Free Web NovelChapter 714: Chapter 714: Sikong Jian’s Gift
Qin Yao took out the ointment she had just put away in her room.
Looking at the two red and swollen hands that Sanlang extended, Qin Yao finally understood how strict Mr. Fan, whom the children spoke of, truly was.
In her view, this amounted to malicious corporal punishment of students.
But when she asked Liu Ji, he said that the teachers back in Kaiyang County were harsher—using rulers and switch to directly hit the body. Compared to that, Sanlang’s punishment on the palms was seen as favoritism.
However, remembering Mr. Fan’s lectures to himself, Liu Ji still spat from the heart: "That old thing, really thinks he’s that important? If students can’t learn, whose fault is it? How could it be the parents’ fault? Clearly, it’s him, the teacher, who doesn’t know how to teach!"
Second Lang deeply agreed with this point, nodding heavily while eating.
"What? You kid think so too?" Liu Ji asked, delighted.
Qin Yao finished tending to Sanlang’s hands and asked if he could still eat on his own.
Sanlang sobbed and shook his head; his hands hurt too much to hold chopsticks.
Qin Yao sympathetically looked at the child’s pitiful hands, picked him up, and placed him beside Liu Ji, letting his father feed him.
The warm candlelight and the fragrant food comforted Sanlang’s wounded little soul, gradually pulling him out of his bad mood.
Da Lang sighed: "Mr. Fan is somewhat too strict; when students ask questions, he won’t answer and insists they find the answers in books, which is quite tormenting."
Second Lang, a hardworking student, was quite beloved by the teachers at Ding Family School, and they gladly helped him solve his doubts.
But at the Fan Family Private School, it was not like this. The teacher was stern and adhere to the principle of self-taught success.
If one couldn’t self-learn, they were not seen as good material; words like waste, dull, and stupid were his frequent sayings, repeated countless times in a day.
Sanlang earnestly said, "I counted; today Mr. Fan called us idiots sixty-seven times!"
Liu Ji raised an eyebrow, somewhat proudly saying, "If even Mr. Fan can run a private school, then maybe I could too."
Second Lang: "But Mr. Fan is an advanced scholar."
Whilst his father was just a scholar, even that was passed with luck, and it wouldn’t count for much in the Capital.
Qin Yao’s thoughts were simpler and more straightforward; seeing the three boys having complaints against Mr. Fan, she suggested, "Since it’s not good, why not switch to another private school."
The three brothers immediately shook their heads in refusal.
Sanlang, cheeks puffed with food, said, "Mr. Fan is really good at painting; his picture of chicks pecking rice is lifelike."
He glanced at Liu Ji, thinking how much better Mr. Fan’s picture was compared to his father’s.
Da Lang and Second Lang also said that although Mr. Fan was fierce and not fond of answering students’ questions, his painting, calligraphy, and knowledge earned their respect.
Qin Yao shook her head helplessly, a bunch of gluttons for punishment, indeed.
"Since you are unwilling, then so be it," Qin Yao looked at Sanlang’s swollen hands, "but if you can’t recite your lessons and the teacher continues to punish you, what will you do?"
Sanlang paused his chewing, his big eyes rolled around, finally settling on Si Niang. He excitedly asked, "Mother, then can I go to the Women’s Garden with my sister?"
He had just heard Si Niang talk about her time with Xu Jiajia at the Women’s Garden; both had committed quite a mistake, yet the dean didn’t punish them corporally, only assigned them to sweep manure.
He was willing to go sweep manure!
Qin Yao, sensing the anticipation in the child’s eyes, felt it both laughable and vexing.
Liu Ji tapped the table, looking at Sanlang without amusement, "That’s a Women’s Garden, do you know what that means? What excitement are you, a little boy, trying to create? Open your mouth, eat!"
"Eat more, fill up well, nourish your brain. Tonight, your father will personally help you with reciting."
Liu Ji stuffed a big mouthful of food into Sanlang’s open mouth, muttering angrily, "I don’t believe it; my offspring can’t be stupid?"
Old Man Fan says he can’t teach his son well, then he will show this old man how it’s done! Scare him!
Qin Yao: Hmm, well, it’s hard to judge.
After dinner, Liu Ji indeed rolled up his sleeves, taking the kids to his study, Si Niang included.
The four siblings, all together, not one missing.
Given that Mr. Fan’s sternness had cast a significant psychological shadow on the children, Sanlang was left confused whenever his biological father’s expression changed.
Liu Ji changed his former impatient tutoring style, intentionally softened his voice and taught with patience, actually managing to achieve some results.
By the next morning, though they had slept less than two hours, Sanlang could finally recite what he couldn’t the day before.
After breakfast, the four siblings went to school confidently along with the neighbor’s children.
Liu Ji kept yawning.
The coachman from the State Preceptor Mansion arrived, Liu Ji watched as the coachman carried a pile of gifts straight into his home, rubbed his eyes, thinking he must be seeing things.
"What are you doing?" Liu Ji quickly followed up, asking irritably: "What are you doing bringing these things into my home?"
The coachman didn’t stop walking, replying as he went: "Mr. Liu, these are gifts from our master to be delivered to Madam. May I ask where Madam is? I need to personally hand these gifts to her."
Liu Ji squinted suspiciously; the State Preceptor sending gifts to his wife?
"Why?" Liu Ji instinctively wondered if it was to get his wife to do something dangerous for the State Preceptor?
The coachman shook his head; he was just tasked with delivering. The master mentioned nothing else.
That made it even stranger—sending gifts without reason, what was that about?
Liu Ji’s peach blossom eyes flicked over the bundles of gifts in the coachman’s hands, large bags piled high, nearly over the coachman’s head, and from what he could tell, they were heftily valuable.
From the prestigious State Preceptor Mansion, they surely wouldn’t give anything shabby.
Since these were gifts without reason, might as well accept them first, who cares what’s in the bottle gourd?
Liu Ji thought to himself, "Come, let me help you carry these. My wife isn’t up yet, handing the gifts to me is just the same, I’ll tell her later, thanking your master for his kindness."
As he spoke, he already had his hands on the gifts, hugging them close; before the coachman could react, he had snatched them away.
"Mr. Liu, the master instructed I must see the Madam personally receive these gifts, isn’t this a bit inappropriate?" the coachman hesitated, frowning.
"Come on!" Liu Ji shot him a glance, "There’s no need to fuss over such minutiae, my wife and I are one, giving them to me is the same as giving them to her, nobody will say a word, your master won’t know whether it was me or my wife you handed them to."
The coachman thought for a moment, it seemed to make sense.
Liu Ji placed the gifts with a "bang" on the Eight Immortals table in the hall, gestured secretly to the coachman for silence, then pointed towards the backyard, "My wife has a hot temper, if you disturb her rest now, you’ll be done for."
The coachman, recalling today’s rumors about the two stone lions at the entrance, broke into a cold sweat, quickly fell silent, and gratefully bowed to Liu Ji, thanking him for the reminder.
Liu Ji smiled kindly, softly calling Ah Wang over to have these gifts moved, while wrapping an arm around the coachman’s shoulders, the two merrily left together.
