The students wanted to continue discussing, but the lecturer raised his voice and said, "After Fang Yun passed the imperial selection, Lord Jianmei suddenly descended from the blue clouds and asked Fang Yun how to deal with Lord Wei. Lord Wei refused to confess his accomplices, and Fang Yun believed that Lord Wei should be executed, so Lord Jianmei killed Lord Wei with a sharp tongue!"
"Master Weiyuan is dead?"
No one dared to speak in the cafeteria anymore. Lord Wei was the Lord of the Academy of Literature who had passed the Jinshi degree. As long as he did not betray the human race, even the King of Jing could not kill him. But Lord Jianmei could kill anyone he wanted. This was the benefit of having power in the Holy Academy.
These people didn't see the scene at that time, so they didn't know what to say. The lecturer continued: "After Wei Yuanjun died, everyone applauded. Fang Yun was right. He harmed Fang Yun again during the Holy Selection. If this person is not dead, Jingguo will be lawless and the human race will be unrighteous!"
Many people imagined that scene, and then most of them nodded slightly. To harm people during the process of inviting the Holy Election was no different from killing people.
Zhuang Wei's face turned pale and blue.
Li Yuncong, who was beside Fang Yun, put down his chopsticks and said, "Excuse me for being blunt, but Wei Yuanjun is a disciple of the Left Prime Minister and a lackey of the Liu family. Liu Zicheng was also there, which makes people suspicious. However, Liu Zicheng finally admitted his mistake to Fang Yun and admitted that he wanted to murder Fang Yun. This is an indisputable fact."
Fang Yun didn't expect that Li Yuncong, who was usually taciturn, was so powerful. He said "murder" instead of "harming literary reputation". People who knew about it took it seriously, but people who didn't know thought that Liu Zicheng really admitted to killing Fang Yun.
Zhuang Wei said in a much quieter voice than before: "Fang Yun, no matter what, you and your child bride are fine. Since you just said that you have forgiven him, why not make peace with him for my sake? Hold a poetry meeting and invite celebrities from Dayuan Prefecture. What do you say?"
Fang Yun smiled faintly and said, "Brother Zhuang, you are wrong. I have already forgiven him at the Wenyuan Academy, so there is no need for us to shake hands and make peace. You are worrying too much. As for poetry gatherings, I really don't have time to attend. The invitation cards and visiting cards at home are enough to be used for cooking."
Zhuang Wei immediately pulled a long face and said, "I don't know the process of the Holy Selection. If I have offended you, I apologize. I really want you two to talk about peace. Don't you even give me the face to attend the literary meeting?"
"Brother Zhuang, you misunderstood. I am planning to take part in the provincial examination in June and am preparing for the exam. I cannot go. I hope you can forgive me." Fang Yun said.
Zhuang Wei was furious, but he suppressed his anger immediately and said, "I thought you were a gentleman and invited you in person in public, but I didn't expect you to look down on me like that! The provincial examination? You just passed the examination for a student and you can't even do the interpretation of the classics. You still want to take the examination for a scholar? You might as well say that you want to take the examination for not only a scholar, but also a juren of the same year!"
Fang Yun smiled and said, "Brother Zhuang has a good eye. I just want to take the exam for the Juren degree in the same year! If I pass the exam this year, I will also try to take the Jinshi degree. Maybe you and I can go to the capital together."
"You..." Zhuang Wei knew that a scholar should not get too entangled with a Shengqian Tongsheng. It would be embarrassing no matter he won or lost, so he walked away in anger.
Zhuang Wei and the others walked out of the cafeteria, and someone beside them said, "Brother Zhuang, although Fang Yun is talented, he is too arrogant. You are a juren, so even if he wants to refuse, he should find another excuse. Take the exam for the same year's scholar? It's ridiculous."
"He has great talent, but he doesn't know how to behave. He will suffer in the future! All of Brother Zhuang's good intentions have been wasted."
Zhuang Wei's expression softened, and he said, "I didn't want to argue with him, but he is too ungrateful! Help me find someone to keep an eye on him, and inform me immediately if he publishes any poems next time. If he can write a poem that can protect the country, I won't say a word about it. If he writes something below the rank of Dafu, I will definitely let him know what "juren's comments" are!"
The other candidates smiled knowingly, and one of them said, "He is just a young scholar after all. He has not experienced so many literary gatherings like us. We can almost be said to have fought our way through the poetry battlefield. He may not be as good as him in writing poetry, but when it comes to commentary, he is definitely not as good as you and me!"
As a few people were walking, they saw a middle-aged man in a red robe coming towards them with a smile.
Zhuang Wei recognized that this was a minor official in the Academy of Literature, who did not even have a rank and had never had any status in the state academy. At this moment, the man was very happy, holding a scroll of documents in his hand.
The scholar beside him smiled and asked the clerk, "What's the big happy event today?"
The clerk said happily, "Of course there are good things. Fang Yun passed the imperial selection, which no one else had passed, and won face for the Great Jing Kingdom. The left prime minister personally recommended Fang Yun for merit, and the queen mother appointed Fang Yun as the prince's tutor and a palace attendant. She ordered the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel to issue documents, and the palace's rewards will arrive in a few days."
"Oh, go ahead then."
Several people looked surprised.
"That's not right. Walking in the palace is fine, this is the same level of treatment as the six ministers. How can Fang Yun be appointed as the prince's tutor when the monarch is only three years old? Although the prince's tutor has no rank, it is generally held by at least a sixth-rank official or noble, and must have a clean family background, which is not something that everyone can do."
Zhuang Wei laughed and said, "What a trick the Left Prime Minister has! This time Fang Yun passed the imperial selection, which is a rare event in hundreds of years. If he is not rewarded, it would be too unfair. If he is rewarded, Fang Yun is so arrogant, how can he get any benefit? So he was given a useless but nice-sounding sinecure. It seems that the Left Prime Minister really doesn't like Fang Yun."
"What if this is a gesture of goodwill from the Left Prime Minister?"
Zhuang Wei sneered, "Fang Yun may not be from a poor family, but he is very strong. Since he wrote "Year End", his path to becoming the left prime minister has been cut off. I will not hit him as hard as Liu Zicheng did, but just let him suffer a little. This is the State Academy of Literature, not the small Ji County!"
Everyone knew that he was unhappy because of being humiliated by Fang Yun, and they all agreed.
Fang Yun was eating in the cafeteria when he heard someone shouting at the entrance: "Is Fang Yun from Ji County here?"
Fang Yun suddenly felt helpless, wondering if people would be able to eat.
Many people in the cafeteria looked at the clerk, then at Fang Yun. Many of them also had helpless smiles on their faces, sharing the same thoughts as Fang Yun.
Fang Yun stood up and said, "I am Fang Yun from Ji County. What can I do for you?"
The clerk came over with a smile and said, "Congratulations, Master Fang. Congratulations, Master Fang. The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites have jointly issued a document, which has just been sent over by wild geese, saying that you will be appointed as the prince's tutor and a palace attendant. This is a great honor!"
Many candidates showed envy. Being a tutor to the crown prince was nothing, but walking in the palace was something special. Without this title, even a third-rank official could not enter the palace casually. Walking in the palace not only showed status, but also demonstrated the relationship with the royal family.
However, some candidates thought deeply and realized that this additional title was far less important than the nobility.
Fang Yuncong took out a piece of silver and handed it to the clerk.
"No, no, I can't do that." The clerk pretended to refuse.
"I'm just giving you a little bit of my joy. You can't complain it's too little." Fang Yun now basically understands some of the rules here.
"Thank you, Mr. Fang!" The clerk took the silver with a smile.
Fang Yun found the document, unfolded it and saw that it said that the Left Prime Minister had made a request to the Empress Dowager and so on.
Lu Yu came over to take a look, and Fang Yun smiled and pushed the document over to him.
Lu Yu said unhappily, "It is a rare event in the Ten Kingdoms to invite the emperor to select someone. How can you just dismiss an idle official with no rank?"
"Fang Yun is still young, there's no need to rush."
Li Yuncong asked, "Fang Yun, since the Left Prime Minister recommended you to be the prince's tutor, you should write a letter to express your gratitude."
Fang Yun smiled and said, "Of course I have to thank the Left Prime Minister, but there is no need to write a letter. As a student, I should spend my time on studying, not making friends with the ministers in the court. Moreover, the post of a traveler in the palace is not something that the Left Prime Minister can ask for. It must be a reward from the Queen Mother. I can't write a letter to the Queen Mother."
Everyone at the table laughed at this, and Li Yuncong nodded.
Ning Zhiyuan said, "Fang Yun, I think you should try to get a title, and then ask Lord Jianmei or someone else to lend you two private soldiers. You are now famous all over the world, and those rebellious scholars may have already set their sights on you."
Fang Yun was a little unfamiliar with the term "rebel literati" after all, this term was rarely mentioned. Rebel literati were obviously human beings, but they believed that demons and barbarians were the most noble life, or they simply committed a serious crime and betrayed humans, willingly becoming the demons and barbarians' thugs and helping them slaughter humans. Almost all demon and barbarian tribes had rebel literati working for them.
"Not really?" Fang Yun said.
"Not necessarily. I heard that Tao Yuanming from Mizhou was assassinated when he was a juren. Although you are not even a scholar, your reputation is no less than his, and you are more likely to be killed."
Fang Yun said: "If there is any change in the palace of the rebellious scholars, it will be discovered within the power range of the Holy Temple. Local officials can easily destroy their palaces as long as they have official seals. They will not risk their lives to come to the city to kill me. After all, there are not many rebellious scholars."
"So you can't go too far away from Dayuanfu City in the future."
"They won't wait for me forever, so it doesn't matter even if they are far away from Dayuan City." Fang Yun said.
Lu Yu said solemnly, "Rebellious scholars are not to be feared. What is feared is that they bribe others to be their spies. Those ordinary spies are nothing. Those scholar spies are the ones to be feared. Especially those students who have no hope of being promoted to a higher position. They don't need to gather literary talents. As long as they are not completely rebellious, the power of the Holy Temple cannot detect them."
"Thank you for the reminder. I will be careful next time. But I heard that some people with high literary status will also trade with them?"
"Some people in the eclectic school and the military school know how to do this. The eclectic school values profit, while the military school uses strategy. They all have ways to avoid violating the literary courage. Of course, they are a minority, or they are small-time people. Those upright eclectic schools are the masters behind the capable ministers of a country or the big merchants, and those accomplished military schools would rather take the straight path than seek the crooked path. Jianmei Gong is an example. He minored in the military school's "The Art of War", so his "Wind and Rain Sword Poem" is so sharp."
Fang Yun asked curiously: "Those high-ranking scholars have everything they need, why do they still work for the rebel scholars?"
"I don't know about that." Lu Yu said.
Li Yuncong whispered, "Eat quickly and we'll talk when we get back to the classroom."