Chapter 4: Is this little devil Guo Jia?

  Autumn's Yongquan is quite windy and sunny, with a gentle breeze blowing through the willows, and continuous mountains. I don't know what kind of wild fruit is planted on the mountain, but birds keep chasing each other. The whole mountain is golden yellow, giving a real sense of harvest.

  "Master Zhang has arrived at the Congjiang Academy, you can go to the academy to report now. I'll return and report back." Old Bao Luo got off the carriage and handed over the luggage to Zhang Rui.

  Zhang Rui was enjoying the beautiful autumn scenery when he felt annoyed, every time he was appreciating it, someone would disturb him.

  "What kind of academy? What academy is this? Isn't it just two thatched cottages? All I see is an empty space surrounded by a fence, with several thatched cottages inside. It seems like there's also a flagpole with the words 'Yongchuan Academy' written on it (Can this guy even read or not? This clearly says four characters)."

  This crappy school, why can't you enjoy a good life as a rich young master, but instead come here to feed mosquitoes? Is your brain sick or something? Are all schools like this now? The conditions are too shabby. As the saying goes, no matter how poor, education cannot be poor, and children cannot be made to suffer. Nowadays, educators have no humanity at all! No wonder the equipment is still top-notch from the Three Kingdoms period! No wonder people were so poor during the Three Kingdoms period.

  Complaining is complaining, Zhang Rui still sent the old pineapple away and carried his luggage to the academy.

  "Hey kid, how do I get to the principal's office?" asked Zhang Rui, a young sweeper in the yard.

  "What's with the principal's office? And don't call me a kid, I'm not little anymore." Xiaotong swept the floor, without even lifting his head, seemingly extremely dissatisfied with Zhang Rui calling him a kid.

  Alright, I won't bother with you kids. "Then may I ask, is Mr. Xun Shuang in?"

  "The master is in the first hut on the first row, you go yourself." The little sweeper still didn't raise his head and said while sweeping.

  Zhang Rui finally found the first row of thatched cottages and saw Mr. Xun Shuang in front of him, then presented the letter and stood aside silently waiting. Mr. Xun had a good gentlemanly appearance, just like Bodhi Ancient in Journey to the West.

  "Rui'er, it's been many years since I last saw your father. I didn't expect you to have grown so big already. In his letter, your father said you wanted to study at my Yingchuan Academy, which is naturally not a problem. I suppose the Qingsheng brother's Qilin child won't be too bad either. You can follow me along with those few young ones from my Xun family. Now that you're grown up, your father asked me to give you a courtesy name. Looking at you, I think you have great talent, so let's call you Zhibo, hoping you'll have lofty aspirations and broad knowledge."

  "Jia'er, come, take this senior brother to settle down and then get familiar with the environment of the academy."

  "Alright, sir, let's go," said the young sweeper as he came in, picked up Zhang Rui's luggage and began to lead the way.

  Zhang Rui followed behind and began to observe the young boy, who was around 11 or 12 years old. He wore hemp clothing with multiple patches on it, although his build was slightly thin due to malnutrition, he looked very spirited. His clothes were also washed very clean. At his waist, he had tucked a copy of the "Fa Jing". No wonder earlier when he saw himself, he didn't even lift his head. Could it be that he has been studying this "Fa Jing" all along?

  Just now, Xun Shuang called him Jia Er, could it be that this little guy is Guo Jia? (It's currently 180 years, and at this time, Guo Jia seems to be just a young kid)

  "This young man, thank you for directing me earlier, I was able to find Mr. Xun Shuang so smoothly, but I haven't asked your name yet?" Zhang Rui thought and asked.

  "Big brother is polite, under the name of Guo Jia, with a courtesy name of Fengxiao. Due to his father's early death, although Jia had not yet reached adulthood, he still took on a style name. As his mother could not afford for him to attend school, he ended up doing odd jobs as a young servant in the academy, and followed the teacher to read books."

  Zhang Rui heard a mature tone from Guo Jia's words. Although this young man was born into a poor family, he did not belittle himself because of his background. He relied on his mother and read books while working part-time at school to pay for tuition fees, truly a model of diligence and thriftiness!

  Zhang Rui, although born into a noble family, had long been instilled with the 21st-century idea that everyone is equal. How could he look down on Guo Jia because of his humble origins? Moreover, this was Guo Jia we were talking about! Now's the chance to take him down before he makes a name for himself, heh heh.

  "Little brother, I am Zhang Zhibo from Xiaopu Yang. I see that you are young but have great ambitions (where did you get this from?). Today we chatted happily (we only spoke two sentences), and as an older brother, I feel a deep connection with you (how can I be connected to an 11 or 12-year-old kid?). Why don't we become sworn brothers of different surnames?!!"

  Under Zhang Rui's fierce attack, Xiao Guo was obviously stunned and hadn't reacted for a long time.

  "Zhi Bo big brother, you're teasing me, we've just met for the first time today, and you want to become sworn brothers with me?" Guo Jia was still clearly not fully awake from Zhang Rui's fast pace.

  "Filial younger brother, just now when I asked you the way, it was our first meeting. Now you're showing me the way again, which is our second meeting. How can you say we've never met before? Alright, even if this is considered our first meeting, then turn your face away and back again."

  Guo Jia obviously didn't know what was going on, so he turned his face away and then back again.

  "Haha, okay, you just turned half of your face away and now it's back to me, so we're not strangers anymore, right? (This guy is really something, I'm speechless, heh heh)?"

  "Huh... (⊙o⊙)" Only three black lines appeared beside Guo Jia's face.

  "You're not saying anything, so I'll take it as you've agreed. From now on, I'll call you Little Jiajia! This name is really good, haha." Zhang Rui said with a sly smile, taking advantage of the situation.

  Guo Jia was suddenly speechless, damn it, how did he go from being so elegant and refined to becoming little Guo Jia? This name is really awkward, it sounds like Little JJ.

  "Zhi Bo brother, don't tease me anymore." Guo Jia was speechless and regretful. Why did the teacher have to bring this guy back to the dorm? This guy is really too annoying.

  "Xiao Jiajia, Xiao Jiajia, Xiao Jiajia......" Zhang Rui hugged Guo Jia as they walked towards the dormitory amidst Guo Jia's trembling.

  Finally arrived at the dormitory area, still a thatched cottage. This academy doesn't look big from the outside, but it's actually quite large inside, perhaps hiding some mysterious skills? It seems that this academy is indeed a place where dragons and tigers hide, Zhang Rui begins to look forward to his life in the academy with great anticipation.

  After putting away their luggage (which wasn't much to begin with) in the dormitory, Guo Jia prepared to take Zhang Rui on a tour around the academy. Since the academy was secretly aligned with the Eight Trigrams, Guo Jia had to familiarize Zhang Rui with the environment to avoid any accidents.

  Zhang Rui, despite his thick skin, did not look down on himself just because he was from a humble background. Instead, he wanted to become sworn brothers with Guo Jia. After talking for a long time, Guo Jia discovered that although Zhang Rui seemed unlearned and lacking in skills, shaking his head and walking in a sloppy manner, he had a broad range of knowledge and could discuss almost any topic. Moreover, some of his insights were truly astonishing.

  It seems that on the way, Guo Jia has become familiar with Zhang Rui's shamelessness and has also accepted the nickname "Little Jiajia". The two of them are chatting and laughing together. Guo Jia has basically finished introducing the precautions in the academy to Zhang Rui, and they are walking back and forth, playing and joking around.