Fang Yun looked at Fang Li and said, "Cousin, if you still insist on not changing your ways, not only will Zhongyong's future be ruined, but your financial future as well. Can't you tell which is more important, a student or a Jinshi?"
Fang Li sneered, "I had high hopes for Zhongyong back then, hoping he could become a prime minister or something, but I didn't expect that in the past six months, he has become even worse! He has been far surpassed by you. If I don't make some money now, who will support me in my old age if he can't even pass the exam to become a scholar?"
"Idiot!" Cai He cursed.
"Stupid!" Zong Wude also cursed.
Fang Yun said, "We are all no strangers here, so I will tell you what I think. We all know Zhongyong's talent, and his performance in the Tongsheng exam is also very good. As for the fact that he could write poetry at the age of five, Fang Li, do you think everyone else is stupid?"
Fang Li's face froze, and then he pretended to be confused and said, "What do you mean? Zhongyong could write poems at the age of five!"
Cai He and the other candidates were thoughtful and understood what Fang Yun meant.
Fang Yun said, "I don't think a person is so stupid as to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs by not nurturing a talented child. The only possibility is that you have no confidence in Fang Zhongyong. I just said it casually, but the change in your expression told me that I guessed right. I vaguely remember that someone wanted to compile Fang Zhongyong's poems and try to publish them in the Holy Academy, but you disagreed, saying that he was still young and should wait until later. With your greed and vanity, it is impossible that you don't want to publish them in the Holy Academy. The reason is very simple. If the Holy Academy asks about it, then the matter will definitely be exposed. You, will not be able to make money from Zhongyong!"
"You... you are slandering me!" Fang Li was furious, but his anger could not hide the fear in his eyes.
"How about I help you and let the Holy Academy identify Zhongyong's poems and clear your slander?" Fang Yun asked.
"You... Zhongyong's poems belong to Zhongyong himself, you are not qualified to go!"
Fang Zhongyong burst into tears and choked up, saying, "Uncle, I admit my mistake. When I was young, my father teamed up with an old student to cheat in order to make money. The poems I wrote when I was young were all written in advance by the old student. When I went to those wealthy families when I was young, some people had been bribed by the old student and my father, and some were induced by the old student to ask questions. Before that, I had memorized many poems written by the old student, and some of them did not need to be changed."
"What happens next?" Cai He asked.
"When I became famous, I rarely wrote poems on the spot, but gave them to others afterwards. Later, I was afraid that the matter would be exposed, so I studied hard and spent almost all my time on reading. Fortunately, diligence can make up for shortcomings, and the student finally lived up to his reputation, and my father was very happy. But after the Tongsheng exam, because I didn't get the first place, my father beat and scolded me. He said that I might not be able to pass the exam in the future, and then took me around to show off. I wanted to read and write classics, but he tore them up. He only allowed me to write poems that could make money."
Everyone sighed.
Fang Yun's face was gloomy. He stared into Fang Li's eyes and said, "What else do you have to say? If you let Zhongyong study hard for ten years, maybe he can pass the imperial examination in his twenties. Whether he continues to take the imperial examination or returns to Ji County to be a minor official, it will be much better than now!"
Fang Li stood there blankly, then stamped his feet and said with his neck erect: "Ten years? I don't even know how many years I can live! If you really want to help Zhongyong. Fine, give me thirty thousand taels of silver, and I won't care about him for ten years! Otherwise, kill me! Kill me! Let Zhongyong bear the stigma of killing his father!"
"How outrageous!" Cai He was furious. Even if he, as a county magistrate, had some other income, after deducting his expenses, he could only save five or six hundred taels of silver throughout the year, which was already considered wealthy.
Fang Li continued to act like a rogue: "Don't give it to me? That's for sure. I know you will take Zhongyong away by force, but I have a mouth! As long as you dare to take it away, I will announce the trap that I and the old student have set up, and completely ruin his literary reputation! Didn't you say that if he continues to follow me, it would be like harming me? If you take him away, it would be like ruining his literary reputation, which is unjust! By then, I'm afraid that you, Fang Zhongyong's cousin, will also be damaged in literary reputation!"
Cai He was so angry that his teeth were itching, but after all, this was the Fang family's family affair, and as a county magistrate, he had no way of using the law to control it.
Those scholars were extremely angry and thought Fang Li was simply a scum.
Fang Yun remained silent, and no one knew what he was thinking about.
Fang Li laughed loudly and said, "What? Are you scared? What can a bunch of shitty scholars do to me? Kill me? Let Zhongyong bear the infamy of harming his father? Want to snatch my son? No way! Make a decision quickly, Fang Yun, I know you got a lot of treasures from the Holy Ruins, so you don't need this little money. I'll ask you for 30,000 taels now, and in another quarter of an hour, I'll ask for 40,000 taels!"
Fang Yun said slowly, "I already know your temper very well. I'll give you 30,000 taels today. When you spend it all, you will naturally threaten me with Zhongyong's literary reputation and treat me as an inexhaustible bank. What's more, who do you think I am? The demon saints and the millions of demons can't do anything to me. Do you think a mere scoundrel can beat me? If I can't even deal with a mere scoundrel like you, what can I use to gamble with the demon saints! I didn't want to do anything extreme. Since you don't hesitate to destroy Zhongyong's talent and don't cherish your own reputation, then I will help you!"
Fang Yun said, reaching out to take off the official seal from his waist, and said, "Come here, get me some paper and pen!"
Cai He, however, showed an extremely excited expression. The dignified Jinshi County Magistrate ran towards Fang Yun's study, saying as he ran: "I'll do it! I'll do it!"
Li Fanming was stunned for a moment, then he laughed and went to the study to move the table with Cai He.
The other candidates guessed something one after another, and even Yan Yukong was full of expectations.
Fang Li was terrified, and trembled as he said, "What...what are you going to do? Scholars are not good people! How do you want to harm me? I...I will not...surrender! I will fight you to the death!"
Fang Yun asked calmly: "Are you willing to die?"
"I... I'm going to die right now in front of you!" Fang Li leaned towards Cai He's verbal sparring, and suddenly stepped back as if struck by lightning, clutching his neck and yelling, "It hurts! It hurts so much! It's bleeding!"
Everyone burst into laughter. Fang Zhongyong knelt on the ground and refused to get up. He glanced at his father, showing a sad look, and lowered his head again.
Cai He and Li Fanming came out carrying a table with the four treasures of the study laid out on it. This table was made of a magical wood and weighed five hundred kilograms. It was a gift from the empress dowager and it was impossible for four or five people to lift it.
Cai He looked at Fang Li as he walked, with a satisfied smile on his face.
Fang Li was even more frightened. This Cai He was a genuine Jinshi county magistrate. His literary reputation was no less than that of an ordinary prefect. There was a great chance that he would become a Hanlin or even a university scholar in the future. If even such a person showed such an expression, Fang Yun would definitely do something terrible.
Fang Li turned and ran.
"Catch him!" Cai He shouted in a low voice, and two officers guarding outside rushed in, captured Fang Li, and brought him in front of Fang Yun.
"Let me go! Let me go! I agree! I agree!" Fang Li shouted while struggling.
"Do you think I will believe your nonsense?" Fang Yun said.
The table fell to the ground, and Fang Yun reached out to the emerald bamboo pen holder. He fiddled with it with his fingers, and finally pulled out a wolf-hair brush from the pen holder. This was not a wolf-hair brush made of weasel hair, but a brush made from the tip of the wolf demon Hou's tail.
The Langhou pen is arguably the hardest brush. If you are not careful, it will pierce the paper and make a fool of yourself. But if you can write with the Langhou pen, every word will be as sharp as a knife, penetrating through the paper and into the wood.
There was once a scholar who used a Langhou pen as a weapon to pierce someone's throat, which shows how sharp this pen is.
Only in extremely extreme circumstances would literati use wolf-hair brushes. The manifesto attacking Fang Yun by Ji Mengxian, the number one scholar in the Qing Dynasty, was written with wolf-hair brushes. Not only were the words as sharp as knives, but the ideas were also as sharp as knives.
Fang Yun took a deep breath and as the tip of his brush touched the ink, there was actually a sound of metal clashing against metal.
When the Wolf Marquis's pen was filled with thick ink, Fang Yun said, "The one who made Fang Li infamous for eternity was not Fang Zhongyong, but Fang Yun, and Fang Li!"
After saying this, Fang Yun held the third-rank Wenhou seal in his left hand and picked up the pen to write with his right hand.
"Fang Zhongyong, a resident of Ji County, was a farmer for generations. When he was five years old, he had never seen a book, but suddenly he cried and asked for one. His father was surprised..."
"Boom..."
The sky was calm and cloudless, but there was thunder. Every person of literary rank in Dayuan Prefecture, from students to grand secretaries, all moved their heads slightly and looked up at the sky.
Everyone heard a stone-cold voice reading a passage aloud.
"Fang Zhongyong, a native of Ji County, was a farmer for generations..."
During the writing process of the article, all the literati within hundreds of miles of Dayuan Prefecture were extremely surprised, and as the article continued, many people applauded.
"The pen is criticized! The writer's pen is criticized! What courage! What literary talent! I wonder who it is!"
"With such a sharp pen in Jingguo, why should we worry about the evil and barbaric children!"
"Well written! I have long disliked Fang Li! A good child is forced to grow up too fast, which is a disaster for scholars!"
"Ah, this person writes well. Fang Zhongyong's literary reputation has indeed declined since he passed the Tongsheng Examination."
"Huh? The article refers to Fang Zhongyong as his nephew, and with such a sharp tone, it must be Fang Yun!"
"Like everyone else? Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs? What a good metaphor, worthy of being Fang Zhenguo. Since he dares to criticize with this writing, he must be able to protect the country!"
In the Fang family's courtyard, Fang Yun continued to write "The Story of Zhongyong", a famous work by Wang Anshi, a famous thinker, politician, writer and reformer in the Song Dynasty.
Some times and places were changed in the article, as well as some details according to the situation in Ji County, but Wang Anshi's meaning was not changed. He used this article to warn future generations that they should never become proud and complacent because of their natural intelligence, and that acquired learning is more important.
In the end, Fang Yun added what he had learned, criticizing some parents who only praise their children for being smart and intelligent when they see their children doing well in school. This highlights natural talent and despises acquired efforts, which will make the children complacent and mistakenly believe that they are really smarter than everyone else and that they can get good grades again without working hard.
Fang used the research of later educational psychology to point out that children should not be overly denied, but the way of praising children must be appropriate. Children should be praised for their efforts rather than their intelligence.
At the end of the article, Fang Yun, as an ordinary scholar and Fang Zhongyong's uncle, loudly appealed to all scholars, asking if they were faced with such a situation, would they ignore it and let Fang Zhongyong practice foolish filial piety, or would they criticize Fang Li and save Fang Zhongyong in order to complete the path of education? (To be continued..)