The first volume of pearl curtains rolls up the western mountain rain at dusk Chapter 41: Right and Wrong
Yan Qingzhi sat on a rattan chair and watched Li Diudiu practicing with the sword. The little boy had obviously grown taller than when he first met him. Although only a month had passed, the nutrition from eating well every day seemed to have had an immediate effect on Li Diudiu.
The more Yan Qingzhi looked at this child, the more he liked him.
The weather in Jizhou was already a bit hot in May. Li Diudiu still had a splint on his right arm, but it did not affect his swordsmanship practice at all. Or if it did affect him, he just endured it with gritted teeth.
Li Diudiu has been living with Yan Qingzhi for three or four days. He and Yan Qingzhi tidy up the vegetable garden every morning and practice swordplay on time every afternoon.
Because boxing cannot be practiced with just one hand, he has not yet learned the Breaking Formation Fist.
The more Li Diudiu practiced this sword technique, the more he liked it and the more he felt it suited him. This sword technique was fierce and domineering, and each strike was like thunder and lightning.
"Take a break."
Yan Qingzhi handed the kettle to Li Diudiu. Li Diudiu said "thank you sir", poked the carrying pole on the ground, took the kettle and gulped down the water.
"Don't be greedy."
Yan Qing said: "It is important to be diligent in practicing martial arts, but you are still young. If you over-train, you will hurt yourself. More haste, less speed. If you are too aggressive, you will break easily."
Li Diudiu hummed and said, "I understand, sir."
Yan Qingzhi said: "If there is anything you don't understand, just ask."
Li Diudiu said: "What I'm most unclear about now is what are we going to eat for dinner?"
Yan Qingzhi felt a surge of anger rushing to his head, and he felt a little dizzy… The Sixe Academy had a field holiday, and the large cafeteria where the students ate was also closed, but the small cafeteria where the teachers ate was still open.
Now, every time Yan Qingzhi went to the cafeteria to get food, everyone in the cafeteria looked at him strangely.
When he eats, a normal bowl is enough for him. When Li Diudiu eats, a normal basin is enough for him.
When the two of them were sitting opposite each other eating, even Yan Qingzhi began to doubt whether he should be a child. He ate with a bowl while Li Diudiu ate with a basin. The amount of white rice alone was quite a lot, and he could eat so many dishes. He didn't know what his stomach was made of.
Perhaps it was because Li Diudiu was such a big eater that he grew noticeably taller and stronger in just one month.
"What to eat..."
Yan Qingzhi said: "I went to the cafeteria now and told them that you were recuperating here. They didn't believe me. They all thought I must be raising pigs secretly."
Li Diudiu said, "Let them think whatever they want... Besides, I can't eat all the food that Mr. Pig brings back."
Yan Qing said: "So they suspected that I had raised a litter."
Li Diudiu: “…”
Yan Qingzhi smiled and said, "Tell me, how did you survive when your master raised you?"
Li Diudiu said: "I feel a little weird now..."
Speaking of his master, Li Diudiu asked, "Sir, you went to see my master again yesterday. Has he found the house?"
Yan Qingzhi said: "Not yet. I asked him to move to another inn. The conditions are slightly better than the previous one, but he couldn't bear to live in an expensive place. The silver he spent every day is still the same, but because it is more remote, the conditions are slightly better. He said that the house is not something that can be rushed. It is not something that can be bought immediately if you want to."
Li Diudiu nodded and said, "As long as the master is fine, there is no rush for the house matter."
Yan Qingzhi said: "Your master asked why I never went to see him. I lied and said that because you did very well in the monthly exam, the dean was very happy, so he arranged for you to be responsible for the cleaning of the Shulin Building every day. You have to clean every day, but you can read books at will, so you don't have time."
Li Diudiu asked: "What did my master say?"
Yan Qingzhi said: "Your master told me not to starve you, because he was afraid that you would eat all the books."
Li Diudiu: "The ancients said that books contain golden houses and beautiful women, but they never said that books contain chickens, ducks, fish and meat."
Yan Qingzhi smiled and said, "Take a break and wipe your face. Come with me to the Shulin Building later. I see that in addition to your interest in martial arts, you also like the strategies of war and battle formations. However, these books are banned. The court does not allow ordinary people to study them at will. Even in the academy, there are only one or two copies."
Li Diudiu's eyes immediately lit up: "Thank you, sir."
"Why are you interested in this?"
"Because Xiahou Zhuo said that he will go to the Northern Frontier to join the army next year. He also said that the border troops are the real soldiers. My master doesn't allow me to join the army, but I kind of want to go... Learning more now will be useful if I really go to the Northern Frontier in the future."
Yan Qingzhi shook his head: "You think too much. Even if your master agrees to let you join the army in the northern border, do you really think you can achieve anything with your background? Even if you are full of military strategies, you can only be a soldier."
Yan Qingzhi was extremely disappointed with the Great Chu.
He continued, "Even if someone like you makes military achievements in the Northern Frontier, the achievements will not go to you in the end. Countless people will think about how to intercept them."
Li Diudiu was stunned. He had never thought about these things.
Yan Qing said: "If there were not countless good men in the world who were willing to guard this Central Plains, guard the common people, and guard the backbone of the clan, with the corruption of the court, the border would have been opened wide long ago."
He shook his head: "Let's not talk about this anymore."
He stood up and said, "I'll go get you some water."
After hearing these words, Li Diudiu sat there in a daze, thinking a lot in his head, especially Mr. Yan's words just now, "If there were not countless good men in the world willing to guard this Central Plains," which touched him deeply.
What those soldiers are guarding are their homes and their dignity.
Because he was absent-minded, he didn't even hear clearly Yan Qingzhi's words to fetch him some water, otherwise he would have stood up and said he would have fetched it himself.
He was in a daze for a long while, and only came to his senses when Yan Qingzhi came back from fetching water and called him. When he looked at Yan Qingzhi, he couldn't help but ask a question.
"Sir, those soldiers are called common people by them."
They were referring to the bigwigs who were firmly in high positions in the court of the Great Chu. How could they ever look down on those border troops? In their eyes, those border soldiers were just vulgar people, and they were inferiors.
Yan Qing said: "They are not ordinary men, they are husbands, real men."
Li Diudiu nodded vigorously: "Yes!"
Without them at the border, how could those big shots have the luxurious clothes, delicious food and great feasts?
Half an hour later, Shulin Building.
Yan Qingzhi was chatting with the instructor in Shulin Tower, while Li Diudiu was sitting by the window, reading the two military books. Although they were called military books, they were actually just a collection of historical allusions, which briefly mentioned some battle examples.
Even so, the imperial court would strictly review such books , and it was extremely difficult for the academy to preserve two copies.
Li Diudiu was fascinated by the words. To others, those words were just some words, which at most evolved into a story. But to Li Diudiu, those words formed a series of pictures that were dynamic rather than rigid.
Whenever he read those words, images of fighting would appear in his mind. He had never actually witnessed fighting on a battlefield, so the images in his mind were not bloody, but he saw those battle examples very clearly.
He not only looks at the people, but also the terrain, the weather, and everything else. He will imagine anything that is not stated between the lines.
Therefore, some examples of winning battles with fewer troops that others found incredible became reasonable after he had repeated them in his mind.
He was so engrossed in watching that he forgot the time and even forgot to eat.
If Yan Qingzhi hadn't come over and called him, he wouldn't have noticed that it was already dark and the teachers in Shulin Building were all going to rest.
Yan Qingzhi smiled and said, "I'm late for dinner. Let's see what you can do."
Li Diudiu chuckled and pointed to his head: "I've been eating here all the time, and the food is delicious."
After he finished speaking, his stomach growled and he scratched his hair in embarrassment : "But it doesn't matter if my stomach is full."
Yan Qingzhi said: "There is no one in the cafeteria now. You and I will starve together tonight. Next time your stomach growls, just bear with it. There is nothing to hold back!"
He saw that Li Diudiu was watching with great concentration, as if he had completely entered another world and was not affected by the outside world, so he did not disturb Li Diudiu and let him immerse himself in it.
Li Diudiu said, "Why don't we pick up all the vegetable seedlings in the yard and cook them."
Yan Qing said: "The food is there as long as you are alive, but if the food is destroyed, you will die."
Li Diudiu: “…”
Yan Qingzhi glanced at him and said in a low voice, "I will take you to thank Instructor Xue now. You must be sincere and not perfunctory. He has made an exception by allowing you to read books until now."
Li Diudiu nodded and said, "Disciple knows."
Yan Qing said: "You are not a child who doesn't know how to be grateful, but I still have something to say to you... You can't just thank everyone for their kindness to you, let alone take it for granted and not thank them, even if it's just a drop of water."
"If someone helps you and you treat them perfunctorily, the person who helped you will not even bother to treat you perfunctorily in the future, and will only be disdainful of you."
Li Diudiu said: "Disciple will remember this."
Yan Qingzhi took him to thank the instructor at Shulinlou. Li Diudiu bowed solemnly. After chatting for a few more words, the master and disciple walked out of Shulinlou side by side. After Yan Qingzhi took a few steps, his stomach growled, and he looked a little embarrassed.
Li Diudiu lowered his voice and said, "Sir, there must be some soup noodles preserved by drying in the cafeteria, why not..."
Yan Qingzhi said: "Nonsense! Isn't that stealing?"
He glared at Li Diudiu and said, "I am a teacher in the academy, how can I steal... But you are still young, and it is not unforgivable if you make mistakes occasionally. If you steal, I will teach you a lesson, and you will repent, which is the greatest kindness."
Li Diudiu: “…”
Half an hour later, in Yan Qingzhi's courtyard, Li Diudiu looked at the soup noodles cooking in the basin and laughed. As he laughed, he drooled.
Yan Qingzhi rolled his eyes at him and said, "What a success!"
He pointed at the braised meat on the table and said, "I just asked you to get some soup noodles, why did you bring back so much meat!"
Li Diudiu said seriously: "Sir, I'm afraid that my repentance will not be strong enough, so..."
Yan Qing said: "This will not happen again!"
Li Diudiu hummed and said, "It will definitely not happen again."
Yan Qingzhi sighed, looked at the braised meat and said sadly: "My reputation has been ruined because you didn't even bring back some garlic."
Li Diudiu: “…”
The next morning, Yan Qingzhi took Li Diudiu to wait at the cafeteria entrance. Many jokes were played last night, but one must clearly distinguish between right and wrong. This was what Taoist Changmei taught Li Diudiu, and it was also what Yan Qingzhi taught Li Diudiu.
The master and his apprentice and the chefs in the cafeteria explained everything clearly and apologized sincerely.
The chefs in the cafeteria didn't think it was a big deal, but they felt good when Yan Qingzhi and Li Diudiu came over and said something.
