Dafeng Night Watchman

Chapter 37: Encouragement to Study



The capital city is full of flowers and there are breakfast stalls everywhere on the street. Xu Qi'an gets food and clothing at a breakfast stall two streets away from the county government office.

The stall owner is a thin middle-aged man with dark skin, wearing a black apron, and he smiles humbly to everyone he sees.

The cooking skills are not bad, and Xu Qi'an is very satisfied with the food. The only drawback is that the people in Dafeng capital like to eat sweets. Soy milk is fine, and tofu brain is also added with sugar.

Xu Qi'an does not intend to compromise in this city full of heretics, so he told the stall owner not to add sugar, and added soy sauce, pork fat, chopped green onions, and minced garlic.

In addition, there are four fried dough sticks, six meat buns, two steamed buns, a bowl of porridge, and three dishes.

After eating, Xu Qi'an is ready to pay.

"Sir, you are so polite. It is my blessing that you can come to my place for breakfast." The stall owner looked at Xu Qi'an's uniform and refused to ask for money.

He glanced at the empty plate left by Xu Qi'an, his eyes flashing with heartache.

"Really?"

The stall owner swallowed his saliva. Xu Qi'an had eaten enough for four or five people for breakfast. He was just a small business to make a living, working from dawn to dusk, barely making ends meet.

But he still didn't dare to ask for it... really didn't dare to ask for it.

"No, no, how can I take your money?" The stall owner knew at a glance that he had been beaten by society.

"Well, I'll sit down and digest the food for a while. Go away and don't disturb me." Xu Qi'an waved his hand to drive the stall owner away.

The stall owner left in a timid manner.

"The system of the Dafeng Dynasty has been malpracticed for a long time. If the clerks don't rectify it one day, the lives of the people will not get better." Xu Qi'an looked at the busy figure of the stall owner and remembered his look of pain and fear just now. He looked as pitiful as a beggar.

"From ancient times to the present, the biggest harm to the common people is always the flies that the big men can't see."

He took out ten coins from his pocket, folded them on the table, and left in silence.

"Finally gone..." The stall owner breathed a sigh of relief and came to clean up the dishes listlessly.

What bad luck! He thought in annoyance.

When he came to the table, the stall owner was stunned. There was a pile of copper coins on the table. The constable not only paid, but also gave more.

The stall owner hurriedly ran a few steps, only to see the looming official uniform in the crowd, which had already walked far away.

He opened his mouth, and his throat seemed to be choked by something.

In so many years, he met a clerk who paid for a meal for the first time.

...

After Xu Qian'an finished his roll call, he went to the back hall to ask for leave from County Magistrate Zhu, and Old Zhu readily agreed.

After hurriedly returning to Xu's house and opening Erlang's door, the two brothers nodded in tacit understanding. Xu Erlang took out a set of moon-white Confucian robes that he had prepared long ago, covered with light gray cloud patterns.

Xu Qian'an glanced at the sky-blue robe with dark cloud patterns on his younger brother and suggested, "The one on Erlang looks good, let's change."

Xu Xinnian sneered, and his expression seemed to say: You are dreaming.

For a martial artist in the Refining Spirit Realm, the scholar's Confucian robe is really not suitable. His muscles are full and his body is tall, which will support the loose Confucian robe.

The aesthetic of scholars is: two sleeves fluttering, clothes fluttering.

The two brothers left Xu's house, spent three taels of silver to rent two yellow horses, and left the capital at lightning speed.

Their destination was Qingyun Mountain, sixty miles away from the suburbs of Beijing. There was an academy in the mountain, the world-famous Yunlu Academy!

Qingyun Mountain was not originally called Qingyun Mountain. I forgot the exact name. Since Yunlu Academy was established here, the sound of reading has been endless and the clear air has been lingering.

So it was renamed "Qingyun Mountain".

The two drove side by side on the official road. An hour later, Xu Qian'an looked far away and vaguely saw the outline of Qingyun Mountain and the tiny academy buildings.

"Farewell to the old, brother has always been curious."

Xu Qian'an slowed down the horse, and after his cousin also pulled the reins, the two horses changed from running to trotting.

"Did you say that the saint is of the first rank?"

He was extremely curious about the major systems in this world, but unfortunately he lacked channels to understand them.

Xu Xinnian raised his chin proudly: "Do you think I know?"

If you don't know, then you don't know. Why are you so proud...Xu Qian'an rolled his eyes and

continued:

"How long did the saint live? Do you know?"

Xu Xinnian nodded: "He died at the age of 82."

A saint, the founder of Confucianism and Taoism, even if he didn't have the first rank, he

would not be bad. He only lived to be 82 years old?

Well, for ordinary people in this era, it is considered a long life, but the martial arts value of

this world is extraordinary.

Even saints can't live forever?

Well, I can't jump to conclusions, after all, I know too little information...n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Yunlu Academy doesn't accept outsiders, this is the rule, even I can't get the teacher to

agree." Xu Xinnian said:

"Are you sure, brother?"

Xu Qiyan shook his head: "Everything depends on human effort."

They decided to send the women in the family to Yunlu Academy before launching the operation, so that even if the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue really retaliated, Yunlu Academy could protect the women of the Xu family.

The tax silver case almost made me die, and this mess can't be passed, right... Oh, if it's not handled well, it will be another crisis of extermination... Xu Qiyan squeezed the horse's belly, threw Xu Xinnian behind him, and left in a cloud of dust.

Xu Xinnian was not convinced, waved the whip, and competed with his cousin.

...

Qingyun Mountain is neither majestic nor beautiful. If it weren't for the clear air, it would be no different from an ordinary wild mountain.

There are courtyards, attics, squares, and waterfalls in the mountains... The bluestone-paved paths are like spider webs, connecting these places together.

In an attic on the edge of the cliff, there is a private room on the second floor. There is no wall on the side of the cliff. Standing on the corridor, you can overlook the vast plains and the outline of the distant mountains.

Li Mubai, a master chess player who vowed never to play chess again, stood at the corridor with a scroll in his hand, listening to the heated argument between his two friends behind

him:

"I made a wrong move this time, I want to start over, I don't care."

"No regrets after making a move, this is the rule."

"The sage said: There is no greater virtue than to correct one's mistakes."

"Is that what the sage meant?"

"Isn't it?" "Old thief, you want to discuss the truth with me? That's fine, only one of us can leave alive

today."

"I didn't grow up eating vegetarian food either."

Li Mubai shook his head, "Two lousy chess players."

One of the two behind him was Zhang Shen, a master of military strategy, and the other was

an old man wearing a black robe with a long beard to his chest.

Chen Tai, with the courtesy name Youping, was one of the four great Confucian scholars of

Yunlu Academy.

The four great Confucian scholars each had their own characteristics. Li Mubai was a chess player, Zhang Shen was proficient in military strategy, and Yang Gong, a Ziyang layman who served as the governor of Qingzhou, was good at studying.

And this Chen Youping has the talent to govern the country. His book "The Strategy of Governing the Country" is very popular in the officialdom of Dafeng.

Li Mubai turned and left the corridor, returned to the elegant room, and interrupted the

quarreling two people:

"Where is the dean?"

"The princess is here, and the dean is with her." Zhang Shen stared at the chessboard and

replied casually.

Li Mubai said "oh" and nodded.

Chen Tai sighed: "In three months, it will be the Spring Examination, but the students in the

college are not very interested in studying. I went to the dormitory last night and saw that there were very few people who were studying hard."

"The few lights are also illuminating the chessboard..." As he said, he stretched out his hand

and scratched on the chessboard, disrupting the chess pieces, and said with great sorrow: "Playing with things will ruin your ambition."

"Shameless old thief!" Zhang Shen was furious. If he lost, he would be playing with things,

and if he won, he would show off his power. "You are the same as Li Mubai, you can't afford to

play."

"What does it have to do with me!" Li Mubai was angry.

When it comes to this topic, the three great scholars fell silent.

The students of Yunlu Academy have a difficult career path. Even if they pass the imperial examinations, it is difficult for them to rise to high positions in the officialdom. They are often sent to remote areas to serve as officials, or thrown into some corner to rot.

This has greatly dampened the enthusiasm of the students in the academy for the imperial

examinations.

The elegant room was silent for a moment, and Zhang Shen said in a deep voice: "This trend cannot continue. We must raise the enthusiasm of students for the imperial examination." Chen Tai nodded with a serious face: "Even if it is difficult to support, we must hold on. Yunlu Academy cannot cut off the path of officialdom."

Li Mubai pondered and said: "Let's open a class to encourage learning, and let the academy

come forward."

Zhang Shen twisted a chess piece: "The dean encourages learning every year, and it will not have much effect if it is weak again."

Chen Tai stroked his beard and frowned, "We must change to a new way to let students study

hard on their own and pay attention to the spring examination."

"How about writing an article?" He suggested.

"It's thankless." Li Mubai shook his head. "Then there is only poetry," Zhang Shen drank a sip of tea and said: "Since ancient times,

poetry has moved people's hearts. Writing a shocking poem is much better than opening a class to encourage learning."

After speaking, the three great scholars looked at each other and shook their heads in unison. In the Confucian community of Dafeng, poetry has been in decline for a long time.