Chapter 7: Not a single good thing among them.
Yu Mingshu was so engrossed in reading the inscriptions that she forgot to pay attention to the commotion outside the door. It wasn't until the three of them entered Zhishan Hall and Yu Dan coughed twice that her thoughts were brought back to the present.
The old notebook of incorrect answers suddenly felt hot to the touch. Yu Mingshu hurriedly stepped back and bowed to the elderly man at the head of the group: "Greetings, Master Yang."
Yang Congen remained silent, his gaze lingering briefly on the table before he silently closed the collection of questions and tucked it under the pile of books by the window.
He Zheng poked his head out, "Oh, sister's here too?"
At first glance, it seems like there's nothing wrong with it.
But Yu Mingshu quickly realized that she had been dressed as a man since she entered the academy, and her persona was that of the second son of the Yu family. Why would He Zheng call her "sister"?
The Yu siblings glared at He Zheng at the same time. He Zheng looked around and then implicated Yu Dan: "Don't look at me, it was Yu Dan who said it."
Yu Mingshu glared at her younger brother, put on a polite and distant smile, and said, "He Erlang should be older than me, so it makes no sense for him to call me 'sister' like that."
He Zheng's eyes darted around, and he clasped his hands in a fist salute to her: "Then I'll call you Yu Erlang, is that alright?"
Yu Mingshu ignored him and turned her head to interrogate Yu Dan with her eyes: What have you done now?
Yu Dan looked completely innocent, which was infuriating.
"Chang'an Academy has been established for more than 40 years, and there has never been a student who failed the examination seven times in a row."
Yang Congen's fingers tapped the black jade against the table, making a crisp sound, drawing the attention of the three people to him.
“Yu Dan, many of the doctors in the academy have had some complaints about you. In the past, I have spoken up for you on many occasions out of consideration for our past relationship. Today, Ming Shu happens to be here as well, so it’s time to make some things clear.”
Yu Dan didn't react to these words, but Yu Mingshu had a bad feeling.
Is my poor little brother going to get expelled from school?
In a moment of desperation, she kicked Yu Dan in the back of the knee, forcing him to perform a deep bow to Yang Congen.
“Sanlang is indeed unruly and incorrigible, which is truly despicable! But he is still young and his mind is not yet mature. He does not understand how important it is to study. I beg you, Master Yang, to give him another chance. I will strictly supervise Sanlang from now on and never let him misbehave again!”
Yu Dan was still dazed when his knee hit the ground. He belatedly clutched his leg, wincing in pain. Just as he was about to speak, he received another slap on the back of the head.
With the unspoken understanding between the siblings, he immediately understood what Yu Mingshu wanted to hear. He stiffened his neck and remained frozen for a long time, but under the constant pressure of a visible hand, he finally lowered his head reluctantly: "I was ignorant before, and I hope you will forgive me this time, sir."
Faced with this, He Zheng silently took a half step back, then suddenly realized what was happening and bowed to Yang Congen: "Master Yang, it was my lack of interest in studying that made me drag Yu Sanlang into playing around with me. If you want to persuade Sanlang to leave, you should first expel me from the academy."
Is this the time for you to show brotherhood and stand together through thick and thin?
Yang Congen, being a seasoned teacher, remained calm and composed. Upon hearing this, he simply smiled and gestured for Yu Dan to stand up: "When did I say I was going to expel him?"
"Then what do you mean?" He Zheng asked without thinking.
Yang Congen looked at Yu Mingshu, his tone becoming more serious: "I have discussed this with my colleagues in the academy and decided to let Yu Dan participate in the winter examination along with the students of the Yizi Hall. As long as he passes the examination, he will be reported to the Ministry of Personnel and qualify for the provincial examination."
Yu Mingshu asked, "What if it doesn't pass?"
Yang Congen shifted his gaze to the window and said, "That only proves that he is not suited for the path of studying and entering officialdom."
Yang Gong didn't say it explicitly, but Yu Mingshu understood the implication. If you don't pass the exam, you drop out of school—it's that simple.
This is utterly unreasonable. Typically, students at academies study for up to nine years, and only those who fail the course exams after nine years are expelled. Yu Dan has only been enrolled for a year; how could he possibly have passed the exams?
He Zheng hesitated for a moment, then, seeing that no one was paying attention to him, he couldn't help but ask, "What about me?"
Yang Congen took a sip of tea before slowly looking at him: "If you want to take the exam, you can take it with him. If you pass, you can report to the Ministry of Personnel. If you fail... you can stay in the Wuzi Hall."
He Zheng exploded upon hearing this: "Why! I'm older than Yu Dan. If I fail the exam, it only means I'm less suited to studying. Why expel him and keep me?"
Yang Congen calmly said, "You were entrusted by the Empress to enter Chang'an Academy. Without an imperial decree, who would dare to expel you?"
He Zheng was speechless, turned around angrily and leaned against the door frame, seemingly having lost all strength and ability.
Yu Mingshu smiled bitterly to herself. Unwanted degrees could be donated to those in need, like her.
"Master Yang, what about my request from yesterday..."
Yang Congen raised his hand to interrupt her, "This matter is against etiquette, you don't need to bring it up again."
Was the refusal so decisive?
Yu Mingshu vaguely felt a tightness in his chest, unable to swallow or exhale.
She really wanted to explode on the spot like He Zheng and ask, "Why? On what grounds?"
She knew all the characters she was supposed to know, and she had read plenty of books. Why could spoiled brats loaf around in the academy while she couldn't even get a chance to enroll?
She has never been afraid of exams or competition; she has experienced countless battles where thousands of soldiers cross a single-plank bridge. Now, not even having the right to take the exam is enough to crush her rationality.
"Just because I'm a woman?" Yu Mingshu couldn't help but ask.
Yang Congen said, "That's right."
Yu Mingshu pointed directly to the pile of books beside him and said, "Just now, this memorial was placed on the table, and I accidentally saw a few pages of it. I noticed a line of small characters next to the text: 'You have the talent to save the world, and you should also have the ambition to save the world.' I guess this is your handwriting, and the author of the article should be your student."
Yang Congen snorted, "You looked so carefully, yet you dare to say you were careless."
Knowing he was in the wrong, Yu Mingshu changed the subject, saying, "A few days ago, I saw a list of Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) from the Great Liang Dynasty in my father's study. The top scorer in the Jinshi examination of the thirty-seventh year of Jingcheng was named Huailing. Her name was circled in red ink on the list."
"At the time, I didn't understand why her name was marked among hundreds and thousands of names in the entire directory. Just now I suddenly understood, because she was the only woman among these hundreds and thousands of people."
Yu Mingshu chuckled, meeting a pair of weathered eyes. "Master Yang, you have taken on female disciples."
Yang Congen avoided her question and looked into the distance. "Aren't you curious why this only woman has no name? And where is she now?"
Yu Mingshu then asked, "So what's her surname?"
Yang Congen chuckled and replied, "Her surname is Liang, Liang Huailing."
His surname is Liang, the imperial surname?
What he meant was that Huailing was able to become his disciple and compete fairly with men in the examination hall because of her royal status.
He Zheng sat down in Yuan Yi's seat with ease, remaining unmoved even when glared at by Yang Congen. Seeing Yu Mingshu fall silent, he straightened his clothes and coughed lightly twice.
Yu Mingshu snapped out of her daze and asked curiously, "Does He Erlang have a sore throat?"
He Zheng glanced at Yang Congen and said to her, "Princess Huailing is the fourth daughter of the late Emperor and the current Emperor's elder sister, born of the same mother. To be precise, she should be called the eldest princess."
"And the eldest princess now..."
"The eldest princess was unknown in the palace when she was young, until she won the championship in the thirty-seventh year of Jingcheng, which shocked the world and made her famous." He Zheng's tone was unusually wistful, and before he could finish speaking, someone else interrupted him.
Yang Congen said in a deep voice: "The following spring, the new king of Northern Yan ascended the throne and sent a special envoy with a hundred boxes of animal hides to Chang'an to ask for the hand of a royal princess."
Yu Mingshu remained silent, his brows furrowed, his thoughts practically written on his face: If he wanted to marry, then Daliang would have to marry him.
He Zheng could guess what she was thinking.
This was, after all, a matter from the previous dynasty. Yu Zhui had died young, and the Yu family was left with only women and children. The neighbors were just ordinary people from the city, so they probably wouldn't talk about royal rumors for no reason. It's no wonder that Yu Mingshu knew nothing about the princess.
He Zheng took the initiative to explain: "Back then, the King of Northern Yan swept away thirteen surrounding tribes. His momentum was so great that no one in the entire northern border dared to oppose him. Meanwhile, the Great Liang suffered one natural disaster and man-made calamity after another. It had neither manpower nor money."
“The late emperor originally intended to select a woman from the imperial clan to be granted the title of princess.” Yang Congen glared at He Zheng and said, “However, the court officials advised that Huai Ling was a woman of great talent who could educate Northern Yan to be law-abiding and promote good relations between the two countries for generations to come. The princess was of noble character and listened to the advice of the court officials, requesting to be married off to the emperor.”
He Zheng scoffed: "What ministers? It's just Zhang Xiulin instigating a few censors to submit memorials. These people are full of talk about national righteousness, as if it would be unrighteous and immoral for a princess not to marry."
Yang Congen said in a deep voice: "The late emperor was grateful for the princess's great understanding and righteousness, so he posthumously conferred the title of Virtuous Consort on her birth mother, Zheng, and entrusted the eleventh prince, now His Majesty, to the Empress for upbringing."
He Zheng disagreed: "It's clear that the Zhang family is putting pressure on the princess in the name of righteousness, and using her status as the legitimate daughter to lure her into submission."
Enraged by the man's constant retorts, Yang Congen grabbed a book of miscellaneous items and threw it at He Zheng, shouting, "I'm here to reflect on my actions! How dare you speak ill of the late emperor!"
"I regret my bluntness, Lord Yang, please calm down." Seeing that the old man was quite angry, He Zheng restrained himself a little and bowed to him in a proper manner to apologize, "But I only feel sorry for the Princess, and I do not approve of what Zhang did. The late Emperor was wise and benevolent, how dare I comment on him?"
“Your father and brothers’ military achievements were hard-won.” Yang Congen picked up the now-cold tea beside him, used the lid to skim off the floating tea leaves, took a sip, and then raised an eyebrow at He Zheng. “Be careful with your words and actions.”
He Zheng remained silent. Yang Congen did not want to say more to him. He took out the Book of Changes from the pile of books and left Zhishan Hall.
Yu Dan, who hadn't dared to interrupt before, tiptoed to the door, looked around, and then said with a sigh of relief, "Brother He, you really dare to say anything!"
He Zheng didn't answer. He leaned forward, stretched out his arm, and pulled out the collection from the pile of books, quickly flipping through two pages.
Yu Mingshu frowned slightly and said, "If Northern Yan has the ability to go south, why would it need to invite a princess back? I'm afraid that the many tribes that the Northern Yan king has just subdued still have ulterior motives, so he has set his sights on marriage alliances, hoping to use the power of Great Liang and the princess's talent to help him secure the country."
“That’s right.” He Zheng leaned back in his chair, picked up the collection of essays, but his gaze fell on the roof beam. “In my opinion, Daliang should have joined forces with Wuzhu to launch a pincer attack from the north and south, and nip the wolfish ambitions of Northern Yan in the bud.”
Yu Mingshu pondered, "The fact that the King of Northern Yan could come up with the idea of marrying the princess suggests that he is not merely a warlike warrior. If he truly intends to promote civil administration and education, then the Princess's ambitions will finally have a place to be put to use."
He Zheng looked at her in surprise, and after a long while said, "You guessed right. The eldest princess has been in the north for two years. The King of Northern Yan has ceased hostilities and turned his attention to people's livelihood. With the princess's assistance, Northern Yan has reclaimed wasteland for agriculture and sericulture, established chambers of commerce to trade with Daliang, and set up trading posts on the border of Youzhou. It's just a pity..."
"What's a pity?" Yu Mingshu pressed.
"Zhang Xiulin advised the late emperor that the flow of ironware into Northern Yan might be used to forge weapons for the enemy, thus sowing the seeds of disaster for Great Liang. Therefore, he replaced all the exported farm tools with inferior ones, tampered with the farming textbooks, and repeatedly increased tariffs, which ultimately angered the Northern Yan royal family."
He Zheng lowered his eyes, closed the collection of essays, and said in a much heavier tone: "The north is in great chaos. The nobles of the Northern Yan have usurped the throne and launched a war against the Great Liang. They killed a princess on the battlefield to sacrifice to the flag."
After he finished speaking, the room fell silent.
The princess was betrayed by her own people.
After a long silence, Yu Mingshu uttered a very restrained curse about the "national essence".
"These guys are all rotten!"
Outside the door, Yuan Yi paused in his steps.
Unable to get a word in edgewise, Yu Dan's gaze wandered around. He was the first to spot the figure outside the door. He quickly winked at his sister and then kicked He Zheng's clothes.
He Zheng glanced back and slowly stood up.
Yu Mingshu then noticed the person who had arrived, who seemed even more embarrassed than she was.
A note from the author:
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