The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 378 - 367: Accepting a Master

Chapter 378: Chapter 367: Accepting a Master

Mr. Zhuang’s heart stirred, and he smiled, "That’s no problem at all, whether they officially become my disciples or not, I teach them all the same. It’s just that if they did formally become disciples, they would need to be ranked accordingly. I have already taken Manbao as my disciple, and then I promised Shanbao, so Erlang..."

Old Master Bai turned around and shouted at Bai Erlang, who was looking completely puzzled, "What are you dawdling for? Won’t you quickly address your Master, Senior Brother, and Senior Sister?"

Shanbao had fought with Manbao for the position of Senior Brother and even lost, a fact that Old Master Bai had heard about only a couple of days ago.

Bai Erlang: ...

Both Manbao and Bai Shanbao were satisfied, craning their little necks waiting for Bai Erlang to call them by their titles.

With a dumbfounded face, Bai Erlang looked at the two people who were clearly shorter than him, puckered his lips with grievance, but before he could voice his objection, Old Master Bai had already slapped the back of his head.

Under his father’s intimidating gaze, Bai Erlang reluctantly called Manbao "Senior Sister," and Bai Shanbao "Senior Brother." Only then did he look towards Mr. Zhuang with tears welling up in his eyes.

Mr. Zhuang felt sorry for the boy, so he gently stroked his head and led everyone inside the main room, smiling, "In that case, all of you should perform the disciple induction ceremony together."

Manbao quickly and alertly stood behind Mr. Zhuang, triumphantly watching the two Junior Brothers.

Mrs. Zhuang hurriedly brought in the freshly brewed tea. Bai Shanbao took one cup first, and then Bai Erlang took the remaining one.

Both of them knelt down, offering tea to Mr. Zhuang and performing the rite of respect.

Mr. Zhuang smiled, accepted their tea and took a sip, then encouraged them a bit before giving each of them a set of the Four Treasures of the Study.

Initially, he had prepared only one set, but fortunately, since there were many scholars in the Zhuang Family, he could find another set at the last moment.

Manbao watched the two of them with glee, feeling the joy of a ’buy one get one free’ deal.

Bai Shanbao was also very happy, his gaze towards Bai Erlang full of joy.

Bai Erlang glanced at Bai Shanbao and then at Manbao, feeling utterly disgruntled. Indeed, he still disliked Manbao and Bai Shanbao very much. What on earth had made him come to witness this commotion today?

Old Master Bai was very pleased, as were Ms. Liu and her daughter-in-law.

Zhuang Dalang and his wife hadn’t expected that their father’s career would take a further step forward after going to the countryside to teach, so they were also thrilled.

Originally, Zhuang Dalang was somewhat against Mr. Zhuang teaching in the countryside. After all, his father was getting on in years and would be too far away—if he fell ill, they wouldn’t be able to take care of him.

But seeing how much the Bai Family valued their father, Zhuang Dalang didn’t voice it, but he felt somewhat more at ease in his heart.

If his father were to become ill or something happened, the Bai Family should be able to take care of him.

Zhuang Dalang was very friendly towards Bai Shan and Bai Erlang. As for Manbao, standing behind Mr. Zhuang, he merely glanced at her.

Although he hadn’t met Manbao, he had already heard of her.

His father had told him that he took a disciple, a five-year-old girl.

As his father’s first official disciple, Zhuang Dalang couldn’t quite understand it. Even if they were to take a disciple, why a girl?

However, the decisions made by his father were clearly not for them to change, mainly because Zhuang Dalang didn’t want to interfere too much.

So on this occasion, he merely nodded at Manbao.

But Manbao had prepared gifts for all of them, for Zhuang Dalang and his wife, and for their three children as well.

Of course, there was also one for Bai Shanbao.

Having accepted a Master, Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang needed to greet Zhuang Dalang, and then Manbao.

Manbao had long since taken out the gift she prepared for Bai Shanbao from Daji’s arms, standing vigilantly behind Mr. Zhuang and watching him.

Bai Shanbao stood in front of Manbao, reluctantly called the much shorter girl "Senior Sister."

Manbao’s smile bloomed instantly, and she struggled to hold the box with one hand while reaching to pat Bai Shanbao’s head with the other, imitating Mr. Zhuang, "Good Junior Brother, here, this is a gift from your Senior Sister."

Bai Shanbao, not quite pleased, slightly turned his head away and reached out to take the box, then was about to open it.

Manbao quickly pressed down, saying, "You can’t open it now, you have to wait until you get home."

Bai Shanbao then hugged it close, saying, "Okay then."

He then stepped forward to stand beside Manbao, the two of them looking at Bai Erlang together.

Bai Erlang stood opposite them, having a staring contest.

With four eyes against two, Bai Erlang was utterly defeated; he could only approach Manbao and, after gathering his courage for a while, finally stammered out a "Senior Sister."

Manbao’s smile blossomed once again; she tried to reach out and pat Bai Erlang’s head, but he leapt back, watching her warily.

Manbao felt a bit regretful and said, "Oh good, I didn’t know you were also going to become a disciple today, so I didn’t prepare a gift for you. I’ll make it up to you when we get back."

Bai Erlang nodded indifferently; he felt that he and Bai Shanbao and Manbao had nothing in common. If they gave him pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, should he accept them or not?

So whether or not they sent gifts, he couldn’t care less.

When Bai Shanbao saw him about to stand beside them, he stepped forward to block him, saying, "You haven’t called me yet."

Bai Erlang ground his teeth at him and, with reluctance, called him out, "Senior Brother..."

Having said it, he felt aggrieved and turned to Mr. Zhuang, saying, "Master, I’m the oldest; shouldn’t I be the Senior Brother?"

In front of everyone, of course, Mr. Zhuang couldn’t let his disciples fight amongst themselves, especially since the two most troublesome ones had just established their seniority. Hence he replied, "It’s arranged according to the order of acceptance as disciples."

Bai Erlang then stretched out his hand to Bai Shanbao, "Then you should also give me a gift."

Old Master Bai couldn’t help but glare when he saw such rudeness.

Bai Shanbao didn’t mind and cheerfully agreed, "Okay, I’ll give it to you when we get back."

Bai Erlang made a request, "I want your slingshot!"

"No way!" Bai Shanbao and Manbao rejected him together.

Bai Shanbao said, "That’s mine!"

Manbao said, "That’s what I gave him!"

Bai Erlang then made a request of Manbao, "Then you have to give me a slingshot just like his."

Before Manbao could speak, Old Master Bai couldn’t hold back any longer and slapped him on the back, angrily saying, "Playing with a slingshot—coming here to become a disciple was meant for serious study, and here you are only thinking about playing!"

Then he looked at Manbao and Bai Shanbao, "Neither of you is allowed to give him toys, understand?"

Bai Shanbao and Manbao nodded repeatedly; they didn’t want to either.

Eatables and learning materials were much better. Why would they give toys?

Bai Erlang was in anguished fury, but he dared not defy his father.

After the disciple induction ceremony, Daji and the others moved the rest of the gifts inside.

Manbao’s gifts were particularly easy to recognize because her belongings were packed in bamboo boxes.

Such rudimentary packaging caused Zhuang Dalang and his wife to take several good looks, but seeing that Manbao was just a child, they said nothing.

Manbao’s gifts were five bamboo boxes, one for each member of the Zhuang family, excluding Mr. Zhuang. The remainder were the annual gifts prepared by the Zhou family for Mr. Zhuang, consisting of cured meat, rice, flour, and a jar of pickles, as was customary every year.

The three children of the Zhuang family were not at home as they had gone to school.

But Manbao still handed the gifts she had prepared over to Zhuang Dalang, believing that since she was visiting her Junior Uncle and Aunt for the first time, how could she not bring gifts?