Chapter 172
Lo BinWang is sitting opposite of Wu Mei and Di Renjie. He’s around 14 or 15, around the same age as Yuanying but looks much more matured and looks a little bit like a loner. He caught the attention of the group not because of his own boasting but because people were picking on him and loudly mocking his “geese, geese, geese” poem and asking why is he in such misfortune if he’s so talented since young.
Lo BinWang’s dad used to be a government servant in QingZhou but had passed away leaving him a struggling orphan. When he was much younger he was the “Bright poster child that belong to the other family” [1]comparing children’s ability vs other families making many hate him.
He hasn’t even stepped into the Academy’s entrance but many surrounded him to mock him openly. Unexpectedly these group helped him instead of humiliating him for the drew Wu Mei’s and Di Renjie’s attention to him.
Lo BinWang heard all about Prince Teng’s achievements and that he is generous and not a tyrant so he decided to come by and try his luck. He heard that the salary offered is good and those with knowledge can find a teaching job in the Academy. If he was lucky enough to get the attention of the chief scholars in the Academy, he can even learn from them. This is a dream that many dare not even dream about!
Sitting opposite the interviewers, Lo BinWang was feeling quite awkward.
Wu Mei could sense his nervousness and decided not to make his life hard. They took turns asking a few more questions and found his answer satisfactory. They then requested for the candidate to write and article to test his knowledge.
They left the room to give space to Lo BinWang to write his article. While they were outside Di Renjie shared his feedback: “This candidate is not bad.”
“His poem about geese is easy to remember and recite, I think we can add it into the curriculum” (Lu Zhaolin)
The brat named Li Yuanying is only good at throwing ideas and need others to execute them for him. He gave the group a new task just a few days ago to source for easy to read and understand materials as foundation course for children. He specifically requested for the material to be simple, easy to read and imaginative.
Since the group trusted each other, the brat even said something treacherous like “We must never choose poems from His Majesty because his poems are just so-so and I cannot understand them. We must not destroy the foundation of our Tang Empire”.
At the though of his Academy turning into a place where scholars only write about beautiful & creative things, Yuanying shuddered and make it a point to request for simple, straightforward material to be taught instead.
While the group was discussing where to place Lo BinWang, Yuanying and Gao Yang joined them.
Since arriving at his own land, Yuanying had been in high spirits and has been working hard everyday. The same is true for Gao Yang. Lu Zhaolin sneaked a peek at Gao Yang and cheered up seeing her happy face.
While the others didn’t notice the small gesture, Di Renjie did but kept quiet about it. He only asked Yuanying why he’s here?
“Where is geese, geese, geese?”
We are keeping him. He’s writing an article in the hall, I want to know his thoughts” (Wu Mei)
She invited Lo BinWang into the Academy herself, so she did him a huge favour.
Yuanying is even more curious now. It’s not everyday that the group agrees on something amicably like this. Yuanying went to peek into the room and saw a boy writing vigorously, looking very smart. Although he hasn’t read his work, Yuanying is quite happy with this candidate. He entered the room to look at him work with no shame of being a disturbance.
Lo BinWang had full concentration on his work and raised his head to look toward the direction of the noise and say a young man around his age looking intensely at his half written article. He saw a boy with red lips and black sparkly eyes, he didn’t seem like a bad person.
Lo BinWang put down his pen.
Yuanying has zero awareness about himself being a nuisance. “Why did you stop? You’re doing a good job, continue on it, I want to continue reading.”
Lo BinWang noticed the boy’s clothing. Although there are many vassal prince but in this area the only person who would dress like this would be Prince Teng.
He wanted to stand up to pay his respect but Yuanying stopped him. “We don’t do this in Tengzhou. This is not Chang’an.” He excitedly coax Lo BinWang to continue “This work is not bad, please continue. Once you’re done let’s do a group discussion over it.”
Lo BinWang held on to this pen but didn’t know how to continue. He is not one who write boastfully about himself. If Wu Mei asked him to write an article about his strength, he wouldn’t be able to do a good job. But the topic or today was on how to expand and develop the Academy further.
Now there’s someone looking at him write. How is he supposed to continue?!
“You can’t be like this. Just because someone is looking at you, you can’t be too embarrassed to write. What is someone told you to write a 7 stanza poem and threatens to chop your head off if you can’t? During the Imperial examination we had examiners walking around while we work. If you can’t work with external disturbance, all your effort will be wasted,”
This is Lo BinWang meeting someone with so little boundaries.
Prince Teng is Royalty, with a brother as the ruler and a nephew as the Crown Prince but he was not aloof and distant. Hearing him yapping away about this and that, Lo BinWang felt a sense of connection with this person he had jus met.
“Thank you Your Highness for the tips”.
The boy took the advise and continued working. Seeing the boy getting back on track, Yuanying was happy and continued observing him closely. After he was done, Yuanying snatched the article to read it up close. Well written with much talent!
“Not bad!”
The others entered the hall. They were directed to sit on both sides and took turn reading the article. Under normal circumstances, only 1 interviewer needs to approve a candidate but today was different. Lo BinWang got his chance to interview due to a commotion outside.
His article was indeed well written.
Since Prince Teng is here, the group waited for him to voice his opinions.
“Moving forward I have many things to do and I lack someone who can write on my behalf. Since you write well, why don’t you take this post?”
Although Lo BinWang is just a teenager, he is close to Yuanying’s age so they found him suitable. If they were to appoint a senior scholar for this post, he will have a hard time delivering the job that Li Yuanying wants.
Yuanying is usually caring for those around him so he added. “During your free time, you can learn from the rest of the senior scholars.”
The boy naturally agreed to all of this. He initially thought of just getting a measly role in the Academy to survive but no he has gotten a much much better deal! Nothing feels better than having your hard work acknowledged.
Ever since his father passed away, life has been horrible. Friends and acquaintances looked down on him and at his worst even gamblers and street rats lived better than him. Thinking about those days left a bitter taste in his tongue.
But Li Yuanying didn’t care about bitter tastes on tongues. He chased after the boy asking about his past life. Learning that he has some talent in gambling, the prince got excited. He wants to try all kinds of gambling games and want to compete and see who has better luck when it comes to gambling.
Yunaying even dragged his whole group into this chaos. He asked for game props to be brought in and the quiet and elegant hall became noisy and lively.
When Wang YiFang heard that Prince Teng is going to the Academy he let him be. Although he’s the chief secretary, he cannot be following Prince Teng everywhere everyday. Since the young prince has a better reputation now that as the “little devil prince” in the past, he thought he was doing fine albeit a very noisy person.
As a result, Prince Teng left and never returned. But someone came to report that he has been sourcing for gambling games!
Something is not right so Wang YiFang left for the Academy. While he was a distance away, he heard loud noise, just like a commoner’s gambling den. Listening closely he heard Li Yuanying’s voice “Buy Big! Follow me and buy big! Why don’t you believe me? I have better luck than little Lo!”
Wang YiFang is furious. The clean and tidy hall is now filled with gambling props. Prince Teng is in the middle of it all, rolling dices on the floor.
The Academy is a place for knowledge, how can they turn it into a gambling den!
Wang YiFang stormed in with a furious look.
And the room suddenly turned quiet.
Seeing Wang Yifang’s rage, Yuanying decisively tossed the dice cup away and started acting obedient. He stood up, welcomed Wang and asked, “Why are you here, Chief Secretary Wang?”
Yifang’s gaze swept over Lu Zhaolin, his eyes filled with unconcealed disappointment.
Lu Zhaolin lowered his head in shame.
While gambling had its elegant aspects, it’s not an appropriate activity for an official Academy. The group had been so engrossed with Yuanying’s excitement that they forgot to dissuade him.
Wang Yifang patiently reasoned: “What the authorities do, the rest follows. If the leaders were ganmbling at schoool, how can your students learn well?
His reasoning is sound but Yuanying didn’t want to leave a bad impression on his new friend Lo Binwang. He immediately started rambling: “I heard that these playthings ruin one’s ambition and gambling ruins one’s life. So I had to find out what was making them so appealing. I didn’t expect it to be so addictive!” Having started, Yuanying launched into a lively discussion. “Some of these games are addictive and should be banned; but some can stimulate the mind and are quite useful. I think we could promote them among students so they can relax in their spare time.”
He even picked up a gambling prop and explained that it tested calculation skills and playing with it will improve students’ math skills.
Wu Mei and the others secretly thought to themselves that Li Yuanying can really ramble.
As Wang Yifang listened to Yuanying’s endless categorization of gambling games, his anger dissipated, leaving only a deep sense of helplessness.
“Your Highness, I’m glad you understand.”
Li Yuanying nodded like a chick pecking at rice, “I understand, I understand.” Seeing that Wang Yifang’s anger had subsided, he introduced Lo Binwang to him, boasting that he could write poetry at seven!
<> is a simple and easy to remember material and the images are lively and vivid. We think it’s perfect for children’s education”
Wang Yifang agrees that the poem is refreshing and pleasant. If it had truly been written at seven then it’s no exaggeration to call him a genius! He nodded in agreement, “Yes.”
Lo Binwang understands that Yuanying is talking about all the children in Tengzhou. Hearing that he wanted to include his poem in the textbook, he was both excited and ashamed. Excited because his poem had been recognized, but ashamed because, after all these years, this is the only poem he could show off!
Lo Binwang clenched his fists.
He must write better poetry and live up to the expectations of his new friends.
While Lo Binwang successfully joined Li Yuanying’s team, Chang’an welcomed a returning monk. This monk had traveled through the Western Regions, learning about their customs and cultures, and brought back much news. Of course, this wasn’t his primary purpose; his main goal is to obtain Western Buddhist scriptures and translate them into Tang language, so that others can better understand Buddhist principles and promote the Dharma!
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Little Prince: You may not believe this, but some of what I say makes perfect sense even to me!
References
References↑1comparing children’s ability vs other families