In a simple house on Liuyuan Street in Fengtian City, where ordinary people live, a man's angry voice came out: "Why didn't you go to the academy today?"
A young man replied weakly: "I won't study anymore. I want to start a business with my father."
Crisp slaps sounded instantly, and the man hated iron and said: "Who is Master Qin? Being able to study with him is a blessing you have earned over many lifetimes. How dare you skip classes for me?"
I need your help with the stall matter? If you can study hard with Master Qin and step into the Wensheng Dao Tradition, you are better than anything else!
Go and apologize to Master Qin tomorrow, and then study hard for me, do you understand?"
"I won't go." The young man replied stubbornly.
When the man heard this, he became very angry. He looked around, picked up the feather duster from the corner of the room, pointed at the young man and shouted: "Tell me again, do you want to go?"
The young man knelt on the ground, lowered his head, pinched his thighs with his hands, and his body was trembling slightly.
It was not because he was afraid of his father's angry punishment, but because he felt wronged and wanted to cry.
"I won't go." The young man's attitude remained firm.
Snapped!
The feather duster fell on the boy, and just by hearing the sound, he knew it must be very painful.
But the young man gritted his teeth, said nothing, and just endured it silently.
When the man saw this, he flicked the feather duster in his hand again and again, and cursed angrily: "It's okay if you don't go well outside, but you still don't live up to expectations when you come back.
When I tried to force you to learn martial arts, you didn't want to, saying you wanted to study.
Okay, you want to study, and I asked you to study. Those bullies in the Imperial College don’t treat the common people as human beings, but you can still bear to go there to study in the middle of the night every day.
Now that Master Qin has established Hanmen Academy to give you a place where you can study in peace, it would be great if you are not willing to go there?"
Maybe it was because he was resentful, or maybe he was discouraged, but the man didn't think it was a serious move.
The scars and blood stains on the young man's body even penetrated through his clothes.
The woman on the side couldn't bear to watch anymore, and hurriedly stopped the man, and then protected the young man with distress: "Stop fighting, don't fight again!"
"Get out of the way, I'm going to beat this bastard to death today!" The man was furious.
While protecting the young man with her body, the woman asked with red eyes: "Zhi'er, don't you like Master Qin and Hanmen Academy the most? Why do you suddenly don't want to go? What's the reason?"
This young man was none other than Han Zhi. He was one of the first students to enter the Poor Academy after leaving the Imperial College, and he was also the one with the deepest affection for the academy.
The man gasped and cursed angrily: "What kind of difficulties does this bastard have? He is obviously afraid of hardship. I think he wants to study, so I'm just talking about it."
These words stung Han Zhi's heart. He raised his head with red eyes, as if to vent his inner grievances. He almost shouted: "Because I don't want to see those people go to dad's shop to cause trouble again. They don't want to
Do you just don’t want me to go to Hanmen Academy?
I know all these things."
The man was stunned when he heard this, and the feather duster slipped from his hand. The anger on his face slowly faded, and his expression became complicated: "Did your mother tell you?"
The woman shook her head and looked at the boy doubtfully.
Han Zhi replied: "Zhuzi told me. When he left Hanmen Academy, I asked him why.
Then I went outside dad's stall and saw the officials making things difficult for dad.
Zhuzi said that as long as we leave Hanmen Academy, those officials will not come back again."
When the man heard this, he didn't know what to say. The reason why he hid this was because he wanted his children to study hard, enter the literary and sage tradition as soon as possible, and have a way to settle down in this world.
But after all, paper cannot cover fire.
"It's useless, dad." The man slammed his right fist against the wall. The wall was fine, but blood was dripping from the skin of the man's right hand.
Han Zhi stood up in a hurry and comforted him: "Dad, actually I left Hanmen Academy not entirely for this reason.
I have also thought about it carefully, even if I can reach the ninth level of Literary Sage through reading, a low-level Literary Sage is just a weak scholar.
And it is impossible to predict what level of cultivation I will be able to reach in the future.
In this case, why not help you, supplement your family income, and learn a way to make a living earlier."
"Zhi'er, do you really think so?" the woman asked.
Han Zhi nodded and bit his lips tightly to avoid tears falling.
"Since Senior Brother Yang already knew the reason, why didn't you tell me earlier?" Qin Feng clenched his fists by the window outside the house, suppressing his anger.
Yang Qian on the side replied: "What can I do if I tell you? Solve the officials who are making things difficult? Let the students return to the poor academy?"
"Of course it is!"
Yang Qian denied: "Even if you deal with this group of officials, there will be other officials."
"Then find out the people behind the scenes and solve the problem fundamentally." Qin Feng said solemnly.
Yang Qian shook his head: "I might as well tell you directly that the person who asked these officials to make things difficult for the students was the county magistrate here, and the magistrate came from the Imperial College of Haowen Academy.
In the Imperial College, there are many people who don’t like the poor academy. Do you still want to fight against the entire Imperial College?"
When Qin Feng heard this, his heart sank. Fighting against the Imperial Academy was equivalent to fighting against most of the officialdom.
After all, most of the officials in the imperial court today came from the Imperial College.
"Taking a step back, even if no one makes things difficult for these students, they will definitely continue to study?
You also heard what Han Zhi said. From this incident, he has seen the future of scholars from poor families.
I told you last time that as long as the problem of being unable to study is not solved, it will only be a matter of time before the students leave."
Qin Feng opened his mouth, and his anger was extinguished by a deep sense of powerlessness. How could he not know this?
Allowing ordinary people to have books to read and allowing literati and sages to spread the word are just ideals in the end.
But there is an unbridgeable gap between ideal and reality.
For ordinary people, survival is the top priority. If there is no hope in what they are currently working hard for, why is there any need to continue to persevere?
It's just a waste of time.
"Senior Brother Yang, is it true that scholars from poor families have no chance of success?" Qin Feng raised a question in his heart.
Yang Qian sighed: "Junior Brother Fei and I have thought about this issue for a long time, but in the end I became a scholar who sat in the Climbing Tower all day long and only focused on reading books by sages.
Junior Brother Fei also completely looked away and no longer thought about stepping into the court to change the world.
It's not that we are unwilling, but that we are unable to do so.
Unless the official selection system of Daqian is changed, scholars from poor families are doomed to have no future.
However, the idea of nepotism and the idea that all officials are powerful people has long been deeply ingrained, so how easy is it to change it?"
"Official Selection System" Qin Feng fell into deep thinking.