Jun Huailang got up and immediately headed outside. Shen Liufeng hurriedly stuffed an umbrella into his hands.
Jun Huailang opened the umbrella and walked straight out. The scholars and teachers in the classroom followed one after another, standing beneath the corridor and looking outside.
The dean of Linjiang Academy also followed at his side.
The dean knew Jun Huailang’s identity. Over the past year, not only had Jun Huailang been exceptionally accomplished in his studies, he had also often gone to the government office to work. The dean was quite familiar with his abilities as well.
“What is wrong?” he asked Jun Huailang.
Jun Huailang glanced at him and saw that the dean’s white hair was already soaked through.
Without stopping, he handed the umbrella to the dean.
Before the dean could refuse, Jun Huailang withdrew his hand and said, “I’m not certain yet. I need to go take a look.”
On ordinary days when classes were in session, the academy gates were bolted from the inside. At this moment, several guards of the academy were anxiously waiting at the entrance. Outside, the voices were deafening, and even before they approached, they could hear people pounding on the gate.
“Let us in and take shelter from the rain!” The people outside shouted one after another.
The dean of the academy had always been a scholar. He had never held any great office, and he also had a soft heart. Hearing the cries from outside in the rain, he hesitantly looked at Jun Huailang.
“…We can’t really refuse to let the common people in.” After a pause, he still said firmly, “Scholars have always taken the world as their concern and regarded the lives of the people as their responsibility. Everyone in this academy is now a scholar or an aspiring scholar, and in the future they will become officials. If we set such a precedent for them now, I’m afraid that before we teach them their books properly, we will have taught them the wrong way to be people.”
Jun Huailang looked at him. “This student understands.”
As they spoke, the two of them had already reached the academy gate. Jun Huailang pointed to one of the guards beside them and had him fetch a ladder, then glanced sideways at the dean.
“This student only wants to confirm whether the people outside really are commoners.”
The dean paused.
Jun Huailang asked, “Sir, if there are criminals pretending to be common people, can an official still handle the matter in exactly the same way?”
The rain poured heavily. His expression was calm yet resolute, like a green pine standing upright and unshaken in the rain.
The dean paused, then nodded.
“You are right.”
As the two spoke, the guard had already brought the ladder over.
Linjiang Academy had always been filled with teachers and scholars, while the only people who came and went outside were ordinary commoners. Jinling was peaceful, so there had never been any particular need to hire people specifically to guard the place.
The few guards at the academy were people the kindhearted dean had found in the city—middle-aged men with minor disabilities, as well as teenagers who had lost their fathers and orphans. On ordinary days, they looked after the academy’s belongings and did some cleaning. They had never had to do anything else.
Linjiang Academy had always been a place where not even thieves would bother to come.
If the people outside really had come prepared, then the helpless scholars and elderly teachers filling the academy, together with a few young and old guards, would have no ability to resist them at all.
The ladder was set against the wall.
Although Jun Huailang was not skilled in martial arts, he had still been taught from childhood. Compared with everyone else in the academy, his foundation was naturally far better. Without needing anyone to support him, he climbed the ladder cleanly and swiftly and reached the top of the wall.
The moment his head appeared above the wall, the people outside saw him.
“Someone’s here!” one person shouted loudly.
At once, everyone outside the academy looked up toward Jun Huailang.
Through the hazy curtain of rain, a group of commoners in plain clothing could be seen standing outside, crowded around the academy gate. There was a huge mass of them, completely blocking the area outside the academy.
The dean shakily climbed up behind him.
He had taught for decades and had always been somewhat removed from the concerns of ordinary life. Through the rain, he saw all those commoners crowded around the gate. The rain poured down heavily, and without even an umbrella among them, they kept pounding on the gate.
When they saw someone from the academy appear, they became even more aggressive.
“Sir, our house has been flooded! Please let us in and take shelter!”
“The river outside is still rising! It’s about to flood over here! Let us in!”
“As long as you give us somewhere to stand, we won’t disturb you gentlemen!”
“My younger brother’s leg was crushed by something! He can’t just stay out here in the rain! Please, sir, have some mercy!”
Quite a few scholars from the academy had also come out by now, gathering around the ladder. Hearing what the people said, every one of them showed compassion and began discussing it in low voices.
“Just let them in. The classrooms are spacious. They can still accommodate them.”
“That’s right… It’s raining this heavily, and they’ve all fled here for their lives…”
The dean also began to waver.
“This…”
Jun Huailang, however, looked coldly down at the people below.
“Dean, look carefully,” he said.
The dean frowned and looked down.
“For one thing, they came this quickly, and they are all young and able-bodied men. Why haven’t they brought any belongings or luggage, or any elderly people, women, or children? Could it be that every single one of them has no family and nothing tying them down?” Jun Huailang said.
“Furthermore, every one of them appears to be dressed in worn-out clothes. Not a single one is wearing silk. This is Jinling, a prosperous place to begin with. If the city has been flooded, could it really be that only the poor have managed to flee?”
At this point, Jun Huailang said coldly, “What’s more, the academy walls have eaves, so they can shelter from the rain outside. They claim they are here to escape the rain, yet they are standing in the rain and crowding together at the gate. Clearly, getting inside is their true purpose. Taking shelter from the rain is secondary.”
After saying that, he looked up at the dean.
Sure enough, the dean’s expression had become solemn.
“Then what… should we do?” he asked.
Just then, Jun Huailang’s ladder shifted.
He lowered his head and saw that a scholar was holding the ladder and pleading with him.
“Can we open the gate and let them in?”
As he spoke, he seemed on the verge of tears. His throat was choked with emotion, and rainwater covered his face.
“I came to Jinling from southern Jiangsu to take the imperial examination. My mother came with me and is staying in the northern part of the city. If something happened at home, my mother would definitely come looking for me. I’m afraid she might be among these people…”
As he spoke, he could not help bursting into tears.
Jun Huailang pursed his lips. He then heard the surrounding scholars begin echoing him.
“That’s right! The city has suffered a disaster. How can we lock the common people outside the gate?”
“What if our own families are outside? What are we supposed to do? At least let them in to shelter from the rain!”
Jun Huailang paused, then reached a hand toward the scholar.
“Give me the umbrella,” he said.
The scholar did not understand, but he still handed the umbrella to him.
Jun Huailang took it, raised his hand and closed it, then turned around and called out to the people outside.
“The academy is crowded, so we cannot open the gate. But there are eaves outside the gate where you can take shelter. I see that there are many of you, so I imagine the eaves will not be enough. There are quite a few umbrellas in the academy. I will throw them down to you. Please catch them properly. They can at least give you some shelter.”
As he spoke, he threw the umbrella down.
Yet the people outside suddenly fell silent.
Immediately afterward, they erupted into an uproar.
“How crowded could it possibly be? You just think we’re filthy poor commoners and don’t want us dirtying your place!”
“Now that we’ve suffered a disaster, you scholars won’t even open the gate! How are you going to become our parents and officials in the future?”
“Brothers, we can’t worry about all that anymore! Let’s smash this gate open!”
As they spoke, the pounding on the gate became even louder.
Jun Huailang turned around and looked at them.
“Do you believe me now? They clearly aren’t here to take shelter from the rain. They’re here to cause trouble.”
With that, he climbed down the ladder, turned around, and patted the scholar on the shoulder.
“Don’t worry. The rain is heavy. Your mother couldn’t possibly have come this far,” he said. “If you don’t want your mother to worry about you, go wait in the classroom and protect yourself.”
The scholar nodded mutely.
Jun Huailang said no more. He turned around and walked toward the gate.
“Block the gate completely and find some tables and chairs,” he said. “The academy walls are high enough to hold them back, but under no circumstances can we let them break open the gate.”
The guards hurriedly followed his instructions.
Among the crowd, however, there were always some scholars who looked down on someone like Jun Huailang, a young master from an aristocratic family, and who loved to become indignant on behalf of others. Seeing this situation, they assumed that Jun Huailang was merely keeping ordinary commoners outside because of his suspicious nature and because he was afraid of being jostled.
One of the bolder ones, hearing Jun Huailang give these orders, shouted loudly, “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with what they’re saying! I only think that you’ve been used to being one of the people above everyone else, so you don’t consider other people’s lives to be lives!”
As he spoke, he actually stepped forward and tried to open the gate.
Jun Huailang’s gaze sharpened.
The next moment, he snatched the saber from one of the guards.
A flash of cold light passed by, and a sharp blade was held directly in front of the scholar. The torrential rain splashed onto the blade and shattered into droplets, yet the blade remained steady in place, unmoving.
“Try taking one more step,” he said coldly, looking at the scholar.
The scholar froze. The blade, held just inches from his eyes, frightened his legs weak, and he could not move another step.
Jun Huailang glanced at him. The blade was still held horizontally in his hand as he looked up at the surrounding crowd.
“All of you, go back to the classrooms. The displaced people outside the gate naturally need to be dealt with by the government. Before the soldiers arrive, if anyone dares touch this gate, don’t blame me for being merciless.”
Naturally, he was only threatening them. There was no way he would actually attack anyone.
But the threat was effective. Before long, the people around him had dispersed completely.
Jun Huailang took a deep breath and lowered the saber in his hand.
He did not even know when it had happened, but somehow he had unconsciously learned a couple of things from Xue Yan’s bandit-like manner.
The rain around them showed no sign of weakening. Jun Huailang acted as though he did not notice it at all. When he saw the guards bringing over tables and chairs, he stepped forward and directed them to block the gate.
In his previous life, he had studied the matter of the embankment in depth, and as a result he had also learned quite a bit of engineering knowledge. He had always had some understanding of how to make use of the force of objects.
Seeing him act this way, the elderly dean let out a long sigh and stayed there with him to guard the gate.
The pounding on the gate gradually grew louder. It changed from pounding to ramming, and afterward they could even hear the people searching for some kind of tools and smashing them against the gate.
Fortunately, Linjiang Academy had been built grandly, and the main gate was sturdy. In addition, there was the force of the tables and chairs braced against the gate from inside. Although the noise sounded earth-shaking, there was no immediate danger.
“I just don’t know when the soldiers will arrive,” the dean said worriedly beside him.
At those words, Jun Huailang’s gaze darkened.
None of the city’s principal officials were present today, so the government office was probably in chaos as well.
He did not know when the soldiers would arrive, but he needed to stay here and guard the place until they came.
…Because everyone inside the academy was a living, innocent human life.
The impacts against the gate gradually became more violent, and the angry curses of the people outside grew louder as well. The tables and chairs began to shake, and the guards stepped forward again, using their strength to push against them and prevent the people outside from breaking the gate bolts.
Just then, a sound suddenly came from atop the wall.
Jun Huailang looked up and saw several displaced people pushing and lifting one another, actually hoisting one of them onto the wall. That man appeared to have some martial arts skill. After crouching on the wall for a moment, he suddenly leaped down.
The moment he landed, he charged straight toward the gate.
The entire process happened in the blink of an eye. Several people nearby had not even recovered from their surprise.
Jun Huailang was startled. He immediately reached out and yanked the elderly dean behind him.
At the same time, his other hand firmly caught the wooden club that had been swung down toward the dean.
The force was so great that it immediately numbed his entire arm.