The splendor of Jinling lay in the misty rain during June, the countless literati, and the famed courtesans. This was a city of enjoyment.
The officials, wealthy, and nobles were willing to stay here long-term because it felt like by staying here, a bit of Jinling’s splendor could also rub off on them.
Guangling was different.
Because of the existence of the Huaijiang Grand Canal, the businesses in this city were all extremely flourishing. In this place, one could see many peddlers and hawkers, wealthy merchants and numerous boats floating on the water as they unload their goods and reload new goods before leaving.
Every entry and exit was the flow of a vast sum of money.
“In Guangling, as long as you are willing to exert your strength for physical labor, even if you are illiterate, you will still be able to earn enough money to live in relative comfort!”
Gu Xiuxun chewed on a pearflower candy and introduced the city while staring at the river ahead.
Sun Mo was speechless.
This place was the ferry. With a single glance, one could see many half-naked cookies carrying large sacks of things. Their sweat dripped down their bodies like rain.
The busy atmosphere and the dense crowd of people made it seem as though everyone here was an ant trying to move house.
The supervisor shouted loudly, telling those lazier to move faster.
There was no whip, only his hand. He held a writing brush stained with ink and a book. These instruments worked better than a whip.
Cookies earned their money based on the number of sacks they moved. They would earn 1 copper coin for every five 50kg heavy sacks they moved.
Once the supervisor recorded their names down, a copper coin would be deducted.
“What’s wrong?”
Gu Xiuxun discovered that there was something wrong with Sun Mo’s expression.
“As expected, it’s really tough to make a living no matter which era it is!”
Sun Mo sighed ruefully.
“By saying this, other than those born with a golden spoon in their mouths, who wouldn’t need to suffer? Even for us, we have to study until late at night and cultivate assiduously before we can be a teacher.”
Gu Xiuxun used her arm to knock Sun Mo. “Let’s go, I’ll treat you to lunch!”
After Sun Mo reached Guangling, he strolled around with Gu Xiuxun for three days, walking around all the famed places of interest. After that, Sun Mo felt that he finally had a few hints of ancient aura.
“It’s a pity that I still can’t achieve the state where words flow from my mouth like the pen of a master!”
Sun Mo felt regretful.
When the two of them returned to the hotel, it was already evening. Gao Ben, who had cultivated for the entire day, came out for a breath of fresh air.
“I really envy the two of you. You guys can go out to relax every day.”
Gao Ben continued praising, “So, this must be what a genius is, right? You guys can just learn stuff casually and it would be equivalent to a month of hard work for us, ordinary people!”
“Teacher Gao, this joke isn’t funny!”
Gu Xiuxun frowned.
“Haha, I’m going to the toilet.”
Although Gao Ben had a look of envy on his face, he would definitely not head out to relax. He had to make use of the time Sun Mo and Gu Xiuxun spent relaxing to work even harder.
(This time around, I definitely have to surpass the two of them to prove my strength!)
After Gao Ben went to the toilet, he headed out to buy two pancakes for lunch and returned to his room. He decided to skip dinner and continue to revise his alchemy.
For the 1-star great teacher exam, one had to be an expert in a secondary occupation, and there would be a written test on that. Gao Ben’s goal was to obtain full marks on this topic.
Gu Xiuxun started her meditation the moment she returned to her room. She also wouldn’t slack off.
As for Sun Mo, he stood at the window and looked at the city during the night with a lost expression on his face.
He missed his home. If he was in his own rented room back in his world, he probably would be eating instant noodles, drinking iced coke, and gaming madly.
Before he slept, he could even watch an adult movie of his collection and admire the girls in it before ending the night with a bout of w*nking!
How beautiful would that be!
“Teacher Sun! Teacher Sun!”
Sun No heard someone calling him. He looked down and saw Qian Dun and Wang Chao who had just returned.
“Teacher Sun, I bought one roasted goose and some scholar’s red*. Come eat and drink with us!”
Qian Dun waved the food in his hand.
“Sure!”
Sun Mo smiled. Eating with colleagues was also a good method to build relationships. Also, they had invited him yesterday; it wouldn’t be too good if he kept rejecting them.
“Let’s get Teacher Gu to join us!”
Wang Chao added. He was fond of Gu Xiuxun but knew he wasn’t worthy of her, hence, he didn’t confess. However, it would also be very good if he had the chance to glance at her a few times more.
Very soon, Qian Dun, Wang Chao, and Zhang Lan sat in Sun Mo’s room.
“I’ve asked Teacher Gao but he is currently cultivating!”
Qian Dun shrugged.
“Teacher Gu is also still meditating!”
Sun Mo silently mused, “These must be the characteristics of good students, right?”
“Let’s eat!”
Wang Chao tore off a meaty piece of goose meat and gave it to Zhang Lan. He didn’t expect that she would come. She really gave them a lot of face.
On their way here, this girl who graduated from one of the Nine Greats, the Myriad Spirits Academy, would always give off a habitually silent aura, causing others to not dare to take the initiative to talk to her.
(Actually, if I look at her closely, Zhang Lan is quite pretty. However, the huge tattoo on her face spoils her beautiful looks somewhat!)
Wang Chao gave some points to Zhang Lan in his heart. However, students of the Myriad Spirits Academy all had the habit to tattoo their faces.
“Thanks!”
Zhang Lan received the meat. After taking a small bite, she asked, “Didn’t the two of you go to pay your respect to Great Teacher Jiang, Jiang Wei? How was it?”
“Sigh, don’t mention it. We stood outside again for another day!”
Qian Dun sighed.
“You guys have been standing there for four days, right? Isn’t this amount of sincerity enough?”
Zhang Lan was taken aback. During the first day when they arrived here, she went to look at the scenery too. However, Qian Dun, Wang Chao, and Gao Ben didn’t do so. They directly went to visit Jiang Wei.
“We are just tiny, inconsequential shrimps. What’s the use of having sincerity?”
Qian Dun smiled self-mockingly.
Jiang Wei was a 6-star great teacher and extremely famous. He was currently staying in Guangling and he was the main examiner for the 1- star great teacher exam this time around. Hence, no matter the reason, the examinees should pay him a visit.
It was like people who had just become officials in ancient times. After they obtained their positions, the first thing they did was to pay a visit to the high officials in their local territory. After that, they would head to the capital and pay a visit to the prime minister and other people with great authority.
No matter whether the other party wanted to meet you or not, you had to pay them a visit. This was a question of etiquette.
“I feel that we would be able to meet him tomorrow!”
Wang Chao drank a small mouthful of wine.
“Teacher Sun, don’t blame me for speaking too much. You guys are too prideful when it comes to some matter. In the future, if we want to make a living in the great teacher world, we still have to give these major characters some face.”
Qian Dun admonished.
“For inconsequential people like me and Teacher Qian, it’s actually fine if we don’t pay a visit to Great Teacher Jiang. However, it’s different for you. Given your talent, you will definitely become famous in this batch’s examination and will enter the eyes of those major characters, gaining their recognition. In the end, when they return home and take a look, if they couldn’t find your visiting card, things might be slightly awkward then.”
Wang Chao spoke earnestly, giving well-meaning advice.
If some of the major characters harbored hatred for you, even if they didn’t act against you directly and just randomly gave out an order, your entire life might be destroyed.
“Thanks, Teacher Wang!”
Sun Mo toasted Wang Chao.
He knew all about this. In his world, there was a very popular drama and there was a sentence in it that caused Sun Mo to be deeply moved. It was ‘That’s the privilege of authority holders.’
That’s right, for authority holders, their moment of willfulness could destroy the entire life of an ordinary person.
“Just go for a trip and give your visiting card to their butlers to put on a show!”
Qian Dun persuaded.
The four of them then continued eating, after that, they dispersed. On the next morning, Qian Dun and Wang Chao were waiting for Sun Mo and the others in the lounge, preparing to visit Jiang Manor.
“Have you prepared your visiting card? The material of the card needn’t be too expensive, but it cannot be too casual either. The main thing is that your writing must be beautiful.”
Qian Dun imparted his experience.
“Is there a place where they specially make visiting cards?”
Sun Mo couldn’t be bothered to put in the effort.
“I’ve helped you prepare one already!”
Gu Xiuxun took out two pieces of visiting cards. “Take a look, it’s quite suitable, right?”
“There’s no need to look. I can rest assured when you do things!”
Sun Mo smiled. “Thanks!”
“Why are you thanking me? Treat this as the reward of the massage.”
Gu Xiuxun could be considered as ‘those on the waterfront are the first to see the rising moon’. She enjoyed Sun Mo’s God Hands during these few days, and it caused her condition to become extremely good. She faintly showed signs of a breakthrough.
Other than Gao Ben, everyone went.
The Jiang Manor was located at Guangyuan Street, occupying a vast amount of land. There were two tyrannical, imposing-looking stone lions at the entrance and a total of eighteen flights of steps behind them. They looked extremely intimidating.
Even if Sun Mo didn’t know them, he noticed that this clan was extremely wealthy and prestigious!
When Sun Mo’s group of five came, many young people were already waiting outside the door. He did a rough count; there were almost a hundred people.
When these people saw Sun Mo’s group, they immediately surveyed each other. After all, those who came to visit Jiang Wei were all examinees. This also meant that they were competitors.
However, many people soon stopped paying attention to them. No one in Sun Mo’s group was famous.
Qian Dun knocked on the door, and a middle-aged man walked out with an arrogant expression.
“Uncle Zhang, we have to trouble you!”
Qian Dun smiled apologetically.
Sun Mo noticed that Qian Dun passed six visiting cards along. He started but soon realized what was going on. There were banknotes placed in one of the envelopes.
“Sigh, 100 taels is gone like that!”
Qian Dun was helpless. He had to work hard to earn money, and now that he spent it on this, he didn’t know if it would be effective or not.
“I’ll reimburse you after we return.”
Sun Mo spoke in a low voice. There were too many people here, so it wouldn’t be too good if he took out money to give it to Qian Dun now.
“Teacher Sun, you are treating me like an outsider. I’m only lamenting because even if we paid 1000 taels, we might not even see a smile on the gatekeeper’s face, let alone Great Teacher Jiang!”
Qian Dun sighed.
He spent the money because he wanted the gatekeeper to place their stack of cards at the bottom. This was an unspoken rule. The more bottom-placing a card was, the earlier the visitor came.
When the owner saw it, they would naturally be happy and understand the respect you had for them.
“What should we do next?”
Zhang Lan was curious. She was from the Li ethnic group, and she didn’t know the rules.
“Wait!”
Wang Chao reminded them. “It’s best not to talk too much now, just put a smile on your face.”
“You people of the Central Plains have so many rules!”
Zhang Lan’s lips twitched.
Next, they could only wait and maintain a respectful expression on their faces.
At the start, it was still fine. However, half an hour later, Sun Mo started to feel bored. The main thing was that it was too boring to wait for people to invite them in.
“Teacher Gu!”
Sun Mo called out, preparing to leave. But at this moment, a commotion rang out among the crowd. He turned and saw a group of guys and girls escorting a young man over. The young man then stopped before the flights of steps.
“Graduate from Skyraise Academy, Gu Qingyan, wishes to ask for a meeting with Great Teacher Jiang!”
Gu Qingyan merely called out his name normally. His volume wasn’t loud, and he didn’t knock on the door either. However, the gatekeeper was like a rabbit being shot by an arrow and immediately rushed out. His face was no longer that cold expressionless face. He was smiling harmoniously.
“Isn’t this too fake?”
Sun Mo frowned.
“Shh!”
Qian Dun was badly frightened, he mentally mused at how daring Teacher Sun was. If others heard this, they would surely make trouble for you.
“Teacher Gu, please come with me!”
The gate opened, and the gatekeeper led Gu Qingyan’s group in.
“Eh? A gatekeeper like him can make the decision? Doesn’t he need to inform his master? Why didn’t he let us enter then?”
Zhang Lan was surprised.
“Please, that young man was Gu Qingyan. Are you comparable to him?”
A young man at the side jeered.
[1] scholar’s red: a type of chinese wine.
