Chapter 26: Unholy Alliance

That day, after washing up, Fang Jifan hurried straight to the study and saw Ouyang Zhi and the other two already waiting there early.

His esteemed Mentor sat down, propped his feet up, and first looked at Ouyang Zhi. “What book are you holding?”

Ouyang Zhi replied, “It’s the Book of Rites.”

Fang Jifan looked displeased. “Hand it over.”

Not daring to delay, Ouyang Zhi gave the Book of Rites to Fang Jifan.

Right in front of them, Fang Jifan tore the book apart with a tearing sound.

Ouyang Zhi and the other two were furious. This was outrageous! Even though he was their Mentor, how could he be so wicked? The examination was approaching; they needed to review their lessons. The Four Books and Five Classics were essential study materials for the test. Mentor… you actually ripped it… you tore it! This was the Sage’s classic, it was…

Fang Jifan didn’t even bat an eyelid. “From now on,” he said casually, “don’t waste time reading these useless books.”

Useless… books?

Ouyang Zhi looked utterly devastated. For the Imperial Examination, the Book of Rites was like a textbook for the college entrance exams in later times.

Ouyang Zhi glared at Fang Jifan.

Fang Jifan curled his lip. “Daring to show defiance? Stick out your palm. Palm strike.”

“Mentor…” Jiang Chen started to speak but hesitated.

Fang Jifan then looked at Jiang Chen. “Seems like you’re not convinced either. Raise your palm too. Forget it…” Fang Jifan sighed. “Three disciples… treating them unevenly wouldn’t do if I only hit two. You three, all stick your palms out. This teacher needs to punish you severely.”

Liu Wenshan had a fiercer temperament. He’d never seen a Mentor like this. He was seething with anger but didn’t dare to act out.

This era had one good point: a disciple daring to defy their Mentor was a great disrespect, practically no different from disloyalty or unfilial piety.

So whether you were a tiger or a dragon, you had to bow down.

Fang Jifan raised the teaching cane he’d already prepared. He didn’t hesitate when the three stretched out their palms. Whap, whap! He struck, making them grimace in pain.

Ah, that felt comfortable.

No wonder everyone liked being the Emperor. When you’re someone’s father or teacher, you could be unreasonable and domineering without needing any excuse, let alone the sovereign Emperor who was like Heaven, Earth, Lord, and Father combined!

So a few disciples could actually soothe his soul, twisted as it was by this world.

Fang Jifan then said, “Starting now, write essays for your teacher. Hmm… I’ll set three topics. Do a good job.”

“Mentor, your students’ foundations are still unsteady. Shouldn’t we first build a solid base? The Eight-Legged Essay requires…” Jiang Chen’s palm burned fiercely. Hearing his Mentor wanted them to write essays, he couldn’t help but remind him.

This way of teaching is wrong!

Fang Jifan glared at him. “Are you the teacher, or am I?”

“…” Jiang Chen was left speechless. Thankfully, he had cried himself dry in previous days, so he didn’t start weeping.

Fang Jifan stood up, put his hands behind his back, and paced back and forth in the study, looking as if he was pondering the topics.

Actually, based on the Shuntian Prefecture records, Fang Jifan already knew this year’s Provincial Examination topic was ‘Benevolent Governance at Present Times’. This topic was a real trap. Where was the trap? Because it was a “jumbled-topic”. Think of the poem line ‘Cascading waterfalls plunge straight down three thousand feet, Like silver chains flung from heaven to the earth.’ Normally, topics might use words like ‘Cascading’, ‘Three Thousand Feet’, ‘Silver Chains’, ‘Heaven’. But a jumbled-topic was different. It might take ‘straight-drop’. Think that’s the end? After ‘straight-drop’, that annoying examiner would leave a space and add a ‘fall’ after it. So, the topic became ‘straight-drop-fall’.

Topics like that were utterly crazy. ‘Benevolent Governance at Present Times’ was that kind. The first four characters and the last two characters had absolutely no connection, yet they made examinees spin convoluted arguments based on this nonsense.

Examiners so low deserved to be buried alive! There was no justice otherwise.

But Fang Jifan knew he couldn’t reveal this exact topic directly. He had to hide the real exam question among many others to avoid suspicion.

So he grinned. “Hmm… First topic: Wealth and Honor Cannot. Second topic: Let there be no litigation. For the third topic… hmm, let me think. Got it: ‘Benevolent Governance at Present Times’. That’s the one. Start now. Write your essays. Fail to write them, heh heh…”

Among these three topics, the easiest was ‘Wealth and Honor Cannot.’ The second was ‘Let there be no litigation.’ The hardest was ‘Benevolent Governance at Present Times.’ The quality of these topics was actually rather good. Ouyang Zhi paused, surprised, and bowed to Fang Jifan. “Mentor, these three topics you set casually… cough… Could it be Mentor has studied the Four Books and Five Classics and knows how to write the Eight-Legged Essay?”

“Nope!” Those two words from Fang Jifan plunged the trio into despair.

Damn it! You haven’t read the Four Books and Five Classics, yet you have the nerve to teach Xiucai? You can’t write Eight-Legged Essays? Why strut around setting topics and making us write?

Fang Jifan just smiled. “However, to be a good teacher, I bought a book called ‘300 Eight-Legged Essays’. These three topics are ripped straight out of there.”

Ouyang Zhi and the others were utterly hopeless. They had allied themselves with a shameless beast!

They seemed to have lost all hope for this Provincial Examination. Fine. Back then, they’d accepted their Mentor’s silver to save their classmate’s life. And since they’d already acknowledged him as their teacher, what more could they say? Everything… comes at a cost.

The three gathered around the desk, each spreading out paper, and started writing.

Fang Jifan had someone bring him a grand armchair. He lounged on it, resting his feet on the desk, and soon began snoring.

Teaching… although Fang Jifan didn’t really understand it, he figured it was probably similar to raising pigs in his younger years.

Fang Jifan was a strict teacher. With a teaching cane in hand, naturally, he needed to strike every so often. When they finished their essays, Fang Jifan looked at them without really understanding. All that ‘thus’, ‘hence’, ‘alas’ gave him a headache. But he had to nitpick anyway. “Your skills aren’t cooked enough,” he’d say. “Do it again. Rewrite.”

Dare anyone question him? They got a palm strike. In that study, cries of pain rang out every few days.

Deng Jian came regularly to serve Fang Jifan tea and water. Hearing the Young Lord hit someone made him feel profoundly satisfied, like when eavesdropping at a wedding chamber – if you didn’t hear some noise, it just felt awkward.

Manager Yang, however, was anxious and troubled within the household.

He was also a scholar who had earned the Xiucai degree. Regrettably, failing the exams repeatedly led him to take shelter with the Fang Family, becoming their head steward.

Now, watching three honest Xiucai being toyed with like this by the Young Lord, Manager Yang couldn’t help but identify with them.

He felt their pain as his own. Each time he heard the wails from the study, and Fang Jifan tossing out remarks like “Your teacher doesn’t understand Eight-Legged Essays. So what? Does that mean I can’t teach ya?” Manager Yang felt a stabbing pain in his heart. These three Xiucai – their futures would surely be destroyed in their Young Lord’s hands.

After several days passed, Manager Yang finally gathered his courage. He couldn’t stand idly by.

So, come evening, when Earl Fang Jinglong returned from his duties, Manager Yang hurriedly greeted him and seated him respectfully in the main hall, personally serving him tea.

The weary Fang Jinglong asked casually, “Has Jifan been behaving at home?”

Manager Yang smiled bitterly. “My Lord, this student… has something he perhaps shouldn’t say. Since the Young Lord forced those three Xiucai to acknowledge him as Mentor, and brought them into the residence… Well… to teach them to study… My Lord…” Manager Yang made a miserable face and continued, “These three Xiucai are scholars with imperial degrees! Our noble dynasty values scholars. The best among them serve the realm. Yet the Young Lord… he hits and scolds them whenever he wants, causing all sorts of trouble. The Provincial Examination is about to start! It concerns a scholar’s whole life. Missing this chance, it means another three years. I don’t mean to slander the Young Lord! It’s just… This student feels the Lord should intervene. We must not ruin these three Xiucai’s prospects. Besides, if this spreads, it won’t sound good.”