Chapter Ten: Reasoning and Debate

  The girl in the yellow skirt saw Li Tao's words and gaze were frivolous, and coldly snorted: "I just can't stand Lu Yue'er's arrogance, even a small cat or dog needs to be rescued, what does it have to do with you?"

  "Xing xing, don't be rude, aren't you going to apologize to Li Xiaolang?" Hua Wenxuan's eyebrows slightly furrowed as he said.

  The girl in yellow skirt didn't even look at Li Tao and walked away with a swagger.

  Huawen Xuan cast an apologetic glance at the two of them and hastily departed.

  Li Tao's face turned alternately pale and red as he was robbed by the yellow-skirted girl, he couldn't bear being despised by a woman, not even a little girl.

  "After being stunned for a while, Li Tao finally spat out a sentence: 'There's not a single good woman!'"

  He seemed to feel it wasn't quite right and added: "Of course, Ninth Brother, your mother and my mother are exceptions!"

  Fan Changfeng shook his head and said: "A Tao, you shouldn't say that about Hua Jingjing. If it weren't for her, we would have been in trouble today!"

  "Jiulang, you also heard what she just said, don't you think it's infuriating?"

  "Ah Tao, you can't be petty with her. Besides, her father has saved your life before! One must repay kindness!"

  "Her father?" Li Tao was somewhat perplexed.

  "Hey, Wang Lang! Have you forgotten?"

  Li Tao suddenly realized that the father of Hua Jingjing and Hua Wenyuan was indeed Hua Yunfeng. Fan Changfeng was right, this Hualangzhong had indeed saved his life before.

  Fan Changfeng saw that Li Tao was no longer speaking, so he said to him: "Ah Tao, let's hurry up and eat! Let them make such a fuss, time is not enough, I don't want to be beaten by the teacher again!"

  Li Tao and Fan Changfeng walked into the private school, Lu Yue'er and Wang Lihui both stared at them with unfriendly eyes. Hua Cingcing was just the opposite, not even glancing at them.

  The two had just sat down when Master Cheng walked in.

  Cheng Dezhao led the students in a rhythmic recitation of "Jiujizhang", but Li Tao's mind was elsewhere, his face gloomy as he rubbed his legs nonstop. The way Tang Dynasty people sat was simply a form of torture, and Li Tao looked around, wondering how the other students could endure it.

  Wait... Li Tao suddenly discovered that among the eighteen students, not all of them were sitting upright and still, it seemed that there were three exceptions.

  In front of the three people was a small wooden stool-like thing, with two legs below and a narrow wooden board on top, wrapped in thick cotton cloth. The three of them leaned forward, resting their arms on it, and put all their weight on the "small stool", really enviable to death.

  It's so unfair! Li Tao suddenly felt indignant. How could Master Cheng be so biased?

  With this discovery, Li Tao immediately decided to follow suit. Although he didn't have a "small stool", it wasn't going to stump him. Li Tao simply pulled back his legs and sat cross-legged on the mat, which was even more comfortable than having a "small stool".

  "Slap!" Li Tao's shoulders tensed up.

  "Kneel down!" Cheng Dechang held a bamboo stick in his hand and sternly stared at Li Tao.

  "Why can they lean against it, while we have to kneel upright?" Li Tao straightened his neck and pointed at the three people with "small stools" and said.

  The students were all stunned, never expecting Li Tao to be so presumptuous as to dare question Master Cheng. This was the first time such a thing had happened in the private school. They looked at Cheng Dechang with bated breath, waiting for his thunderous anger to descend upon Li Tao.

  Cheng Dezhao was also stunned, but he didn't get angry. He calmly said: "Lu Yu'er and Hua Cui are both young ladies, I specifically allowed them to use the guqin, what's your objection?"

  "This..." Li Tao was too foolish to say something about gender equality, now in the Tang Dynasty, saying such a thing would be despised by others. Even in later generations, he wouldn't do so. However, he also knew that the "small bench" was called a stool.

  "Is he also a girl's family?" Li Tao pointed at Wang Lihui again.

  "He is also mine!" said here, Cheng Dechang turned to Wang Lihui: "Stand up and recite the whole text of 'Jiujizhang'!"

  "Yes, Master!" Wang Lihui stood up and glanced at Li Tao before reciting fluently.

  After Wang Lihui recited fluently, Cheng Dechang nodded in approval and then looked at Li Tao with a serious expression: "The 'Rapid Composition' was written by Shi You, the Huangmen Commander of the Han Dynasty, with a total of 1,394 words. It is magnificent and has no repeated words, with elegant and profound language. If you can recite it, I will allow you to use the imperial desk, how about that?"

  "Th...". Li Tao was speechless.

  Although Li Tao disdains to learn these tedious articles, Confucius's method of rewarding diligence and punishing laziness is beyond reproach. Li Tao is not a reckless person, he knows he is in the wrong, it seems like he will be embarrassed again.

  As expected, Cheng Dechang continued: "A family has its rules, a country has its laws. If you don't obey and secretly plot, you should be punished. Will you obey or not?"

  Li Tao's mouth was bitter, originally thinking of fighting for his own equal rights, but in the end he got a beating, what else could it be but asking for trouble?

  "Master! Ah Tao knows he was wrong and deserves to be punished. But since he has just recovered from a serious illness, can I take his punishment for him?" A timid voice suddenly spoke up.

  In the private school, only Master Fu hits the board, and no one has ever seen anyone else take the beating. It's indeed a strange thing that happens every year, and today is especially numerous. The crowd looked around at the sound of the voice, and it was none other than Fan Changfeng, Li Tao's sworn brother.

  Yesterday, because of looking after himself, Fan Changfeng didn't have time to review his lessons and got hit with a board during the morning class. Just now, while eating breakfast outside the private school, due to his own impulsive behavior, he dragged Fan Changfeng into trouble and suffered a beating from Wang Lihui. Now, Fan Changfeng is going to get hit with a board again because of him, Li Tao absolutely cannot agree to this.

  "Jiulang! One person does things and one person takes responsibility, I can take this beating!"

  "Ah Tao! I promised your mother to take good care of you! This beating is well-deserved!"

  "Jiulang! I appreciate your kindness, but you can't take care of me for the rest of my life!"

  "Ah Tao!......"

  "Jiulang!......"

  ……

  Li Tao and Fan Changfeng haggled over prices like two ordinary peddlers, leaving onlookers aghast.

  "Cough, cough..." Cheng Dechang looked at the two with an unusual gaze and said after clearing his throat: "If you two can't come to a decision, I'll have no choice but to give each of you ten slaps!"

  Everyone was shocked again, Master Fu usually says one thing and does another, wanting to hit someone would just hit that person, how come he's so easy-going today.

  "Ah Tao! Don't argue with me anymore, we'll both get a beating from Master if you annoy him!"

  When Fan Changfeng said this, Li Tao didn't make a sound. If both of them were to be punished, it would have defeated the original intention of Fan Changfeng.

  "Come on, Master! Hit me!" Fan Changfeng stood with a stern expression, his small chubby hand trembling as he stretched it out.

  "If you're substituting for Li Tao, then you'll have to take twenty boards. If it's just Li Tao getting beaten, ten boards will do. Think carefully?" Cheng Dechang didn't rush to hit the boards, but instead spoke slowly and deliberately to Fan Changfeng.

  Li Tao was anxious as soon as he heard it, and just as he was about to speak, Fan Changfeng forced the words back into his stomach with a stern gaze.

  "Master, I've thought it through, twenty slaps will be twenty slaps, come on!" Fan Changfeng gritted his teeth and said.

  ……