Chapter 46 - So Much Silver
Xie Niushan had not thought too much about it earlier. After he snapped back to his senses, he just realized that he would need to pay 5,000 taels of silver for the shortcut to get his daughter in for fame.
However, if that girl from the Pei family wanted to get in too…
How much would he need to pay!?
Xie Niushan glared at Xie Pinghuai. “How much silver would it be?”
“Maybe… At least 50,000 taels of silver… The academy is divided into a couple of classes. One will get into the lowest class—Class D if one pays 50,000 taels,” Xie Pinghuai said softly.
“Class D!? And it’s the lowest class?!” Xie Niushan almost broke his vocal cords from yelling.
He scared Pei Wanyue so much that her eyes turned red immediately.
“It’s good enough that the commoners can get into the Royal Academy. 50,000 taels aren’t considered a lot. You’ll need to pay more to get into better classes! There are Class Qian, Kun, Sun, Moon, A, B, C, and D. As long as one has silver, you can be in the same class with the imperial princes.” Xie Pinghuai smirked.
Pei Wanyue looked terrible now.
“How much silver does one need to… be in the same class as a prince?” Pei Wanyue dared not imagine that.
Xie Pinghuai pouted and mumbled, “You sure are daring to ask.”
Pei Wanyue looked panicked, “I-I’m just curious!”
“You brat!” Xie Niushan hit Xie Pinghuai’s head, “How much? Tell me and see if it would scare me!”
“There’s only one commoner in Class Qian. He came from a big clan in the south. Although his family did not contribute to anything, they’re wealthy. The clan is big. I heard they spend 1,000,000 taels of silver. However, everyone in Class Qian is the cream of the crop. It wouldn’t be that scary if he was in Class A, B, C, or D,” said Xie Pinghuai.
That shocked everyone present.
1,000,000 taels of silver just to pass one’s time in an academy?
“You can buy the title of an official with that amount of silver.” Xie Pinggang always stunned people with his words.
“I didn’t spend so much just to become official back then, did I?” Xie Niushan said.
He had been pretty wealthy back in his bandit days. That was especially so after fighting the barbarians and obtaining their loot. He had some 700,000–800,000 taels of silver added together!
He had given the money to the imperial court while he was left with less than 30% of his fortune.
After buying houses and connections with the 30% of his fortune, he had been left with nothing.
“How’s your title of an official the same? Instead of saying you bought it with silvers, you should say that you obtained it in exchange for the barbarians’ heads,” Xie Qiao said in a neutral manner.
Xie Niushan nodded.
What she said made sense. He had become an official depending on his courage. Those people out there who said that he paid to become an official were fools.
“Are you saying Yue’er can’t get into the Royal Academy, then?” Ms. Lu was rather upset.
Pei Wanyue rubbed both hands while squeezing her handkerchief.
If Xie Qiao wanted to get into the academy without the examination, she would only need to pay 5,000 taels of silver. With her as a fourth-grade official’s first wife’s eldest daughter, even if she could not get into Class Qian, Kun, Sun, or Moon, she could definitely get into Class A, right?
What about Pei Wanyue?
She would need to pay 50,000 taels of silver just to get into the last class.
If she wanted to go into a better class…
She would need at least 100,000–200,000 taels of silver to do that. It was impossible that she would get the same treatment as Xie Qiao would.
‘Mother says I’ll be the Xie family’s daughter by blood from now on. But… is this how one treats their daughter?’
Pei Wanyue lowered her head slightly.
Ms. Lu suddenly thought of something and said, “Wouldn’t the problem be solved if we change Yue’er’s family name and put her name into the genealogy book?”
Xie Niushan was stunned.
Xie Pinggang looked at her with confusion as well.
“Mr. Xie, this girl will follow us from now on. When we bring her out to connect, it wouldn’t be nice that people keep calling her Young Lady Pei… She doesn’t look like us, and people might be talking…” Ms. Lu looked nervous. “I thought about it on the way here…”