Misty Rain of the Old Times

Chapter 189 Humanity and Sophistication
Summer has arrived unknowingly and the temperature has become hot. Even the morning sun carries a hint of heat, but Chen Xuan, who has long been immune to cold and heat, is not affected at all.

The academy became quiet after classes started. Even though there were many servants from various families outside the classroom, they did not dare to make noise and affect the normal classes in the academy.

The person who taught Gao Jingming and his classmates the first lesson of the day was an old gentleman in his sixties. Gao Jingming had mentioned him before. His surname was Xu, and he was a Jinshi. He had been an official of the fifth rank, but was implicated in a dispute in the court and was forced to resign voluntarily.

Now he teaches at Liuyu Academy, in charge of Gao Jingming's class. To make an inappropriate analogy, he is similar to the high school class teacher in Chen Xuan's hometown.

Liuyu Academy is one of the three major academies in Jing State. If you don’t have the title of Jinshi or a brilliant resume, you will feel embarrassed to come here to teach.

A quick look from outside showed that there were more than 40 students in Gao Jingming's class. The youngest looked to be 12 or 13 years old, while the oldest ones were in their 30s. It was obvious that they were either very smart and had achieved the title of Tongsheng, or they came from wealthy families and continued their studies.

Mr. Xu came to the classroom. After the teachers and students exchanged greetings, he asked as usual if there were any gifts that had not been submitted to His Majesty. It was the last two days, so those who had not yet submitted should hurry up, and those who had given up could forget it.

Then seven or eight people came forward to present their gifts, among them were Gao Jingming and Zhang Ao.

However, Mr. Xu paid no attention to the matter. After no one showed up, he put the gift aside and resumed his class as normal. Perhaps in his opinion, these children were just participating for the sake of participation. What good could they produce? It wasn't worth paying attention to at all. The real focus should be on those "senior" students.

In this class, Mr. Xu talked about the contents of the first volume and first book of "Gu Ji".

The book "Gu Ji" consists of four volumes and twenty-nine books, with a total content of nearly two million words. It mainly tells about things that happened in history. Sorted by time, the earliest can be traced back to ten thousand years ago. The content includes changes of dynasties, major cases, natural disasters and man-made disasters, as well as profound anecdotes, etc.

This book not only records the historical events in Jingguo, but even the events that happened in Jingguo only account for a small part of the whole book. The surrounding countries, the bitter cold land in the far north, the deep desert in the far west, the overseas islands in the south, etc., in short, all the major events that have occurred in history that have been clearly recorded are included, and the content is all-encompassing.

Anyway, this book is one of the must-learns for scholars and will run through the entire learning career. Studying this book is similar to the saying "learn from history" in Chen Xuan's hometown.

However, in Chen Xuan's opinion, although the content of the book is thought-provoking and of great significance, it is instilling ideas of loyalty to the emperor, patriotism, and encouraging people to be good, both explicitly and implicitly.

This is normal. In a feudal dynasty, it is natural to correct the mentality of scholars.

During class in the classroom, Chen Xuan was also studying with the same book. Many people around him were like him. Although they could not listen to the lectures in class, they could also receive the same treatment from the teacher to answer their questions.

In this era, studying really offers the opportunity to change your destiny, and few people will waste such an opportunity.

The book in Chen Xuan's hand was not distributed by the academy, but was bought by himself.

I have to say that Mr. Xu's lectures are really good. Putting aside the content, his lectures are even better than Mr. Yushan's. Not only does he explain things in a simple and easy-to-understand way, he also asks questions, allowing the students to think and associate, rather than simply reading from the textbook and being perfunctory.

In the quiet academy, students study hard both inside and outside the classroom, but different people have different abilities to learn. Some suddenly realize something, while others scratch their heads and ponder.

Chen Xuan has a poor ability to accept things. There is no way around it. This is no longer enlightenment content, and his talents are all in martial arts. It is really difficult for him to think about the present based on historical examples.

He just wanted to learn as much as he could. His previous success in passing the examination had almost exhausted his advantage. He was afraid that he would not be able to surpass others in achieving a higher degree, so he still had this self-awareness.

Anyway, he doesn't need to rely on fame and fortune to change his fate now, but it would be good to learn more.

While Chen Xuan was studying seriously, someone came up to him and said in a low voice, "Brother Chen, can I have a word with you for a moment?"

Chen Xuan knew who it was without even looking at it. It was Zhang Ao's servant. It was a bit surprising that this guy came up to him on his own initiative. He definitely had something bad to say.

Pointing in the direction of the classroom, Chen Xuan shook his head and whispered, "It's in class now. It's not convenient. If you have anything to say, let's talk after class so as not to affect everyone's studies."

As a result, Zhang Ao's servant could only leave in disappointment. If he didn't study, others would have to, otherwise he would incur public anger.

Time passed, and the nearly one-hour class ended. Before Gao Jingming could come out and say hello to Chen Xuan, he was surrounded by several classmates and taken somewhere else.

Chen Xuan suspected that Zhang Ao was up to something, because after Gao Jingming was escorted away, his servant came to him again.

"Brother Chen, do you have time now?" The fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy looked at Chen Xuan and smiled.

As a last resort, Chen Xuan was worthy of coping: "Is there something wrong?"

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Feng San. We've met before. Zhang Ao is my young master, and he's a classmate of your young master," Feng San said familiarly, pointing to the classroom.

Chen Xuan said politely: "It turns out to be Brother Feng, nice to meet you."

"Brother Chen, don't be so polite. Our young master is a classmate, and you and I should get closer," Feng Sanxiao said enthusiastically.

Nodding, Chen Xuan happily followed his words and said, "That's right, I'm still young, and Brother Feng is older than me, so I'll have to trouble you to take care of me in the future." Seeing Chen Xuan's understanding, Feng San's eyes flashed with joy and said, "Okay, okay, there's nothing else to say, I just want to make friends with you."

This guy must have thought I was easy to fool because I was young, so Chen Xuan said innocently, "Okay, we'll be friends from now on."

"Yes, we are friends now. If you have any problems in the future, just come to me. I will definitely help you," Feng San said, patting his chest. He quickly shook his head and sighed, "We are all servants. This is how our lives are. We share the same suffering and should look after each other. Don't you agree?"

Wow, he first used the excuse of being classmates with Gao Jingming and the others to make friends, and then he used the fact that they were all servants to get closer to each other. He was very well prepared.

Nodding, Chen Xuan said: "It should be so."

"Well, let's not talk about it for now. The young master called me, so I'll go first. Remember we are friends. If you have any problems in the future, just come to me. Even if you have financial difficulties, just tell me. I still have some savings and can help." Feng San waved and left.

He knows when to stop and is not in a rush for success.

It's obvious that he is setting a trap for me, trying to win me over to play Infernal Affairs?

This was a sugar-coated bullet, and Chen Xuan was delighted. He was just worried about being short of money, so he decided to play with him. He just didn't know how many money Feng San had. He thought it was Zhang Ao who ordered him to do this, so he should be willing to invest, right?

'First they establish a good relationship with me, then trick me into borrowing money and owing them a favour, and finally their real intentions are revealed...' Chen Xuan had guessed most of their next tricks.

Not long after, Gao Jingming came back and found Chen Xuan and asked with a smile, "Xuan, how do you feel about studying and living in the academy?"

He didn't say what he had been doing before. At most, he and some classmates went to pee together. Chen Xuan smiled and said, "Teacher, your teaching is good. I benefited a lot from it, but I found it a bit difficult to learn."

"It's okay, take your time. If you don't understand something, ask me. If I'm not sure, go and ask the teacher. Let's try to be on the list together in the next imperial examination," Gao Jingming comforted.

It might be more difficult next time, so Chen Xuan didn't dwell on it. Instead, he said, "Zhang Ao's servant Feng San just came to see me..."

After roughly listening to the description, Gao Jingming laughed and said, "This is an attempt to bribe you, Xuan, you must hold on tight."

"If they give me too much, I'm afraid I won't be able to keep my composure," Chen Xuan said in a troubled tone.

Gao Jingming immediately said worriedly, "That won't do. I guess I'll have to write home and ask for a raise. A huge raise, so high that no one can buy you off!"

"Okay, young master, no more jokes. Class is about to start. You go in first." Chen Xuan shook his head and stopped talking nonsense with him.

Gao Jingming waved his hand and left. Naturally, he wasn't worried about Chen Xuan being bribed. Having grown up together, how could someone change their relationship with just a few words?

In a quiet courtyard of the academy, the spacious living room was filled with the aroma of tea. Pei Zhenlong put down a limerick and said with a smile: "What nonsense is this? How dare you bring it to me? If everyone in the academy is of this level, I might as well just bang my head against the wall and die."

As he said this, he picked up another painting, took a look at it, shook his head in disappointment, and threw it aside.

Wang Xichen on the opposite side said in silence: "You also have headaches?"

"I don't have a headache at all. Do you think I don't know that most of the gentlemen below are unable to get over the social relations and send these terrible works to me with a pinched nose. How many of these are truly good works? Anyway, if they can't pass my test, I will send them all back," Pei Zhenlong said with a sneer.

Wang Xichen said helplessly, "After all, you are the headmaster of the academy. Can you please be more careful with your words?"

"I am just like this, what can you do to me? If you don't like it, I can just let you be the headmaster. Who cares? At my age, I should be enjoying my family's retirement at home," Pei Zhenlong took the opportunity to get rid of the burden.

Wang Xichen was suddenly unable to respond and said angrily: "Do you think I have it easy?"

"Why, that strange innate being hasn't been found yet? Haha, you don't have to tell me, I guessed it when I saw your miserable face," Pei Zhenlong said happily.

He almost wanted to walk away, but Wang Xichen held back and said, "I'm not here to make fun of you, but to ask for your advice. This concerns thousands of students in the academy. You can't really leave it to me alone, right?"

Before Pei Zhenlong could say anything, someone at the gate said, "Brother Wangshan, are you here? I have a masterpiece presented to His Majesty for your review."

Pei Zhenlong looked towards the door, a hint of helplessness flashing in his eyes. How many times has this happened?

The gentleman below couldn't get over the social etiquette, and he was no exception. He could only smile helplessly and said, "I'm here, Lao Xu, come in. It's a rare visit for you..."

(End of this chapter)