Echoes of My Heart Throughout the Court
Chapter 369: A Gentleman Talks, Not Fights

I have started few new translations. Check them out and let me what do you think?

Daily Life of Raising Cubs in the 1980s

How to Cultivate a Ten-Thousand-Mile Empire for the Young Emperor Qin?

Happy Little Mayor

The Pretty Widow in the 1980’s Remarried with Her Baby

After Xu Yanmiao buried the box, he deliberately avoided paying it any further attention. He was afraid he might not be able to resist meddling and would end up ruining things.

So, he chose to divert his focus by indulging in gossip.

[Changzhou has plenty of gossip too! Which one should I pick today?]

[The old lady of the Marquis’ residence is biased toward the second and third branches of the family. In two hours, she’s going to make the eldest branch give up the main residence and move to the western garden? Tsk, poor household management. This one’s average—next!]

The Jinyiwei quietly took note of this, planning to sneak into the Marquis’ residence later to gather evidence for impeachment.

As for justification—given the Jinyiwei’s reputation and His Majesty’s temperament—was any really needed? At most, it would just be another case of: “The emperor is suspicious, so he commanded the Jinyiwei to monitor all officials and nobles along the way.”

[Whoa! A wealthy and famous man in Changzhou just took a beautiful concubine, but it turns out she’s actually in love with his wife! The wife once saved her, and even though she knows nothing can come of her feelings, she decides to become a concubine just to stay close to the one she loves!]

[That’s… a wild twist!]

The accompanying imperial officials who could hear Xu Yanmiao’s thoughts were all shocked.

Hold on—if stuff like this can happen in other people’s households, what about our households?

They frantically began to recall whether the harmony between their wives and concubines could actually be… something more than sisterhood.

And even if they weren’t exactly harmonious, that didn’t mean nothing was going on! Didn’t Xu Yanmiao once mention something about a love-hate relationship?

[But I think I’ve had enough of this gossip. I’m not about to climb walls to spy on someone’s private chambers!]

[Forget it. Time for happy sleep—I’ll look again tomorrow!]

With nothing pressing on his mind, Xu Yanmiao slept soundly and peacefully through the fragrant summer night, accompanied by the rustling of plants and the soft chirping of insects.

But many of the accompanying officials couldn’t sleep at all.

Lying on their beds, they tossed and turned, obsessively pondering: Could their main wife and concubine… or two concubines… possibly be sharing a bed?

They pondered into the dead of night and were just about to fall asleep when—

[Wuhuuuuu!!!]

A sudden outburst shattered the silence.

Startled, the groggy officials jolted awake, eyes wide open.

What happened? What’s going on?

[Tomorrow morning, there’s going to be an argument between southern and northern scholars! I love watching intellectuals argue! Gotta be there first thing!]

The officials: “…”

You screamed in the middle of the night just for that?!

Xu Yanmiao walked out of the latrine and casually rinsed his hands in a water basin.

He hadn’t gotten up just to check out gossip, of course—but flipping through gossip while up at night? Perfectly normal, right?

[Back to sleep!]

[Goodnight, moon!]

Satisfied with his latest scoop, Xu Yanmiao contentedly fell back asleep. The officials, meanwhile, were left wide-eyed and speechless. If not for worrying about disturbing the public at night, they would’ve shouted, “You’ve got issues!”

The next morning, Xu Yanmiao noticed the bleary-eyed exhaustion on the faces of the secretaries and quietly hugged the hot porridge brought by his attendant closer.

[Why do they all look like they didn’t sleep well? Don’t tell me they had a secret late-night meeting without me?]

[Well, just don’t drag me in. I’m really not into power struggles—feel free to keep excluding me!]

The Crown Prince’s secretaries: “…”

They practically choked on their own blood in frustration.

Meanwhile, the Crown Prince walked by cheerfully with a bowl of freshly washed mulberries, ignoring his staff’s plight entirely. Sitting down beside Xu Yanmiao, he hinted eagerly: “Do you have any plans this morning? Anywhere you want to go?”

Xu Yanmiao blinked, clearly not expecting the Crown Prince to ask such a question.

[Well, this saves me the trouble of sneaking off later!]

Xu Yanmiao smiled. The Crown Prince also smiled.

“I’ve heard Changzhou is a hub of academic brilliance and home to many great minds. I’d like to visit a local academy and learn more about the scholarly climate.”

The Crown Prince agreed immediately, “Great! I didn’t have anything planned anyway!”

Changzhou was indeed a city steeped in culture.

It was home to various scholarly schools: the Changzhou School of Confucianism, the Changzhou Ci Poetry School, the Piling Poetry School, the Yanghu Prose School, and the Menghe Medical School. Even fields like poetry, painting, and ornate prose had their own prominent factions, each highly respected.

The academy Xu Yanmiao wanted to visit was the headquarters of the Changzhou School—also known as the New Text School or the Gongyang School. These were just different names for the same scholarly tradition.

When they arrived, a heated scene was already underway: a Northern student and a Southern student were in a tense standoff.

[Oh ho! We’ve arrived just in time for the main event!]

Xu Yanmiao and the Crown Prince exchanged glances and quickly found a discreet corner to sit and watch the debate.

This was Changzhou, so naturally there were more Southerners than Northerners in the academy. The Southern students had the numbers, the Northerners the grit.

The Northern student snarled, “You damned raccoon dog, don’t push your luck!”

[Whoa! Straight-up throwing regional slurs?! Not great…]

[Oh, I see—the Southerners fired the first shot earlier. They’ve been trading insults back and forth. In that case, fair enough.]

The term “raccoon dog” (貉) wasn’t flattering—there’s an old phrase, “birds of a feather” (一丘之貉), suggesting people are all bad in the same way. Northerners often used it to insult Southerners.

Naturally, Southerners had their own insults for Northerners.

“Did I say anything wrong?” the Southern student retorted. “You coarse bumpkins (傖人), lacking in scholarship and heritage—coming south to study, leeching off our academic traditions, libraries, and teachers… It’s no different from begging!”

—“Bumpkin” (傖人) here refers to crude, uncultured people.

“You—!”

The few Northern students in the hall all stood up, red-faced and furious.

Seeing them rise, the Southern students did too. With their superior numbers, the Northerners instantly looked like pebbles swallowed by crashing waves.

A Northerner snapped back, “We read ten thousand books and travel ten thousand miles—far more useful to the country than you layabouts who lounge in pleasure boats all day!”

“You don’t pass the imperial exams in large numbers.”

“Look at the southern breeze—it’s turned your bones to mush. Always cruising flower boats, your steps are weak, and you’ve forgotten most of the Six Arts of a gentleman!”

“You don’t pass the imperial exams in large numbers.”

“You play with snakes and gorge on crab roe—truly barbarians in disguise.”

“You don’t pass the imperial exams in large numbers.”

“You—!”

The Northern students were practically fuming, hair standing on end.

But the fact was—what the Southerners said was true.

Historically, because dynastic capitals were usually in the Central Plains and Guanzhong region, southern and northern cultural development was imbalanced. In some periods, the ratio of Southern to Northern candidates who passed the imperial exams (jinshi) reached an outrageous 9:1.

There were times when Northern officials tried to speak up for their region, arguing that the North was always the frontline against foreign invasions. Every time enemies invaded, the North suffered, while the South—being the rear—only saw war when the country was on the verge of collapse. Naturally, the South was more stable, allowing its culture and literature to flourish.

Meanwhile, the North never had the peace or time to develop its literary traditions—any progress would soon be destroyed again.

Then, some officials from the south started expressing their dissatisfaction.

“We didn’t get in through the back door — we also passed the exams through fierce competition. The imperial examination is supposed to be fair! We southerners were admitted based on our own abilities. You northerners didn’t pass, and now you’re blaming us for being too smart?!”

They even said something that deeply angered the northerners, essentially a geographical slur:

“You northerners didn’t pass because you’re too stupid.”

— That southern scholar really struck a nerve.

[Are they going to fight?!]

[Hiss!]

[Swords drawn! Swords drawn!]

The Crown Prince: “!!!”

He quickly pushed his way forward.

The prince’s attendants: “Your Highness?!!”

The Crown Prince turned back and declared righteously, “I want to see whether southerners are truly unskilled in the six gentlemanly arts, and whether they really fall far behind northerners in swordsmanship. Though danger lies ahead, I fear it not!”

Xu Yanmiao’s eyes lit up.

[Great excuse!]

“I’ll protect His Highness!” Xu Yanmiao also rushed forward.

Mainly because he had only ever seen scholars exchanging verbal barbs — he’d never seen scholars actually fight.

— Besides, being closer would make it easier to prevent any fatalities at the crucial moment.

The prince’s attendants: “!!!”

They were about to faint.

The Crown Prince can’t afford to get hurt — but would it be much better if you got hurt, Xu? If something happens to you, we’re completely done for!

I don’t want all our secrets getting exposed!

A Jinyiwei disguised as a commoner quickly came up with an idea. Not caring whether it would spoil the Crown Prince’s elegant moment, he rushed out and dropped to his knees on the ground, loudly shouting:

“Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!”

The entire scene froze.

Even the Crown Prince froze, silently pulling his leg back and standing properly, adjusting his face to hide the wide grin.

When the students, following the Jinyiwei and the attending guards, finally identified the Crown Prince, what they saw was a poised and composed figure, his smile as warm and gentle as a spring breeze.

They were instantly impressed.

This Crown Prince… really looks like someone who would value and make good use of scholars.

They all cupped their hands and bowed: “Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.”

By now, the armed guards and Jinyiwei had already separated the Crown Prince from the crowd.

With a gentle smile, the Crown Prince nodded toward them — truly a noble gentleman, polished like jade, refined like carved stone. Even his voice was graceful and elegant:

“What’s going on here? Why are you fighting? You’re classmates, not mortal enemies — why draw swords?”

The students all looked ashamed.

The Crown Prince had already outlined a vision for educating and enlightening the world through voyages — a direction for scholars to achieve lasting fame.

— Whether it could be achieved or not was a separate matter, but at least they now had a direction.

Thus, scholars and students across the land regarded the Crown Prince with admiration and reverence. You could say that as long as the Crown Prince didn’t betray the country or turn against scholars, these scholars would be more than willing to cheer him on. In fact, even if he did betray the country or scholars, many would probably refuse to believe it and instead make excuses for him, convinced that he must have his reasons — maybe even enduring humiliation for a greater cause.

Upon hearing the Crown Prince’s question, the northerners and southerners immediately started accusing each other — one said the other spoke with contempt for northerners, the other said they were cruel toward classmates. Each side had its own version of the truth.

The Crown Prince sighed: “Even if both sides have valid points, a gentleman reasons with words, not fists…”

[Exactly, exactly!] Xu Yanmiao shouted loudly: [A gentleman talks it out, not fights — go bite him instead!]

3 More chapter to go. I am feeling sad that this story is coming to an end.

---

If you'd like bonus updates or early access, you can support me over on Ko-fi! Every bit helps me keep translating and bringing you more stories to enjoy.

👉 Support me on Ko-fi

Thanks for reading and being here~ 💕

Happy reading!