The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 909 - 887: Getting Beaten

Chapter 909: Chapter 887: Getting Beaten

The carriage pulled four people to Qili Village, where they jumped off at the entrance of the village and hesitated briefly before ultimately deciding the first and hardest task was to visit their teacher.

So, the three of them made a resolve akin to facing death and headed to the Bai Family first.

Mr. Zhuang had not returned home since the children had left for their studies, and he was not worried. He spent his days reading, writing, or playing chess with Old Master Bai. Even after his disciples had been gone for over half a month, he never asked a single question, letting them roam freely.

The three of them were nervously peeking through the gate, when they saw Mr. Zhuang sitting under a tree, sunbathing and reading.

The three nudged each other and jabbed lightly, with no one daring to approach first.

Mr. Zhuang, hearing the noise, turned his head and coughed loudly twice upon seeing the three little heads poking through the gate.

The three, who were just about to play rock-paper-scissors to decide who would face the music, froze and stiffly raised their heads only to meet Mr. Zhuang’s gaze.

Bai Erlang hurriedly nudged Bai Shan, who in turn nudged Manbao, causing her to step forward two paces to the front.

Mr. Zhuang silently watched them, and Manbao, as the Senior Sister and pushed to the front, could only shake her small hand and summon the courage to greet him, "Teacher, are you reading?"

Mr. Zhuang watched her for a good while before shifting his gaze to Bai Shan and Bai Erlang, who were hiding behind. They had no choice but to step forward with an awkward smile and a wave, saying, "Teacher, have you been well recently?"

Mr. Zhuang put down his book and asked, "Have you visited your families since you returned?"

The three shook their heads together.

Mr. Zhuang then asked, "Have you completed your tasks outside?"

The three nodded together, then thought better of it and shook their heads. Who knew if County Magistrate Yang and others would have more tasks for them?

"You’re nodding and shaking your heads. Is it done or not?"

Manbao cautiously replied, "We found what we were looking for, and we’ve also sorted out the documents. We shouldn’t have anything urgent these next few days, but it’s hard to say for the future."

Mr. Zhuang then had a fair idea and nodded, "Go home and see your parents first. In an hour, come back here and I will test you on your lessons."

The heavy hearts they carried lightened a bit. Although they hadn’t been studying during the past half month, they remembered some of their coursework from then. They figured the test would mean a punishment, but hopefully not too severe.

The three left the yard.

Bai Shan said, "I’m going to pay respects to Grandmother and Mother."

Bai Erlang added, "I’ll also pay respects to Grandmother and Mother, and see Father while I’m there."

Manbao was more relaxed than either of them, "I’m going to see my father and mother too."

Manbao bounded home cheerfully. Old Zhou, having not seen his daughter for a while, eagerly grasped her hand, bombarding her with questions, without any intention of punishing her. Ms. Qian was the same.

The people of the Zhou Family knew she had been staying at County Magistrate Yang’s house, with plenty to eat and drink and a place to stay, assuring her safety and well-being. Zhou SiLang mentioned that she was there helping County Magistrate Yang sort out some documents.

It sounded like valid work, so her family didn’t worry, and nobody got upset about it.

Manbao went around the house, reveled in the special treatment, then took a bamboo basket and joined Daya, Erya, and the others to pick wild vegetables. Half an hour later, they returned from the mountain with several bundles of clean wild vegetables neatly packed in bamboo baskets.

Old Zhou felt particularly embarrassed that while County Magistrate Yang had been hosting his daughter with good rice and meat for over half a month, they could only reciprocate with a basket of wild vegetables.

But Manbao said, "They don’t lack meat at their place, but they do lack vegetables."

Old Zhou didn’t believe it, "If there’s no shortage of meat, how can there be a shortage of vegetables?"

But Manbao just took a basket of wild vegetables to the cart driver resting at the Bai Family’s place, cheerfully saying to her dad, "In a while, the teacher will check my homework. I will come home later."

Old Zhou stood at the door, waving at her, "Alright. If you come back late, your sister-in-law will save some meat for you to eat."

Watching Manbao run off, Old Zhou happily turned back into the house. Ms. Qian glanced at him and said, "Feeling relieved now? Manbao hasn’t become distant from us just because you’re not her real dad."

With flushed cheeks, Old Zhou retorted, "Nonsense, who said I was worried about that? I’m clearly just concerned about my daughter."

Ms. Qian huffed and said no more.

Manbao gave the basket to the cart driver to take back to County Magistrate Yang, then stood with her hands behind her back in front of the Bai Family’s gate, pondering whether to go directly to see Mr. Zhuang, or to find Bai Shan first and go with him to meet Mr. Zhuang.

After hesitating for a moment, as a Senior Sister, she felt she should care for her Junior Brother and rescue them from a dire situation. Thus, she went to knock on Bai Shan’s door first.

Having knelt for more than half an hour and endured a long lecture, Bai Shan heard the servant’s soft footsteps as they came in to report, "Old Madam, Miss Man has arrived. She says she’s here to invite the young master to attend Mr. Zhuang’s class together."

Old Madam Liu finally lowered her gaze to her kneeling grandson, huffed, and put down her teacup, "I will punish you when you return. For now, go with Manbao to the class."

Bai Shan immediately scrambled up, stumbling a bit because his legs were numb, bowed, and withdrew after making a respectful salute.

Once outside, as his legs regained feeling, he simply started to run.

Manbao was waiting for him by the garden, looking down at his ginger field. Seeing him running, she waved and said, "Come look, your ginger is growing really well."

Bai Shan ran over and found it to be true, "The servants at home have been taking care of it now. They harvested it last winter."

Seeing a bit of dirt on his knees, Manbao asked, "Were you punished with kneeling?"

Then, Bai Shan stretched out his hand to rub his knee and sighed, "I expect I’ll continue to be punished when I return home tonight."

Unfortunately, they didn’t need to wait until evening to return; as soon as they reached the neighboring Bai Erlang’s house, Mr. Zhuang made them kneel down.

Mr. Zhuang pulled a ruler from under the table and walked up to the three students and asked, "Have all of you informed your homes?"

The three nodded blankly.

Mr. Zhuang asked, "Were you punished?"

Both Bai Shan and Bai Erlang nodded while Manbao shook her head.

Mr. Zhuang then turned to Manbao first and approached her with a stern face, "Then, stretch out your hand. We’ll start with you."

Manbao extended her fist cautiously and asked, "Teacher, how many times will you hit?"

Mr. Zhuang tapped her clenched fist with the ruler, signaling her to open her hand, and said expressionlessly, "Originally, you should be hit twenty times. But as their Senior Sister, not only did you fail to keep the Junior Brothers in line, but you also took the lead in causing trouble, so I will punish you with an extra six hits, for a total of twenty-six."

Manbao’s eyes widened. The most she had ever been hit when she was little was five times.

Manbao’s little hands trembled.

When Mr. Zhuang brought down the ruler, Manbao instinctively flinched, causing Mr. Zhuang to miss and grow even more irritated. He barked, "Stretch it out for me."

Manbao stretched out her hands, trembling.

Mr. Zhuang delivered the hits with even precision, thirteen on each hand, making both sides equally red and swollen, before turning breathlessly to Bai Shan, who was kneeling on the side, "You stretch out your hands too."

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