"Well, you still remember to come here! Everyone says that I, Ge Yong, have accepted a good disciple. Old Chu Ying is about to kill me with his eyes. Even Old Qi looks at me with disgust, as if he thinks I am always hiding and waiting for a big splash! But what about me? Who knew that I was fooled by you!"
As soon as Zhang Shou entered Ge's house, he was led into Ge Yong's study by a deaf-mute old servant. Seeing Ge Yong was so angry that he was blowing his beard and glaring, he hurried forward and skillfully patted the teacher's back and rubbed his chest to calm him down, and then spoke softly and slowly.
"Teacher, don't be angry. I know that you are a magnanimous person. I am acting in your name. Otherwise, it would be easy to deal with the students, but I can't control the school officials!"
Seeing that Ge Yong had finished his temper and was sitting there glaring at him, Zhang Shou explained the whole story of how he had asked Zhou Xun, the Imperial College's chief academic officer, for resources but failed. Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, he heard Ge Yong angrily say, "It's fine if they don't give us the stipends. The students of the Imperial College always get a gift during festivals. But now he's saying that the court doesn't give us money?"
In his rage, Grand Tutor Ge completely forgot that his collection of Ge's quotations was becoming more and more. "Thank goodness you came up with the saying that books must be borrowed to read. Otherwise, if the students of Jiuzhang Hall had to rely on borrowing to study, wouldn't it be a joke? Taizu was so poor in the early years, why was he still so generous to the students? How can the court be poor now? I think there are too many officials in the world, and their salaries are wasted!"
Knowing that Mr. Ge's temper must be channeled today, otherwise it would be a big mistake for the old man to be sulking at such an old age. Therefore, Zhang Shou had to explain in detail to Ge Yong, who did not attend the whole class, the various circumstances of today's class, including that the third prince and the fourth prince were driven back by him, while the intruders, including Zhu Er and other auditors, persisted to the end.
Seeing that Ge Yong looked quite satisfied, he smiled and made a wish for a hollow glutinous rice ball.
"As long as Jiuzhang Hall keeps offering classes like this, some people will definitely come to watch the excitement out of curiosity. In the long run, it may attract some students. Since the Third and Fourth Princes are curious, they will definitely buy those introductory books and study them slowly. If this trend can spread from the palace to outside the palace, these are equivalent to enlightenment books for children, and there will always be people who buy them."
"I don't expect everyone in the world to understand the complicated things in the Nine Chapters of Arithmetic, but as more and more people understand the basics, there will naturally be fewer and fewer officials who can't even figure out the most basic numbers..."
The anger of Mr. Ge was gradually extinguished by Zhang Shou's gentle words. However, although he was no longer as angry as he was in the Imperial College, he still couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and asked, "Why do you always like to put things on my head? Whether it's the book you compiled or the words you said, why do you have to attribute them to me?"
At this point, Ge Yong's tone was somewhat disappointed: "I believed your lies at first. What lost classics? How could a lost classic be written in such a weird way? If others knew that those books were compiled by you, there wouldn't be so many rumors about you outside. Not to mention anything else, the books you said in Jiuzhang Hall today must be borrowed and read, which will also help boost your reputation!"