Chapter 8 – Taking a Disciple
Although Man Bao could recognize many characters, the stories were still too complex for her to fully understand, she could only rely on her feelings to comprehend these stories.
Fortunately, these books were different from the ones on Teacher Zhuang’s bookshelf, because they were in plain language, as long as she could recognize the characters, even if she didn’t understand everything, she could still grasp the general story.
Man Bao became excited, reading the book with great interest.
Although it was about scoundrel fathers, at the beginning, she didn’t see the tragedy in it. The first story was ranked tenth, about an emperor named Kangxi.
It told how he raised his sons like raising venomous snakes, deliberately making them compete with each other to ensure his own power.
At first, Man Bao didn’t see how this father was bad, she just read it like a story, but the system reminded her, “Look at the fates of his sons, aren’t they all quite tragic?”
Man Bao was puzzled, “They’re all princes and emperors, how can they be tragic?”
Ke Ke then analyzed for her, “You see, they are princes, but most of them ended up being imprisoned and exiled in the end, do you know what imprisonment and exile are?”
Man Bao righteously said, “No.”
The system was stumped for a moment, then explained in detail what imprisonment and exile were, essentially, it was going to jail and serving a sentence.
Man Bao was stunned, “Their own father is the emperor, their brothers are emperors, and they still have to go to jail?”
Ke Ke said, “That’s why he’s called a scoundrel father.”
Man Bao pouted, feeling this father was indeed not very good. She read it back and forth twice, also figuring out a bit of the meaning of this story.
It was actually about a father who wanted to maintain his own power, so he deliberately let his sons fight each other, in the end he imprisoned three of his sons, then he chose one son to be the emperor, and that emperor son imprisoned and exiled a few more, so his sons all ended up in a tragic situation.
Man Bao didn’t really like this story, and reading it gave her a headache, there were several people’s names that she still didn’t recognize, so she pointed and asked Ke Ke.
Ke Ke told her, not only teaching her how to read the character, but also explaining the meaning of the character.
Man Bao turned to the next story, and then she cried.
This father was much worse than the previous one, because he actually starved his own daughter to death, just because his daughter had accepted a cake from the neighbor.
Man Bao was still a kind child, she cried buckets, angrily telling Ke Ke, “This father is really too evil, how can he still be a great official?”
Ke Ke: “Being a great official and being a scoundrel father are not mutually exclusive.”
Although a great official seems to be good, Man Bao still decided to hate him, that little girl was about the same age as her, and she was starved to death, how painful that must have been.
Man Bao cried until her eyes were red.
When Teacher Zhuang came back from class, the system immediately sensed someone at the door, so it immediately confiscated the book in Man Bao’s hand, so when Teacher Zhuang came, he just saw Man Bao sitting on the steps crying, her eyes red.
Teacher Zhuang’s grandson was just a little older than Man Bao, and he usually liked her the most, so he was deeply sympathetic, quickly walking up and gently asking, “Man Bao, who bullied you?”
Man Bao wiped her tears and grabbed Teacher Zhuang’s sleeve, looking up and asking, “Teacher, are you a good father?”
Teacher Zhuang was taken aback for a moment, pondering for a while before saying, “Man Bao, my grandson is already older than you, by generation, I should be your grandfather.”
“Wuwuwu, Teacher, is there really a lot of bad fathers in this world, who specifically bully children?”
Teacher Zhuang asked, “Was it your father who scolded you?”
Man Bao shook her head, “My father is very good to me, he’s not a bad father.”
Teacher Zhuang let out a sigh of relief, looking at Man Bao, knowing she was still young, he sat down next to her and patiently asked, “Then why did you ask such a question?”
“I saw a story, saying there was a great official, his family had little to eat, his daughter was hungry, the neighbor saw and gave her a cake, after she ate it, he got very angry and locked her up to starve her to death.”
Teacher Zhuang’s face twitched, “How can there be such an official?”
Man Bao trusted the book Ke Ke had brought out, insisting, “But there is, I saw it with my own eyes.”
Teacher Zhuang knew he couldn’t argue with a child, so he said, “Even if there is, such an official is just someone seeking fame and status, praised as a great official, but not living up to the name. Just a cake, how could it come to this? If he was truly clean and upright, he could have just given the neighbor two cakes.”
“Eh?” Man Bao blinked her eyes, trying hard to recall what was written in the book, scratching her head, “It seems it wasn’t just because she ate a cake, it said, it said because his daughter had contact with an outsider man, Teacher, what is an outsider man?”
Teacher Zhuang smiled, “That’s even more absurd, an outsider man is like me to you, the students in the school to you. Although there is a distinction between men and women, it doesn’t have to be guarded to that extent, if so, that’s not a lunatic, but a devil.”
Teacher Zhuang said, “The former is insane, indeed so, the latter is intentional, exchanging his own daughter’s life for a reputation, such a person, you must keep as far away as possible in the future. But I’ve never heard of such a story, where did you see it?”
Man Bao immediately said, “It’s a book called ‘Ten Greatest Evil Fathers in History’.”
“Since it’s history, then it must be recorded, I wonder which dynasty and era the great official you just mentioned was from?”
“The Jiajing period of the Great Ming.”
Teacher Zhuang couldn’t help but laugh out loud, patting her little head, “It’s clear that all the characters and experiences are fabricated, how can there be a Great Ming dynasty in this world?”
Man Bao blinked her eyes, but still believed Ke Ke, asking it in her heart, “Ke Ke, did you lie to me?”
The silent system actually experienced a pleasant emotion, it said, “No, host, this space doesn’t have a Great Ming, but that doesn’t mean other spaces don’t. Just like me, in this space and this era, you are the only one who has me, but in the era of my inventor, I was not rare, not to the point of one per person, but as long as you had the money and were willing to buy, everyone could buy one.”
Man Bao understood it vaguely, but still summarized her own understanding, that is, Ke Ke didn’t lie, but what Teacher Zhuang said was also right, so she decided to listen to both of them.
She looked up at Teacher Zhuang and asked, “Then Teacher, do you know if there was any bad father in our history?”
Teacher Zhuang asked, “Why are you so interested in this? You should know, children don’t speak of their father’s faults. Even if the father has done something wrong, there are very few people who will publicize the matter to the world, letting the father lose face, the family also lose face, what good is it for oneself?”
Man Bao was stunned, Teacher Zhuang simply took the opportunity to talk to her about etiquette, rambling on, then said, “Man Bao, you are a smart child, I know you love to read, since that’s the case, then study well. You’ve already learned the ‘Thousand Character Classic’, now you should learn the ‘Analects’. After you’ve learned the ‘Analects’, the teacher will teach you about ‘Etiquette’.”
Man Bao was dazed, the system couldn’t help but remind her, “Host, quickly thank your teacher?”
Man Bao came to her senses, immediately kneeling on the ground, “Teacher, Teacher!”
Man Bao kowtowed to Teacher Zhuang.
When the words came out of Teacher Zhuang’s mouth, there was a moment of regret, but seeing her kneeling on the ground happily calling him Teacher, that trace of regret disappeared.
Oh well, although she’s a female disciple, she’s smart, cute, and can serve as a consolation.
Teacher Zhuang helped the child up, “Go back and tell your father and mother about today’s events.”
“Why, didn’t the Teacher never let me tell my father and mother about the things here?”
Teacher Zhuang patted her head and sighed, “Since I’ve let you kowtow, it should be done properly.”
Teacher Zhuang patted her head and sighed.
The first time he saw Man Bao, she was just a little girl who could barely stand up by holding the wall, she seemed to be only eight or nine months old, barely able to stand steadily by holding the wall.
Little Qian came to cook, since she had just taken on this job, she cherished it very much, always coming early, not only cleaning the inside and outside, but also splitting firewood, making fires, and cooking.
So she inevitably neglected the child, at the time Man Bao had crawled to the threshold of the classroom, climbed over, and hugged the doorway to listen to his lectures.
At first, Teacher Zhuang was a bit angry, feeling that Little Qian couldn’t do her job properly, so he put down his book and went to find Little Qian.
He originally wanted to have Little Qian take care of her own child, but he saw her wielding an axe, dripping with sweat as she split firewood.
Teacher Zhuang was invited by the landlord Mr. Bai to come teach in this mountain village, his family naturally wasn’t very wealthy, in fact, he was also poor when he came here.
In his memory, his mother had raised him this way, so Teacher Zhuang hesitated for a moment, not calling Little Qian, and turned around to bring Man Bao back, letting her sit on the threshold.
Fortunately, this child was also obedient, she just sat on the threshold, not crying or making a fuss, she ate whatever was given to her, and seeing the students reading aloud, she also followed along with her own chatter.
Later, the first word she said was “Teacher”, and Teacher Zhuang insisted on this.
This child was really very smart, a little over a year old, she could already follow the students and read “Heaven and Earth, mysterious and yellow…”
The students he taught, the youngest was already six years old, they would read it ten times, remember it, and then forget it the next day, but this child’s little head remembered it clearly.
Of course, she could only shout, and didn’t recognize the characters.
So Teacher Zhuang copied a “Thousand Character Classic” and gave it to her.
Later, Teacher Zhuang grew to like her even more, because he found that not only could Man Bao recite books quickly, to the point of never forgetting, she also learned characters quickly.
After going through it a few times, she could remember that character.
Such a smart, cute, and kind child, why couldn’t she be a boy?
Teacher Zhuang had regretted this more than once.
Then he couldn’t help but teach her, teach her to recognize characters, teach her principles, and even specially found some books for her to practice calligraphy, then gave her the manuscripts, letting her keep them.
Taking her as a disciple was a sudden utterance, but this thought had not been just a day or two, it was just because she was a girl, so he had hesitated.
In fact, he was just a scholar expelled from the imperial academy, his knowledge was limited after all, so why bother too much about those empty titles?
Could it be that he really wanted to be like the bad fathers she mentioned, seeking fame and status?
Teacher Zhuang rubbed Man Bao’s head even harder, resolving, “You go find your sister-in-law now, have your parents choose a good day to bring you to my door.”
Man Bao walked away in a daze.
