Great Song Dynasty Writer

Chapter 121 Parting
"Student Lu Beigu thanks you, sir."

Upon hearing this, Lu Beigu felt a huge weight lifted from his heart!
He was about to bow.

"Wait!" Li Tian raised his hand to stop him. "The apprenticeship ceremony can wait. I have my own rules for accepting disciples. Once you become my disciple, you must follow my arrangements. The prefectural examination is just around the corner. Two months will pass in the blink of an eye. Are you confident?"

Lu Beigu's gaze was firm: "The student will do his utmost!"

“Just trying your best isn’t enough.” Li Tian shook his head. “Your previous foundation might have been outstanding in the county, and you were able to get into the middle school at the prefectural school because of your ruthlessness and a bit of comprehension. But in the prefectural exam, being seventy-second place isn’t enough.”

"To have any hope of passing the provincial examination, you need to be in the top ten, and to secure a spot in the provincial examination, you need to be in the top three. With your current abilities, how can you compare to those students who have all been to the capital and participated in the provincial examinations of the Ministry of Rites?"

The state school is composed of the top students from county schools over the past ten years!
Of these people, only three or four are able to obtain a quota to go to Beijing to take the provincial examination of the Ministry of Rites every three years.

Very few of them could pass the provincial examination administered by the Ministry of Rites; those who were eliminated would return to the prefectural school.

In other words, if Lu Beigu wanted to obtain the quota, his direct competitors were almost all top students from the prefectures who had obtained the quota and passed the provincial examination of the Ministry of Rites!

He only had two months to catch up!
Seeing that Lu Beigu remained silent, Li Tian stood up, leaning on his gnarled cane, walked to the bookshelf next to him, casually pulled out a thick manuscript, and threw it on the table in front of Lu Beigu.

"Snapped!"

A loud bang stirred up fine dust.

“There’s no need to be discouraged,” Li Tian chuckled. “I’ve mentored quite a few Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) over the years, and even more of them have been able to take the provincial examinations. In your case, there is still hope.”

"These are my annotations on the meaning of ink, as well as several manuscripts on the history of the Qin and Han dynasties. Take them back and read them carefully three times within ten days, noting down all your questions and points of confusion."

Li Tian sat down again: "Ten days later, come here to find me with your questions. If you can't even grasp these basics and can't keep up with my pace, then you don't need to come and perform the apprenticeship ceremony!"

Ten days! Read it carefully three times!
This workload is no less than the three days and three nights of hard study he did in the library!

And this is just the beginning!
The pressure was immense, yet it ignited the strongest fighting spirit within him!
Without the slightest hesitation, Lu Beigu solemnly picked up the manuscript with both hands and said in a deep voice, "This student will obey your instructions! I will definitely come to seek your guidance in ten days!"

Seeing the fighting spirit burning in his eyes, Li Tian smiled with satisfaction.

He waved his hand, as if shooing him away: "Go on, go on! First, go and get your status as a student in that dormitory sorted out. Change dorms when you're supposed to, and get your new clothes when you're supposed to."

As Lu Beigu walked out of the courtyard where Li Tian lived in the state school, he looked down at the heavy manuscript in his arms and suddenly realized what was going on.

So, is Mr. Bai Sha afraid that the new students will ruin his reputation in the education field, which is why he wants to test them?
Lu Beigu strode off to the place where he had previously registered to change his student ID card.

He's moving to a two-person dorm, so he has to move his things and say goodbye to his roommates.

The process of changing student ID cards went quite smoothly. Because Lu Beigu had been delayed for a while at the teachers' residential area behind the state school, and there weren't many students moving between the upper, middle, and lower dormitories after the dormitory assignment exam, they had all completed the process.

When the deacon of the state academy saw Lu Beigu, he didn't show much surprise on his face, obviously the ranking on the list had already spread.

He took Lu Beigu's lower-class bamboo plaque and handed it back in exchange for a peach wood plaque carved with the words "middle-class" and his name, which looked like it had been newly carved after the rankings were released last night.

"Your roommate is Zhou Mingyuan. He specifically asked me to reserve a seat for you."

"With this student card, you can go to the teaching assistant in the middle dormitory to get new bedding and clothing. If you have a lot of luggage, you can also ask the servants to help you carry it. The dining hall and bathhouse are different from the lower dormitory."

The deacon gave the instructions routinely, but his tone carried a barely perceptible politeness. "Congratulations on your promotion to the middle quarters."

"Thank you."

Lu Beigu carefully put away the peach wood academic plaque. The texture of this plaque was clearly different from the previous bamboo plaque.

He turned and walked towards the lower dormitory area that he had only recently become familiar with.

Lu Beigu's steps remained steady, but his state of mind had changed drastically.

In just over ten days, from the initial unfamiliarity and novelty of arriving to the impending separation, I have a few mixed feelings.

Pushing open the bamboo curtain of "Lower Dormitory No. 7", not only were the three people inside, but Zhu Nanxing was also there.

Zhu Zhen sat quietly at his desk, holding a book in his hand, but he didn't turn a single page for a long time, clearly not paying attention to the book.

Huang Jingji leaned against the window, toying with a paperweight in his hand, his gaze somewhat unfocused. He only came back to his senses when he heard the door open.

"Brother Lu is back!" Lu Guangyu reacted the fastest, immediately standing up with genuine joy on his face. "Have all the formalities been completed?"

"Well, it's done."

Lu Beigu nodded, his gaze sweeping over the four classmates he had spent a considerable amount of time with, and who were now quite familiar with him.

“Once you’re in the middle dormitory, Brother Zhu can apply to move over and fill the vacancy.”

Zhu Nanxing was lying on Lu Beigu's bed with a look of utter despair, staring blankly at the beams of the ceiling, muttering something under his breath.

He had always been well-fed and clothed at home since childhood, and all he had to do was study, which is why he was a rare sight among people of that era with his chubby figure. In the county school, one could buy food with their own money at the canteen, but in the state school, once you entered, you could only eat according to your rank. Students in the lower rank could not get any meat at all, which was extremely miserable for him.

Lu Beigu was both amused and exasperated by his appearance. He patted him on the shoulder and said, "Brother Zhu, cheer up. Before the state examination, there is a joint examination of the four states, which is also ranked and assigned to different departments. With your talent and hard work, you will definitely be able to get into the middle department."

He paused, remembering Zhu Nanxing's obsession, and added, "I'll see if the dining hall in the middle dormitory has roast goose on any day. If they do, I'll ask if I can bring out a goose leg so you can have it."

"Really?!" Zhu Nanxing's eyes lit up instantly, as if a dying man had grasped a straw. "It's a deal! Brother Lu, you can't lie to me!"

Zhu Zhen put down his book, walked over, and said sincerely, "Brother Lu, congratulations."

"Brother Lu, congratulations on your advancement to the middle academy. Your meteoric rise truly puts us to shame."

Huang Jingji, standing next to him, spoke with barely concealed disappointment and pressure.

"You flatter me," Lu Beigu said frankly. "It was just a matter of chance and a bit of ruthlessness. The state school is full of hidden talents, and my meager achievements are nothing compared to those of my seniors. As classmates, it's only right that we encourage and inspire each other."

Lu Guangyu had already started helping Lu Beigu tidy up his desk: "Brother Lu, hurry up and tidy up, settle down as soon as possible."

"I can do it myself."

(End of this chapter)