Chapter 69: Extreme Limit (Below)

  In a gaze of admiration, silence walks back and forth, doing well in one's seat.

  "Brother, you're too awesome!" Shen Jing gave a thumbs up and said: "You can squeeze the master to the point of pissing himself off, I'm thoroughly convinced."

  He remained silent and didn't respond, knowing that being overly pleased was easy to get carried away with, the more delighted he felt in his heart, the more he needed to remain calm.

  Although Shen Jing was not good at reading, his ability to observe and listen was absolutely top-notch. He saw that Shen Mo was actually very pleased with himself. After thinking for a moment, he said with some concern: "Don't keep resisting Mr. hard anymore, his learning is definitely stronger than yours, and you're so passive, sooner or later you'll be overwhelmed."

  A silent bitter smile, shook his head and said nothing.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Seeing the students being inattentive, Mr. Shen immediately pulled down his face and slapped the desk with a ruler, saying: "There is still half an hour left, if you don't recite the book, you won't be allowed to eat." The students were suddenly panicked, hastily collecting their minds, and loudly began to recite.

  Around noon, Mr. Shen called a halt and then, following the same order as in the morning, had the students come up to recite their lessons, reciting what they had read that morning.

  Generally speaking, the first twenty or so short sentences are memorized very quickly by students, but this is also a turning point. After that, everyone's level can be distinguished... Some younger students stumble over thirty sentences when reciting, while most can recite forty or fifty sentences. A few with exceptional memory can even recite seventy or eighty sentences.

  Silent discovery, among the four or five students who read the same book, there are three or four different differences. He only understood why the teacher taught according to different numbers and progress... This way, it does not limit the reading speed of smart students, but also guarantees that students with relatively poor intelligence can steadily grasp the learning content at their own pace. It is truly teaching students in accordance with their aptitude.

  Around noon, except for him and Shen Jing, everyone went up to recite again. The teacher didn't look at them either, so he put away his teaching tools and said, "Let's end class." The students stood up to thank the teacher, watching him leave before rushing to the small cafeteria with a whoosh.

  Shen Mo and Shen Jing finally entered, but found that in the crowded small dining hall, there was actually an empty square table with a full spread of dishes... The food wasn't bad either, two meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, fish, meat, and even a hot egg drop soup.

  He thought it was Mr. Shen's seat, but Shen Jing whispered: "That is the seat of Shen Zhuang and his three friends, I guess the kitchen doesn't know they're not coming yet."

  "It's just cheaper for us." Shen Mo rubbed his belly and chuckled: "From yesterday morning till now, I haven't eaten anything at all."

  "Are you kidding me?" Shen Jing cursed with a smile, and the two sat down, each scooping a bowl of rice, starting to eat.

  Even if he hadn't eaten for a day, Shen Mo still ate slowly and quietly. Unlike Shen Jing, who ate with a "slurp", grains of rice and soup constantly falling onto his chest.

  Although Shen Jing's eating was not good-looking, he won with a quick word. With a gust of wind blowing away the remaining clouds, he ate about 70-80% and then slowed down his pace, eating while saying: "What to do about that matter?" The canteen was crowded, so he spoke vaguely, but Shen Mo could understand, his voice barely audible: "You take some time to get it out, give Tian Qi's share to him, the rest you keep, in two days I'll tell you what we're going to do."

  "Alright." Shen Jing nodded and stopped talking as someone approached.

  This afternoon is again Mr.'s lecture time, continuing from yesterday's lecture.

  Today, Shen Mo's heart is not as stuffy as before, and he can listen carefully. He finds that Shen Lian is indeed capable. With a series of quotes from classics and extensive references, he surprisingly makes the dry scripture so engaging that no one falls asleep, which is really a remarkable skill.

  When it was time for school to be dismissed, Shen Mo and the two were about to leave when they were stopped by Shen Lian who said: "You guys go sweep the classroom."

  Two poor children had no choice but to sweep the floor, wipe the floor, and arrange the tables and chairs. After a lot of hard work, it was dark before they locked up and went home.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  The next day, it was a repeat of the previous day's routine. First, everyone went on stage to recite and get beaten; then Shen Jing handed in his homework, but only 7,000 words were written, with 3,000 words not done. This time, Shen Lian didn't show him any mercy, one hundred words for one board, and he was beaten thirty times.

  Shen Jing's left hand was swollen like a crystal bear paw at that time, and it came down as soon as he held it.

  It was Shen Mo's turn now, and today he had to recite "Ming Xian Ji". This book is different from the usual character recognition textbooks like "Three Hundred Thousand", it focuses on moral education, collecting folk sayings and proverbs that are widely spread among the people, including those related to interpersonal relationships, learning and self-cultivation. Among them, there are many insightful sentences that can enlighten one's mind... It is worth mentioning that the famous term "ci han" originated from this book.

  This book is composed of four-character, five-character, six-character and seven-character phrases, with a total of 2,235 characters, which is more than twice the number of yesterday.

  But in actual memorization, this kind of common saying and proverb-filled tongue twister collection is much easier.

  He still recites with ease and fluency, especially when it comes to phrases like "A family that accumulates goodness will have an abundance of blessings" or "One good word can warm for three winters, while one evil word can chill for six months". When he says such words of encouragement, he always puts extra emphasis on them, as if to advise and guide.

  This is a good thing, but unfortunately, Shen Mo's heart is not broad enough, and it also adds to the phrase "good deeds will be rewarded with good fortune, evil deeds will be punished." "A gentleman should accumulate virtue and blessings, while a petty person relies on power to bully others."

  Mr. Shen was so angry that he rolled his eyes, thinking to himself, "I'm still 'a family with accumulated evil, bound to have remaining calamity'!" But since Shen Mo was reciting the book according to his requirements, without changing a single word or tone, what right did he have to blame him?

  "Wait, you've memorized it silently, but Mr. Shen couldn't help but say: 'You suddenly lower your tone in some sentences, what's your intention?'"

  The silent and polite apology said, "I'm really sorry, sir. The student had pickled vegetables for breakfast this morning and his throat is sore." His voice was very low, only the two of them could hear it.

  Shen Lian's nose was almost crooked with anger, and after a whole day yesterday, his dislike for Shen Mo had decreased somewhat, but now it had reached an all-time high again. Mr. Shen couldn't help but sneer: "A gentleman is open and honest, while a petty person is always anxious." He quoted the words from "Ming Xian Ji" to scold him, saying that Shen Mo was full of despicable tricks.

  Shen had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time... Although Mr. Shen is quite biased towards himself, he is still a decent person; although unreasonable, at least he distinguishes between good and evil. For people like him, it's still necessary to communicate as much as possible, at least coexist peacefully, otherwise the days of being despised are really hard to bear.

  But you want someone as proud as Shen Mo to lower himself and apologize, that's absolutely impossible... I'm still full of grievances. Did I dig up your ancestor's grave or steal your daughter-in-law? Why do you look down on me like I'm nothing, squeezing me into a corner?

  So he wanted to reason with Mr. Shen, but in this era, it's impossible for a student to sit down face-to-face with his teacher and have a calm and peaceful conversation. He could only create such an opportunity by expressing his thoughts through debate.

  Division line

  Actually, Shen Mo and Qin Lei have something in common, which is also my motto: 'Self-improvement without end'. Let's work hard together. Votes...