Madam Yan's Matchmaking Pavilion for Men

64 Honoring Achievements, A Quiet Child

While She Ning started to prepare for the big act, the scholars in the Academy were sitting together with the director, looking over the results of the competition that had been held a few weeks prior. All of the documents had been evaluated by their Academy's teachers and some officials that His Majesty had sent. In fact, it was said that the emperor himself had taken a look at the results of the essay competition for which he had provided the topic.

The scholars didn't know what he thought about them though as no words had been sent back or announced to the public. It was as if His Majesty had just been curious what the highly-attained scholars of his Chen country had been able to come up with in response to the bullshit topic he threw at them.

Well, that was what most scholars thought to themselves but none of them dared to say it out loud. They all praised His Majesty's nimble mind and creative approach, praising him to the High Heavens as if he was more knowledgeable than all of them together.

Seeing the scholars sit there with bad expressions, Ming Xiang Wen, the Academy's director, cleared his throat. "The competition has been wrapped up successfully. Quite a few of the younger generation were able to showcase their talents in front of the guests. Many of them securing positions at court."

The scholars murmured some agreement before sighing. Yes, yes, some had been able to showcase their talents. But the poor youngsters that had decided to compete in writing essays ... They sighed again, feeling that it was too unfair to them. Their high hopes had been dashed by His Majesty himself. The pride they had felt before for being provided with a topic by the emperor himself had made place for doubts about whether or not His Majesty was even taking them seriously. What was the meaning of that topic?

While the others mourned the fates of the young talents, Teacher Lian had a thoughtful gaze. He had also been full of pride on the day of the competition only to deflate when he finally heard what kind of topic His Majesty had chosen. He had been even more appalled at people's behavior that day though. Even that Zhang Shi Lan ... Well, it wasn't the boy himself who made a bad impression but he still hadn't been able to feel disappointed that something like that had happened. Now, though ...

Teacher Lian cleared his throat, making the other scholars stop their lament and look over.

Ming Xiang Wen also turned to him, giving a smile. "Teacher Lian, what might be the matter?"

"I was thinking ... A lot of young talents got opportunities but some were rather ... unfortunate. The essay competition didn't gain much recognition this time around."

The other scholars nodded vehemently, agreeing quietly. They really had some more to say but even when Teacher Lian went ahead, they didn't dare to openly criticize the emperor.

"That was indeed unfortunate. We can't do anything about that though."

"Mn." Teacher Lian nodded and brushed his beard. "But what if there was something we could do, after all?"

Ming Xiang Wen perked up. "Could there be such a thing? Please do tell, Teacher Lian." Their Academy relied on the students as much as the students relied on the Academy. After all, even though they had been founded by the emperor, that also meant that they depended on the emperor's grace to a large part as well. If the emperor forgot about them or his successor didn't care, then they wouldn't be allocated any funds. How were they supposed to teach the students then? How were they supposed to take care of the premises? Some scholars might be willing to contribute but they also wouldn't have much money if there weren't any students.

Thus they could only try to groom their students as well as they could, ensuring that they reached high positions at court and would have a say in important matters. That way, the Academy would be taken care of at the important times. After all, the students wouldn't forget the teachers that had previously helped them attain these heights and they knew that they might be able to make use of this relationship in the future as well.