Chapter 154 Punishment
Just as Chen Shuyan was about to open his mouth to dissuade his outspoken friend, an extremely cold voice suddenly came from outside the half-open door.
The sound was like a cold wind on a cold night, rushing straight into the house and making the two of them feel cold.
The two were so frightened that their faces turned pale in an instant, and they immediately rushed out of the door in panic.
Jiang Luli stood in the yard with a cold face. His eyes, sharp as an eagle, were like a cold pond, staring at them without a trace of emotion.
"Headmaster!" Their voices trembled, filled with endless fear and awe.
Jiang Luli snorted coldly, that snort filled with both authority and dissatisfaction. "Is this how I teach you? Do you just wantonly fabricate rumors about others behind their backs?"
His voice was deep and powerful, like a huge bell, echoing in the courtyard and making their ears buzz.
Their heads hung low, like frost-bitten eggplants, as if they were burying them in the ground. Their lips were tightly shut, not daring to breathe, let alone answer.
"You are here to learn, not to have fun or enjoy comfort. This is certainly not a place for you to indulge yourself and manipulate others at will!"
Jiang Luli spoke as he took two steps forward. His steps were steady and powerful, each one seeming to tread upon their hearts. "If you don't want to stay here, get back to Kyoto right now! You didn't want to come, and I'm getting so annoyed just looking at you!"
He was angry in his heart.
The students he brought out were all outstanding students who stood out in the annual academy examinations. They were highly expected and were very likely to become pillars of the country in the future and contribute to the court.
That's why he took the trouble to bring them to this remote place. He wanted them to see firsthand the suffering and poverty of the people. Only in this way could they truly serve the people when they became officials in the future.
But what had he just heard?
His students actually despised Taohua Village behind his back for being poor and backward, and looked down on Gu Jiayue for being a woman and not being worthy of running a school!
These students were so short-sighted and stupid! Such narrow-minded people were not worthy of his efforts to cultivate them!
Jiang Luli's eyes, as sharp as ice knives, stared straight at them. Su Yichen and Shen Shuyan felt a chill running from the soles of their feet to the top of their heads, making their scalps numb.
Their legs went weak, and they both knelt on the ground and said anxiously: "Students don't dare!"
The two knew in their hearts that with so many people coming out together, if they were the only two to return to Beijing first, once the news got out, they would become the laughing stock of other students and be laughed at for the rest of their lives.
"Oh, you don't dare? You're really brave!" Jiang Luli's lips curled up in a mocking arc, his eyes full of disdain, "Do you think you are superior to others and think you are amazing? It's ridiculous! If it weren't for your parents, you would be nothing!"
"You look down on Principal Gu for running a school as a woman? Humph, you're such a short-sighted, dirty-minded fool! Don't be so shameless as to ask Principal Gu to teach you when the time comes!"
If someone else had insulted them so mercilessly, they would definitely be dissatisfied and might even fight back.
But the person standing in front of them at this moment was Jiang Luli.
They admired Jiang Luli not only because he was their headmaster and a prince, but also because he had achieved what he had today entirely through his own hard work, without relying on any influence from his family.
As the eldest son of Prince Duan, Jiang Luli had always been different from the wealthy and powerful people in the capital. Other wealthy and powerful children spent their days indulging in food, drink, and entertainment, infatuated with beautiful women, and eager to pursue all kinds of pleasures in the world.
But Jiang Luli is full of curiosity about everything in the world, and his mind is full of "whys".
Why are flowers so vibrant and red? Why is the grass so vibrantly green? What is osmanthus cake, and what does it mean to have a concubine?
No matter what the question is, as long as he doesn't understand it, he will dig deep to find out the reason.
Prince Duan and his wife were annoyed by his questions and had no choice but to tell him that he could look for answers to his questions in books.
Thus, Jiang Luli, who was only two years old, started his study journey.
At first, Prince Duan did not take his son's studies seriously. He just thought that he had come up with a good idea and he could finally have some peace and quiet without having to listen to the series of "whys" anymore.
He didn't care whether Jiang Luli could understand the contents of the book. He just assigned him a eunuch who could read and write, and then took the princess out to travel freely.
A year later, the couple returned from their trip and were surprised to find that their three-year-old child could speak eloquently and wittily.
This shocked them so much that they couldn't close their mouths, and they felt it was extremely novel.
The couple surrounded Jiang Luli, pondering him for three whole days as if he were studying a rare treasure, and finally came to the conclusion - their son was a child prodigy!
How can we not show off such a great happy event?
Prince Duan immediately carried little Jiang Luli in his arms and happily entered the palace.
In front of the Emperor, he proudly asked Jiang Luli to perform a poem in three steps.
Xiao Jiang Luli lived up to expectations and recited a masterpiece on the spot.
This made the emperor so envious that his eyes widened, and he even had the idea of robbing the person away.
Of course it didn't work out in the end.
At the age of five, Jiang Luli had already memorized the Four Books and Five Classics; he could recite classic chapters from the Book of Songs and the Chu Ci at will; and he could even recite the Zuo Zhuan and the Records of the Grand Historian word for word.
One day, Prince Duan accidentally saw Jiang Luli holding the "Tao Te Ching" and studying it!
This scared Prince Duan greatly. If this child ran away to become a monk, who would inherit the family business of Prince Duan's Mansion?
The clever Prince Duan thought for a moment and came up with an idea.
He personally wrote a box of visiting cards and asked Jiang Luli to take these cards to challenge the great scholars of the time.
The original intention was to dampen his son's enthusiasm and make him understand that there is always someone better than you.
But who would have thought that those great scholars would be defeated one after another in front of Jiang Luli.
Seeing this, Prince Duan began to wonder. This child was only seven years old, but he was already so talented. What would he do with his long life ahead? After all, as the moon waxes and wanes, as water overflows, and too much intelligence can easily lead to premature death. He couldn't let his precious son make any mistakes!
So the clever Prince Duan came up with another solution.
He forged an identity for Jiang Luli, turning him into a poor farmer's son, and allowed him to climb up step by step through his own efforts.
Jiang Luli was feeling bored and gladly accepted the challenge.
From the age of seven, he embarked on the road to imperial examinations without relying on any power from the royal palace.
In order to buy books and raise money for the exam, he ran around to earn money, and even had some surplus to improve the lives of the farming family that adopted him.
He spent a full five years, going from a commoner to a successful candidate for the imperial examination. He always took first place in every exam and never failed.
During the palace examination, the emperor was extremely interested in this legendary student and gave him a special test on the spot.
Jiang Luli not only answered questions fluently and with sound reasoning, but he also boldly pointed out the various shortcomings of the dynasty.
The emperor was very pleased. Isn’t this the good minister he had been looking for?
He was immediately named the top scholar, and planned to marry his most beloved princess to him and appoint him as a high-ranking official.
This frightened Prince Duan, who was secretly pleased with himself, and he quickly stepped forward and said anxiously, "Your Majesty, this cannot happen! This is your own nephew, and he cannot marry your daughter!"
When the emperor heard this, he was almost fainted from anger at his own brother.
But now that things have come to this, there is nothing we can do but accept our fate.
But since the genius is his nephew, things will be easier.
The emperor directly appointed Jiang Luli as a prince and allowed him to take the position of Minister of War and participate in government affairs.
Jiang Luli was used to being free and unfettered outside, so why would he want to be trapped in the officialdom and be a constrained official? He took the imperial examination simply because he was bored.
He packed up his bags and left that day.
But no matter how powerful he was, he could not outrun the emperor's secret guards, and in the end, he was caught.
Afterwards, the emperor and Jiang Luli closed the door and had a secret conversation in the imperial study for a whole day.
No one knew what they talked about, but they only knew that the next day Jiang Luli became the principal of Huaqing Academy.
Although Jiang Luli is only 22 years old this year, his legendary first half of his life has already been widely circulated in Kyoto. He has become a role model in the hearts of all students in Kyoto and is admired by everyone.
All scholars dream of and desire to become Jiang Luli's students. Some are even willing to give up their vast fortune just to get a word of advice from him.
But Jiang Luli himself is the most powerful person in Dagan, and those things are not even worth his attention.
After becoming the principal of Huaqing Academy, he also made drastic changes to the academy's student selection method. The original rule that exempted the sons of the rich and powerful from examinations was changed to a rule that required everyone to pass the examination before admission. Regardless of social status, all were treated equally, with no preferential treatment!
As a result, it became even more difficult for the powerful to please him, but many common students had the opportunity to enter Huaqing Academy.
Every year he would select the top ten students with the best test scores and take them as his students to teach personally.
This move instantly ignited the enthusiasm of all the students, and everyone worked hard to study as if they had been injected with chicken blood.
Su Yichen and Shen Shuyan were two of the top ten in last year's entrance examination.
They have been with Jiang Luli for nearly half a year and know Jiang Luli's character very well.
In their eyes, Jiang Luli was a cold, sharp-tongued person who made people feel both awe and fear.
"I know I'm wrong, please punish me, Principal." The two men knelt on the ground, their voices filled with deep regret, their heads lowered even lower.
Jiang Luli looked at the two students kneeling on the ground. He was filled with anger and wanted to send them back to Kyoto immediately. After all, people who gossip like gossips and slander others' innocence behind their backs were not worthy of being his students.
But on second thought he changed his mind.
Gu Jiayue, as a woman, was already taking on great risks and worldly prejudices by running a school. Not everyone was as open-minded as he was and could accept a woman running a school.
The reactions of these two students reflect the attitude of most people towards women-run schools.
He believed that Gu Jiayue would be able to lead Qiushi Academy out of Taohua Village and make it famous. But by then, more and more people would doubt her.
It's impossible for him to appear in time every time to help her solve these troubles.
So Gu Jiayue had to learn to deal with such things on her own. After all, practice makes perfect. The more she dealt with them, the less afraid she would be, and she would not have the thought of retreating.
Thinking of this, Jiang Luli made a decision in his heart.
These two people must stay!
Just think of it as a whetstone for Gu Jiayue, allowing her to grow through the hardships.
Jiang Luli slowly pulled out the folding fan from his waist and gently waved it. A gust of wind happened to blow by, making his action seem a bit pretentious.
Luckily, no one saw him, so he folded his fan again. "Starting tomorrow, for a month, after school, you will go find the villagers to help with farm work. Work for one hour every day! When you're done, write me a policy paper on farming. Remember, no perfunctory work, no repetition, and no plagiarism! Otherwise, get the hell back to Kyoto. I, Jiang Luli, don't have students like you!"
"Yes. Students obey orders." The two breathed a sigh of relief.
Not being sent back to Kyoto is the best outcome, and having to work is not unacceptable either.
After seeing Jiang Luli turn around and leave, Su Yichen felt relieved, and sat down on the ground in a mess like a deflated ball.
He was still frightened when he recalled the headmaster's furious look just now, and even suspected that Jiang Luli would draw the long sword from the guard's waist and stab him to death in the next second.
Chen Shuyan raised his hand to wipe the dense sweat on his forehead and sighed, "Brother Su, I hope you can remember the lesson this time and understand what it means to speak ill of others."
Su Yichen raised his head and looked at his friend beside him, his eyes full of guilt. "I'm sorry, Brother Shen, it's all my fault that I got you into trouble."
"Hey, I'm also wrong. As your good friend, I wasn't able to stop you from talking nonsense right away. I'm willing to be punished now." Chen Shuyan said as he stood up and dusted himself off. "Let's continue packing. After dinner, we'll go around the village and see if there's anyone willing to help us with some work."
Su Yichen was already frightened out of his wits at this moment. He obeyed Shen Shuyan's words and dared not say another word.
"Did you notice that when Jiang Shanchang was angry just now, he looked very heroic and extraordinary!" Su Yichen muttered softly, with a hint of admiration appearing on his face.
When Chen Shuyan heard this, he was speechless.
If Gu Jiayue were present, she would definitely tell him. Su Yichen is a typical brainless fan.
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