Chapter 6: Linghu Chong II

  Dugu Qiubai is not a symbol, he is a real person, the principal of Bianjing University.

  Dugu Qiubai sometimes feels confused and uncertain about his choices. Dugu Qiubai is not a name that has been obtained in vain, he independently summarized the "History of Chinese Swords" when he was young and won the first prize of the Great Song Science and Technology Progress Award, at that time, everyone on TV knew the great name of Professor Dugu. Dugu Qiubai became the youngest historian in the history of the Great Song with a flourish, and when he gave reports, there were almost always thunderous applause and very few questions. With Dugu Qiubai's accumulation in research, there is hardly anyone in the entire historical circle of the Great Song who dares to question Dugu Qiubai's research results.

  But Dugu Qiu Bai is no longer an authority in the field of history now, and this title has been replaced by another title - President of Bian Da.

  Since Dugu Qiubai took the position of president of Bianjing University, he no longer had time to read literature. All day long, he was busy with social events and piles of documents. Occasionally, out of interest, he would attend some historical research activities, but generally, no one would arrange for him to give an academic report. He was often placed in a very conspicuous position, serving as a symbol of Bianjing University. Dugu Qiubai felt that the sign in front of him didn't need to be written with "Dugu Qiubai", it could just be written with "Bianjing University".

  What Dugu Qiubai regretted most was that, due to lack of time to read papers, he had no energy to offer opinions on those vigorous young scholars. All he could do was sit there with a humble smile, showing his care for the younger generation while hiding his own desire to take a nap.

  One day, Dugu Qiubai had a conversation with several new students and found that the children didn't even know he used to do research. Some people even thought he was an official from the political department. At that time, Dugu Qiubai really wanted to pick up the brick-like historical work on the table and hit the student's head with it, which was compiled by himself when he was young.

  Back home, Dugu Principal took out the papers he wrote from under the bookcase and read them again. His daughter looked at her father in surprise as he carefully stroked the yellowed and brittle pages under the lamp light, and let out a long sigh.

  From then on, Dugu Qiubai began to cherish those papers, cherished them extremely - because he knew that he could no longer write them again.

  The organizer of the school anniversary, Du Guo Qiubai has been working for five years, commemorating the 100th anniversary of Bian Da and also his own principal career.

  What he wants to commemorate is an end.

  In the first year of Jiayou, it was also the time for the president of Bian Da to change. After that year, the president of Bian Da would no longer be him, Dugu Qiubai, but a new person would replace him as the symbol of Bian Da in front of piles of documents and flashing lights. Sometimes, Dugu Qiubai would pat the window frame, gaze out at the lake, think about how he would eventually bid farewell to that small building "Du Dui Xuan" which represented his identity as president, and a hint of nostalgia would arise in his heart.

  He is neither a historian nor the president of Peking University, so what is he?

  Once thought of this problem, Dugu Qiubai sighed and smiled wryly, looked around to make sure no one was there, then slammed his hand on the office desk and stood up, striking a pose: "Hear me roar...!"

  Then he sang with a sigh: "Wandering heroes shed tears, parting ways at the scholar's house. Xie Ci's sad shaving and tonsure are under the lotus platform, no fate to turn around and suddenly separate. Naked and unencumbered, coming and going without attachment. Where can I beg for a rain hat and a straw umbrella, walking alone with my hemp shoes and broken alms bowl, following the fate of the Buddhist monk?"

  As soon as the singing stopped, Dugu Qiubai heard a burst of applause and turned his head to see that the secretary had already come in from the corridor, standing with two big-bearded professors from the Western Regions, applauding vigorously.

  Later, everyone knew that Principal Dugu was actually a ticket friend, and Lu Zhishen sang with great standards. So whenever they entertained foreign professors, after the wine and words of joy, they would ask Dugu to sing a segment of "Ji Sheng Cao", also giving the foreign professors an opportunity to admire the great Chinese culture. During this time, applause was constant, only Dugu himself smiled bitterly in his heart, who could have known his mood when he shouted that day?

  He came and went without a care, washing away the mundane, he alone sought defeat, still just a lone seeker of defeat, that's all.

  For that little nostalgia, Du Guo Qiubai is preparing to plan the 100th anniversary celebration of the school's founding, to draw a glorious period for his principal career, and let everyone remember that there was once a principal named Du Guo Qiubai who led Bin Da through the centennial milestone. Also, for himself, when he truly gets old, to write more memoirs.

  The centennial anniversary is actually a very important day, indicating that Bian Daxue has survived for one hundred years through wind and rain. During this period, I don't know how many similar universities have gone bankrupt. The existence of academic institutions is only a matter of time, as of the Song Dynasty, due to various reasons, countless famous educational institutions have disappeared.

  Those who seek to destroy history have a precedent. The leader of the anti-Qin democratic alliance, Xiang Yu, rushed into Xianyang and immediately burned all the books hidden by the great Qin scholars, not long after Qin Shi Huang had just enthusiastically burned some himself. Meanwhile, in the western regions, there was once an impressive library of Alexandria, which was painstakingly established but later destroyed by another powerful figure, Caesar.

  Seven hundred years later, another Arab general, Amr, led his troops into Alexandria with large curved swords. He saw a huge pile of books and said they were the remnants of Caesar's time. General Amr casually lit a cigarette and was about to burn them when a soldier stopped him, saying "General, don't burn them randomly, maybe there are some useful books." Amr pulled out a copy of the Quran from his pocket and said, "We can categorize these books into two types: the Quran and non-Quran. Is that correct?" The soldier replied, "Your method is correct, but it seems like nonsense." Amr said, "Non-Quran books are heretical, burn them!" The soldier asked, "What if there are copies of the Quran?" Amr replied, "Can't you see I already have a copy in my hand? The rest are redundant, burn them. If you want to read it, I'll lend you mine."

  It's really chaotic times, and the academic institution is as fragile as the remnants of that academic reputation from back then.

  The survival of the University of Nanjing cannot be said to be without the strong support of the Song government. The emperor of the Song Dynasty had long proposed the "education as the foundation" policy, which means that we want to establish 100 world-class universities, cultivate 1 million university students, invest 10 billion in education funds, and finally create a century-old university.

  There are not a few schools that claim to be century-old universities. For example, Qufu Normal University in Shandong Province claims that Confucius taught here and this is the origin of our university, which is over a thousand years old. Zhoukoudian University is even more outrageous, claiming that based on archaeological findings, Peking Man already understood simple arithmetic, and their university is located where Peking Man used to teach math to young apes. Calculating from this, "Zhoukoudian University" has an existence history of about 500,000 years.

  On this point, Bianjing University can't compare with others because their historical data is too clear. The predecessor of Bian Daxue was the "Chenqiao Military Academy" established by Emperor Taizu Zhao Kuangyin in the late Zhou Dynasty, and no one dares to push this great honor onto a monkey's head.

  Du Guo thought about it, and still wasn't sure if the school had a history of over 100 years. He was too meticulous due to his old habit of studying history. He pondered that for over ten years, the school had moved into the mountains due to the Jin people's invasion, and the teachers and students lived close to nature, mingling with monkeys. And for another decade or so, because the government advocated "strengthening martial virtues", all the students worshipped their masters, learned martial arts, fought fiercely, and didn't care about education at all. If you subtract these periods of time, then the actual operating time would be at most over 70 years.

  Du Guo was anxious about the result, and near the school anniversary, he made a special report to Tong Zhong Shu Men Xia Ping Zhang Shi, applying for an appropriation, saying that he would hold some small-scale student activities on the 100th anniversary of the school anniversary, and invite several Western academic representatives to Bianliang to hold some seminars. In fact, Principal Du Guo mainly wanted to take this opportunity to see the meaning of his superiors.

  Contrary to Dugu Qiubai's expectations, a high-ranking official from the imperial court personally came to inspect, bringing more than a dozen reporters from the Great Song Television Station. Dugu Qiubai accompanied them to see the "Dismounting Stele" that Taizu Emperor had erected at the school gate, with eight large characters written by Taizu himself: "Officials and commoners dismount here".

  Ping Zhang pointed at the Stele of the Horse and said excitedly: "Look, look..."

  At this time, Guo Jing was riding his old donkey, with Duan Yu in front and Yang Kang behind, swaying back and forth as they returned from eating buns outside. The three of them on the donkey creaked and swayed, openly passing by the dismounting stele. Dugu Qiubai's face suddenly turned pale, although he had already informed each department to clean up and control the students, but he had completely forgotten about the dismounting stele. In his early years when he wasn't a principal and didn't have a dedicated car, Dugu Qiubai himself would ride a bicycle in front of the dismounting stele.

  Ping Zhang pointed at the stele and said: "Look! The second year of Qian De!!!" He was almost in tears.

  As the reporters around him flashed their cameras, Dugu Qiubai suddenly woke up from his nightmare of the Stele of the Horse and realized that Pingzhangshi had not noticed the eight big characters written by Taizu. What Pingzhangshi noticed was only the date of Taizu's signature - "Second year of Qian De".

  "We have a hundred-year-old academy in our great Song Dynasty!" Ping Zhangshi said, facing the camera. "A hundred years of academia and a hundred years of our motherland, we must celebrate, and celebrate this grand centennial event in the education sector."

  The flashbulbs popped again, and the next day, Du Guo's visit to Pingzhang Temple to view the Stele of the Horse was on the front page of the Da Song Daily. The headline jumped out at readers: "Entering a New Era in Education, A Hundred Years of Trials and Hardships at Bian University". Below it were three full pages of articles by commentators, memoirs of old professors from Bian University, interviews with students from Bian University, and the president's prospects for the future.

  Less than a month after Du Guo's defeat, he received a large sum of money, and Ping Zhang himself called to inform him that the centennial celebration should be done well, so that the Western countries can see that the Great Song also has a hundred-year-old academy. Then came a call from Song Jiang, the director of the Great Song Television Station, saying that he hoped to cooperate with Bian Da to hold an educational evening party called "Wind and Rain for a Hundred Years". After that, Ou Yangfeng's Snake Medicine Group called to say that they very much hope to establish an education fund in the name of the centennial celebration.

  After being defeated and feeling dizzy, Dugu still didn't forget to do one thing. That was to instruct his secretary to immediately expand the original concise list of invited professors from Western Regions by five times.