My Wife Is A Sword Immortal-Chapter 176 - 157 Just Not Letting You Enter the Academy
Chapter 176: Chapter 157: Just Not Letting You Enter the Academy
Chapter 176: Chapter 157: Just Not Letting You Enter the Academy
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The sun gradually climbed to its zenith.
It was time for the Academy Teacher’s class to finish at noon.
However, Zhao Rong hadn’t set down the book he had been reading all morning to greet the Teacher’s arrival as he usually did.
He glanced at the restless crowd and the figures starting to emerge vaguely from behind the wooden door, then lowered his head again to look at the newly acquired book in his hands, reading it with relish.
Although the past few days from sunrise to sunset had been dull… a certain petulant, insecure flat-chested girl had brought some fun, but most of the time was spent waiting in boredom.
However, the bookstores near Linlu Academy had indeed brought Zhao Rong quite a few surprises.
He had spent some time browsing them in the morning.
Linlu Academy truly deserved its reputation as a gathering place of Yizhou’s cultural essence, with nearby bookstores outnumbering the wine shops and inns combined and each boasting a rich collection of books.
Some unique and prohibited books from the secular dynasties below the mountain were among the volumes Zhao Rong came across.
This made Zhao Rong, already well-read, extremely delighted, as he was temporarily able to satisfy his selective, eclectic taste—especially the process of exploring the vast sea of books and stumbling upon one delightful book after another, which he found utterly addictive.
At the moment, Zhao Rong was reading what other Confucian scholars would consider a miscellaneous book, narrating the story of a Mo Family Ranger from Southern Yun Meng Continent, one of the three smaller continents like Wangque Continent, traveling through the seven nations of Southern Ze.
Confucianism and the Mo Family were both prominent schools of thought at the time, and although their differences were not as pronounced as those between their schools and the Daoists, there were still significant disputes.
In short, both Confucianism and the Mo Family emphasized engagement and activism, whereas, except for a few branches, Daoism was oriented towards disengagement and inactivity.
Therefore, both Confucianism and the Mo Family emphasized the idea of “doing something,” albeit in different manners and policies.
To put it simply,
Confucianism spoke of benevolence, while the Mo Family promoted universal love.
Both essentially advocated for love, but Confucianism spoke of graded love, while the Mo Family emphasized indiscriminate, equal love.
Zhao Rong had always been quite interested in the Mo Family. Before leaving Great Chu and heading to the Imperial College to bid farewell to Teacher Fang, he had bought some classics of the Mo Family saints. During the journey that followed, he had gradually added more to his collection, but those purely theoretical books became dull when read in excess.
The major doctrines of the Mo Family, “universal love” and “non-aggression,” could be recited from memory after frequent reading, offering little fresh insight, and his enthusiasm quickly waned, shifting his focus to other philosophers.
But now, from this Mo Xia Travel Chronicles, resembling travelogues or heroic tales commonly found in the mountains, Zhao Rong was seeing something more, deepening his understanding of the Mo Classics he had read before.
The differences or similarities in the behavior of Confucian scholars and rangers could be discerned from this travelogue.
Zhao Rong, deeply engrossed in the story, was reluctant to put down the book and thus paid no attention to his surroundings, not joining others who craned their necks in eager anticipation; after all, there had been no activity for several days.
It seemed that Mo Family rangers were quite rare in Wangque Continent. Earlier on the mountain, he hadn’t seen many; well, a long time ago when he disembarked at Cangzhou Pier, he seemed to have met a bearded fellow dressed like a white-clothed Mo Xia, who even gifted him a pricey bottle of mountain brew.
Not long ago, while aimlessly wandering through Du You East City holding Qing Jun’s hand, he seemed to have passed by a Mo Family mansion, spotting quite a few white-clothed Mo Xia moving in and out.
Thoughts occasionally flashed through Zhao Rong’s mind, but he soon cast them aside and continued to read the book avidly, occasionally worrying about the Mo Xia in the book known only by a single given name.
Why don’t you just go for it? The princess of the fallen nation whom you’ve heroically saved is being so forward, almost knocking you out and dragging you into her room to take matters into her own hands. Here you are, worrying about this and that, feeling embarrassed here, feeling awkward there. If you took the initiative, perhaps you could have a litter of kids and contribute bricks and mortar to the Mo Family’s cause of “universal love.” Forget it, come out and let me take over…
At that moment, the area around Zhao Rong, who was nearly buried in his book, suddenly quieted down, but he didn’t notice.
The air grew eerily quiet.
Only the rustling of pages from a young Confucian scholar broke the silence occasionally.
At one moment.
Snapping shut the book abruptly, Zhao Rong sighed and shook his head.
“Universal love,” “non-aggression,” is that all? The latter does make sense, it indeed means non-aggression, it is to suffer…
Zhao Rong chuckled, then leisurely looked up.
The next second.
His expression froze.
Because Zhao Rong saw that at that moment, all the scholars’ gazes in the hall were directed toward him.
And those gazes seemed to carry a certain… envy and jealousy?
Zhao Rong blinked and instinctively turned his head toward the direction of the wooden door.
He saw an old man in a long robe with white beard slowly descending the stairs and walking towards him, while the surrounding scholars made way for him, their eyes occasionally jealous as they looked at Zhao Rong.
After a slight daze, Zhao Rong quickly put down his things and got up to greet him.
The question that the old man in the long robe had just asked at the wooden door had left the scholars below exchanging glances, none answering, but many scholars still covertly glanced at this young Confucian scholar who was reading.
As the old man in the long robe drew near, he scrutinized Zhao Rong, then asked again, “Did you write the characters on that couplet?”
Zhao Rong felt relieved inside, so it was about that, but at last, it had come…
He became serious and said solemnly, “Indeed, it was I.”
The old man in the long robe listened, stroked his beard, his gaze intense, and took another good look at Zhao Rong, nodding occasionally. After a moment of silence, he was about to speak.
But at that moment.
A blue-clad figure suddenly squeezed between Zhao Rong and the old man in the long robe, separating them.
Zhao Rong focused his eyes and saw it was the nameless blue-clothed girl. At this moment, her little hands were open, separating him from the old man in the long robe.
Zhao Rong’s eyelid twitched, a bad premonition suddenly arising in his heart!
The old man in the long robe also paused, then said softly, “Jingzi? Is it your teacher looking for me?”
Jingzi blinked at Zhao Rong, then turned her head.
Her little face crinkled, her mouth pouted, and in a wronged tone, she said to the old man in the long robe:
“Grandfather Gu, please don’t be deceived by this scholar’s innocent appearance! He is a dissolute scholar who previously spoke disrespectfully to me, uttering flippant and frivolous words. So, Grandfather Gu, please don’t be blinded by his innocent appearance and admit him into the academy.”
Hmph, a libertine, just so you are not admitted into the academy. Your sort of groundless libertine, if admitted, would only corrupt the ethos of the academy!
Jingzi’s mind raced, yet she still looked up at Mr. Gu with a coquettish expression and hopeful eyes.
Mr. Gu, who always emphasized Confucian behavioral norms, heard that Zhao Rong dared to flirt with a young girl in broad daylight, immediately frowned, dropped his hand from stroking his beard, and seeing Jingzi’s aggrieved appearance, his brow furrowed further. He nodded gently to her and then glanced at Zhao Rong before turning to leave without saying another word.
Academy teachers had but a few recommendation slots to admit scholars into the academy, and first impressions were crucial. Once the impression was poor, there was no need to waste the valuable slots…
Jingzi, unseen by Mr. Gu, rolled her eyes at Zhao Rong.
Zhao Rong, sensing trouble the moment the blue-clothed girl appeared, and now seeing this seemingly named Jingzi, the blue-clothed girl, dousing him with a bucket of dirty water, he just sighed softly to himself without offering any defense.
Zhao Rong looked at the expressions of the scholars around. Even if he could find someone to testify that a conflict existed between him and Jingzi earlier and that he was only retaliating, outsiders would always think, “Why are you picking on a little girl?” Never considering how troublesome this brat could be, it’s like having mud in your trousers—no matter what, it’s messy.
Zhao Rong glanced again at Mr. Gu, who was about to leave without asking anything, and sighed again in his heart.
Suddenly, an idea struck him, and disregarding the triumphant look of the small-minded girl, he directly looked forward and called out loudly:
“Mr. Gu, please wait.”
