The Ace Bigshot Becomes A Farmgirl

The gatekeeper looked the two people up and down. Their clothes were decent enough; they clearly looked like sons of wealthy families—except why did they look as if they’d just rolled through a mud pit?

The young man saw this and secretly cried bitterly in his heart.

This really wasn’t his fault. Back when he was in the capital, he’d heard that Lu’s had paintings by Mr. Shanju, so of course he had to see them with his own eyes.

So he had seen those two paintings, and now that he’d come to the real scenes depicted in them—especially hitting just the right time when the sunflowers were in bloom—he couldn’t help feeling a little overexcited. When he climbed the mountain, he wanted to find the very angle Mr. Shanju had used when painting, to look at that sea of golden sunflowers.

For that, he went straight over the guardrail that had been specially set up along both sides of the mountain path.

However, he had been hurrying along the road these past few days and hadn’t stopped to rest even after reaching Dongan Province. He really was tired, and as he stared too intently, he took a few steps forward. Who could have known that his foot would slip and he would fall headfirst.

And that wasn’t the end of it—his whole body rolled down four or five meters. He only just managed to hook one foot around a tree at the side, finally stopping himself from tumbling any farther.

The Attendant Student was scared half to death. When he rushed over to grab him, he slipped and took a spill as well.

Fortunately, neither of them was badly hurt; they just looked rather filthy.

Out in public, the young man was still somewhat steady. Though his clothes were filthy, his movements were crisp. He straightened his back slightly and introduced himself. ”I am Wan Yan, from the capital. I arrived in Dongan Province only today. My father is Wan Weimin of the Ministry of Personnel, an old acquaintance of Mountain Master Meng. I have come this time because I have an important matter to discuss with Mountain Master Meng.”

Ministry of Personnel?

The gatekeeper hadn’t expected this person before him to be the son of a high official from the capital. Hearing that the other party had urgent business, he said at once, ”So it is Young Master Wan. Sir, please come inside; I will go and invite Mountain Master Meng at once.”

Wan Yan let out a breath of relief, followed the gatekeeper through the gate, and lifted his eyes to take in the academy before him.

The gatekeeper first led the two of them to the reception room, served them two cups of tea, and asked them to wait a moment.

This reception room was specially used to receive visiting guests and parents. Besides that, there was also a front hall next to it.

The front hall was quite large. At the moment, it displayed works by the two teachers, along with some other books and paintings. On the walls were introductions to the teachers and their achievements. For now, there wasn’t much on display in this front hall.

But in the future, the awards the academy received, its history, and the names of students who, after studying here, passed the examinations and gained official titles would all become a part of the scenery of this front hall.

There was still a door separating the reception room from the main teaching area. At this moment, the gatekeeper stepped through that door and informed the people at the inner gate of the guest’s identity.

At this time, Meng Yunzheng was in a meeting. Early tomorrow morning he would set out for the southwest. Before leaving, he had gathered the academy’s teachers and stewards together to hold a meeting, clearly handing over at least the next half year’s teaching plans and administrative matters.

When Xia Yan arrived, the meeting was halfway through.

When he heard that Wan Yan had come, Meng Yunzheng was quite surprised. He wasn’t particularly close with Lord Wan and had no real private dealings with him. Their contact was mainly because his wife and Madam Hou were on good terms.

He hadn’t expected Wan Yan to come, and with urgent business at that?

Meng Yunzheng could only say to everyone, ”I have something to attend to and must step out for a moment. Please continue your discussion.”

Everyone nodded, and Meng Yunzheng left the conference room with Xia Yan.

On the other side, Wan Yan was also being led into the front courtyard, heading toward Mountain Master Meng’s reception room.

As he walked along, he finally got a good look at the academy’s true appearance. Compared to the Imperial College...it seemed not quite the same.