The bygone era was a beautiful time for scholars.
The saying went, "All trades are beneath contempt, only scholarship is exalted."
In books, one finds beauties like jade, houses of gold, and stores of grain that fill a thousand bins.
By studying the teachings of the Sages and passing the imperial examinations to enter civil service, one could uphold the highest principles in the world.
Become a Scholar and you could teach others, earning tuition fees.
Become an Advanced Scholar and your lands were tax-exempt, securing a life free from material worries.
And if you became an Advanced Scholar in the highest degree, it was as if a fish leapt through the dragon's gate, transcending social classes in a single bound to fulfill one's life's ambitions.
But now, the times have changed.
Not that scholars are no longer noble; they still are.
But the scholars of old have been abandoned by the times.
