Some scholars from the Miscellaneous School and the School of Diplomacy stepped forward voluntarily, recording everyone's names and trading needs, waiting for people to come with inquiries, then offering guidance.
These men needed no payment. What they gained instead was the gratitude of many scholars. If they ever sought help from those people in the future, anything within their means would readily be done.
If they could help scions of high-ranking noble families, they might even secure a higher official post or a new path forward.
Many scholars were not skilled at trading, so the scholars of the Miscellaneous School and the School of Diplomacy became the grease that kept things moving, letting everyone obtain what they needed.
This was only the beginning. Once nearly fifty thousand people returned to the beach together, the entire shore would become extraordinarily noisy, and every scholar acting as an intermediary would earn many people's gratitude.
A Great Scholar of the Miscellaneous School had once said that the Miscellaneous School was the salt in a meal: too much spoiled things, but too little would not do.
Li Fanming stood dejectedly at the edge of the beach. His haul was substantial: three small Literary Heart Fish and two lower-grade Literary Heart Fish. In earlier years, that would have been enough to place him among the top three in Sea of Learning Fishing.
"Brother Li, why did you come back early?"
"Don't ask. I was chasing a middle-grade Literary Heart Fish, and a huge wave overturned my boat," Li Fanming said helplessly.
"What a pity. Still, you caught five lower-grade Literary Heart Fish. That's a good enough haul."
"That depends on whom you compare me with. Next to that fellow Fang Yun, I'm so ashamed I have nowhere to hide."
"Yes, word has spread throughout the