Prologue 2: The Wail of the Scholar
Heavy snow covered the whole country, and the capital was shrouded in snow.
The time-honored city of Haojing is the ancient capital of eighteen dynasties. There is no city in the world more noble than it, and none more elegant and graceful than it.
Within the city of Haojing, there are forty-nine artificial canals running vertically and horizontally , dividing the square city into more than two thousand square markets of varying sizes.
The palace of Haojing, the residence of the current emperor, is surrounded by four canals in the north of the city.
The four major districts closest to the palace are Fengtiao, Yushun, Guotai and Min'an. These four districts are full of large courtyards and red gates, and those living in them are either royal relatives or founding heroes.
Min'anfang, the northwestern corner, the area closest to the palace, has a large mansion surrounded by green pines and cypresses. Even in the cold winter when the ground is covered with snow, the entire mansion covering thousands of acres is still lush and green. The red doors, green tiles, white walls, and green trees exude an ancient and noble atmosphere.
This is the Mansion of Duke Lai, the home of a military hero who founded the Dayinwu Dynasty.
In recent years, the descendants of the Duke of Lai's family have been mostly useless, and things have been a bit downhill. However, the family foundation that the ancestors risked their lives to build is still there, and even if it has declined a little, the style of the top wealthy family has not fallen at all.
In the northeast corner of the Laiguo Mansion, next to the ancestral temple, the boss has marked out a square piece of land.
There are several large and stable tiled houses built here. All of them have floors paved with water-ground blue bricks, walls covered with snow-white fine paper, and ceilings made of woven scented thin wooden strips. The natural stripes of the wooden strips are used to create a huge image of a carp jumping over the dragon gate.
There are large clear crystal windows on all four walls of the big tiled house. The daylight shines in through the large pieces of crystal, and the house does not seem dark at all.
There was a fire dragon burning under the huge room. Even in the middle of winter, the room was still steaming and warm.
This is the clan school of Duke Lai’s Mansion.
The Laiguo Mansion spends a lot of money on the clan school every year and hires some famous teachers. All the children of the Laiguo Mansion's direct descendants, as well as relatives and friends, can come to the clan school to study when they are five years old or older.
In a large tiled house, desks were neatly arranged, on which were piled various books and the four treasures of the study.
Behind the desk, on the stools, sat a group of young members of the lineage of Duke Lai, aged from fourteen to eighteen. The classroom was spacious, with a lot of space. There were nearly two hundred young members of the lineage of Duke Lai who were of the right age, all sitting in the classroom.
Lu Yi had her long hair tied into a ponytail and was wearing a blue cloth double-breasted cotton jacket. With her hands tucked into her loose sleeves, she sat in the corner of the last row of the room, looking through the crystal window at a few sparrows jumping around on the eaves of the classroom opposite.
It is already the twelfth lunar month and the New Year's Eve is approaching. The one-year curriculum of the clan school has come to an end. After today, it will be a month-long winter vacation.
Two days ago, the clan school organized the year-end assessment, and today is the day to announce the results.
In the front rows of the classroom, those young men who came from the side branches of the Duke of Lai's mansion and who were somewhat ambitious were looking nervously at the head of the clan school behind the podium in front of them.
In the middle of the classroom, a dozen or so young men dressed in silk and satin, with little children serving them, were slumped in their seats like a pile of pork, racking their brains to think about where to go, who to find, and what interesting pastime to do later.
In the last few rows of the classroom, which were the rows next to Lu Yi, there were some boys who were also from the side branches but whose families had considerable wealth and power, as well as a group of children of relatives and friends who came to the clan school to study for free. They were all grinning and making faces, communicating in secret codes that only they knew.
Occasionally, you can hear their whispered laughter.
For example, 'little peach pink breasts', 'little willow green pink buttocks', 'a certain nanny has a strong waist ', 'which big teapot has a big turtle', etc.
The head of the clan school sitting on the podium is Lu Jun, a close relative of the Duke of Lai’s mansion, who is nearly forty years old.
Ten years ago, Lu Jun was recommended as a filial and honest official by the Duke of Lai's mansion and became an official, living a very impressive life for a while. However, the good times did not last long. He had a huge deficit of money and grain while in office, but he did not know where the money and grain in the public treasury had gone, and he did not have the power to fill the gap. When the incident was exposed, he almost lost his head.
Thanks to his relationship with the Duke of Lai's Mansion, Lu Jun was not convicted, but he lost his official position.
The Laiguo Mansion pardoned Lu Jun's crime, but would not fill the hole for him.
However, the current emperor is a strange person who values money extremely and is very good at making money.
Lu Jun had a huge debt of money and grain on his shoulders. Unless he made up for the loss, there would be no hope for him to recover.
Fortunately, Lu Jun had some friendship with several masters of the main house in the Mansion of Duke Lai, and he also had some literary talent, so he reluctantly entered the clan school and took on the important task of educating the descendants and cultivating talents for the Mansion of Duke Lai.
Lu Jun, who was quite handsome and had slightly gray hair on his temples, didn't bother to care about those noisy boys below.
He didn't dare to control the direct descendants of the Duke's Mansion.
He was too lazy to care about those useless collateral descendants and outsiders.
There were some ambitious young men sitting in the front rows who did not need his attention.
Exhaling lazily, picking up the small purple clay teapot and taking a sip of old white tea, Lu Jun slowly pulled out a buffalo leather book bag from under the podium and took out a thick stack of test papers.
"The results of this year's annual examination are generally similar to previous years."
"You all must remember that your ancestors' wealth and honor were not easy to come by. You must study hard and not bring disgrace upon the great reputation of the Jingyang Lu family's Laiguogong Mansion."
"Hey, Luson, come up."
"Hey, Lu Qian, top middle."
"Hey, Lu Shen, up and down."
Lu Jun slowly read out the annual test results of all the boys in the clan school. No matter they were direct relatives, collateral relatives, or outsiders, those boys came forward one by one and took the test papers from Lu Jun's hand. Some of them were smiling, some were grinning, some were frowning, and some returned to their seats indifferently.
Lu Jun read out the names one by one. At the end, he shook the last paper in his hand and changed his expression: "Lu Yu, you are terrible. Compared with the previous two years, you have not made any progress at all. Look at your last and most important article on Taoism. You answered irrelevant questions and spoke nonsense."
Lu Jun knocked hard on the podium, pointed at the expressionless Lu Yi and said sternly, "You were like this the year before last, the year before last, and the year before last. If you continue like this, will you be worthy of the monthly subsidies of silver and rice from the clan?"
Lu Jun stared at Lu Yi who was slowly standing up, and said sternly: "In this world, students of literature and education are the most honorable. Studying and learning are the real bright future. Academic activities are just the foundation, and only the theory of Taoism is the way to success."
"No matter how pretty and good-looking you are, you can't make good theories. Scary!"
Lu Jun threw the paper in his hand lightly forward and let it fall to the ground.
He pointed at Lu Yu and scolded him loudly with an increasingly fierce tone: "Year after year, year after year, you have not made any progress. It is obvious that you are a useless seed, a filthy waste who only brings shame to the Jingyang Lu family."
Lu Jun's cursing became more and more intense, and his saliva sprayed far away .
Lu Yi coughed lightly and walked forward slowly.
There was a sudden silence in the classroom.
No matter they were the sons of the mansion or those close or distant relatives, everyone raised their heads and looked at Lu Yi, who was nearly nine feet tall, more muscular than an ordinary man, and much more energetic.
Lu Yi picked up the paper on the ground, rolled it into a cylinder, and tapped his thigh lightly with it as if he was holding a stick.
He smiled and nodded to Lu Jun continuously: "It is what you blame, sir."
Lu Jun was not moved by Lu Yi's smile. His scolding became more and more sharp, harsh, and even a little vicious.
"In my opinion, you don't need to study."
"If you are reluctant to give up the money and food that the clan school distributes every month, why don't you just report it to the master and go out to do some work to make a living? Isn't that better than wasting ?"
"If you stay in the clan school, not only will you be embarrassed, but even the Lu clan school will be implicated by you and be ridiculed!"
"In such a huge city like Gaojing, with so many big families, which family school has a fool like you who has been rated as the lowest for four consecutive years?"
"Because of you, I feel embarrassed when I go out to drink with my peers."
"Fortunately, your grandfather died early, and your father may have died as well. Otherwise, seeing you like this, wouldn't he have been pissed off to death by you?"
Lu Yi's eyes were as clear as ice. With a smile on his face, he bowed quietly to Lu Jun, then turned around and walked back to his seat.
Seeing Lu Yi like this, Lu Jun's scolding was like a torrent of water, and he almost broke out into a curse.
In the clan school, those young masters of the direct line of the Lu family, as well as those naughty side branches and relatives, all pointed at Lu Yi and laughed, and cooperated with Lu Jun in making fun of him.
That night, all the students of the clan school of Duke Lai's mansion pooled together some money and held a year-end thank-you banquet for their teachers in the largest winery, "Hefengxiyulou", in Anlefang, east of Min'anfang, across a canal in the city. They invited all the teachers of the clan school, as well as the principal Lu Jun and several clan school supervisors to have a big meal.
The banquet was not over yet, just like the previous two years, Lu Yi declined the offer, saying he was too drunk and left quietly.
After the banquet, Lu Jun and a group of gentlemen called their friends and went to Mingyue Pavilion near Anle Tower to have some fun.
Late at night, the drunk Lu Jun left the table, refused the support of the concubine beside him, and staggered outside to change his clothes.
Suddenly, a howl rose to the sky, and Lu Jun's cries echoed throughout Mingyue Pavilion.
"My legs, my legs, legs, legs... Why is the ground so slippery?"
Faintly, someone exclaimed: "This, this is the third time! Brother Lu, how unlucky you are!"
