Chapter 24 Looking for Someone
"You’re not planning to take the exam?"
Song Shaoyuan was taken aback, and the classmates sitting around him were also somewhat surprised.
Young scholars ranked in the upper-middle levels at the State School all shared the dream of pushing into the top ten in the provincial exam and proceeding to Chang’an to participate in the initial exams at the Academic Palace. Once one could stand out in the fiercely competitive entrance exams and gain admission to the Academic Palace, it meant leaping through the dragon’s gate, potentially enriching one’s family and ensuring its prosperity for decades to come.
Certain powerful clans, aspiring to become thousand-year-old families, spared no effort in investing in education. On one hand, they taught their own clan’s children and also spent money to locate naturally intelligent children from other regions, moving their entire families over to educate them in the family’s own schools. On the other hand, they would also relocate one or several branches of their family to the relatively educationally backward frontier State Mansions of Yu Country to increase the chances of their family’s children passing the provincial exam and entering the Academic Palace.
This practice even prompted imitation among some less wealthy families, who moved their households a decade in advance. In some frontier State Mansions, this consequently provoked regional hostilities between Northern People, Southern people, Westerners, and Easterners.
For such an elusive chance of promotion, countless scholars across the world wore out numerous classic texts, and countless parents exhausted themselves with effort.
"Why have you decided not to take it?" Song Shaoyuan asked with concern. "Is it a lack of confidence, or have you been too busy lately? If it’s about the five-string registration fee for the provincial exam, I have it right here."
Someone beside them chuckled. "Brother Shao Yuan, what are you saying? Who doesn’t know that Security Hall has been making waves in Yizhou City these days? I heard that wealthy merchants from other regions are specifically coming to Yizhou to seek treatment from Risheng. How could he not afford a mere five strings of coins for the registration fee? I think it’s because he feels that being a doctor is so lucrative, there’s no need to bother with the classics of Confucius and Mencius anymore."
"Yes, after all, no matter how much you study, isn’t it ultimately for the sake of ’Mr. Kong’? Better to make a name for yourself and get it over with, just like Doctor Yu."
The classmates burst into laughter. Such was the prevailing attitude in scholarly circles; these scholars, apart from fellow literati, tended to look down upon all other professions.