Chapter 12: Drawing Lots
As soon as they arrived at the venue for the Academy Competition, Director Qingshan encountered provocation.
This made Gu Yu look forward to the subsequent developments, feeling that this bearded man would be severely embarrassed… If nothing else, his brother-in-law, Gu Qingheng, was no ordinary person, and winning this competition would be extremely easy.
Although Gu Yu had also considered the outcome of Gu Qingheng losing the competition, it was just a precaution. According to normal developments, Gu Qingheng would definitely win!
If he couldn’t win, Gu Yu decided to write about it on a letter and send it to the military camp for Xia Tian to see…
Unaware of Gu Yu’s thoughts, Gu Qingheng, who was making preparations before the competition, shivered. He suddenly felt a chill spreading continuously down his back.
“Qingheng, are you alright!”
As Gu Qingheng raised his hand to pat his arm, Zhuo Fei, who was not far away, saw his appearance and curiously walked over to ask Gu Qingheng if something had happened.
After hearing this, Gu Qingheng immediately shook his head at Zhuo Fei, indicating that he was completely fine.
“It’s nothing, just a chill down my back. Someone must be cursing me behind my back! Zhuo Fei, how are your preparations? Are you nervous!”
However… Gu Qingheng then smiled and asked Zhuo Fei if he was nervous now.
He wasn’t sure about other academies, but within Qingshan Academy, Zhuo Fei and Gu Qingheng were of similar age. Moreover, both of them enjoyed gathering gossip, so participating in the Academy Competition together was also a way to support each other and cheer each other on.
Gu Qingheng had been bold since before, and after interacting with Gu Yu and then accompanying Gu Qing to visit officials in the imperial court, he had become more stable and mature. Even when facing the public’s gaze, he was not afraid at all.
However, he wondered how Zhuo Fei was doing.
“It’s alright! Compared to when we discuss gossip in town, this is just a small scene.”
When Zhuo Fei heard Gu Qingheng’s question, a proud smile appeared on his face, and he stated that even in the academy competition in the prefecture, he didn’t feel nervous or scared at all.
Compared to the younger students from other academies, Zhuo Fei’s mindset was very good. Perhaps it was related to his habit of always going to crowded places to gather gossip…
When Gu Qingheng heard Zhuo Fei’s reply, he couldn’t help but smile knowingly. After making eye contact with Zhuo Fei, everything was understood without words.
…
“Ladies and gentlemen, the Academy Competition, held once every three years, is about to commence today. First of all, I would like to thank Tianqing Academy, Chaxiang Academy, Hongguo Academy, Lin… In addition to the strong support from the academies mentioned above, I would also like to thank the Prefect and his entourage of officials for their attention to this Academy Competition, which is truly…”
Gu Yu, sitting on a chair, was a little surprised by what the host said upon appearing on stage.
He had often seen this familiar routine of event programs on television before his transmigration!
He never expected that even fictional worlds had this…
As Gu Yu listened to the familiar words with a sense of novelty, the host, with nimble lips, spoke a long string of thank-yous before proceeding to introduce the participating academies one by one to resolve the doubts of the audience below.
The participating academies were exactly the same as the long list of names just announced, indicating that all the academies supporting this competition had participated.
The onlookers below, seeing the students from each academy dressed in elegant scholarly robes, exuding a unique and aloof temperament, found it pleasing to the eye just by looking at them.
It also made the faces of the crowd filled with excitement, thinking how fortunate they were to witness a competition between scholars today!
The people standing around were ordinary civilians, and it was difficult for them to afford to support a scholar. Therefore, upon seeing the scholars from many academies, they subconsciously felt they were formidable.
This also made people with children at home extremely envious.
If they had money, their children could also go to academy to study.
Not everyone could be like the Old Yang family, using the money of the entire family to support the expenses of a scholar…
Of course, there were not only poor people in the world, but also many rich people.
From the jewelry and ornaments worn by the students from the prefecture, it could be seen that their families were very wealthy, and the expenses for studying were more than enough.
Gu Yu did not pay much attention to this, instead appearing uninterested, not even bothering to lift his eyelids.
Because of this, Gu Yu did not see the gazes cast upon him by the students and teachers on the stage. They were all secretly guessing about Gu Yu’s identity!
No one among the crowd present did not recognize Director Qingshan, who was sitting beside Gu Yu.
However, that Director Qingshan, a formidable figure, was sitting next to Gu Yu at this moment, and not only engaged in conversation with Gu Yu from time to time, but also showing a look of mutual appreciation in his eyes, which made everyone suspicious.
Who exactly was this young man!
Moreover, when Director Qingshan spoke to him, the young man actually showed a bored expression, and in the end, he stopped speaking, leaving Director Qingshan to do all the talking, showing a complete lack of awareness.
“Gu Yu, look, the director of Hongguo Academy over there is the same age as me, but his face looks so old now! I heard it’s because he married five concubines, and his only son is a troublemaker, that’s why he looks like this.”
“The director of Huangxing Academy didn’t come this year! Did he not dare to appear again because he lost a bet last time and didn’t bark like a dog?”
“Luji Academy is quite good. There are quite a few promising seedlings this year.”
…Listening to Director Qingshan constantly chattering beside him, Gu Yu really had the urge to tell him to stop immediately and not to continue his rambling.
However, due to Director Qingshan’s passive attitude in the carriage earlier, Gu Yu was a little hesitant to make any drastic moves, fearing that he might trigger Director Qingshan’s sensitive string and lead to uncontrollable events.
However, Director Qingshan was indeed formidable.
Although his face showed a serious expression, the words he spoke were gossip about directors of other academies.
Could it be that after sending Gu Qingheng to Qingshan Academy, Director Qingshan not only taught Gu Qingheng to study, but Gu Qingheng also taught Director Qingshan gossip???
As Gu Yu was thinking about these things, when the host on stage mentioned Qingshan Academy, it immediately drew Gu Yu’s attention back. He tidied his mood, directly ignored Director Qingshan’s constant mumbling beside him, and looked up at the stage.
Afterwards, he saw the students of Qingshan Academy, dressed in flowing white robes, calmly walk onto the stage and appear before everyone.
Among them, Gu Qingheng and Zhuo Fei were the youngest and new faces of the academy, naturally attracting a lot of attention.
However, Gu Qingheng and Zhuo Fei were not nervous. Instead, they smiled as they looked around, appearing calm and composed. Even though the competition had not yet begun, it made everyone feel that these two children were very good.
Their current calmness alone was already much better than the nervousness of the students from other academies.
And when Gu Qingheng stood on stage and looked down, upon seeing Gu Yu sitting beside Director Qingshan and raising his eyebrows at him, Gu Qingheng’s smile froze for a moment, and then quickly turned serious.
Today, he must achieve a good ranking in the academy competition, otherwise, the consequences would be absolutely unimaginable!
Although Gu Yu did not show any unusual behavior, Gu Qingheng, based on his understanding of his brother-in-law, was now absolutely certain that if he failed in the academy competition, his brother-in-law would definitely write about the results of this competition and send it back to the military camp for his elder sister and Sister Xia Tian to know!
Although the outcome of the competition was uncertain, Gu Qingheng did not want his image in Sister Xia Tian’s heart to decline rapidly after just one academy competition.
Therefore, today, he could only succeed and not fail!
“Alright, now that the students from each academy have appeared, the competition is about to begin~ However, this year’s competition will have a twist. First, please have each academy send a representative to draw lots here to choose their opponents.”
After the host finally finished introducing everything, he took out a square cardboard box from somewhere and then asked each academy to select a representative to come and draw lots for the opponents in the first round of matches.
In this Academy Competition, not only were the directors of each academy eyeing the championship, but even the officials of the prefecture were closely watching the event, so the competition could not proceed as before, but rather by random drawing of opponents.
Although direct manipulation, from the very beginning, the strongest academies were distributed to Qingshan Academy to constantly suppress them.
However, he didn’t know what the students of Qingshan Academy ate to grow up, as they became more spirited when facing strong opponents, and directly forced their opponents to concede without admitting defeat.
However, there were also times of missteps.
But when the winning party was an ordinary academy, it made people somewhat bewildered, not knowing how to deal with the unreasonable Qingshan Academy.
Therefore, this year’s competition adopted drawing lots.
Let fate decide!
After the host finished speaking, the students of Qingshan Academy heard this news, and all their eyes focused on Gu Qingheng. Feeling the expectations in everyone’s eyes, Gu Qingheng let out a helpless sigh, and then resignedly stepped forward to draw lots for his opponents.
Compared to other academies, where representatives were chosen after much argument, the swift selection of a representative by Qingshan Academy surprised the onlookers. Their gaze then landed on Gu Qingheng, and their hearts were even more filled with confusion.
A child only eight or nine years old was chosen as a representative by everyone in Qingshan Academy…
If his background was not very powerful, then he must have some special qualities!
“Qingshan Academy versus Aofeng Academy!”
Then, as the voice of the host on stage rang out, the bearded man sitting nearby immediately looked at Director Qingshan, his eyes burning with fighting spirit.
If he weren’t still sitting firmly in his seat, Gu Yu would have thought that the bearded man was about to fight Director Qingshan.
“Ruan Qingshan, this year’s competition will absolutely be won by our Aofeng Academy!”
“Hmph, that’s not a sure thing.”
When the bearded man spoke, Gu Yu learned the reason.
He didn’t expect… that the competition would begin with enemies meeting on a narrow path!
