Great Song Dynasty Writer

Chapter 122 Gossip
Lu Beigu didn't have many things to begin with. He walked to his desk and tidied up quickly.

Soon, his desk was vacant, standing out somewhat out of place among a row of desks piled high with books.

Lu Beigu slung his satchel over his shoulder and glanced once more at the schoolhouse that held memories of his early days at the state school, his gaze sweeping over the four classmates with their varied expressions.

"Gentlemen," he said solemnly, clasping his hands in a fist salute, "I, Lu, will take my leave first. I hope you will all work diligently and be able to advance to the middle academy in the next joint examination of the four prefectures!"

"Definitely!" Lu Guangyu said loudly.

"Do your best." Zhu Zhen nodded.

"Brother Lu, please go first." Huang Jingji returned the greeting with clasped hands.

"Roast goose! Hot bath!" Zhu Nanxing clenched his fist tightly, as if making a vow.

Lu Beigu smiled, turned around, lifted the bamboo curtain, and left "Lower Dormitory No. 7".

A new journey begins with changing the roof.

Mr. Baisha's ten-day deadline was like the first stone step leading to a higher peak, which he needed to climb.

Upon arriving at the middle dormitory area, after the teaching assistant verified the peach wood student badge, which was completely different in color and style from the bamboo badge in the lower dormitory, the teaching assistant took a soft rope and roughly measured his body. Then, after searching through the rooms at the back, the teaching assistant came out and handed him two sets of light blue clothes.

"These are school uniforms. If they get dirty, you can go to the laundry in the northeast corner to have them washed. After they're washed and dried, they'll bring them back to the dormitory entrance. It's all free. The state college won't let students waste time in these places."

Lu Beigu was somewhat surprised to hear this. He had never heard of such treatment before. In the lower dormitory, if your clothes got dirty, you had to go to the well in the dormitory area to wash them yourself, and then hang them in the corridor or room to dry. As for school uniforms, he had never seen them before.

Holding two brand-new school uniforms, Lu Beigu arrived at the entrance of Dormitory 19.

The door was open, and the room looked much more spacious than the four-person room in the lower dormitory. There were two large windows on the wall, so the room was well lit.

The two beds are no longer placed side by side, but are instead staggered against the east and west walls, leaving enough space for movement in between.

Next to each bed was a larger wooden cabinet with drawers and doors, and several rows of wooden shelves were added to the wall.

The most eye-catching feature is the two large desks placed side by side against the north wall in the center of the room. The desks are made of polished hardwood, and brushes, ink, paper and inkstones are neatly arranged on them. The inkstones are made of finer stone, the brush holders have been replaced with bamboo, and even the paperweights have been replaced with carved bluestone.

It can be said that everything Lu Beigu saw in the middle dormitory was a completely different treatment from that in the lower dormitory.

Zhou Mingyuan was laying out bedding inside when he heard the sound and turned to look.

"Hey, you're here. I've made your bed for you."

Lu Beigu felt a little embarrassed and quickly went inside to put his things down, wanting to help the other person make the bedding. No wonder the steward said he would give new bedding and clothes, but he only received clothes. It turned out that Zhou Mingyuan had brought the bedding over first.

"Wait," Zhou Mingyuan patted him to stop him, "I'm not going to pave this for you for nothing, I have something else to ask you."

"Brother Zhou, please speak." Lu Beigu lowered his hand.

Have you joined any clubs or organizations during this time?

Lu Beigu knew that the state school allowed students to form associations freely. Han Ziyu had mentioned it to them on the day of registration, but nothing came of it afterward.

Because they were busy preparing for the dormitory assignment exam, and no one contacted them, they all forgot about it.

"I didn't join."

Lu Beigu said, "I mainly feel that joining a club might not be very useful. With such a tight schedule, it's more important to focus on preparing for this year's state exam."

He was afraid that Zhou Mingyuan would invite him to join some strange club. Zhou Mingyuan had helped him a lot before, so he couldn't refuse directly. He could only make things clear first to avoid embarrassment later.

“You don’t understand.” Zhou Mingyuan made his own bed, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and sat on the edge of the bed. He said, “The main function of the important clubs in the state school is actually mutual learning. Generally speaking, the circles are fixed. If your ranking is not high enough, they won’t accept you.”

"Mutual learning?" Lu Beigu was somewhat puzzled.

"Of course, the presidents of the clubs are basically all students from the upper dormitory who have experience in the provincial examinations of the Ministry of Rites."

Zhou Mingyuan's words made Lu Beigu even more puzzled.

"With such fierce competition in state schools, why should we help each other with learning? Logically, shouldn't everyone learn on their own merits, and whoever gets in is the best?"

"Because one person's strength is always limited."

Zhou Mingyuan bluntly told him: "At first, most clubs were interest-based, but the system of Luzhou Prefectural School means that here, only grades and rankings are the most important, which has led to clubs becoming utilitarian. Think about it, if you study on your own, even if you have a teacher to teach you, can the teacher patiently answer your questions all the time? Impossible, right? The problems you encounter and the experience and skills that need to be imparted all have to be obtained from the clubs."

That's absolutely true. Even though Lu Beigu became Bai Sha's student, he couldn't possibly have time to teach him all the time.

Think about how modern graduate supervisors guide their students?

After all, Mr. Baisha had more than just Lu Beigu as a student at the Luzhou State School.

Moreover, even if there is only one student, most teachers are difficult to get along with and difficult to ask for advice from.

Modern readers who have read "Preface to Sending Ma Sheng of Dongyang Off" can actually glean some insight into this point.

Even though Mr. Baisha was a teacher with a relatively kind personality, he was still someone who valued the dignity and rules of teachers in this era.

Seeing that he understood, Zhou Mingyuan continued, "Of course, some people didn't join clubs and chose to study on their own, but generally speaking, under the same conditions, they couldn't outperform those who joined those high-quality clubs in the end."

Because he was quite familiar with Zhou Mingyuan, and they were now in the same dormitory, Advisor Lu Bei spoke without any reservations. After thinking for a moment, he went straight to the point and asked.

"What's the club president's motive? To create competitors for himself?"

“Tuzhou Scholarship,” Zhou Mingyuan explained. “If the club members led by the club president make exceptionally significant progress, and accumulate to a certain standard, the club president can be admitted to the fourth floor of the library.”

Is that so?
This unexpected answer left Lu Beigu completely stunned.

If that's the case, then everything becomes much easier to explain.

Having personally experienced the fourth floor of the library, Lu Beigu knew very well the attraction that place held for the top students.

Luzhou State School uses the appeal of these rewards to encourage top students to become club presidents and mentor others, thus compensating for the shortage of teaching resources and further promoting a competitive atmosphere within the school.

Its fundamental purpose was to maximize the probability of producing Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) from Luzhou Prefectural School.

Just then, it started raining lightly outside the window again, and it seemed to be getting heavier.

With nothing else to do, Zhou Mingyuan started chatting with Lu Beigu about gossip. Looking at the raindrops, he said, "I heard that there have been torrential rains in the two rivers and the Central Plains this year, which have caused floods. We are doing alright here."

Lu Beigu nodded. In the first year of the Jiayou era, the northern part of the Great Song Dynasty suffered from widespread floods, resulting in a large-scale crop failure.

However, the south is relatively unaffected. At least in southern Sichuan, there haven't been any major rainstorms since the summer. But it's uncertain what will happen in the fall. In any case, the Yangtze River and its tributaries are still there, so it shouldn't have a significant impact on the grain-producing areas.

"By the way, there's a lot of talk going around that Zhang Fangping is going to be promoted and that Song Qi will be taking over as the prefect of Chengdu. Are you aware of this?"

Lu Beigu knew that Zhang Fangping was going back to the central government, but he was stunned when he heard that Song Qi was going to take over as the prefect of Chengdu.

Song Qi, the "Red Apricot Minister" from the TV series "Big and Little Song" who was famous for playing with flowers?
In a few years, these two brothers are going to suffer a major setback in the imperial court.

(End of this chapter)