Chapter 613: Number One Under Heaven

The main purpose of Floating Pagoda Tower is auction; to avoid blocking sightlines, there's hardly any obstruction between the private rooms and the hall. Da Wang was eating his own melon, unsatisfied, and in his impatience he shouted out loud!

The table right outside their private room suddenly went quiet; six young people in matching student uniforms were from Chang'an's Bright Ethics Academy.

The influence of the grand fireworks sponsored by Floating Pagoda Tower hasn't faded yet, plus the auction just held, nowadays people in Chang'an rarely meet and talk about anything other than Floating Pagoda Tower in three sentences. The pricing here precisely targets the audience; the Chief Steward came here to harvest the scholar-aristocracy and wealthy merchants like leeks. This table is made up of fellow classmates—needless to say, those who can study at Chang'an Academy are of scholar-aristocrat background; wealthy merchants don't qualify.

A group of Chang'an scholar-aristocrat youths had just left the academy, passionately discussing the hot-off-the-press newspaper they'd just bought, when Da Wang interrupted them. They were startled at first, after all they were discussing politics. When they turned around and saw it was just a teenage boy, they relaxed.

"You say it loud, then it's loud?!"

"Hey kid, were you eavesdropping on our conversation?"

Da Wang, caught red-handed, didn't lose his righteous confidence—after all, they were talking about him himself! "In a public place, you should be aware that others might overhear your conversation."

A young student, annoyed, retorted: "Haven't you studied the Analects? Don't you know not to listen to impropriety?"

Da Wang saw they were wearing uniform student attire, and he no longer cared about his melon or how the common folk viewed Runan or who they supported; it didn't affect his decision. As for these people, they're from Bright Ethics Academy, ah~

He stepped closer two paces, blinking his big eyes with an innocent look, and said: "Which academy are you from, huh? Isn't the Analects learned at age three? Going on and on about the Analects is so childish~ Little bro, are you not studying well? Or maybe your academy's teachings are outdated? Let me have a look… this uniform… Bright Ethics Academy, ah~"

Da Wang wanted to provoke them, expressing silent contempt vividly from tone to expression; the few who hadn't yet responded to him all wanted to argue with him.

The sixteen- or seventeen-year-old boy immediately stood up to argue with him, but as he rose, another student, Han Zheng, who had just spoken loudly, stood up and pressed the boy back down, then turned to Da Wang and said calmly: "I can tell you've got a big mouth, kid. So? Are you from Fuyuan Academy?"

He was arrogant, but Da Wang would only be more smug.

"Fuyuan Academy? Some third-rate academy—I've never heard of it."

Bright Ethics Academy crowd: ……

You might say he's hateful, but he's putting down their rival. After all, this guy recognized the Bright Ethics Academy uniform.

Da Wang pressed on, pulling out his waist fan and giving it two flaps, then said: "Let me introduce myself—I'm from the Number One Academy Under Heaven, the Northern Border Academy!"

"Tsk! Hah!" Han Zheng sneered. "When did the Northern Border Academy become number one under heaven? Did you just self‑appoint that?"

Da Wang looked shocked: "Do we even need to self‑appoint? This is a fact! Our New Northern Border Academy is a merger of the Original Northern Border Academy and Fanyang Academy! In teaching depth we're number one under heaven! In scale we're number one under heaven! In faculty strength we're number one under heaven! Even in academy architecture we're number one under heaven! I, as the young master, haven't seen a building as good as our Northern Border Academy's anywhere around Chang'an!"

This string of proud "firsts" drew half the hall's attention. Some guests who had drunk Northern Border's strong liquor were feeling lively, and upon hearing Da Wang's boast they immediately joined in the uproar.

"Besides that, the Libationer of Fuyuan Academy is Xiao Zi—virtuous, highly respected, a renowned scholar of the world! How did your Northern Border Academy become number one?"

"Our Northern Border Academy's first Libationer is none other than today's Chancellor, Xie Yuan of Chen Commandery! The current Libationer is Xie Che of the Xie clan. Don't say you don't know Xie Che—he's the head of the Xie family!"

The onlookers: …… This actually makes sense…

Even if Xiao Zi is impressive, he's not as famous as Xie Yuan.

Someone else said: "I don't know about anything else, but isn't the Number One Academy Under Heaven the Qingyang Academy?"

You say this Da Wang is getting more arrogant, but "Right now the mainstay of the Qingyang Academy is all in the Northern Border Academy! The entire Xie clan resides in Youzhou, including the Lu clan, the foundation of the Fanyang Academy, also in Youzhou!"

…… That also seems right.

The onlookers mulling it over went, "Ah, this Northern Border Academy really seems formidable—should the ranking of academies under heaven be rewritten?"

The Bright Ethics Academy students got worked up: "What's the use of comparing Libationers? The Northern Border Academy is in a barbaric, desolate place—land barren, people sparse. How many outstanding students could it possibly have? It's just relying on a few former Fanyang Academy students to put up a front!"

Upon hearing that, Da Wang flared up, hands on hips almost jumping—whenever the Northern Border is mentioned as nothing but wind, sand, desolation and danger, that label must be shaken off!

"Anyway, our Northern Border Academy's folks are just smarter than yours! The students we teach are more learned too—if you don't believe it, let's have a contest!"

Inside, Xiao Jin, who was munching on his meal, heard the outside noise growing louder, suspecting Da Wang was getting into a fight? He immediately wanted to go help, but Wei Ke stopped him: "Just eat your food; outside they're just chatting, talking, not fighting!"

Xiao Jin tilted his ear to listen; seeing there was no fight, he went back to gnawing his bone—this mutton tastes like home, sigh~

Too many people who'd had a little drink were causing a ruckus, so the Bright Ethics Academy students couldn't back down; Da Wang had already laid out the challenges for comparison.

"Comparing academy advantages certainly can't be done by simply matching Libationers, buildings, etc.; we need to compare teaching quality. But since ancient times there's been no first in literature, comparing essays isn't realistic—so I'll give you a math problem; if your Bright Ethics Academy lot can solve it within the time it takes to burn an incense stick, I'll admit you're formidable."

Upon hearing that, the other side asked: "On what grounds do you get to set the problem?"

"You're just afraid you can't answer! If you get it right, you win the first round and can then set a problem for me—otherwise how could we decide first and second? I'll just give a problem from what our Northern Border Academy has taught! You guys aren't scared, are you?"