Not Here to Develop Technology

The opening ceremony of Wenhua Academy and Longwu Academy was held as scheduled. With His Highness the Crown Prince personally attending, how could the ministers of the court not show up?
It was Mu Xiangli's first time seeing the Left and Right Chancellors.
Left Chancellor Ke Guangyuan was now nearly sixty years old, his hair streaked with silver, but he had a ruddy complexion and looked like a kind old man.
As for Right Chancellor Pei He, who had just passed fifty, he was somewhat thin, with prominent facial bones due to a lack of flesh, giving him a slightly sinister, treacherous appearance.
However, judging people of their status by their looks would likely lead to a miserable death. Mu Xiangli only glanced at them briefly before quickly averting his eyes. Unless absolutely necessary, he had no wish to involve himself in any court struggles.
Jiang Tao was in a very good mood, personally offering a few words of encouragement, the content of which was simply "You are the first students of Wenhua Academy and Longwu Academy, and you must contribute to Xiyu in the future" and so on. Mu Xiangli listened superficially, his mind still filled with his research achievements of the past few days.
Jiang Tao had many political affairs to handle, so he came and went in a hurry. However, because of his visit, the academy administration had spent a great deal of effort.
Once Jiang Tao left, the ministers also departed.
Back at Longwu Academy, Xu Wei said to them, "Lectures will begin tomorrow, and teaching will still be conducted in groups. An examination will be held every month. The top five of our group will have the opportunity to challenge the bottom five of Group 1 for a spot in Group 1. Meanwhile, the bottom five of our group will have to compete with the top five of Group 3 for the chance to remain."
"Instructor Xu, is the content of the lectures different for each group?"
Xu Wei replied, "Of course it is different."
"Then is that fair? Their talent is higher than ours, and they learn better things than we do. Even if we make it to the top five, we can't possibly beat the bottom five of Group 1."
Xu Wei sneered, "Fair? It takes twenty geniuses to master the [Wujian Art], while a student of Group 1 only needs two days. Do you think it would be fair to teach you the same content?" The questioner was silenced by Xu Wei's scolding, unable to reply. Others who had harbored similar thoughts did not dare to speak up either.
Xu Wei swept his gaze over everyone: "Longwu Academy is already fair enough. If you want better, find a way to fight for it yourselves."
"Instructor Xu, how will the competition between the top five and bottom five be conducted? Can you reveal a bit in advance?" Hou Yuhong asked.
As the second-place scorer in the examination, he indeed had the right to be curious. Xu Wei glanced at him, then turned his eyes to Mu Xiangli, only to find that the kid had already slipped away.
Xu Wei didn't bother with him, replying, "Actual combat. You are martial artists, and all your learning at Longwu Academy must ultimately translate into actual combat. The winner takes all, the loser is the villain. It is very simple."
Simple? The hearts of the crowd surged with waves.
"Alright, disperse for today." Xu Wei waved his hand, granting them their last day of rest.
"Brother Mu."
Before Mu Xiangli could turn around, he was called back. Hou Yuhong and several others came up to him.
"Brother Mu, you weren't at Longwu Academy these past few days. We were all very worried about you."
"Yes, it wasn't that we didn't want to help you that day, we just didn't expect Princess Hanyue to suddenly appear."
Mu Xiangli indeed hadn't appeared at Longwu Academy for a while. He had no intention of blaming these people; given the situation that day, he would have left as well.
He smiled: "It's fine, everything has been resolved."
"My treat, let's go eat," Lu Yuwen proposed heartily, then lowered his voice, "But we can't go to Huanxiang Pavilion to rest tonight."
The group laughed. Even if they had some romantic thoughts, they had to restrain themselves.
However, Mu Xiangli politely declined: "My apologies, I have to meet a friend. You guys go ahead."
Seeing him say this, Lu Yuwen, Hou Yuhong, and the others didn't push further and went on their way.
Mu Xiangli didn't give anyone else a chance to strike up a conversation, quickly leaving Longwu Academy to find Fan Rong at Wenhua Academy. Since their last parting, they hadn't met for over half a month, and he wanted to maintain their relationship.
Fan Rong hadn't gone out at all during this period. If the opening ceremony hadn't required his presence, he probably would have continued to bury himself in research.
Upon meeting, Fan Rong looked somewhat resentful: "Brother Mu, why didn't you come to find me these past few days?"
Hearing this, Mu Xiangli almost thought he was being neglected by a young lover: "I've had quite a lot of matters to attend to. How far has Brother Fan's research progressed?"
At the mention of research, Fan Rong became extremely excited: "Thanks to Brother Mu's previous guidance, the Qi creation in weapons and the imagery of Qi have both similarities and differences. I have gained deep insights recently, and the difficulties will soon be overcome."
"I have some new ideas recently," Mu Xiangli said.
Fan Rong was incredibly interested in Mu Xiangli's wondrous ideas: "Tell me about them?"
"Is it possible to create an object that records images?" Mu Xiangli was highly anticipating having something like a surveillance camera. He described the general principle once, except the energy source was replaced by Qi.
If it were just an idea, Fan Rong might have only found it interesting. But when he heard terms like "Qi frequency band" and "digital signal," his self-proclaimed brilliant brain almost stopped working.
Fan Rong kept dragging Mu Xiangli to discuss and research until evening. Seeing that Mu Xiangli had to leave, he parted reluctantly, sighing, "Brother Mu, please let me digest this. Indeed, there is a saying that there are always people better than you, and heavens beyond heavens. I thought my ideas were already quite unconventional and genius. But after two exchanges with Brother Mu, I finally understand what true unbridled imagination is."
"No, no."
"Brother Mu need not be humble. I will certainly strive to realize your ideas," Fan Rong promised.
"I believe that with Brother Fan's ability, it is only a matter of time," Mu Xiangli replied politely.
After parting, Fan Rong plunged back into his room to study.
Mu Xiangli walked away quickly. Today, he had given Fan Rong a strong dose of medicine. The ideas he had imparted to Fan Rong were stunningly ahead of this era, yet they seemed to have a chance of being realized. If Fan Rong were indeed a spy, he would certainly not develop them for Xiyu's use, but would instead transmit these ideas back. Next, the people of the Night Patrol Division only needed to monitor him.
"Surveillance... if that could be realized, it would save so much trouble." Mu Xiangli was just thinking about it, not holding too much expectation. But if it really succeeded, would Qi-created phones, TVs... also have hope?
"Forget it, stop dreaming. I'm not here to develop technology," Mu Xiangli reminded himself. This was an era where one used martial arts to protect oneself.
"Cousin, why did you come over?" As he was leaving Wenhua Academy, he happened to run into Mu Wanqiu.
Mu Xiangli looked at her and noticed her spirit was much better than when he saw her a few days ago, the gloom having dissipated significantly. He smiled and said, "When no one is around, you can call me that. But if you call me Cousin here and it gets back to the Mu family, aren't you afraid of being punished?"
"I am not afraid," Mu Wanqiu shook her head.
Mu Xiangli nodded: "Then as you wish. Take good care of yourself. If anything comes up, come find me at Longwu Academy."
"Yes." Although they were the same indifferent words as before, compared to her parents' constant admonitions of "you must study hard, the Mu family's future depends on you," Mu Wanqiu felt these words were far warmer.