Zhang Shou originally thought that the fact that everyone from little boys to teenagers to adults flocked to his door to seek to be his disciple was just a temporary trend after the Fourth Prince's affair was exposed. However, he never expected that four or five days later, on October 14, the day before the crown prince was appointed, his house, from the main door to the side door, to the back door, and even outside the wall, was filled with people guarding it.
Therefore, he, who had loved riding horses since he learned horse riding, had to take a carriage every time he went out. Even when he was sitting in the carriage, he could hear the voices outside calling for the teacher affectionately - by the way, many of them were even more than twice his age.
Zhang Shou was very puzzled. Didn't anyone suspect that he was just putting on a show to appease the Fourth Prince? Moreover, he treated the Fourth Prince like this because he was present when the Fourth Prince was talking nonsense. He was wrong for not stopping him. So before disciplining the Fourth Prince, he also needed to give an explanation to the Queen Mother and the Emperor. But it didn't mean that he would do this to all his students.
If every teacher is implicated for every student's mistake, haha, then teaching is the most dangerous profession in the world, no doubt about it.
Therefore, Zhang Shou couldn't figure out where the trend came from.
When he appeared in Wenhua Hall again that day, separated from the team of Imperial College officials and stood among a group of Hanlin scholars, feeling somewhat out of place - this was also the second time he was summoned by the emperor to attend the imperial lecture in Wenhua Hall after the incident that day - he finally realized why the enthusiasm of the people in the capital could last so long.
Because a Hanlin scholar beside him, who was of the same rank as him but old enough to be his grandfather, smiled at him very friendly, then squinted his eyes and said, "Master Zhang, do you know that on the day of the incident, Grand Tutor Ge was invited to host a literary gathering. When he was reviewing articles, someone mentioned the incident involving the Fourth Prince, and he said something to them in person."
"He said, outsiders all say that he is a top-ranked scholar, unprecedented in history, and some kind of elder in the literary world and a master of mathematics, but Mr. Zhang has accepted more students in this year than he has in his entire life, and many of them are what people call stubborn stones, but they have become unpolished jades in your hands. It is said that there are many good horses, but there are few good horse trainers, and there are even fewer good horse trainers like you who are good at identifying good horses."
"One day, you will surpass your teacher and become his disciple. You will be remembered in history even more than this so-called master of mathematics."
Although Zhang Shou, with hundreds of years of experience, did look down on the academic officials in the Imperial College who were so-called well-read in the books of sages but were actually busy with intrigue, and he felt that the tradition of Confucianism that had lasted for thousands of years was about to become outdated today, he did not think that he could change all this alone, so he decided to take the lower route at the same time as taking the upper route.
However, before he could achieve much, his teacher Ge was always bragging about him!
At this moment, seeing other colleagues whom he didn't know at all looking at him, with various expressions on their faces because of what the old Hanlin next to him had just said, even though Zhang Shou felt a little helpless about Ge Yong's high evaluation of him outside, he certainly knew that he couldn't be humble in an occasion like the Imperial Lecture, where scholars were most likely to look down on each other.