Chapter 39: The Village School

“The Way of the Great Learning lies in manifesting luminous virtue, in loving the people, and in reaching the highest goodness. Only when one knows where to rest can one be steadfast; only when one is steadfast can one be tranquil; only when one is tranquil can one be at peace; only when one is at peace can one deliberate…”

In a low-roofed classroom fashioned from a dilapidated country temple, a dozen or so young boys of varying ages sat reciting the ancient text, their heads bobbing as they chanted.

Fang Yue, dressed in a long robe, sat at the teacher’s desk, his gaze sweeping over the little classroom, watching for any child who dared to slack off.

It had been two days since his return from the county town, and the village school had resumed its lessons.

As the village’s only licentiate, he was also the school’s tutor.

He had originally taken up the post out of poverty, simply to earn a meager living.

Now, he no longer relied on the paltry income of a village tutor, but as the village had yet to find a replacement, Fang Yue decided to continue teaching for a while, not wanting to delay the children’s studies.

After all, there were only about ten boys enrolled in the village school, and the teaching load was light.

“Take out the copybooks I assigned for yesterday’s practice and place them on your desks. I will check them one by one,” Fang Yue said, holding a bamboo ruler as he made his rounds.

When he saw pleasing handwriting, he nodded and smiled in encouragement. For mistakes, he pointed them out on the spot and corrected them. As for those who had not completed their work, the ruler in his hand was not merely for show.

“Now, review your lessons on your own. I have to step out for a moment. Fang Baochen, you’re in charge while I’m gone. If anyone misbehaves, tell me when I return.”

“Yes, Sir.”

The boy Fang Yue entrusted with this “heavy responsibility” was about ten years old, more composed than his peers.

Leaving the classroom, Fang Yue passed by the newly built village temple, dedicated to local deities. But “new” was only relative to the temple that had been converted into a school; this one had stood for more than a decade, built when Fang Yue was still a small child.

In his dreams, he had lived in this village for over twenty years, and now his true self existed in this world.

He always felt a faint sense of estrangement.

He stopped before the temple. It was empty; on non-festival days, it was rarely lively.

He did not enter. The clay and wooden statues held no appeal for him.

If gods truly existed, there should not be rampant monsters and ghosts in the county town, nor should evil run unchecked in the world.

And if there were gods, and they were powerless or chose to ignore such things, what was the use of worship? Why bother at all?

Better to rely on oneself than to beseech the gods.

Turning back to look at the school, Fang Yue pondered whether he should spread scientific knowledge in this world.

Or more precisely, would knowledge of science be of any help in an age plagued by monsters and ghosts?

“One more path is one more hope.”

Fang Yue made up his mind. Spreading knowledge and enlightening the people was a work of great merit.

In the past two days, as he taught the dozen boys their classical texts, he gained two merit points each day. Not much, but steady and unceasing.

Yet if he could disseminate knowledge previously unknown in this world, surely he would gain even more merit.

This would require practical effort. Fang Yue thought to establish some small workshops in the village, producing items that did not yet exist in this world.

He had spent the past two days studying the village’s geography.

Fangqiao Village lay by the sea, ringed by mountains on three sides, with its fourth side facing the water.

The village was part of Yutou Town—a peninsula shaped like a fish’s head, jutting into the sea from Ping’an County.

Fangqiao Village sat at the tip of this peninsula, nearly a day’s journey from the county town by land, making it an isolated fishing village.

Officials from the county only came this far for tax collection; otherwise, none would willingly travel such a distance.

As a result, Fangqiao Village and the whole of Yutou Town practiced a high degree of clan autonomy.

Even most legal matters—unless involving grave crimes—were resolved within the clan.

Yet, from the sea, Fangqiao Village was not so remote.

Fang Yue had asked the old fishermen: to cross to Outing County on the opposite shore, one could set out at dawn and arrive before sunset by fishing boat.

A full day’s journey—a day and a night—would take one to Baiquan Port, a major harbor under the jurisdiction of Baiquan Prefecture and one of the great ports of Yunzou.

Through Baiquan Port, goods could be swiftly transported to all the prefectures of Yunzou and even to the other twenty-six provinces of the nation.

Thus, Fangqiao Village was a most suitable place for Fang Yue to develop his workshops.

Secluded enough to shield secrets and techniques from prying eyes, yet with convenient and inexpensive sea transport for shipping goods and importing materials.

Most importantly, the village was dominated by the Fang clan; all were kin, living as an extended family.

As a licentiate, Fang Yue wielded considerable influence within the Fang clan, not to mention the added assurance of his own martial prowess.

By rooting himself in the Fang clan of Fangqiao Village, and leveraging their marital ties with neighboring villages, he could gather people from surrounding areas and gradually bring all of Yutou Town under his control.

In short, Fang Yue possessed both geographic and social advantages for establishing his workshops here.

Yet what he lacked was timely opportunity.

The broader environment felt unsettled; the county town was still overrun by monsters and ghosts, and the future remained uncertain.

The Daoist priest Tian Yangzi, sent by the court, had a female disciple who, in full view of others, dared to cast a spell into his wine, attempting to make Fang Yue her puppet.

Tian Yangzi clearly knew what his disciple had done, but allowed it.

Such behavior revealed them both as little more than evil sorcerers.

Fang Yue had lost trust in them, and by extension, felt disappointed in the court itself. A government that sheltered such callous occultists was not as upright or just as he had once imagined.

As for whether Tian Yangzi would deal with the monsters entrenched in the county town—or even if he could—Fang Yue harbored doubts.

Tian Yangzi dismissed the city’s monsters as mere “hill spirits and wild fiends,” boasting that he could subdue them as easily as turning his hand.

But Fang Yue sensed a strain of empty boasting. In the brief encounter at the banquet, it was clear that Tian Yangzi craved flattery and admiration.

While his powers were real, Fang Yue’s own experiences with the Red-Clad Ghost and the Demon of Supreme Bliss were unfathomably bizarre.

Beyond these threats, there was a more immediate danger: the pirates from the East Sea who had appeared in his nightmares.

So far, the monsters had not run rampant or harmed people on a large scale; but if pirates attacked, not only the county town, but also surrounding villages like theirs, might be devastated.

When in the county, Fang Yue had already reported the risk of pirate attack to Magistrate Hu.

But whether the magistrate took it seriously, and how much effort or preparation he would make, Fang Yue could not predict.

He could not interfere in county affairs, especially with Tian Yangzi and his disciple present; for now, he dared not get involved.

All Fang Yue could do was look after Fangqiao Village. Although the villagers lived in poverty and had little to tempt pirates, it was still prudent to take precautions.

He knew he alone was not enough; it would require mobilizing all the able-bodied men of the village.

But demanding the villagers set aside their livelihoods for training was unrealistic; even with his current influence, Fang Yue could not command such a thing.

For now, he could only inform them that he had heard rumors in the county of possible pirate raids nearby, urging everyone to be on alert.

“From what I saw in my nightmare, the invasion by the East Sea pirates is imminent. There’s no time for training the villagers now; I must find another way.”

Fang Yue thought of black powder. The authorities possessed gunpowder, supposedly invented by Daoists experimenting with alchemy, but its power was limited and used only for fireworks and firecrackers.

He intended to develop improved black powder, a formula far more potent.

With it, he could launch a surprise attack against the pirates, catching them off guard. If only a few pirates came to Yutou Town, they would never return.