The martial arts school was not like an ordinary clothing and food shop on the market street; having some money on hand didn’t mean anyone could just open one at will.
This martial arts school was fundamentally dedicated to martial training and required official registration with the local government. Externally, it needed to invite a well-known Licentiate as guarantor and be affiliated with a security escort agency.
Affiliating with an escort agency meant hiring skilled fighters from the agency as instructors. Every month, the school had to pay a considerable escort fee to the agency—tens of strings of coins monthly—a costly expense that made the guarantor system quite meaningful.
Imagine an ordinary person trying to open a martial arts school; just this fee alone would be formidable.
But Yao Yuan had his own escort agency, so this matter was easy to handle without wasting much effort.
Inviting a Licentiate as guarantor was neither simple nor difficult.
Though money could move most things, Licentiates were no ordinary scholars. They were outstanding individuals who received stipends and grain allowances from the imperial court, dignified and respected, somewhat aloof.
If an ordinary merchant tried to invite a Licentiate as guarantor, chances were the Licentiate wouldn’t even entertain the idea, no matter the money offered.
Yao Yuan had some brains; he pulled in Fan Jing to handle the martial arts school business.
Fan Jing was a Licentiate himself, and a youthful scholar to boot. With this connection, inviting other Licentiates as guarantors would be easier.
Yao Yuan handled matters with the escort agency, and Fan Jing took care of the Licentate guarantor side. After all, a young scholar should be creative in figuring things out.
Otherwise, why wouldn’t Yao Yuan just buy out the Licentiates altogether and team up with the Fan family to open the school together, sharing risks and support?
“Besides the official registration with the government, we need approval from the county magistrate, then the paperwork goes through the penal office. I have some acquaintances in the military office, but the documents inevitably pass through the clerk. Unfortunately, my contact there and the clerk don’t get along, so if I ask him for help, it might backfire.”
Fan Jing listened quietly to Yao Yuan’s words, then said, “Kang He has dealings with the Household Department clerk; I’ll go tell him to take a look.”
Yao Yuan replied, “Good. I’ll try to find some other channels on my end.”
After discussing several matters needed to get the permit for opening the school, Fan Jing went home.
Kang He was busy with other family affairs, but not too busy to meet with Fan Jing about the school. Since Kang He wanted to ease his workload, he told Fan Jing to handle these issues himself.
Fan Jing returned and repeated the details of his discussion with Yao Yuan.
The two prepared some gifts and went to explore the clerk Xu’s connections.
“Our county magistrate trusts his clerk deeply. If the clerk agrees, the matter is 70% settled. But if we want to go through him, it’ll cost some blood money,” Xu said when he was friendly with the Fan family.
Kang He already knew this clerk was fond of receiving bribes, and since everything had to go through him, unless they cleared this hurdle, nothing would get done. So it was better to go through the clerk and avoid unnecessary trouble.
He entrusted Xu to make the approach.
Two days later, Xu brought news to Kang He and Fan Jing: the clerk wanted one hundred strings of coins, and then the matter would be settled.
With the price known, they didn’t rush to finalize it. Fan Jing went to tell Yao Yuan.
Yao Yuan laughed and said, “Big brother and brother-in-law have better connections than I do. In the past few days, I found other channels, but their price was not less than this.”
He gestured one and then two, indicating the price was around 120 strings of coins.
“Those greedy devils. The clerk probably only wants 80 or 90 strings but is inflating the price,” Fan Jing muttered.
His brow twitched. He wasn’t sure if Xu was pocketing some of the difference, but when entrusting someone, you often had to swallow that bitter pill.
Besides the bribe, they would have to offer gifts and thanks afterward.
If it had been someone else, Fan Jing wouldn’t have accepted such a loss, but after years of living under Kang He’s guidance, he understood social affairs. Some things were less important than simply getting the job done.
Furthermore, comparing the two, Xu was relatively reliable.
After some discussion, they agreed to pay and went through Xu’s channels.
Afterward, they visited several Licentiates. With the Fan family name backing them, most Licentiates were willing to offer their face and agree to be joint guarantors.
Regarding the payment, most Licentiates felt happy. Ordinary farmers and merchants often lost face asking scholars for such favors, which might cause them to be called mercenary or lacking in integrity.
But this group was from scholarly farming families with some official rank—scholars sympathizing with scholars. Being offered a way out, they were gladly agreeable.
With the Licentiate guarantors in place, all the documents ready, and the money spent, things became much easier.
Within five days, the registration was complete, and the permit to open the martial arts school was granted.
Next, the school’s location was chosen right next to the escort agency—a spot Yao Yuan had bought earlier, just waiting to be used one day.
A martial arts school was like a regular school in that it needed instructors, only called “instructors” here instead of “teachers.”
Yao Yuan arranged the instructors himself. He took one escort leader as an instructor and assigned two more escort leaders from the escort agency to serve as instructors. They also invited two martial monks from the mountain temple, which was arranged by Fan Jing, to staff the school.
They established classes accordingly.
This school’s classes were no different from other martial arts schools, divided into three levels.
The first level taught basic skills and physical training, such as stance exercises.
The second level built on the basics and introduced weapons training.
The third level focused on combat training.
Yao Yuan was entirely responsible for this section, so Fan Jing needn’t worry.
Fan Jing, however, wasn’t idle; he was tasked with managing the school’s special classes.
The special classes’ defining feature was that they specifically targeted recruiting effeminate young men and girls.
When they first discussed co-running the martial arts school, this was Fan Jing’s requirement.
Yao Yuan was initially hesitant. After all, he had never seen a martial arts school that specifically enrolled effeminate boys and girls as students.
Martial arts schools were tough—many men couldn’t endure the training. Effeminate boys and girls were naturally weaker physically and found it harder to practice martial arts.
Moreover, handling weapons and fighting was likely hard for effeminate boys and girls to accept. Why would they want to learn such things?
Recruiting these students was a major obstacle, facing opposition both within the trade and socially.
But Fan Jing insisted, and Kang He also helped persuade Yao Yuan.
Their school would offer the same instructors and classes as others. To stand out in this business and make a name for themselves, they had to do something different.
If you wanted to do something, you might as well do it well and long-term. Playing it safe meant missing opportunities.
Yao Yuan was young and open-minded. After hearing Kang He’s words, he softened.
They agreed that Yao Yuan would handle the regular classes, and Fan Jing would manage the special classes.
If any difficulties arose, they could raise them and solve them together.
Fan Jing agreed but, despite agreeing easily, he was inexperienced and felt anxious.
His mind was full of these concerns. He tossed and turned at night. After several days, he had lost some weight, and small sores appeared at the corners of his mouth.
Kang He saw this and, at night, applied some ointment and brewed a cup of cooling chrysanthemum tea for him, asking carefully, “What’s troubling you? Tell me, and maybe I can help.”
Fan Jing drank half a cup of the chrysanthemum tea in one gulp.
Others wouldn’t care, but Kang He was different.
Fan Jing said with a tone mixing helplessness and trust, “I don’t know where to start.”
Kang He laughed, “Yao Yuan is quite the character. He’s the hands-off boss in the special classes, but he’s suffering too. Yet he’s not wrong; the ideas are ours, so we can’t expect him to risk everything and help us without any input.”
“If the front lines can’t get started, and we keep asking him for help, he might lose confidence in our special classes altogether.”
Fan Jing thought so too. Though they had agreed to raise problems and solve them, starting the special classes was troublesome.
How would people think? Would anyone want to make things harder by doing something special?
Kang He reassured him, “Feeling lost is normal. You’ve never dealt with this before; how could you understand it immediately? But everything has rules. These rules aren’t rigid but are a work process.”
Fan Jing looked up at Kang He. “What should I do?”
“Since you don’t know how to do it, go observe how others do it.”
“Although there’s no school teaching effeminate boys and girls in town, much of what’s taught elsewhere is transferable.”
“Don’t focus too much on gender differences at first. Look at how others organize their classes. Copy their framework first, then adjust according to gender. That way, you have a starting point.”
Fan Jing was silent a moment but felt some clarity.
The next morning, he set out and toured all the martial arts schools in town, taking notes on their class structures.
He also pretended to be searching for a school for his child and observed the academies’ class organization and teaching.
After that, he gathered some leads and, through the Liang family’s introductions, visited two embroidery workshops, which were staffed entirely by effeminate boys and girls.
After about ten days of busy work, Fan Jing felt much more at ease.
That night, he outlined his plan to Kang He, who recorded it and helped correct any flaws.
“I’ve come up with some ideas. I want to draft recruitment notices to invite effeminate boys or girls to become instructors.”
After learning from his observations, Fan Jing felt that places focused on teaching often had more than one instructor.
He didn’t want to appear extravagant. The special classes might only find a few students, so hiring too many instructors was wasteful.
For example, Fan Xin’s private academy had only one instructor teaching for years, adding a scholar as assistant teacher only after student numbers grew recently.
He wanted to hire instructors because he didn’t feel he could teach much except archery, which was his strong suit.
But students paying to learn martial arts wouldn’t be satisfied with just archery—it was too narrow and might fail to attract students.
After hearing this, Kang He agreed, “You’re right. At first, the special classes may have few students, so hiring many instructors is wasteful.”
“But here’s the bad news: recruiting students is hard, and instructors are even harder to find.”
“Those qualified to teach girls and effeminate boys with your skills are few. How many would be willing to be instructors?”
“That’s why I suggest putting up recruitment notices to attract as many as possible. The more you recruit, the better. People seeing capable effeminate boys and girls as instructors will find the school more credible and consider coming.”
Fan Jing found Kang He’s advice reasonable and stopped worrying so much.
Kang He added, “Another point: you’re not only skilled at archery. Taking archery as an example, if others can learn seven or eight parts of it, that’s enough.”
“Also, you can drive carts and have much experience living in the mountains and forests—these are precious skills.”
“Not many effeminate boys or girls know how to drive carts. If you teach that, it won’t be useless. These are solid, practical skills.”
Fan Jing hadn’t thought much about his other skills until Kang He pointed them out.
Driving was indeed a useful skill. He knew how to drive donkey, mule, ox, and horse carts, and understood animal behavior, giving him some expertise to share.
Regarding wilderness experience, as a martial artist, one would inevitably encounter such environments.
“Good.”
Kang He said, “When you have time, tell me about your mountain and forest experiences. I’ll record and compile them into teaching materials. That will be very useful.”
“Also, instructors like you—effeminate boys or girls—are rare. Don’t make the recruitment notices too specific. Anyone with skills and good physical condition, male or female, should come for an interview.”
Fan Jing nodded and added, “Though the special classes are aimed at girls and effeminate boys, the classes taught in regular martial arts schools can be adapted.”
“Lower the standards a bit. If there aren’t enough effeminate boys or girls who know these skills, we’ll use male instructors.”
He thought to himself that few men would be willing to teach this, but he didn’t worry too much. If none were available, Yao Yuan, as the schoolmaster, could fill in. He couldn’t be so picky.
Kang He agreed, “The core of martial arts teaching remains the same. Girls and effeminate boys must also learn the basics.”
“Lowering requirements appropriately makes sense.”
Fan Jing then told Kang He about building the school’s dining hall and dormitories.
Kang He thought Fan Jing’s thorough planning was commendable and agreed.
They talked late into the night, burning two candles before putting down their brushes and resting.
The next day, they went to discuss the dining and sleeping arrangements with Yao Yuan, who thought the plan reasonable and arranged for craftsmen to begin construction.
Soon, the recruitment notices for instructors went up.
Fan Jing waited for candidates to come for interviews while closely supervising his special classes.
He also worked diligently on compiling the teaching materials Kang He suggested, keeping himself fully occupied.
“One of the escort leaders named Liu saw the recruitment notice at the school’s gate and came in laughing, ‘I see you’re recruiting female instructors and effeminate boys? Yao escort leader, are you opening a girls’ martial arts school?’”
Liu was an escort leader at Yao Yuan’s agency, assigned to be an instructor at the school.
Everyone knew Yao Yuan’s wife’s younger brother would be coming to teach. He was an effeminate boy, a skilled hunter, and proficient in archery.
The escorters didn’t really take Fan Jing seriously, thinking an effeminate boy couldn’t have much martial skill.
They were polite because Yao and Fan families ran the school together, and Fan Jing was like a half-manager. They had to save face and couldn’t openly oppose him, or else Yao Yuan would be in trouble.
Most saw the instructor role as just a figurehead. The town had a martial arts school with effeminate boys as instructors, so it wasn’t rare.
But now recruiting girls and effeminate boys as instructors seemed strange.
Yao Yuan, having accepted Fan Jing’s proposal, didn’t argue with the naysayers.
He replied bluntly, “Besides the regular instructors, we’re setting up special classes managed by my wife’s brother.”
“What kind of special classes?”
“Simply put, recruiting some effeminate boys and girls to learn martial arts.”
Several escort leaders laughed loudly, “That’s a joke! Who would let their girls or effeminate boys go around wielding swords and spears? Where would you get students?”
“Tell you the truth, even if you recruit instructors, what if there aren’t students? Just wasting money and causing embarrassment.”
“Teaching girls and effeminate boys is tough. They usually don’t accept the instructors, fight back with all their strength, and maybe learn nothing while irritating the instructors.”
Yao Yuan understood these arguments but also knew many just wanted to watch the show.
He was a little worried himself but had already committed. He wouldn’t pour cold water while things were just getting started.
He frowned and said sharply, “My wife’s brother is a capable person. You rough men don’t know this. He’s responsible for selling some of the best incense papers in town.”
“They have business sense and brains. You all mind your own affairs. If I find out anyone is causing trouble, I won’t be so polite.”
Hearing this, the men shrugged and retreated, intimidated by Yao Yuan.
But the more this happened, the more they felt the Fan family were just amateurs causing trouble.
Since the chief escort was protecting them, if the school lost money, it wasn’t their problem.
They just sat back and watched the spectacle unfold.