Fan Sheng was pleased with his daughter's thoughtfulness: "Your mother ate one too, but your brother hasn't had one yet. I'll send one to your brother when I go to the county in a couple of days."

Hearing her father's words, Fan Xiaomei nodded, finally able to continue eating her fruit with peace of mind.

Two days later, Fan Sheng drove an oxcart to the county to deliver a basket of apples to his son and his son's teacher.

Wang Kang and his wife were well-traveled people in Ping'an County, and his wife's family was a wealthy family in the prefectural city. However, neither of them had ever seen such a red and big apple before. This was a rare delicacy that money could not buy.

To express her gratitude, Madam Wang gave Fan Sheng a large number of gifts in return, and fearing that Fan Sheng would not accept them, she had the servants carry them onto the oxcart.

Fan Sheng felt somewhat helpless. His son's teacher's wife was being far too enthusiastic, making him wonder if he should send gifts again next time, as it seemed as if she was trying to take advantage of him.

Fan Siyuan was very excited to see his father, whom he hadn't seen for almost half a month: "Are Mom and my sister doing well at home? Master said we can have a holiday in half a month."

"Everything's fine, but Dad will come to pick you up when you're on vacation," Fan Sheng said with a smile, rubbing his son's head.

Fan Siyuan nodded happily: "Okay, I'll buy some delicious food for my sister to take back with me."

He now has pocket money. Although the academy provides food and accommodation, Luo Suyue was still worried that her son might need money, so she gave him two taels of silver in case of emergency.

This made Fan Siyuan happy, but it also added a bit of trouble. He was an eight-year-old child who rarely even handled copper coins. Suddenly he had a huge sum of money. He was afraid of losing the money and would touch the purse he kept on his chest from time to time.

"Yuan'er, are you getting along well with your classmates at the academy? Has anyone bullied you?" Fan Sheng knew that as the dean's personal disciple, his son should be hard to bully, but he was still a little worried.

What if someone gets jealous that their son can become the dean's personal disciple and leads a group to bully him behind his back? Yuan'er has been sensible since he was a child, and he might not necessarily complain to his master.

Upon hearing his father's question, Fan Siyuan's smile froze for a moment, but he quickly returned to normal.

He smiled and said, "Father, don't worry, no one bullies me. My classmates are all easy to get along with."

Fan Sheng didn't notice his son's little actions, and believed him when he heard him say this: "Then you should get along well with your classmates, and you can't bully others, do you hear me? The snacks that Daddy brought you can be shared with your classmates who you get along with."

"Yes, I understand," Fan Siyuan nodded vigorously.

Fan Sheng didn't stay long; he needed to hurry and buy some return gifts for Xia Qingqing, otherwise it would be dark by the time he got home.

Watching his father drive away in the oxcart, Fan Siyuan raised his hand to wipe his eyes, forcing back the tears that hadn't yet flowed.

His time at the academy wasn't as good as he made it out to be. His classmates were either from wealthy or powerful families, and they all started their education at a very young age.

Because of his family's poverty, he only learned some simple characters from his father when he was young, and his handwriting was also mediocre. As a result, he fell far behind his classmates in his studies.

The children didn't dare to openly mock him because they were afraid of his status as the dean's personal disciple, but in reality, they all looked down on him. They thought he was just lucky to become the dean's personal disciple, otherwise he was nothing but a farmer's son.

With this mix of disdain and envy, none of the children wanted to be friends with Fan Siyuan.

However, Fan Siyuan didn't care about any of this. He came to the academy to study, not to make friends.

He devoted all his energy to his studies, but even so, he still struggled to learn. His pride made him too embarrassed to ask his teacher for help.

Fortunately, Wang Kang truly cared about his disciple Fan Siyuan. After learning about Fan Siyuan's situation from his teacher, he asked the teacher to take time to give Fan Siyuan extra tutoring so that he could catch up with the other students as soon as possible.

Fan Siyuan was also holding a grudge. He studied when his classmates were studying and he studied when his classmates were playing. The teacher saw all of this and taught him even more diligently.

Fan Siyuan returned to the dormitory carrying the food his father had prepared for him, and his three roommates immediately looked at him.

"Fan Siyuan, what are you carrying in your hand?"

"My father sent me some food, would you like to try some?" Fan Siyuan said with a smile to his three roommates.

One of the roommates, who was slightly overweight, immediately nodded: "Yes, Fan Siyuan, hurry up and open the package to see what kind of food is inside. I can't wait."

"Tch, his family is so poor, what good food could they possibly have?" The shorter roommate glanced at the package in Fan Siyuan's hand and made a sarcastic remark.

The other person tugged at his sleeve, telling him not to say such nasty things.

Fan Siyuan didn't argue with him. He slowly opened the package, which contained four big, red apples and some modern snacks that Fan Sheng had repackaged.

"Wow, this apple is so red, it looks delicious! And these snacks are all kinds of things I've never seen before. Fan Siyuan, where did your dad buy them? Can you tell me? I'll ask the servants at home to buy some too," Little Fatty said, smacking his lips as he stared at the things on the table.

Fan Siyuan shook his head: "I don't know either. I'll ask my dad next time."

The other two roommates also gathered around when they saw the snacks on the table. Even the roommate who had just mocked Fan Siyuan couldn't resist his curiosity and looked at Fan Siyuan awkwardly.

Remembering his father's instructions and considering that he would be spending a long time with these three people, Fan Siyuan generously gave each of them an apple, as well as some of the novel snacks.

The children, who were only seven or eight years old, quickly became closer after receiving these snacks.

Even his roommate, who used to tease Fan Siyuan from time to time, changed his attitude. He felt obligated to accept food from others and couldn't bear to mock them while eating their food.

He had a bad attitude towards Fan Siyuan because his parents had previously wanted him to become Wang Kang's apprentice, but Wang Kang rejected his request because he felt that Fan Siyuan lacked talent.

When he heard that Wang Kang had taken a farmer's son as his apprentice, he felt resentful and couldn't stand Fan Siyuan no matter who he looked at.

But he also knew that this was not Fan Siyuan's fault, so he would only occasionally make a sarcastic remark to the other party, and then stop making any more small moves.

After becoming close to his three roommates, Fan Siyuan also made friends in the college and became much more outgoing.

This made Wang Kang, who had been secretly observing his new apprentice, very happy. He had almost wanted to take action himself when he saw his new apprentice being ostracized by his classmates, but fortunately, his apprentice was clever and quick-witted and solved the problem on his own.