Yinglue Academy

Wang Cailiang suddenly remembered that his father had once discovered someone in Wang Family Village had fabricated a phantom household under the name Chu Qiguang. Because it was exempt from taxes and corvée labor, his father had found a way to attach a plot of land to it. 'What a coincidence...' Wang Cailiang thought, but in the end, he did not mention it to Chu Qiguang. Beside him, Chu Qiguang was still pondering the matter of his name—why Ergou's father had chosen the name Chu Qiguang, and who was really stirring the pot behind the scenes. For the time being, he had no interest in chatting with Wang Cailiang either. The party arrived at the west side of the county seat. Wang Chengwang had rented a courtyard here in advance so that Wang Cailiang and Chu Qiguang could stay without having to travel back and forth between Yinglue Academy and Wang Family Village every day. Pushing open the courtyard gate, Wang Cailiang ordered his four servants to begin sweeping, arranging the rooms, and adjusting the feng shui. Wang Cailiang shouted, "Don't forget to put a basin of water by the east gate! Water engenders eastern wood, which is perfect for my fortune!" The landlady of the courtyard was surnamed Sun, an elderly woman in her sixties. It was said that her son and daughter-in-law had both died, leaving only her and her grandson. She had rented out the rooms solely to supplement their livelihood. Seeing Wang Chengwang arrive, Grandma Sun immediately came out to greet him. "Young Master Wang is here?" Wang Cailiang nodded and said to Chu Qiguang beside him, "Brother Chu, this is our landlady, Grandma Sun. She usually stays in the east wing with her grandson, and she'll be taking care of our morning and evening meals." Grandma Sun looked kind and benevolent, smiling warmly. "Greetings, Young Master Chu. If there's anything you'd like to eat in the future, just let this old woman know." A boy of about five or six hid behind Grandma Sun. He was her grandson, looking sallow and somewhat frail. *** The night passed without incident. As usual, Chu Qiguang meditated first, then spent most of his time in his room applying the Hundred-Refined Ointment and cultivating martial arts. Qiao Zhi urged and instructed him from the side, continually correcting his movements and exertion of force. By using the Hundred-Refined Ointment daily, Chu Qiguang was confident he could break through to the second stage within a little over a month. Unfortunately, the silver he had on hand could only last about ten days at most. When his illness flared up during the night, he also gave Chen Gang a thrashing, which made Wang Cailiang click his tongue in secret: 'Brother Chu is truly ruthless when disciplining his servants. No wonder that blockhead Chen Gang is handled so submissively by him.' Early the next morning, Wang Cailiang and Chu Qiguang rose from bed. In the courtyard, Grandma Sun was cooking breakfast while placing freshly boiled eggs into a basket one by one. Her grandson stared at the eggs with longing. "Grandma, I want an egg too." "Didn't you just eat?" "Still hungry." Grandma Sun said, "No, these are offerings for the Dao Lord at the Daoist temple. Look at you, falling sick every few days—how could we not seek more blessings and protection from the Dao Lord?" The grandson swallowed hard, having no choice but to keep staring at the eggs to stave off his hunger. On the other side, Wang Cailiang directed his servants to attend to his washing and dressing, while Chu Qiguang stood nearby brushing his teeth. Chu Qiguang had obtained the toothbrush by asking Wang Cailiang for a new one after seeing him use one before. It had a bamboo handle with horsehair bristles, paired with a tooth powder made from sun-dried and ground pine resin and poria. Oral hygiene had always been a major concern for Chu Qiguang, so now that he had a toothbrush, he made up his mind to brush daily. 'Finally able to brush my teeth, though this horsehair brush is far too soft—it just doesn't feel satisfying at all.' As Chu Qiguang brushed, he sighed inwardly: 'Still, I've heard the nobility have even better toothpastes and toothbrushes. Even if only for the sake of brushing my teeth properly, I have to climb higher. When the time comes, not only will I use fine toothbrushes, but I'll manufacture better toothbrushes and toothpastes too.' Beside him, Wang Cailiang had his mouth wide open, letting a servant brush his teeth for him. Seeing Chu Qiguang, he said, "Brother Chu, teeth only get truly clean when you let someone else brush them for you." Chu Qiguang glanced at him. "You certainly are particular." Wang Cailiang was unwilling to lose face as the son of Wang Family Village's wealthiest man. Hearing this, he said, "Brother Chu, there's something you don't know! This servant of mine is a tooth-boy I specially bought from another county for fifty taels of silver. He has an ancestral craft in tooth-brushing. "If you don't believe me, you keep brushing your own teeth for the next two years while I have him brush mine. Two years from now, my teeth will definitely be in better shape than yours." "Really?" Chu Qiguang looked with surprise at the plain-looking tooth-boy, who was actually worth that many Ergous. Wang Cailiang said, "What, you don't believe it? How about I let my tooth-boy brush yours?" Crouched on the roof, Qiao Zhi could not resist speaking into Chu Qiguang's mind: "Listen to that dog bastard boast. He's just an ordinary peasant, yet he brags him up into a 'tooth-boy.'" Chu Qiguang asked, "How do you know?" Qiao Zhi said, "I heard their servants talking." "Alright, you'd better keep that tooth-boy to yourself." Chu Qiguang shot Wang Cailiang an exasperated sidelong look. This fellow truly loved to brag; Chu Qiguang almost wished he could pass his psychological condition onto him. Chu Qiguang said in his heart, "Master Qiao, do you want to brush your teeth? Didn't you say the path of martial arts lies in every detail of maintaining the physical body? If your teeth go bad, it'll affect your ability to eat, which would be terrible for your body, wouldn't it?" Qiao Zhi immediately spat back, "Bah! Nobody tricks me into brushing my teeth!" Chu Qiguang asked, "Then what will you do if your teeth go bad later on?" Qiao Zhi said proudly, "Once I enter the Dao, I will naturally reshape my physical form and take human shape. These teeth don't matter at all right now." Before long, Grandma Sun brought over breakfast. After eating in the courtyard, the group took their servants and set off for Yinglue Academy. On the road, Chu Qiguang thought to himself: 'If I use the Hundred-Refined Ointment daily, the four hundred taels of silver from the Wang family will only last about ten more days. Now it all depends on how many generous marks there are among the students at Yinglue Academy.' To earn the title of wusheng this October and attain the strength of martial arts' third stage within the next five months, Chu Qiguang intended to use medicinal aids for cultivation every single day. Yet a single portion of Hundred-Refined Ointment cost over thirty taels. Using it daily for five months would require nearly five thousand taels of silver at the very least, far beyond what he currently had on hand. Factoring in county social expenses, currying favors, and securing quotas for the martial examinations, the shortfall would be even greater. Chu Qiguang calculated that he would only feel secure with at least ten thousand taels of silver. *** Just as they stepped out of the gate, two brownish-yellow curs squatting across the street watched Chu Qiguang and Wang Cailiang leave. The older dog said, "Is that the man reeking of cats again? The smell seems even stronger this time. How did he end up moving to this area?" The younger cur said, "That prick must keep a cat at home." The older dog licked its nose and said, "We'll find a chance to teach their cat a lesson and show it who's the underground emperor of this turf." The younger dog asked, "An underground emperor... wouldn't that just be a dead emperor?" Barking, the older dog snapped toward its neck, scaring the young dog into scrambling up against the wall, belly exposed in terror. "If you don't know how to talk, keep your mouth shut! You can't spit ivory from a dog's mouth!" *** Funded collectively by the prominent families of the county, Yinglue Academy was situated in the northern part of the city. Outside the academy's main gate stood a screen wall built of blue brick. In the feng shui traditions of the Great Han Dynasty, it served to ward off evil influences; almost every prominent household, government yamen, and Daoist temple had one. Upon the screen wall was a dragon relief depicting humanity rising in resistance against the East Sea dragon clan when they ravaged the Central Plains before the founding of the Great Han, reminding students to remain vigilant in peacetime and train diligently in martial arts to defend the nation. Carved onto the back of the screen wall was an essay encouraging learning, said to have been composed by the patriarch of the Hao family, who had led the funding to build the academy. Passing the screen wall, Wang Cailiang and Chu Qiguang saw a middle-aged man in a silk robe already waiting there. He was Song Yixuan, an instructor at Yinglue Academy. Wang Cailiang pulled Chu Qiguang forward and greeted him. "Greetings, Teacher Song. This is my good friend Chu Qiguang, who has come to enroll with me." Song Yixuan nodded. "Your affairs have all been arranged. Follow me." With that, he glanced at Chen Gang and Wang Cailiang's servants. "Leave the servants in the outer hall over there. Do not bring them inside in the future." The two followed Song Yixuan through the main gate, where a couplet was displayed: 'Accumulated waters form an abyss where dragons arise; heaped earth builds a mountain where wind and rain take wing.' Stepping inside, they saw that the entire academy sat in the south facing north. To the left and right stood Wenchang Pavilion and Wusheng Courtyard, while behind them lay the reception hall, guest quarters, dining hall, and the instructors' private chambers. Song Yixuan helped the two register their student records and issued their identity tallies for entering and leaving the academy, followed by their scholar robes, practice uniforms, books, and other supplies. Afterward, they headed toward Wenchang Pavilion. Unwilling to miss a chance to show off, Wang Cailiang immediately began explaining the layout of the academy to Chu Qiguang.