CH 40

Chapter 40 – Jealousy

“Sure, I’ll look at them. I’m not afraid.” Bai Shan Bao’s face was pale with fear, but in order not to lose face in front of Man Bao, he opened the box with a trembling hand, had a quick look, and then looked away, saying stiffly, “It’s not that I’m afraid of them. It’s just that they are so ugly that I don’t like to look at them.”

Man Bao heartily agreed with Bai Shan Bao and repeatedly nodded, “Yes, yes! I also think they are just so ugly that my eyes hurt if I look at them too much.”

The two children looked at each other, both acknowledged what the other said, then turned their heads to look at the caterpillars in the box, then turned their heads away, turned and looked at the bugs again, then turned away again ……

Master Bai watched the two kids from the window, and then, looked at his son who had lowered his head and was pretending to be a well-behaved child. He wanted to kick him but held back when he saw Mr Zhuang.

Although Mr Zhuang also disciplined his students by smacking their palms, he didn’t agree with the way the parents punished their children, especially with Master Bai’s methods. When he saw Master Bai growing angrier at his son, Mr Zhuang motioned for all the parents to leave so that he could start the lessons.

Master Bai glared at his son, warned him in a low voice, and then, invited Madam Liu and Zheng to leave with him.

The village was located in a mountain pass, making access difficult, but the scenery was excellent.

Master Bai was also a scholar, and when he built the school, he chose a scenic location which faced the river and mountains, which was extremely beautiful.

Despite the bleak autumn scenery, the area was still densely wooded and full of wildflowers blooming along the roadside.

Madam Liu slowly made her way along the riverbank towards the Bai family mansion, looking quite pleased. She said to Master Bai, “This is a fair place which produces outstanding people.”

Master Bai knew his aunt was talking about Man Bao. He stroked his beard and smiled, “Auntie, don’t think this is a poor remote mountain area. In fact, there are many good things and good people here. You’ll be able to appreciate this in the future.”

Madam Liu nodded, “That child knows how to overcome difficulties at such a young age. She was clearly afraid but still knows how to overcome her fears. I can only hope that Shan Bao can learn this from her in the future.”

Madam Liu felt sorry for Man Bao, “It’s a pity that she is a girl. By the way, she has so many brothers and nephews. How come there is no one that Mr Zhuang likes?”

Although Master Bai seldom went around the village, he still knew what was going on, and so, he smiled, “I’m afraid all the Zhou family’s smartness are found in this one child.”

Madam Liu thought of the Zhou family whom she met yesterday, nodded, and smiled, “The Mrs Zhou we met yesterday looks like a wise and kind person.”

Master Bai tried to recall what his butler mentioned about the Zhou family, but he wasn’t quite sure, ” Perhaps. It was said that the eldest and third brothers are very diligent, while the second is quite resourceful and often goes to the marketplace to do some small businesses.”

As they talked, they walked home.

At the schoolhouse, Man Bao and Shan Bao had already put away the caterpillars and started to take out their books to recite along with Mr Zhuang.

Bai Shan Bao wanted to crush his opponent in reading, so he started off by reciting aloud, albeit with a child’s voice, but he was the loudest in the class.

Man Bao loved to join fun activities the most and when she saw her desk mate was reciting so loudly, she also recited at the top of her voice. The two of them looked particularly cute as they shook their heads as they recited.

Mr Zhuang, who was standing on the platform, was particularly pleased. His eyes twinkled, he stroked his beard and he shook his head in delight as he recited along.

The other students in the class were led by the two youngest to recite at the top of their voices, more seriously than ever before. Even the senior students who had finished studying the Analects couldn’t help but followed them to recite.

Bai Er Lang, who was standing outside the classroom, couldn’t help but turn his head to look at the two children in the room. He was so enraged that he was spitting fire.

His two pals who were punished along with him also glanced into the classroom curiously and approached him, “Brother Er Lang, how come your cousin can read the Analects? Didn’t he just start school?”

Bai Er Lang muttered, “That’s why I hate him the most. He was only two years old when he was considered a prodigy. My grandmother said not only could he recite 300 poems, but he has also memorized the Thousand Character Classic and The Analects. When he came, my grandmother gave him my favourite braised pork. In short, he is as annoying as Man Bao. Hmph, is it that great to know how to read?”

“That’s right, that’s right! We’re better at fighting than him. Once class is over this afternoon, let’s block him on the road and beat him up to vent your anger.”

Bai Er Lang was a bit hesitant, “If my father gets wind of this, he’ll definitely beat me up.”

“We’ll do it secretly. I heard my elder brother said that if you don’t want the victim to know who beat him up, just put a sack over him.”

Bai Er Lang thought for a minute and whispered, “Where can we find a sack?”

“We have it in our house, but I can’t go home and get it. Your house is closer than mine.”

“Then, let’s do this tomorrow,” another pal piped up. “We’ll bring a sack tomorrow, and it’s best to put Man Bao in the sack as well.”

“That’s not good,” Bai Er Lang frowned and said, “She is a girl. We can scare her with bugs but how can a manly man beat up a girl?”

One of the naughty kids also felt it was too embarrassing to beat up the girl, so he also didn’t agree with the proposal, and so, the idea was shelved.

Bai Shan Bao and Man Bao competed with each other as they recited. In short, if your voice was louder than mine in the first sentence, then I would raise my voice, and overpower your voice in the next sentence.

Mr. Zhuang smiled and watched them for a while before knocking on their table and admonished them, “Keep your voice down. There are reciting techniques, otherwise, you’ll lose your voice tomorrow.”

Mr Zhuang gestured for everyone to stop and asked the elementary school pupils to take out their books and started to teach a new text. After teaching them to read the text, he got them to practice reciting the text. He would explain what the text meant in the next lesson.

After that, he moved on to teach the five older senior students.

Bai Shan Bao glanced at Man Bao and read silently to himself.

Man Bao also read the text carefully. She always had a good memory. After reading the text for two or three times, she had memorised it. However, she didn’t know the meaning of the text and started to look around.

In the past, she would have just asked Keke, but since there was someone sitting next to her, she might as well talk to him rather than talking to Keke in her mind.  She rather like the sound of her own voice!

So, she pushed her hand-copied textbook to Shan Bao and asked, “Do you know the meaning of this sentence?”

Bai Shan Bao took a look. It so happened that he had studied the text with his grandmother, and he proudly said, “Of course I know, don’t you?”

“No, I don’t. Mr Zhuang haven’t taught me yet,” Man Bao said naturally, “But I want to know now. Can you tell me?”

Bai Shan Bao turned his head to look at her. He reluctantly told her, “Two of Confucius’ disciples were talking. Zi Qin asked Zi Gong a question. Whenever their teacher goes to a different country, he would hear about the political affairs of that country. Did he beg someone to tell him, or did someone take the initiative to tell him ……”  

This was one of the stories in the book of learning, which Bai Shan Bao had already memorised. His grandmother had explained to him the meaning of the story, and he had memorised that as well.

Man Bao listened with great interest and said, “I’ve never heard this story before. It’s really good. It would be great if I could go to every country in the future like Confucius and have someone taking the initiative to tell me stories.”