Lin Yun followed Qin Xiaoting into their dormitory. The room was dozens of square meters in size. There were four beds placed against the wall, but only two of the beds had bedding on them.

There is a desk in front of each bed, which is obviously used by scholars to read and write articles.

When the two of them entered the door, they saw a thin scholar lying on the desk writing furiously in front of the inner window.

Qin Xiaoting raised his hand and knocked twice on the door panel, smiled at the people inside and said, "Brother Yuannan, come and meet this brother Yun."

The scholar turned around when he heard this, revealing a delicate face that seemed to be twenty years old.

After hearing Qin Xiaoting's introduction, he quickly stood up, bowed his hands to Lin Yun and said, "Hello, Brother Yun, my name is Ding Yuannan."

Lin Yun cupped his hands and returned the greeting, "Hello, Brother Ding, my name is Lin Yun."

Qin Xiaoting introduced at the side: "Yuan Nan was a scholar in the academy two years ago, and he got second place. He was admitted to the academy last year."

Lin Yunle said: "That's a coincidence. I am the top scholar this year, but my grades are second to last."

Ding Yuannan said in surprise: "Brother Yun is probably not yet fifteen years old, right?"

Lin Yun: "I am thirteen this year and I am from Suzhou. My family is engaged in cloth and spice trading."

Qin Xiaoting: "Yuan Nan and I are both from the capital. Yuan Nan's father is a master craftsman in the Chaoting Firearms Workshop. My old man is a military attache and serves as the commander of Zuowuwei in the capital camp."

Ding Yuannan said hurriedly: "Don't listen to Xiao Ting's nonsense. My father is not a great craftsman. He is just a steward responsible for making firecrackers."

Lin Yun: "Since your father can supervise the manufacture of firearms, he must be very knowledgeable about firearms. This is an extraordinary skill. I believe that future wars will be won by the quality of firearms."

Ding Yuannan: "It's a pity that the imperial court did not pay much attention to the firearms camp. For example, the fifth guard of the Beijing Camp was only equipped with less than 50% of the firearms."

Qin Xiaoting: "I feel that equipping firearms will make soldiers cowardly. Only by killing with real swords and guns can we build a strong army."

Lin Yun looked at Qin Xiaoting and asked curiously: "Brother Qin, since your father is the commander of Zuo Wuwei, why doesn't he let you join the army nearby and instead lets you study in the academy?"

Qin Xiaoting: "I'm not sure. It seems that the mountain chief admitted me by name."

Lin Yun: "Are you also a scholar?"

Qin Xiaoting smiled coquettishly and said: "I am a child student, and I failed the college entrance examination this year."

Lin Yun said hurriedly: "It doesn't matter if you fail the exam. I heard that most of the scholars who enter our academy can pass the Jinshi exam."

Ding Yuannan smiled and said: "Brother Yun, where did you hear this news?"

Lin Yun: "That's what people say outside, is it true?"

Qin Xiaoting said happily: "It's good to be able to admit five scholars. This year, thirty-two scholars participated in the college examination, and only thirteen were selected as scholars."

Ding Yuannan asked Lin Yun: "Brother Yun, there will be a provincial examination next year, will you fail?"

Lin Yun smiled bitterly and said: "My articles on classics and meanings are not satisfactory. I guess even if I end up, I will just try to gather people."

Ding Yuannan: “It’s also good to sum up the experience at the end of the game.”

"That's right."

While the three of them were talking, they suddenly heard several crisp bells ringing outside.

Qin Xiaoting hurried to his bed, picked up a few pieces of manuscript paper from the desk, and shouted to Lin Yun: "Lin Yun, there is an arithmetic class coming soon, please bring a few more pieces of manuscript paper."

Lin Yun: "Don't you have any textbooks?"

"No, just listen with your ears."

As Lin Yun went to get the manuscript paper, he was secretly wondering why this academy still had arithmetic classes.

…

The three of them walked out of the house and followed the scholars to an independent school.

Lin Yun looked carefully as he walked and saw that there were more than thirty scholars with the rank of C.

Walking into the school, there are neat rows of desks, and there are pens and inkstones on the desks, but there is no paper.

Lin Yun found an empty seat at the back and sat down, and then felt embarrassed because his desk did not have a pen and ink stone or an inkstone.

Fortunately, Qin Xiaoting came over in time with a pen and ink and a bench. After he sat down, he handed Lin Yun a brush. Then he smiled and said: "You can make do with it for now. Remember to bring a pen and ink next time."

"Thank you!"

As soon as Lin Yung thanked him, he saw the dean named Chang Lu walking in quickly with a book under his arm.

All the scholars stood up one after another and saluted Changlu: "Hello, sir."

Changlu nodded slightly and motioned for everyone to sit down.

After Lin Yun sat down, he asked Qin Xiaoting beside him: "Isn't he the principal? Why is he a lecturer again?"

Qin Xiaoting lowered his voice and said: "There are not enough lecturers in the academy, so the dean will be the lecturer on his behalf. It's not just him. Sometimes even the dean will help us teach."

Although his voice was low, it still alarmed Chang Lu who was standing in front. The man glanced this way and then shouted sharply: "Qin Xiaoting."

Qin Xiaoting stood up quickly and said: "Master, Lin Yun doesn't have pen, ink, paper and inkstone. I just reminded him to bring it with him next time."

Hearing this, Lin Yun thought to himself: "This Qin Xiaoting is lying even more evasively than me. It's true that a person cannot be judged by his appearance."

While he was murmuring in his mind, he suddenly heard Chang Lu say with a gloomy face: "Qin Xiaoting, let me ask you, why did you get all the mistakes in the arithmetic questions you took yesterday?"

Qin Xiaoting lowered his head, as if he would not open his mouth even if he was beaten to death.

Chang Lu said to everyone with a dark face: "Only two scholars, Ding Yuannan and Ning Yue, had all the correct answers to yesterday's assessment questions. I am really disappointed."

A scholar complained to Changlu: "Master, the time you gave is too short. If you can extend the time, I will definitely be able to answer all the questions correctly."

"oh."

Changlu looked at the scholar and smiled and said: "Fang Hongyi, since you have such confidence, I will ask you a question now and ask you to answer it in half a stick of incense. Do you have confidence?"

Fang Hongyi: "Disciple, please give it a try."

"Okay. Everyone can try it too."

Changlu put down the teaching plan in his hand and walked among the scholars with his hands behind his back and read: "Today there are pheasants and rabbits in the same cage. There are twenty heads on top and fifty-four legs on the bottom. How many pheasants and rabbits are there?"

After the title was read out, the scholars below burst into tears, and a few picked up their brushes and immersed themselves in calculations on the paper.

There was a boy nearby lighting half a stick of incense as a time for assessment.

Lin Yun was a little confused and said to himself, "How dare you ask such a simple question?"

Changlu clasped his hands behind his back and looked around among the scholars. Seeing everyone's miserable faces, he seemed to be in a good mood.

When he walked up to Lin Yun, he saw that this man didn't even hold a pen, so he frowned and asked, "Sir Lin, have you never learned arithmetic before?"

Lin Yun deliberately pretended to be cool and said: "Master, the question you asked is too simple. I can calculate it without writing."
Chapter completed!