Teaching to Suit the Student

Zhang Xuezhou had no conflict with the Empress Dowager, nor was he friendly with her.

Although the Empress Dowager had spoken out several times and even praised Zhang Xuezhou, it was at most a recognition from the higher-ups because of a certain matter.

If Zhang Xuezhou were to genuinely believe and become close to the Empress Dowager, he would likely lose the new emperor's trust and the Empress Dowager's favor, ultimately pleasing neither side.

Many people praised Zhang Xuezhou, but he didn't care about one more person Zhang Xuezhou, and he always pretended to be deaf and dumb and ignored them.

The information entrusted to him by Gongsun Hong made Zhang Xuezhou want to visit Changxin Palace.

The person they were visiting was Huo Qubing.

Perhaps because of the recent sword theft incident, Wei Shao'er did not dare to bring Huo Qubing to live in this mansion, but instead stayed at Wei Qing's mansion.

"That silly kid should be at the Imperial Academy right now!"

There are no restrictions on the time of day when visiting the new emperor; if it's urgent, it's fine to pull him out of bed. However, when visiting the Empress Dowager, one must be mindful of etiquette, and Zhang Xuezhou needs to go at the proper time.

He strolled out of his own residence and, after a series of twists and turns, arrived at the Imperial Academy in Chang'an City.

The Imperial Academy was not large, only twice the size of Zhang Xuezhou's residence. It was probably an abandoned residence that was renovated and transformed into Confucian School Imperial Academy residence.

Currently, there are five doctoral officers lecturing, and the first batch of fifty students are also involved.

In a normal class arrangement, this number of people would only be enough for one class, but the Imperial Academy divided them into five classes, each with ten students, and had doctoral officers taking turns to teach.

The scholars did not simply teach classical Chinese texts; their instruction covered the Six Classics of Confucian School, as well as horsemanship, archery, music and dance, writing, and numeracy.

When Zhang Xuezhou arrived, he heard loud drumming coming from the mansion, along with horseback archery.

Cheers could be heard from time to time, clearly indicating that someone had demonstrated exceptional archery skills.

"Li Gan hits the bullseye every time he shoots; his archery skills are superb, truly befitting someone from a prestigious family!"

"He's the best archer among this group; his archery skills are good enough to be our teacher!"

"General Li Guang's archery skills were unparalleled; it's no wonder that like father, like son!"

"It seems Li Gan has succeeded in acquiring this golden jade thumb ring!"

"That's not necessarily true. That brat is quite capable. He's bad at studying but excels at fighting. I think he's also a very good archer!"

"Little Huo's archery skills are lacking!"

"That guy's archery skills are a bit lacking, but his technique is somewhat peculiar; we might have a hard time judging his skill level then!"

Zhang Xuezhou eavesdropped for a while before hearing Huo Qubing shouting, "What kind of man uses such a effeminate bow? If you're so capable, use the biggest heavy bow!"

"Smack!"

"With one target in hand, there's no need to shoot the next nine arrows. One arrow from me is worth ten. I've won!"

The sound of the target shattering rang out, and Huo Qubing shouted, prompting a group of doctoral officers who were organizing the event to complain incessantly.

"I can draw a heavy bow too!"

"Then can you destroy the target with one arrow?"

"Archery emphasizes precise and skillful shooting, using exquisite techniques to break through the opponent's weak points in defense. Who shoots to destroy the target!"

"Li Gan, stop with the nonsense. Just tell me if you're capable, if you can shoot the target to pieces!"

"I request the examiner to change the target. If you hit the bullseye ten times out of ten out of three hundred paces, I'll concede defeat!"

"Tch, you say you'll change the target, but why don't you change it when you're actually shooting? If you're so capable, stop with this childish shooting contest of 300 paces and let's have an 800-pace contest! Whoever hits the target wins!"

Huo Qubing and a young man named Li Gan engaged in a heated argument, leaving the doctoral officers in a dilemma.

Huo Qubing's archery skills were characterized by their immense power; he could shoot an arrow that could destroy a target or reach great distances.

Li Gan's best performance was achieved by following the rules; his accuracy was impeccable.

Both men used provocations and argued based on their own strengths.

"Alright then, let's not bother with the 800-step race or changing targets. Right and wrong will be judged by public opinion in the end. Let's ask the students to decide: those who support Li Gan's victory go this way, and those who support Huo Qubing's victory go that way!"

"Doctor, that's unfair! This shorty Huo picks fights every day, and even when he injures people, nobody bothers him. Who would dare not support him!"

Who are you calling short?

"Being two heads shorter than me makes you short, you're the shortest in the Imperial Academy!"

"You big monkey! I haven't even complained about your long arms and legs making you look like a monster, and you're laughing at me for being short! You weren't even as tall as me when you were eight!"

After a barrage of personal attacks, the sounds of clashing and hitting were heard, followed by a collective sigh of relief from some of the doctoral officers.

"Li Gan and Huo Qubing disrupted the teaching order and are disqualified from obtaining the Golden Jade Thumb Ring. Cao Xiang wins first place in this archery competition!"

The archery competition drew to a close amidst a chorus of complaints. The doctor gave everyone a 15-minute break before beginning their daily recitation of the Six Classics.

Zhang Xuezhou found a corner to wait.

Not long after, he saw Huo Qubing climb over the wall from one side; the guy was skipping class by climbing over the wall as usual.

"You're breaking the rules! You agreed to only be keeping an eye on truants within the Imperial Academy, so why are you going outside to catch... experts?"

Zhang Xuezhou swung his body and floated behind Huo Qubing, then patted Huo Qubing on the shoulder, startling Huo Qubing.

After some arguing, Huo Qubing realized that the person standing behind him was not a professor from the Imperial Academy.

"Master, you scared me to death! I thought I was going to be dragged back and forced to copy the book three times!" Huo Qubing exclaimed.

"So you've copied before?" Zhang Xuezhou asked with a smile.

"I was arrested several times, which was simply unacceptable to a human being," Huo Qubing said. "I was shackled like a prisoner and searched for three days and three nights before being released. When I got home, my mother would whip me all night, and then I still had to come to school the next day!"

"That's too difficult," Zhang Xuezhou nodded.

"Studying is truly against human nature. How can harsh punishment possibly make someone study well? My mother is like this, and so are these self-proclaimed enlightened PhD officials. I can't live like this anymore!"

Huo Qubing kept muttering, while Zhang Xuezhou nodded towards the doctoral officer who was peeking out from inside the wall.

Huo Qubing was not suited to conventional teaching methods, so these doctoral officers clearly adopted a method of teaching according to his aptitude. This pre-arranged agreement, followed by Huo Qubing escaping from the Imperial Academy while being watched, was also part of the teaching process.

Being able to escape the sight of five doctoral officers by taking advantage of blind spots is quite an ability. Successfully escaping is a kind of training, and failing to escape and obediently copying books at the Imperial Academy is also a kind of training.

Zhang Xuezhou strongly agrees with this training method.

"Come on, come on, I'll take you to play!"

"You're the best, Master! Where shall we go? Can we ride the Sky Shuttle? I heard your mansion was burglarized again, and you caught a notorious thief. Can we go see him...?"

Zhang Xuezhou tried to comfort the child, while Huo Qubing had a lot of questions to ask.

Only after Zhang Xuezhou lifted Huo Qubing and swayed several feet away did he close his mouth.

"Master, I also want to learn how to run fast!"

Huo Qubing observed for a long time, and felt so envious of Zhang Xuezhou's abilities that he almost vomited blood.

If he could jump several meters on his own two feet, Huo Qubing felt that his success rate in skipping classes at the Imperial Academy was 100%.