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Chapter 51: Fifty-One Treasures ?

Xu Zhen just grinned.

While smiling, she also asked if there was anyone in Pingliang who needed help.

“Someone who needs help?” the female official pondered, “Do you remember the teaching I mentioned to you last time?”

Xu Zhen nodded.

The female official said, “Actually, there are quite a few students who are too poor to afford tuition.”

After listening, Xu Zhen thought for a moment and said, “You mean you want me to teach for free, which isn’t really—”

She was about to say it wasn’t a difficult task.

The female official continued, “Because of this, they’ve hardly had any schooling. Some of their fathers and mothers have joined the army and gone off to fight. If you could help them pass the autumn exam next year, that would be ideal.”

Xu Zhen was silent for a moment, feeling as if the female official was making things difficult for her.

Was she seriously supposed to turn a group of students who had never studied into successful candidates for the imperial examination? What a joke.

Xu Zhen tactfully remarked, "The imperial examination is no simple matter."

The female official nodded in agreement, "I took the exam back in the day, and it truly isn't simple."

"But I..." Xu Zhen still wanted to protest a bit.

Suddenly, the female official burst into laughter, interrupting Xu Zhen's explanation, "What I said about passing the exams was just a joke. If you can teach them enough to have some knowledge, rather than just being brave and reckless, that would be enough."

If that was all, then it seemed doable. Xu Zhen nodded in agreement.

The female official then took her on a tour of the academy. The Pingliang Academy was similar to residential houses, with low roofs and stones set around, on which bows, arrows, hammers, and other weapons were placed. In the backyard stood plum blossom stakes.

Xu Zhen was shocked: "This place is practically a military camp."

The female official said, "Indeed, it is."

After saying this, she led Xu Zhen to a small earthen house at the entrance. Inside sat an elderly bald man wearing a cotton robe, with four or five layers of clothing visible at the neckline.

The old man had his hands tucked into his sleeves, glanced at the female official, and asked, "What business?"

The female official replied, "I found you a teacher."

The old man looked at Xu Zhen, "This person?"

The female official nodded.

The old man didn't say anything but gestured to the paper and pen in front of him, indicating for Xu Zhen to write her name and the subject she would teach.

Seeing no specific requirements, Xu Zhen casually wrote something down.

"Military strategy?" The old man looked at the subject Xu Zhen wrote, "You can teach military strategy?"

Xu Zhen said, "Not really."

The old man asked, "Then why are you teaching this?"

Xu Zhen explained with a smile, "After all, the students here will go to war in the future. Learning military strategy is more useful than anything else."

Upon hearing this, the old man and the female official were both taken aback.

Their intention in having the students study was merely to pass the exams, leave for safer places, and not return to fight. If they could become minor officials, that would be ideal.