A Top Scholar From A Humble Background.

Summary

The passage recounts the events of the morning after Shen Xi, a young boy, wrote calligraphic couplets for the pharmacy of Hui Niang. The county magistrate, Han Zhi Xian, arrives and praises the couplets as the work of a master calligrapher, even after Shen Xi replaces them with new ones. Despite Shen Xi's family insisting he is just a child learning calligraphy, the magistrate remains convinced of the exceptional quality of the original couplets. Han Zhi Xian takes the couplets with him, planning to study them further. Hui Niang and Zhou Shi, Shen Xi's mother, are left perplexed by the magistrate's appreciation of Shen Xi's calligraphy skills, which seem far beyond his age and experience.

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