I am a cultured person

Huang Shang spread the Analects out on his desk.

Rows of small regular script entered his eyes, square and clean, meticulous, as neat as if they had been printed with lead type.

Since it was "as if," it clearly wasn't printed.

Although woodblock printing had existed in the Tang Dynasty, and the later development and perfection of movable type by Bi Sheng in the Song Dynasty had occurred, it was not something an ordinary student could afford.

This volume of the Analects was entirely handwritten, using the standard examination script well-known to later generations: the Pavilion Style.

However, "Pavilion Style" was a term from the Qing Dynasty; in this era, it was known as the Three Halls Regular Script.

Huang Shang flipped through the pages one by one.

This was the handwriting of "him."

Not only was it beautiful and neat, but it also contained hidden sharpness, possessing the style of a master.

The only flaw was that the paper used was very coarse, and the brush and ink set aside were also of inferior quality.

There was no other reason.

Poverty!

Huang Shang's background was not good.

If he had come from a prestigious family, given the influence of scholars in the Song Dynasty, his family would not have been wiped out by martial artists later on.

In this not-so-spacious room, stacks of scrolls were piled up, all of which Huang Shang had copied word by word.

He practiced through the three dog days of summer and the three periods of winter.

Not a single day of slack.

This was the future top scholar!

It had been half a month since he became Huang Shang.

Within this period, Huang Shang had successfully inherited Huang Shang's knowledge.

Facts proved that his judgment was accurate; Duan Zhengchun walked the path of the Jianghu, while Huang Shang walked the path of history.

If he didn't know this world was Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, the feeling at this moment would be just like having traveled back to the Song Dynasty.

He had thought that integrating into ancient life would be dull and boring, but it was unexpectedly engaging.

At this moment, Huang Shang spread out a sheet of paper, ground the ink, gripped the brush, and wrote four lines upon it:

To establish a heart for Heaven and Earth! To establish a destiny for the people! To carry on the lost teachings of the ancient sages! To open up eternal peace for all generations!

The brush moved like a dragon or snake, completed in one breath. As Huang Shang looked at the characters he had written himself on the paper, he could not hide the smile on his face and muttered to himself, "I am a man of culture now too!"

On Earth, he had been a poor student.

If he hadn't been unable to keep up with his studies and failed to even attend university, he wouldn't have clung to a dream of becoming a star and gone to Hengdian to make his way.

As for stars, what is CNKI? Cultural knowledge was secondary.

Before Huang Shang came to the Heavens, his knowledge reserve was likely not even up to that of an elementary school student.

Especially his handwriting, which was like chicken scratch.

He had imagined the glorious moment of walking the red carpet and dashing off his signature, and he had even specifically practiced it.

He had been determined to make his signature exude the domineering aura of an "Emperor."

But because his foundation was too poor and he was too stingy to find someone to design it for him, his signature ended up crooked and twisted, looking like an "eel"—it was truly unpresentable.

The past is not worth looking back upon.

Finally, one day, the little academic failure changed.

He was now well-read and possessed a belly full of learning!

With this foundation, after coming into contact with this world, Huang Shang immediately decided to continue his studies.

It was simply the general trend of the dynasty.

Of all pursuits, studying is the highest.

This was the ideology that the Great Song had been promoting for less than a hundred years since its founding.

Even Emperor Zhenzong of Song had a poem passed down through the ages: In books, one finds houses of gold; in books, one finds faces fair as jade.

It wasn't a metaphor; it was the damn reality.

Because those two lines were the abbreviated version, the true passage went like this:

The wealthy need not buy fertile fields, for in books there are thousands of bushels of grain.

Those who dwell in peace need not build high halls, for in books there are houses of gold.

When going out, do not fret about having no followers, for in books there are carriages and horses in abundance.

When seeking a wife, do not fret about having no matchmaker, for in books there are faces fair as jade.

If a man wishes to fulfill his life's ambitions, he must diligently study the Five Classics by the window.

These words were no exaggeration; the status and benefits enjoyed by the scholar-official class were easy to imagine.

To provide a more practical example, later generations all know that the Song Dynasty valued civil officials over military ones, but just how heavy was that bias?

In the Song Dynasty, the merit of a military officer expanding the borders could not compare to the glory of a scholar placing on the imperial examination.

Placing on the imperial examination meant becoming a jinshi. Note that this wasn't even the zhuangyuan—the top scorer—as there were many jinshi.

Each imperial examination in the Song Dynasty offered around three hundred jinshi spots.

Accumulated over the years, one-tenth of the entire imperial civil service was composed of jinshi.

While this was certainly a process of survival of the fittest, one in a thousand, looking at the nation as a whole, how many individuals actually expanded the borders?

Those were the people whose names were meant to be recorded in history!

Yet in the Song Dynasty, their rewards were not even as good as those of a jinshi!

Given this, before achieving fame, abandoning the brush for the sword or throwing oneself into the pugilistic world was simply idiotic.

Even if one wanted to change the system, one had to stand at the pinnacle. When stuck at the bottom, changing injustice was impossible; only by rising above the masses could one have a glimmer of opportunity!

Just as he was intoxicated by the pleasure of his brush dancing across the paper, a light knock sounded at the door.

"Enter!"

Huang Shang spoke, and a man dressed in servant's clothing walked in.

There were no gentle maidservants, no adorable younger sisters, and no mortal enemies.

Huang Shang had only one servant, and he was hired at that.

This was quite convenient, as they were not particularly close.

In these days, Huang Shang had replaced the original Huang Shang, and this servant had noticed nothing. After entering, he bowed meticulously: "Master, it is time for a meal."

Huang Shang nodded and set down his brush: "Let's go."

For a modern person, three meals a day was a habit, but in ancient times, people generally ate twice a day.

In the entire Great Song, only in the capital, Eastern Capital Kaifeng Prefecture, did everyone from the Emperor to the commoners have the habit of eating three meals a day.

Fortunately, this was Kaifeng Prefecture.

As Huang Shang stepped out of the dilapidated courtyard, a wave of humanity rushed toward him.

Huang Shang had adapted quickly to this heavy, graceful city.

After all, he had spent his past days hanging around major film studios, had entered ancient film sets with exquisite costumes and props, and had even been to Shuntian Prefecture during the Qing Dynasty. The gap was not that large; it was simply much more realistic than the Along the River During the Qingming Festival.

Of course, compared to television dramas, there were still many differences.

The most obvious misconception about the Qing Dynasty was the queue; the most obvious misconception about the Song Dynasty was the sedan chair and the horse.

Civil officials riding in sedan chairs and military officers riding horses seemed to be the ancient convention, but in reality, in the Song Dynasty, civil officials did not sit in sedan chairs; they came and went on tall, sturdy horses.

One must know that the Song Dynasty lacked warhorses. Finding an excuse to sit in a sedan chair was entirely feasible, but the scholars of the time detested using humans as beasts of burden. Unlike the later Ming and Qing dynasties, where there was no shortage of horses, yet civil officials were so frail they couldn't even climb onto a horse's back and couldn't walk without a sedan chair.

Of course, because horses were scarce in the Great Song, the cost of keeping one was not small.

With Huang Shang's current net worth, he could not afford to keep one.

So for travel, he either used his own two long legs or rented a horse.

At this moment, Huang Shang signaled. The servant looked left and right, then hurried toward a man on the street.

That man was standing by several horses. Seeing the master and servant approach, he immediately smiled: "Sir, looking to rent a horse?"

The servant nodded, handed over the money, and picked the sturdiest one. Huang Shang swung onto the horse.

These horse renters were equivalent to taxi drivers of later generations, waiting with a few horses for people to rent.

Huang Shang was not the only poor person, and the speed of a horse was far faster than walking, so this industry had emerged as a necessity.

Such horse renters could be seen all over Kaifeng Prefecture, and their income was quite substantial.

Huang Shang was only going out to eat, so he didn't actually need to do this, but sitting high atop the horse, his field of vision suddenly widened. He scanned his surroundings, memorizing the streets one by one, and put himself in another's shoes.

If he were a transmigrator, after arriving in Kaifeng Prefecture, besides his designated target, where would he usually go?

This was related to whether he could appear naturally when the transmigrators showed up, inadvertently exposing his identity as Huang Shang.

Even if Jiang Taigong was fishing for those willing to take the bait, he still had to be at the Wei River.

Otherwise, if he truly went to some remote corner, let's see who would invite him to come out of seclusion...

Just as he was conceiving several scripts, a loud, resonant call came from behind:

"Huang Shengzhong! Huang Shengzhong!"