My Wife is A Sword God

In Imperial City’s Six Gardens Street, a place where ordinary people lived, a man’s angry voice could be heard in a modest house: “Why didn’t you go to the academy today?”

A weak reply came from a young man: “I don’t want to study anymore. I want to help Dad with his stall.”

Immediately there was the sound of a sharp slap. The man said unhappily, “Master Qin is an extraordinary person. It’s a blessing for you to learn from him. How dare you skip class?”

“Do I need your help with the stall? You should concentrate on studying with Master Qin, for heaven’s sake. It’s better than anything else! Tomorrow, apologise to Master Qin and then study hard for me. Do you understand?”

“I won’t go,” the young man replied stubbornly.

When the man heard this, he became very angry. He looked around, picked up the feather duster from the corner of the room, pointed at the young man and shouted, “Tell me again, are you going or not?”

The young man knelt down. He was lying on the ground, with his head lowered, and his hands pinching his thighs, his body trembling slightly.

It was not because he was afraid of his father’s anger, but because he felt wronged and wanted to cry.

“I’m not going,” the young man said firmly.

The duster landed on the young man, and the sound alone indicated how painful it must be.

But the young man gritted his teeth, remained silent, and endured the pain.

Seeing this, the man continued to scold the young man, hitting him repeatedly with the duster. 

“What trouble can this brat have? He’s obviously afraid of hardship. Back then I wanted you to learn martial arts, but you insisted on studying.”

“Fine, you wanted to study so I let you study. Those scholars at the Imperial College don’t treat commoners as human beings, yet you willingly went there every night to study.”

“Now, Master Qin has established the Poor Scholar Academy to give you a place to study in peace. And what? Now you don’t want to go there?”

Perhaps out of resentment or a sense of hopelessness, the man’s actions were harsh.

The injuries on Han Zhi’s body were visible, and even blood stains seeped through his clothes.

The woman, unable to bear it, pleaded, “Stop, don’t hit him any more!”

“Get out of the way! I have to beat this disobedient brat to death today!” the man roared.

As she shielded the young man with her body, the woman asked with tears in her eyes, “Zhi’er, didn’t you like Teacher Qin and the Poor Scholar Academy the most? Why are you suddenly refusing to go? Is there something bothering you?”

This young man is Han Zhi, one of the first students to leave the Imperial Academy and enter the Poor Scholar Academy, and also the one with the deepest affection for the academy.

The man, panting with anger, cursed, “What trouble could this brat have? Clearly, he’s just afraid of hardship. I thought he really wanted to study, but it seems it was all talk.”

These words stung Han Zhi’s heart. 

He lifted his head, his eyes reddened, as if to vent his inner grievances, he almost shouted “Because I don’t want to see those people causing trouble at Dad’s shop again. They just don’t want me to go to Poor Scholar Academy, right? I know all about it.”

The man was stunned by his words. The chicken feather duster slipped from his hand, the anger on his face gradually subsiding, replaced by a complex expression.

“Did your mother tell you?” he asked

The woman shook her head, looking puzzled at the young man.

Han Zhi replied, “It was Zhu Zi who told me. When he left Poor Scholar Academy, I asked him why. Then I went to Dad’s stall and saw those officials causing trouble for Dad. Zhu Zi said that as long as he left Poor Scholar Academy, those officials wouldn’t come anymore.”

The man didn’t know what to say when he heard that. The reason he kept these things hidden was that he hoped his child would study well, enter the path of the literary sage as soon as possible, and have a means of livelihood in this world.

But in the end, the truth cannot be hidden.

“Father is useless.” The man’s right fist slammed into the nearby wall, leaving it undamaged, but his right hand was dripping with blood.

Han Zhi hastily stood up and comforted him, “Father, actually, my leaving the Poor Scholar Academy is not just for that reason. I have thought about it carefully. Even if I can reach the ninth rank of literary saint through study, a low rank literary saint is just a weak scholar.” 

“I have no way of knowing what level I can cultivate to in the future. In that case, why not let me help you, support the family, and learn a means of livelihood earlier?”

“Zhi’er, is that what you really want?” the woman asked.

Han Zhi nodded, biting his lip hard to keep tears from falling.

“Since Senior Brother Yang knew the reason early on, why didn’t he tell me earlier?” Outside the house, Qin Feng clenched his fists and suppressed his anger.

Yang Qian replied, “What good would it do to tell you earlier? Eliminate those pesky officials? Let the students return to the Poor Scholar Academy?”

“Of course it will be like this!”

Yang Qian denied, “Even if you solve this group of officials, there will be others.”

“Then expose the person behind the scenes and solve the problem fundamentally.” Qin Feng said in a deep voice.

Yang Qian shook his head, “Let me tell you straight. The person who is causing trouble for the students is the local magistrate here, and this magistrate is from the Grand Literature Academy of the Imperial Academy.” 

“There are many people in the Imperial Academy who do not like the Poor Scholar Academy. Do you really want to confront the entire Imperial Academy?”

Upon hearing this, Qin Feng’s heart sank. Confronting the Imperial Academy meant confronting most of the officials in the current court, as most of the officials had risen from the Imperial Academy.

“Speaking in a broader sense, even if no one harasses these students again, will they continue to study?” 

“You heard what Han Zhi said; from this incident, he has already seen the future of the Poor Scholar Academy. Last time, I told you that until the issue of no access to education is resolved, the students’ departure is only a matter of time.”

Qin Feng opened his mouth, and the seething anger was extinguished by a deep sense of powerlessness.

 He was well aware of this truth. Allowing ordinary people to have books to read and spreading the teachings of the literary saints throughout the world was just an ideal. 

But there is an insurmountable gap between ideal and reality.

For ordinary people, the most important thing is to stay alive. If the current efforts do not bring hope, what is the point of continuing?

Just a waste of time.

“Senior Brother Yang, is it true that scholars from poor backgrounds have no chance to rise?” Qin Feng asked an inner question.

Yang Qian sighed, “Me and Junior Brother Fei have been thinking about this question for a long time. After all, I sit in the Heavenly Tower all day long, engrossed in reading the classics and thinking only of myself.”

“Junior Brother Fei has also given up, no longer aspiring to enter the court and change the current state of affairs.”

“It’s not that we don’t want to, it’s just that we’re not good enough.”

“Unless the official selection system of the Great Qian is changed, scholars from humble backgrounds will have no future.”

“But with a system that favours nepotism, where officials are appointed based on family connections, the deeply ingrained idea of favouring relatives and appointing officials from the privileged class makes it difficult to bring about change.”

“The official selection system.” Qin Feng pondered deeply.