Before-the-Sages Academy Student

Fang Yun picked up a chicken wing and placed it in Nunu's bowl. "Eat."

Nunu immediately clasped its tiny paws together and bowed to Fang Yun in thanks, then happily began eating.

The four of them were amused by the polite Little Fox. Yang Yuhuan picked up another piece of meat and placed it in Nunu's bowl.

Nunu immediately raised its head and gave Yang Yuhuan a wary look, then glanced at the meat and lightly sniffed it before continuing to eat the chicken wing Fang Yun had given it.

After finishing Fang Yun's chicken wing, Nunu licked its paws and mouth with its pink little tongue. It did not even look at the meat Yang Yuhuan had given it, merely raised its head and gazed at Fang Yun with adorable, pitiful eyes, as though saying: Give me another piece. Just one!

Fang Yun had not expected Nunu to refuse meat given by others, so he said, "You can eat that piece without worry. From now on, you must listen to her as well."

With a trace of reluctance, Nunu lowered its head and began eating the meat Yang Yuhuan had given it.

Fang Yun reached out and stroked its head. Nunu rubbed its head against his hand, swallowed the meat in one bite, and revealed a satisfied expression. Its displeasure had already vanished.

Fang Yun ate while feeding Nunu. Only after the meal did he realize that, though Nunu was not even as big as a chicken, it had eaten an entire chicken. Its little belly was stretched round and plump.

After the meal, Fang Yun put Nunu back into the bamboo basket. He rested for a while, then continued writing The Western Wing.

He had only written for a short while when Nunu suddenly began chirping, "Ying, ying!"

Fang Yun turned his head and saw Nunu pointing at his desk with a tiny paw.

"You want to come up?" Fang Yun asked.

Nunu immediately nodded excitedly.

"Fine." Fang Yun picked it up and carefully examined its paws. Its paw pads were pink and exceedingly adorable, and there was not the slightest trace of dirt or dust on them. Yet it had clearly eaten meat on the ground just now and had not washed its paws.

"A Provincial Graduate is protected by Literary Qi and can keep mosquitoes from approaching. Only after becoming a Hanlin Academician can one achieve 'a body untouched by dust'—even after decades without bathing, no grime will cling to the body. The demon race may have something similar, but its strength would have to be at least equal to a Hanlin Academician's. It is clearly a young fox. Could its status be anything but ordinary?"

With those thoughts in mind, Fang Yun placed Nunu on the desk.

Fang Yun suddenly asked, "Do you actually understand the language of our Human Race?"

This time, Nunu reacted incredibly quickly and firmly shook its head.

Fang Yun raised a hand to his forehead. "You are far too clever!"

Nunu immediately smiled happily, thinking Fang Yun was genuinely praising it.

Fang Yun smiled and continued writing The Western Wing.

Nunu lay on the desk, looking at the words on the paper. At first, its eyes were dazed and unfocused, but after some time, once it had sorted out the relationships between the characters, it immediately perked up. It stared without blinking, its expression changing along with Fang Yun's words.

When Fang Yun wrote of Fang Zhiyun and Cui Yingying speaking of love, Nunu wore an infatuated expression.

When he wrote of Fang Zhiyun helping Cui Yingying resolve her crisis, Nunu was overjoyed.

When he wrote of Liu Zizheng plotting against Fang Zhiyun, Nunu suddenly let out an angry cry and swung its paw at the three characters for "Liu Zizheng."

"What are you doing?" Fang Yun glared at Nunu.

Nunu glared back at Fang Yun furiously, still unable to pull itself out of the story.

Fang Yun gently patted its head. "Behave yourself, or I will not let you read anymore."

Only then did Nunu realize it had acted too impulsively. It scratched its head with a tiny paw, smiled sheepishly, and wore an expression of apology.

"I never thought my first reader would be a fox." Fang Yun laughed.

Nunu gave an unhappy cry, as though saying, What is wrong with being a fox?

After writing for two hours, Fang Yun felt tired. He took some brushes, ink, paper, and an inkstone and left the eastern wing room, intending to teach Yang Yuhuan to read during his break.

Nunu obediently remained on the desk. The moment Fang Yun left, it eagerly began reading The Western Wing again from the beginning, twitching its ears from time to time as it listened for Fang Yun's movements.

Fang Yun placed the brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone on the table in the western wing room, then walked to the entrance of the main house and saw Yang Yuhuan tidying the courtyard.

"Yuhuan, wash your hands and come in. I have something to tell you."

"Oh." Yang Yuhuan took a washbasin and washed her hands, then walked over to Fang Yun.

"What is it?" Yang Yuhuan raised her beautiful face to look at Fang Yun.

Fang Yun took her hand and led her inside. "I am going to teach you to read and write."

"Mm." Feeling the warmth and resolve in Fang Yun's hand, Yang Yuhuan softly agreed.

Fang Yun brought Yang Yuhuan into the western wing room, spread out a sheet of white paper, and picked up his brush, but did not immediately begin writing.

In this era, elementary education consisted only of The Hundred Family Surnames, The Thousand Character Classic, and a few materials compiled by Literary Academies in various places. There were none of the later generations' renowned elementary texts, such as The Three Character Classic, Yan Family Instructions, Expanded Worthies, and The Jade Forest of Young Learners.

Fang Yun also remembered the content of his own elementary education. It had been nothing but mechanically memorizing The Thousand Character Classic and The Hundred Family Surnames, and it had taken him a long time to remember them. The Thousand Character Classic contained one thousand very basic characters, with neat parallel phrasing and clear organization, making it highly suitable for children to learn.

After Fang Yun had finished learning The Thousand Character Classic and The Hundred Family Surnames, he had left elementary school and gone straight to a private school to study the Classics of the Sages. There had been no transition in between, and he had struggled constantly.

"Most children here encounter books like The Analects immediately after learning The Thousand Character Classic and The Hundred Family Surnames. That is too much like pulling up seedlings to help them grow. They should study texts such as The Three Character Classic and Expanded Worthies before moving on to the Classics of the Sages. But Yuhuan cannot read, so I will begin by teaching her The Thousand Character Classic."

Fang Yun said, "Next, I will teach you from The Thousand Character Classic. Today, I will teach you the most basic eight characters. There will gradually be more in the future, so watch carefully."

Then Fang Yun wrote the opening eight characters of The Thousand Character Classic: "Heaven and earth dark and yellow, the universe vast and primeval." He explained them to Yang Yuhuan one by one.

Once Yang Yuhuan had barely memorized them, he had her slowly practice writing while he returned to the eastern wing room.

Back in the room, Fang Yun examined the desk. Nothing had changed, except that Nunu was smiling sweetly, seemingly trying to ingratiate itself with him.

Fang Yun stroked its head. This time, it was not reluctant at all; it even seemed to enjoy it.

Fang Yun continued writing The Western Wing.

After finishing a page, Fang Yun was about to change the paper when Nunu suddenly cried out and stretched out a furry paw to rest on his wrist.

"What is it?" Fang Yun asked Nunu.

Unable to speak, Nunu pointed at the character "zong" on the page with its paw and cried, "Nunu! Nunu!" When Fang Yun failed to understand, it became somewhat anxious.

Fang Yun looked closely at the character and suddenly understood. He had been in a hurry near the end and had omitted one dot from the character "zong." He immediately picked up his brush and added it.

"When there is an error in the writing, Nunu takes notice." Fang Yun smiled, quoting the allusion, "When there is an error in the melody, Young Zhou takes notice."

"Ying, ying!" Nunu became exceptionally excited, its large furry tail sweeping back and forth behind it.

"From now on, you must carefully keep watch for me. The ancients had red sleeves accompanying their studies; I have Nunu adding fragrance. This book bears your contribution."

"Ying, ying!" Nunu grew even more excited and lightly leaped, wanting to jump onto Fang Yun's shoulder. Though eating the meat had given it some strength, it was still too weak. Fang Yun hurriedly reached out and held it before his chest, and Nunu landed right in his arms.

Nunu happily rubbed its head against Fang Yun's chest, looking as joyful as if Heaven and earth were celebrating with it.

After playing with Nunu for a while, Fang Yun patted its bottom and said, "All right, I will continue writing." As he spoke, he placed Nunu back on the desk.

Yet Nunu's face flushed faintly with embarrassment. It covered its eyes with both tiny paws and lay on the desk, no longer looking at what Fang Yun was writing.

After Fang Yun had written more than a dozen characters, it twitched its ears and secretly glanced at him. Finding that he was acting as usual, it slowly lifted its head and continued reading The Western Wing, though its furry tail swayed lightly.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and Fang Yun finally completed the entire The Western Wing.

As Fang Yun finished the final stroke of The Western Wing, something stirred in his heart. He closed his eyes and sent his consciousness into his Literary Palace.

There were two changes within the Literary Palace.

The Literary Palace Starry Sky above now contained six stars. One was far larger than the others, representing the Nation-Quelling poem Early Departure from Ji County.

The six stars emitted faint light that shone upon Fang Yun's statue. A threadlike wisp of Literary Qi rested upon the statue. It had originally been only three inches high, but was now fully six inches high!

Once it reached ten inches, after further tempering and a visit to the Temple of Sages to pay homage to the sages, the threadlike Literary Qi would swell into something like a needle, and he would become an Academy Student.

"Other people's Literary Qi must be enhanced by paying homage to the sages at the Temple of Sages. I have these stars of famous works nourishing mine. Perhaps I can become a Before-the-Sages Academy Student, one seen only once in a hundred years. They say a Before-the-Sages Academy Student is the limit. Apart from students personally taught by Confucius, no one can become a Before-the-Sages Provincial Graduate."

Fang Yun left his Literary Palace, quickly reread The Western Wing, revised several places, and formally finalized the manuscript.

Fang Yun found that The Western Wing was nowhere near comparable to the Four Great Classical Novels in word count, but in this era, it was already considered a very long work. Still, as a book, its page count was somewhat low.

So Fang Yun picked up his brush again and wrote a famous work of Tang Legendary Fiction, The Pillow Chronicle. This story had given rise to an idiom more widely known than its title itself: a dream of yellow millet.

The Pillow Chronicle told of a poor and destitute scholar who met a Half-Sage traveling the world at an inn. Seeing that the scholar possessed Literary Qi yet was obsessed with official rank, the Half-Sage gave him a Literary Treasure pillow. After receiving the pillow, the scholar fell into a drowsy sleep. At that moment, the inn kitchen had just begun steaming yellow millet.

The scholar dreamed that his official career went smoothly, that he climbed straight into the blue clouds, and that he ultimately became a chief minister, standing at the summit among all ministers and enjoying every glory and wealth. But he was framed for treason by other high-ranking officials and imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison by the ruler. Several years later, his injustice was redressed. He once again stood at the summit among all ministers, with children and grandchildren filling the hall, each one accomplished and promising.

In the end, he grew old and wished to resign from office, but the ruler refused to permit it. Yet he had seen through everything, so he wrote a memorial requesting retirement. Not long afterward, he passed away.

Then the scholar awoke. The Half-Sage was still at his side, and the yellow millet steaming at the inn had not yet cooked.

The scholar achieved great enlightenment. He no longer pursued fame, rank, wealth, and profit, but instead devoted himself to the Sacred Way, eventually becoming a Great Scholar of his generation.

Fang Yun felt that The Pillow Chronicle fit the mainstream ideology of the Saint Origin Continent rather well, so with a few slight revisions, it became a suitable short story.

Both novels had punctuation added and were divided into paragraphs, increasing the page count. Together, they now totaled more than one hundred and fifty pages.

By the time he finished, it was already afternoon. Fang Yun slept for a while, and after dinner, had Fang Daniu drive the carriage to the Zhou Residence.

The Prefectural Academy and the prefectural government were of equal rank, their highest officials both third-rank grand officials. Though Registrar Zhou was only sixth rank, he oversaw institutions such as the Literary Exchange Academy and wielded substantial authority. Moreover, he handled certain affairs across the entire prefecture, so his power was no less than that of a fifth-rank prefect.