Chapter 15 – Becoming a Disciple (Part 2)
Reading is difficult, there are too few people who can read in this world, one is because of lack of money, two is lack of opportunity, and three is not being smart enough.
Previously, there was not a single school in several villages, children who wanted to study had to go to the county city, but even just having enough to eat and wear was difficult, even the relatively wealthy families couldn’t afford to support their children’s studies.
It was Mr. Bai who brought his family and moved to Qili Village, his two sons needed to study, so he specially went to the county city to hire Teacher Zhuang.
Although Teacher Zhuang didn’t pass the imperial examinations, he was someone who had entered the prefectural academy, his character and conduct were good, if it was just ordinary compensation, how could he be willing to come to this small mountain village to teach?
To offer a tempting compensation to make Teacher Zhuang willing, Mr. Bai was very reluctant to part with it, in the end he thought of a solution, which was for the Bai family to provide the funds to establish a school for Teacher Zhuang, the tuition fees for Teacher Zhuang would be covered by the Bai family, and they would also recruit suitable children from the surrounding area, each child also paying a tuition fee, this accumulated small amount became a substantial compensation.
This school was built by Mr. Bai, but it belonged to Teacher Zhuang, the students’ tuition fees were also collected by Teacher Zhuang, whether to accept what students was naturally up to him.
But whether it was out of courtesy, or because of his cooperative relationship with Mr. Bai, Teacher Zhuang still needed to inform Mr. Bai about whether Man Bao could enter the school to study.
However, Teacher Zhuang felt there was no need to rush this, because Man Bao was still young, for now she could just slowly learn the basics by following him.
Wait until after the New Year when she’s a bit older, then she can enter the school.
And the fact that the Zhou family was willing to let Man Bao come out to study was already quite rare.
When Teacher Zhuang first came, he recruited students from the surrounding villages, the adults there also knew the benefits of studying, they would exhort their own sons and nephews to work hard and earn money, if there was an opportunity, they should enter the school, but when they saw the longing in the girls’ eyes, they would scold, “What are you girls crowding around for? Hurry back home, do you think you can handle this scholarly business?”
Man Bao eavesdropping outside the window caused quite a stir in Qili Village at first, this child was so young, she didn’t know anything.
But Teacher Zhuang knew that the village elders had found Mr. Bai, asking him to dismiss Little Qian, to prevent Man Bao from constantly eavesdropping on the lessons and corrupting the village’s atmosphere.
It was he who had stopped them.
One was that Little Qian was indeed diligent and not troublesome, and two, he had taken a liking to Man Bao at the time.
So he said, “The desire to learn is in everyone, why stifle it?”
Then there were more and more children eavesdropping at the windows, at the most, both windows were full of people, all boys.
This was very unethical behavior in the scholarly circles, but the words were said by Teacher Zhuang himself, he naturally couldn’t be biased.
Also because of this, a few students withdrew from school at the time, their parents came to collect the tuition fees, then turned around and drove the children to the window to eavesdrop.
Teacher Zhuang was furious at the time, but could only be angry in his heart, just pretending not to see the people outside the window.
But not everyone was like Man Bao.
At that time, Man Bao was just over a year old, had just learned to speak, her steps were still unsteady, her understanding of the outside world was not enough, and she wasn’t greedy for play, she could sit on the threshold and play quietly by herself all day, when she was happy, she would follow the children in the classroom and recite a few sentences, when she was unhappy, she would just take a little stick and poke at ants for half a day.
But the children eavesdropping outside the window were the youngest seven years old, the oldest ten, just the most restless and playful age.
In less than five days, they had run off on their own, the parents of the withdrawn students saw that their children hadn’t learned anything by eavesdropping, and had even forgotten most of what they had previously learned.
Extremely angry, with no choice, they sent the children back again.
From then on, there were rarely any more boys coming to eavesdrop, but a few girls started cautiously lying at the window.
But before Teacher Zhuang could even react, the girls’ parents had already acted first.
They would first drag the girls away, then scold and beat them, “Do you think you can listen to the lessons? I see you’re just being idle, you should be out cutting grass for the pigs, going to the fields to pull weeds, going to the mountains to collect firewood, why don’t you have any work in your eyes… how are you going to get married in the future?”
Actually, some of these ideas were also once Teacher Zhuang’s own ideas.
For example: Boys studying is more important than girls studying, he also valued boys more.
But whether it was because he was getting older, or because people tend to develop a rebellious mentality when encountering things they don’t like, Teacher Zhuang had unknowingly changed many of his ideas.
Especially as Man Bao grew day by day, showing more and more intelligence.
The books she had memorized by lying at the window were more than the students sitting in the classroom, the characters she recognized based on his manuscripts were not less than the students studying in the school.
She was also filial, knowing to call him “Teacher” after listening to his lessons, knowing to clean the courtyard for him, tidy up his desk…
When he was sick, the regular students, as soon as they heard they could have a holiday, would run out, but she knew to wander around the courtyard to get him a cup of hot water, and even took his clothes back for her sisters-in-law to wash…
And she would also pester her mother to bring an extra egg to give to him.
He knew the Zhou family doted on this youngest daughter, but was not sure if they would be willing for her to study.
So to increase the possibility of this, and to ensure the event developed positively, he wouldn’t ask for a tuition fee, not even requiring the Zhou family to buy stationery for Man Bao.
And the Zhou family’s emphasis on this made him pleasantly surprised.
Because they not only brought a piece of cured meat, but also a set of clothes and a pair of shoes.
Teacher Zhuang couldn’t help but smile, it seems the Zhou family really valued this little disciple, he smiled and accepted them.
The old Zhou saw this and breathed a sigh of relief, quickly having Man Bao kneel down to kowtow and offer tea to Teacher Zhuang.
Teacher Zhuang took the tea and had a sip, then handed Man Bao a set of stationery he had prepared earlier, oh, and a bunch of green onions he had pulled from the backyard.
Accepting such a smart and clever disciple, Teacher Zhuang was very happy.
The old Zhou and his two sons were also very happy, hearing Teacher Zhuang’s words, Man Bao didn’t need to buy any books for now, she could just copy what she needed.
The three of them discreetly glanced at the things Man Bao was hugging, thinking that with the stationery set, they just needed to buy her some paper and it would be all set.
Although it added an expense to the family, this expense was much less than they had expected, the three of them were naturally also very happy.
Man Bao was also very happy, everyone was delighted to receive gifts, let alone this was a gift from the beloved Teacher Zhuang.
Everyone was in high spirits.
The old Zhou wanted to invite Teacher Zhuang back home for a meal, as a celebration of Man Bao becoming his disciple.
But Teacher Zhuang shook his head and refused, “I still have classes today, I’ll come visit another day.”
The old Zhou then remembered that Teacher Zhuang still had classes, and immediately became a bit restless.
As they were talking, the sound of children chasing and playing outside also reached their ears, Teacher Zhuang knew the children had arrived.
