Martial Saint through Reading

Chapter 75: Chapter 75: Quite a Few Secrets

Shen Yu’s eyes, though they appeared somewhat dull, were in fact incredibly bright.

He stepped to the desk, his gaze landing beneath the ”Poetry, Politics, and Military” volume. Instead of immediately taking out the pages hidden below, he glanced at them, then fixed his eyes on Chu Ming with significant meaning.

”You’ve got quite a few secrets,” Shen Yu said, turning to sit down on a nearby chair. With a soft laugh, he continued, ”Chu Ming, third son of the Chu Family, East City merchants. Your mother died of illness just over a year ago, and after that the family sent you down to Liuu Town.”

”During your year in Liuu Town, you outwardly feigned obsession with travelogues and brothel tales, keeping up the pretense of idleness, when in fact you made determined progress in secret, using a serious illness as a cover for your transformation.”

”At the Liuu Town Academy examination, you took first place, earned Feng Yuan and Feng Dianji’s appreciation, and entered the Middle Courtyard of Baiyuan Academy.”

Shen Yu spoke slowly, his gaze locked onto Chu Ming: ”To be honest, you are extremely patient—even I can’t help but admire you a little.”

Since he had chosen Chu Ming, it was natural that he’d investigate him thoroughly.

Given his position, uncovering a Junior Examinee’s history was not difficult at all.

Still calling it patience?

Chu Ming’s expression remained calm.

Feng Yuan had thought so back then, now Shen Yu thought the same way...

It actually saved him quite a bit of trouble.

Seeing Chu Ming’s silence, a confident smile surfaced on Shen Yu’s face.

”Though Feng Yuan covered for you through County Magistrate Liuu, if someone really wanted to dig deeper, they could still find out.”

”But you don’t need to worry too much. Since Feng Yuan values you, he’s sure not to let anything happen to you.”

”Our Baiyuan Academy is not a place some wealthy merchant can just reach into!”

Is that so?

Doubt flashed in Chu Ming’s eyes.

The poison was already in his stomach—how could he believe such words?

Perhaps in the eyes of someone like Shen Yu, only upright action matters, and there is no underhanded intrigue—thus Chu Family supposedly cannot interfere in the Academy.

As he caught the subtle changes in Chu Ming’s expression, Shen Yu laughed softly: ”Do you think the Academy is truly only filled with scholars like us?”

”Baiyuan Academy is under imperial supervision. The Criminal Defense Bureau has deployed who knows how many forces here. Not only the Chu Family—even if all the merchants in Baiyuan County banded together, they wouldn’t dare set foot in the Academy.”

”Otherwise, with those swindling merchants’ methods, the Academy would already have ceased to exist, becoming nothing more than a shortcut for the wealthy to reach power.”

He spoke with some subtlety, but the basic idea was: merchants try to ascend to power through money.

As for how that would happen, naturally, through bribery.

But under the watchful eye of the Criminal Defense Bureau, neither merchants nor officials would dare attempt it.

As he spoke, a sneer crossed Shen Yu’s face: ”So don’t worry; as long as you stay inside the Academy, you’ll be safe.”

Chu Ming remained silent, knowing full well Shen Yu’s words were just a prelude to something else.

”However,” Suddenly, Shen Yu stood and walked back to the desk, his expression solemn. ”If you leave the Academy, then there are no guarantees.”

Leaving the Academy?

Chu Ming’s eyelids lowered, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.

This seems to carry another meaning?

”At first I really couldn’t believe that student was you,” Shen Yu gazed at the thick ”Poetry, Politics, and Military” volume and his tone shifted oddly, ”But when I saw you hide that page, I was certain.”

Leaving the Academy! Scholar!

Chu Ming’s heart tightened—just this very day, he’d disguised himself with Ning Hao and Liang Yuan to leave the Academy as a scholar.

How much did Shen Yu know?

”If I’m not mistaken, what you just pressed beneath ’Poetry, Politics, and Military’ is a fragment of the Mountain Scripture that County Magistrate Liuu gave you, correct?”

So he does know!

Chu Ming’s expression barely changed upon hearing this.

After all, the fact that he was the scholar wasn’t a big deal—Ning Hao and Liang Yuan both knew, and he hadn’t intended to hide it anyway.

”Judging by your face, you’re admitting it.” Shen Yu turned to the window, looking out at the bright moon beneath the night sky, his hands clasped behind his back as if he were some great sage. With a deep voice, he asked:

”Aren’t you going to ask me how I knew you were the scholar who succeeded in challenging the Five Eyes Map at the gallery today?”

The moon hung full outside the western window, and the night wind rustled Shen Yu’s temples.

Looking at Shen Yu’s back, Chu Ming asked, ”How did you know, Mr. Shen?”

Shen Yu did not turn around; instead, he raised his head to the night sky, deliberately stalling: ”Before I answer, let me ask you something first.”

”Please, sir.”

”You read the Mountain Scripture fragment, didn’t you?”

”I did.”

”And? Couldn’t recognize a single character, right?” Shen Yu turned back, pacing slowly to the desk. ”But that’s normal—the script in the Mountain Scripture is the Ancient Shell Script, a writing system never recorded in history.”

Ancient Shell Script? Oracle Bone Script?

”Aren’t you curious, if it’s never been recorded in history, then where did Ancient Shell Script come from?” As Chu Ming kept silent, Shen Yu prompted him again.

”...Mr. Shen, may I ask: Where did the Ancient Shell Script come from?”

”I compiled it based on the Mountain Scripture,” Shen Yu answered calmly. ”Of course, not by myself—there were a few other old codgers as well.”

”It took us a full two years just to create the basic form of Ancient Shell Script.”

”So it’s nothing strange that you can’t read it. Very few people can, not even those with great associative skills.”

”...”

This old man seemed to be showing off?

But it was indeed something to be proud of.

Simplified script’s derivation from complex text had a traceable path; but this Ancient Shell Script, whether compared to complex or to simple script, had no reference.

For Shen Yu to compile an entirely new writing system from the Mountain Scripture showed his extraordinary talent for language.

There was just one thing Chu Ming couldn’t grasp. According to Shen Yu, since the Mountain Scripture’s script system was already established, then there ought to be no need to decode it further.

Or perhaps, even though Shen Yu was elderly, he remained vigorous—having compiled and interpreted Ancient Shell Script for the Mountain Scripture, surely he should have been in demand, right?

”You must be thinking that I’m spouting nonsense—that I’m so old, how could I still be a Junior Eighth-Grade Instructor?”

Shen Yu’s expression suddenly dimmed: ”But I can tell you plainly, I, Shen Yu, haven’t sunk so low as to lie to a Junior Examinee.”

”To be honest, the reason I’m still a Junior Eighth-Grade Instructor is because of my devotion to language.”

”More precisely, it’s my obsession with the implementation of simplified script.”

”In my view, whether it’s Ancient Shell Script or complex text, these are obscure and difficult scripts that shouldn’t be the sole vehicles for transmitting knowledge across our Great Qin Dynasty.”

”I’m not entirely dismissing complex script—it shouldn’t disappear, and the classical literary form must continue to exist, because only it carries true weight and best reflects our literature.”

”The vernacular should be the principal vehicle for disseminating knowledge, while the classical is for those of higher learning. But right now, the literary and complex scripts are towering walls keeping out so many commoners.”

”In my opinion, complex script is so convoluted—even less accessible than Ancient Shell Script. Ancient Shell allows for guessing meaning from form; complex script turns what should be a simple character into one that takes dozens of strokes to write, severely hindering the spread of knowledge.”

”I originally thought that interpreting the Mountain Scripture and compiling the Ancient Shell Script would let me promote simplified script. Who could have predicted that those old relics are so ossified—rigid, conservative, stuck in their ways, trapped in dogma, minds utterly stiff!”