19 Chapter 19

◎If I had known earlier, I wouldn’t be a beggar◎

What exactly did I forget?

Jiang Jingyun walked back while thinking about it, until he got home and saw "The Analects of Confucius" still on the table, he suddenly realized: it was his homework! ah! ! ! Help! ! ! ! ! ! !

Jiang Jingyun's room was brightly lit all night long.

The lights were not turned off until the rooster crowed in the early morning.

The next morning, Jiang Jingyun had dark circles under his eyes and his eyes were dull as he walked along the mountain road to the town.

Brother Jiang, who was pushing a cart nearby, saw that he was staggering and was a little worried that he might accidentally fall down the mountain, so he reminded him, "Fifth brother, be careful when you walk. Why do you look a little tired today?"

"Hmm? Are you sick?" Brother Jiang came over and touched his forehead. "You don't have a fever." Although he said that, he still reached out to take off the backpack from Jiang Jingyun. "Come, Brother will carry it for you."

Jiang Jingyun shook his head and refused. The mountain road was difficult to walk on, and his second brother was the one carrying a lot of heavy and fragile things. "I'm fine, I just didn't sleep well last night. There are only a few books in the bamboo basket, it's not heavy, I can do it myself."

Seeing that he insisted, Second Brother Jiang did not force him. He just silently took a step back and walked behind Jiang Jingyun. In case his Fifth Brother really fell accidentally, he would be able to catch him in time from behind.

When they arrived at the town, Jiang Jingyun was taken aside by his brothers to rest. He sat there with his eyes closed for a long time before he recovered.

Today's snail noodle business is as good as ever, but many people also asked why moon cakes are not being sold today.

Jiang Jingyun admitted that he was busy making new desserts yesterday and did not have time to make mooncakes, so they will be sold tomorrow. He asked those who want to buy them to come back tomorrow. He took out another box of cream cake and showed it to everyone. Quite a lot of people were interested in it, but as soon as he mentioned the price, a group of people were instantly scared away.

Seeing that no one bought it, the eldest and second brothers Jiang felt a little worried, but Jiang Jingyun was calm. Originally, this product was not targeted at these people. They just put it on the market for trial and error and used it as a publicity stunt.

Looking up at the sky, Jiang Jingyun thought it was almost time, so he left his elder brother Jiang alone selling snail noodles and took his more clever second brother and ten boxes of cakes to the residential area on the east side of the town.

He had inquired in advance and found out that all the houses in this area belonged to rich or noble families. He randomly chose a house with a majestic stone lion standing in front of the door and knocked on the door. Soon, a man who looked like a doorman came out from the side door, looked Jiang Jingyun and the other person up and down, with a slightly scrutinizing look in his eyes, and asked, "What do you want?"

Jiang Jingyun didn't care about the doorman's attitude. It was normal to get a few cold stares when doing business. He took out a food box and handed it over, saying, "We made some fresh food and brought it here specially. I wonder if you gentlemen will like it?"

The doorman didn't answer. He just took a quick look and told them to wait before going back in. After a while, an old man with a white beard came out, who seemed to be the manager of the house.

As expected, as he approached, he heard the doorman respectfully say to the man, "Butler Li, these are the two."

"Yes." Butler Li responded and looked at the Jiang brothers, "Take out the things so I can see them."

Jiang Jingyun quickly opened the box and took out another cream cake and handed it over: "This is a snack we came up with, called cream cake, you can try it first."

Butler Li looked up at Jiang Jingyun. He was quite smart. He took the cup and tasted it. He said with satisfaction, "It tastes really good. How much is it?"

Jiang Jingyun smiled and replied, "Because the ingredients are all precious, the price is relatively high. One box costs two taels of silver."

As he expected, after hearing the price, Butler Li bought two boxes without blinking an eye, and also instructed that if there were more in the future, they must be sent to them first.

The second brother Jiang was stunned: "Is this a rich man? He just gave four taels of silver without bargaining?"

After selling this house, Jiang Jingyun dragged his second brother, who was still in a daze, and did the same thing, knocking on the door of the second house.

An hour later, he and his second brother stood at the street corner, carrying empty baskets.

At this time, Brother Jiang was still a little dazed, holding Jiang Jingyun's hand tightly and not letting go: "Brother, pinch me, I feel like I'm dreaming..."

Jiang Jingyun heard his second brother say such silly things for the first time, and he found it a little funny. He teased, "Feel the silver in your arms and see if it's real."

Jiang Erge really listened and reached into his arms to feel it, then hugged her tighter and said with a grin, "It's so heavy... I'm not dreaming... Hehe, I've really made a fortune..."

"Let's go, otherwise eldest brother will be waiting anxiously." Jiang Jingyun urged. After taking two steps, he found that his brother was not following him. He turned around and saw his second brother was still standing there grinning foolishly. He could only turn back and continue dragging him away.

When they went back, the eldest brother had almost sold out. Jiang Jingyun briefly explained the situation to his second brother. Seeing that his second brother might not be able to recover for a while, he let the two of them go back first.

Anyway, they can take the silver back first, and they have walked this mountain road many times. It is no exaggeration to say that he can walk back with his eyes closed now. It is very safe.

Jiang Jingyun had a casual lunch in the town and went to the private school. He handed in his homework as soon as he entered the door. Sun Xiucai read his annotations carefully and suddenly asked, "Review the old to learn the new?"

He was startled, then saw the teacher’s narrowed eyes. He immediately responded: “The Master said: ‘If one can review the old and learn new things, he can be a teacher.’ This means that when learning, one should review the old knowledge and gain new insights. What one has learned is still within one’s grasp, and its applications are endless. Therefore, one can be a teacher.” [1]

“If you study without thinking, you will be lost; if you think without studying, you will be in danger.”[2]

"......" He finally realized that although the teacher seemed to be testing his knowledge, in fact, every word was a criticism to him.

Jiang Jingyun's forehead was sweating, and he answered with a stiff face: "If you study without thinking, you will only know the surface but not the essence; if you think without studying, you will not practice it and will not be able to explain the reason."

…

…

After several rounds of questions and answers, Sun Xiucai nodded with satisfaction: "Not bad, let's start reading "The Great Learning" today."

Jiang Jingyun nodded in agreement and secretly breathed a sigh of relief: Fortunately, after finishing my homework yesterday, I remembered to review the book, otherwise I would have been punished with a beating today.

Seeing that the teacher seemed to be going back to the inner room, he hurriedly handed over the prepared basket with both hands: "Teacher, I have a new dessert I have thought of - cream cake. Take it back and try it with your wife."

Sun Xiucai raised his eyebrows: "We just delivered the mooncakes yesterday, and today there are new styles? It seems that there is not enough homework left, and you still have free time to think about these."

"......" Jiang Jingyun smiled guiltily, feeling extremely regretful in his heart. He should not have sent her off if he had known earlier.

What a pity! If I had known this earlier, there would be no beggar.

Sun Xiucai had no idea of ​​what he was thinking. He took a cake from the basket and tasted it. "It's delicious. Your cooking skills are pretty good. No wonder your mistress always praises you."

Jiang Jingyun didn't dare to get carried away in front of the teacher, and said modestly: "It's just some small tricks I came up with to make a living."

Sun Xiucai nodded. He knew the situation at Jiang Jingyun's home, but he still advised him, "Mencius said, 'One must learn not to do something before he can do something.' [3] Although you are doing this to make a living, you must not put the cart before the horse. You should focus more on improving your studies."

Jiang Jingyun bowed his head and said, "I will definitely remember this in my heart."

Seeing that he knew his mistakes and was respectful, Sun Xiucai waved his hand with satisfaction and said, "That's enough. Go back to school."

Jiang Jingyun responded and started to learn new things.

Alas!

I want to sigh again, why didn’t God send him a few math, physics and chemistry teachers when our ancestors burned books and buried scholars? !

Science students are forced to switch to liberal arts, the sky is falling!

***

In an old house with carved beams and painted buildings, an old lady in luxurious clothes was sitting in the yard drinking tea and admiring the flowers.

Suddenly she heard a scream, and in the blink of an eye a figure flew in front of her.

The man came with a golden crown on his head and a sapphire blue silk robe on his body. His face was like the bright moon and his eyes were like autumn waves. He looked like a dashing and elegant young man! At this time, he was sitting in front of the woman, panting, begging her for mercy: "Grandma, you have to save your grandson this time, my father said he would break my legs!"

"What trouble have you gotten yourself into again?" The old woman seemed to be used to it, and calmly poured another cup of tea, "Wipe off the sweat first, drink a cup of tea, take a breath, and then talk slowly."

Young Master Su Yuheng raised his head and drank a cup of tea. After taking a breath, he placed the cup heavily on the table and said angrily, "It's still those old-fashioned people in the academy!"

Today he brought two crickets to the academy to play, but was accidentally discovered by the old teacher, who not only scolded him severely, but also hit his palms with a ruler twenty times.

He stretched out his hands and said pitifully, "Grandma, look, my hands are swollen."

The old woman looked at her grandson's hand and couldn't help but frown. This time, the hand was indeed a bit heavy, but she still said, "You made the mistake first, so it's right for the master to punish you."

Su Yuheng was unhappy because he didn't get comforted, and hummed in a low voice: "I don't like that academy. The teacher scolded me every day, saying that I was wasting my time and energy on playing with things, and that I was useless. He also said that if it wasn't for my father, he would have kicked me out of the academy a long time ago."

Su frowned upon hearing this. She had sent Su Yuheng to Yinghua Academy because she thought the teacher was a juren and well-educated. She had never thought that he had such a bad character and would make such irresponsible remarks about his students. She comforted Su Yuheng and said, "Okay, I will explain this to your father and ask him to change the academy for you."

"Really?" Su Yuheng was overjoyed.

"Really? When has grandma ever lied to you?" The old lady nodded his head, pushed a plate of dessert in front of him, and said with a smile, "Come, let's not talk about this. Try the dessert that the housekeeper brought today."

"Hey, what is this?" Su Yuheng's attention was indeed diverted.

There were a few small and exquisite cakes on the table, placed in delicate bamboo cups. The surface was covered with a layer of soft and white stuff like clouds. If you got close, you could smell a rich milky aroma. As soon as you put it in your mouth, you can taste the silkiness and delicateness of the cream, like sweet snowflakes melting on the tip of your tongue, followed by the soft and fluffy cake, which has a dense and soft texture and makes you love it.

"It's so delicious!" Su Yuheng ate a few of them in just a few bites. Looking at the few cakes left on the table, he licked his lips reluctantly and asked, "What is this called? Butler Li, where did you find this? I'll buy some more tomorrow."

"It's called cream cake. Someone came to sell it today, but he didn't know where to find him. If you like it, ask someone to find it tomorrow." The old lady pushed the rest to him and said with a smile, "If you like it, take it back. But you have to promise grandma that you will go to school obediently when you change to academy, and you must not act willfully. Do you understand?"

"Oh, grandson understands." Su Yuheng responded obediently.

Mrs. Su nodded with satisfaction. Although her grandson was a little naughty, he was not a bad person by nature and was very well-behaved and obedient.

【Author’s words】

【1】【2】From The Analects of Confucius: On Government, Part Two

【3】From Mencius: Li Lou Part 2