Chapter 156: Contempt

When Yining volunteered for the task, Chen Jianchen pondered for a moment before rejecting the proposal. With the current situation still unclear, sending the little fox spirit to gather information was inappropriate and could potentially lead to danger.

The night passed peacefully, and the next day the party rose early. After breakfast, they resumed their journey. Calculating based on distance and speed, if everything went smoothly, they expected to enter the city of Zhezhou by dusk. The realization that their long journey was finally coming to an end lifted everyone's spirits, and they chatted and laughed along the way.

Clatter, clatter, clatter!

The sound of heavy hoofbeats echoed ahead. Looking toward a side path, they saw a large procession approaching from the north. There were at least twenty or thirty riders and eight carriages, forming an impressive array. Each carriage was a standard two-horse rig with a long, wide cabin, ornately and exquisitely decorated, and flying a banner.

The banners were uniformly red with black borders. One side embroidered a warding-off mythical beast, while the other bore three large apricot-yellow characters: "Imperial Academy."

This was the contingent of the Imperial Academy. No wonder the lineup was so grand—it was by no means inferior to the patrol of a high-ranking court official.

The Imperial Academy was the largest and most prestigious institution of learning in the Tiantong Dynasty. Its history was almost as ancient as the dynasty itself, having cultivated countless great scholars and high-ranking court officials over the past thousand years. It held paramount importance and extraordinary influence, acting virtually as the heart of the dynasty, dedicated to supplying fresh blood to the realm.

Though established in the capital, the Imperial Academy was not located within the city walls, but rather in the eastern suburbs, nestled against hills and beside water. Its founder was the illustrious Saint Dong. The reason he chose a location outside the city rather than within had profound significance. In his own words, "Deaf to the affairs outside the window, I study only the sages' books." If the academy were built within the bustling capital, how could the students ever concentrate on their studies? They would undoubtedly dream only of going out to play every day, inevitably tainting themselves with the extravagant vanities of the mortal world.

Environment shapes people—an eternal truth.

Through nearly a millennium of development, the Imperial Academy had long become the most longed-for dream destination for scholars across the land. Yet gaining admission was exceedingly difficult. Aside from well-connected scions of the nobility, ordinary scholars from humble backgrounds could only enter through special admissions, imperial tributes, or successful provincial examinations.

Imperial tribute students were specially appointed by the imperial court's grace, but the candidates were usually elderly scholars who had spent a lifetime failing the imperial examinations. Crucially, they not only had to be advanced in age, but also commanded a certain reputation and prestige locally to be qualified for selection.

As for those entering via provincial examinations, they were scholars who had passed the rural exams, thus achieving the status of provincial graduates. Afterwards, they could apply to study at the Imperial Academy with an extremely high acceptance rate—virtually guaranteed admission. The dilemma was that once scholars passed the provincial exams and attained the academic degree, most would naturally proceed directly to the metropolitan and palace examinations. Who would abandon the path halfway to study at the Imperial Academy instead? Only a rare few degree-holders would temporarily forgo the metropolitan and palace exams simply to gild their credentials by transferring midway into the Imperial Academy.

Setting aside those two routes, the special admissions path genuinely opened a wide door of convenience, though the threshold was equally astronomically high.

The Imperial Academy commenced its admissions every year in the second lunar month. Regardless of social standing or age, any scholar holding a licentiate degree could apply for the entrance examinations. Yet the test content every year was extraordinarily abstruse and profound—so bizarre and eccentric that it was scarcely an exaggeration, making it several degrees more difficult than the official imperial examinations.

Consequently, the scholars who managed to pass the examination were rarer than phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

Therefore, as the greatest academy in the world, the student body within the Imperial Academy never exceeded three hundred, even at its absolute peak.

This time, the Kaitai Academy's "All-Under-Heaven Premier Scholar and Talent Competition" had basically sent invitations to every renowned academy in the realm, and the Imperial Academy was naturally no exception. The procession of carriages before them was undoubtedly the delegation that had come to Zhezhou to participate in the event. Yet their scale was immeasurably grander than that of the Jiangzhou delegation.

"Clang, clang!"

At the very front of the Imperial Academy's procession, someone was even clearing the way with ritual gongs, signaling others to give a wide berth and let them pass first. This was an extraordinary privilege, much like the police sirens clearing paths in Chen Jianchen's past life.

At the sound of the gongs, the three carriages of Chen Jianchen's party immediately pulled over obediently to the roadside.

"Well, isn't this Brother Gu?"

Suddenly, a resonant baritone rang out. The curtain of a carriage in the Imperial Academy's procession was pulled back, revealing a clean-shaven, square face.

The owner of this face was robustly built, wearing a black gauze cap with thick eyebrows, phoenix eyes, a high nose, and sharply defined lips that looked as though they had been carved by a knife.

Leaning out, he caught sight of Gu Xuezhen, who was likewise parting his carriage curtain on the opposite side, and called out to him. Although he addressed Gu Xuezhen as "brother," his tone lacked any trace of respect; instead, it carried a faint undertone of mockery wrapped in a pretense of astonishment!

Sure enough, upon seeing him, Gu Xuezhen's expression immediately turned somewhat unnatural. Bound by etiquette, however, he had no choice but to cup his hands and say, "So it is Brother Feng... I never expected Brother Feng to lead the delegation in person."

The man addressed as Brother Feng instructed his carriage to halt for a moment and laughed heartily, "No help for it! As the capital's academic commissioner, since the Imperial Academy has sent representatives, I naturally had to accompany them to provide backing."

Gu Xuezhen gave a flat "Oh" and showed no interest in continuing the conversation.

Yet Academic Commissioner Feng seemed unsatisfied and pressed further, "Brother Gu, how many scholar representatives did Jiangzhou's Minghua Academy send this trip?"

Gu Xuezhen replied, "Only two!"

Academic Commissioner Feng feigned surprise, "Why so few? Could it be that Brother Gu has immense confidence in these two scholars?"

Hearing this, Gu Xuezhen cursed inwardly at the opponent's deliberate feigning of ignorance to poke at his sore spots. Everyone knew Jiangzhou had always been a region lagging in education; not to mention producing renowned talents, even ordinary degree-holders were pathetically scarce. Their participation in this event was purely to make up the numbers, with zero expectations for the competition—where on earth would any damn confidence come from?

This Academic Commissioner Feng, whose full name was Feng Yi and style name Niange, had assumed office as the capital's academic commissioner only last year, taking up his new post the same year as Gu Xuezhen. Come to think of it, Gu Xiezhao had originally aspired to compete for the position of capital academic commissioner as well, but lacking the political weight of Feng Niange, he had failed the bid and ended up serving as an official in remote Jiangzhou.

Although they both held the position of academic commissioner and shared the same official rank, one was stationed in the capital under the emperor's feet, while the other languished in distant Jiangzhou. Which was better and which was worse was clear at a glance and stood in stark contrast.

Having competed against each other as rivals back then, they had inevitably harbored some lingering grievances. Now that their paths had crossed halfway, Academic Commissioner Feng was unwilling to let slip the chance to display the posture of a victor.

Suppressing his irritation, Gu Xuezhen replied, "Brother Feng jests. Our Jiangzhou student representatives harbor no ambitions of winning; they are merely here to observe and learn." With that, he called Chen Jianchen and Xiao Hanfeng to dismount and pay their respects, introducing them accordingly.

By this time, scholars within the carriages of the Imperial Academy's procession were peering out to look them over, though most merely glanced at them briefly before leaning back inside. Those sweeping gazes clearly carried undertones of arrogance, condescension, and even disdain.

As student representatives of the Imperial Academy, looking down on the student representatives of Minghua Academy felt entirely natural. It was as natural as students from elite universities habitually looking down on those from third-tier colleges.

Faced with this disdain, Xiao Hanfeng's face flushed slightly, whereas Chen Jianchen stood there like a jade tree facing the wind, showing no impulsive reaction whatsoever.

Observing them—particularly as he scrutinized Chen Jianchen, who hadn't even grown facial hair yet—Academic Commissioner Feng couldn't help but let out a dry chuckle. Bringing two such wet-behind-the-ears scholars with so little time in the academy to Zhezhou meant Gu Xiezhao was clearly making a strategic retreat; he was a clever man after all, possessing self-awareness and knowing when to advance or withdraw.

After lingering his gaze on Chen Jianchen for a few moments, he stroked his beard and smiled at Gu Xuezhen, "This young man earned his licentiate at sixteen, placing first in all three preliminary tests, and he is quite handsome to boot. I must congratulate Brother Gu. With such a figure under your jurisdiction, his future is boundless."

What he said was clearly the opposite of what he meant—at least, so it sounded to Gu Xuezhen's ears.

Gu Xuezhen cast an annoyed glance at Chen Jianchen and remained silent. In truth, ever since taking office, he had conducted a thorough assessment of the scholars at Minghua Academy, and without a doubt, Chen Jianchen—who had placed first in all three juvenile examinations—had been his primary focus. Regrettably, the final outcome had left him profoundly unsatisfied.

In other words, during his year and a half at the academy, Chen Jianchen's performance could only be described as rigidly conventional, entirely devoid of any standout qualities. Moreover, in the crucial subject of contemporary essay writing, he had even failed to meet the standards. Such a performance naturally failed to satisfy Gu Xuezhen.

Yet dissatisfaction offered no solution. As long as a scholar's lifestyle and study habits did not violate academy rules, others could not exert heavy-handed pressure. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot force it to drink. Furthermore, Gu Xuezhen was unwilling to push too hard, lest it produce the opposite effect. Since ancient times, countless child prodigies had faded into the crowd upon reaching adulthood; while many reasons contributed to this, overly strict discipline was undoubtedly a major factor.

Besides, the juvenile examinations were, after all, only juvenile examinations. In the eyes of a figure like Gu Xuezhen, such tests could never accurately gauge a person's true literary talent. Throughout the long river of imperial examination history, countless individuals had shown brilliant promise during the preliminary tests, only to founder and fail in the formal examinations.

Take Zhuge Wolong as a prime example. His juvenile exams mirrored Chen Jianchen's—he too had placed first in all three tests, right here in Zhezhou. Yet as he grew older, he repeatedly failed to pass the provincial exams, sinking into deep frustration and melancholy. Ultimately, disillusioned, he began wandering the world, writing tales of the strange and romantic to vent his innermost thoughts.

Therefore, Gu Xuezhen took Feng Niange's words as pure irony.

"Very well, pressing on is paramount. Once we enter the city of Zhezhou, I shall converse with Brother Gu further."

With that, Feng Niange instructed his driver to whip the horses forward, rumbling off into the distance.

"What are you standing there like fools for? Get in the carriage."

Having been mocked by his former rival in such a manner, Gu Xuezhen was in a foul mood and found Xiao Hanfeng and Chen Jianchen increasingly irritating, his words instantly adopting a reprimanding tone.