Fang Huai
Lu Chang has been in Chaozhou for over a month. Unlike his father Lu Zhi, who was straightforward and rigid, he inherited some of his mother's tact and reserve, and he handles people and affairs with meticulous care.
When I first arrived in Chaozhou, I was unfamiliar with all my colleagues. They were all officials who had come from the capital to this remote and desolate place. They were all out of favor with the emperor and had been exiled here to die far from home. I thought that everyone was like Lu Chang. Some colleagues sympathized with me, while others looked at me with cold indifference. They were all just scholars who were frustrated in their official careers. They were all pitiful creatures. They would say some sarcastic things and tease each other, but there was no fierce political struggle in the court.
Lu Chang handled things with ease, and he managed all matters in the prefecture, big or small, properly. Within a month, his colleagues no longer dared to underestimate him, and they would often invite him to drink after work.
The atmosphere at the banquet was relaxed, and people spoke less restrainedly. Lu Chang leaned against the wall, listening with a smile as his colleagues chatted idly. Some, not yet satisfied with just drinking, called over dancers to entertain them. After their performance, the dancers would lie in the arms of men and be fed wine, truly enjoying a life of debauchery.
After finishing her piece, Zhenzhen was about to leave when a drunken clerk grabbed her skirt and wouldn't let her go. Terrified, she clung tightly to her pipa, her face filled with panic. She dared not offend the guest, yet she didn't know how she had managed to escape unscathed. She could only plead softly that she was only playing music at Guyinlou and had absolutely no intention of entertaining guests.
The minor official, having drunk too much, had no patience to listen to her. He got up to pull her away, holding a wine cup in one hand, and stood between the two. Following that hand, he saw Lu Chang raising his cup and laughing, "Brother Jia, you're drunk. If you continue to act like this, you might be turned away next time you come to Guyin Tower. Come, let's drink!"
The minor official was of lower rank than Lu Chang, so he couldn't disobey Lu Chang's orders. His superior had also personally poured the wine, so he couldn't refuse to give him face and released Zhenzhen.
The girl quickly turned and left, clutching her zither. Before going downstairs, she stopped and glanced back at the handsome man in the crowd before hurrying down.
What can a group of men talk about when they get together? Of course, only eating, drinking, and having fun.
Now that I'm in this remote place, I should put away all my ambitions. Want to go back to Pingdu to become an official? That's for the next life. Right now, I just want to live comfortably in the present.
After everyone said goodbye and dispersed at the door, Lu Chang also lost his smile, looking exhausted and feeling an inexplicable disgust.
He reeked of alcohol, even he couldn't stand the smell, so he just wandered around the streets and unknowingly ended up at the government office.
It was already 9 PM, but there was still a room with a light on in the government office. He knew who it was, so he went over and, unsurprisingly, the person writing furiously under the oil lamp was Fang Huai, the instructor of Chaozhou.
The instructor was in charge of the culture of a prefecture, but he was a low-ranking official with no way to make money. As long as he didn't cause trouble, he could live a comfortable life in this position.
Unlike farmers who toil their entire lives planting crops in spring and autumn just to earn a meager living, and who are forced by officials to pay taxes during famine years, having to run around constantly.
Although the salary was low, it was enough to support a family of three, and perhaps even leave some surplus food, so they wouldn't have to live a precarious life. With the added advantage of their official status, they were in a better position than ordinary people.
Occasionally, he would invite his colleagues out for a treat, or go to a brothel to find a few female companions for a night of passion. When he returned home, he had a virtuous wife to take care of him and take care of everything, so he didn't have to worry about anything.
And so, he lived a mundane and simple life.
Now it seems that not all officials in Chaozhou are like this?
Sun Zuhan, the prefect, once served as an official in Pingdu. However, he was exiled to Chaozhou because he aligned himself with the wrong powerful figure. He thought about how to return to Pingdu every day, and devoted himself to cultivating relationships and winning over the imperial envoy. He left all the affairs of the prefecture, big and small, to his subordinates.
If their superiors act this way, their subordinates will naturally follow suit. However, since they have no connections in the court, they cannot cultivate relationships even if they want to. They simply drift through life, taking it one day at a time.
During his month in Chaozhou, he encountered only mediocre and lazy officials, except for Fang Huai, who was an exception.
Fang Huai, a native of Chaozhou, was a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) in the fifteenth year of the Dingyuan era. All the other Jinshi who passed the examination with him that year entered the Hanlin Academy, but he was sent back to Chaozhou by the emperor to serve as a minor instructor. He remained in this position for ten years, and his official rank remained unchanged.
What hasn't changed is his stubborn nature, like an old ox.
Fang Huai was from Ding County, Chaozhou. Ding County was a small and sparsely populated place with little education. When Fang Huai passed the imperial examination that year, the whole county was shocked. The county magistrate immediately compiled the local history and wrote a whole page specifically for Fang Huai.
His success inspired many people in Ding County. Many farming families would sell their possessions to send their sons to school so that they could be as successful as him. But then, he returned to Chaozhou to serve as an official.
The villagers were greatly disappointed. They had studied for decades and their families had invested so much money and manpower, yet they still couldn't even set foot in Chaozhou and could only become minor officials. It wasn't worth it!
So the boys who were still in school were called back home to plow the fields and herd cattle again.
Whenever a child still clamors to go to school, the adults will bring up the example of Fang Huai, asking if their child will become the next Fang Huai, who is nearly thirty and still hasn't been able to marry, and who is a minor official wearing patched clothes.
"If you used the time you would spend studying to farm or hunt, you might even save some money to get married. Do you want to remain a bachelor or get married?" This is how adults would ask their children.
The children naturally said, "Of course, it's getting married!"
Fang Huai was not unaware of the villagers' ridicule of him, nor did the officials of Chaozhou look down on this colleague. What hurt more than the cold words was that everyone was isolating this outcast.
He seemed completely unaware, continuing with his work, busy until late at night every day.
Nobody cared what he was busy with; it was all just ridiculous stuff.
Fang Huai put down his pen, relaxed his tense shoulders, looked up and saw Lu Chang standing in front of the house. He quickly got up and ran over to Lu Chang, bowing respectfully.
Lu Chang slowly walked into the room and saw that the table was full of documents. He picked up a scroll at random and read it. It recorded various miscellaneous matters of the schools set up in each county of Chaozhou.
The handwriting is beautiful; not a single word in the entire scroll is wrong, which shows that the writer is a serious and meticulous person.
Lu Chang put down the documents, and Fang Huai quickly poured tea for himself, only to find that the tea had already cooled down. He was a little embarrassed and was about to pick up the teapot to boil some more water when Lu Chang said, "It's alright. It's hot, so it's good to drink some cool tea."
Upon hearing this, Fang Huai stopped boiling water. He was somewhat reserved and not very talkative, so he didn't know what to say to Lu Chang. He simply stood aside, waiting for Lu Chang to speak.
Lu Chang looked at the documents covering the table and asked him softly, "Do you know that what you've done is just a drop in the ocean?"
A drop in the ocean? Fang Huai had heard the same or similar words countless times. Sometimes, when he was alone at night, looking at his lonely shadow illuminated by the oil lamp, he would ask himself, "Does this really mean it's just a drop in the ocean?"
But doubts are fleeting. The next day, he was once again the ignorant and fearless Fang Huai. Even if all he did was in vain, even if he was despised by the world, he would still continue.
Fang Huai sat back down. Looking at the scroll filled with writing in front of him, he felt a sense of relief: "When I was twenty, I went to Pingdu to take the imperial examination. I've lived for twenty years and can finally leave Dingxian. Dingxian is the poorest place in Chaozhou. Sir, you come from a wealthy family, so you can't imagine how poor it is. Even beggars in Pingdu have a broken bowl to beg for a living, but the people in Dingxian even eat people."
His once resolute gaze began to waver, as if he had returned to those impoverished years.
"Passing through Jinning, I realized that there are people in the world who live good lives, with enough to eat and wear, and no worries about food and clothing. I thought Jinning was rich enough, but when I arrived in Pingdu, I realized that I was not even as good as a frog in a well. Even a frog in a well will look up at the sky, but I have never even seen a corner of that vast sky."
That year, Fang Huai ate white flour steamed buns for the first time. When a wealthy family in the capital got married, the bride's sedan chair was carried through the streets, and the family accompanying the bride scattered small, specially made silver peanuts.
He was lucky enough to find one, but he could only afford to buy two steamed buns. That night, he couldn't close his eyes, his mind filled with images of scattering money during the day.
Let's not talk about anything else. What Juefeng Ridge separates is not just the Central Plains and Lingnan, but two completely different lives.
Some people struggle between life and death every day just to get a bite to eat, while others have their food and drink poured into the slop bucket before they've even had a bite to eat.
"If I hadn't gone to Pingdu, I would have been like the other people from Dingxian, farming land that yielded little harvest, raising a group of children who would perpetuate my tragic life, letting them repeat this despair."
"But I have finally seen another side of this world. I want to send more Chaozhou people out of Juefengling and let them see that there are better ways to live!"
Lu Chang rubbed his thumb against the crude teacup and said calmly, "So that's why you want to set up schools so that they can rise above others through officialdom, just like you?"
The handsome man laughed, but it was full of sarcasm: "But sir, although you passed the imperial examination, you can only enjoy wealth and glory for a short time. In the end, didn't you still return to Chaozhou, which has confined you for half your life? You can't even save yourself, yet you want to save others?"
Unexpectedly, the official who had seemed somewhat timid when he first met him was now filled with unwavering resolve. He looked at Lu Chang without the slightest fear and said resolutely, "My lord! If it were only for wealth and glory, I would not have returned in the first place! The people of my hometown are honest and poor, only knowing how to survive on this barren land. I hope they can learn to read and understand righteousness, and sweep away their ignorance and prejudices. If they can enter officialdom through the imperial examinations, that is the right path! If not, it is not a problem either. They can only see other good things and have more ambition. Staying outside and doing other things well is also a righteous path... If schools can really be established and education flourishes, the people will be harmonious, and when people are harmonious, the place will prosper. My lord, I also hope that everyone in Chaozhou can eat a white flour bun!"
Lu Chang shook his head, even he himself felt that his words were extremely harsh: "Chaozhou is impoverished. Seven or eight out of ten people are struggling to even afford food and clothing. How can they have spare money to send their children to school?"
"That's why we need to establish government schools! The government should provide the money and manpower to help poor children go to school!"
"Where will the money come from? You know perfectly well that Chaozhou is poor, taxes are hard to collect, and there isn't a single extra penny!"
This is indeed the biggest difficulty! The government has no money, and even if it did, it wouldn't spend a penny more on education. Fang Huai sighed heavily and lowered his head.
Looking at Fang Huai's clothes, which had been patched with several pieces of old cloth, Lu Chang finally understood why he didn't even have the money to buy a new cloth garment!
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