughably simple task! For Shi Kefa, such questions required no thought; the answers flowed from the muscle memory forged by years of arduous study. He could complete them without even engaging his mind.
His brush danced across the paper, swish, swish, swish, in a calligraphic style that would fetch a fortune in later eras. He answered that half-page with such dazzling clarity, the grader would surely find his own expertise surpassed by this student's.
But when he flipped the page...
He froze instantly!
Shi Kefa's hand, holding the brush, trembled ever so slightly...
He was utterly dumbfounded, staring blankly ahead.
"Principal Wang," he stammered, "What... what in heaven's name are these questions?"
Principal Wang replied, "These are first-year high school math problems! All our graduate students are self-studying this material. So, whether someone has learned up to this point basically determines if they meet the threshold for graduate studies."
Shi Kefa was utterly astonished. "What kind of work," he pressed, "requires such knowledge?"
Principal Wang chuckled. "Well, the Heavenly Lord has declared that mathematics is the foundation of all science. If one doesn't master math, they can't hope to learn anything else."
Cold sweat trickled down Shi Kefa's back. "I feel," he admitted, "that the realm of graduate studies might be just a touch beyond my current grasp. Perhaps this official should begin by self-studying high school material?"
Principal Wang nodded. "To enter high school, you must score at least sixty percent on the middle school graduation exam."
"That, this official should have no problem with," Shi Kefa declared. "Bring forth the papers."
And so, with a swish, several more pages of exam papers were laid before Shi Kefa.
Shi Kefa, having learned his lesson, barely spared a glance for the first half-page of poetry. He dismissed it with a flicker of his eyes, his brush dancing in swift strokes, effortlessly dispatching the familiar verses.
Turning to the second page, he took a deep breath...
Fill-in-the-Blank: (1 point per blank, 27 points total)
1. There are only ( ) types of electric charge in nature. Clothes made from certain synthetic fabrics tend to get dirty easily, mainly because synthetic fabric is prone to ( ) phenomena.
2. When a machine performs work, the extra, unavoidable work we undertake is called ( ).
3. An object with magnetic properties is called a ( ), and the process by which a non-magnetic object acquires magnetism is called ( ).
Shi Kefa's hand, holding the brush, began to tremble once more...
"Principal Wang," he pleaded, "What... what connection do these questions have to practical governance and utility?"
Principal Wang smiled faintly. "Of course, they're useful! This is called physics. The Heavenly Lord has stated that only by mastering physics can one understand the principles governing all things in the world, and thus better comprehend and control this world."
Shi Kefa stammered, "You just said that middle school graduates can score above sixty on this test. Does that mean... those Gao Family Village middle school graduates I've met before, like Shopkeeper Wang Tang, can answer these questions?"
Principal Wang laughed. "Ah, Wang Tang! He's my adopted son, a truly exceptional boy. He can score over ninety on all these questions!"
Shi Kefa was utterly dumbfounded. He knew Wang Tang served as a head manager in Xi'an, overseeing a jumble of various businesses—inns, carriage services, grain stores, and the like. It didn't seem like particularly remarkable work.
He had assumed Wang Tang was merely a clever clerk, nothing more. To think that Wang Tang could score ninety on such bewildering papers was beyond his comprehension.
Cold sweat began to bead on Shi Kefa's brow. "Wang Tang is terrifyingly capable! Given time, he is sure to rise to great heights."
Principal Wang chuckled. "Rising to great heights? That's a bit of an exaggeration. While my adopted son is diligent and eager to learn, he's still far behind the graduate students. Look here, I have something wonderful called an electric lamp. It was just invented by our graduate student, Ji Menghan..."
"Now that's the kind of thing truly learned people produce."
He walked over to the side and flipped a switch.
Above Shi Kefa's head, an electric lamp on the ceiling flickered to life, bathing the area where he sat in a brilliant glow.
Shi Kefa gasped!
Principal Wang gestured to the electric lamp. "This is the marvelous creation possible only through the study of physics. The electric lamp factory is already being prepared for construction, and soon, our Gao Family Village will be using these lamps extensively... Furthermore, plans are underway for a branch factory in Puzhou, and one will certainly be built in Xi'an. This, my friend, is the process of applying 'physics' for practical governance and utility."
Shi Kefa was utterly astonished, feeling more and more that his existing knowledge was utterly insufficient.
"Very well," he conceded, "This official is not fit to self-study high school at present. I shall start with first-year middle school, then..."
"To enter first-year middle school, however, you must score at least sixty percent on the elementary school graduation exam," Principal Wang said, pulling out yet another stack of papers with a swish.
This time, Shi Kefa didn't even glance at the poetry on the initial pages. He flipped directly to the back.
Mathematics. Elementary school mathematics!
The greatest common divisor of 12 and 18 is ( ); the least common multiple of 16, 24, and 48 is ( ).
Shi Kefa let out a long sigh and set down his brush. "It seems," he mused, "this official must begin his studies from elementary school."
Principal Wang offered, "As long as Lord Shi can accept it..."
Shi Kefa quickly grasped the implication of Principal Wang's words.
The elementary school classrooms, after all, were filled entirely with very young children.
Shi Kefa, a middle-aged man and an imperial official, sitting among a crowd of little children? It would be the epitome of awkwardness, a truly mortifying social experience.
Ultimately, Principal Wang found a solution. He arranged a "distinguished visitor's seat" at the very back of the classroom, publicly announcing that Lord Shi Kefa was there to inspect the educational work at Thirty-Two Middle School.
In this way, everyone assumed Shi Kefa was merely "observing and learning about Gao Family Village's educational efforts" from the back of the classroom. No one could ever suspect he was actually there, diligently studying for his own sake.
Shi Kefa skipped the language arts classes, attending only mathematics.
Every lesson, he took meticulous notes and pondered diligently.
Several times, when the math teacher posed a question, he almost impulsively raised his hand to compete with the other children, eager to answer. Fortunately, he managed to restrain himself, sparing himself the embarrassment.
Unbeknownst to him...
Shi Kefa had come to love these peculiar new forms of knowledge.
He was, after all, a highly studious man; if he hadn't been, he would never have become an Imperial Scholar in the first place.
Once the gates of knowledge were opened to him, he was like a fish returned to water, learning with profound joy.
Xi'an Prefecture...
Wu Shen pulled one of his subordinates aside. "Why haven't I seen Shi Kefa recently?"
The subordinate replied, "I heard Lord Shi fell gravely ill and hasn't performed his duties as judicial commissioner for several days now. All the cases piling up in the yamen...
...the Xi'an Prefect is helping him handle them."
Wu Shen exclaimed, "What? Brother Shi is ill? How terrible! Quickly, prepare some fine gifts. I must go and visit him."
Free reading.
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