IDWBE -Chapter 45 The School

Before going out, Lin Yi deliberately changed into short, simple clothing.

On top, he wore a small white jacket; on the bottom, white crotch trousers he had personally designed and that Hong Ying had tailored.

Dressed like this, he was hardly distinguishable from a laborer or servant.

The wealthy wore wide robes with flowing sleeves and broad sashes.

But he had no desire to be that kind of nobleman.

Those clothes were nothing but discomfort. Why suffer just to keep up appearances?

After leaving the Commandant’s Office, he strolled along the wall toward the newly opened school. From a distance, he could already hear the loud, rhythmic sound of children reading aloud.

Latecomers occasionally darted through the school’s wooden gate.

Without Xie Zan even saying a word, the children knowingly stood by the entrance. Before long, they formed a long line.

From time to time, they rolled their eyes toward Xie Zan, waiting to see when the teacher would show mercy and let them into the classroom.

Seeing the familiar scene of students being punished by standing outside, Lin Yi couldn’t help but smile.

He sat on the exposed roots of a large banyan tree, watching an old man nearby puffing on a dry tobacco pipe. Out of habit, he picked up a foxtail grass stem and stuck it in his mouth, silently reminding himself: Smoking is harmful to health.

After Xie Zan finished his class, He Jixiang came to teach what Lin Yi had required to be called “physical education.”

This former Commander of the Capital Garrison, whose beard was long and whose steps were now unsteady, had turned “physical education” into martial arts training.

Over a hundred children—tall and short, fat and thin—shouted “ha!” and “hey!” as they practiced, stamping up clouds of dust in the spacious courtyard.

“Keep the head upright—not lowered nor raised. Spirit flows to the crown, lifting the whole body. This is called ‘raising the crown!’”

Normally weak-voiced, He Jixiang now sounded like a ringing bell, full of vigor. Facing the children, he seemed to rediscover the feeling of reviewing troops on the autumn battlefield as he had in his prime.

The dust drifted beyond the fence, making the banyan tree uninhabitable, so Lin Yi squatted under an eave instead.

Teaching martial arts wasn’t bad at all, he thought—at least more interesting than the Eighth Set of Radio Calisthenics.

“One times one is one, one times two is two, one times three is three…

Two times two is four, two times three is six…”

Mathematics class was being taught by Mingyue.

Having grown up by Lin Yi’s side, even though he had never formally taught her or Zixia, they had absorbed enough through exposure to develop solid math skills.

If Song Cheng was the financial steward, then she and Zixia were effectively the auditors of Prince He’s household.

Ordinary falsified accounts couldn’t slip past them.

Her math class was the liveliest.

The idlers and rogues of Baiyun City had long figured out her schedule. Whenever class began, they gathered outside the wooden fence in circles.

They had never seen such a beautiful woman in Baiyun City.

She stirred the imagination; they couldn’t help but sneak glances.

The wooden fence reached waist height—enough to stop gentlemen, but not villains. At first, some bold fellows even tried to sneak inside.

Without exception, they were thrown back out.

Some were indignant—could they really lose to a woman?

Before they could even boast of their reputations—“Azure Dragon on the left, White Tiger on the right”—they were kicked out the gate.

To this day, quite a few were still bedridden.

Though they dared not provoke her, that didn’t stop them from coming to look.

“Your Highness has leisure today,” Xie Zan said, stepping forward and bowing.

Lin Yi smiled. “Idle anyway. Might as well take a walk.”

Xie Zan asked, “Does Your Highness have any instructions?”

“If I tell you, would you dare to do it?” Lin Yi asked.

“Please speak, Your Highness. I will do my utmost.”

“Recruit some female students,” Lin Yi said, ignoring Xie Zan’s stunned expression. “Baiyun City doesn’t have many people to begin with. If girls learn something, they can hold up half the sky in the future.”

“From seven years old, boys and girls should not sit together nor eat together. This would violate propriety,” Xie Zan said urgently.

“Girls not leaving home for ten years, learning obedience and weaving silk—” Lin Yi waved dismissively. “That’s for noble families. Do poor girls have that luxury? Look at those tending cattle and sheep by the river—aren’t they girls too?”

“Even so…” Xie Zan forced a smile. “It would be highly inappropriate. If any trouble arises, it may damage Your Highness’s reputation.”

“Reputation?” Lin Yi waved his hand. “How good is my reputation now anyway? Fine, I won’t make things difficult. Open a separate girls’ school. Don’t you have that unused fodder warehouse? Use that. I won’t interfere further.”

“That would be appropriate,” Xie Zan said with relief.

It was golden autumn now, and the sun was no longer scorching.

Lin Yi didn’t rush back for lunch. Wandering through the streets, he unknowingly arrived at Hulu’s newly opened medical clinic.

It stood on the busiest street in Baiyun City—a large stone building with broken roof tiles.

Dust from outside had already drifted in. Having opened recently, there were no proper medicine cabinets yet; herbs lay covered with cloth on tables.

“Your Highness!”

Hulu hurriedly stood up from his chair and told his wife to prepare tea.

“This place is not bad,” Lin Yi said, plopping down into a rattan chair and looking around. It was his first time here.

If not for the quiet near Xie Zan’s place, he might have bought a large stone house here—at least it was spacious.

“Your Highness…”

Physician Hu sighed. “It’s not that I wish to complain, but look…”

In just a short time, by curing several ailments he considered trivial, he had gone from “Physician Hu” to “Divine Doctor Hu.”

Yet difficulties abounded. Medicines easily purchased in the capital were hard to find here.

With no alternative, he had been climbing mountains to gather herbs himself and processing them personally.

The greatest problem was poverty—many patients couldn’t pay.

Though there were some wealthy households, the few who paid could only offset losses; there was no real profit.

“Regretting it?” Lin Yi asked with a smile.

Hulu quickly replied, “I have no regrets, Your Highness. You haven’t seen the wealthy rural households—deep courtyards, servants everywhere. If Your Highness wished, they’d gladly offer up their estates.”

Lin Yi understood—he meant confiscating them.

But he had no intention of doing that yet.

“We’ll discuss it later,” Lin Yi said lightly.

Sanhe was poor. The number of wealthy households could be counted on two hands.

He had already ordered Song Cheng to investigate; not one of them was clean. Who knew how many lives stained their hands?

No matter how he dealt with them, it wouldn’t be unjust.

But Sanhe’s supply of daily necessities relied heavily on these people.

If something happened to them, the local economy would grind to a halt.

And if the few “sheep” were sheared to death at once, what wealthy person would dare come to Sanhe afterward?

Then Sanhe would truly become stagnant.

For an economy to develop, stability must come first.

When the time was ripe, it would not be too late to settle accounts.