Chapter 150: Someone Else's Child and Reforming the Examination System

"Exam!"

Some time later, inside the classroom of the Imperial Academy.

Zhang Yi had thought Chang Mao would be eager to retaliate against him, but the anticipated revenge and trouble-making never came.

While everyone continued to study the Four Books and Five Classics as usual, the mathematics curriculum underwent earth-shaking changes.

Having received the lesson plans, the two mathematics instructors suddenly seemed to have their minds enlightened, instantly grasping how to teach...

The person who felt this change the most deeply was none other than Zhang Yi, the time-traveler.

He was quite satisfied with this transformation. From listening to the lectures, he could perceive that the two mathematics instructors were of sound caliber.

Among the ancients, anyone who liked to study such miscellaneous subjects as mathematics did so out of genuine interest, and their proficiency was certainly not poor.

His "Twelve Volumes of Mathematics," at its highest level—the "University" tier—was essentially equivalent to high school level in his past life, and did not exceed the ancients' comprehension.

The reason the two instructors found it difficult was twofold: first, their unformatted mathematical knowledge needed to be reconstructed according to the textbook; second, they simply did not know how to teach!

The last time mathematics was officially taught in government schools could be traced back to the Song Dynasty, a hundred years ago.

The teaching of mathematics and the teaching of the Four Books and Five Classics were entirely different concepts, which was why the two instructors had been so tormented that they wanted to resign.

However, having lesson plans made all the difference.

That set of teaching methods from later generations was, after all, the crystallization of China's millennia-old exam-oriented education, refined through generations by over a billion people competing fiercely.

Although a single lesson plan could not capture its entirety, it provided the two instructors with a clear direction.

Exam-oriented education, after all—who didn't know how to do that?

Once one or two test papers were distributed, accompanied by a mathematics exam, a grading scale out of one hundred, and a leaderboard,

these methods, once deployed, immediately allowed people to see teaching results intuitively.

Although the Imperial Academy was a "university," the mathematics instruction still started from the basics and progressed step by step.

With test papers of varying difficulties distributed, the results of the very first exam could only be described as a disaster. Except for a handful of students who had previously self-studied mathematics, most scored ten or twenty points, with the highest not exceeding fifty.

Having deliberately held back to blend in with the crowd, Zhang Yi accidentally scored first in mathematics at the Imperial Academy...

And because of those appalling scores and the intuitive leaderboard,

the sense of shame among this batch of students at the Imperial Academy suddenly surged.

Aside from the sons of founding meritorious officials, these individuals were either the descendants of civil officials and ministers, or scholars recommended from various prefectures and provinces.

Even if not the absolute finest, they could roughly be considered part of the best talent selection system the Ming Dynasty could find.

They had come here to achieve fame and official careers!

Yet the bare scores and rankings on the grade leaderboard were truly humiliating.

Even the student who ranked second, scoring just slightly lower than Zhang Yi, was too ashamed to face anyone. The Imperial Academy students, who had previously been lukewarm toward mathematics, began to study diligently.

The academic atmosphere of the Imperial Academy improved remarkably because of that single leaderboard.

"Teacher, I'm handing in my paper!"

Inside the examination hall, Zhang Yi raised his hand in advance.

The examinees who were still struggling with the questions looked at Zhang Yi in despair.

Zhang Yi: ...

Though he had been considered a slacker in his past life, in this era he had accidentally become the top student in the teachers' eyes.

"Zhang Yi, excellent! You may leave..."

"Look at Zhang Yi, and then look at yourselves! He isn't even striving for an official career, yet he achieves such results."

"As for the rest of you, you are supposed to worry for the country's troubles in the future—how can you show your faces with scores like these?"

As Zhang Yi left the classroom, he vaguely heard the teachers' heartbroken reproaches.

For a moment, he felt a bit dazed, realizing he had actually become the "other people's child" in everyone else's mouth.

Still, this feeling was not bad, and Zhang Yi felt quite pleased.

Before those geniuses caught up with his scores using their raw intelligence, he could still play the role of the top student for a while longer.

The benefit of being a top student was that the teachers, who had previously held prejudices against him because of his background, adopted a much better attitude—even though his grasp of the Four Books and Five Classics was still mediocre at best.

While strolling through the Imperial Academy, Zhang Yi noticed that at the most prominent spot in the middle of the courtyard—the mathematics score leaderboard—Xu Cunren was standing there, deep in thought.

"Sir!"

Zhang Yi ran over and bowed to Xu Cunren.

"You're here!"

"Sir, what are you studying here?"

"This reform of your mathematics exams is excellent. The atmosphere in the study halls has improved a lot, and this one-hundred-point grading system allows people to see their results intuitively... I am considering whether I should replicate this mathematics examination format for the Four Books and Five Classics!"

"Sir, you might as well give it a try!"

When Zhang Yi guided the two mathematics instructors, his original intention was to pave the way for his future career in educational publishing.

Who would have known that once the one-hundred-point test paper made its debut, the immediate results it brought would make the other teachers restless as well.

Xu Cunren had spent a lifetime in education and immediately grasped the advantages of this model.

Examinations were nothing new, but the benefit of a one-hundred-point paper was that it could quantify one's score and provide a relatively fair competitive environment.

Another advantage was the refinement of knowledge points...

This method of education seemed simpler and clearer than traditional methods, going straight to the core.

"I would like to try, but mathematics and classical studies are entirely different disciplines. Trying to imitate it seems quite difficult!"

"Actually, it's not that difficult. Although my own studies in the classics are truly mediocre, designing such a test paper is quite feasible. Sir, you can actually model it after the mathematics tests by setting the questions into..."

"Multiple-choice questions... fill-in-the-blanks... true-or-false questions... reading comprehension... and essays..."

"For example, for term definitions: you can ask students to explain the meaning of 'A gentleman is not a vessel'!"

"True-or-false questions like this..."

"Reading comprehension like this..."

Zhang Yi roughly outlined the questioning methods used for language exams in his past life, and Xu Cunren instantly became interested.

"Let's go back, have some tea, and talk in detail!"

Xu Cunren pulled Zhang Yi back to his small courtyard, had someone bring a pot of tea, and began listening to Zhang Yi's casual discourse.

Before long, Kong Ne, who had also finished his exam, came over and sat quietly to listen.

There wasn't really all that much Zhang Yi could say about reforming language exams.

Yet even what he did say provided Xu Cunren with immense inspiration.

To reiterate, the ancients were not stupid; on the contrary, many of them possessed extraordinary wisdom.

These so-called testing techniques and question-setting skills had likely appeared in the past as well.

It was just that, once again, they lacked a systematic framework...

The ingenious ideas of certain predecessors, because no one promoted them, were destined to remain mere textual researches in ancient books.

Much like the contributions of Ge Hong, Wang Dan, and others in the field of vaccination, they at best benefited a few individuals without nourishing the masses as a whole.

The ordinary-sounding things Zhang Yi spoke of were the result of later generations standing on the shoulders of their predecessors, absorbing all rivers with an unprecedented volume of information, and optimizing them generation after generation.

They might not be the most profound, but overall, they were the fairest.

As for the Four Books and Five Classics, Zhang Yi didn't need to say much about classical studies.

Once Xu Cunren mastered the method of setting questions, he could design a set of papers all by himself.

Old Xu said, "You wait a moment," then fetched a pencil and began writing the test.

That's right, during the period of mathematics exams at the Imperial Academy, something had quietly become popular there.

It was said that this was discovered by Liu Bowen, the Censor-in-Chief, who advised the Emperor to promote it—namely, the pencil.

Everything for the sake of efficiency!

Liu Bowen had taken to heart what he and Zhang Yi had chatted about, and his memorial had even been distributed, copied, and circulated for people to read by the Emperor's command.

Zhang Yi had also been fortunate enough to read Liu Bowen's memorial in the Imperial Academy.

Arabic numerals, punctuation marks, and pencils...

The promotion of punctuation marks had sparked fierce debate, but generally speaking, Confucian elites were not all pedantic scholars. Once Liu Ji proposed something that could visibly increase the efficiency of "civilizing transformation" and reduce difficulty, and with endorsements from academic leaders and heads of officials like Song Lian and Li Shanchang, punctuation marks were successfully promoted without a hitch.

As for Arabic numerals and pencils, their initial acceptance was low.

Not to mention Arabic numerals, pencils were not considered "refined" enough compared to writing brushes, so ordinary scholars showed little interest in them!

However, once the mathematics exams came out, many students discovered the advantages of hard-lead writing: answering questions was truly faster than writing with a brush.

Actions spoke louder than words. Something Chen An had never anticipated was that this small gadget, which he assumed had no great promotion value in ancient times, became an immensely popular commodity due to the spread of mathematics exams.

Although it could not replace the status of the writing brush, the pencil became everyone's favorite utility pen.

Xu Cunren quickly drafted a simple classical studies test paper and handed it to Zhang Yi and Kong Ne to look over.

Upon examining it, Zhang Yi realized that Master Xu truly deserved his reputation as a lifelong educator.

While Master Xu knew nothing of mathematics, when it came to classical studies, he was a true Confucian master.

This language test paper was exceptionally well-constructed.

"Sir, I think this is entirely feasible!"

"Splendid. Would you two care to stay and have meal with me?"

"No, thank you, Sir. The two of us still have matters to attend to!"

Ever since he returned to school, Zhang Yi still had to carve out time every day to go to the Kong Residence to hypnotize Kong Kejian.

Ever since he was frightened by thieves last time, Kong Kejian's illness seemed to have grown slightly more severe, but Zhang Yi's hypnosis was the only time of day he could sleep peacefully.

Thus, Zhang Yi kept up this routine.

However, Kong Kejian's physical condition was growing worse by the day.

If the root cause of his mental illness was not removed, Zhang Yi feared he might not even survive until the originally recorded third year of Hongwu.

"You actually taught Master Xu how to draft a classical studies test paper. If our fellow students found out, they'd bite a chunk of flesh right off you!"

After school, once they stepped outside, Kong Ne said to Zhang Yi.

Ever since discovering that the one-hundred-point grading system could indeed intuitively improve "scores," the students of the Imperial Academy had been shrouded in the terror of examinations.

Zhang Yi chuckled.

"With classical studies exams added, mathematics won't stand out so much anymore! Now that the market has been more or less cultivated, we can go talk business with Fatty Chen!"

Kong Ne: ...

Zhang Yi's obsession with this so-called educational publishing industry was truly extraordinary.

To sell test papers, he had even engineered an entire examination system for the Imperial Academy.

Yet he had to admit that at least in mathematics, the birth of this examination system had indeed elevated the students' proficiency.

In other words, whether through examinations or drilling practice papers, it was effective for raising scores.

Unlike classical studies, where students found it hard to verify their own progress and only learned whether they measured up after a few life-defining exams,

the examination system Zhang Yi reformed utilized a one-hundred-point scale where scores served as a standard to measure student progress at a single glance.

This small change, seemingly unremarkable, was actually quite capable of stoking students' competitive spirit.

Knowing their own baseline, knowing how far behind they were,

and having a score as a target gave many people something concrete to study for.

They urgently needed something to verify their learning results, such as the test papers used in exams.

This was the "market" Zhang Yi had cultivated!

...

"Little Zhang, how is it that you've come over today?"

When Zhang Yi sneaked into the entrance of Runyu Hall, Chen Ke recognized him at first glance.

Just like last time, Chen Ke didn't treat him like a servant at all and appeared very warm.

Zhang Yi said, "Shopkeeper, could we borrow a step to speak in private?"

Understanding tacitly, Chen Ke led Zhang Yi to a back room.

"Little Brother Zhang, what trouble has arisen this time? As long as it's something old Chen can help with, just say the word!"

After that meal last time, Fatty Chen had observed two things. First, this child Zhang Sanfeng was Kong Ne's confidant; the little fellow enjoyed the young master's trust and did the dirty work for Kong Ne.

Second, Zhang Yi had hinted that day that Kong Ne probably had a favor to ask of him!

Today, Zhang Yi's visit was likely to fulfill that matter.

Hesitating for a moment, Zhang Yi said:

"Actually, it's like this. Ever since Elder Chen returned the jade artifact to our young master, he has been restless and unable to sleep!

"As the saying goes, a gentleman does not accept rewards without merit. He sold that jade piece to you, yet you returned it, which invisibly meant the young master owed you two thousand two hundred taels of silver!

"Although we know Shopkeeper Chen is righteous, the young master doesn't want to owe you a favor either, so he's been pondering lately how to repay your money!"

Chen Ke put on a stern face and said:

"Young Master Kong is simply too honest. I already told him not to rush. With the Kong family being such a great clan, I'm not worried—what is he worried about?"

"It's not quite like that. The Kong family is the Kong family, and the young master is the young master! Furthermore, given the current situation of the Kong family, the young master finds it rather embarrassing to trouble them!"

Chen Ke grew thoughtful. He wouldn't pry into what troubles Kong Ne was encountering, but what Zhang Yi said made sense.

If he could rely on the Kong family, he wouldn't have gone out to sell his own jade artifact in the first place.

"Therefore, the young master thinks day and night about how to repay Elder Chen's money, so he came up with a method..."

"What method?"

"Selling books!"

Chen Ke frowned slightly. Kong Ne actually wanted to rely on selling books to repay two thousand taels of silver?

Did he even understand what two thousand taels represented, or did he harbor some misunderstanding of his own abilities?

Indeed, books in the Ming Dynasty were relatively expensive. Cheaper books cost several hundred cash, while expensive ones, especially hardcover editions, could fetch two or three taels of silver a set.

Yet considering that scholars were ultimately a minority and literate people were few,

the market capable of purchasing a book was limited...

Coupled with the fact that there was no such thing as copyright in this era, booksellers might increase their sales volume through their own channels,

yet for any single book, those that could sell two thousand taels were vanishingly rare.

Moreover, two thousand taels of silver wouldn't all go to the author; the royalties a bookseller could allocate to an author did not exceed twenty percent.

That meant even if a book became a massive bestseller, the author would only receive about two hundred taels.

For some impoverished scholars, two hundred taels could improve their entire family's livelihood and fundamentally transform their quality of life.

Yet for Kong Ne, it was merely a drop in the bucket.

Furthermore, although Kong Ne carried the Kong family name and held the status of future Inheritor of Holiness,

he was not a renowned master, and his books would never sell for that price!

Writing books and establishing scholarly works—he was not yet qualified for that!

Could it be?

A vague guess formed in Chen Ke's mind. Could that Kong family youngster also be hard-hearted and trying to default on this debt?

Maintaining his composure, he deliberately asked:

"Young Master Kong wants to publish a book? That is naturally wonderful. I wonder what kind of book Young Master Kong intends to publish?"

"Books related to education!"

Once Zhang Yi finished speaking, Chen Ke was certain of Kong Ne's idea. Books related to education naturally had sales that couldn't possibly be high.

The books mainly managed and profited by Ming Dynasty booksellers were roughly similar to bestselling books of later generations.

Many of them were adaptations of strange tales, Yuan dynasty drama, and legends...

The target audience for these books was those literate, studying lower-class literati.

High-ranking masters, on the other hand, rarely read books produced by booksellers.

That young master of the Kong family either lacked worldly experience and still held naive fantasies about repaying debts, or he was using some method to clear his debt with him.

With his expression unchanged, since he had decided to be on good terms with Kong Ne, Chen Ke wouldn't begrudge this silver.

"Since Young Master Kong wishes to publish a book, I naturally welcome it. How about this—bring the manuscript for me to have a look..."

Zhang Yi had been prepared long ago and placed a large stack of manuscripts in front of the other man.

Picking them up to take a look, Chen Ke drew a sharp breath.

An unfriendly aura rushed toward his face.

He had originally thought what Kong Ne produced would be books similar to commentaries on classical meanings, or poetry collections lamenting the spring and autumn.

Who could have expected these to be matters concerning mathematics?

The inclusion of mathematics in the imperial examinations was also a major event recently circulating in Nanjing. As a bookseller, Chen Ke had also considered whether there were profits to be made here.

He had even hastily had people print additional copies of books like *Zhuishu* and *Jigu Suanjing*, and indeed, a few people bought them.

Yet overall sales were low.

Meanwhile, the imperial court's textbook, "Twelve Volumes of Mathematics," sold quite well, but the Emperor had fixed the price; anyone who dared to turn a profit on it was probably tired of living.

So calculation-wise, mathematics books did bring him some profits, but those profits couldn't arouse his interest at all.

A losing business!

Prepared mentally, Chen Ke was not panicked.

He said:

"This Young Master Kong is truly helping me out a great deal. I've recently been looking for mathematics books to publish, and quite a few people have already come to the bookstore to ask about them!

"This book must be handed over to old Chen for publication. I'll buy out the copyright for this book!

"Go back and ask your young master—would two thousand taels of silver suffice?"

Zhang Yi smiled and shook his head, causing Chen Ke to be slightly startled.

He had practically told Zhang Yi straight out that he would find an excuse to write off Kong Ne's debt, yet Zhang Yi was still unsatisfied?

This seemingly small child really acted like a little fox.

"Actually, you guessed wrong. My young master's intention is to take a percentage...

"Moreover, he knows these things aren't easy to sell, so he came up with a method of his own!

"Would you like to hear it?"