These students have not been with Fang Yun for long, but they really like him.
Other teachers either stick to the book or have a stern face all day long, but Fang Yun’s classes are different in style and the content he teaches seems simple but is full of wisdom, leaving a deep impression on people. Even his self-composed “Three Character Classic” and “Fox Rhyme” are much better than other textbooks for the Mencius School.
In their hearts, the most important thing is that Mr. Fang has been called the number one talented scholar in Dayuan Prefecture, and they admire him immensely.
Now that they have received this news, many children cannot accept it.
He Yunong continued, “You should have heard about yesterday’s incident. Someone insulted Mr. Fang, but he wrote the ‘Inscription of a Shabby Room’ to show his determination. They had ill intentions, so they were instantly shattered by Mr. Fang’s courage to write. Today, the Yan family sent someone to block Mr. Fang outside, and they said they would not let him go. Mr. Fang is still young and cannot fight against a powerful family, so he can only temporarily hide at home and cannot come to the clan school for the time being.”
“How despicable of the Yan family!” a child exclaimed in anger.
“I will go to the prefectural yamen to file a complaint!” a child wiped away tears and said.
“When I grow up and become an official, I will definitely arrest them and throw them in jail. How hateful!”
He Yunong sighed and said, “Mr. Fang said a few days ago that even if he becomes a talented scholar or a presented scholar, he will still come here to teach. But now it’s difficult for him to come. In order to prevent the Yan family from harming you, we will only have half a day of class today, and you will leave from the back door after school. Tomorrow morning, we will have normal classes. If they are still there, we will only have half a day of class again. Make sure to explain this clearly to your parents when you go back.”
He Yunong turned and left, and the children immediately started discussing.
“How hateful! Mr. Fang is such a good person, how could he encounter such evil people? My uncle said that if anyone bullies me, I should go to him. I will go to my uncle’s house now! He is a soldier in the city guard and can definitely find someone to beat up those evil people!”
“I don’t have many people in my family, but Uncle Fang and Grandpa Fang are very good to me. If Uncle is not there, I will go to Grandpa Fang to seek justice. I’m so angry, I still want to continue learning ‘Rhyme with Fox’ with the little fox!”
“Hmph, I will wait for three more days. If the yamen doesn’t take any action, I will go to the gate of the state prison with my parents to protest. I don’t believe that even the Legalists cannot deal with them!”
At noon, the children from each class left from the back door, and the clan school became empty.
Dean Fang Jingtang walked out of the main gate with a cold face and looked at the eight men and women dressed in mourning clothes.
Several of them were tired from cursing all morning and were resting, but when they saw someone approaching, they started talking again.”Damn Fang Yun! Destroying my son’s literary palace! What a vicious person!”
“Just a verbal dispute and he shattered the literary palace, he’s no different from a demon barbarian. Why don’t all the saints strike him with lightning!”
“The child scholar is bullying people with his status! The heavens are blind!”
Fang Jingtang looked at one of the women in her forties with disgust and said, “Yan Pozi, the clan school is about to close, you can leave now.”
“Leave? I won’t leave unless Fang Yun goes and apologizes to my son. He’s a talented scholar and the literary palace was destroyed just like that, only a demon barbarian could do something so vicious!”
Fang Jingtang angrily retorted, “Nonsense, you’re twisting the truth! If Yan Yue’s literary palace wasn’t destroyed, then Fang Yun would be the unlucky one. If he’s harmed by Yan Yue and his group of animals, then Jing Kingdom will lose a saintly talented scholar. Yan Yue’s literary palace was shattered for the better, I only regret that the Sword Eyebrow Duke didn’t blow him to death! That kind of animal can never condense the courage to write, not even the miscellaneous school’s courage to write!”
“Listen to me! Listen to me! You’ve ruined my nephew’s future and you’re still justifying it. You’re killing people without blinking an eye! You still look down on the miscellaneous school’s courage to write? Be careful, the Half-Sage Lv Buwei will strike you with divine punishment and the Left Chancellor will exile you!”
Fang Jingtang sneered, “Bah! The miscellaneous school that contributes to the country is naturally the role model for us scholars. But the Left Chancellor takes the dregs of the miscellaneous school, causing chaos in the court, pleasing the demon barbarians, harming Jing Kingdom, forming factions, and trying to learn from the saintly Half-Sage Lv Buwei to become a generation of prime ministers. Does he even deserve to represent the miscellaneous school? I advise you, if the Yan family still wants to be someone else’s pawn, they will eventually suffer a great loss!”
After Fang Jingtang finished speaking, he didn’t care about the curses of those people and had the gatekeeper close the main gate.
Fang Yun returned home early and bought many books on the way, he couldn’t always just keep them in the Book Mountain. He bought more than thirty books on the guidance of the classics for the imperial examinations and quickly flipped through them on the way back.
The little fox slave was attentively watching Fang Yun by his side, looking like a diligent learner, no one knew if it could understand.
It occasionally stole a glance at Fang Yun, but once it noticed Fang Yun looking at it, it immediately focused on the book even more seriously, even nodding deeply as if agreeing with what was written.
Fang Yun quickly skimmed through more than ten books and found that most of them were cliches and not particularly useful. He put down the book and closed his eyes to ponder.”There’s nothing wrong with these books, the problem is me. I actually understood most of the ‘techniques’ in the classics overnight. The Heavenly Library can’t do it, the Talent Palace can’t do it, and the Wen Palace can’t do it. Could it be that all kinds of powers combined to make my mind stronger?”
“Talent and Dragon Palace Blood Ginseng can make my body, including my brain, stronger, and the Heavenly Library can provide me with enough textual materials. The information explosion era gave me abilities and insights that even Half-Sages don’t have. Plus, I have been studying hard these days, which is why my learning ability is getting stronger and stronger.”
Fang Yun figured it out and continued studying.
Back home, Fang Yun continued to study diligently.
The process of studying was tedious, but the voice in Fang Yun’s heart kept motivating him and became his driving force.
“I want to become a Half-Sage and see the wonders of the world. I want to know if there is a higher literary position above the Sage!”
As his studies deepened, Fang Yun discovered something strange. Sometimes he felt that practicing calligraphy and studying the classics of all the saints was boring and occasionally disgusting, but every time he understood some truths, or when his talent increased or became more refined, he would gain an unprecedented sense of satisfaction deep within his heart.
“Perhaps this is the baptism of the spirit, similar to the feeling of ‘hearing the Tao in the morning and dying in the evening’ that Sage Confucius talked about.”
At noon, Tang, the owner of Xuanting Bookstore, came to visit. When he saw Fang Yun, he asked, “I thought you were studying at the Fang Clan’s school before, but I found out that it was already closed and the Yan family is there. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, it will be resolved soon. Let’s talk about the contract.”
So the two of them entered the house and negotiated the contract clauses one by one.
It took a whole afternoon to finish, and Tang, who was a Presented Scholar, was sweating profusely.
“If you fail the imperial examination, come to our Xuanting Bookstore. We can give you the treatment of an Imperial Scholar,” Tang said.
“Okay,” Fang Yun smiled and agreed.
Tang took out ten one-thousand-liang silver bills and handed them to Fang Yun, saying, “This is a ten-thousand-liang silver bill from the Holy Academy Bank. Take a closer look and then go with me to the Wen Academy to sign the contract officially.”
Fang Yun carefully examined the silver bills and asked, “The paper of these silver bills is different from ordinary paper. It is said that they are mixed with scraps of Holy Pages and other materials?”
“That’s right. The Holy Pages have high requirements for production, and every year there are a large number of waste paper and pulp, most of which are used to make silver bills or special documents.”
Fang Yun nodded, put away the silver bills, and said, “You stay in the main room and have some tea. I have some private matters to discuss with Daniu.”Afterwards, Fang Yun found Fang Daniu and had him copy a small part of “Fox Rhyme” before heading to the Holy Academy with Tang, the shopkeeper.
On the way, they talked about Holy Pages, and Tang laughed, “It won’t be long before the Holy Academy sends you Holy Pages. You’re just a Child Scholar now and don’t know when you’ll be able to fight against the Demon Barbarians. Do you want to sell some of your Holy Pages?”
“Do you want to buy them? How much per page?”
“30,000 taels per page.”
“Isn’t it said that the Dragon Clan’s offer is 50,000 taels per page?”
“First, you have to find the Dragon Clan, and second, you have to make sure the Holy Academy doesn’t find out. Otherwise, it’s betraying the Human Clan. Finally, what you get is the equivalent of underwater treasures, not genuine silver bills,” the shopkeeper explained.
“I guessed the Human Clan wouldn’t allow Holy Pages to flow out. This thing can double the power of War Poetry and turn the virtual into reality. I want to ask you, I have three poems, ‘Spring Morning,’ ‘End of the Year,’ and ‘Early Journey in Jixian,’ published in the Holy Journal. How many Holy Pages should I get?”
“According to convention, regardless of the level of the best poem in the county exam, you can get one page. ‘Spring Morning’ is almost a masterpiece, so you can get another page. ‘End of the Year’ gets one page. ‘Early Journey in Jixian’ is a town poem, and the convention is to get three pages. However, at the town level, the reward of Holy Pages is secondary, and the important thing is the opportunity to enter the sea of learning, the Holy Tower, and other places. Actually, these are too far away. When you become an Imperial Scholar and enter the sea of learning, you will naturally understand.”
Fang Yun was purely curious, but the shopkeeper was afraid he would aim too high, so Fang Yun didn’t inquire further.
Fang Yun said, “With the ones County Magistrate Cai gave me, I only have seven Holy Pages now. I don’t want to sell them.”
“Well, Holy Pages are precious. Keep them as much as possible to save your life. If you have more and want to sell them in the future, be sure to find me first.”
Fang Yun smiled, “These Holy Pages should have other uses, right?”
The shopkeeper candidly said, “Yes, generally, Grand Academicians’ Treasures of Literature or above won’t be sold for money. Either exchange goods or use Holy Pages for exchange. Prominent families don’t lack silver, so they often trade with Holy Pages.”
The two entered the state academy and signed the contract before parting ways. Fang Yun then took the part of “Fox Rhyme” written by Fang Daniu and found Zhou Zhubu.
When Zhou Zhubu saw Fang Yun, he put down the official document in his hand and glanced at the paper in Fang Yun’s hand, jokingly asking, “Is it Fang Daniu’s work again?”
“It’s his. I wrote a new version of ‘Fox Rhyme,’ but it’s not finished yet. I want to register it first to avoid being stolen,” Fang Yun smiled and handed the manuscript to Zhou Zhubu.”Who dares to snatch your masterpiece, Fang Zhenguo?”
“Do I have a new nickname?”
Zhou Zhubu laughed, “Of course, in less than a month, it’s the double town nation. If not Fang Zhenguo, then who? Heaven matches earth, rain matches wind, mainland matches the vast sky…”
Zhou Zhubu began to involuntarily read “Fox Rhymes”.
…
Added OOs and a reader group with a tail in the related works.