Chapter 65: A Contest (Middle)

  The study room suddenly burst into laughter, and Shen Zhuang's face turned bright red with embarrassment. In her heart, she couldn't help but blame Mr. Shi: "You never ask me questions, why did you have to ask today?" Shen Jing on the other side was thinking the same thing.

  To know the private schools of this era, they uphold elite education, everything is for the purpose of imperial examination. This is not hard to understand... those who can survive in the layers of strict selection and finally become a high school graduate, let alone a scholar, are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, countable on one's fingers, and it's not certain that even one person from a school will be able to achieve this.

  So the teacher's attention is mainly focused on cultivating top students, hoping they can make a name for themselves and prove that his efforts have not been in vain. As for ordinary students, the teacher only gives them general guidance, as long as they can recognize characters and write, it's enough, after all, there are few who can make a living by writing, like Shen Lian's meticulous teaching is indeed rare.

  But even Mr. Shen can only do this: if you are willing to learn, I will teach you seriously; if you don't want to learn, I won't mention it or drag you along. So for the few sitting in the back row, he has always been natural and easy-going, as long as they don't affect others' learning.

  Mr. Shen never asked them, but not when he was thinking hard... He asked Shen Xiang and got to the bottom of things. As expected, it was indeed Shen Zhuang's gang that made a fuss, using a dead cat to trick the newcomer Shen Mo.

  This finally made Mr. Shen unbearable, in his view, the good or bad of learning is harmless, but the good or bad of character is a great matter... So after having an opinion on Shen Mo's character, he would be so inhumane.

  Now Shen Zhuang and others' behavior has already crossed Shen Lian's bottom line, how could he be calm about it?

  He didn't make decisions outside because he was a county official by origin, believed in justice and righteousness, and absolutely would not judge in secret chambers.

  Seeing Mr. Shen's stern face, the students quickly stopped laughing. All they heard was his icy voice saying: "Not to mention Shen Jing, he is still reading 'Thousand Character Classic'..." Shen Jing's face turned red with shame; at seventeen, he was still in the same grade as younger kids.

  "Listen, Mr. Shen, you've already memorized the Four Books and I've explained the nuances of classical Chinese to you several times, how can you still be so clueless?!" He slammed his hand on the table, "What have you learned?"

  The old man's heart moved slightly, and he gently put down Shen Jing, but heavily picked up Shen Zhuang. It was clear that it wasn't just about the poem, but rather to take advantage of the situation. It seemed that he wasn't as indiscriminate as he appeared after all.

  "Sir, I'm afraid I'm a bit dull..."

  "Foolish? You're not foolish!" Shen Lian sneered repeatedly: "Even the divine cat of Daluo Shangxian can think of it, how can you be considered foolish?" He finally spoke out the real reason.

  Shen Zhuang's face turned pale at this moment, and he couldn't say a word.

  "Get your stinking cat out of here!" Shen Lian glared with disgust. Shen Zhuang hastily ran to the bottom of Shen Mo's seat and picked up the dead cat, throwing it somewhere unknown. When he came back, he found that his three sworn brothers had also been caught.

  Shen Lian's face was expressionless as he said, "At first, I tolerated you, thinking that you were just young people who loved to cause trouble and would improve when you got older." He then snorted and said, "But now it seems that you are no longer just causing trouble! You are framing others, plotting against them, bullying, and extorting! Your hearts are greatly unjust! You are not worthy of being disciples of the Holy One!"

  Shen Zhuang was stunned, he thought it was just another scolding this time, but unexpectedly Second Uncle had a resolute intention!

  The four of them quickly knelt down in front of the master, begging and pleading, saying things like "it's our first offense as students" and "we definitely won't dare to do it again". If they were chased away just like that, wouldn't their old man beat them to death?!

  Shen Lian didn't even look at them and said, "The Sacred Academy cannot tolerate the slightest bit of tarnish, you all get out." But after all, they were his own disciples, he couldn't bear to be too ruthless, so he added another sentence: "Go back and reflect on your actions, when you've reformed yourselves then we'll talk..." This time, beating them half to death would be enough.

  Chase the four crying guys out of the school, Mr. Shen turned his gaze to Shen Jing and said: "Today's matter you didn't do anything wrong, but your scholarship is too poor..."

  Shen Jing was so frightened that he trembled with fear and hastily kowtowed, saying: "Master spare my life..." In his haste, the words "spare my life" slipped out.

  "I won't take your life." Mr. Shen said in a deep voice: "But I will no longer tolerate your truancy, my student Shen Lian can't even recite a single 'Guan Ju', it's laughable if it gets out."

  "Isn't this still going to take my life?" Shen Jing lowered his head and secretly lamented.

  "You can choose to go home and play like them." Mr. Shen said calmly after sitting back in his chair.

  "The student didn't dare." Shen Jing said sorrowfully: "I'll be good and attend classes from now on."

  "Alright, I'll believe you this time." Shen Lian said in a deep voice "If you skip class one more day, never step through this door again!"

  Shen Jing nodded in agreement, pecking at her rice like a little chicken.

  "Go back and sit down, continue with the lesson." Mr. Shen said in a deep voice.

  The classroom returned to calm, as if the ripples had never occurred, only the four empty seats reminded all students not to misbehave.

  Mr. Shen lectured on the Book of Songs for another hour, and by the end of the afternoon, he finally put away his book and announced the end of school.

  But left Shen Mo and Shen Jing behind.

  Mr. Shen handed each of them a piece of paper, saying lightly: "Your homework for tomorrow." Then he added with an 'oh': "Don't forget to copy the school rules one hundred times again."

  Silently, they had no choice but to obediently pay their respects and withdraw.

  The two of them left the study and walked a long way before Shen Jing sat down by a pool, his eyes fixed straight ahead: "My good days are over."

  Shen Mo also sat down and patted his shoulder, saying: "You should learn something too, it's not good to be uneducated."

  Everyone didn't see Mr. Shen scolding Shen Mo, and Shen Jing was no exception, so he didn't know that Shen Mo was the most pitiful one. Shen Jing threw a stone into the water and said softly: "Actually, I also know that being uneducated and uncultured will make people look down on you wherever you go. But my mother died early, and my father was an official in the capital, he took my older brothers with him, while I and Shen Zhuang stayed at home with our grandmother... Our grandmother was extremely biased and didn't send me to school to study. At that time, I was young and didn't understand things, and I thought it was a good thing, so I went out to play everywhere, and as a result, I became the way I am now..."

  "What about Shen Zhuang, isn't he also a mess?" Shen Mo asked in a low voice.

  "The old lady doted on him, letting him do whatever he wanted, not studying if he didn't want to, and doing whatever he pleased, spoiling him rotten. Shen Jing sighed: "When it comes to the ink in our bellies, we're evenly matched, a pair of fools."