Rebirth, guarding the mute at the tip of my heart

Baishan Academy is the most famous academy in Shangjing City. Its president, Yang Fuzi, was once the tutor of the late emperor. After the death of the late emperor, he asked to resign and was later invited by Baishan Academy to be the president.

In recent years, most of the Jinshi who entered the court as officials came from Baishan Academy. Not to mention those in the distant past, there have been three top scorers in the imperial examinations in the past ten years alone.

Therefore, every family in Shangjing City who was interested in taking the imperial examinations wanted to send their children to Baishan Academy.

The academy is mainly divided into three grades, namely the Tongsheng class, the Xiucai class, and the Juzi class.

Among them, the most popular one is the Juzi class. The reason is that every year the dean and several other respected teachers will predict the questions together, and the probability of guessing the right answer is very high. It can be said that if you enter the Juzi class, it is equivalent to having one foot in the officialdom.

Of course, on the other hand, those who can get close to the Baishan Academy's examination candidates are not ordinary people themselves.

First of all, one must be among the top in the local provincial examinations to be eligible to knock on the door of the academy; secondly, one must be recommended by people of status, and finally, after being assessed by the teachers of the academy, one can enter the class of only dozens of candidates.

As for the scholar class and the boy class, unless they are particularly outstanding students, only the children of princes, nobles, and ministers in the court have the opportunity to study there.

Moreover, unlike the classes for successful candidates which were exempt from tuition and miscellaneous fees, the tuition fees for the classes for scholars and students of traditional Chinese medicine were quite expensive, so it was impossible for ordinary children from poor families to even think about it.

Now, of the three children in the Jiang family, Jiang Xingyu just passed the college entrance examination last year and is now studying in the scholar class.

Jiang Liangcai and Jiang Xin are still students and are studying in the student class.

Because of their family backgrounds, although it was just a small class for students, they had already formed their own groups.

For example, there were the children of aristocratic families who gathered together with princes and nobles, and there were also the sons of the Qingliu school with strict family traditions. Jiang Liangcai was a member of the Jiang family who claimed to be from the Qingliu school and was determined to enter an officialdom through the imperial examination.

Among them, the positions of only two people are particularly awkward.

Needless to say, Jiang Xin was a mute. Even though he was the eldest son of the Jiang family, no one looked up to him. In the academy, not to mention his classmates, even the teachers in class basically ignored him.

What's the use of a mute, no matter how good his knowledge is? He can't be an official in the court, not to mention that Jiang Xin's knowledge is just average. Such a mute just occupies a place in the academy for nothing. The teacher doesn't like him no matter how he looks at him.

The other person was the "victim" of this theft, Lu Wuliang.

Lu Wuliang was originally a son of an official family. His father came from a poor family and took many years to pass the imperial examination and was ranked second in the class. He was chosen as a son-in-law by Mr. Qian, a big cloth merchant in Jiangnan.

Once you enter the government and have beautiful women by your side, you can be said to be in high spirits and have no regrets in your life.

But perhaps he was too proud. After he joined the Ministry of Rites, he brought his wife back to the capital and asked his Yue family to send his son to Baishan Academy. Everything was ready. On the day he brought the daughter of the Qian family to be his concubine, he was so excited that he died.

He died on the happiest day of his life.

The Qian family's daughter had just entered the family when her husband died. Naturally, she would not spend time and money on this unrelated woman and child, so she went straight back to her parents' home with her dowry.

Lu Wuliang and his mother brought his father's coffin back to their hometown and observed mourning for three years. Fed up with those relatives in his hometown who always wanted to get benefits from him, he urged his mother to return to Beijing to continue his studies at Baishan Academy.

Fortunately, the Qian family was kind enough not to take back the house that they had purchased with money, but there was only one house left.

Because Lord Lu had only been an official for a few days and had no achievements, he did not have any particularly close friends, so naturally no one would remember to help this poor mother and son.

Although the academy did not cancel Lu Wuliang's place in the school, he still had to pay the expensive tuition fees.

In order to support her son's continued studies, his mother took out all the rewards her husband had received after passing the imperial examination. She finally scraped together enough money to send her son in, and then lived the same life as when she supported her husband's studies, working desperately to do show work to supplement the family income.

The location was just changed from the county town of her hometown to the capital. However, the embroidery shops in the capital were very picky. Her embroidery skills, which were considered outstanding in the county town, were not worth mentioning here, and the wages she could get were not as much as she had imagined.

The mother and son had no relatives in the capital city, living in a big house. The child also had to go to school. You can imagine how difficult their life was.

Not to mention those young masters of aristocratic families, even the children of the Qingliu school looked down on Lu Wuliang's pretentious behavior.

It's obvious that the family is barely making ends meet, but he has no sympathy for his mother's hard work and insists on staying in the academy. He really has no future.

Just like that, Jiang Xin, the mute from the Jiang family, and Lu Wuliang, the impoverished son of an official family, were isolated by everyone, intentionally or unintentionally.

Jiang Xin was fine. When he was in the Jiang family, he also lived a life like this with no one paying attention to him. He was used to it.

But for Lu Wuliang, such isolation was a bit unbearable.

But he didn't want to leave. He had already studied in the best academy in the entire Dali Dynasty. How could he bear to go back to that rough place and study in an unknown academy?

In this case, I have to endure it even if I can't bear it.

Lu Wuliang tried hard to pretend that he didn't care and studied hard, hoping that he could rely on his own strength to get the teacher's praise and become an official in the court like his father.

But no matter how hard he tried, he still had to pay the tuition to the academy, and his knowledge was not good enough for the teacher to waive his tuition.

He knew exactly how much money was left in the family, and his mother really couldn't afford the tuition for next year.

It was at this time that Jiang Xin came into his sight.

When he came back after three years of mourning, his former classmates had long been replaced by a new group, but he had heard of the name Jiang Xin, the mute eldest son of the Jiang family, before he left Beijing.

It seems that God is really unfair. He is so talented and capable, but he is about to lose the opportunity to study because of poverty; while Jiang Xin, who is a useless person who can't even speak, can study in the best college in the country.

Reading... That's ridiculous, can he read it?

Lu Wuliang felt contempt, resentment, and resentment in his heart, and therefore, he gradually began to pay attention to this classmate who seemed like a transparent person.

The longer he paid attention, the more Lu Wuliang realized that this person, like himself, was excluded from the circle and was all alone.

Unconsciously, while Lu Wuliang was jealous of Jiang Xin, he also developed a different feeling towards him.

He began to get close to Jiang Xin and started to communicate with Jiang Xin through the knowledge that the teacher taught in class.

At first, Jiang Xin was a little wary and suspicious of his approach, but he knew that the other person was as lonely as himself, and also longed for a friend with whom he could confide like everyone else.

Gradually, Jiang Xin let down his guard against him.

He found that the other party had a serious imbalance in his academic performance. He had learned the most difficult subject, arithmetic, very well, but his performance in the easiest subjects, political commentary and poetry, especially poetry, seemed to be dull. It was really hard to describe.

But this is just right, his poems are praised even by the teacher. In this way, he can use this as an excuse to tutor Jiang Xin and improve together.

Jiang Xin did not doubt his words and soon became friends with him.

Yes, my friend, at least Jiang Xin thinks so.

Jiang Xin would wait for him with a smile after school so they could go out together. He would write him notes to ask questions when he came across something he didn't understand in political commentary or poetry. He would even give him clothes as a thank you for tutoring him after seeing the patches on his body.

In Jiang Xin's view, this means they are friends.

But Lu Wuliang never considered him a friend. He was jealous of Jiang Xin's background. From the very beginning, he approached Jiang Xin with a purpose.

But gradually, he discovered that Jiang Xin was actually very good-looking, kind-tempered, and very smart, and no matter how difficult the arithmetic problems were, they were never difficult for him.

Such an excellent person, but because of his muteness, he became his own...

friend?

No, not friends.

Lu Wuliang smiled. He enjoyed Jiang Xin's flattery. When he saw that Jiang Xin could only communicate with him, he felt a subtle sense of pleasure. He could completely possess everything of Jiang Xin.

Jiang Xin's intelligence, Jiang Xin's money, everything that Jiang Xin has can all be his as long as he takes one more step forward.

He didn't think Jiang Xin would refuse. He had always been the leader in their interactions, and he knew that Jiang Xin wanted to have a friend so much that he definitely wouldn't want to lose him.

Therefore, he will definitely not reject himself.

But Lu Wuliang failed. He didn’t expect that he would fail!

He spent all the money he had left to buy the jade pendant and found a suitable time to confess to Jiang Xin. Everything was just right, but Jiang Xin rejected him!

A mute, a mute who couldn't communicate with anyone except himself rejected his confession!

Why should he?! He was just a useless person whom I could call and use at will, what right did he have to reject me!

At that moment, Lu Wuliang could hardly control his distorted expression. He could no longer endure the embarrassment and anger, and he hurriedly left the spot without even waiting for the mute to gesture with his hands.

He smashed his schoolbag fiercely, kicked the flowers and plants on the ground in anger, and vented his anger in a helpless rage, but suddenly he heard a teasing voice behind him:

"I never knew that our mute eldest brother is quite good at seducing people. Even though he's mute, there are still people who like him and confess to him. Tsk tsk tsk~"

Lu Wuliang was startled and turned to look at the person who came. His heart sank completely.

Although the Longyang style is prevalent in the Dali Dynasty, it is still despised by scholars. Now he has expressed his affection to Jiang Xin, who is also a student in the academy. If the teacher of the academy knows about it, he will definitely be expelled from the academy, and he will have no chance at all.

For a moment, fear and despair surged in his heart. If he left the academy and offended the Jiang family, he would never have a chance to succeed.

However, Lu Wuliang did not expect that Jiang Xingyu, who had been watching all this, had no intention of reporting him. Instead, he walked forward with a smile and said, "Lu Wuliang, my brother told me that you are worried about the tuition fee for next year."

Jiang Xingyu's younger brother, Jiang Liangcai, has always followed Jiang Xingyu's lead because of his illegitimate status.

He knew that his brother had always disliked Jiang Xin, the loser, and thought it was shameful to keep this loser studying in the academy, so he had always wanted to kick this loser out of the academy, and even out of the Jiang family, to let everyone know that from now on, the eldest son of the Jiang family would only be him, Jiang Xingyu, and not that dumb loser.

Therefore, after Jiang Xingyu was promoted to the scholar class, Jiang Liangcai had been keeping a close eye on Jiang Xin very diligently. He was also the first one to discover that Jiang Xin was very close to the poor guy Lu Wuliang.

This made Jiang Xingyu very unhappy. Although Lu Wuliang was just a poor man with no skills, Jiang Xin, that loser, actually made friends with him. Why should such a loser make friends?

With this unhappy and destructive thought in mind, Jiang Xingyu strolled to the class for young students, and unexpectedly he ran into such a wonderful scene.

Seeing Lu Wuliang's helpless and furious look after his failed confession, Jiang Xingyu immediately confirmed what kind of person he was and immediately sneered in his heart.

Trash is trash. I thought I really made a friend, but I didn’t expect that I stepped into a cesspool.

That's right. Even though he is a waste, he is still the legitimate son of the Jiang family. Moreover, the dowry his mother brought into the Jiang family was something even he would envy, let alone a poor guy like Lu Wuliang who has never seen the world.

Thinking of the boxes of gold, silver and jewelry, Jiang Xingyu frowned, then looked at Lu Wuliang's anger and unwillingness, suddenly curled his lips, and suddenly thought of a brilliant idea.

An idea that could ruin Jiang Xin's reputation and make his father kick him out of the Jiang family once and for all.

Thinking of this, Jiang Xingyu smiled at Lu Wuliang even more friendly.

*

Jiang Xin stood at the entrance of the academy, looking at the towering mountain gate. After a long while, he took a deep breath, mustered up the courage to walk in.

He was different from his classmates who went home to rest every day. Because his family did not welcome him, he often lived in the college.

It just so happened that he didn't want to face those classmates, so he went to the college dormitory with Ah Fu first.

There were only a few books he left in the school, nothing worth taking. However, in his accommodation, there were some small things he carved when he was alone.

Although his father said that he was wasting his time on carving, he really loved carving and had no intention of just throwing away those small wooden carvings.

However, Jiang Xin had deliberately avoided the people in the academy, but perhaps because of bad luck, he still ran into an acquaintance when he stepped into the class for students, and that acquaintance was the one he least wanted to see at the moment.

"Jiang Xin?" Lu Wuliang was obviously surprised to see Jiang Xin, and then he said with a somewhat ugly expression: "You are back?"