“The general ledger is completely accurate. Not only can the general ledgers of these three account books be reconciled, the copy in my hands also has no problems. How much money went out, how much goods came back—Brother Yifu has indeed taken great pains.”
“However, what Yuhai wants to ask is: where did the buyer’s discount go? Before Brother Yifu took over the accounts, I used the same price to buy the same goods. When the transaction ended, the merchants had to give me a certain discount. Yuhai had no interest in enjoying their meals and entertainment, so I always had the merchants convert that portion of the discount into goods. Although it was less, thinking that fellow students could eat an extra bite or two of meat, Yuhai accepted it.”
“Therefore, there are always some extra goods at the back of my account book. Brother Yifu, what I want to ask is: where did this portion of goods go? Did one person eat a hundred-some jin of meat all at once? Don’t you feel stuffed?”
As soon as Pang Yuhai said this, everyone was in an uproar. Academy students were different from those National Academy students whose ten fingers never touched the water of spring. Household financial management was a required course, and they were very familiar with things like discounts. If Li Yifu had used the opportunity of bulk purchasing to pocket the discounts, it was truly unforgivable. Many corrupt officials did the same thing.
Li Yifu raised his head with difficulty, looked at Pang Yuhai, and said: “The discounts do exist. I arranged those funds for other uses. Brother Yuhai, is Li Yifu’s character really so untrustworthy?”
Yumin said quietly: “Li Yifu, if you can explain clearly where those discounts went, we won’t pursue it.”
“Brother Yumin, your words are mistaken. Li Yifu has recently been entangled in flowers—where did the money come from? Miss Yan Zi of Swallow’s Arrival Tower is worth quite a bit. I heard that the price for one meeting is no less than five pigs. Good heavens, as long as he has a rest day, he goes to Swallow’s Arrival Tower. Five pigs per visit, over two months, at least thirty to fifty pigs have disappeared. Li Yifu, is Yan Zi’s three-foot red silk the place you arranged for those discounts?”
The words were sinister and strange, yet no one laughed. Everyone knew the matter had become serious. What men value most is keeping faith and holding to principles. The students in the academy got along harmoniously with deep brotherly affection. This kind of relationship could least withstand deception and concealment. Once an error was made in this regard, Li Yifu would have no integrity to speak of from then on. Pang Yuhai’s attack was extremely ruthless.
Yun Ye stood on the periphery watching Li Yifu standing alone in the center of the circle. Among these people, the one who actually had the most confidence in Li Yifu was Yun Ye. A villain whose name would echo through the ages, who walked between life and death his entire life—there was no reason he couldn’t handle Pang Yuhai’s hastily launched scheme. In some people, the occurrence of some strange things was very normal.
Sure enough, Li Yifu raised his head, completely indifferent to the surrounding discussions. He turned his head to look at Pang Yuhai and said: “How does Brother Yuhai view this? Since my brother wants to put Li Yifu to death, this bit of evidence won’t do, will it? Why not bring it all out and let your younger brother open his eyes? Li Yifu’s fondness for sleeping among flowers is dictated by his nature. Although born in poverty, he always wants to possess more beautiful things. This is not a fault.”
“Your Brother Yuhai comes from a prestigious family. When you go purchasing, you mostly seek out those compradors and wealthy merchants. Borrowing your Pang Family’s reputation, getting two portions of goods for one portion of money is a normal occurrence. Li Yifu is different. No one is willing to give face now. One portion of money can only buy one portion of goods, so naturally there aren’t many discounts.”
“To speak shamefully, yesterday I gave all my silver to Yan Zi because she said there were powerful families vying for her, and she herself didn’t want to enter a powerful household to await death. A strange thing happened—I did everything in my power to help Yan Zi, but what I received afterward were cold looks and humiliation. Although prostitutes are heartless, this kind of heartlessness was rather too strange.”
“Then I wanted to go to merchants I was familiar with on normal days to purchase some pigs and sheep on credit. The result was greatly unfortunate. When Li Yifu announced the academy’s name, no one was willing to sell to me on credit. Fellow students’ meals today absolutely could not be delayed. The tradition of braised pork every three days—Li Yifu dared not let it have any errors. Fortunately, Li Yifu also has two friends who helped me pawn my ancestral jade disc, and only then did I gather enough silver coins to purchase pigs and sheep.”
“Brother Yuhai, my experiences yesterday could be called full of twists and turns. In just one short day, I tasted the warmth and coldness of human relationships. The benefits I received were truly great. But I wonder, Brother Yuhai, did you know about these matters or not?”
Yun Ye listened with a face full of smiles. What an excellent move combining defense and offense! Pang Yuhai’s status was his greatest pride and also his greatest weakness. Since Pang Yuhai wanted to use discounts to attack Li Yifu, Li Yifu decisively stated that different statuses received different treatment. Starting from this point, he had at least aroused the sympathy of some impoverished students. Then truthfully describing his experiences from yesterday, causing more people to begin speculating about Pang Yuhai—it was very simple to reverse the direction of the wind.
Pang Yuhai was also a ruthless character. Seeing that he had already been questioned, he immediately cupped his hands to Yumin and said: “Since Li Yifu questions my impartiality, then please, Brother Yumin, preside over the overall situation. Now it’s not only him who needs to clear his stain—I, Pang Yuhai, also need to clear the evil reputation of entrapping a friend in unrighteousness.”
When the students divided into two factions and argued endlessly, Teacher Li Gang came over in his bear-drawn cart. He asked Yumin for the four account books, turned around and handed them to the cook, instructing him to light a fire and burn them on the spot.
Xiao Wu looked at the old teacher somewhat helplessly. There was no more show to watch. As soon as the old teacher appeared, there was completely no more show to watch, because the viewpoint the old teacher held would inevitably be to strike both parties equally. The students already showed signs of division, which the academy could not tolerate. Sure enough, the old man neither asked for reasons nor divided who was right and who was wrong. His handling was very decisive.
Watching the account books turn into a pile of ashes, Li Gang looked at this group of students with great interest and said: “The academy is still an academy now, not the imperial court. Each of you is also a young outstanding talent. A group of young colts locked in a shed will still bite each other, let alone you clever little fellows. Each of you plots three steps ahead. This old man really doesn’t have the energy to judge who’s right and who’s wrong. There are too many children in the academy, and this old man doesn’t have many methods he can use. When I have no energy and no interest in judging right from wrong, inevitably I’ll have to use the horse rod. Whoever cries out gets hit with the horse rod.”
“Yuhai, you wholeheartedly want to be a famous minister, want your name to echo through the ages, so you must be more tolerant toward others. Being aggressive is not the principle by which a gentleman conducts himself. Go carry water for ten days as a warning to others. I’m giving you this punishment not because you have any fault, but to temper your temperament. Look at that giant rock splitting the water flow—only by remaining unmoved can one forge ahead.”
“Li Yifu, you’ve relied on your own cleverness to dodge disaster time and again. This is both your strength and your weakness. There are many clever people in the academy. To divide the academy’s fellow students for personal gain—you’re the first. Your thoughts are too selfish. This time, this old man doesn’t plan to pursue it. If Yun Ye, or Hypatia, or even Xiao Wu were to handle this, they could definitely sort things out clearly for you. This old man believes your little schemes would certainly be exposed in the academy. To play clever tricks in front of them—there aren’t many people in the world who can manage it. This old man doesn’t want his students to lose all dignity, so I’ll simply play the muddle-headed old man judging a muddle-headed case. This is best.”
“Therefore, you must learn to face difficulties head-on. When facing difficulties, you cannot hide. Very well, this old man will create the first difficulty for you. Go pile up a rockery. Whether it’s a mountain of sweat or a mountain of tears, this old man only hopes you can pile this mountain into your heart. With this rockery as a foundation, when you do things, you won’t be too frivolous.”
Pang Yuhai and Li Yifu bowed respectfully to receive instruction and went to Hong Cheng to receive their punishment. Teacher Li Gang beckoned to Yumin, signaling him to come over. Yumin walked over and bent down, waiting for the teacher to reprimand him.
Li Gang patted his shoulder and said: “Alas, you still shouldn’t take office. Stay at the academy to teach and research scholarship. A good-hearted fool has no way to mix in the official circles. If you’re not careful, you’ll waste your great years. It’s better to set your mind on pursuing scholarship as the best strategy.”
Yumin said happily: “This is precisely what the student hopes for. To stay at the academy teaching and educating people for a lifetime—the student is very willing.”
Li Gang satisfactorily stroked his beard, signaling Yumin to go to the office with him. When the bear-drawn cart passed by Yun Ye and his disciple, Teacher Li Gang heavily snorted once, then left with his head high.
“Master, do you think the old teacher will know that it was your disciple who stirred up this trouble?” Xiao Wu asked Yun Ye worriedly.
“Of course he knows. ‘The old become shrewd’—that’s describing the old teacher. Don’t look at how he squints his eyes sleeping all day. The old man is now just like an old spider, and the academy is his web. As long as there’s the slightest disturbance, he’ll know about it.”
“However, Xiao Wu, Master was watching the show planning to pick one of these two people to give to His Majesty as an apology gift. What was the point of you making such a mess? Was it just to watch the excitement?”
“That’s not it at all. Your disciple was studying human nature and discovered that the entanglement between Pang Yuhai and Li Yifu runs very deep. If we don’t detonate this bomb in advance and let them continue developing, it won’t take very long—in another half year, Li Yifu will be expelled from the academy, and Pang Yuhai will be killed by Li Yifu. Our academy finally produced two somewhat brilliant people—we can’t ruin them!”
Yun Ye chuckled. Xiao Wu was right. Exposing the matter at this time was far better than waiting until the two of them became mortal enemies and naturally exploded.
Having finished watching the show, the master and disciple went to Teacher Sun’s medicine cottage to see Li Dayin. From far away they heard Li Dayin’s roaring voice. Who knew what experiment Teacher Sun was conducting on him again? It sounded extremely painful, actually making even a tough man like Li Dayin unable to bear it.
“Take it slowly. Your bones are in the process of healing. This old man has cleared away all the bone spurs that grew on your bones. Only this way will the bones that grow be healthy and strong.”
“Teacher Sun, Li Dayin doesn’t care about pain, but this substance flowing from the ants’ bodies makes me unbearably itchy and painful. Is this also a necessary procedure for treating illness?”
“This one isn’t. I just wanted to see whether a person’s spirit can resist this kind of formic acid erosion. If it can withstand it, I’m preparing to incorporate it into medicine prescriptions. It’s very effective for rheumatic bone pain…”