Chapter 29: A Mentor’s Kindness Is Vast as the Sea

Ouyang Zhi turned his head and saw Wang Jianren.

Wang Jianren must have done extremely well in the exam this time, because he had a look of joy on his face. He came closer and, without waiting for the three of them to respond, he sighed and said, “If you didn’t pass, it doesn’t matter. It’s not your fault. It’s just that you befriended the wrong sort of people. I heard your esteemed mentor, that good-for-nothing from the Fang family—”

Before Wang Cunren could finish speaking, Jiang Chen angrily said, “Do not slander our esteemed mentor!”

“Haha…” Wang Jianren laughed. He just thought he had done well in the exam and came over to tease these three foolish xiucai. He said, “Alright, alright, you are Fang’s star disciples. I suppose you must have passed the imperial examination. I won’t say anymore, I won’t say anymore…”

Ouyang Zhi and the other two did not want to bother with him and quickly returned to the Fang Family. They looked everywhere but could not find Fang Jifan. Finally, when they reached a side room, they saw Fang Jifan straddling the roof ridge. Below, the Fang Family members had gathered around.

At that moment, Deng Jian was looking up anxiously and said, “Young Lord, please come down! It has been said that there will be no needles this time. This gentleman is an imperial physician from the palace, and he is very skilled at diagnosing brain illnesses. Although your condition has improved slightly, we are worried it might relapse, so we specially invited him for a check-up. Young Lord… you frightened us to death. Come down quickly. It won’t be good if you fall.”

Beside Deng Jian stood an imperial physician, carrying a medical box, momentarily speechless.

The others were mostly members of the household, all looking up with worried expressions.

Originally, the imperial physician was finally free and was invited over because the Earl thought the Young Lord had mostly recovered, and just wanted him to take a look. Who knew that when the Young Lord heard it was an imperial physician for brain illnesses, he whooshed up onto the roof in an instant.

His speed… was truly like a wildcat.

Someone below said, “Yes, yes, Young Lord, whatever you have to say, say it nicely. Imperial Physician Liu is just going to take your pulse, no needles!”

Another said, “Yes, yes, no needles!”

Fang Jifan still sat straddling the wall. Once bitten, twice shy. Now, hearing the crowd below coaxing him one by one, he grew suspicious and shouted aloud, “Swear it!”

“Okay, okay, okay, we’ll swear. Young Lord, come down first, then we’ll swear.”

Fang Jifan sneered, “Swear first!”

Deng Jian, anxious below, said, “Young Lord, don’t fall, I’ll swear for you!”

Fang Jifan laughed. Did they think they could trick him? He said, “Let the imperial physician swear! If he dares to stick needles in me, his whole family dies!”

The imperial physician was dumbfounded. Even when treating noble people in the palace, he had never encountered such a thing. He couldn’t help but pull Manager Yang aside, who was stomping his feet in anxiety, and whispered, “Your family’s Young Lord really seems to have a problem with his brain.”

Manager Yang glared at him angrily but quickly explained, “No, no, it’s perfectly normal for my Young Lord to act like this. If he weren’t climbing onto roofs and tearing up tiles, that would be a sign of an attack. Imperial Physician Liu, you don’t know… cough… Please, Imperial Physician Liu, hurry up and swear. If anything happens to the Young Lord…”

Imperial Physician Liu immediately became so angry he puffed out his beard and glared. “Ridiculous! Your family’s Earl invited me here with great difficulty. What do you mean, ‘whole family dies’? Your Fang Family is truly incomprehensible. I won’t see him!” Having said that, he turned and left.

Manager Yang tried to chase after him, but it was no use.

Fang Jifan, up on the roof beam, saw Imperial Physician Liu leave and finally let out a sigh of relief. He had narrowly escaped another great disaster; it really wasn’t easy.

Actually, he wasn’t overreacting. Being a scoundrel, a good-for-nothing, a wastrel—if he hadn’t climbed onto the roof upon seeing the imperial physician arriving, it would have aroused suspicion. If he had happily and easily let the physician take his pulse, wouldn’t that be telling people that he had relapsed?

“Young Lord, come down quickly!” Deng Jian looked up, so anxious he felt like finding a rope to hang himself. “Imperial Physician Liu has left.”

“No.” Watching the crowd below getting all worked up, Fang Jifan felt amused. He leaned back against the roof ridge and crossed his legs. “Tell the accounts office to give me back my money.”

It turned out that ever since Wang Jinyuan carried chests of silver into the Fang Family, Fang Jinglong had been afraid Fang Jifan would squander the property deeds, land deeds, and large sums of silver, so he had secretly instructed the accounts office that Fang Jifan could take small amounts of money, but if the amount exceeded one thousand taels, they had to report it to Fang Jinglong.

Accountant Wang, hearing this below, felt a bit confused and couldn’t help saying, “Young Lord, you clearly went up there because you were afraid of needles.”

Fang Jifan remained unhurried, ignoring the people below who were jumping with anxiety. “But now, if you want me to come down, you have to give me eighty to a hundred thousand taels of silver.”

The people below looked at each other in dismay once again.

Manager Yang was so angry he felt like vomiting blood. He beat his chest but couldn’t speak.

In the end, Manager Yang made a decision. “Fine, I’ll make the decision for the Young Lord. Young Lord, don’t fall, come down first and then we’ll talk. Deng Jian, quickly go get a ladder!”

Only then did Fang Jifan feel satisfied and climb down the ladder. He admired his own courage and agility in getting up on the roof—whoosh, he went right up. It seemed that when human potential was unleashed, it was truly astonishing.

But Ouyang Zhi and the other two, who watched this scene from below, felt their eyes almost pop out of their heads.

They had run all the way here, their hearts filled with excitement, both joy and gratitude. They even thought that perhaps their previous views of their Esteemed Mentor had been biased.

But…

When Fang Jifan’s feet touched the ground, he confidently held out his hand toward the accounts office and said, “Give me the money!”

Accountant Wang’s face turned as black as charcoal, and he was speechless with emotion.

Ouyang Zhi and the other two all stiffened their faces as they looked at their Mentor. They felt an indescribable emotion, especially Liu Wenshan, whose eyes glistened with tears. He hated it; he hated why he had to witness this scene. The Mentor’s smug and gleeful expression made Liu Wenshan feel that if this were his son, he would strangle him, or else he wouldn’t be surnamed Liu.

Finally, the emotions inside him kept building up, and Liu Wenshan… cried. Tears streamed down his face like overflowing spring water.

“Ah… you’re back. How did the exam go?” Fang Jifan noticed his three disciples and temporarily put aside his issue with Accountant Liu, looking at them cheerfully.

The three wiped the tears from their eyes and stepped forward. With a thud, the three of them knelt straight down and bowed at Fang Jifan’s feet.

Although they felt that something was off, that the emotions weren’t quite right, Ouyang Zhi and the other two still said clearly, “These past few days, thank you for your guidance, Esteemed Mentor. The Provincial Examination is over. As for how we did, the results haven’t been posted yet, so we dare not speak nonsense.”

Fang Jifan then clasped his hands behind his back and said, “Oh, then let’s wait for the results to be posted.”

Manager Yang saw Ouyang Zhi and the other three and shook his head inwardly. These three foolish xiucai, having taken the Young Lord as their mentor, truly regarded him as their Esteemed Mentor. They didn’t stop to think that with the Young Lord’s temperament, he would surely lead them to ruin. It would be a miracle if he didn’t skin them alive.

Ah…

What a worry…

Fang Jifan, on the other hand, continued cheerfully, “Then when the time comes, I will go with you to see the results. Stay here at the estate these next few days. Make yourselves at home, but don’t you dare flirt with my Xiaoxiangxiang!”

“We will follow our Mentor’s words,” Ouyang Zhi and the other two said, sweating with embarrassment.

The Provincial Examination papers were quickly collected, and then the verification process began. Because all the papers had the candidates’ names hidden, to prevent examiners from colluding with scholars based on their handwriting, these papers first had to be copied by civil clerks, then renumbered.

After everything was completed, they were sealed and sent to the examiners for grading.

The chief examiner, Wang Ao, was a meticulous person. He personally selected several dozen graders and began the grading process, which lasted several days.

Paper by paper, they were first screened by the graders. Finally, these papers landed on Wang Ao’s desk.

After Wang Ao reviewed the papers, he then had to go see the Emperor.

Emperor Hongzhi would specially gather the Hanlin Academicians in the Wenhua Hall and summon Wang Ao specifically.

Today was the day of the lecture, which was when the Hanlin Academicians gave lessons to the Emperor. However, His Majesty valued the Crown Prince’s studies the most, so every time at this occasion, he would bring Crown Prince Zhu Houzhao along.

But obviously, today Zhu Houzhao’s luck was not good. As soon as he arrived at the Wenhua Hall, someone lodged a complaint against him. “Your Majesty, I have something to report.”

Emperor Hongzhi looked toward the voice. The speaker was none other than Yang Tinghe, the Hanlin Academician who served as the Crown Prince’s lecturer.

Yang Tinghe was considered half a mentor to the Crown Prince. However, those who served in the palace were usually more lenient toward the Crown Prince, after all, he was the Crown Prince, the Heir Apparent, and the future Emperor.

As soon as Yang Tinghe stepped forward, Zhu Houzhao immediately became uncomfortable. He grew even more guilty and quickly lowered his head.