Chapter 289: Weird

Rong Yue didn't quite understand what was said until the next day when she heard many people saying that Princess Yi Yang was kind-hearted and sympathized with the hard labor of the laborers in the academy. She paid out of her own pocket to improve their meals, and everyone thanked her for that.

The laborers were grateful for the county lord's mercy and worked tirelessly to speed up the completion of the project. It was originally said that it would take more than half a month to build the library, but it was completed on the eighth day. Even the inside and outside of the academy were cleaned spotlessly.

It was not until Tang Ning brought people to move all the books in the mansion into the library that Rong Yue was suddenly shocked.

"What's wrong?" Gu Helian was sweating profusely. When he turned around, he saw Rong Yue standing in front of the door with a dazed look on his face.

Rong Yue looked at Tang Ning, who was directing the people below to sort books in the library, and the teachers who had come to the academy early and were surrounding Tang Ning and asking questions. She couldn't help but open her mouth and said, "Tang Ning, she's not the same as before..."

Gu Helian was puzzled: "What?"

The library was too noisy and he couldn't hear what Rong Yue said.

Rong Yue shook her head silently: "Nothing."

She just felt that Tang Ning seemed a little different after returning from the mountain. During the period before that, she only occasionally felt that something was wrong with Tang Ning, but as time passed, the abnormality in her became more and more serious. She was smarter than she should be at her age, and her ability to understand people's hearts became more and more powerful.

Rong Yue didn't think that this was a bad thing for her, but she had changed so much in less than half a year. She always felt like she was missing something.

Seeing her look a little strange, Gu Helian quickly put down the book in her hand and walked over: "Are you feeling unwell? Otherwise, have someone take you back first. I'll help Tang Ning keep an eye on the library. We'll go back after we've finished cleaning up."

Rong Yue suppressed the doubt in her eyes and said, "No, hurry up and go in to clean up, otherwise it will be dark soon."

The books that were taken back from the Lu family were already arranged according to categories. Tang Ning also found time to reorganize the ones left by Master Rong later, so today he just had them placed in the library in order.

Canglang brought people to help early, and Xiao Yan also rushed to the academy after coming out of the palace. But even so, by the time they put everything back in place, the moon was already at its zenith.

Those teachers who were originally passionate and enthusiastic were now so tired that they collapsed on the ground in a disgraceful manner.

Tang Ning looked at the library, which was not yet full, with some regret: "There are still not enough books. I don't know when this library will be full."

Gu Helian looked up at the stairs on the roof and couldn't help but complain, "What are you thinking? Don't you see how big this library is? The Imperial College only has a small corner of your building where they store their books. With such a large space, they'd have to bring in all the books from all the noble families to barely fill it up."

He saw with his own eyes how many books were brought back from the Lu family, and so many boxes were only loosely filled with books.

Gu Helian turned to look at Xiao Yan. "You too, Xiao Haitang obviously has a lot of books, but after moving in, it still looks empty. Why did you have people build this library so big for no reason? It's useless to leave it looking so shabby."

Xiao Yan said calmly, "Build it bigger now so we don't have to expand it later."

Gu Helian rolled her eyes.

Tang Ning didn't think it was bad at all, she just smiled dimples and said, "Fill it slowly, it will eventually be full."

Rong Yue didn't say anything. Since this academy belonged to Tang Ning, it was fine as long as she liked it. Rong Yue just thought that now that she had inherited the family business of Prince Cheng, she had no shortage of money, so she could order people to collect some books and rare copies in the market and other places.

Rong Yue turned her head to Tang Ning and asked, "The library is pretty good now. When do you plan to officially open it?"

When the teachers nearby heard this, they all looked at Tang Ning with fiery eyes.

They originally came here to teach and educate people, and they had also read those books just now, so they just wanted to open the school immediately.

Tang Ning glanced at Xiao Yan and saw him nod before saying, "Three days later."

Gu Helian: "July 1st?"

Tang Ning: "Well, tomorrow I will have people post notices recruiting students all over the capital, and then send someone to inform Cao Gong and the others."

…

If we were to say what the hottest topic in the capital recently is, it is not the scandal of the Lu family and Prince Cheng, nor the Fourth Prince's fall from his horse and injury, which is suspected to have disfigured his face, but the long-rumored Rongsheng Academy in the south of the city, which will hang a plaque and erect a Wende stele on the first day of July.

When people heard that on the opening day, the Minister of the Central Secretariat Lu Chongyuan would personally hang a plaque for the academy, and the Imperial Censor Cao Dejiang would write an inscription on the Wen De Stele, and even many court officials would be there, not only the students in the capital were excited, but even those students from other places who had rushed to the capital in advance to witness the "grand event" were also extremely happy.

The night before the first day of July, there was a heavy rain in Beijing after several days of continuous sunshine. When the sky cleared up the next day, the scorching heat seemed to have subsided a little.

Countless people who came to watch the ceremony had gathered early on the mountain road outside Rongsheng Academy. The Beijing Patrol Camp and the Black Armor Guards maintained order and no one dared to cause trouble. A path was left in front of the academy gate. Every time a carriage came and the people on it came down with gifts and entered the academy gate, it would cause a commotion.

"That's the Minister of Revenue."

"That's the Marquis of Cheng'an, right? I've seen him before."

"The Minister of Works is here too."

"Oh my god, is that Master Ding, the Grand Master of Imperial Households? I heard he was preparing to retire and hasn't attended court in quite a while. Why is he here?"

Carriages drove in front of the academy one after another. As more and more court officials showed up, more and more people gathered outside.

While waiting for Lu Chongyuan and the others to arrive by car, they looked at the huge crowds of people outside, and the particularly excited young faces who were squeezed at the front of the crowd.

Even through the carriage, one could hear the excited discussions. The aristocratic official beside Lu Chongyuan couldn't help but frown: "Why are there so many people?"

"Lord Cheng, don't you know? Before Rongsheng Academy was built, people had already gone to various places to spread the reputation of this academy. During this period, thousands of students have rushed to the capital from other places, and some people have not arrived yet because the journey is too far." said a person next to him.

The official who had spoken earlier frowned immediately: "It's just a newly built academy, how could it attract so many people?!"

Cui Lin, who was also on the same path, sneered when he heard this: "Then we'll have to ask our Secretary Lu."

"Of course, an ordinary newly built academy wouldn't be good enough, but this Rongsheng Academy has inherited half of the Lu family's collection of books, and also has those precious relics left by Rong Qian'an. I heard that the Cao family's unsung Lord Cao personally wrote poems for the academy and agreed to teach at Rongsheng Academy for two days every month."

"Besides that, Rongsheng Academy has also invited Shen Ji, Qiu Yichuan, Deng Dehui and others to teach at the academy. Each of them is a world-renowned master. Furthermore, our Secretary Lu personally erected the Wende Monument for the academy along with Cao Gong. Rumor has it that the aristocratic families will also patronize the academy. Even for these reasons alone, there's an endless stream of people willing to study here."

"Rongsheng Academy is what it is today thanks to our Secretary Lu!"

Cui Lin's words were sarcastic, and the two people who were speaking were instantly embarrassed. Lu Chongyuan on the side looked at Cui Lin calmly.