Chapter 92

Shen Cui and the system agreed on a time, and an hour later, the system acted as her alarm.

Shen Cui was really tired, but she still forced herself to get up, and after getting up, she accepted her daily tasks.

Perhaps because the system saw that she was really exhausted, the daily tasks were arranged particularly simple — “The academy headmaster talks with a student for fifteen minutes.”

There was no need to say who this task was assigned for, it was obvious that it was for Mei Ruochu.

The time limit for the task was still one hour, so Shen Cui wasn’t in a hurry. She lay on the kang for a while first, dispelling the dizziness before getting up to wash.

Just as she had made some movement, Mrs. Zhou came over and gently knocked on the door, asking if she had gotten up.

Shen Cui combed her hair while letting her in.

“I made some egg pancakes this morning, I left two for you, warming on the stove at home. They might be a bit soggy, but they’ll fill your stomach.”

Shen Cui had only been thinking about catching up on sleep in the morning, but now her stomach was indeed hungry. After washing up, she came back and ate the egg pancakes, asking Mrs. Zhou, “Why didn’t you go to the academy?”

Normally, Mrs. Zhou would quickly finish cleaning, then stay at the academy to do her own chores, quietly sewing without disturbing Mu Er Pang and the others who were studying.

“Well… my sewing basket has gone or misplaced and such.”

With just these words, there was no need for further explanation, and Shen Cui understood.

Wasn’t this because of Mei Ruochu, who was so unlucky?

Mrs. Zhou was insightful and moved to another place.

Shen Cui patted her hand, “You can do your work at home for now, let’s observe for a few more days.”

Although it was said to be observation, it was actually Shen Cui’s time to work hard. When she raised Mei Ruochu’s luck value to near the passing line, there would be no need for Mrs. Zhou to do this anymore.

Chatting with her, Shen Cui finished breakfast and then went to the academy.

At this moment in the academy, because the Headmasters of Hongle academy had given quite a few test papers from other prefectures and counties, and next year Wei Xi and Wei Shu would both participate, so the recent teaching content was still focused on reviewing and discussing the test papers.

The county exams were manageable, but for Mu Er Pang, who hadn’t finished studying the Five Classics yet, the prefectural exam papers were somewhat challenging.

No wonder Shen Cui felt that Luo Buyu was overworked.

In terms of numbers alone, including Mei Ruochu, there were only four students in the Cuiwei Academy.

Even in small elite classes nowadays, there were far more students than this.

But the difficulty lay in Mu Er Pang and their inconsistent progress. Saying there were four people was actually equivalent to Luo Buyu teaching two different grades.

This morning, he had Wei Xi, Wei Shu, and Mei Ruochu work on the essay question first, then he continued to teach Mu Er Pang “The Book of Rites” on the side.

Because there were no more incidents of tables and chairs breaking, in less than an hour, Mei Ruochu was the first to finish writing the paper.

Because the ink and paper were bought from outside and not products of the system, for some reason, the ink smudged on Mei Ruochu’s paper, making his paper look very messy, but regardless, he finished it!

Luo Buyu still didn’t know his true level, so he put down the book and asked him to hand in his paper first.

After reading it, Luo Buyu couldn’t find any point for improvement — aside from the messy appearance of Mei Ruochu’s paper, the content was excellent, with beautiful language and sharp ideas.

Forget about Luo Buyu, even in his prime, he couldn’t write something as good as this!

It’s no wonder that in the letter from the Hongle Cademy Headmaster, it was mentioned not to spend too much time and effort on him, even Luo Buyu himself felt somewhat inadequate to teach him!

“You’ve done well!” Luo Buyu praised without reservation, “Leave your paper with me for now, we’ll discuss it together after Wei Shu and Xiao Xi finish writing theirs.”

After being praised by Luo Buyu, Mei Ruochu showed a slightly shy smile.

As he returned to his seat, passing by Wei Shu’s desk, for some reason, he tripped over something and bumped into the corner of the desk.

Mei Ruochu grunted in pain, holding his side to steady himself, too preoccupied to feel the pain, he hurried to check on Wei Shu.

With that bump, Wei Shu’s pen left a blotch on the paper.

“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to!” he apologized hurriedly.

After carefully writing the questions for so long, almost finishing them, only to have them ruined, anyone would be upset if it happened to them.

Mei Ruochu felt both helpless and self-blaming.

Wei Shu quickly put down his pen without paying attention to Mei Ruochu’s apology, only asking him, “Where did you bump? Does it hurt?”

“It made a loud noise when I bumped into it, it seems like it’s a serious injury, I’ll go get some medicinal alcohol.” Wei Xi also stood up, following suit, “Last time, the Headmaster gave me some medicinal alcohol, and there might still be a little left.”

“I have strong hands, I’ll take care of applying the medicinal alcohol for Big Brother Mei.” Mu Er Pang and Wei Shu supported Mei Ruochu on both sides, leading him back to the dormitory.

Top of Form

After entering the dormitory, Mei Ruochu loosened his belt. As expected, the bump just now was quite severe; his body was pale, and a large area on his side was already red.

And as Wei Shu had mentioned, he indeed had quite a few other injuries on his body.

Wei Xi found the little remaining medicinal alcohol from last time, but it was obviously not enough to treat the several bruises on his body.

“I’m not in pain, really. I’m used to it. It’ll turn purple for a day or two, and then it’ll be fine on its own.”

At that moment, Shen Cui came over, went to the main hall, saw that several children were not there, and asked Luo Buyu. She found out that Mei Ruochu had injured himself and the others had taken him to the dormitory to check his injuries.

Shen Cui suddenly remembered that while she was busy buying practical items for him to prevent accidents, she had forgotten to buy some effective medicine for treating injuries.

She couldn’t conveniently go into the dormitory, so she went out for a while and spent 20 shopping points in the system to buy two new bottles of medicinal alcohol. After bringing them over, she asked Mu Er Pang to come out and take them.

It didn’t require so many people to apply medicinal alcohol, so Wei Shu and Wei Xi came out first, leaving Mu Er Pang inside to treat his injuries.

Although Mei Ruochu said he wasn’t in pain, who could endure being covered in bruises? He was just bearing with it.

After applying the medicinal alcohol twice on his body, the pain on Mei Ruochu’s body dissipated. Unable to help himself, he sighed comfortably, while Mu Er Pang sweated profusely and ran out to wash his hands.

Mei Ruochu dressed neatly, stepped out afterward, his face flushed again. Of course, it was because he felt embarrassed. Everyone was supposed to study quietly, but because of his small accident, everyone was now busy running around.

When he returned to the main hall, he saw that everyone was already looking at his paper.

“How can Brother Mei write so well?” Wei Xi pretended to be sour as he said, “Even though the paper is ruined, it can’t hide such beautiful handwriting. You must give me some guidance.”

Wei Shu interrupted, “No way, next year I have the academy exams, shouldn’t you guide me first?”

Wei Xi didn’t want to be outdone, “But I still have the county and prefectural exams. If everything goes smoothly, I’ll also participate in the academy exams with you. Isn’t my pressure as big as yours?”

Mu Er Pang had just finished washing his hands and came back, hearing this, he immediately retorted, “That’s not fair. I only went to wash my hands for a moment, how come you guys are already fighting over it? I’m progressing the slowest, shouldn’t I be guided first?”

Luo Buyu complained, “The new surpasses the old. With a knowledgeable newcomer joining us, this old teacher is no longer favored!”

Shen Cui watched them ‘messing around’ with a smile. Mei Ruochu couldn’t bring himself to say all the apologies he had in mind, so he just smiled lightly.

“Alright,” Shen Cui decided, “I hereby appoint Ruochu as the new assistant teacher of our academy, to share the pressure with the master. When the master teaches Er Pang, Ruochu will be responsible for guiding Shu and Xi. When the master teaches Shu and Xi, Ruochu will guide Er Pang. As for the evening time, he will still live with Er Pang, so that time will be allocated to Er Pang. Of course, he’s not made of iron, you also have to give him time to study and rest. Any objections?”

The three teenagers weren’t really arguing over anything, so naturally, they had no objections.

Mu Er Pang laughed heartily, “No wonder I’m the mother’s favorite son! I’m the one who benefits the most! Haha, junior brother, don’t blame me, your senior brother, for making fun of you when I surpass you in the future.”

Wei Xi laughed too, “Senior brother, why are you only comparing yourself to me? Can’t you surpass my brother too?”

Mu Er Pang immediately changed his expression, “Of course not. Brother Wei is already a talented scholar, while I’m still a novice. I can’t compare myself to him.”

Wei Shu joked, “You lost to me in archery practice this morning, and now you’re trying to save face by saying that, aren’t you?”

Everyone laughed and joked around. Shen Cui then asked Mei Ruochu to come aside and complete the heart-to-heart task.

“Are you still unwilling to stay here?” Shen Cui got straight to the point.

Mei Ruochu immediately shook his head, “Everyone doesn’t reject me, they treat me very well, there’s nothing I’m unwilling to do. I’m just worried…”

Shen Cui waved her hand and pointed to the vertical plaque hanging at the entrance of the main hall. “This is the motto of our academy, ‘Follow your heart without crossing the line.’ Everyone likes you, and you’re willing to stay here, so just follow your heart. As for other things that haven’t happened yet, don’t think too much about them.”

“Follow your heart without crossing the line,” Mei Ruochu repeated softly several times, smiling and bowing, “I understand. Thank you for the guidance, Elder Shen.”

The conversation went smoothly, but it didn’t last a quarter of an hour before Shen Cui chatted with him about some trivial matters.

He couldn’t mention the sad things from his early years, so Shen Cui asked him, “I’m planning to write a letter to the Headmaster in reply. You can also write a letter to him, and I’ll have someone send them together.”

Mei Ruochu nodded, “It’s been some time since I left, and I think the Headmaster probably knows that I’ve been delayed on the road. It’s time to write a letter to let him know that I’m doing well.”

The two of them chatted casually for a while, and when Shen Cui saw that the task time was up, she let him go back.

That day, they wrote two letters. Shen Cui asked Zhou Shi to run a trip, still using express delivery, and entrusted the letters to the escort agency.

In early September, Shen Cui received a letter from the Hongle Headmaster.

There were even tear stains on the letter. The old man knew that they warmly welcomed Mei Ruochu’s arrival, and Mei Ruochu also mentioned in the letter that the people here treated him extremely well. Shen Cui even let her own son live with him, without any trace of rejection.

He felt that words of thanks were not enough to express his feelings, but he noted this friendship down and promised to repay it when the opportunity arose.

Shen Cui felt that the Headmaster was too kind. Setting aside Mei Ruochu’s unfortunate condition, having such an outstanding student as Mei Ruochu serve as an assistant teacher for their family was the real advantage!

As for the letter given to Mei Ruochu, Shen Cui naturally wouldn’t read it. She also naturally didn’t know that the Headmaster had written tens of thousands of words of teaching experience in the letter, making it imperative for him to serve as an assistant teacher — the old man had thought far ahead. Though he didn’t want to admit it, based on Mei Ruochu’s past experiences, passing the imperial examinations was likely hopeless. It was rare that Cuiwei Academy not only took him in but also wanted him to be an assistant teacher. Teaching and educating people were also legitimate ways for him to demonstrate his true talents.

In this way, the students of Cui Wei have promising futures, and others know that Mei Ruochu has guided them. Even if Mei Ruochu doesn’t achieve fame, if he starts teaching again, there will still be people willing to learn from him. This way, he won’t end up without a livelihood in the future, resorting to farming or roadside vending in his hometown.”