NOVEL WEB Chapter 366: Branding
Chang'an.
First Examination Hall.
Today is the last day of the course for the first batch of students.
Over the past five days, Li Nuo provided targeted guidance on each of their weak subjects and expanded their strong ones.
He distributed calligraphy, painting, music, horse riding skill, and archery evenly over the five days, but consistently ended the day with a lesson on classical meaning.
The students found this unsurprising.
Among the Six Arts, the Book Department carries the most weight, and it is tested on the first day. If they fail the Book Department, they are directly eliminated, rendering proficiency in the other arts useless.
Having finished the last lesson on classical meaning, Li Nuo stood before the blackboard, looked at the hundreds of students below, and said, "Today's lesson is now concluded."
The students looked up at him with eyes full of reverence.
Over these past five days, both in knowledge and personal charisma, they were deeply impressed by this teacher, who was younger than most of them.
Li Nuo's gaze swept across their faces one by one and he asked, "Before class ends, I want to ask you a question."
He paused briefly before continuing, "Why do you study for the Imperial Examination?"
The classroom fell silent for a moment, then voices gradually filled the room.
"To become an official."
"For self-cultivation."
"To make a name for myself."
"To achieve success and serve the country!"
"For..."
...
The students' answers varied, and Li Nuo looked at them and asked, "And then?"
As his words fell, the classroom was plunged into prolonged silence.
Some hesitated, unable to speak; some pondered for a long time but couldn't provide a reason.
Thinking back, they were arranged by their families to study the Six Arts from a young age, so they could excel in the Imperial Examination and become a person of status. Subconsciously, this was what they always believed.
But today, sitting in this classroom, the teacher's simple "And then?" left almost everyone in confusion.
No matter how grand the reasons sounded, at the root, isn't studying for the Imperial Examination just to become an official?
And then?
These simple three words touched their souls.
"To promote Confucian ideals."
"To let the people have a good life."
"To govern the country and bring peace to the world."
...
The first to respond were a few students with righteous appearances; the others either lowered their heads in silence or glanced around, their eyes wandering.
It's not that they couldn't say anything, but their answers, in this atmosphere, weren't quite something they could openly express.
Others were aspiring to govern the country and bring peace to the world, to promote Confucian ideals and benefit the people, while they couldn't just say it was for accumulating wealth, avoiding taxes, becoming a person of status, or for having the power to control others' fates...
Some things, even if true, aren't meant to be declared openly.
Moreover, after these five days of learning, some of their original thoughts had begun to sway.
Amidst everyone talking, as the atmosphere began to ease slightly, a young student stood up, looking at the figure in front of the blackboard, and asked, "May I ask, teacher, why do we study?"
All the students' eyes turned to him.
The questioner was named Chen Qi, a student of Qingfeng Academy. Despite his humble background, he was proficient in the Six Arts and well-balanced in all subjects, earning considerable fame among the students of Chang'an.
Li Nuo gently smiled and said, "Whether it's to become an official, for self-cultivation, achieving success, or to govern the country and bring peace to the world, everyone has their own answer in their heart. No one can tell you why..."
He once again scanned the crowd and said, "As teacher and students part ways, I have nothing to give you, but I will leave you with a few words."
With that, he turned and wrote several lines on the blackboard with chalk.
Afterward, he tossed the chalk onto the podium, clapped his hands, and said, "All the lessons end here. I hope to see you on the court in the near future——dismissed."
"We respectfully send the teacher off!"
All the students stood up and bowed to him.
Li Nuo walked out of the classroom, yet not a single person followed him out; their eyes were all fixed on the blackboard, where the teacher's final teachings for them remained.
His writing was vigorous and forceful, and even with such a strange white chalk, it was exceptionally pleasing to the eye.
Looking at those lines, the classroom was silent, with only the gradually quickening sound of breathing.
They often spoke of self-cultivation, taking good care of family, governing the country and bringing peace to the world, establishing virtue, achieving merits, proposing..., these were the teachings of sages to Confucian disciples. They had been saying it since the first day of study, repeating it for ten years, until now, when it no longer evoked any feelings.
But those few words on the blackboard, just one glance made their scalps tingle, blood rushing to their heads.
To establish the mind for Heaven and Earth.
To establish the destiny for the living populace.
To continue the lost lessons of past sages.
To open up peace for all generations!
No scholar can suppress the inner impulse when seeing these words.
Everyone stared at these words in a daze, their thoughts turbulent and difficult to calm.
Outside the classroom, Li Nuo hid in a place where no one could see him, exerting his School of Cross and Vertical power to the fullest, sweat rolling down his forehead, striving to imprint this mark deeply into their consciousness at this final moment.
No one knows how much time passed.
Chen Tieniu was the first to walk out of the Imperial Examination Hall, standing at the gateway, gazing at the bustling crowd on the street, and exhaling lightly.
In two days, he spent two hundred taels of silver just to listen to two two-hour classes.