"Of course... I do!" Fang Zhengzhi replied after a brief moment of hesitation.
Chi Guyan chuckled and leaned back, seemingly unsurprised by Fang Zhengzhi's answer. She turned to look at a row of trees in the village.
"Shameless Thief, we've known each other for eight years right?"
"Probably..." Fang Zhengzhi replied flatly.
"Do you think that each and every tree would grow the same way over eight years?" Chi Guyan's eyes glowed faintly.
"Of course not. They each receive different amounts of sunlight and grow in different soil. These will all affect their growth." Fang Zhengzhi replied without hesitation.
"Now, what if the sunlight, soil, nutrition, weather, and every other environmental factor were the same?" Chi Guyan pressed.
Fang Zhengzhi was thrown off. He had never thought about it that way. There was no wa this hypothetical scenario could ever come true. How could two trees ever receive the same coverage of sunlight?
"Even if that was the case, they'll still be different!"
"Oh? Why?" Chi Guyan's eyes glowed.
Fang Zhengzhi did not mention the greenhouses from his previous world. Even though the plants in a greenhouse all received similar care, there were still differences.
"Each seed is inherently different. Some may be of better quality. Humans are the same, there can never be two completely identical persons. Even identical twins have minute differences." Fang Zhengzhi continued to think. I guess you don't know "genetics"?
"I really don't know how someone like you exists. You have never been to an academy. You self taught the Law Of Dao, but you keep coming up with fresh perspectives." Chi Guyan exclaimed. Then, after a moment of hesitation, she continued. "Every tree, mountain, and river may be different. However, one can understand the Dao from any tree, mountain or river. The differences lie in the quality. The better the care, the better the flower..."
Chi Guyan stood up and sauntered back into the house.
Fang Zhengzhi's eyes glimmered. He understood such a simple concept, yet, he had failed to apply it.
I see!
Over the past eight years, I have focused on collecting stars. Every time I collected one, I moved on to others.
In the end, I collected many stars, but each one was about the same size.
In other words, they were all in the nascent stage.
Fang Zhengzhi finally understood it. There was one other reason that made him believe it. His largest fruit was the purple one with red stains.
The Dao of Massacre?!
Fang Zhengzhi had no idea what these fruits would become once they were grown. However, this had opened up a door for him. Previously, he had wanted to breakthrough into the Supernatural state.
But now, he wanted something different.
If 300 nascent stage fruits made him this powerful, what if they doubled in size?
Or even tripled, quadrupled...
What would happen?
He still had much to do!
Fang Zhengzhi became increasingly excited, subconsciously grabbing the fruit wine and gulped it down. About half way through, he suddenly felt that something was amiss.
F*ck!
Chi Guyan had drank from this?!
Chi Guyan had no idea if Fang Zhengzhi had understood her words, but she knew that he would one day.
She did not spoon feed him because she knew that the best way for him to learn was for him to infer and understand it for himself.
Furthermore, she wanted to preserve his ego.
Fang Zhengzhi may be shameless, but Chi Guyan knew that he valued pride above all else.
"He has already collected two to three hundred stars... I wonder how terrifying he will be if he "waters the tree"..." Chi Guyan paused at the door. People like Yu Yiping May think that Fang Zhengzhi was wasting his time becoming a jack of all trades.
Chi Guyan did not think so. Someone may be planting on one acre of land. He may be giving it the best fertilizer, but his production will always be limited. What if this man planted on 10 acres?
100 acres?
Even though this man would be off to a slower start, with effort and time, the production of the 100 acres of land will exceed that of one. And it would exceed by many, many times...
The next day, Fang Zhengzhi and Fang Houde went to visit Zhang Yangping.
Color had returned to Zhang Yangping's face. The superior medicine from the Divine Constabulary had played a huge role in his recovery. Furthermore, having grown up in the mountains, his body was tough.
Many elderly villagers sat in a circle around Zhang Yangping.
"Zhengzhi and Fang Houde are here!" The villagers stood up to welcome them.
"Zhengzhi, you're just on time. We were just discussing your return to the village. We have never produced a rank four official. However, I have already asked Ah Nan to rush out the tablet. We have used the ancestral rosewood for this tablet. What do you think? Also, I thought of having a few tablets made at the entrance..." Zhang Yangping said excitedly.
"Uncle Yangping, I actually came to discuss some things with you." Fang Zhengzhi knew that erecting a tablet was a tradition. It represented the highest honor and respect the village could confer. He would show his official seal and it would be followed by a series of celebrations.
However...
He felt that the tablet was like a gravestone... however, Zhang Yangping had already rushed it out. Fang Zhengzhi had to admit that the speed at which he worked was quite stunning.
He knew the origins of that piece of rosewood.
That was wood that their ancestors had harvested. It was superior rosewood and the most valuable item in the village. Yet, it was now made into a tablet?
"Sure, please tell us if you think that we've missed out anything else!" Zhang Yangping smiled radiantly, showing no signs of his injury the previous day.
"Actually, I wanted to discuss the school." Fang Zhengzhi realized that Zhang Yangping had misunderstood.
"School? Yes, Sensei Wang had suffered quite a bit. We should definitely take care of him. I will make the necessary arrangements to ensure he is contented."
"I'm talking about expanding the school..."
"Expanding the school? Sure thing. With your reputation and links to the Divine Constabulary, I am sure that we can take in a few more students. We can probably produce a couple more hopefuls."
"Uncle Yangping, I'm talking about making it into an academy."
"Academy? I think that's a good idea! If it's an academy, we can... hang on, Zhengzhi, did you say academy?!" Just as Zhang Yangping was about to nod his approval, he hesitated.
"Yes, I have already made a deal with Chi Guyan. She has agreed to send 50 of the best sensei to teach here. They will stay here for three years. That's why I want to make it an academy." Fang Zhengzhi explained.
"This is great news, but..." Zhang Yangping's joy was dampened significantly.
"Zhengzhi, we know that you mean well. However, the Northern Mountain Village is extremely poor. Can they come? Furthermore, we can't house so many people." One of the village elders smiled bitterly.
"That's why we will need to renovate and rebuild. Furthermore, we must ensure that the village becomes prosperous soon." Fang Zhengzhi answered.
"Zhengzhi... you should know the situation now. Even though we are richer than any of the other villages, we can barely scrape together enough to build another school. How can we possibly accommodate 50 sensei? Furthermore, building their accommodation would cost hundreds of silvers!"
"I'm not done... I'm planning to build an arena which can accommodate thousands. I would also like to build accommodation for students, a library, hunting ground..." Fang Zhengzhi rattled off a list.
The expressions of Zhang Yangping and the village elders changed. This was a full fledged academy, and it was much better than the mega school in Huai An County.
I'm guessing that there is no school like it in the Northern Territories?
"Zhengzhi, silver! All these cost silver!" Zhang Yangping reminded.
"Yes. Based on my preliminary calculations, the land around the village should be enough. However, in order to complete construction of the academy, we would require 200,000 silvers!" Fang Zhengzhi nodded.
"Two... 200,000 silvers?!" Zhang Yangping nearly fell off his chair. 200,000 silvers was an astronomical price. He was sure even the River of Trust Province did not collect that much in taxes annually.
"Yes, in order to make the villager prosper, we have to do something else. If one wants to be rich, have less children and plant more trees..." Fang Zhengzhi added.
"What?!" Zhang Yangping was stunned. What did that even mean? The entire Cang Ling Mountain is filled with trees, but our village is not rich at all!
"Hang on, I may have made a mistake. If we want to get rich, we must first build roads! I plan to build a road to Huai An County, it will be..." Fang Zhengzhi reacted almost immediately.
"Zhengzhi, it is quite a distance to Huai An County. My estimate is that it would take at least a few thousand silvers?" Zhang Yangping reminded.
"That is a gross underestimate. I plan to expand it to four lanes. However, a cement road is too expensive. Asphalt is an even better alternative, but we lack the equipment to make it happen. Let's start with gravel. We have an abundance of stone anyways. I estimate that it would cost about 30,000 silvers!"
"30...30,000 silvers?!" Zhang Yangping could not believe his ears.
The other villagers were scared out of their wits. They could barely scrap together a single zero, where were they going to find 5 zeroes?
"Zhengzhi... your ideas are good, but... we don't have the silvers!" Zhang Yangping grit his teeth.
"We do!" Fang Zhengzhi smiled.
"We really don't!" Zhang Yangping was on the verge of crying.
"We really do!" Fang Zhengzhi retrieved a stack of cheques and placed them in front of Zhang Yangping.
He was not done.
He began looking inside his storage.
He took out box after box of silvers and placed them haphazardly on the table.
Zhang Yangping and the other elders were completely stunned.
This...
Is so much silver!
They could see the value on the cheques. Each one was for 1000 silvers. Based on its thickness, it was worth at least tens of thousands of silvers.
They could not believe their eyes when they saw the boxes of silvers.
Furthermore, Fang Zhengzhi was not done. After retrieving the boxes of silver, he began taking out ingots of gold.
The golden glow filled the entire room quickly.
"Uncle Yangping, just take a look. We have cheques, silvers, and even gold!" Fang Zhengzhi continued to pull out even more currency as he blinked.
All of the others in the room were stunned. They rubbed their eyes vigorously to ensure that they weren't being tricked. Those with teeth picked up the gold and bit it.
The toothmark was instantly printed on the gold.
"Yup, but we are still missing a little bit even after all these. No worries though, I have ways to get around this. Let's start with the necessities and the more critical projects. The entire school is a long term project. We could start with the accommodation and arena. Once we are done, the money for the rest of the projects will be in!"
Fang Zhengzhi smiled. It was all too easy to develop a school. Furthermore, if they became the premier school in the Northern Territories, it would be even easier.
Just the reputation of the senseis would be enough to attract students and resources..
Three years!
They may not even need three years to make the Northern Mountain Village the promised land. He would have the most modern teaching methods here as well!
Fang Zhengzhi became more and more excited. All of the academies were controlled by the courts and the number of slots were limited. Once they got in, they coasted.
There were so many students who hoped to simply coast by. They just wanted the title of being a student in an academy. This made them feel superior.
Fang Zhengzhi decided to break this tradition and start a private institution.
At the same time...
He would create the term "school fees"!
Just as Fang Zhengzhi was planning the development of the academy in his mind, a whisper rang out beside him.
"Zhengzhi, tell Uncle Yangping the truth. Did you kidnap the princess?"