Chapter 42: CH 42

Chapter 42 – Reconciled

Quote of the day: Man Bao “…. I want to be a saint like Confucius, not a fool!” Hahahaha

Mr Zhuang didn’t say too much. Although he had many things to say, he also wanted the two children to understand the logic he wanted to impart.

Anyway, the two kids are still young, and he has plenty of time to teach them, so he wasn’t in a hurry.

Mr Zhuang turned his attention to Bai Shan Bao’s homework, as he was a newcomer. Mr Zhuang needed to know his academic standing so that he could arrange his lessons.

Bai Shan Bao had memorised the “Analects” but had yet to learn the meaning of the latter part of the book.

Mr Zhuang asked a couple of questions and knew that Bai Shan Bao learnt from his previous teacher and grandmother. He nodded in satisfaction and asked the two children to go back to class.

For the first time, Man Bao felt there was someone who was better than her, and followed him around, saying, “You can read faster than me. I started studying when I was one year old, and I just know the ‘Thousand Character Classic’.”

Bai Shan Bao felt Man Bao was stupid, and said, “I started studying at the age of two and memorized the ‘Thousand Character Classic’ in just three months.”

Naturally, he didn’t tell her that although he had memorised the book, he didn’t know how to read then.  He only started to learn to read from textbooks and to write when he was three years old.

Because she had a clever desk-mate, Man Bao was particularly attentive in class in order not to fall behind, and was particularly hard-working, thus, asked many questions.

For example, Mr Zhuang explained the meaning of temperate, kind, courteous, restrained, and magnanimous, which were gentle, upright, dignified, thrifty and modest.

So, Man Bao asked, what kind of behaviour could be considered gentle, upright, dignified, thrifty and modest?

When she thought about it, she felt she fulfilled these five virtues. Could she be considered a saint?

Before Mr Zhuang could say anything to his boastful disciple, Bai Shan Bao interjected, “Let’s not even talk about anything else but you definitely don’t have integrity, gentleness, dignity and modesty.”

He added, “You were not upright when you favoured your nephew yesterday, you were not gentle and dignified when you fought with me, and you bit me, which is not compatible with modesty.”   

Man Bao stared at him, “Well, I can’t allow you bully my nephew and me. I want to be a saint like Confucius, not a fool.”

When Mr Zhuang noted that the two kids were about to start quarrelling again, he knocked on the table and said, “Are you paying attention to the lesson?”

Only then did the two of them sit upright, obediently put their hands on their knees, and tilted their heads to listen to Mr Zhuang’s teaching.

Mr Zhuang cited some examples to prove how temperate, kind, courteous, restrained, and magnanimous Confucius was.

They only had one lesson in the morning. Mr Zhuang asked them to study and recite the characters on their own, while he moved on to teach the senior students.

Although Keke has seen the way Mr Zhuang conduct his classes many times, he couldn’t help but admire the wisdom of the people in ancient times who were far behind those in the future in terms of educational resources.

This era might be backwards but the profound knowledge of the masters and their ability to teach the students in accordance with their aptitude was unmatched in many of the future eras.

In particular, the subsequent prevalence of the eight-part essay*, which directly unified the literary system, was the starting point of a systematic education system.

Naturally, Keke didn’t share these with Man Bao. He quietly watched as she bragged to Bai Shan Bao that she had memorised the text and classics which Mr Zhuang just taught.

Confronted with Bai Shan Bao’s arrogance, Man Bao was filled with a fighting spirit, “I will surpass you in the future.”

She didn’t just talk about it, she acted immediately. She opened the closed textbook and began to read the questions at the back of the book.

She recognised many words, so she can read by herself.

In addition, when Mr Zhuang hand-copied the book, he punctuated the unpunctuated classical book, saving Man Bao the hassle of punctuating the sentences. Hence, she just read on while shaking her head.

The first recitation was difficult to understand, the second was slightly better, the third was smoother, and after reading it yet again, Man Bao was able to recite albeit in a stammered manner.

Man Bao was full of confidence and felt she had memorised the text, so she opened the next chapter and continued to work hard. In just a short period of time, she had memorized three or four chapters.

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Bai Shan Bao’s jaw dropped, and he had no time to sneak off to play, so he also opened his book and started to memorise the text.

He couldn’t allow her to outperform him!

As soon as the bell rang at noon, the students rushed out, took their big bowls, and ran to the kitchen to queue for food.

Man Bao was young, had short legs, and was the last to run out while newcomer Bai Shan Bao who was unfamiliar with the school timetable was still sitting in class after everyone had rushed out.

By that time Man Bao reached the door, she sensed something was wrong and turned back to retrieve Bai Shan Bao’s bowl and dragged him along with her to the kitchen.

So, the two youngest pupils were at the end of the line.

But Man Bao was not worried at all, and proudly told Bai Shan Bao, “My eldest sister-in-law is the one who cooks and prepares the food. Follow me and you will definitely be able to eat till you are stuffed.”

At first, Bai Shan Bao didn’t think that having one’s sister-in-law as the school’s cook was anything to be proud of, but after hearing Man Bao’s words, and her sense of pride, he couldn’t help but felt slightly envious.

Sure enough, when it was their turn, Xiao Qian smiled at the two of them and served them many dishes.  

Students could eat in the classroom, but most of them prefer to eat while standing or sitting in the yard. There were a few kids who even ran across the road to the grassy area to play and eat.

Bai Shan Bao squatted beside Man Bao and had his lunch. He felt the food was delicious and ate with relish.

After eating, the students were allowed to play near the school. Of course, they could not go near the river. Every day at this time, Mr Zhuang would sit in front of the courtyard gate and kept an eye on them.

Those who went near the river would have their palms smacked and would have to recite their lessons and write Chinese characters as a punishment.

So, although the students were tempted by the sight of the nearby river, to date, none of them had the guts to run to the river to play.   

Man Bao certainly would not go. She ran back into the classroom to fetch the box containing the cabbage worms, as she wanted to practice being brave with Bai Shan Bao.

She had already decided that when she didn’t need the worms anymore, she would give them to Keke.

Keke……

Then, Man Bao and Shan Bao played with the dozen or so worms and killed them.

Man Bao was slightly embarrassed and decided to take the worms back and feed the hens so that they would lay more eggs. She would catch some cabbage worms for Keke later.

She told Keke her plans.

The helpless system could only agree. After all, he couldn’t force Man Bao to catch worms for him, right?

So, Shan Bao and Man Bao agreed they would catch the worms together the next day.

The two kids concurred they were no longer afraid of cabbage worms. In that case, of course, they were going to catch bugs. The bottom line was, how could they not return the favour to the perpetrators?

The two of them seemed to have forgotten that they fought yesterday and after agreeing on the next day’s plans, they gave Bai Er Lang who was talking bombastically in the classroom, a cryptic look.

Bai Shan Bao also complained to Man Bao, “He is very bad. When I first arrived, he snatched my wooden horse. When I didn’t give it to him, he threw a fit and rolled around on the ground.”

The curious Man Bao asked, “What happened? Did your mother give in?”

“No,” Shan Bao looked up and arrogantly said, “My grandmother wanted to give the toy to him, so I also threw a fit and rolled around on the ground! Then, my paternal uncle (Master Bai) hit him, humph!”

– End of this chapter –

Reference:

* Eight-part essay, eight-legged essay is a literary composition in the imperial civil service examinations, characterized by rigidity and sterility. Taken from Pleco.

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