Transmigrated As A Scholar Chapter 44 Part 1

Chapter 44 

"Ahem! Ahem!"

The classroom was buzzing with lively discussion about the many matters of manuscript submission when, unnoticed, Master Zhang had appeared at the doorway. His stern face silenced the clamor instantly.

"I asked you to keep watch, yet you ended up leading the conversation instead."

Fang Yu had noticed Master Zhang standing at the entrance early on. Knowing that arguing would be pointless, Fang Yu simply stood up and offered Master Zhang a bow of apology.

Master Zhang stared at him for a moment. Just as everyone thought the Master was about to get angry, they heard him ask slowly, "The remuneration is generous, you say? How generous is it, exactly?"

Fang Yu's brow twitched, a slight smile hidden within as he answered respectfully, "For poems and lyrics, it's fifty copper coins per piece. For essays, it's based on word count with multiple tiers. Eight hundred words earns one hundred twenty copper coins, then there's fifteen hundred words, two thousand... for every additional five hundred words, the payment increases by forty copper coins."

"The Book and Tea House will later establish a 'Most Popular Story' vote. If a serialized story is highly popular and loved by the public, it can even be printed and published as a book. The author's remuneration will also increase based on its popularity."

Master Zhang stroked his beard. "Is it truly that good?"

"This student wouldn't dare lie. If it weren't that good, surely this student couldn't possibly dig into his own pockets to make up the difference."

"That pays more than copying books or writing letters for people!"

The students in the classroom grew excited once again. For students from poor families, this was like a pie falling from the sky—a wonderful opportunity. The cost of studying was already high; expenses for brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, and books often made life bitter for impoverished scholars. During holidays, apart from helping with busy farmwork at home, many students in the academy would seek work—copying books, writing couplets, bookkeeping—they took on all sorts of jobs. But with many people doing it, the income was meager and unstable.

Now, with a new way to earn money, how could they not be tempted?

As for students from well-off families, the remuneration itself wasn't a big draw. Their usual tea money could easily amount to these payments; it really wasn't much. But having one's own article published in a widely circulated periodical known to many scholars was something to boast about for days. The name recognition and the prestige it could bring were the most attractive aspects.

Thus, all the students were abuzz.

"Silence!" 

Master Zhang shouted, quelling the thousand waves stirred by Fang Yu's single statement.

"This manuscript solicitation sounds like it could be a good thing for you all. If you are interested, you can try writing. Practicing different types of writing is not a bad thing." Master Zhang said with great consideration. "In the eighth month, you will travel to the prefectural city for the examinations. If you can submit writings and earn some travel money yourselves, it will spare your families the effort and concern of providing for your journey. Even though the autumn harvest starts in the eight month, it's not uncommon for students' families to have poor yields and struggle to gather the funds for the journey."

"Over the past two years, the Dean has been quite troubled by this matter. He couldn't bear to see you lacking travel funds, so he dug into his own pockets to provide some provisions and lent out quite a bit of silver." 

"Looking further ahead, if one doesn't pass the exams, having an extra skill to earn money as a backup is also good."

Upon hearing this, and seeing the Master's concern for them, everyone was moved. They stood up together and bowed to the Master.

"No need for such formalities." Master Zhang regained his stern authority. "Submitting manuscripts is allowed, but you must not let external matters delay your exam preparations. Do not sacrifice the greater goal for a minor gain."

"Yes."

With Master Zhang's approval, news spread quickly. Within two days, most scholars in the academy knew about the Book and Tea House soliciting manuscripts. Students from other classrooms often sought out Fang Yu to ask about the truth of the matter and inquire about the submission details. Starting from the third day after spreading the word, Fang Yu began receiving manuscripts one after another—from classmates in his own classroom, others passed on by friends... in short, people brought him manuscripts every day. 

At first, he received them only in the classroom. Later, it gradually evolved into students handing him manuscripts whenever they ran into him in the academy. Later, he was even receiving them on the main street... The situation developed rapidly, and the range of people submitting manuscripts grew from scholars to include common townsfolk, young ger, and young women.

"Fang Xiucai, this is an article I wrote. I heard you accept manuscripts. I wonder if it's true?"

That day, after Fang Yu got off his family's carriage and ate a bowl of noodles at a street-side stall, a young ger timidly came up to ask.

As if afraid he wouldn't accept it, the ger added, "My cousin is also a student at Hande Academy. He told me about this, so I'm taking the liberty to disturb you."

Fang Yu welcomed submissions from groups like this. The wider the range of topics, the broader the customer base for his shop would become.

"Of course you can!" Fang Yu had Xuezhu accept the submission and said very kindly, "Anyone can submit their own writing. It doesn't matter if you are a man, woman, or ger. You can go home and tell your friends. If it's hard to find me to submit, you can have an acquaintance pass it along or give it directly to the shopkeeper at the Book and Tea House."

"That's wonderful! I have some friends who have had tea at the Book and Tea House and also like the books there. Now that they can submit their own writings, they are interested, but they heard it was only open to the academy. I didn't expect the rumor to be false. Now that I have your message, I can go tell my friends."

The young ger was extremely pleased upon hearing this. He bowed to Fang Yu before happily taking his leave.

"Oh no, my noodles have gone soggy!" After finishing the conversation, Fang Yu was pleased with the promising response to his manuscript call. But when he turned back to his food, he saw the state of his noodles and exclaimed to Xuezhu, "We must establish a designated place for submissions in the future. If we keep getting interrupted like this, we won't even manage to eat a proper meal."

Xuezhu laughed. "Master, why not go back and complain to Zhengfu? He will surely feel sorry for you and even personally make you a bowl of chicken shred soup noodles."

"Go back and tell him about this." Fang Yu said. "If he makes me noodles, I'll reward you with a bowl too."

"Then this humble one thanks the Master in advance!"