Meet the Gentleman

Chapter 34 Become My Disciple
There were many students gathered on both sides of the Nine Virtues Gate.

Although most students were eager to try, few came forward in the end. They gathered around the Nine Virtues Gates to see who would be able to walk through one of the gates and become famous...

When the students saw Helian Shan standing in front of the Gate of Nine Virtues, they all looked over curiously.

"Gongzi Shan has a reputation as a virtuous young man. I wonder if he can walk through one of the gates of virtue?" Some students started discussing it out of curiosity, and those who didn't know Helian Shan went to inquire.

"I'm afraid it's not easy." A student shook his head.

"If I pass through a virtuous gate, I'm afraid that Master An will accept me as a disciple..."

Some students said with infinite yearning that although Master An was only at the level of a scholar now, he was still comparable to the great Confucian scholars. If he were promoted to a great Confucian scholar, he might be able to surpass other great Confucian scholars, not to mention that he was one of the 81 masters of Confucianism.

If students were allowed to choose between becoming a disciple of a great scholar or Dean An, I'm afraid 90% of them would choose to become Dean An's disciple.

In other academies, all students who passed through the Gate of Nine Virtues were basically accepted as disciples by the academy master or as private disciples by the chief instructor.

Disciples can generally be divided into: registered disciples, entry disciples, inner disciples and true disciples. However, there is no strict boundary between the four categories. Sometimes registered disciples can enjoy the treatment of inner disciples, and sometimes, inner disciples are not as good as registered disciples.

The Grand Tutor is second only to the Dean in the academy.

At this time, Helian Shan respectfully bowed to the Jiude Gate, then bowed to all the students, and stood in front of the gate motionless, as if staring at something.

The students watched quietly without making any noise to disturb them.

The old man in green who had been guarding the Nine Virtues Gate looked at Helian Shan with a smile and a little expectation in his eyes. If no student walked through the Nine Virtues Gate during the first semester of the academy, it would be a bit embarrassing and he would be laughed at.

Although the 81 famous academies in the world, all of which were registered Confucian academies, were not nominally divided into high and low categories, they were actually divided into four categories: first class, second class, third class and last class, and the competition among academies was equally fierce.

Zangshan Academy had just been completed, so it was naturally of the lowest quality.

The old man in blue was the chief teacher of the academy, his surname was Baili, his given name was Kun (same as Kun), and his courtesy name was Wei De. He naturally hoped that some students could pass through the gate of Jiude so that the academy would not be so ugly, and he also hoped to accept one or two disciples of his choice.

Helian Shan was a disciple of a high-ranking noble family and the beloved grandson of the Grand Chancellor of Confucianism, so he had heard something about it.

When Helian Shan stepped forward to try, he nodded to encourage him.

Helian Shan was silent for a moment, and under the gaze of the students, he walked towards the first gate of virtue step by step. When he was three meters away from the gate of virtue, he did not feel a strong resistance like other students, and walked up easily.

At this moment, all the students were shocked. This was too easy to do.

"It's really possible that they passed by." A student exclaimed in a low voice.

"Not necessarily. The last 10 feet is not easy."

Some students shook their heads and were not very optimistic about Helian Shan.

Liu Ling, Bian Xing, Zhu Yan and others stared intently, hoping that the young master would pass through and become a gentleman famous throughout the world.

"Although Yang Zhi is indeed virtuous, he still needs to cultivate his character if he wants to pass through the gate of virtue." Zhou Chang said after a moment of hesitation, and he was not very optimistic about Helian Shan.

Feng Qingyan watched quietly without making any comment.

At this time, Helian Shan had already walked two meters, and then he took a step into two meters and began to feel a resistance.

The second step is to increase the resistance.

In the third step, the resistance becomes stronger.

Only one step left to advance one zhang.

The students who were watching were a little agitated, and they stretched their necks curiously to see if Helian Shan could walk through a gate of virtue. Because the entrance examination of the academy lasted for three days, the students did not need to rush to take the exam, so there were more students watching.

But when Helian took the third step, he stopped to the surprise of the students.

"Can't walk anymore?"

"He should be able to take another step or two, why did he stop?" Liu Ling, Zhu Yan and others became a little nervous, fearing that Helian Shan would not be able to walk over. Fortunately, the young master only stopped to rest for a while.

"Hey, the shepherdess is here."

At this time, a graceful lady carrying a zither came over. Some sharp-eyed students couldn't help but say something, which immediately attracted the attention of many students.

Mu Yu is not only a famous seventh-rank zither player, but also a graceful, confident and elegant woman. Her every move is eye-catching, and her every frown and smile is also very tempting, as if she has a myriad of charms.

In addition to the seventh-rank zither player Mu Yu, there was also a student carrying a chessboard on his back, who was the eighth-rank chess player Rong Tao.

His eyes were fierce and he seemed to exude a faint murderous aura.

Soon, the students saw Yan Shan, who was known as the "standing bookcase", Yu Yuan, who was a seventh-rank literary talent at the age of fifteen, and Mei Lan, who was both a poet and a painter. These famous students also came one by one.

They each stood on one side, not talking to anyone, nor making any comments.

Because these students were so famous, the other students did not rush to approach them and start a conversation, for fear of being ignored and losing face.

Helian Shan rested for a while and then took a step forward and stepped within ten feet.

Now there are only four steps left to pass through a gate of virtue, and all the students are looking forward to it.

At this time, some teachers and instructors from academies also came to watch. When the students saw this, they all stepped forward to pay their respects, but were all stopped by the teachers and instructors so as not to affect Helian Shan's passage through the Demen Gate.

In the 81st Academy, scholars could be teachers, literary masters could be instructors, and literary ministers could be chief instructors. However, instructors were not necessarily scholars, but could be literary masters or even literary ministers.

The same is true of the teachings.

"Sir, you must go through it, you must go through it..."

Liu Ling was screaming in his heart and sweating profusely from nervousness.

In the expectation of everyone, Helian Shan took another step forward, and now there were only three steps left to the Demen. However, the remaining three steps were extremely difficult, not only was the weight of the foot heavy, but there seemed to be an invisible solid wall in front of him, making it difficult to move forward even half an inch.

"If you pass through the gate of virtue, you can become my disciple."

When the great instructor Baili Kun saw that Helian Shan was actually thinking of retreating, he thought for a moment and decided to encourage him, which also attracted the burning gazes of many students.

No matter whether it works or not, you should give it a try.

Some students thought so.

But when Helian Shan heard this, he immediately retreated. With his status, it would not be difficult for him to worship a great scholar as his teacher, so why should he worship a mere scholar as his teacher?

He came for Master An, not the Grand Master.

It turned out that Helian Shan still wanted to keep moving forward to see how far he could go and whether it was possible to pass through a gate of virtue.

But after hearing the words of the Great Master, I immediately didn't want to leave...

Everyone was stunned when they saw this. Helian Shan didn't even struggle. If he had struggled, he might have been able to move forward a few steps, or even walk away.

Why gave up?
Some students were confused.

……

Note: In ancient times, five feet was one step, and one zhang was two steps; but one step in ancient times was two feet, which is equivalent to two steps in modern times.

Now one foot is changed to one step, and one zhang is changed to four steps, to facilitate reading.

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(End of this chapter)