Chapter 20: The Overbearing Miss Thousand Gold

  If it reaches Sunday, a total of 1,000 is recommended, and the cavalry will add more for everyone.

  After Wang Liehu asked about the situation, he said: "Little brother, you continue down the mountain, go to the county town and call for help. I'll go up the mountain first and take care of Bai Cao brothers. Oh, take this bun with you, eat it on the road if you're hungry."

  Wang Liehu stuffed a corn bread and a piece of salted vegetable into Li Wenjun's hand, then grasped his hunting spear tightly and walked towards the mountain.

  Li Wenjun had already wasted a lot of time and didn't dare to stay any longer, so he continued along the mountain road, heading out of the mountains. From here to the foot of the mountain, there was a narrow winding path, and he no longer had to worry about getting lost again.

  It took more than half a day for Li Wenjun to arrive at the county seat of Sanshan County, where he met Sun Baicao's family.

  Upon learning that Sun Baicao and Sun Jianing were injured and trapped on Wufeng Mountain, Sun Baicao's family became extremely anxious. They immediately asked their neighbors for help, gathering seven or eight adult men, and then called upon Sun Baicao's younger brother. The group formed a rescue team and ventured into the mountains to save them.

  The process of entering the mountain was very smooth, and there were no unexpected situations. By the time they found Sun Baicao and his son Sun Jianing, Sun Jianing had already woken up and was conscious. He was taking care of Sun Baicao with Wang Liehu, who had arrived earlier.

  Everyone worked together to lift Sun Baicao onto a stretcher and then headed down the mountain.

  Just a short distance away, in the mountain forest, there was a sudden commotion. From the low shrubs, several pheasants darted out, shrieking and flapping their wings as they scattered in all directions.

  Everyone tensed up, Wang Liehu grasped his hunting spear and rushed to the front of the team, vigilantly staring at that clump of bushes.

  Dang Kang! Dang Kang!!

  A strange noise came from behind the bushes, which made Li Wenjun even more tense. He had never heard such a sound before. At first, it seemed like some kind of animal cry, but he couldn't think of what animal would make such a noise.

  The thicket shook more and more violently, and suddenly a loud rustling sound came from the thicket. An animal rushed out of the thicket. This animal was similar to a wild boar in terms of body shape, size, etc. Its brown fur was covered with patterns, its pointed head, round nose had two nostrils, and two tusks protruded from the edge of its mouth.

  "Don't worry, everyone, and don't make any sudden moves. This is the auspicious Kangxi beast, a lucky creature. Wherever it appears, there will be favorable winds and rains." Wang Xiang shouted.

  When the Dongkong beast raised its head and looked at Li Wenjun and others, after feeling that Li Wenjun and others had no hostility, it turned its head again, facing the bush, and made a series of "Dongkong" calls. The bushes shook again, and in the blink of an eye, four or five small Dongkong beasts came out of the bushes, shaking their heads and following behind the Dongkong beast, walking towards the distance with uncertain steps.

  Seeing the Kang beast and his family off in the distance, Li Wenjun and others continued down the mountain, returning to the county seat of Sanshan County with a smooth journey. Li Wenjun asked Sun Baicao to rest and recover from his injuries, while he returned home, picked up his book box, and hurriedly rushed to the Sanshan Academy, hoping to still make it in time for today's classes.

  After seeing Lu Xiaoyu, Li Wenjun briefly explained the situation, and Lu Xiaoyu didn't blame him, but instead assigned him today's homework.

  When school was over, Lu Xiayu kept Li Wenjun behind alone to give him extra lessons. At this time, Shu Tong, who was beside Yuan Shou, came over and told Li Wenjun that Yuan Shou wanted to see him.

  Li Wenjun had not been summoned by Zhou Wei since he entered the San Shan Academy, and Li Wenjun did not know what this meant.

  Following Shu Tong to Zhou Wei's study, Li Wenjun first bowed deeply and said: "Head of the Institute, sir, you called me?"

  Zhou Wei sat behind his desk, looking up and down at Li Wenjun, sizing him up thoroughly, making Li Wenjun feel uneasy.

  After a while, Zhou Wei slowly opened his mouth and said: "You have been in the academy for more than a month. I heard from Lu that your learning speed is very fast and the quality of your study is also very high. It seems that within three months, you can leave my San Shan Academy."

  "This is all thanks to Master Yuan's kindness in taking me in and providing me with such good conditions." Li Wenjun said humbly.

  Zhou Wei's face flushed, and he started coughing violently again. It took him a long time to calm down. He wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and said, "You also saw that my body is not well, and it's hard to support the complicated affairs of San Shan Academy. I intend to disband San Shan Academy soon, and I'm afraid I won't be able to keep you here anymore."

  Li Wenjun hastily said: "Head of the Institute, are you going to drive me away? But I've only just grasped over 2,000 characters, and there are still many more that I haven't learned."

  Zhou Wei waved his hand and said, "I know your concerns, but there is a way to solve this. I have a dictionary here that was compiled by the order of our dynasty's founding emperor, which contains more than 40,000 words, not to mention numerous other entries. It's an invaluable reference book. I'll give you this set of dictionaries and then ask Mr. Lu to teach you how to use them. Once you learn, even if no one teaches you, you'll know how to look up the pronunciation of a new character and understand its meaning."

  Zhou Wei finished speaking, bent down, picked up a stack of books from the ground, thick and heavy, weighing several dozen kilograms. Zhou Wei patted the bundle of dictionaries tied together with rope and said: "I'll give it to you. Take it away."

  Li Wenjun didn't know what to say. Although he didn't want to leave, Zhou Weidou had already spoken and asked him to leave, so he couldn't stay at San Shan Academy anymore.

  He bowed to Zhou Wei in the morning, then held that stack of books in his arms and left Zhou Wei's study.

  Shu Tong accompanied him to see Lu Xiaoyu, and after learning of Li Wenjun's instructions, his expression changed. He didn't expect Zhou Wei to suddenly make the decision to disband San Shan Shuyuan.

  Lu Xiaoyu let out a long sigh and then somewhat gloomily taught Li Wenjun how to use the dictionary.

  Li Wenjun bowed deeply to Lu Xiaoyu and said, "Sir, for over a month now, I have been fortunate enough to receive your meticulous guidance. As your disciple, I have nothing to repay you with, please accept my bow."

  Lu Xiaoyu sighed and said, "We teacher and student are quite compatible, originally thought we could spend more time together, didn't expect the academy to be dissolved, your teacher-student relationship has also come to an end. Wen Jun, I hope you can make good use of the knowledge I taught you in the future, don't think that small kindness is not worth doing, and don't think that small evil is worth doing."

  Li Wenjun returned home with a dictionary, put it on the table and went out to buy several pounds of snacks and dozens of pounds of pork bones. He rushed to the Sun family next door to visit Sun Baicao and his son Sun Jianing.

  Sun Baisuo's wife saw Li Wenjun and thanked him a thousand times, then pulled Li Wenjun to have dinner at her home.

  When Li Wenjun returned to his own home, the sky was already dark. Before he had a chance to carefully look at the dictionary Zhou Wei gave him, he heard someone banging on his door.

  "Open the door! Open the door quickly!" A loud and rude voice accompanied by knocking sounds came in.

  Li Wenjun didn't know what had happened, he hurried over and opened the courtyard gate to see that the person knocking on the door was wearing a dark green long gown and a dark green hat, and was a yamen runner from the county government.

  Behind the yamen, four people were standing. In front of them, a man and a woman stood shoulder to shoulder. Behind these two, another yamen runner and a masked man also stood.

  At the sight of this man and woman, Li Wenjun was shocked. He knew these two people, they were Wu Taos' daughter and son, Wu Xue Mei and Wu Yi Ming siblings from San Shan County.

  Before Li Wenjun could speak, the bailiff who knocked on the door stretched out his arm and pulled Li Wenjun to one side, then bowed and said: "Miss, young master, please."

  Wu Xue Mei held her head high, like a proud little hen, and stepped into the courtyard of Li Wen Jun's house. Wu Yi Ming smiled apologetically at Li Wen Jun and followed Wu Xue Mei into the courtyard.

  Wu Yiming's smile made Li Wenjun's uneasy heart slightly calm down, but his heart was still hanging in the air, not knowing what Wu Xuemei, this rich young lady who had nothing to do with him, wanted by coming to his place.

  Wu Xue Mei did not enter the house, she stood elegantly in the courtyard and said: "Li Wen Jun, I heard that the head of the institute called you to his study today and gave you something. Is this true?"

  Li Wenjun nodded and said: "Not bad. The old master of the institute gave me a set of dictionaries compiled by Taizu, let me learn to recognize characters."

  "Where is that dictionary?" Wu Xue Mei asked again.

  He said: "It's on the table inside the house."

  Wu Xue Mei nodded to one side, without her saying more words, a yamen runner and a man in black clothes entered the house together, and soon brought out that set of dictionaries, placing them on the stone table in the courtyard.

  Wu Xuemei pulled out a dagger, cut off the rope binding the dictionaries, grabbed one of them and flipped through it. Wu Yiming also stepped forward, picked up one and started flipping through it.

  Li Wenjun did not know what Wu Xuemei and her brother Wu Yiming were looking for, nor did he intend to ask. He didn't want to conflict with the siblings, after all, they had the county magistrate behind them, someone he couldn't afford to offend at present.

  A set of dictionaries, twenty or thirty books, Wu Xue Mei and Wu Yi Ming simply flipped through the dictionary, but couldn't find what they were looking for.

  Wu Xue Mei looked displeased, her face gloomy as she questioned, "Li Wen Jun, tell the truth, did the head of the institute really give you this set of Tai Zu dictionaries?"

  "Indeed, I gave this set of dictionaries." Li Wenjun said truthfully.

  "Hmph, I don't believe it. Come on, search me." Wu Xue Mei ordered.

  Two officers first searched Li Wenjun's body from head to toe, then they thoroughly searched the entire courtyard, from inside the house to outside, from top to bottom of the trees, every nook and cranny, inside and out, but found nothing.

  Li Wenjun had carefully wrapped the packages, books and porcelain bottles he got from Lao Dao in oil paper and sank them into the pond behind the house before renting it out. Unless someone deliberately searched the pond thoroughly, they would never be found.

  Thank you srqg for the reward, thank you.