CHAPTER 207: CHAPTER 206: SUICIDE

Quickly, the news about Teacher Yu’s laziness and bad temper spread through major academies in Luocheng.

Scholars from other academies even specially came to Taotao Residence, wanting to take a look at the infamous Teacher Yu.

Yu Xiaolian felt bewildered, as she suddenly became famous overnight.

There were always two or three scholars lingering by the entrance of Taotao Residence, pretending to pass by while sneaking glances inside.

This made Yu Xiaolian feel like she had the burden of being an idol even while reading a book.

Hmm, she needed to sit upright; she couldn’t lean over the counter without any dignity.

The book should be held with one hand to appear more refined.

She kept her eyes straight ahead, focused on reading.

They can look all they want; she had to stay calm, stay calm.

Yu Xiaolian maintained her nonchalant façade for five to six days, until she finally erupted one afternoon.

"Hey... you two, if you want to buy something, come in and buy it. If not, don’t lurk sneakily at the entrance. What are you staring at? What’s there to see? We all have one nose and two eyes, what’s so interesting? I’m talking about you two... Why are you standing there? Hurry up and leave!"

Honestly, a glance should suffice, but they stared endlessly, forcing her to act dignified for ages.

The two scholars fled like smoke when Yu Xiaolian lost her temper. The next day, when Yu Xiaolian went to the academy for classes, Teacher Ying approached her for a talk.

He told her about her outburst the previous day which had spread through all the academies, advising her not to shout like that and to mind her image in the future.

Yu Xiaolian: "..."

A bit regretful she didn’t yell more!

If that counts as yelling, you truly haven’t witnessed what real scolding is!

In the days that followed, Yu Xiaolian, apart from attending classes at Shuren Academy, spent time playing with Yu Zixuan and Yu Ziqian in the backyard, leaving Taotao Residence to Zhao Erya.

She wasn’t a monkey in a zoo for anyone to gawk at.

But unexpectedly, even though she had stepped back, new rumors about her emerged in the streets.

The reason Teacher Yu refused better offers from other academies and chose to teach at Shuren Academy was that her beloved studied there.

The rumors were detailed and specific, with some people claiming to know Yu Xiaolian’s big secret, including the name and residence of her beloved.

Facing such baseless gossip, Yu Xiaolian was too lazy to explain.

Now she truly understood the saying—being popular comes with lots of drama.

One day, Dean Ying found Yu Xiaolian, explaining that the Autumn Examination was approaching; although their academy’s young students qualified to participate, the academy would conduct a test internally as well.

The academy wanted to give students some test questions, asking Yu Xiaolian to create two similar arithmetic questions based on previous years’ test papers to gauge the students’ levels.

Yu Xiaolian understood; even ancient academies conducted preliminary exams.

She understood; she had experienced it herself.

Dean Ying combed his beard and smiled, saying, "This time, other academies will reference our arithmetic test paper; I’ve already received gifts from other deans. By then, we’ll split them evenly between us."

Yu Xiaolian and Dean Ying exchanged a smiling glance, both showing cunning smiles like foxes.

Considering the students’ recent enthusiasm for spreading gossip and rumors, Yu Xiaolian decided to prepare multiple test papers for her idle students.

Teacher Ying booked a separate room for Yu Xiaolian, then had manuscripts of past test papers brought over to her.

For the first time, Yu Xiaolian saw the Autumn Examination questions, where literature was the main focus and arithmetic was supplementary.

The whole test paper was about three meters long, containing ten questions on poetry, prose, historical knowledge, and Confucian ideology comprehension.

On the last folded page, Yu Xiaolian found ancient application problems.

After reviewing several test papers’ arithmetic questions, Yu Xiaolian discovered that the ancient problems were pragmatic.

For instance, this problem: In today’s counties, there are Tianchi basins available to measure rainfall. But while they calculate rainfall based on the water inside the basin, they don’t realize that different basin shapes can affect the amount of rain captured, which doesn’t necessarily represent ground-level rainfall. If a basin’s mouth diameter is 2 feet 8 inches, bottom diameter is 1 foot 2 inches, depth is 1 foot 8 inches, collecting rainwater 9 inches deep, how much does it represent ground rainfall?

Or this problem: The granary opens for grain collection; someone delivers 1500 bushels of rice, containing a mix of valley grains. A sample of rice is picked and counted, finding 250 grains, with 30 being valley grains. The estimate of valley grains in this shipment is approximately ().

Look at the questions they pose; they’re very relatable to life, all using commonly applied knowledge.

Unlike those modern test editors who complicate questions for the sake of it, caring little about the logic or its absurdity in real life.

That brings to mind, Great Liang didn’t include arithmetic in its exams before, but later it did due to an incident fifteen years ago.

Fifteen years ago, the Tun River faced severe blockage, preventing the flood from discharging. The Emperor sent Minister of Public Works Yin Zhong to Tunzhou County to construct waterworks for diversion.

They planned to dredge Tun River to aid the Yellow River, discharge flood waters, and prepare for emergencies.

However, back then, the Minister of Public Works made a severe mistake in flood discharge due to poor arithmetic skills, leading to breaches in the entire embankment, demolishing nearly forty thousand official residences and civilian homes.

Yin Zhong, due to his reckless river management proposal and impractical execution, was sternly scolded by the Emperor and committed suicide.

Yin Zhong was Fu Yi’s classmate and confidant; after his death, Fu Yi felt deeply saddened, but mostly regretful, seeing Yin Zhong as a rare talent who was simply weak in arithmetic.

Fu Yi even blamed the Emperor internally, questioning why he had insisted on assigning Yin Zhong to the Ministry of Public Works?

Since then, Fu Yi united with colleagues to petition the Emperor, demanding all academies to promote arithmetic, and include it in the imperial examinations.

With the painful example of Tunzhou County, the Emperor also saw the necessity of widespread arithmetic education, thus agreeing to Fu Yi’s requests.

Yu Xiaolian bit her pen, realizing she needed to draft some realistic questions herself.

Yu Xiaolian busied herself until she went home for lunch.

Passing by the Zhao Family Escort Agency, Captain Zhao called out to Yu Xiaolian, smiling cheekily, "Teacher Yu, wasn’t it you who said you wanted to find some skilled protectors last time? There’s news now; got some time to come in and chat?"

Half a month ago, Yu Xiaolian told Captain Zhao she wanted to hire two skilled protectors. At that time, Captain Zhao advised patience in choosing quality protectors.

Yu Xiaolian thought she’d have to wait a month or two for any word, but surprisingly, merely half a month had passed before suitable candidates showed up.

Captain Zhao recommended two men, named Li Meng and Li Lie, who were biological brothers.

Li Meng and Li Lie hailed from Hai City, previously working as protectors for a major landlord. Later, when Hai City was overtaken by Great Meng Country, Cao Chengtong sought to win the people’s favor by distributing grain to the impoverished.

Where did the grain come from? Naturally, it was seized from the homes of landlords and landowners.

The impoverished gained benefits, while those landlords and landowners were forcibly stripped of their wealth overnight.