Chapter 40 Jealousy
"Just look, who's afraid of who?" Although Bai Shanbao also had a pale face, in order not to lose face in front of Manbao, he opened the box with trembling hands, took a look and turned his head away, saying stubbornly: "I'm not afraid of it, it's just that it's too ugly, I don't like to look at it."
Manbao felt that what he said was absolutely right, and nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, I also think it is too ugly. It hurts the eyes if you look at it too much."
The two children looked at each other, both agreeing with each other's words, and then turned their heads to take a look at the bugs in the box, then turned their heads away, took another look, and turned their heads away again...
Mr. Bai was watching this scene outside the window, then he looked at his son who was lowering his head and pretending to be honest. He moved his feet, but seeing Mr. Zhuang in front of him, he held back and did not kick out.
Although Mr. Zhuang also hit students on the hands, he did not approve of parents hitting their children, especially the way Mr. Bai did. Seeing that his eyes were looking at Bai Erlang more and more unfriendly, Mr. Zhuang signaled for the parents to leave as he was going to start the class.
Mr. Bai glared at his youngest son secretly, warned him in a low voice, and invited Liu and Zheng to leave together.
Although Qili Village is located in a valley and is difficult to access, the scenery is stunning.
Mr. Bai was also a scholar. When he built the school, he deliberately chose this place with excellent scenery. It faces the water and the mountains, and is extremely beautiful.
Although the autumn scenery is bleak, there are still dense forests here, and many wild flowers are blooming on the roadside, which makes it very beautiful.
Liu walked slowly along the river bank towards the Bai family mansion, looking quite happy. She turned around and said to Mr. Bai, "This place is really blessed with outstanding people and beautiful scenery."
Mr. Bai knew that the aunt was talking about Manbao, so he stroked his beard and smiled, "Aunt, don't look at this poor mountain valley. In fact, there are many good things and good people here. Just wait and see."
Mrs. Liu nodded. "That child knows how to face challenges head-on at such a young age. She is clearly afraid, but she still knows how to overcome it. I just hope Shanbao can learn this from her in the future."
Mrs. Liu felt a little regretful. "What a pity, she is a girl. By the way, she has many brothers and nephews. Why is there no one that Mr. Zhuang likes?"
Although Mr. Bai seldom visited the village, he still knew what was going on there. He smiled and said, "I'm afraid all the talent of the Zhou family is in this child."
Liu recalled the Zhou family she met yesterday, nodded, and said with a smile: "The Mrs. Zhou I met yesterday seemed like a virtuous person."
Mr. Bai thought about the Zhou family that the housekeeper had mentioned to him, and said uncertainly, "Maybe. It is said that the eldest and third sons of this family are very diligent, and the second son is quite clever and often goes to the market to do some small business."
The two went home while talking.
Back at the school, Manbao and Shanbao had already put away the bugs and started taking out their own books to read with the teacher.
Bai Shanbao originally wanted to crush his opponent in reading, so he started reciting loudly at the beginning. Although his voice was still a little babyish, it was the loudest in the class.
Manbao loves to join in the fun. When she saw her deskmate reading loudly, she also started to read along at the top of her voice. The two little kids looked so cute as they shook their heads.
At least Mr. Zhuang who was standing on the stage was particularly satisfied. There was a smile in his eyes. He stroked his beard back and forth, and shook his head with satisfaction as he read.
Led by the two students, the other students in the class also read aloud, much more seriously than before. Even the college students who had already finished learning the Analects of Confucius could not help but turn around and recite the Analects with them.
Bai Erlang, who was standing outside the classroom, couldn't help but turn his head to look at the two children in the room, and snorted with .
The two students who were punished like him also looked inside curiously, and came to the eldest brother and said, "Brother Erlang, how come your cousin can also read "The Analects of Confucius"? Didn't he just start school?"
Bai Erlang muttered, "That's why I hate him the most. He was only two years old when he started learning. My grandmother said that he could recite not only 300 poems, but also the Thousand Character Classic and the Analects. When he first came, my grandmother gave him my favorite braised pork. In short, he is as annoying as Manbao. Humph, is it a big deal to be able to read?"
"That's right, that's right. We are better at fighting than him. Otherwise, after class this afternoon, we will stop him on the road and beat him up to vent your anger."
Bai Jilang hesitated, "If my father knew, he would definitely beat me up."
"We did it secretly. I heard from my eldest brother that if you don't want the person being beaten to know who beat you, just put a sack on them."
Bai Erlang rolled his eyes and whispered, "Where can we find a sack?"
"I have it at home, but I can't run back home to get it. Your house is closer than mine."
"Then tomorrow," said another person, "We'll bring sacks tomorrow, and it would be best if we could also sack Man Bao with it."
"That's not good," Bai Erlang frowned and said, "She's a girl, you can just scare her with bugs, but how can a man hit a girl?"
The other one also felt that beating a girl was too shameful, so he disagreed with the proposal, and the proposal was shelved.
Bai Shanbao and Manbao were competing to speak louder. In short, since you outsold me with your first sentence, I will outshine you with my second sentence.
Mr. Zhuang smiled and looked at them for a long time before knocking on the table of the two people and admonishing them: "Keep your voice down. There are also skills in reading, otherwise you will be unable to speak tomorrow."
Mr. Zhuang signaled everyone to stop, asked the primary school students to take out their books, and began to teach a new text. After they knew how to read this text, he asked them to read it thoroughly first and then explain its meaning in class later.
After instructing the elementary school students, Mr. Zhuang went to see the college students.
In fact, there are only five people in the older group.
Bai Shanbao glanced at Manbao and read silently on the side.
Manbao was also reading seriously. She had always had a good memory and basically remembered it after reading it two or three times, but she didn't know what it meant, so she looked around.
If it were in the past, she would have asked Koko directly, but now there was someone sitting next to her, and she felt that instead of talking to Koko in her heart, it would be better to talk to others with her mouth.
The words spoken through the mouth make a very nice sound.
So she began to push her hand-copied textbook towards Shanbao and asked, "Do you know what this sentence means?"
Bai Shanbao took a look and happened to have learned it from his grandmother before, so he said proudly: "Of course I know, don't you know?"
"I don't know, the gentleman hasn't had time to tell me yet," Man Bao said as a matter of course, "but I want to know now, can you tell me?"
Bai Shanbao turned his head to look at her. He felt very comfortable being looked at by her, so he told her reluctantly, "In fact, it was two disciples of Confucius who were talking. Ziqin asked Zigong, "The teacher would hear about the political affairs of that country every time he went to a place. Did he ask others to tell him, or did others tell him on their own initiative..."
This is a passage from Xue Er, and Bai Shanbao had memorized it by heart. His grandmother had also told him the meaning, and he had memorized it all.
Manbao listened with great interest and said, "I have never heard of this story. It is really good. It would be great if I could travel to different countries like Confucius and have people tell me stories on their own initiative."
