"Shanhe Academy actually dared to snatch students from the Imperial College. This is too much! We can't just let this go."
"I've long said that Shanhe Academy would become a serious threat. In just a few years, it's already been able to snatch students from the Imperial College. If we continue to sit idly by, in a few years, it will forcefully surpass the Imperial College and become the number one academy in the north."
"dream!"
"It has nothing to do with dreaming or not. Everyone has seen the momentum of Shanhe Academy. With Madam Zhao's support, they have strong financial resources. Many students initially went there because of the free tuition. The quality of the students was worrying, so no one took Shanhe Academy seriously at first."
"However, now that Shanhe Academy has made great achievements in the imperial examinations, many talented and qualified students will actively apply to Shanhe Academy in the future. What use will the Imperial College be then?"
"What should we do then?"
"We must not stand by and watch Shanhe Academy overpower the Imperial College."
"Madam Zhao is behind the Shanhe Academy. It won't be easy to suppress the Shanhe Academy."
“It’s not easy, but we have to do it.”
"Don't forget when we impeached Madam Zhao three years ago. The result was the loss of two gentlemen, Cai Zhongshan and Xu Chengye. It's rare that you want to repeat the same mistake."
"I heard that Madam Zhao opened two girls' schools in Xinmin County."
"Exactly!"
“Maybe we can start from here.”
"Everyone in and outside the court is paying attention to the disaster in the south and the suppression of the rebellion. Now is not the right time to take action."
"So when do you think is a good time?"
"When the Grand Prince has achieved great merit, that will be the time for us to take action. The rift between His Majesty and the Grand Prince is quite deep. If we use this to our advantage, we will be able to suppress the Shanhe Academy."
"That makes sense."
"That's right, that's right. Since Madam Zhao is such a tough guy, let's start with the weak side of His Highness."
…
After a busy day, Wang Xuecheng packed up, took a stack of registration forms, and took a carriage back to Shanhe Academy.
Since the horse policy was relaxed, the academy purchased twenty carriages at once for the faculty and staff to use.
The carriage swayed as it climbed the mountain.
Wang Xuecheng took this opportunity to look through the registration form, hoping to see if he knew anyone there. It would be great if he could bump into one or two fellow villagers.
His hometown is very poor, and is considered the poorest place in the Gyeonggi area.
Very few families can afford to support a scholar.
When everyone has money, they are busy building houses and getting married. Very few families will take the initiative to spend money to send their children to school.
Wang Xuecheng was lucky to have an open-minded father, which gave him the opportunity to study.
After flipping through a stack of registration forms, he didn't see a single fellow villager, and he was quite disappointed.
At the same time he was very happy.
Because there were obviously a lot more juren and xiucai who registered this time.
The teacher said that the reputation of Shanhe Academy is growing day by day, and this is indeed true.
The carriage went up the mountain and went straight into the academy.
The huge academy is full of students.
Some people hurried to the cafeteria with their food bowls to eat.
Some people gathered in groups of three or five, reciting poems and composing essays.
Some people locked themselves in cells, experiencing the cruelty of the imperial examination.
Some people were practicing horse archery on the hillside.
Some people also played music and sang by the pond to express their feelings...
Such an environment and such an atmosphere make Wang Xuecheng very satisfied.
He was genuinely proud to be a member of the academy and only wanted to stay there forever.
He came to the Academic Affairs Office with a stack of registration forms.
"Xiao Wang is back! You've been busy all day. The registration form is right here. Go wash up and eat."
"Thank you for your concern, sir."
"Don't be polite, go eat quickly, don't be hungry."
"Thank you, sir."
When Wang Xuecheng returned to the dormitory, Yan Ci was studying hard.
The two now live in the same dormitory and continue to be brothers in need.
"Brother Yan, have you eaten yet?"
Yan Ci grabbed his hair and said, "I was so engrossed in reading that I forgot the time and didn't even remember whether I had eaten or not."
"Brother Yan, don't grab your hair, or you'll go bald."
When Yan Ci heard this, he quickly let go of his hands, looking annoyed.
"Brother Wang, I'm afraid I won't be able to take the imperial examination next year."
"Brother Yan hasn't even taken the exam yet, and he's already started to undermine his prestige. That's inappropriate."
"I'm not trying to embarrass myself. I know my own strengths and weaknesses. Passing the imperial examination is already a blessing from my ancestors."
"No matter what, Brother Yan must try for the imperial examination next year. If you really fail, we can find another way out."
Yan Ci's face was pale, and he probably didn't eat lunch.
"Brother Yan, come have dinner with me. We can discuss any issues slowly. Or we can wait for Brother Chen to come back and ask him for help."
Yan Ci looked dejected as he was dragged by Wang Xuecheng to the cafeteria for lunch.
I handed over my meal ticket, selected two dishes and a soup, found a seat and started eating.
Each student in the academy is given three meal tickets per day, covering breakfast, lunch and dinner. All of these are free.
If you think the big pot food is not tasty enough, or want to eat more dishes, you have to spend money to buy another meal ticket.
The academy now has many students from well-off families, and the buying and selling of meal tickets has increased accordingly.
As soon as the two sat down, someone came up and asked, "Brother, do you have meal tickets? The accounting office is closed. Can you sell me two?"
Wang Xuecheng, with rice in his mouth, shook his head repeatedly and said vaguely, "I don't have a meal ticket."
He ate every meal in the academy, for fear of missing one, so he had no extra meal tickets.
Yan Ci rummaged through his pockets and said, "I have two left this month, I'll give them both to you."
"Thank you, Brother."
The student handed over a string of copper coins. The price was set by the accountant and was very fair.
The students got their meal tickets and met up with their friends. The group happily ran to the canteen to have their own meals.
Wang Xuecheng swallowed the food in his mouth and asked, "Brother Yan, how many meals have you missed this month? I remember you already sold four meal tickets."
Yan Ci said with a pale face: "I am not as good as others! I am depressed and have no appetite for food."
"Brother Yan has already achieved the title of Juren, which is much better than me. Why is he like this?"
Yan Ci sighed, "Brother Wang, I plan to take the divination exam. If I don't pass the exam and become a Jinshi, I'll follow my predecessors and work as a clerk in the Ministry of Personnel, or as a tax collector in the Xinmin County government office. At least it's a way out."
"Brother Yan, you can consider studying engineering or law. I heard from the academic affairs office that the Ministry of Engineering and the Ministry of Justice will come to the academy to recruit people."
Yan Ci shook his head. "When I saw the thick volume of the Great Zhou Code, my head felt dizzy. I have no hope in law. I'm not good at engineering either, but I have some hope in numerology. But if I don't pass the exam with excellence, I won't be able to enter the Ministry of Revenue, let alone the Ministry of Finance."
"Brother Yan, you can do it." Wang Xuecheng encouraged him.
Yan Ci smiled bitterly, "Try hard! If it doesn't work out, I'll follow you to do the registration work and try to stay in the academy."
"That's great. I'm just worried Brother Yan might feel wronged."
Yan Ci took a few bites of rice and stuffed his mouth full. "If it were Brother Chen, what would he do?"
"He must not be willing to be a petty official."
Chen Zhuangshi is the most ambitious among the three.
Although he only has the title of scholar, he is more ambitious than the juren master Yan Ci.
As a scholar, he became a prominent figure in the academy. It must be admitted that Chen Zhuangshi has strong personal abilities.
His only weakness is that he has no talent for the imperial examinations.
"I wonder how Brother Chen is doing in the Northwest? I haven't heard from him in several months."
Wang Xuecheng misses Chen Zhuangshi very much.
Chen Zhuang is honest, and he has a backbone.
"Hahaha, my book is published, it's published..."
A student was stripping off in public in the cafeteria, dancing with his hands and feet, leaving only his underwear.
He didn't even eat, just locked himself up and rushed out like a gust of wind, shouting "My book is published!"
The old men and women in the cafeteria are used to it.
I have seen many people stripping naked and running around. What's more, wearing only a pair of underwear is nothing in the eyes of the old men and women.
"Hey, hey, hey, what do you want to eat?"
The aunties' powerful roars woke up the young students who were stunned by the excitement.
“Eat, eat, eat…” I ate for a long time but couldn’t find anything delicious.
The cafeteria lady was very domineering. Without waiting for the young student to tell her what he was going to eat, she filled his rice bowl with two dishes and a soup.
"Next!"
The young student looked at the carrots he hated the most and felt like crying but had no tears.
Bullying him is because he has never seen the world, boohoo!
He had only been in school for half a month, and he had no idea that streaking could be seen everywhere in the academy.
These days, it seems that if you don’t run naked, you are not worthy of studying in the academy.
So sad!
Yan Ci stopped a passing student and said, "Brother, what on earth was that kid yelling about just now? Can he publish a book too?"
"This senior brother, you may not know this, but that kid just now loves reading storybooks and legends. He tried to write one himself and submitted it to Wenqing Bookstore. Unexpectedly, it was accepted, and his book will be published next month."
"Damn, that kid can actually write a legendary novel?"
"Of course I can! I've wasted several baskets of manuscript paper alone. It's really enviable to be chosen by Wenqing Bookstore. The writing fee alone is enough for that guy to live on for 10 to 20 years."
As we all know, the books published by Wenqing Bookstore have good sales and high writing fees.
Hardcover editions, collector's editions, and essence editions are all money-making tricks, yet they sell extremely well.
"Love between Humans and Ghosts in Past and Present Lives", which was published a few years ago after the completion of "Qi Lang's Ten Battles with the Flower Thief", was truly popular all over the country. It was reprinted again and again and is still ranked in the top ten bestseller list of Wenqing Bookstore this year.
Collector's editions, hardcover editions, they are reprinted every year and sell like hot cakes every year.
I heard that in recent years, the hardcover edition of "Past Life and Present Life Love between Humans and Ghosts" alone has sold 200,000 to 300,000 copies.
A copy cost three taels of silver, and a hardcover edition sold for hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
Not to mention the huge number of paperback and simplified editions.
"The Love between Humans and Ghosts in Past and Present Lives" has definitely sold for over a million taels of silver over the years.
So scary!
It's too enviable and hateful.
If the book of the guy who just took off all his clothes except for his underwear can also become a hit, the royalties from writing will not only last for 10 or 20 years, but also for a lifetime, or even three generations.
Bang!
Yan Ci slammed the table with an excited look on his face, unable to control his excitement.
Wang Xuecheng was so scared that he almost choked to death.
Yan Ci said to Wang Xuecheng with shining eyes, "I know what I should do. I should write books, storybooks, legendary novels, and popular novels. I even thought of a pen name, it's Sanshan Jushi. Sanshan represents you, me, and Brother Chen, the three of us brothers in distress. You will be my first readers, hahahaha..."
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