klisemfg Chapter 450 Great Scholar (1)
Chapter 450 Great Scholar (1)
Shangguan Chong was dressed in new clothes, wearing a silver-gray long gown and a Confucian scarf of the same color. He stood tall at the entrance of the academy, holding an exquisite folding fan in his hand.
Outside the gate of the academy, there was a large open space covered with green grass, and students were standing in an orderly manner.
They were all wearing long gowns of uniform color and style, and most importantly, nearly 30% of them were women.
Zheng Qiao is now the vice-president of the academy, but he is not quite used to it yet. He held a piece of paper in his hand and wiped the sweat off his face nervously.
After everyone gradually quieted down, he took a deep breath and read aloud the contents on the paper.
The general meaning is:
Qingxin Academy is a charity school. Any student from a particularly poor family who meets the academy's requirements can enroll for free, and all food and clothing expenses will be borne by the academy.
The academy has screened all homeless beggars under the age of ten in Shancang County, and 80% of them who meet the requirements have successfully come to the academy to study.
In addition, the academy is divided into two schools, male and female, taught by male and female teachers respectively. All children under the age of ten can apply for admission and must pay tuition fees. Whether they can pass or not is determined by the academy.
After Zheng Qiao finished reading the paper in his hand, the onlookers immediately became unhappy.
"Since the academy accepts even beggars, why can't our Daqiang come to study? Is this a deliberate attempt to exclude the villagers?"
One of the tall and strong women pulled over her fat son who was watching the fun and started yelling at Shangguan Chong.
Then many people followed suit and agreed that all food, clothing and other expenses would be borne by the academy. Isn't this equivalent to the academy raising their own children?
Why should such a good thing be allowed to benefit only those dirty and smelly beggars?
The people of Xiangxue Village are extremely dissatisfied!
Shangguan Chong showed no emotion at all. He had been prepared for this, so he just glanced at these people and said indifferently:
"If you didn't appreciate it when it was given to you for free, don't be so shameless as to ask 'why' now.
If you want to study at the academy, come back in seven days to take the entrance exam. Those who pass the exam will pay a monthly tuition of one tael of silver."
As soon as these words were spoken, the scene exploded. Shangguan Chong waved to the guards, and immediately a team of people came out, holding the handles of their knives and driving the onlookers a hundred meters away.
Although the scene was so chaotic and noisy, the students standing in the queue stood properly and said nothing, which made Shangguan Chong very satisfied.
He showed a kind and warm expression, taught the students earnestly, and asked the deputy principal to explain the rules of the academy to everyone.
"Respect teachers, study hard, be friendly and help each other, be both virtuous and talented, achieve success in learning, and give back to the good. This is the most important rule of our Qingxin Academy.
I hope you can all keep this in mind and put it into practice, so as to live up to the academy’s efforts in educating you!"
"Yes! I will follow the instructions of the headmaster!"
The students all agreed, and the scene was very shocking. Even the villagers who were chased a hundred meters away had to admit that it really looked like that!
However, when they thought that this great benefit had nothing to do with them, they felt heartbroken.
Suddenly someone murmured:
"By the way, wasn't it the head of the village who first proposed selling the village school? If it weren't for him instigating it, we wouldn't have agreed to it!"
"Yes, yes, it was the head of the village who suggested it. Let's go find him and ask for an explanation now!"
"Go, go now!"
Just when a group of people were about to go to Li Shoucai's house with angry faces, someone suddenly said:
"Well, last time the village chief was so angry at the villagers that he got a heart attack and almost lost his life. Is it really appropriate for us to go now? If someone dies..."
Well, this one sentence extinguished the flames that had just risen in everyone's hearts.
Thus, Qingxin Academy opened smoothly and everything went well.
Only one thing - the great scholar named Zhongli could not be invited.
Shangguan Chong has stayed in Xiangxue Village for too long, and there are still a lot of things waiting for him to do in the academy in the capital.
But the failure to accomplish this great scholar's task became a source of worry for him. Within three days, a circle of blisters appeared on his mouth.
Shangguan Qingyue originally planned to wait until her eldest sister got married before considering this issue, but seeing her father so anxious, she decided to go there in person.
Xuanyuan Yan accompanied him.
Now, he is just an idle prince, with only his little fiancée in his heart and eyes. In addition, doing this can also make his father more at ease.
In fact, the place where old Mr. Zhongli lived was not far from Xiangxue Village. Considering that it had been a long time since he had taken his donkey Xiaohua out for fun, Shangguan Qingyue decided to ride the donkey out.
As for Xuanyuan Yan, he had no choice but to choose a mule to accompany him.
The two of them each carried a simple bag and went out, without any servants. Only Bai Er and Zhu San followed in the dark.
Both of them were wearing ordinary cotton clothes, without any jewelry on their bodies, but because the combination of one riding a donkey and the other riding a mule was so strange, they attracted a lot of attention.
Shangguan Qingyue, who was enjoying the beautiful scenery along the way, suddenly had an idea and said awkwardly:
"Um, A'Yan, I don't seem to know what Mr. Zhongli looks like. How am I going to find him then?"
Xuanyuan Yan almost laughed out loud, and asked, trying to suppress his laughter:
"What should we do? How about we go back and let Lord Shangguan paint a portrait before we leave?"
Seeing the other person's smile, Shangguan Qingyue immediately relaxed.
"Humph, I guess you know it. Don't tease me!"
After saying that, he lightly squeezed the donkey's belly, signaling Donkey Xiaohua to speed up.
However, perhaps because he was taken care of too well and rarely went out recently, Donkey Xiaohua became too fat. He felt tired after running a short distance and began to whine in dissatisfaction.
The donkey has a loud voice to begin with, and because it is spoiled to the point of being lawless, it is now barking so loudly that it is even annoying the mule next to it and starting to get anxious.
"How did you raise a donkey, little girl? It's so loud and annoying! If you don't know how to raise one, just kill it and eat its meat!"
An old man's voice suddenly emerged from a cluster of flowers. The voice was so loud and powerful that Donkey Xiaohua was so frightened that he quickly shut his mouth.
Shangguan Qingyue first took out a handful of fragrant fried soybeans from his pocket and stuffed them into the donkey's mouth. After seeing the old man's appearance clearly, he apologized to him embarrassedly:
"Sorry, grandpa, are you sleeping among the flowers?"
The old man immediately widened his eyes and angrily refuted:
"What are you talking about, girl? I was just tired from reading and took a nap accidentally! Who would sleep in the flowers? I'm not homeless!
Okay, okay, hurry up and leave, or this stubborn donkey will start braying again!"
At this time Xuanyuan Yan suddenly spoke:
"Are you Mr. Zhongli? I didn't expect to run into you here by such a coincidence."
"What Zhongli? I don't understand what you are saying, old man. If you have nothing to do, leave now and don't disturb my good mood!"
The old man simply covered his face with the whole book and fell backwards, crushing a bunch of flowers and plants.
Shangguan Qingyue felt distressed when seeing this. These were all planted by the villagers with great effort. This man was so uncultured!