I became famous for writing ridiculous stories in ancient times

Fu Wenyu finally evaded the question with the universal reply "I'll write a letter and ask."

However, on the way home, he also seriously thought about this problem. At present, "Collection of Scams" has written a total of six classic scams, from "Night Pearl" to "Porcelain Bumping" and then to "Taoist Alchemy".

The first five were rehearsed earlier, and many people in Liuzhou have already seen them. Although the last one, "Taoist Alchemy", was rehearsed later, it is the most "new" among the several plays, so many people have specifically requested to see it.

In other words, most people have also seen it.

New plays should indeed be put on the agenda.

But what should be written?

Fu Wenyu thought about it carefully and found that many of the scams he knew were not suitable for use in ancient times. So in the end, he chose three articles with ancient characteristics.

"Elixir of Immortality", "Fortune Telling" and "My Father is a High Official"

The story of "Elixir of Life" is about Zhang Sanlang who met an old man selling "elixir of life" on the street while he was out doing business. The old man had white hair and beard, but a young face.

He said: "I am already 120 years old. As for why I can live so long, it is because I took a pill of "elixir of life" many years ago."

The old man emphasized that he was looking for a destined person. One pill of "elixir of life" only cost 98 taels of silver. After taking it, he would be like him, and although his hair and beard were white, his body would be young.

Just as young as he is now.

The old man was really young, with no wrinkles on his skin, and his eyes were very clear, not like some old people who were cloudy and couldn't see things clearly.

This one looked like a young man, so he really was rejuvenated?

In the end, Zhang Sanlang decisively bought two pills with the money he had, preparing to take one himself and sell the other at a high price. But after taking it, he didn't feel much except that the pills were sweet like sugar pills. Moreover, after a few days, he showed no signs of "rejuvenation".

He sent the "elixir of life" to the doctor, who said it was just a sugar pill, not an elixir of life, so poor Zhang Sanlang was deceived again.

Moreover, the doctor said that there is a kind of people in this world who, perhaps because they ate the wrong food in their mother's womb, or perhaps because they drank too much Meng Po soup in the underworld, are born with a head full of white hair, without a single black hair. So the "old man" Zhang Sanlang met should be a real young man.

There is no "elixir of life" in this world.

As for "Fortune Telling" and "My Father is a Big Official", the liar in "Fortune Telling" deceived people by inquiring about the situation in advance and deliberately making it confusing and ambiguous.

In "My Father is a Big Official", the liar pretended to be the son of an official, and created the background of "someone at home" through clothing, attitude, words, and knowledge, and then borrowed money from Zhang Sanlang. When the day came to pay back the money, Zhang Sanlang went to the other party's house with the IOU written by the other party. The other party said that my young master was studying at home all day and never went out.

When he called him out, he saw that it was indeed someone Zhang Sanlang did not know.

After writing it, Fu Wenyu submitted it in the name of Mr. Gongyang as usual. After the Liuzhou tabloid was printed, he gave it to the villagers who had finished autumn ploughing and said that it was written by Mr. Gongyang, so that they could rehearse.

As for how to play the white-haired young man in "Elixir of Life", because there was no albinism in Fujia Village, Fu Wenyu directly asked someone to buy some hair, then braided it into a wig, and then dyed it several times with white pigment, so that a white wig and corresponding eyebrows and beard were made.

Although it was said in ancient times that "the body is born from the parents", for poor and uneducated people, hair is more important than having enough food, and when their hair grows long, they will choose an auspicious day to cut it.

There are people in Liuzhou who specialize in collecting hair, then clean it and sell it to noble ladies for buns, and the price is not cheap.

When the three new plays were rehearsed and started to be performed, it was already the end of autumn. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival and other festivals, the weather began to get colder.

Fu Wenyu was still studying at home.

He is now in the third round of review before the exam. Because the knowledge points have been mastered long ago, he is currently checking for omissions and filling in the gaps according to the detailed outline of each book he listed, and integrating them.

Because the method is correct, and the original body has left him with complete memories and a smart head that is good at reading, when he visited Master Chen recently, the other party said that next year is the year of the college examination, and if nothing unexpected happens, he will have no problem passing the examination.

In order to prevent "accidents", Fu Wenyu also set up a "room" at home, and went in once a month for a "mock exam". Except for delivering meals, no one is allowed to talk to him. At first, he was not used to it, but after a few times, he was able to curl up and sleep in the small room.

Everything is ready, just waiting for the exam.

Zhou and Fu Rong also saw his hard work, not only often cared about him, but also made a lot of food at home, and made several sets of new clothes.

Of course, knowing the importance of combining work and rest, Fu Wenyu did not forget to relax.

His way of relaxing was to write a storybook.

This was the inspiration Fu Wenyu got after learning about the process of the imperial examination. Master Chen said that after the results were announced, if they were on the list, they would go to the Confucius Temple together to thank Confucius, and then pay a visit to the prefect.

As for the imperial examination, it was like an upgrade game.

There are six levels in total including the county examination, prefecture examination, and hospital examination; the township examination, the general examination, and the palace examination.

After passing the palace examination, they will all become "Tong Jinshi" for the first time, and their official positions will be allocated by the court. After obtaining an official position, one can go through the process of 'promotion', eventually rising from a small official with a salary of less than 100,000 people to the position of chief assistant with more than 10,000 people under one person.

Isn’t this the standard upgrade flow?

The distinction between Jinshi and fellow Jinshi is like the "foundation building" in the novel about cultivating immortals. Jinshi are the ones who have built a good foundation and will have a smooth path in cultivation in the future. Tong Jinshi, on the other hand, belong to the poor group and can only stop at a certain stage.

So Fu Wenyu used his spare time to write a news version called "Imperial Examination Cultivation to Immortality".

In this storybook, he combined the imperial examination and bureaucracy with "immortal cultivation", so that people can pass the "examination" to improve their cultivation step by step, and eventually become saints and immortals, possess supreme magic power, and enjoy eternal life. …

This is a world where ‘literacy’ can be obtained by reading.

No matter male or female, old or young, as long as he/she is reading and literate, he/she can slowly absorb the "literary spirit" spread by Wenquxing in the world, thereby achieving the purpose of strengthening the body and prolonging life.

Although the "literary spirit" will fade away for a period of time after being absorbed by others, as long as someone makes poems, articles, calligraphy, paintings, songs, or story-telling novels that satisfy Wen Quxing, the "literary spirit" around him will fade. 'Relevant things can cause literary stars to shine brightly and spread more 'literary spirit'.

It doesn't matter if you can't do it. After death, literary energy will return to the world. If someone ascends to immortality, the literary energy in his body will be replaced by immortal energy under the action of heavenly thunder. There are also acts of worshiping Wenquxing every year and worshiping Confucius Temple after the imperial examination, which can also make Wenquxing shine.

These supplementary methods enable the world's "literary spirit" to be maintained at a fixed concentration. Therefore, the literary style in this world is prosperous, and everyone wants to become an immortal and attain enlightenment through reading and taking imperial examinations.

The protagonist of the story, whose surname is Sheng Mingwen, was born in an ordinary family.

What is unusual is that the day he was born happened to be the day when people worshiped Wenquxing, which was the third day of the first lunar month.

Perhaps it was because he was born at a time when the Wenqu star was in the spotlight, so Sheng Wen was extremely smart since he was a child and showed extraordinary talent in reading. When he was one year old, he was able to start studying with his parents.

"Shengwen Shengwen——"

Erniu, a friend from the neighbor's house, ran in excitedly, pulling Sheng Wen who was endorsing the book and ran away, "Sheng Wen, come quickly. Today is the day when the results of the county examination will be released. Those who passed the county examination will go to the Confucius Temple to worship. Let’s go see it quickly.”

"You can see the light falling from Wenquxing!"

Sheng Wenwen stopped memorizing it and was so excited, "Let's go, let's go!"

Sheng Wen's mother, who was using magic to dry the clothes, shook her head helplessly and shouted to the backs of the two children: "Come back after you finish watching. Don't run around, lest you get kidnapped."

Sheng Wen waved his hand and quickly disappeared from the door, "I know..."

There was a lot of people around the Confucius Temple.

Taking advantage of their young age, Sheng Wen and Er Niu walked hand in hand through the crowd. Amid the dissatisfied complaints from the surrounding people who also came to watch, the two of them got to the front.

At this time, those who were on the county examination list were lining up in several lines with serious expressions, slowly moving towards the Confucius Temple under the gaze of the crowd.

They are men and women, old and young.

The leader of the county case this time was a girl of twelve or thirteen years old. Although she was short, she held her head high and walked proudly at the front. Behind her was a middle-aged man in his forties who was second in the exam and had a steady expression.

As for the third person walking, he was a young man about twenty years old with a somewhat uneasy expression. He kept looking left and right as he moved forward, as if he was afraid of what would happen.

Suddenly, people who knew him laughed loudly, "Chen San, who are you looking for?"

"Are you looking for your parents? Hahahahahaha, if your parents find out that you have been studying for seven or eight more years, but you can't even pass the exam for your younger sister who is less than thirteen years old, they will probably interrupt you. leg!"

The people who heard it burst out laughing, "Hahahahaha..."

Chen San, who ranked third in the county examination, jumped up when he heard this and said incoherently: "Nonsense, nonsense!"

"I'm just giving in to my sister, why can't I fail the exam?"

"I will definitely pass her exam next time, just wait and see."

But many of the people who came to watch knew him, and someone immediately exposed it loudly, "When was the last time you beat your sister in a test? How did I hear that it was when she was ten years old?"

After being exposed, Chen San's face turned red and he said, "I'm going to worship Confucius. Farewell." Then he left the crowd of onlookers who were laughing very loudly and rushed into the Confucius Temple without stopping.

Sheng Wen and Er Niu also laughed loudly along with the crowd.

After writing this cheerful plot, Fu Wenyu completed other backgrounds of this world through the mouths of the onlookers, lest anyone find it unreasonable after the text is published.

One of them is that women can also study for imperial examinations.

Although there is Fu Wenyu's selfishness in this, this setting is necessary, very reasonable, and can withstand scrutiny. Because the previous dynasty in the novel did not allow women to study, and only kept them in the back house to have children.

If you can’t read, you can’t absorb ‘literary spirit’, you can’t strengthen your body and prolong your life, which leads to the inconsistency of physical fitness and life expectancy between men and women. In the first hundred years when the emperor of the previous dynasty began to prohibit women from studying for the imperial examination, the problem was not serious. It was just that more and more ordinary people could not get married and were forced to be single.

But two hundred years, five hundred years, one thousand years, two thousand years passed...

People rose up.

In the setting of this story, Fu Wenyu combined studying for the imperial examination with the level of cultivation.

Literacy = Qi training, and literacy can strengthen the body.

Scholar = foundation building, and passing the scholar exam can extend life by fifty years.

In other words, a scholar can live to 150 years old without any accidents.

The next exam is Juren, which is equivalent to the Jindan stage and can extend life by 100 years. And Jinshi is equivalent to the Yuanying stage, which extends life by 200 years, which means that a Jinshi can live to 300 years old. As for being an official, the life span increases according to the different official positions, and finally stops at the super grade and enjoys a life span of 1,000 years.

If you are demoted and deprived of your fame, your life span will be reduced accordingly.

In addition to official positions, there are also titles for the royal family and military generals.

The emperor's life span is ten thousand years. After his death, he will automatically be listed in the immortal class, or he will ascend to heaven after his merits are fulfilled. The life span of the prince is five thousand years, the prince corresponds to the super-grade official position, and the lowest earl corresponds to the juren, and they enjoy different life spans.

Therefore, in the previous dynasty where women were not allowed to study and take the imperial examinations, it was not uncommon for teenage girls to marry "old men" who were dozens of years old, one or two hundred years old, or even five or six hundred years old.

An official with a life span of a thousand years can marry more than ten wives and more than a hundred concubines in his lifetime.

After a woman is born, she can only choose to get married. When she is old and ugly, she will be abandoned and replaced by a new person. Even if some young couples are very loving, when the man passes the imperial examination and prolongs his life, his appearance remains unchanged for decades, while the woman gradually grows old, both sides cannot bear this blow.

It's not that no one taught his wife, daughter, or granddaughter to read, but since they could not pass the imperial examination to extend their lifespan, even if they could read and write, it was inevitable that they would have a short lifespan.

Perhaps it was destined by God. Since a certain year, women have been shouting slogans like "We are born as human beings, why should we die first?", "We are going to die anyway, so why not die before marrying an old man?", and "After death, reincarnate into a male fetus and practice to become an immortal." Countless women committed suicide in the past two thousand years.

At the same time, there were also a large number of men who could not bear the blow of losing their wives, daughters, granddaughters, etc. one after another, and gave up practicing and became depressed, or simply committed suicide to follow.

In order to prevent their daughters from becoming concubines or slaves of the rich and powerful, and from then on they could not help themselves, some people would drown in tears after giving birth to their daughters. Later, even "scholars" had no wives to marry.

So at the end of the previous dynasty, the emperor of this dynasty was ordered by the immortals to overthrow the previous dynasty and establish a new dynasty, and encouraged women to study and take the imperial examinations. If a family did not let their daughters study, they would be fined.

No matter who wants to ascend to heaven, they can only do so by making merits that benefit the people. For example, Confucius and Xunzi and others made merits of "education", so they both ascended to heaven.

At the same time, "merit" is also an effective means to judge whether a person is unworthy of his position. If he is in a high position without ability, he will die quickly due to "inability to be supplemented".

The most recent person who ascended to heaven and lived forever was the first emperor of this dynasty. After the first female super-grade official appeared in the court, he restored his youthful appearance under the gaze of civil and military officials, and ascended to heaven in broad daylight with perfect merits.

Therefore, the onlookers did not think it was strange that the county case leader was a woman. They only mocked Chen Sanduo for studying for seven or eight years but still failing the exam against his sister.

Just as Sheng Wen was listening to the villagers talking with great interest, Erniu suddenly shouted: "Sheng Wen, look, the Wenqu Star in the sky is lit up!"

"The Wenqu Star is lit up!"

"They must be worshiping."

"Look, the Confucius Temple is also lit up!"

Sheng Wen looked up and saw a bright light in front of him. This light not only illuminated his eyes, but also shone into his heart. At the same time, he was also silently chanting in his heart.

"I also want to study for the imperial examination and ascend to heaven."