Chapter 38： Weeping spirit

Chapter 38 The crybaby

The little devil king of the gang also had an impatient look on his face when he saw acquaintances, and was not polite at all. His eyes were full of annoyance, "Please stay away from me."

The deputy king ordered him to let him go alone. A group of people came forward to protect him, and they escorted him to the gate tower of the imperial city.

Zhao Lan glanced behind him subconsciously. There was a huge crowd, and there was no annoying crybaby anywhere. He didn’t know how that man could bear it. If he had thrown the person away long ago!

Very annoying.

Su Ruojin’s lantern was damaged. Before going to Master Fan’s lamp shed, she gave her daughter two more rabbit lanterns. One was carried in her hand, and the other could be put on the ground and dragged around. It was really fun.

When he arrived at the lamp shed of Mr. Fan's house, Mr. Fan was not there. He went to the city gate tower with his boss to meet the officials. Mrs. Fan was entertaining the ladies who were talking to each other, and they were chatting happily.

Su Yanli stood outside the lamp shed and was considering whether to leave. Qi Ran, the boy who sent him away that day, saw him with sharp eyes and hurriedly came up to him with a smile, "Dr. Su, you are here. Your Excellency has gone to the Imperial City. He ordered me to say When I see you coming, I will welcome you in for a cup of tea."

“Thank you, teacher, for your concern.”

In ancient times, many officials referred to themselves as teachers and students. This does not mean that officials taught officials and students, but that students took part in scientific examinations and were proctored by the chief and deputy examiners. When the spring or autumn period was over, those students came to visit the chief and deputy examiners. Examiners, a kind of teacher-student relationship formed between them.

Fan Zengxian and Su Yanli have such a relationship.

Su Yanli was the son of a squire in Pingjiang Prefecture. Compared with ordinary people, he was a child of a wealthy family. However, compared with the children of officials, his birth was nothing to mention. He was able to stand out from the two list of Jinshi and was favored by Lord Fan. On the other hand, he is indeed gifted in reading. Whether it is articles, calligraphy, painting or sculpture, he is quite outstanding even among the Jinshi;

The two Su Yanli have outstanding looks. Standing in front of people, they are as graceful as jade, upright and gentle, and have the aura of a noble son. If you didn't know his life experience, you would have thought that he was a young man from a high family.

He was welcomed into the lamp shed by the servants beside Mr. Fan. If he hadn't been holding a six or seven-year-old girl in his hand, the ladies chatting with Mrs. Fan would have almost gone to work as matchmakers for their relatives and friends.

Of course, Su Ruojin also saw the eyes of those ladies shining brightly, and she wished she could immediately adopt her father as his son-in-law. It's a pity that it's too late. Don't look at his handsomeness at such a young age. He already has four children!

She was having fun and snickering.

Mr. Fan's youngest son Fan Yanjia was playing with his nephew Fan Chengcan in the lamp shed. He saw someone coming in again and glanced at it. The middle-aged man recognized the doctor from the Imperial College who often came to borrow money from his father. His two children were actually First time seeing it.

That boy is almost in the same mold as his father. He looks like a white-faced scholar who is cozying up to each other. It looks very comfortable. The little girl is holding his father's hand in one hand and holding the little bunny lamp in the other, sipping. He looked serious with his small mouth, but in fact his two small eyes turned around and finally landed on his mother's side. He curled his lips and realized that this young lady must be envious of those ladies, their luxurious clothes and exquisite hairpins!

Fan Yanjia withdrew his gaze and continued to compete with his nephew. Four-year-old Fan Chengcan was certainly no match for eleven-year-old Fan Yanjia. The lamp in his hand was quickly taken away by his uncle.

There was nothing in his hands. He turned his eyes anxiously and suddenly reached out and snatched the lantern from Su Dalang's hand. By the time he reacted, the little guy was already fighting with his uncle again.

Su Ruojin only has three words in her heart: naughty child.

He asked his father to help him get a rabbit lantern and handed it to his brother. Su Dalang was embarrassed to ask for something from his sister and shook his head, "No." He didn't care about these gadgets. The eldest brother didn't want it, and Su Ruojin didn't force it. Su Yanli sat drinking tea while half-protecting her daughter, being careful that the children playing in the lamp shed bumped into her.

Su Ruojin's mind was not on the children's lanterns. She had been paying attention to Mrs. Fan's movements and thought to herself, how could she induce the crystal osmanthus cake quietly? Mrs. Fan would not take the initiative to talk to a little kid about these things. Even if her mother Cheng Yingzhen was here, today was not the time to talk about sweet-scented osmanthus cake.

Forget it, if Mrs. Fan doesn't talk about it, Su Ruojin is going to let it go. Anyway, she is only seven years old after the Chinese New Year. She will set up the breakfast shop first, one step at a time, which will be more practical.

Letting go of his worries, Su Ruojin relaxed and leaned on his father's lap. If Mr. Fan didn't come back, they should go back.

The noble lady finally finished her courtesy, and they left the lamp shed of Shilang Fan's house together. Mrs. Fan took a few sips of tea in a hurry, and then looked towards Su Yanli.

Su Yanli also noticed it, and quickly got up and brought his children over to meet him, "Junior, I have seen Madam!"

Mrs. Fan had a faint smile on her face. She was not used to the Imperial College Master who came to the master to borrow money during the holidays. If you say you want to borrow money, just borrow more, and only borrow five taels or ten taels each time. Two, can the master ask him to return the favor? This is obviously to fight against the autumn wind.

If Su Yanli knew that Mrs. Fan thought of him like this, he would really die unjustly. He was borrowing money according to his ability. If he borrowed too much and couldn't afford to pay it back, wouldn't it be a loss of the teacher's trust?

This is the difference between reading too much and doing too much. An honest person will really die unjustly by a sophisticated person.

Unexpectedly, she returned more than 50 taels a year ago. Mrs. Fan was quite surprised and thought to herself, could I have seen it wrong?

It’s not just that you saw it wrong!

Although Mrs. Fan's smile was still faint, her eyes were warm, and she asked the maid to bring snacks to Dr. Su's children.

Su Dalang and Su Ruojin both looked at their father without raising their hands.

Su Yanli nodded, and the two children reached out to take it. They were not in a hurry to eat it, but stood beside their father obediently.

“I heard from the master that your eldest son has read the Four Books and Five Classics?”

Su Yanli raised his hands and replied respectfully, "Yes, madam."

Men's education in the Dayin Dynasty generally started from the age of six to eight, reading the Three Character Classic, Qionglin, Thousand Character Classic, etc. When they were eight years old, they were taught courtesy and integrity, and read university, Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects of Confucius, The Classic of Filial Piety, etc., and Start practicing small regular script and running script. Xiao Kai is a font that every student must learn when taking the Gongtang Examination.

At the age of nine, he was taught Shuo Wang and Liu Shi Jiazi, and read "Poetry Meaning Zhezhong", "Book of Books Illustrations", etc. At the age of ten, he left home and went to the academy to study systematically, including historical works such as The Book of Songs, Spring and Autumn Period, and also studied music, Shooting, etc. are not like some dynasties who only read eight-legged essays and took exams for the sake of exams. The Jinshi in the Dayin Dynasty had a high gold content and produced many celebrities and capable ministers.

Mrs. Fan smiled at her youngest son, who was sitting sideways, and said, "You heard it, Yan'er? Mr. Su has already learned all this when he is only eight years old. When the first month is over, you have to study hard."

(End of this chapter)