Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2891 2679 Master Qingsong 109.0
"It's a bit of a dilemma for the academy," Shen Cha said with a helpless smile. "Actually, it's not that difficult to completely solve this problem. All we need to do is have the aristocratic children not participate in the examinations. They don't have the pressure of the imperial examinations, so there's no need for them to go through all that trouble with those who do, right?"

"That's right, that's how the Imperial Academy is now. Also, students can study separately as before, but subjects like the Six Arts of a Gentleman, which are not subject to examination, can be taken together. This satisfies the pursuit of academic achievement by some students and the desire of others to make friends. Isn't that the best of both worlds?"

“What you two said makes a lot of sense. So, this is the situation at Yunshan Academy now, and not just Yunshan Academy, but most academies are like this.” Third Grandfather nodded. “It is good that you came up with such a solution, but the price you paid is indeed too high.”

Have similar situations occurred in other academies?

“I don’t know, maybe!” Xia Chen sighed. “Every famous academy will recruit some students who are academically excellent but from very poor families, but it’s uncertain how many of them will actually succeed. But those who do…” He looked at Xue Ruitian, then at Shen Cha, “to be honest, more or less they have deviated from their original intentions.”

“I know that,” Shen Cha nodded. “Let’s not talk about how they fared later. There’s just one thing I don’t understand. They all knew that sons of noble families couldn’t take the imperial examinations, no matter how outstanding their essays or how beautiful their poems were. So why did they still compare themselves to sons of noble families? Wasn’t that stupid?”

“Hey, I do know about what Xiao Cha is talking about.” Third Grandfather took a sip of tea, looked at Shen Cha and smiled. “It was that time when my senior brother and I went to Yunshan Academy with our master. We encountered a student who didn’t understand the exam and wanted to jump off the back mountain. In the end, the student didn’t jump and was rescued. He was placed in a courtyard specifically for sick students. My senior brother and I were curious, so we went to see the child who jumped off the mountain.” He thought for a moment and said, “He was probably around eleven or twelve years old. The teachers said that he had already passed the preliminary examination the previous year and could be considered a genius.”

"Why would someone so talented want to jump off the mountain behind the mountain?"

"Because in the most recent assessment, he lost to the Yun family’s child, who is one of my master’s most favored grandchildren, and is now the Yun family’s eldest elder."

"The current Grand Elder of the Yun family?" Shen Cha frowned. "Yun Ke?"

"Yes, it was him." Third Grandfather nodded. "He was only ten years old that year, and he had already shown extraordinary talent. Of course, what we ordinary people consider geniuses are just a little smarter, a little more hardworking, and a little more talented than other children in a place like the Yun family where geniuses gather."

"But it was precisely through these small steps that he gradually rose to the position of Grand Elder, wasn't it?"

“That’s right.” Third Grandfather smiled and said, “In that assessment, Yun Ke was slightly better than that student in both essays and poetry. And it wasn’t just this time; for the past year, Yun Ke has been one step ahead.”

"I see. He's gotten a bit cocky after passing the preliminary exam and doesn't know who he is anymore."

"That's one reason, and another is that he's very frustrated."

"Frustrated? Frustrated about what?" "He'd read Yun Ke's articles, and many of the viewpoints were things he'd never heard of or even considered before. He couldn't understand how Yun Ke could come up with such ideas." The Third Grandfather sighed helplessly. "He thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure it out. He finally concluded it was probably because he hadn't read enough, so he tried even harder to read more books, but..."

"You were still defeated, weren't you?"

“Yes.” Third Grandfather nodded. “He was hit again and again, but he got back up again and again. But after a year, he was finally brought to a breakdown by reality. After the breakdown, he felt that his future was uncertain, so he chose to take his own life.”

"Then he's stuck on a rut."

“Who can argue with that!” Xiao Fengqi nodded. “The environment in which scions of noble families grow up, the people they come into contact with, and the things they experience are not something that can be solved simply by observing more. It’s a matter of cognition and perspective.”

"My master is right. Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles. Otherwise, the children of noble families would not be required to travel at a certain age. It may seem like sightseeing, but in fact, it is to see what real life is like."

“That’s right.” Xiao Fengqi nodded. “And those students from poor families…” He sighed helplessly. “I’ve met some of them. The Xiao family has sponsored some of them before. To be honest, they are even more arrogant than us scions of aristocratic families.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking!” Jin Miaomiao reached out her hand to Xiao Fengqi and gave him a high five. “I just don’t understand what they’re so arrogant about. They all look down on everyone.”

"They're all pampered by their families!" Qi Zhifeng snorted. "Although I study with Brother Nan and Brother Lan, I occasionally wander around other academies. Many academies in Linhuang Prefecture have students from poor families studying there. A considerable number of them are content to enjoy their families' support, and a few others find extra jobs to earn money in order to ease their families' burden. I've personally witnessed those who enjoy their families' support rolling their eyes and making sarcastic remarks at those hardworking students, saying that they shouldn't be in the academies, that they are a disgrace to scholarship because they are so greedy."

"To be honest, I've seen it too." Xue Ruitian shook his head helplessly. "Their families scrimp and save for them, yet they think their classmates who work hard to earn money to support their studies are low-class. This is really... at least in the education of aristocratic families, such words would never be uttered. Not only would they not look down on them, but they would also admire them greatly."

“That’s right.” Xiao Fengqi nodded. “This is probably the biggest difference between them and the scions of aristocratic families. It’s ingrained in their bones. So no matter how many books they read or how many articles they write, they can’t catch up with some of the scions of aristocratic families. They just refuse to admit it.”

“After all, they are around the same age, and even with experience, it’s still limited. They haven’t even gone out to explore many places yet. Their knowledge of the outside world probably comes from their elders, but that’s enough. It’s enough for them to handle the academy’s assessments.” Shen Cha looked at the Third Grandfather, “What about the student we rescued?”

“Master talked to him and gave him some advice, and he seems to have come to his senses. However,” the Third Master thought for a moment, “I vaguely heard that this student left the academy the following year, and no one knows where he went.”