This year, two well-known talents emerged from the autumn imperial examinations in Xiangzhou City, Anbei County, and they are the talk of the town.
One of them was a sixteen-year-old boy who was outstanding in literature, had an extraordinary temperament, and wrote beautifully, which was a source of great interest to the examiners.
The other one, who came in third this year, is an old scholar who is 42 years old, named Zhou Wencong.
At first, people found it novel; a man in his forties suddenly had the idea of becoming an official.
However, people soon realized they were wrong, because after passing the imperial examination, this Zhou scholar declined the invitations from the officials of the prefecture and returned to the Wende Academy, where he had previously served as the headmaster, to continue teaching children.
Such a special person and such a special event are very likely to attract people's curiosity.
Soon, Zhou Wencong's reputation spread far and wide, and Zhoujia Village and the Zhou family became famous.
Before winter was over, Zhou Wencong had become a celebrity in Anbei County, even surpassing the reputation of the young scholar who had won first place.
Because of him, Wende Academy suddenly became very popular in the northern region.
When someone suddenly becomes famous, people are willing to study him, to dig out his legendary story, and to find out what makes him worthy of such praise.
This research has attracted Zhou Wencong's die-hard fans, who take it upon themselves to dig up information and news about Zhou Wencong, and also spontaneously spread Zhou Wenshen's calligraphy and stories.
The article he wrote for reference was circulated, and many people copied it and forwarded it, allowing more scholars to see his handwriting.
Among these scholars, Zhou Wencong's experiences, as well as some of his other articles and calligraphy, were circulated. These were collected by some of his old friends. Unexpectedly, he became famous overnight, and the articles and calligraphy in their hands suddenly became valuable.
Some people from poor families actually sold their collection of Zhou Wencong's articles and calligraphy after being offered a high price, which did bring a significant change to their families.
Zhou Wencong was unaware of all this.
Having taught for many years, he wrote many calligraphy copybooks, some for sale and others as gifts to friends. Most people originally intended to take them home for their children to practice calligraphy.
Some senior scholars also obtained Zhou Wencong's articles. After reading them, they said that his calligraphy had the sedimentation of years and the sharpness of time. Every word of his articles could speak to the hearts of readers. People competed to copy his articles, study his calligraphy, and use them as model texts for practice.
When Zhou Quan and Li Mai finished their own business and learned that Zhou Wencong had become famous, it was already mid-November.
At this time, Zhou Wencong had already received several groups of scholars who came to visit him and young people who came to study with admiration for him at the village academy.
He patiently recounted the changes in the Zhou family and his own growth story to them. He also treated every visitor with great hospitality, and before they left, he would give each of them a piece of calligraphy or painting he had written himself.
It was these people who told him that he realized how famous he was in Anbei County.
He thanked everyone for sharing his article and said that if people were willing, they could help promote Wende Academy, as they are committed to cultivating talent.
On the 18th day of the 11th lunar month, Li Mai and Zhou Quan returned to the village.
Zhou Wencong had previously sent them a message, asking them to come back when they had time, as he wanted to thank them.
If it weren't for their financial support to help him go to Xiangzhou to participate in the autumn imperial examination, his meager resources wouldn't have been enough for him to manage.
Just the month he spent living there and the month he traveled, plus food and drink, left him with not enough money.
Of course, he also gave all the tuition fees he earned to his family for living expenses. He would never let his family go hungry because of his studies, otherwise he would have stopped studying for so many years.
Upon seeing the couple return, Zhou Wencong wanted to formally thank them, which startled Li Mai and Zhou Quan, who quickly helped him up.
"Brother Wencong, you're too kind. We're brothers, we're from the same clan. If you're well, our clan will be well, and our descendants will be well," Zhou Quan quickly said.
Zhou Wencong smiled, invited them to sit down, and told them about what had happened recently.
Li Mai and Zhou Quan were also very happy to hear this and asked him if there was anything they could do to help. Zhou Wencong shook his head, "Everything is fine now. Some of these people who came donated money to the academy, and some donated books. I plan to build a library in the academy so that the children who are going to take the imperial examinations can go in and read and study."
“We now have ten students studying the Four Books and Five Classics at our academy, and a few more will come in a few days to learn about various schools of history, policy essays, and writing,” Zhou Wencong said with a smile.
Last year, the academy built on the remaining open space in the courtyard, with the money coming from the Zhou Clan Ancestral Hall.
Today, the primary school and the university school have been separated by a wall.
However, there is a moon gate in the middle, which allows teachers to move back and forth between the two sides, but students cannot come and go as they please. There are people watching the moon gate to prevent older children from bullying younger children.
Another gate was opened on the west side of the academy, and the children from the village who came to the beginner's class for their early education left through the west gate.
Previously, the main gate on the east side, which led to the alley, was for young people from university classes.
Nowadays, the empty courtyards in the village are rented out to students who come to the village to study. They usually live in groups of two or three, with their own servants to cook for them.
All of these arrangements were made by the Zhou clan patriarch.
These young people who came to study also paid tuition fees.
Upon hearing that a library was to be built, Zhou Quan thought it was a good thing and asked, "If it's to be built, what do we need to do?"
“You know a lot of people outside, so you can help us collect some books. New or old editions are fine, as long as the students have books to read. Our academy is newly built, but our book collection is still too small,” Zhou Wencong said with a sigh.
“No problem, I’ll arrange for someone to collect the books,” Zhou Quan agreed.
After leaving the academy, they ran into the clan chief again, who invited them back and asked if they wanted to rent out their courtyard. He explained that more students would be coming in a few days, and if there weren't enough extra courtyards in the village, they could rent theirs.
Li Mai thought for a moment, nodded, and said it was fine, since they were just leaving it in their yard anyway.
The couple went back home and put all their belongings into the space, leaving only the cabinets, tables and chairs for the students renting the room.
The kitchenware was left behind; they could wash it and use it. As for the more personal items like bedding, she took her own.
They also put away all the decorative items.
The rest were left for students to live in.
The same thing happened with Zhou Lin. Li Mai put everything that could be taken into her space, and finally gave the key to the clan leader so that he could make the arrangements.
With more people coming and going in Zhoujia Village these days, Zhou Shifan has become even more attentive to its management.
Li Mai and Zhou Quan thought Zhoujia Village was quite nice now.
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