Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

"The tuition bill for next semester... didn't we already pay one thousand taels last time? Wasn't that for a year's tuition? Did I misunderstand or misremember?"

A sense of foreboding arose in Zhang Dongxiang's mind.

Holding his grandson in one arm, he lowered his head and began to study the tuition bill with his other hand.

He paled instantly upon examining it.

He hadn't even seen how much silver was required, but the list of various fees below already made him feel dizzy.

Food fees, textbook fees, preschool fees, teaching equipment depreciation fees, excursion fees... and the most outrageous of all was a lighting fee!?

What kind of fee is a lighting fee? Are they crazy for money? Such young children don't even read at night!

Zhang Dongxiang didn't react for a long time, his face looking rather grim.

Besides him, many high-ranking officials who were also at the Yucai Elementary School gate to pick up their children were equally petrified.

A gust of wind blew past.

A voice filled with grief and indignation rang out: "This... this is just being money-grubbing!"

"Fang Zheng is extorting us! Isn't this just thuggery? Ah! Luring us into the school and then slaughtering us like pigs!"

"All these miscellaneous fees add up to almost five thousand taels of silver! Five thousand taels! Enough to raise ten children!"

If it weren't for the fact that there were children present, many people would have already burst into curses.

They could only use slightly gentler language to denounce this despicable villain.

Listening to the voices around him, Zhang Dongxiang was trembling with anger!

One thousand taels... just consider it feeding it to the dogs! We won't come next semester, okay?

Holding the child tightly in his arms, he said softly: "Ling'er, we won't study here anymore, we'll go home."

Unexpectedly, Zhang Ling burst into loud sobs: "No, I want to study! I want to study!"

At the same time, the surrounding children all started crying loudly.

The parents present were at their wits' end. Zhang Dongxiang coaxed and deceived him, saying: "Ling'er, home is much better than here. We have everything we need, we don't have to compete with others. We have everything at home."

"But will my classmates be there to play with me?"

"Uh... no, but there will be in the future."

"Does home have preschool teachers? They tell us stories every night."

"This... this can be arranged! Grandpa will help you find a few more!"

"Do we have Headmaster Fang at home?"

"Why do you want him? Grandpa is much more knowledgeable than him, knows more than him. Grandpa can teach you whatever you want to learn."

Looking at Zhang Dongxiang's old face, Zhang Ling showed disdain: "Grandpa can't possibly know more than Headmaster Fang."

What? I don't know as much as him?!

Zhang Dongxiang immediately looked indignant: "Then tell me, what does your Headmaster Fang know?"

"He passed the imperial examination at fifteen. Did you pass it at fifteen, Grandpa?"

Zhang Dongxiang's old face flushed red: "There are different grades of imperial scholars, Grandpa is much higher than him."

Fifteen years old, this talent is indeed a bit heaven-defying, but he once doubted it.

Fang Zheng looks so unlearned, how could he pass the imperial examination at fifteen? Could it be that during the Qianjing war years, the imperial examinations were not strict and mistakes were made? It's not impossible!

How many people in history passed the imperial examination at fifteen? How could it possibly fall to this rascal?

Zhang Ling continued, counting on his fingers: "Grandpa, do you know who was the first person to discover sweet potatoes?"

"Who was it?"

"It was Headmaster Fang."

"Do you know who was the first person to discover potatoes? It was also Headmaster Fang." Zhang Ling reeled off the names like a treasure, "At seventeen, Headmaster Fang observed the celestial phenomena at night and discovered black holes with the naked eye. At eighteen, he invented the transistor. At twenty, he founded calculus..."

What! What! What! What are you talking about?!

Zhang Dongxiang listened in a daze, looking around at the people around him, only to see the parents of each family listening to their children's stories about Headmaster Fang's magical inventions with blank expressions.

Finally, after Zhang Ling finished speaking one by one, Zhang Dongxiang said with a slumped face: "What kind of nonsense are you learning? How can you remember it so clearly? Is this what they teach at Yucai Elementary School?"

Zhang Ling said: "This is all exam content. Headmaster Fang said that we must remember it for a lifetime, and pass it on to the next generation. When we have memorized it, he will teach us all that he has learned in his life."

"That day, Headmaster Fang gave us a lecture, praising us for learning well. He even cried while tapping on the podium and recited a poem on the spot... 'The silkworm spins silk until its death, the candle burns to ashes before its tears dry.'"

The silkworm spins silk until its death, the candle burns to ashes before its tears dry?

The poem is very good, which shows that Fang Zheng is very concerned about the education of children, but he just taught some inexplicable things.

"There should be two more lines to this poem, right? What were the other two lines?" Zhang Dongxiang asked curiously.

"No, just those two lines."

"......"

Okay, it seems that Fang Zheng personally taught the lesson. His poetry is indeed lacking, ordinary people can't do this.

"Didn't Headmaster Fang teach you anything else?" Zhang Dongxiang's expression softened.

Zhang Ling smiled: "Yes, we have learned a lot! For example, how to prove in one sentence that we are Dajing people."

"What?" Zhang Dongxiang's expression gradually became strange.

"When the youth is strong, the country is strong, we drink Yucai Elementary School's free milk..."

Listening to his grandson babbling, Zhang Dongxiang gradually showed a smile.

This sounds like human speech, but how the hell is the milk free? Didn't I pay tuition? Fang Zheng, this dog, even deceives children!

Smuggling private goods, it's really damned!

"Okay, okay, Ling'er, let's go home first."

Zhang Dongxiang picked up Zhang Ling and walked towards the sedan chair, Zhang Ling began to toss around, chanting: "I'm not going home, I want to study at Yucai!"

"It's a holiday, let's talk about it when we get home, be good!"

........

Zhang Residence.

By the time they returned home, it was already time for dinner. The whole family prepared a table full of sumptuous dishes to celebrate the return of their little grandson.

Zhang Ling sat next to Zhang Dongxiang, and only after the elders started to eat did the rest of the family begin to eat.

Zhang Dongxiang gave his little grandson a piece of meat with his first chopstick, and said affectionately: "We're home, eat more, it's the time to grow."

Faced with the dazzling array of delicacies, Zhang Ling looked a little unenthusiastic.

He didn't show the gluttony of a child of his age at all, and he wasn't even very interested in those meat dishes with rich sauce.

However, facing the dishes that Zhang Dongxiang had picked for him, Zhang Ling still smiled sweetly: "Thank you, Grandpa."

Then he picked up his chopsticks and ate slowly and methodically.

The family members at the table all smiled, and quietly looked at Zhang Ling's performance on the quiet dining table.

After studying outside for so long, they didn't expect the child to learn any profound knowledge, but as a family of scholars, etiquette is the most basic, and eating can't be gluttonous and shapeless.

However, after observing for a few minutes, everyone was relieved, and Zhang Dongxiang was even more gratified.

This child eats one bite at a time, chewing slowly, obviously with excellent etiquette.

He even picks up food for him from time to time...

Before going to Yucai Elementary School, his grandson didn't understand this at all, it seems he has indeed made a lot of progress.

But seeing that the child was not very enthusiastic about eating, Zhang Dongxiang asked: "Ling'er, is the food not to your liking?"