The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 587 - 576: Experience

Chapter 587: Chapter 576: Experience

"First, he’s young; he’s only twelve this year. For a young man, a bit of arrogance isn’t a problem, what’s important is that he has talent; secondly, his hometown is within the pass." Lan Cheng said, "These past two years, while Yizhou suffered from floods, they have stolen quite a few good seeds from us."

Mr. Zhuang said expressionlessly, "In the end, someone has chilled their hearts. Otherwise, who would be willing to leave home to study?"

Lan Cheng lowered his flushed eyes and suppressed the thoughts in his heart, "We’re just a bunch of poor teachers, what can we really do?"

Mr. Zhuang remained silent.

"In any case," Lan Cheng suppressed all his thoughts and smiled at him, "his selection was entirely fair and square, you can rest assured."

Mr. Zhuang finally relaxed, nodded, and said, "Well, that’s good."

Lan Cheng smiled and said, "I see that your disciple is quite proud. You should teach him to keep a low profile once he enters the academy, so as not to arouse the dissatisfaction of other students and the displeasure of the school officials."

Mr. Zhuang smiled faintly, "I don’t think he’s arrogant, but confident. That’s quite good."

Lan Cheng shook his head, "You used to be the most modest. How have you picked up the bad habits of those three disciples of yours?"

Mr. Zhuang didn’t say anything.

Lan Cheng didn’t insist any further because, upon reflection, he thought the way Mr. Zhuang was now wasn’t bad either.

Mr. Zhuang promptly invited him to join him for a meal at Ganxiang Pavilion.

After thinking it over, Lan Cheng shook his head and said, "Never mind, although I wasn’t the one to choose the papers, I did review them. The results have just been announced; we should avoid dining and drinking for now, lest we are misunderstood by those with ulterior motives."

He said, "Perhaps it’s because the standards were relaxed when selecting people in the past two years, the number of candidates this year was exceptionally high. The questions we set were not much different from previous years’, but unexpectedly along came an important figure who changed the final two major questions."

"With this change, we no longer had to worry about whom to choose and whom not to, but it did demoralize many students. Bai Shan was the youngest of them all. When his ranking was being determined, some school officials had queried it, so we’d better lay low for a while."

Mr. Zhuang had no issue whatsoever, nodded in agreement, but still couldn’t help asking, "From what you’re saying, are there others whose papers were better than Bai Shan’s but were passed over?"

"That’s not the case. Although in literature there is no first place, and opinions may differ, overall, none of those who were eliminated were stronger than him. Even in my view, his ranking could have been a little higher," Lan Cheng said. "But as you know, the academy exams don’t anonymize names, and there are certain... human sentiments."

Mr. Zhuang understood as soon as he heard this, and waved his hand, "Then there’s no need to worry. My Bai Shan’s capabilities are there for all to see, what’s there to fear?"

As he spoke, after returning home, Mr. Zhuang still made a point of calling Bai Shanbao to his study and said, "The academy is a great school, with many students and diverse backgrounds, different from studying here with me. You must be careful, understand?"

Bai Shanbao thought for a moment and asked, "Does that mean there are factional conflicts, fights between those who are good at studying and those who aren’t?"

Mr. Zhuang blinked, "You know?"

"Of course, I know." Not only did he know, but he had also been involved! Before studying with Mr. Zhuang, he had attended his family’s clan school for nearly a year. What hadn’t he experienced by then?

Mr. Zhuang, apparently recalling his past experiences, rubbed his forehead and said, "It’s different from that."

In his view, the squabbles of young children and the strife within the academy were like a small witch meeting a great witch, not worth mentioning.

He said, "Although we have no power or connections in Yizhou, once you enter the academy, don’t show any weakness. Once you show weakness, your spirit falters, and if your spirit falters, others will be more inclined to bully you."

Mr. Zhuang knew this from personal experience, it was just a pity that he hadn’t understood this principle when he was young, and by the time he grasped it, it was too late to change anything.

So he could only teach his disciple now, "You’re doing very well, but in the academy, don’t get into disputes with others, and definitely don’t fight."

As he said this, Mr. Zhuang paused before adding, "Even if you must fight, be sure not to be the first to throw a punch, understand?"

Bai Shanbao nodded repeatedly, having learnt from experience, "I know, whoever throws the first punch is wrong. And I shouldn’t fight with girls either."

Mr. Zhuang: "...Do you think all the girls in the world are like Manbao? Don’t worry, there won’t be any girls fighting with you in the academy."

As a student with many years in the academy, Mr. Zhuang knew all too well what the official rules of study were, and moreover, the unwritten ones.

Of course, at this time, he didn’t divulge everything to his disciple, but only cautioned him on the things he needed to be aware of. Some issues are best dealt with as they arise.

Furthermore, everyone’s path is different, some experiences are more meaningful when reflected upon later.

An oblivious Bai Shanbao felt he had received a multitude of warnings from his teacher, deeply moved, he turned around and went to find Manbao and Bai Erlang to play.

When his two friends asked about it, he said, "I feel like the academy is like a dragon’s den, the teacher is very worried about me."

Bai Erlang said, "Isn’t the academy just a place to study? They wouldn’t fight, would they? You’re excellent at studying, you won’t have any problems."

Manbao shot him a scornful look, "Our school is also a place for studying, and yet you still fought, didn’t you?"

"You fought too, so did Bai Shan."

"So the notion that there’s no fighting in places of learning is a misconception to begin with," Manbao said, "With so many students at the academy, if there were a fight, it would probably be even more fierce. So Second Junior Brother, once you get to the academy, you must quickly make friends who share your ideals so you can stick together if a fight breaks out."

Bai Shanbao said, "If I really can’t beat them, wouldn’t I run away?"

"Right, you run to the academy’s teachers, they definitely won’t dare to fight in front of them," Manbao said, "and later when we come out, we’ll help you."

Daji listened to their discussion, speechless. They hadn’t even started school and were already thinking about fighting, what was to become of this?

Bai Shanbao’s success in passing the exam surprised everyone, including the Bai family of Qili Village.

So Daji decided to go out that very day, both to send a message back home and to mail the letter Bai Shanbao wrote to the Old Madam.

Manbao also spoke to Zhou SiLang, who had secured a return trip booking, "Fourth Brother, since Shanbao has been accepted into the academy, I’ll have to stay in Yizhou to study with the teacher."

Zhou SiLang clearly hadn’t considered this, "Ah," he exclaimed, his first question being, "How much will that cost? There are expenses but no income, should we go back and ask Father for money?"

Manbao thought for a moment, shook her head, and said, "Who says we don’t have income? Our farm is still there. Once we gather the summer and autumn harvest, we’ll have money. But what about you, Fourth Brother, you can’t earn money here, can you?"

Zhou Si scratched his chin, looking thoughtful, "Actually, it’s not that I can’t earn money."