Chapter Three: The Schoolmaster

  Back in Zhangjiacun, Zhang Dashan didn't take Qin Yu to the so-called residence, but instead stopped directly at the entrance of the village chief's house. He then helped Qin Yu out of the car and said with great respect, "Please wait for a moment, young master, I'll go pay my respects to Uncle now."

  Qin Yu didn't know what Zhang Dashan was going to do, and thought he was going to return the donkey cart, so he nodded and smiled in response, "Qin doesn't mind."

  Zhang Dashan let out a sigh of relief and said repeatedly, "Wait, wait."

  Zhang Dashan took three steps as one and rushed into the village head's home. The village head's servant naturally recognized Zhang Dashan and did not block him, and in a few breaths, Zhang Dashan's shadow was gone from view.

  Qin Yu was unfamiliar with the etiquette of the Tang Dynasty, so he could only stand still and wait, lest he lose his manners.

  The village chief's house is not small, a large mansion with three entrances and exits, covering an area of 3 or 4 mu. In the previous life, it was already a luxurious mansion, and in the Tang Dynasty, there were many such mansions at that time. There were also many larger and more luxurious ones than this one. In Yongnian County, Qin Yu saw no less than five such mansions.

  "Ah, you're so slow, how can you be so lazy, Qin Gongzi!" A loud shout suddenly came, and Qin Yu knew it was from the mouth of Cun Zheng. This loud voice was fierce at times. Just as Qin Yu was wondering, Cun Zheng rushed out of the gate with a whooshing sound, ran to Qin Yu's side, and made an emergency brake.

  "Sir Qin, please forgive me, it's all because I didn't know your identity. Please come in quickly." The village head's attitude was extremely enthusiastic, and he stretched out his left hand to gesture for Qin Yu to enter the house.

  Qin Yu was confused by Muramasa's attitude, but couldn't refuse, so he hastily bowed and said, "Muramasa, please go first."

  Murong suddenly laughed and grabbed Qin Yu's hand, saying loudly, "Together, together."

  Qin Yu gave Muramasa a strange look, and really suspected that Muramasa had some bad habits. Fortunately, after arriving at the courtyard, Muramasa let go of Qin Yu's hand and led him to the living room, gesturing for Qin Yu to sit on the stool, while Zhang Dashan stood obediently behind Muramasa.

  As for the oxen and donkeys, they had been taken away by someone earlier. As for where the oxen were taken to, Qin Yu didn't care about it at all, even if they were embezzled by this village's corrupt official, Qin Yu wouldn't mind.

  "Xian nephew, how do you think Zhangjiacun is?" Zhang Laifu's tone was so intimate that the distance between him and Qin Yu suddenly narrowed. Qin Yu gave Zhang Laifu a strange look and quickly spoke up, "Zhangjiacun is well-fed and warmly clothed, very good, very good."

  Zhang Lai Fu saw that Qin Yu did not object to his title, and suddenly smiled, revealing a mouthful of big yellow teeth. However, he suddenly let out a sigh and said in a sorrowful tone, "Worthy nephew, Zhangjia Village is good, but there isn't a single literate person. Although I can recognize a few characters, I don't know them all."

  Zhang Laifu said, and here he paused for a moment. With an expectant look on his face, he turned to Qin Yu, but Qin Yu was puzzled by the village's words at this time and looked at the village quietly, waiting for Zhang Laifu's next words.

  Zhang Lai Fu saw Qin Yu not responding, slightly stunned, a hint of helplessness on his face, but after seeing Qin Yu's expression, suddenly understood something, and hastily opened his mouth to say, "Xian nephew, Zhangjia Village is still short of a teacher, I wonder if you are willing to take this position."

  Qin Yu was taken aback after hearing this, "What? You want me to be a teacher? I only know simplified characters, how can I possibly teach traditional characters? Is Zhangjiacun Village really unable to afford a proper teacher? This shouldn't be."

  Actually, Qin Yu didn't know that although the Tang Dynasty was powerful, at this time, scholars wouldn't come to teach here for a little bit of silver, nor would they come for fame or wealth. The county town had plenty of opportunities, and Zhangjiacun, although not bad, still couldn't attract scholars.

  Qin Yu looked at Muramasa and Zhang Dashan with a tangled expression, then sighed after a while and said, "Muramasa, Qin can teach books, but Qin needs books, otherwise..."

  Qin Yu's words had just fallen when Zhang Lai Fu excitedly shouted, "No problem." In an instant, he stood up excitedly, "I have a few books here, sir. Please take them."

  Zhang Lai Fu gritted his teeth and continued, "Every month, Zhangjiacun Village pays you two guan in salary, and the land is also taken care of by Zhangjiacun Village, so you don't need to pay anything. You just focus on teaching, how about that?"

  Two thousand wen was not a small amount in the Tang Dynasty, enough for a family of five to spend several months or even half a year. It can be seen that Zhang Lai Fu made great efforts to invite Qin Yu to teach him.

  Qin Yu glanced at Zhang Lai Fu and Zhang Da Shan, who were both looking expectant. He swallowed his saliva, thought for a moment, then furrowed his brow and said, "I may not have that much time to teach people how to read and write, and I might leave Zhangjia Village to travel around the Tang Dynasty."

  Zhang Lai Fu and Zhang Da Shan's faces stiffened, the two of them staring at each other. After a while, Zhang Lai Fu let out a long sigh, plopped down on the stool, forced a smile, and said, "Nephew, do your best, the previous promise still stands."

  Qin Yu saw this and secretly let out a sigh of relief. Whether or not he had money, Qin Yu didn't mind. After all, as a modern person, there were many ways to make money in the Tang Dynasty.

  Taking Qin Yu's mobile phone as an example, there are many documents downloaded inside, which record a lot of scientific and technological knowledge that did not exist in the Tang Dynasty. Because Qin Yu wanted to be an author of pit-digging novels in his spare time, he wrote them down and thus had the documents on his mobile phone.

  After all, in modern times, Qin Yu spent most of his time idle, and being idle was still being idle.

  Coming to the Tang Dynasty, Qin Yu thought it was very easy to make money and didn't want to waste his time in Zhangjiacun. He wanted to be a small landlord, marry three wives and four concubines, live a carefree life, so he didn't have much time to teach books.

  After a moment of contemplation, Qin Yu spoke up and said, "Village head, I still need a few more days to prepare. How about this: three days later, I will teach the village children how to read and write. Of course, I will do my best to teach them all the characters."

  Zhang Laifu's eyes lit up as soon as he heard this, and he hastily got up and grabbed Qin Yu's right hand, excitedly saying, "It's settled then."

  "It's settled then." Qin Yu said somewhat stiffly, this village head was too enthusiastic, enthusiastic to the point where Qin Yu felt a little afraid.

  "Quickly, bring me the book for Qin Gongzi!" Zhang Laifu hastily shouted to the steward waiting at the door.

  "Yes, sir." Housekeeper Wangcai bowed and hastily left.

  Qin Yu heard the name of this housekeeper and wanted to laugh but didn't dare to, feeling stifled and uncomfortable.

  Soon, Wangcai walked in with a red silk package and carefully handed it over to Zhang Laifu, who gently passed it on to Qin Yu, being extremely careful not to damage the books.

  Qin Yu took over the package, opened it, and saw the three books inside. The covers were a bit old and damaged, each book was about 2-3 cm thick. He flipped through a few pages casually, nodded, and then put them back in the package. He stood up and bid farewell to Zhang Lai Fu, "So, I'll go back and prepare first. Three days later, I'll officially start teaching the children to read and write."

  "Slap." Zhang Lai Fu slapped himself, Qin Yu was startled, and at this moment, Zhang Lai Fu said with great regret, "Xianzhong, how could I let you go live elsewhere? Just consider this place your home from now on, and you'll stay here in the future."

  Qin Yu heard this and hesitated for a moment before nodding his head, "Very well, I'll trouble Village Chief then."

  "What's Village Zheng, called Clan Uncle." Zhang Lai Fu said with great displeasure.

  Although Qin Yu didn't know much about the Tang Dynasty, this one sentence from his uncle shocked him. After a moment, Qin Yu opened his mouth and said, "Thank you, Uncle Zhang."

  Qin Yu didn't call him Uncle Zhang, so Zhang Lai Fu quietly sighed and nodded his head with a smile, acknowledging Qin Yu's address. He then turned to Wang Cai, who was waiting on the side, and instructed, "Go, take Master Qin to live in another courtyard, and have Xiao Tao and Xiao Hong attend to him."

  "Yes, sir." Wangcai bowed and replied, then immediately turned to Qin Yu and said respectfully, "Master Qin, this way please."

  "Ah, right! Qin's stuff hasn't been brought over yet." Qin Yu suddenly remembered that his luggage cart was still in the grass shed and hastily spoke up.

  "Qin Gongzi, I'll go help you get it back." Zhang Dashan replied warmly and left the living room.

  Qin Yu could only shut his mouth at this, although the seeds in the rickshaw were worthless in modern times, they were absolutely valuable in the Tang Dynasty, for example, sweet potatoes and potatoes, which were high-yielding crops.

  Qin Yu wanted to return to the thatched hut to live, also because there were still five or six sweet potatoes and a dozen or so potatoes in the rickshaw, as well as three immature corn stalks. Of course, these sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn were prepared by Qin Yu himself for eating, if they were used for planting, the quantity would not be enough.

  Qin Yu wouldn't exhaust the lake to catch fish, but eating one or two is no big deal. At most, he would go to the county town to pawn a few renminbi in his wallet or a transportation card, or a lighter. As for whether they could be pawned off, Qin Yu didn't know. In any case, even if he had to sell twenty mu of good land, there was always a way to solve the problem of food and clothing.

  But for now it's unnecessary, living in Muramasa's house, and thinking about it, Qin Yu won't go hungry either.

  Wangcai brought Qin Yu to another yard, accompanied by two maidservants, Xiaotao and Xiaohong, who looked about the same age, around twelve or thirteen years old.

  Two little maids were busy back and forth, quickly sweeping the other courtyard clean, and even brought a wooden bucket, pouring hot water, preparing to serve Qin Yu for bathing. Qin Yu hastily stopped the two little maids, joking that he didn't have the habit of having women bathe him.

  Unfortunately, there was no shower gel in this era, so Qin Yu could only soak for a while, casually scrubbing himself a few times before getting out of the wooden tub.

  As for the clothes, they had been placed in the room early on. A set of cyan long gown and undergarments, boots, looked like new, silk fabric. Qin Yu looked at them for a while before sighing and putting them on.

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