Chapter Ninety-Two: It Must Have Been Little Li Who Helped Them!

In the past, traveling merchants used to stay with them, and everyone could earn a little money.

But ever since the escorts who guarded exiled prisoners began taking this road, any merchants who sought lodging and happened upon those officials were driven off with brutal rudeness. Gradually, the merchants learned to avoid this route altogether.

The merchants could choose another path, but the families who lived here had no such choice.

Li Su asked more carefully about the matter, such as which magistrate had authority over those officers. Old Man Xu told him everything he knew without omission.

"Little Li, you’d best not meddle in this. We can all just bear with it and it will pass. They don’t come every day." Old Man Xu did not want Li Su dragged into trouble on their behalf.

Li Su merely nodded and said nothing.

The next day, Granny Xu baked a pile of flat cakes for Li Su to take with him on the road.

Li Su thanked her repeatedly, and before leaving he also left some silver in the room where he had stayed.

When he passed through the county seat of that county later on, Li Su decided to pay a visit to the magistrate.

He already knew this magistrate. The county under his administration was among the best-developed in the province, and his reputation among the common people was excellent.

Li Su went to call on him, saying he had long admired the magistrate’s name and, since he happened to be passing through, very much wished to meet him.

The magistrate, meanwhile, was quite familiar with the name Li Su. This was the year’s Little Triple Crown scholar from Cangwu Province, the one who had also devised the curved-beam plow and received an imperial edict from His Majesty.

It was a pity he was not a native of the county under his jurisdiction. Just Li Su alone had made Ningxin County shine brilliantly this year. The newly appointed magistrate of Ningxin County was truly fortunate.

When the Little Triple Crown scholar Li Su took the initiative to seek him out and said he had long heard of his reputation, the magistrate felt an inexplicable touch of pride and happily agreed to receive him.

When he saw Li Su, the magistrate lifted his brows slightly. That bearing, that appearance—worthy indeed of the Little Triple Crown.

The two soon fell into conversation, beginning with learning and scholarship before gradually turning to other matters. Li Su was deliberately steering the conversation’s course, yet did so without the least awkwardness.

When the talk turned to what he had seen and heard along the way, Li Su casually mentioned those officials, only a few sentences in all.

In his words, he implied that such behavior on the part of those officers might end up implicating their magistrate, and that one wondered just which magistrate had let his subordinates exploit such a loophole.

The magistrate’s mind buzzed at once. Why did this place sound so familiar? It seemed to fall under his own administration.

The previous magistrate of Ningxin County had only just been stripped of his cap of office. He could not follow in that man’s footsteps!

Nothing showed on the magistrate’s face, and he appeared perfectly composed. Li Su also acted as though he had merely brought it up in passing, and before long they had moved on to other topics.

Because of Li Su’s manner, the magistrate took it for an idle remark and thought no more of it, though he kept the matter in mind.

Li Su stayed in the county only one day. The next morning, he continued on his way to Mingyue Academy.

After Li Su left, the magistrate immediately ordered an investigation. He quickly discovered that Li Su’s words had been true, and flew into a rage.

He had approved the allowances for those officers, yet they had pocketed the money and gone so far as to seize the people’s belongings for nothing!

Those officials were dealt with by the magistrate. After that, the new batch of officers assigned to escort the prisoners no longer dared behave in such a manner; the previous men had become a warning to all.

Old Man Xu was stunned. It had to have been Little Li who helped them!

...

Li Su did good deeds without leaving his name. He was in no hurry on the road and made his way leisurely toward Mingyue Academy.

When Li Su arrived in Wenzhou Prefecture, where Mingyue Academy was located, he went to the lodging his teacher had mentioned. Coachman He helped him unload all the books from the carriage.

Looking at the mountain of books, Coachman He could not help but sigh. Studying was truly no easy matter.

Li Su gave the coachman the last of his silver and let him return on his own.

After Coachman He left, Li Su spent a day wandering the prefectural city of Wenzhou on his own. He discovered that Wenzhou Prefecture also had that same bookshop he had seen on his way to the prefectural examination in Tanzhou Prefecture. In every prefecture he had passed through, it appeared along the road. It seemed the owner behind the shop wielded considerable influence.

Only after coming out did he realize that Tanzhou Prefecture was indeed not as prosperous as the other prefectures, and that in most places, the level of education and the level of development were directly proportional.

In the room his teacher had prepared, Li Su sorted through his books and took a portion with him to Mingyue Academy, leaving the rest here to retrieve after he had finished reading them.

It was not realistic to carry the whole mountain of books to the academy at once.

To reach Mingyue Academy, one still had to climb the mountain, for the academy stood atop it, and unless necessary, the students were too lazy to go back down.

It was also inconvenient to use a carriage, and having to haul so many books up by hand all at once seemed to Li Su far too exhausting.

...

On Yun Qin’s side, the correspondence between him and Li Su had never been interrupted. When he heard that Li Su had gone to Mingyue Academy, he was tempted as well.

The Yun family employed their own tutors, and he did not much wish to go to the National Academy, which was why he had returned to his ancestral home to take the civil examinations and sit for the licentiate degree.

These days, the National Academy was crowded with wealthy young men who had entered by donating money, men with little true learning and an especially frivolous scholarly atmosphere.

Besides, the degree he had earned through the examinations was his own. A National Academy background, on the other hand, owed more to one’s ancestors and had little to do with the person himself.

Most important of all, Chief Grand Secretary Xi admired students who had passed through their own efforts. After all, the Grand Secretary had once sternly criticized the current state of the National Academy, and though it had improved somewhat since then...

Now that he had heard Li Su had gone to Mingyue Academy, he wanted to go too.

Yun Qin brought it up at home, saying that he wanted to study at Mingyue Academy.

His father and mother looked at him in confusion. "Why do you suddenly want to go to Mingyue Academy?" They had never heard their son mention it before. He had always been deliberate and planned in his actions; this was unlike him.

Yun Qin said a little awkwardly, "I have a friend who has gone to Mingyue Academy. Studying with him would help me a great deal."

His parents were dumbfounded. Their son had only a handful of friends, and they had never heard of any of them going to Mingyue Academy.

"You do not know him. He is a friend I met when I returned to my ancestral home for the examinations," Yun Qin explained.

His mother could not help asking, "The top scholar from the academy examination?"

Yun Qin nodded slightly. "Yes, him."

Although his parents had never met Li Su, they trusted their son’s judgment of people.

This son of theirs was clever and quick-witted, sometimes even more thorough than they were. There was no need for them to worry.

Besides, this was the first time their son had ever asked to attend an academy. Whenever they had suggested it before, he had always refused.

Now he was willing to go to Mingyue Academy for the sake of a friend, so that friend must suit him very well.

"Very well. If you want to go, then go. Take more people with you," his mother said, already arranging in her mind what he should bring.

"Thank you, Father and Mother." A smile spread across Yun Qin’s face. He would not tell his worthy brother in advance; once he arrived, he would give him a surprise.

His mother looked at him with surprise and curiosity, and her interest in this friend of Yun Qin’s deepened all the more.

After all, her son appeared gentle and courteous, yet he was rarely moved by emotion. She had no idea whom he took after.

Yun Qin’s mother intended to have his page keep an eye on this friend of her son’s, then write to her and describe what sort of person he was. She was truly too curious.

Yun Qin packed his things, took several attendants and a page, and set off. However, traveling from the capital to Wenzhou Prefecture still required some time.