Chapter 763 The Girls' School (Inner Volume)

For ordinary people, the path to becoming an official begins with the first step: the county-level examination.

However, for meritorious nobles and families of high rank, the previous steps could be skipped, and they could directly enter the imperial examination system from the metropolitan examination. Some large families even had internal quotas for recommending officials. For military officers, becoming an official was even simpler; after serving as a guard in the imperial city for a few years, they could be directly granted an official position.

Because becoming an official is too easy, many children from wealthy families don't study hard at all, and many are just good-for-nothings.

In his youth, the King of Qin was a dissolute young master, and now that he's older, he's still a dissolute old man. He's surrounded by a group of cronies, all sons of court officials. Some are already serving in the court, some have taken the imperial examinations several times, some have chosen the path of military officers, and some, like him, are idle... In short, none of them have any talent or learning; they spend their days eating, drinking, and having fun...

If these people are allowed into his Xiao Qin University, will his school still be able to continue operating?

"Brother, are you joking with me?" The King of Qin said with a blank face. "I am about to do something important and serious. Lady Sui said it is feasible. Brother, please stop teasing me."

"I'm not joking." The emperor fiddled with the inkstone. "These sons of court officials will be around thirty or forty years old sooner or later, and they'll all be entering the court as officials. Rather than letting them bring trouble to me, it's better to hand them over to you to discipline. Just think, if even the sons of meritorious nobles can become pillars of the nation at Xiao Qin University, wouldn't the people be more convinced of your abilities? By the second year, countless people will probably come to you voluntarily for you to choose from. This is a great opportunity, so don't let my painstaking efforts go to waste."

King of Qin: "..."

The emperor continued, "Sixth Prince, you're not going to tell me that you're completely helpless against those spoiled brats, are you?"

"Who said that?" King Qin snorted. "In front of me, those纨绔 (sons of wealthy and powerful families) are just lackeys. If I say go east, they dare not go west. It's too easy to just make them obediently attend class."

The emperor smiled slightly: "Then it's settled."

King of Qin: "???"

It's settled?

When was it decided?

When did he agree?

He looked up and saw the emperor's smile that hadn't yet faded, and immediately felt as if he had been tricked.

But then he thought about it again. Those rich kids flattered and fawned over him every day. It would be easy to win them over. So he decided to give it a try.

The King of Qin went there full of fighting spirit.

After pondering for a while, the emperor said, "Send a scholar from the Imperial Academy to prevent this brat from acting recklessly."

Eunuch Ming nodded with a smile: "Yes, this servant will go to the Imperial Academy right away."

When Eunuch Ming went to deliver the imperial edict, he found that all seven or eight scholars were busy with other matters, such as assisting the Crown Prince, compiling history books, or teaching the princes. In short, none of them were willing to assist the Prince of Qin in establishing a school.

In the end, they forcibly appointed a PhD surnamed Tao to temporarily serve as the deputy head of Xiao Qin University.

Dr. Tao: "..."

Now that this batch of princes has finally grown up and he no longer needs to be corrupted, why should he go and teach a bunch of spoiled brats?

He doesn't have much hair left on the top of his head, and he really doesn't want to go bald...

While the King of Qin was busy with the Xiao Qin Academy, the Dayu Girls' Academy had already been open for a full month.

Over the past month, there may have been some problems, but none of them were major. After all, the students were all girls, which made them relatively easier to manage. Moreover, with the three princesses leading the way, even people like Feng Jingfu didn't dare to cause trouble. The month passed without major incident.

The Empress herself arrived at the girls' school to preside over the first assessment.

The results of this assessment were posted at the main entrance of the girls' school, ranked by scores, so that anyone passing by could see them.

These women finally understood why their brothers were so nervous every time the results were posted—because they were genuinely nervous.

If you do well on the exam, that's fine, but if you do poorly, the whole city will see how bad you are.

When Feng Jingfu saw that her name was listed second to last, her face darkened. This damn girls' school was just a disgrace to her.

Ruan Mingzhu smiled and said, "Miss Feng is not bad. She is second to last, but at least she beat one person."

"You, who came in third from last, have the nerve to criticize me?" Feng Jingfu retorted, not to be outdone. "We're all in the same boat, so let's not laugh at each other."

“I’m not like you at all,” Nguyen Minh Chau snorted. “I’m number one in riding, archery, and horsemanship.”

Feng Jingfu gritted her teeth.

She was bad at studying, bad at music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and completely hopeless at horseback riding and archery. She was always at the bottom of the rankings in every subject, which was utterly embarrassing.

She'll drop out of school soon to avoid making a fool of herself.

"Hey, I wonder if some people will give up halfway through?" Ruan Mingzhu, always eager for drama, said, "I heard that your brother is going to study at the Xiao Qin Academy founded by the King of Qin. If your brother gets second place but you only get second to last, your parents' faces will be quite interesting."

Feng Jingfu blurted out, "My brother eats, drinks, and has fun every day. How could he possibly get second place?"

"The Qin King Academy only admits people who eat, drink, and have fun all day long. Your brother might be a good fit," Ruan Mingzhu said with a wink. "If you can't even compare to your own playboy brother, you should just drop out and go back to embroidering your wedding dress!"

A young lady from a wealthy family approached Feng Jingfu and said, "You know what kind of person my brother is, right? He's always chasing after cats, dogs, and women. My father simply can't control him, so he decided to send him to Xiao Qin Academy to try his luck. That way, he can avoid seeing him and also do the Prince of Qin a favor... If the academy is full of people like my brother, he might actually get second place..."

Several young ladies nearby nodded in agreement; their good-for-nothing brothers had also been forced to sign up.

Feng Jingfu looked utterly desperate and pointed at a girl who had gotten first place in the main subject exam: "You, come here."

The woman being pointed at approached nervously: "I wonder if Miss Feng is calling me?"

“You got first place in this exam, very good.” Feng Jingfu raised her chin. “I order you to spend half an hour every noon giving me a lesson. If I improve in the next exam, I will reward you with one hundred taels of silver.”

The woman quickly waved her hand: "No, no need..."

"This is my order," Feng Jingfu snorted. "It will officially begin at noon tomorrow."

She flicked her sleeves, turned around, and left.

The young ladies present looked at each other, all with some worry in their eyes.

Even Miss Feng is starting to study hard, so what about them... well, they should just stick to studying properly. It would be too embarrassing to be among the last few.

Cheng Wanwan didn't expect that the upcoming opening of Xiao Qin University would trigger infighting within the girls' school, causing the school's atmosphere to improve significantly.

Soon it was mid-to-late March, the time when apricot blossoms were in full bloom, hence the posting of the imperial examination results was also called the Apricot List.