Chapter 248: 205
In the autumn of the fourth year of Zai Qian, the Academic Palace finally started its school year.
On the first day of the new term, Li Ang took Chai Chai for an official tour of the campus. The place in the Academic Palace that impressed Chai Chai the most wasn’t the publication office, known as the lifeline of the Yu Country; nor was it the Book Collection Pavilion, which housed various books from all over the world; not even Dongjun Tower, home to countless Mutated Objects.
It was the cafeteria.
The Academic Palace cafeteria covered a vast area, divided into two levels, and employed hundreds of highly-paid famous chefs, female cooks, and assistants capable of preparing regional dishes from all areas. Due to frequent vacancies in the Academic Palace (as many Doctors, Instructors, and senior students were often away), the cafeteria chefs didn’t have to work every day. Instead, they could rotate shifts, sometimes taking part-time jobs at Chang’an Restaurant. This meant the weekly menu wasn’t fixed and depended on which chef was on duty that day.
Chai Chai was quite satisfied with this, finding an unfixed menu more interesting than a fixed one.
Moreover, because of the huge annual subsidies the Yu Country provided to the Academic Palace, the dishes in the cafeteria were outrageously cheap. Dishes that would cost a hundred, or even several hundred, coins in Chang’an Restaurant might only sell for twenty or thirty coins in the cafeteria, if not less, fully satisfying the needs of students with different financial capacities.
Of course, some Academic Palace Disciples might not be wealthy, but absolutely none were impoverished or so poor they couldn’t afford meat. Merely possessing a student ID was enough for prominent families in Chang’an City to try every means to offer them money, hoping to secure a favorable connection.
The most direct methods involved seeking marriage alliances. More tactfully, they might claim "relations with relatives back home" or "ancestral connections" as reasons to provide financial support. If all else failed, they could "hire" Academic Palace Disciples to tutor their children and pay them a high commission. Straightforwardly giving money, however, was less common.
"A student ID alone could easily rake in tens of thousands of strings of coins..." Chai Chai exclaimed in astonishment. "If one were brazen enough to visit several families, couldn’t they rake in a hundred thousand strings of coins, or even more?"
"In theory, yes," Li Ang casually explained. "However, apart from those merchants who are so rich they only have money left and are desperate to pursue social status, the prominent families of Chang’an generally wouldn’t be so foolish as to be taken advantage of. They largely choose whom to associate with based on their assessments. Before spending money on making connections, they also evaluate the potential of the Academic Palace Disciples. What they sought was the help and convenience that the Academic Palace Disciples they supported could provide to their families ten or twenty years later."
"Oh." Chai Chai nodded, not quite understanding. "Are there any Academic Palace Disciples who take the money but don’t follow through?"
"Very few," Li Ang said nonchalantly. "Academic Palace Disciples are practically considered Chang’an locals, and Chang’an people are very proud. Accepting money is akin to owing a favor. Furthermore, the Academic Palace has rules: if anyone uses the Academic Palace’s name to blatantly swindle and seek benefits, the most severe punishment is the destruction of their student records."
Within the Academic Palace, the destruction of student records was akin to social death. Past teachers and classmates would never interact with them again. The only thing more severe would probably be committing an unforgivable crime, like Jun Qianzi did, landing them on the Academic Palace’s internal wanted list and being pursued for life.
Since it wasn’t lunchtime yet, Li Ang dragged a reluctant Chai Chai from the cafeteria for a stroll around the back mountain.
His house on the back mountain was still there. And, because Chai Chai had also been admitted to the Academic Palace, Li Ang had bought a full set of brand-new household items, like Bedding and washbasins, the day before and placed them in the house. Since they were both at the Academic Palace, if classes ended late or something unexpected came up, they could stay directly in the house on the back mountain, avoiding a carriage ride back to Golden City Square.
From a personal perspective, Li Ang also felt that living on the back mountain of the Academic Palace was actually a bit safer than in Golden City Square. At the very least, if any strange incidents occurred, the Academic Palace Doctors could arrive instantly to provide support.
In a way, this is also a kind of school district housing, isn’t it? A house literally built inside the school grounds. And it’s nestled by the mountain and near water, with superior security—the teachers are formidable fighters. If any intruders broke in, it would be like the ’faculty team’ was just warming up for them.
Li Ang thought whimsically as he and Chai Chai left the house on the back mountain and headed to the supervision building.
Chai Chai was a freshman in the fourth year of Zaiqian, taking classes on the first floor of the supervision building. Li Ang and his peers, already in their second year, had their classrooms moved upstairs.
Entering the classroom, his classmates were gathered in groups of three or five, chatting about what they had done during the vacation.
Yang Yu, who had gone hunting outside Chang’an City with others, fiddled with a Wolf Tooth in his hand, animatedly narrating his experience. "Risheng, you really missed out. Our group agreed that whoever caught the least game would be responsible for making the fire, cooking, and cleaning the campsite. I didn’t encounter any game larger than a rabbit all day in the woods. Then, just fifteen minutes before the whistle blew, I suddenly ran into a pack of coyotes, their eyes green with hunger. I was on horseback when I drew my arrows. I shot one through the pack leader’s eye socket, then stuck a Micro Flame Talisman to my saber. With three swift slashes, I cut down three coyotes. The rest of the fleeing coyotes were also wiped out by me and the others. If the coyote meat hadn’t been half-raw and the skins undamaged, I would have brought a few pelts back to Chang’an as souvenirs."
Li Wei tsked and pursed his lips. "Why don’t you tell the whole story? Those coyotes, who knows where they wandered from, were so starved their bellies clung to their spines; you could see their ribs. And that arrow through the pack leader’s eye socket was pure luck. As for using a Micro Flame Talisman in the forest, what were you thinking? You nearly started a forest fire!"
"Well, in the end, it didn’t start a fire because my Cultivation wasn’t high enough, right?" Yang Yu coughed awkwardly and turned to Yong Hongzhong. "Hongzhong, I heard you made a trip to Lingnan?"
"Yes. I traveled around Lingnan with my clan uncle." Yong Hongzhong lifted a chest from under the table. Opening the wooden chest revealed various gold ornaments and a magnificent fan made from the colorful plumes of various birds.
"Is this the Thousand Feather Fan?" a knowledgeable classmate exclaimed in surprise. "According to texts, it’s woven from the plumes of a thousand different species of birds and possesses mystical properties. The Liao people specifically used it for offerings to their gods, but it was thought to have been lost fifty years ago."
"Yes." Yong Hongzhong nodded. "I bought this item in an antique shop. It seems capable of transmitting voices on the wind, somewhat like the Wind Communication Skill of the Cloud Patrol Realm. After school, I’ll ask Dr. Wei Shangjun to appraise it and see if it qualifies as a Mutated Object."
Can one really buy Mutated Objects from a street-side antique shop? What incredible luck! Many students wore expressions of sheer amazement.
The Academic Palace’s stance on Mutated Objects was relatively flexible. They were exceedingly cautious with those whose effects were unknown. However, those that had undergone extensive research and were confirmed to be harmless were sometimes utilized. If the Thousand Feather Fan was confirmed to have no significant side effects, then Yong Hongzhong, as its discoverer, would gain ownership rights to it. He could keep it for his collection or sell it.
"I accompanied my elder cousin to the Northern Territory. While discussing trade matters with the locals, I acquired this in exchange for four hundred jars of wine." Dou Chi, son of the Honglu Temple Deputy Minister, smiled faintly and produced a snow-white bearskin cloak. Its fur was glossy and smooth as silk.
"Wow..." Another wave of gasps filled the classroom. Compared to the Thousand Feather Fan, the students could more readily appreciate the value of this cloak—it was likely that not even the Great Ming Palace possessed such a flawless and beautiful bearskin cloak.
"There were three in total. The finest one has already been sent to the palace. The second was gifted to my family elders, and this one is for me." Dou Chi put away the cloak with a hint of pride. Judging by his expression, he was probably eager for winter to arrive so he could wear it out every day.
"But I’m not the one who traveled the furthest," Dou Chi waved his hand and said. "Si Lang was."
All eyes turned to Pei Jing, who was silently reading a book in a corner of the classroom.
Feeling their gazes, Pei Jing looked up and calmly nodded. "I accompanied my family’s fleet to the edge of the Endless Sea to explore a new shipping route to Japan."
"The Endless Sea..." Yang Yu marveled quietly. Japan and the Yu Country are separated by a vast expanse of sea. This area, teeming with various Alien sea beasts and fraught with danger, is considered an extension of the Endless Sea. Civilian merchant ships must take a lengthy detour to reach Japan. This is not only time-consuming and costly but also makes them vulnerable to storms and cargo loss. Therefore, people constantly sought to traverse the less perilous regions of the Endless Sea, hoping to develop new routes and shorten the voyage.
The Pei family actually let Pei Jing travel so widely... The question had barely formed in Yang Yu’s mind when the answer occurred to him. The Pei family was immensely wealthy and employed numerous Guest Elders. Assigning three or four High Order Cultivators to accompany Pei Jing for his experiential learning was entirely feasible.
Tsk, comparing oneself to others is truly infuriating. Yang Yu smacked his lips, lamenting the vast differences between people.
"By the way, Risheng," Li Wei suddenly remembered and turned to Li Ang. "I heard that your Cui Qiao, with your tutoring, also got into the Academic Palace? Congratulations! With two Academic Palace Disciples in one family, no one would believe you if you said you weren’t an incarnation of the Wen Qu Star."
"Please, don’t say that." Li Ang hurriedly waved his hands in a modest gesture. "Cui Qiao’s admission to the Academic Palace was primarily thanks to the help from Le Ling and Fang Shuang. This past vacation, I mostly stayed at home and didn’t do much."
Except for publishing over a dozen papers and that trip to Bingzhou where I saved Taiyuan County, Li Ang silently added.