Catching Monsters

Chapter 57 Sir Academic Affairs
The academician of Nanzhou Prefecture was named Zhu Chengyu. He once came from a poor family. He studied hard for many years and even went into debt.

Finally, in the eighth year of Zhengde, he passed the imperial examination and ranked second.

He can be regarded as an inspirational example for poor scholars.

Many students in Nanzhou Prefecture also take Zhu Chengyu as an example to encourage themselves.

When Zhu Chengyu passed the imperial examination and ranked second, he was full of energy and thought he had great literary talent. However, he saw that corruption and bribery were becoming more and more rampant in the officialdom of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Thinking back to the days when I studied hard and lived in poverty, I feel that these officials are even more despicable.

He vowed to advance in the officialdom and change the corrupt trend.

His first official position was Hanlin Editor, but on his first day in office, his desk was filled with silver.

He was furious!
He wanted to throw away all the silver and angrily scolded the person who gave him the money.

But upon closer inspection, there were a full two hundred taels of silver.

Only then did he realize that he had become an official.

I denounce the trend of bribery. That is the business of poor students. What does it have to do with me, an official?
However, scholars are always like this. Although they like to make money, they also want a good reputation.

A model of having both.

Although Zhu Chengyu was greedy for money, he also cared about his reputation. As soon as he walked into the house, he heard someone asking him how much it cost to buy a scholar.

Anger suddenly appeared on Zhu Chengyu's face, and he opened his mouth to scold, but when he looked closely, he saw that the one who spoke was Qian Buchou.

"Hey, why is Lord Qian here?" The anger on Zhu Chengyu's face disappeared a lot, and he walked forward with a smile on his face.

Qian Buchou pointed at Jiang Yun beside him and introduced him, "This is my younger brother Jiang Yun. He also wants to pass the exam and become a scholar."

Zhu Chengyu looked at Jiang Yun and praised him with a smile, "Very good, very good. At first glance, this student is a man of both virtue and talent, full of knowledge, and a great talent."

"Captain Qian, please wait a moment. We will talk about Student Jiang Yun's matter later." Zhu Chengyu's face was flushed. He looked at everyone in the room and slowly walked upwards.

Many students also hurried forward to greet Zhu Chengyu.

Zhu Chengyu responded politely one by one.

Jiang Yun couldn't help but feel a little strange, and asked in a low voice: "Brother Qian, what rank is this academic official?"

Qian Buchou seemed to have guessed what Jiang Yun wanted to ask, and whispered, "From the fifth rank, the rank is not low."

"When he first arrived in Nanzhou Prefecture, he was not so polite. He was arrogant and hardly paid attention to me."

At this point, Qian Buchou lowered his voice a little: "This guy has a bad habit. He doesn't like to pay when he visits brothels."

"What else do you mean by that in the capital, and with those famous prostitutes, you're done with them, so I'll give you a poem."

"How can a prostitute like us have the leisure and elegance to do this? Who wants his crappy poems?"

"You just want to get something for free."

"This guy is stubborn. No matter how the brothel persuaded him, he refused to pay. The brothel detained him, but he wanted to maintain his reputation and refused to reveal his identity."

“I don’t want to pay.”

"It froze."

"I rescued him."

"Later, every time they wanted to go to a brothel, they asked me to accompany them. Damn, they would leave after having fun without paying me."

"Later, I just stopped thinking about poetry."

Hearing this, Jiang Yun was a little stunned. No wonder the academician was overly polite to Qian Buchou.

Zhu Chengcai walked to the front and said with a smile: "It's a good opportunity for you all to come here today. I have some calligraphy works that I want to sell."

"You might as well bid on the auction."

After a pause, he said, "There are a total of forty places for scholars in this examination."

Hearing this, all the students present were surprised.

They discussed in low voices. After all, there were forty places, and there were only about thirty people in the room today.

Zhu Chengcai then said, "Don't worry, listen to me. These days, more than 200 people have come to visit me."

"There are still ten days to go." "I estimate that there will be about four hundred people taking the entrance exam."

"These four hundred people will be admitted based on merit. Of course, if you like the calligraphy works sold today, you can pay some money to buy them and observe them carefully. Perhaps it will help you in the college entrance examination."

"There are quite a few people buying calligraphy and paintings these days, and we will select the best ones."

Zhu Chengcai emphasized the last four words a little.

Soon, a servant came in with a lot of calligraphy and paintings.

The servant read aloud, "The first one is a painting of an eagle catching a chicken, which was painted by the academician himself."

"The starting price is one hundred taels of silver."

People present soon began to bid, and the scene became quite lively.

In the end, this picture of an eagle catching a chicken, which Jiang Yun could draw with his feet, was sold for two hundred and thirty taels of silver.

"The second picture is a picture of a dog throwing a tantrum."

I have to say that this academician may be good at writing, but his painting skills are really not that good.

Jiang Yun was a little stunned. This academician really knows how to do business.

You know, the people who come here to pay money are not just the dozens of people in front of him.

In total, countless people bought the paintings, and no one knows how much they paid to each other.

I don’t know how much money I have to pay to buy a place as a scholar.

You can only grit your teeth and ask for a higher price.

If I pay out two hundred taels and fail to make it into the top forty, then the two hundred taels will be wasted.

You might as well grit your teeth and pay three hundred taels.

Even higher.

Looking at the people in the venue who kept bidding, Jiang Yun felt a little disappointed, as all his savings were only one hundred taels of silver.

The competition for buying a scholar is so fierce...

At this time, a servant came to Qian Buchou and whispered, "Captain Qian, Student Jiang, the master said there are too many people here, so he wants you to wait in the side hall."

The two were soon led to a side hall, where a servant poured them two cups of tea and asked them to wait.

Jiang Yun was drinking tea, feeling strange. He looked at Qian Buchou and asked, "Brother Qian, are all officials in our Great Zhou court like this?"

"You mean greedy for money?" Qian Buchou then chuckled and said, "I have never met any big shots in the capital, so I don't know what they are like."

"Anyway, that's the case with everyone I come into contact with."

Jiang Yun frowned and asked in confusion: "The emperor doesn't care about the Great Zhou court?"

"Of course I don't care." Qian Buchou said, "It is said that when the country was founded, Emperor Taizu issued a ban that anyone who embezzled one tael of silver would be sent to exile."

"If you embezzle five taels of silver, you will be skinned alive."

"Ten taels of silver, Lingchi."

"At that time, officials really didn't accept money, and no one dared to accept it."

"But after Emperor Taizu passed away, this ban was gradually ignored."

"Later, many emperors wanted to punish corruption and issued orders not to collect money."

“But the results were minimal.”

Listening to Qian Buchou's words, Jiang Yun nodded slightly. At this moment, footsteps were heard.

Zhu Chengyu came over with a smile and said, "Captain Qian, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. I was too busy just now and didn't have time to entertain you properly. Please forgive me."

"Sir, please don't be so polite. This is my brother. You decide how much money is appropriate for me."

Zhu Chengyu frowned slightly when he heard this: "Captain Qian, what you said is serious. How can I accept your money?"

"I just really like Miss Qian'er from Weichun Tower. How about you redeem her and make her my concubine?"

(End of this chapter)