Chapter 140: Lantern Festival 2/4

After spending a long time at Magistrate Gou’s residence, Li Qingzhi left with Gou Xiaoye and the others.

As they left the Gou residence, Li Qingzhi asked Gou Xiaoye, “How is Mrs. Gou? Did anything happen today that upset you?”

Gou Xiaoye replied, “Mrs. Gou is fine, but we’re from different worlds.”

Gou Xiaoye had listened to the opera and chatted with Mrs. Gou today and didn’t feel unwelcome. But communication was tiring, and she felt uncomfortable around one of Mrs. Gou’s maids.

For example, when the maid brought them snacks, she insisted on saying, “You’ve never had these snacks before.”

Later, when she chatted with Mrs. Gou, the maid also interjected with some uncomfortable remarks.

Gou Xiaoye wasn’t stupid; she knew the maid looked down on her.

Li Qingzhi sensed Gou Xiaoye’s emotions. “Since you’re from different worlds, you don’t have to interact in the future.”

He would just interact with Magistrate Gou, and they could keep their distance from Mrs. Gou.

“He doesn’t rely on Magistrate Gou for his meals!”

“In fact, it’s nothing much. Mrs. Gou is still quite good, but it’s the people around her who elevate or belittle others,” said Jin Xiaoye.

Li Qingzhi chuckled, “If the servants aren’t good, there must be issues with the masters.”

At the Gou residence,

After Jin Xiaoye left, Mrs. Gou turned to her mother and asked, “Mother, why did you speak to Mrs. Li like that today?”

“Madam, I didn’t say anything much,” Mother replied. “But, my lady! You still need to maintain your dignity. I’ve inquired about this Mrs. Li. Let’s not even mention that her husband isn’t even a scholar now. She… she was even involved in boat operations before! The master asked you to entertain her well; I don’t know what he’s thinking…”

Mrs. Gou’s family background was even better than Magistrate Gou’s.

And this Mother was Mrs. Gou’s mother, who looked down on the Gou family, let alone Li Qingzhi and Jin Xiaoye.

Mrs. Gou remained silent, so Mother continued, “The master values Li Qingzhi so much because he knows how to flatter people! I heard that those books praising the master were all written by him, without any literary integrity.”

Mrs. Gou listened quietly for a while before finally saying, “Mother, in the future, when Mrs. Li comes again, you must not speak like you did today.”

Mother promised, but she didn’t take it to heart.

After all, she hadn’t faced any consequences for being less than friendly to Jin Xiaoye today.

Just as the mistress and the servant finished their conversation, Magistrate Gou arrived and instructed Mrs. Gou to send Gou Ying to study with Li Xiucai tomorrow.

Mrs. Gou asked, “Husband, aren’t you going to teach Ying’er?”

Magistrate Gou replied, “I’m too busy with affairs; it’s better to let him study in the school.”

This was the truth. He had said he would teach Gou Ying before, but where would he find the time? He had only assigned tasks for Gou Ying to do, but Gou Ying didn’t do them.

Mrs. Gou whispered, “Teaching a child doesn’t take much effort.”

Magistrate Gou said, “But he should listen to me!”

Mrs. Gou didn’t say anything more, but when Magistrate Gou left, tears welled up in her eyes.

Mother said, “Miss, you’re really unlucky. You finally gave birth to a son, but he’s spoiled by the grandparents, and the master refuses to discipline him.”

Mrs. Gou silently shed tears, feeling her own misfortune.

Her only son was not only distant from her due to her in-laws’ spoiling, but he also didn’t earn the affection of her husband.

Her husband was an imperial scholar, so it would be better for him to teach Gou Ying to read than to have him study with a mere scholar.

As a result, her husband was unwilling to teach.

He claimed to be too busy with affairs… As a county magistrate, how busy could he be?

It was also because Gou Ying didn’t listen! On her way here, she thought about disciplining the child, but she couldn’t succeed.

Mother spoke again, “Madam, you’re still young. Get closer to the master and have another child, so he won’t seek out someone else to bear him a son.”

Mrs. Gou rallied at the suggestion, determined to try her best.

Li Qingzhi wasn’t very familiar with Mrs. Gou’s situation. The next day, he took his three sons to study with Li Xiucai.

Their home was quite lively now, but compared to that, the atmosphere at Li Xiucai’s place for study was much better.

He could also look at the books and materials Li Xiucai had gathered and exchange knowledge with him.

Though he learned quickly with his abilities, there were still some shortcomings.

After studying with Li Xiucai for an hour, Gou Ying was sent by his mother.

Gou Ying’s expression didn’t look too good.

According to his mother, it was because his father thought he was stubborn and dull, so he sent him to this shabby school!

Gou Ying was very dissatisfied with Li Xiucai’s school!

Leaving aside everything else, let’s talk about the number of students here… Normally, a private tutor would have about ten students, which was already a lot. But here? There were so many people!

“Gou Ying.” After Mrs. Gou left, Li Qingzhi greeted Gou Ying.

“Why are you here?” Gou Ying looked at Li Qingzhi puzzled.

Not only did he give him the “script”, but his father didn’t even agree when he mentioned him… He had a pretty good impression of Li Qingzhi.

According to his father, Li Qingzhi was very powerful, and he even had the ability to remember everything at a glance… Li Qingzhi was the teacher here?

“I’m studying here.” Li Qingzhi smiled.

“You’re studying here?” Gou Ying was very surprised.

“Li Xiucai has great knowledge, and I’ve been studying with him all along,” Li Qingzhi said. “Yesterday, Magistrate Gou told me how he studied when he was young and forgot everything he had learned. He didn’t know how to teach you, so he asked me to bring you here.”

“Is what you’re saying true? My father thinks he can’t teach?” Gou Ying was a little surprised; this was different from what his mother had said!

“Magistrate Gou should be promoting scholars. The things he taught me before were too profound; they’re useless for the imperial examination,” Li Qingzhi said with a smile as he talked to Gou Ying.

“Do you think so too?” Gou Ying was pleasantly surprised; he thought he couldn’t understand what his father was saying!

Seeing Gou Ying’s expression, Li Qingzhi knew what he was thinking. He immediately gave several examples to illustrate how profound Magistrate Gou’s teachings were.

Zhu Xunmiao had taken notes when Magistrate Gou lectured before, and he had lent these notes to classmates, including Xu Qifei.

Upon hearing Li Qingzhi’s words, Xu Qifei took out those notes. “Yes, what Magistrate Gou says requires us to study for a long time to understand.”

When Gou Ying first arrived at the school, his mood wasn’t very good, but now his mood had improved. He immediately started chatting with Li Qingzhi, Xu Qifei, and others.

The people in the school knew that Gou Ying was Magistrate Gou’s son. They liked Magistrate Gou, so naturally, they were very polite to Gou Ying, and they chatted happily.

What made Gou Ying the happiest was that he found that his knowledge was better than those of his classmates who were about the same age!

Actually, although Gou Ying’s grandfather loved him, he didn’t spoil him. He always made Gou Ying study.

Gou Ying did like to play but wasn’t doing very well in his studies. His handwriting was only average… But he was still young, only thirteen years old.

Among his peers, his knowledge was actually quite good.

Magistrate Gou felt that his son’s knowledge was lacking mainly because Magistrate Gou himself was an academic achiever.

Similar to a father who graduated from Tsinghua University, seeing his middle school son struggling with math problems that he could solve at a glance would make him angry.

But for this child… it’s normal not to know since he hasn’t learned.

In this mixed-quality school run by Li Xiucai, someone like Gou Ying from a scholarly family naturally outshone his peers by a large margin!

Some teachers believe in strict discipline leading to high achievement and have high expectations for students. They, like Magistrate Gou, can’t stand their own children or students being disobedient.

But Li Xiucai is not like that.

Having too many children and not one of them becoming a scholar… he learned not to force it.

He also loves money! He won’t mistreat students from poor families, but he will definitely favor those who pay more.

Gou Ying is Magistrate Gou’s son. When Mrs. Gou sent him, she even sent along a bundle of gifts…

Although Mrs. Gou wanted Li Xiucai to discipline him strictly… Li Xiucai wouldn’t do that.

After strict discipline, would the child be willing to come back if he wasn’t happy here?

Li Xiucai praised Gou Ying a lot!

Gou Ying was very happy studying in Li Xiucai’s school.

Some of the students here can speak a bit of Mandarin, chat with him, and discuss the books written by his father.