As soon as those words were spoken, everyone present changed their expressions.
The eunuchs were even more furious, shouting and cursing.
“Presumptuous!”
“Ignorant brat who doesn’t know the height of the heavens or the depth of the earth!”
“Godfather, let your children try again. We will surely take this madman down!”
Cao Zhengchun only smiled slightly, raising his hand to stop the agitation of his god-sons.
His bright black eyes scanned Chen Zui, and there was actually a hint of admiration in his gaze.
“Young man, having an edge is a good thing. However...”
He shifted the topic, turning his head to look at Lu Chenzhou beside him. His tone remained that same gentle and soft melody, yet every word was calculated to pierce the heart.
“Mountain Lord Lu, you have seen it for yourself.
This person possesses high martial arts skills and strikes with ruthlessness; he is by no means an ordinary person.
The Academy harbors such martial world figures and lives with them day and night.
Is what the students of the Academy learn from what they see and hear truly the way of the sages, or is it the unruly and violent air of the wild?
What exactly is the intention of an Academy that disrupts the imperial court by forming factions to discuss politics and also maintains such martial world experts?”
He paused, his voice suddenly turning cold.
“When I return to the capital, I will naturally report what I have seen today to His Highness the Second Prince.
At that time, the crime for sealing the Academy will likely be more than just ‘forming factions to discuss politics.’”
“What?!”
“Sealing the Academy?!”
Upon hearing this, everyone from the Academy, including Old Master Cheng, was shocked!
Although they had guessed that this eunuch dog Cao came with ill intentions, they never imagined that he had come this time to seal their Qingya Academy!
Several old masters gathered around, their faces grave.
Old Master Cheng spoke first, his voice trembling.
“Mountain Lord, is what Eunuch Cao said true? Is the imperial court really going to seal our Academy?”
Lu Chenzhou looked at the wrinkled faces before him, seeing the panic and anger they could hardly hide. He remained silent for a moment before slowly nodding.
“It is indeed true.”
At these words, the old masters were instantly in an uproar.
“On what grounds? Our Qingya Academy has stood for one hundred and thirty-seven years. Our students are spread across the court and the commonalty. How many pillars of the state have we provided for the imperial court? They can just seal it because they say so?”
“Forming factions to discuss politics? We teach students to read the books of the sages, to distinguish right from wrong, and to discern good from evil. This is forming a faction? This is discussing politics?”
Old Master Bai, who taught the 《Spring and Autumn Annals》, was so angry his face turned ashen.
“That eunuch is nothing more than a running dog on an errand. What right does he have to flaunt his power at the Academy gates!”
“...”
“Everyone.”
Lu Chenzhou raised his hand, pressing down the voices of indignation.
His gaze slowly swept across the face of every old master. His voice was not loud, but every word was as steady as a mountain.
“From the time our ancestor founded Qingya Academy until now, for one hundred and thirty-seven years, we have never done a single thing against our conscience.
We teach students to read the books of the sages, and we teach them to distinguish right from wrong, to discern good from evil, to dare to speak the truth, and to uphold the righteous path.
If this is a crime, then we accept this crime.”
He paused, his voice becoming increasingly firm.
“Even if the imperial court truly wants to seal the Academy, our Qingya Academy is worthy of the spirits of the past sages in heaven. Because we have never violated the rules established at the time of our founding.”
Hearing this, the old masters straightened their backs one after another. Although there was grief and indignation in their eyes, there was no longer a hint of fear.
Lu Chenzhou added, “However, before we clarify the details of the matter, I believe that Young Hero Chen is not an impulsive person. There must be a reason why he fought with those eunuchs.”
He turned around, his gaze piercing through the dense curtain of rain to land on the young man standing with his spear at the Academy gate.
“Young Hero Chen, why did you fight them?”
Chen Zui thumped the butt of his long spear onto the ground. Rainwater flowed down the shaft, forming a small puddle at his feet.
He did not answer directly but stepped aside, revealing a figure behind him.
Only then did everyone see that behind Chen Zui, below the stone steps outside the Academy gate, a youth was curled up.
The youth was about fifteen or sixteen years old, his frame as thin and small as a piece of dried bamboo.
He wore a rough cloth robe filled with patches, which had long been soaked through by the rain, clinging tightly to his body and outlining the distinct contours of his ribs.
His hair was haphazardly tied with a straw rope, which had mostly come loose now, sticking to his face in wet strands.
His face was sallow, his lips were purple from the cold, and his entire body was shivering in the torrential rain like a withered leaf ravaged by the wind and rain.
At his feet, seven or eight oil-paper wrapped scrolls were scattered, along with a broken coarse porcelain ink box. Ink mixed with rainwater flowed all over the ground.
The youth was kneeling in the standing water, hurriedly trying to pick up the books that had been soaked by the rain.
Every time he picked up a scroll, he tried to wipe it with his sleeve, but his sleeve was already soaked through. The more he wiped, the more blurred the ink became, and his eyes turned red with anxiety.
Beside him was a broken bamboo staff, its jagged break looking as if it had been stomped in half by someone.
“This child traveled from very far away to participate in the Caiqin Trial.”
Chen Zui’s voice rang out in the rain. It was not loud, but it clearly reached the ears of everyone present.
He paused, his gaze coldly sweeping over the white-faced, beardless eunuchs.
“But when he reached the Academy gates, he was stopped by these people.
They said that because a great figure from the capital is here today, idle people are not allowed to enter.
This child said he wasn’t an idle person; he was a student here for the examination.
They replied by asking how someone looking like him could be worthy of studying at Qingya Academy and told him to take a good look at himself in a puddle of his own piss.”
The old masters were incensed. Old Master He was so angry that he thumped his cane heavily, making the bluestone slabs hum from the vibration.
“This child was tired and hungry, barely able to even stand.
He only begged these people to let him in to rest for a moment and have a drink of hot water.
But instead of letting him in, they pushed him down, snapped his bamboo staff, and kicked his scrolls aside.”
Chen Zui lowered his head, looking at the youth curled up in the standing water.
The youth was clutching a copy of 《The Analects》 that was so soaked the characters were blurred. He was shivering all over, whether from the cold or from anger.
His lips trembled, and tears mixed with rainwater flowed silently down his face, yet he stubbornly gritted his teeth without making a sound.
“When this child was pushed down, his head hit the stone steps, cracking open the back of his head and spilling blood all over the ground.”
Chen Zui looked at Lu Chenzhou, his voice calm yet every word as hard as iron.
“Mountain Lord Lu, your Qingya Academy has stood for one hundred and thirty-seven years. You teach the way of the sages and open the doors of convenience.
Education for all, without distinction—that is what the ancestor of your Confucianism said.
Now, a student has traveled thousands of li to seek knowledge, only to be barred from the Academy gates, pushed to the ground, have his bamboo staff snapped, and his scrolls kicked aside.”
He paused and asked word by word.
“Will the Academy take responsibility for this matter or not?”
Lu Chenzhou did not answer.
He stepped down the stone steps and into the standing water.
The hem of his washed-out green robe was instantly soaked by the rain.
But he was completely oblivious to it.
He simply walked to the youth, bent down, and reached out both hands.
He helped the youth up from the standing water.
When the youth was helped up, his entire body was shaking.
His eyes looked timidly at the white-haired old man before him. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but not a single word could come out.
Lu Chenzhou reached out to brush away the wet hair from the youth’s forehead.
He glanced at the wound on the back of the boy’s head that was still seeping blood, then looked down at the rain-soaked scrolls and the broken bamboo staff on the ground.
Then, he untied his own outer robe and draped it over the youth’s shoulders.
“Child, do not be afraid.”
His voice was not loud, yet it was heavier than the torrential rain filling the sky.
“Once you reach Qingya Academy, you are home.”
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