The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 593 - 582: The Gentleman Is Right

Chapter 593: Chapter 582: The Gentleman Is Right

Since Zhou Silang left, the five people in the courtyard didn’t even bother to cook anymore, not only buying ready-made dishes from outside but also purchasing their rice from the county town.

The two brought the meals back to the small courtyard, and since it wasn’t far, both the rice and dishes were still hot.

It wasn’t until the meal was set that Bai Erlang, looking utterly defeated, came out, and the two knew immediately from the look of him that his homework had not gone well, that he had surely been scolded again.

Mr. Zhuang took his seat at the head of the table and, seeing Bai Erlang’s listless appearance, gently tapped his bowl with his chopsticks, saying, "One should not show joy or anger on one’s face, you should restrain yourself a bit."

Only then did Bai Erlang straighten up a little, though his face still bore a dejected expression.

Mr. Zhuang did not expect him to change completely right away, so he started calling everyone to eat instead.

After the meal, Mr. Zhuang finally said, "Shanbao, tomorrow we will take you to the prefectural school, and from then on, you’ll have to go to school on your own."

Bai Shanbao assented.

Bai Erlang sighed, knowing that once Bai Shan went to the prefectural school, the master would invest even more effort in him, which was indeed a sad thought.

The next day, Mr. Zhuang took Bai Shanbao to the prefectural school, with Manbao and Bai Erlang tagging along for the excitement.

Today was the day for new students to enroll in the prefectural school, so its gates were wide open to all.

Though the number of women who came was small, there were still some present.

Some students came with their entire families, some already had wives and children, and some wives, uneasy, naturally followed their husbands to have a look.

And there were husbands who wanted to boast to their wives, bringing them to enjoy the bustling scene.

Familiar with the place, Mr. Zhuang led his three disciples into the prefectural school, drawing glances from the passersby.

The prefectural school had an age requirement, and Mr. Zhuang was clearly not eligible, but the remaining three, no, two, were rather young, weren’t they?

"I heard that among this year’s candidates there was an especially young one who passed, just twelve years old."

"That young?"

"Yes, quite young. However, he was the last one admitted. There’s an open exam paper at the school supervisor’s office, and some people have seen it. It’s really well written."

With that, their gazes couldn’t help but sweep towards Bai Erlang and Bai Shanbao again.

Bai Erlang was oblivious, while Bai Shanbao coolly lifted his chin, barely able to suppress a smile.

Manbao openly looked back, meeting their gazes and even raising her hand to greet them, "Greetings, brothers."

The scholars: "...The young lady is mannered. Are you here with family members for enrollment?"

"Yes," Manbao replied, as she was bored waiting in line and started chatting with them, enthusiastically introducing Bai Shanbao, "This is my second junior brother, Bai Shan. He’s the one enrolled in the prefectural school, and we’ve come to see him off today."

As the guess was confirmed, some of the scholars smiled, stepping forward to salute Bai Shanbao with cupped hands, "So this is Young Master Bai from Longzhou. I am Kang Xiaodong from Yizhou."

A young man beside him immediately added, "I am Zhang Rui from Zizhou."

Bai Shanbao returned the greeting, "Bai Shan from Longzhou."

He blinked, feeling a bit shy, but still asked, "Do you know me?"

Kang Xiaodong laughed, "Though we have not met, we have heard of you, and we saw Brother Bai’s paper at the school supervisor’s office. Your ’livelihood of the people’ answer was excellent. Some even said it could be ranked first in the entire examination."

It was just unfortunate that he erred on the last major question. Indeed, if he had only written the first part, he would likely have ranked higher than one hundred fifty.

Although no one spoke it aloud, they had all speculated that if he hadn’t gotten carried away on the final question, showing excessive arrogance, a ranking within the top one hundred would have been no issue.

Upon reading his paper, they thought Bai Shan was arrogant, but upon meeting him, they found him initially aloof but soon discovered he was as lively as most young people.

It was just a bit of self-pride.

He had reason to be proud, after all.

Who else could write such an article at twelve and get into the prefectural school?

Mr. Zhuang watched with a smile as his disciple made friends, stroking his beard.

Kang Xiaodong was also curious about Manbao, primarily because she had called Bai Shan her junior brother, so he looked her way, his eyes inevitably drifting towards Mr. Zhuang.

Manbao nodded, happily introducing them to her master and another junior brother.

Kang Xiaodong and Zhang Rui were delighted, offering Mr. Zhuang repeated salutations after just one glance at Bai Erlang.

A master who could teach a student as outstanding as Bai Shan was bound to be remarkable, and, as a younger reader, one naturally wished to befriend a middle-aged or older scholar of reputation and talent.

So even before Bai Shan had officially enrolled, he had already made two friends, even exchanging addresses and agreeing to visit when they had time.

Kang Xiaodong found Bai Shan’s senior sister to be much more lively than him, striking up many conversations with her, and naturally, the address was exchanged with her too.

Thus, while they were friends with Bai Shan, their friendship with Manbao seemed somewhat deeper.

When their turn in the queue came, Mr. Zhuang led Bai Shanbao forward, handing over the prepared registration and other documents. The school official checked and found everything in order, then handed them a badge and a sheet of paper.

It listed the books they needed to purchase.

Although no tuition fee was required for attending the prefectural school, and there was even a stipend, the school did not supply books, which had to be bought by the students themselves.

The prefectural school wasn’t involved in this business, so students had to buy them from bookshops outside.

This time of year was always the busiest and best time for bookshop business.

Bai Shanbao looked at the booklist and realised that he already owned most of them, and they were all included in the list he and Mr. Zhuang had prepared for Zhou Si, so he only needed to fill in the few that were missing.

He was pleased, "Master, we don’t have many books to buy."

Mr. Zhuang nodded in agreement. After all, the curriculum hadn’t changed for decades, with only slight improvements, so the needed books wouldn’t change either.

Most of Bai Shanbao’s books had been passed down to him by his father, who was an advanced scholar with more books, not fewer.

And Bai Shan’s grandfather was also a man of letters, so many of his father’s books were inherited from his grandfather, and so on.

Manbao pondered for a moment and suggested, "Second Junior Brother, should you replace some of the especially old books? What if they fall apart?"

"Books can be repaired," Mr. Zhuang responded before Bai Shanbao could, "Annotations made by ancestors in their books are rare and should not be discarded lightly."

Manbao retorted, "But what if Bai Shan also wants to write notes and there’s no space left?"

Mr. Zhuang tapped her forehead, saying, "You’re being playful. If there’s no space to write, just slip in a sheet of paper, why waste a whole book?"

Though Bai Shanbao also hesitated about whether to buy some new books, he immediately agreed with Mr. Zhuang upon seeing Manbao being tapped on the head, "Master is right."