Words Strategize for the World

Zhang Nianwei was telling her mother how incredibly brave Fang Wei was, and her mother looked delighted.

Although there were only two of them, they were very happy together.

Zhang Nianwei and her son are actually pitiful people.

Although she lived in the Zhang family and was respectfully addressed as Madam Zhang when she went out, she was nothing in the Zhang family.

Zhang Nianwei's mother was a commoner, while her father was the only refined scholar in the Zhang family of that time.

Zhang Nianwei's father met Zhang Nianwei's mother by chance during an outing, and the two later had Zhang Nianwei.

When Zhang Nianwei's father brought Zhang Nianwei's mother home, they were met with opposition from everyone in the Zhang family.

A tragic drama unfolded.

Zhang Nianwei's father was also a stubborn man. Despite the earnest advice and insults from everyone in the Zhang family, he resolutely left the Zhang family with Zhang Nianwei's mother.

After leaving the Zhang family and lacking their protection, Zhang Nianwei's father and mother lived in extreme poverty.

One day, Zhang Nianwei's father returned home covered in blood and died in Zhang Nianwei's mother's arms.

Before his death, Zhang Nianwei's father refused to reveal who had killed him, no matter how much Zhang Nianwei's mother questioned him.

Shortly after Zhang Nianwei's father died, the head of the Zhang family, who is now Zhang Fengyi's grandfather, took Zhang Nianwei and her son back to the Zhang family.

From then on, Zhang Nianwei lived in the Zhang family.

Aside from the monthly allowance, Zhang Nianwei had no contact with the Zhang family and no emotional connection to them.

By the time Zhang Nianwei's mother finished listening to her story, it was already very late. Even as she went to bed, Zhang Nianwei was still very excited.

Fang Wei and Fang Yue were also very excited that night, especially Fang Yue.

For the entire afternoon after Fang Wei defeated Zhang Fengyi, Fang Yue became the center of attention at the school.

After learning about the relationship between Fang Yue and Fang Wei, many people wanted to befriend them and kept trying to get information out of Fang Yue.

Fang Yue treated everyone who came to make friends with courtesy, while also knowing in her heart that most of them were just there to make acquaintances. However, there was one person in particular that Fang Yue paid special attention to.

This man's name was Dong Ji. He was introverted and taciturn, but meticulous and opinionated. Most importantly, Dong Ji came from a poor family.

There were very few people from humble backgrounds in both the literary and martial arts schools, so the two often chatted together, showing a deep mutual respect.

After Fang Wei, a member of a humble family, won the duel against the aristocratic family, Dong Ji was the first to come to him, meaning he wanted to get to know Fang Wei.

As someone from a poor family, Fang Yue probably felt more inclined to trust and befriend others from similar backgrounds. Therefore, she told Fang Wei about Dong Ji.

Fang Wei welcomes all who come to get to know him, except those with ulterior motives. He understands better than anyone that if he wants to accomplish something, he needs help from others.

The next day, the matter continued to escalate. As Fang Wei walked through the academy, many people would give him a serious look.

Around noon, the prefectural school issued its punishment for the challenge on the training ground.

Although this incident was minor and there were no casualties, the prefectural school still strictly prohibits private duels. Therefore, a notice of punishment for Fang Wei and Zhang Fengyi was posted at the school's notice board.

Many students came specifically to see how the academy would punish the two students.

The notice stated that Fang Wei and Zhang Fengyi had engaged in a private duel, which had a negative impact. To serve as a warning to others, the two were punished by having to copy the regulations of the prefectural school one hundred times.

When Fang Wei found out, he was overjoyed.

This is clearly biased towards themselves. Challenging the opponent, Wei, would do them no harm at all; they would both advance to the Law Rank and gain free silver—it couldn't be better.

Fang Wei was also very grateful to Qu Yashi. Without Qu Yashi, this matter wouldn't have been handled so easily. If someone had interfered, he might have been expelled from the academy.

Some clever students in the various schools of the prefectural academy also sensed something fishy from the handling of the announcements. They speculated that Fang Wei might also have someone protecting him, otherwise, given the Zhang family's track record, things wouldn't be so simple.

When the list of punishments was posted, Zhang Fengyi's last hope was dashed. He had thought that his uncle from the family could put in a good word at the academy to get Fang Wei punished more severely, but the punishment was insignificant and had no effect whatsoever.

With no hope of seeing the school impose a severe punishment, Zhang Fengyi had no choice but to bite the bullet and go to the junior class to fulfill his challenge.

Zhang Fengyi was already ashamed of losing, so when he came to Fang Wei's table, he put down 1000 gold notes, said softly "I was wrong," and ran away.

Fang Wei, who was reading a book, heard someone say "I was wrong" and looked up to find that Zhang Fengyi had already run away.

Fang Wei held the 1000 gold notes on the table, overjoyed. He had only recently started thinking about making money, and now it had come to him.

1000 gold coins is equivalent to 10 taels of silver. What are you going to do with so much money?

As Fang Wei was pondering this difficult problem, Zhang Nianwei walked up from behind and said, "Hehe, now you're a rich young master too, aren't you going to take me shopping? We lost everything we bought last time."

Zhang Nianwei was ruthless; as soon as she got the money, she was ready to take advantage of the situation.

Of course, Fang Wei was not a stingy person, and besides, the money came so easily that he felt no guilt about spending it.

"Alright, two days from now is a Yang day, let's go explore the city again."

Having arranged to stroll around the city on a sunny day, Zhang Nianwei returned to the table behind her, her heart filled with joy.

Since we're going to explore the city, let's invite Dong Ji, whom Fang Yue mentioned, so we can meet him, chat, and see if he has any talent.

After arranging things, Fang Wei began to read.

Regardless of how the challenge unfolds, life at the academy will not stop, and students will continue to study diligently.

The school was not bound by the rules and regulations of modern schools. As long as the teachers were not around, the students could do whatever they wanted except go home.

However, the prefectural academy still had a good learning atmosphere, since the students who could attend were from prominent families in the prefectural city and top families in the county. These family scions naturally knew to study hard, and their parents would often remind them to do so.

Another point is that there is competition among the family members, and the competition in the academy is naturally about learning ability.

The poor students who entered the prefectural school all knew how to cherish the hard-won opportunity, and studied even harder.

Fang Wei's primary focus was on cultivating rhythm and manipulating text. Now that he had reached the Dharma level, he no longer needed paper; the cultivation process could be carried out anytime, anywhere.

Therefore, during his time at school, Fang Wei would take time to read books about this world in order to understand its history, culture, customs, and regional differences.

Fang Wei pays particular attention to the four kingdoms of Ba, Han, Ying, and Yan.

We had no choice when we came into this world.

Currently, Chi Kingdom is the weakest, and it will definitely have to deal with the other four countries in the future, so it is best to understand them clearly in advance.

These books are not boring at all; on the contrary, they are very interesting and allow you to learn about many things you have never heard of before.

Aside from reading, Fang Wei spends most of his time practicing rhythm and manipulating words, especially in the mornings and evenings.

In the morning, Zhang Nianwei would still come over to practice calligraphy with Fang Wei. In the evening, Fang Wei would come to the edge of the academy's training ground and practice alone in a monotonous and repetitive manner.

Although cultivation is tedious, the rewards are plentiful.

This is also an important reason why Fang Wei was able to enter the Law level during the challenge.

Even now that he has reached the Law level, Fang Wei still has two questions he doesn't understand: Qu Yashi and Teacher Zhou both said that the Earth level is a qualitative change, but he doesn't know what kind of qualitative change it will be, and what the characteristics of each major level are.

Fang Wei didn't know the answers to either of these questions, and wondered if he should ask Qu Yashi about it tomorrow, and also inquire about the current situation of Ba Kingdom.

I had heard from Qu Yashi before that Ba Kingdom was preparing to attack Chi Kingdom. Now a month has passed, and I don't know what the situation is. It would be good to ask and find out.

It's better to be safe than sorry. It's best to find out the details in advance, so that we can know in advance if the hegemonic country really attacks.