Chapter 36 Fellow Countrymen

  Against the expectations of both, there were three classrooms in the academy that were having classes at the same time. The two people were lucky and met a student outside the classroom who, after exchanging a couple of sentences, turned out to be from Jinghai County, their hometown.

  His name is Sun Ye, and he's quite enthusiastic, taking the initiative to introduce himself to Yang Meng.

  "This Haitian Academy is renowned in the five southern provinces, known for having the most books, the largest number of students, and producing the most successful candidates. It's called 'three plenties'. However, this academy actually has a fourth 'plenty'."

  "What's so special about the fourth one?" Yang Yun asked with interest.

  "A lot of money is collected - tuition fees are paid every month, seemingly not a large amount, but actually adding up to be no less than those quarterly or yearly payments to other academies. Moreover, everything in this academy requires extra spending: ink, paper, and lamp oil all need to be purchased separately. The food is terrible, if you want to eat something better, you have to pay more. The books in the library are not allowed to be borrowed outside, during the day everyone has to attend classes in the auditorium, at night going to read books also requires paying a candle fee. Sometimes famous scholars come to give lectures, and an additional registration fee is collected." Sun Yu poured out his grievances.

  "Unbelievable!" Meng Chao's face showed a look of shock, this academy was making too much money.

  Yang Yun was delighted, as long as there were many books, this academy was perfect for him. Hmm, staying here for a month would probably allow him to finish reading all the books in the library tower. Five taels of silver for an entire floor of books was a great deal indeed.

  "By the way, why are there three schools here?"

  Sun Ye replied, "Because there are too many students and because the tuition is paid once a month, it's common for students to come and go. So we set up these three classrooms. The middle one teaches some basics, and every month the content is more or less the same, which suits you two newcomers just fine. The classroom with the most people on the other side teaches deeper and more miscellaneous things, and if you're lucky, you might hear something valuable. As for the one in the back..." Sun Ye curled his lip, "You two don't need to go there."

  "Why?"

  "That school charges extra fees, and the teachers are indeed famous, but the students who attend classes there are of mixed character, mostly rich and noble children who come here to idle away their days. Anyone who pays the money can go listen, even young children, and the teachers don't put their heart into it, so you can't learn anything."

  Yang Yun and Meng Chao sighed, then invited Sun Ye to have lunch together, before entering that primary school.

  An old scholar with a head of white hair sat on the platform, and when someone came in, he didn't care, and continued to speak with great enthusiasm.

  More than twenty students under the hall, they should all be newcomers, so they listened quite seriously and occasionally took notes on paper.

  Just find two seats and sit down to listen to this old scholar's lecture. After listening for a while, Yang Yun nodded secretly, Hai Tian Academy was indeed famous outside, this lesson was well-organized, simple and easy to understand, and still helpful for studies.

  However, this is not enough. If we use cultivation as an analogy, the academician's teachings are at the level of a xiucai's gongfa, which can only help people advance from a lower-level xiucai to a higher-level one, but still lacks something to break through to the juren realm.

  He himself estimated that he was in this state before, and only felt the gap after losing the autumn exam. However, his family's economy was no longer sufficient to support him for another three years of examination, so Yang Yun fell into despair after failing the exam.

  "What I have taught you are the words of saints, the great way that has been passed down through the ages. When you return home, think deeply about them and they will be useful to you for your entire life... even if you fail in the autumn examination and become a laughingstock." The old scholar began his concluding remarks.

  Yang Yun heard the four words "Ming Luo Sun Shan", his heart suddenly moved. He thought of Sun Ye again.

  In the previous autumn examination, the top scorer of Fengming Prefecture was Cai Baihua from Jinghai County, while the last one was Sun Ye. Two names from the same county, one at the top and one at the bottom, were quite interesting. At that time, someone exclaimed that Sun Shan had been reborn.

  Smiled and withdrew my thoughts.

  "There's no need to attend classes here, but that advanced school might be worth listening to. Otherwise, I'll just go to the library to read books." Yang Yun thought to himself, with his two lifetimes of experience and knowledge, having a photographic memory and being able to memorize everything at a glance, these basic things were completely unnecessary to learn.

  After class, I found Sun Ye and we chatted and laughed as we looked for a place to eat.

  The canteen of the academy was described by Sun Ye as unbearable, and Yang Yun curiously went in to take a look when passing by, and indeed it was pitiful, with only a few people eating, all with worried and bitter faces.

  After finishing, Yang Yun decided that he would never eat here again. Because of his cultivation of the Quiet Yuan Refining Essence Technique, his appetite was much larger than ordinary people's, but his taste was even more picky. If it wasn't for delicious food, it would be hard to muster up the courage to stuff his stomach like this every day.

  Outside the academy are a row of small restaurants, which Sun Ye said were all renting land from the academy, and the prices were also three points more expensive than similar restaurants in distant places.

  Yang Yun picked up good wine and dishes in a crazy way, Sun Ye looked at him with his eyes wide open and said "too much to eat" dozens of times.

  When the wine and dishes arrived, Sun Yao only knew that it wasn't because of his own face being big enough, but actually Yang Yun was just too capable of eating. He really couldn't imagine how such a thin body could hold so much food.

  Since there is Yang Yun as a model, Sun Ye was not polite. His family background was average, and it was already difficult for him to come to the Haitian Academy for further study, so he was usually a regular customer in the cafeteria. It's no wonder that he had great resentment towards the cafeteria. At this time, Daguai opened his cheeks and competed with Yang Yun, but among the three of them, Meng Chao, who had a strong back and waist, ate the least.

  After a meal of wine and meat, the three fellow provincials had already become sworn brothers. Sun Ye stroked his rounded belly with one hand while patting his chest with the other to guarantee that whenever something genuine was being taught at the advanced academy, he would immediately report back to Yang Yun and Meng Chao.

  "By the way, do either of you two elder brothers have a courtesy name?" Sun Ye suddenly remembered something and asked.

  "Not me yet, how about you, Old Meng?"

  "I don't either."

  Scholars usually have a courtesy name, which is convenient for mutual address. However, people think that names are related to fate, so they cannot be casually changed. Scholars' courtesy names are generally given by their teachers.

  Yang Yun and Meng Chao both came from humble origins, so they never had a courtesy name.

  "That's just right, you've seen the pavilion on the mountain, haven't you? That is the famous Gentle Breeze Pavilion."

  "Xī Fēng Tíng?"

  "Is it? You haven't heard?"

  "No."

  Sun Ye's spirit was greatly stirred up, and he began to tell them about it.

  "It's said that this pavilion has a great origin, and it was built before the Haitian Academy. Inside the pavilion, there is an old and worn-out divination tool that no one pays attention to. When Mr. Xu Wenxiang was reading books in the pavilion, he suddenly felt inspired and wanted to give himself a courtesy name. He thought of dozens of names but wasn't satisfied with any of them. So, he used the divination tool to get an oracle, and got a name. Can you guess what it is?"

  "Sea Sky?"

  "Yes, after Xu Gong got this courtesy name, he was prosperous and successful, continuously achieving high scores in the imperial examination, eventually becoming a renowned scholar and government official. In his later years, he returned to his hometown and founded the Haitian Academy, incorporating the Xifen Pavilion into the academy. All students without courtesy names who came here would inevitably go up to offer sacrifices."

  "Is your courtesy name 'Fu Yu' derived from this?" Meng Chao asked.

  "Yes, I went there when I just arrived and got the two characters 'Shan Xu'. Sun Ye seemed very satisfied with this name."

  Yang Yun's heart moved slightly, this divination is quite interesting.

  Sun Ye said that the afternoon class was meaningless, Yang Yun and Meng Chao decided to go to Xi Feng Ting for a visit.

  Along the winding mountain road to the top of the hill, the sea breeze comes gently, overlooking the blue sky and the sea water, my heart suddenly opens up.

  Not yet arrived at the pavilion, I already hear the clear and crisp sound of wind chimes ringing non-stop, ding-dong-dang, refreshing my heart and spirit.

  The pavilion looks old, but it's still clean, apparently someone sweeps it often. On top of the pavilion is a leaf-shaped thing that is blown by the wind, pulling a pendulum that swings back and forth, with a small golden bell tied to the bottom of the pendulum.

  Yang Yun took a closer look, and they were all ordinary things, nothing special. However, the mountain's terrain was somewhat unusual. Although the mountain wasn't tall, it was located right in the middle of the intersection of the terrestrial and marine spiritual energy systems, just like the center of a natural large array, so there were many strange phenomena.

  For example, the sea breeze is now blowing towards the land, but the wind leaves on the top of this pavilion are swaying irregularly. This is because the pavilion is like a guide needle, guiding the two opposing spiritual energies of the sea and land upwards, stirring up the wind.

  "Some meaning, Old Meng you come first?"

  "Good." Meng Chao came over, took down the golden bell, and was just about to connect the rod to the hook when a voice came from outside the pavilion.

  "Wait, wait - you two wait."

  Looking back, several people who looked like they were in charge of the academy were running up along the mountain road.

  "What's wrong?"

  Several people ran into the pavilion, and Yang Yun asked.

  "You two are new here, right? Just wait a bit, Shan will be accompanying the honored guest to the pavilion soon. You just stand by and don't say anything. Wait until the guest leaves before you help with the sedan chair." A steward wiped the sweat from his face and said breathlessly.

  Yang Yun poked his head out of the pavilion and took a look around. Sure enough, he saw a line of people walking slowly along the middle of the mountain.

  Without waiting for Yang Meng and others to respond, those in charge had already started cleaning up, carefully wiping every corner of the pavilion, then pulled the two people aside to stand outside the pavilion.

  The mountain is not high, and soon a group of people arrived outside the pavilion. Surrounded by a crowd like a moon surrounded by stars was a middle-aged man, dressed in casual clothes, who couldn't tell what his background was.

  The servants all bowed and paid their respects, but Yang Meng only nodded his head, which made him stand out even more.

  A scholar-like man looked slightly displeased and asked: "Are you two new students? Why didn't you pay your respects to the noble guest?"

  Yang Yun took a step forward and said, "If we were to meet in the academy, there would be order between superior and inferior, and naturally, one should show respect. This pavilion is a natural ancient relic, but it's actually about who came first and who came later."

  Several officials next to him suddenly appeared, just now the matter was urgent, and they thought that the two newcomers were easy to talk to, so their words and actions were not polite enough. Unexpectedly, this person did not show any signs at the time, but now he has made a scene.

  "Haha, this scholar is right, indeed I am the later one, you two are the host, we are the guest." The middle-aged man said with a smile, then turned to Wen Shi and said: "Wen Shan Chang, I've long heard of the great name of Fine Wind Pavilion's calligraphy, why not let these two students first hold up a brush, so I can open my eyes?"

  Yang Yun thought to herself, this scholar is indeed the Mountain Long and River Wide of the Hai Tian Academy.

  "Our noble guest has spoken, how dare I disobey?" Wen Siqian smiled and replied.

  "Many thanks, Master Shan and noble guest." Yang Yun bowed and pushed Meng Chao forward, "Old Meng, please come in."