Chapter 71 Crossing the Tribulation: Reading
Shao Yanzhe sat at the table, looked at the boy standing opposite him, and opened his mouth as if to say something.
It was only then that he realized he didn't know the boy's name and had no idea how to address him.
You can't exactly keep calling out "Little fox spirit, little fox spirit" to people, can you?
He cleared his throat and asked, "What's your name?"
Xiao Bai immediately replied, "Yes, Su Bai! You can call me Xiao Bai!"
“There’s a surname Su? I’ve never heard of that surname before,” Shao Yanzhe recalled carefully.
Xiao Bai explained, "This is not a human surname. My clan belongs to the Su lineage, and all clan members have 'Su' in their names."
Shao Yanzhe nodded, but then suddenly realized that when he was with Yun Weiyue before, she had told him that the names of monsters should not be easily told to others, because if someone knew the true name of a monster, someone might use evil magic to secretly attack the monster.
"If someone asks you your name in the future, don't tell them your real name," Shao Yanzhe reminded him.
This little fox demon is far too careless.
Xiao Bai looked at him in confusion, not understanding why she couldn't say her name, but he still nodded seriously and agreed: "Okay, I'll remember."
Seeing him obediently nod, Shao Yanzhe felt very gratified.
Children may be naive, but they are obedient.
"Alright, from now on I'll call you Xiaobai," he said.
Little Bai nodded and said, "Okay, brother!"
"What did you call me?" Shao Yanzhe raised an eyebrow at him.
Xiao Bai replied matter-of-factly, "Of course it's my brother! Is there a problem? That's what I call him in the clan too!"
Shao Yanzhe opened his mouth, but he knew it was probably not okay for Xiaobai to call him by his name. He was also not used to being addressed as "Young Master," but calling him "Brother" seemed like a good option.
He said, "No problem, call me brother from now on!"
Xiao Bai smiled and called him "brother" again. With each "brother," Shao Yanzhe inexplicably felt that the responsibility on his shoulders had become even heavier.
"Xiaobai, can you read?" Shao Yanzhe asked.
"Of course I can read!" Xiaobai answered confidently.
Shao Yanzhe remained noncommittal, but instead took out a copy of the Three Character Classic from under his book box and handed it to him: "Very good, since you can read, copy the Three Character Classic once first!"
Xiao Bai was taken aback, staring at the book in his hand: "Copying the Three Character Classic? What is the Three Character Classic? Why do we need to copy the Three Character Classic?"
"Don't ask why. As my page, you must listen to me. You must do whatever I tell you to do, understand?"
Shao Yanzhe stared at Xiaobai with a stern face.
Xiao Bai snapped to attention and immediately shouted, "Understood!"
"Now, immediately, go and copy the book!" Shao Yanzhe commanded.
"yes!"
Xiao Bai immediately took the book, walked to another table, pushed the teapot aside, spread out the Xuan paper, opened the book, and prepared to copy it.
But after seeing the contents of the first page, I felt a sudden darkness before my eyes.
"What is man? What is the origin of all things? What are all these scribbled symbols?"
He stared blankly at the contents, completely unable to read the words.
But remembering his confident demeanor, he had no choice but to grit his teeth, pick up the brush, and write down the two characters he knew how to write.
When it came time to write the third unfamiliar character, Xiaobai glanced at the character above and then wrote a stroke on the rice paper with the tip of his brush.
Thus, a crooked and oddly shaped character appeared on the rice paper.
Xiao Bai didn't mind the ugly character at all; on the contrary, he felt a great sense of accomplishment.
He picked up the pen and admired his own writing for a moment, then continued writing. The same writing steps, the same crooked and ugly characters, were arranged crookedly on the clean white rice paper.
Shao Yanzhe looked up at the words Xiaobai had written, which were truly beyond his expectations.
The writing was uglier than he had imagined.
But he didn't discourage the enthusiastic Xiaobai; he let him copy on his own while he continued copying the book he was working on.
Xiao Bai was quick; he took a stack of Xuan paper covered in writing and approached Shao Yanzhe.
"Brother, I've finished copying the Three Character Classic!"
After he finished speaking, he looked at Shao Yanzhe with bright eyes, expecting his praise.
Shao Yanzhe put down his brush and took the Xuan paper from him to look through it.
He looked at them very carefully, and after reading them one by one, he noticed that Xiaobai's handwriting became more and more neat as it went on. He figured that if he continued writing for a while, his handwriting wouldn't be so ugly anymore.
He's talented!
He came to this conclusion. He glanced at the waiting Xiaobai, carefully recalled the quotes praising children that he had seen in his previous life, and copied down a few sentences.
"Excellent! You copied the book very quickly, and the strokes of the characters are very neat, which shows that you put a lot of effort into it. You deserve praise!"
As Shao Yanzhe spoke, he reached out and patted Xiaobai on the shoulder.
"Thank you, brother!"
Xiao Bai immediately puffed out his chest, trying hard to purse his lips to stop himself from laughing. He held his head high, looking quite adorable with his proud demeanor.
Shao Yanzhe put away the Xuan paper, then looked at him and said, "However, it is obvious that there are some characters you don't recognize, and there are also some problems with the handwriting. I will find someone to teach you tomorrow, so you can improve faster."
Xiao Bai's face immediately stiffened, her eyes filled with reluctance. She hated studying the most!
Are you kidding me? He's a nine-tailed fox spirit, he doesn't need to study at all!
Shao Yanzhe: "Is that okay?"
Xiaobai: "Okay!"
After he finished answering, a look of regret appeared on his face.
Xuan Yao, who was lying to one side, glanced at Xiao Bai with sympathy in his eyes.
Seeing that it was getting late, Shao Yanzhe originally wanted to find a place for Xiaobai to sleep, but he refused.
He turned around and transformed into a nine-tailed fox with nine fluffy tails.
Shao Yanzhe: !!!
I want to masturbate!
His eyes widened suddenly, his hands, hanging at his sides, clenched, and he struggled to look away, resisting the urge to reach out and rub it.
Xiao Bai glanced at him with her head held high, secretly pleased. Hehe, you were intimidated by my aura, weren't you!
Let's see if you dare make me copy books again next time, hmph!
Xiao Bai snorted and chose what he considered the safest and most comfortable place to sleep.
He nimbly slipped under the bed, then curled up in a comfortable position, his nine fluffy tails spreading out on the floor like a thick carpet.
"How could you sleep under the bed?" Shao Yanzhe squatted down, supporting his body with his arms, and tilted his head to look under the bed, his eyes full of regret.
Xiao Bai looked at him, a look of confusion in her eyes: "I slept under the bed last time too, why can't I sleep under the bed?"
Shao Yanzhe opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know how to answer.
"Fine, if you want to sleep under the bed, then sleep under the bed!" He simply gave up. Since Xiaobai likes to sleep under the bed, then let him sleep under the bed. He would prepare another room for him later.
Xuan Yao lightly jumped onto the bed, walked to his sleeping area, found a comfortable position to lie down, and closed his eyes contentedly.
That silly fox doesn't know how to enjoy life. What's so good about sleeping on a hard floor? It's much more comfortable to sleep on a soft bed.
The man, the cat, and the fox fell asleep together, and slept soundly through the night until dawn.
"Brother Shao! Brother Shao! Are you up?" Outside the door, Zhou Jiming anxiously pounded on the door, glancing around every now and then with a timid and hesitant look.
Shao Yanzhe opened his eyes and slowly picked up his clothes to put them on.
After he finished tidying up, he went to open the door.
"Brother Zhou, why do you look so anxious? What happened?"
He stared at Zhou Jiming with a gentle expression, his eyes filled with concern.
Zhou Jiming opened his mouth to say something, but upon seeing his expression, he shuddered, wondering what he had done to offend him and cause him to show such an expression.
He knew perfectly well that whenever Shao Yanzhe made that expression, someone was bound to be in big trouble.
"Brother Shao, did I wake you up? Didn't you sleep well? Why don't you go back to sleep? I'm fine!"
Zhou Jiming gave a fawning smile and turned to run away.
But just as he took that first step, fate grabbed him by the back of the neck, pulling him back down.
"Brother Zhou, where are you going?"
Shao Yanzhe's expression softened further: "You're alright now, but I need to talk to you about something."
With a forceful push, he shoved Zhou Jiming into the house.
"Brother Shao, what do you need me for? I'll do anything you can to help me!" Zhou Jiming said, following behind Shao Yanzhe.
After he turned around the screen, he saw a snow-white fox crawl out from under the bed, with nine fluffy tails behind it.
He stared in disbelief, pointing at Xiaobai, and then stammered, "Nine...nine-tailed fox!"
"Hey! It's you!" Xiao Bai sat on the ground, looked up at Zhou Jiming, and then greeted him.
Zhou Jiming's eyes widened: "He! He can talk!"
Shao Yanzhe glanced at him and said, "He's a fox demon, is it strange that he can talk?"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Jiming thought it made sense.
wrong!
"How did this nine-tailed fox end up here? Did he do anything to you?" Zhou Jiming asked, staring warily at Xiaobai.
Having experienced so much, he was extremely wary of ghosts and monsters.
"I would never do anything to my benefactor!" Xiaobai glared at him and retorted.
Xuan Yao, who was stretching lazily on the bed, chuckled and exposed his mistake: "What do you mean you didn't do it? You almost threw yourself at him and offered yourself to him. The way you demons repay kindness is too bizarre, isn't it?"
As he spoke, he lightly leaped from the top of Xiaobai's head onto the opposite table, tilted his head, and continued to tease him: "Could it be that all you know is 'great kindness is not expressed in words of thanks, but in offering your bed'?"
"Child, you should read more books!"
Enraged, Xiaobai immediately pounced on Xuanyao, opened its mouth, and bit down.
But Xuan Yao was no pushover either. He lashed out at Xiao Bai's head with his long tail, knocking his mouth crooked. Then, he leaped onto Xiao Bai's back, pinned him down, and began to slap him on the head with his paws.
The little white creature, pinned down, was unable to move and could only whimper. It tried to turn its head to avoid Xuan Yao's slap, but found that it couldn't avoid it at all and could only spread out on a blanket and pretend to be dead.
Zhou Jiming quietly leaned closer to Shao Yanzhe and asked, "Is this...is this okay?"
Shao Yanzhe glanced at him and saw that Xuan Yao had only given him a slight lesson, so he didn't interfere.
"No problem, this kid definitely needs to be taught a lesson."
"Alright, come with me."
Zhou Jiming then realized that he actually had the leisure to meddle in other people's business; his own affairs were not over yet.
"Brother Shao, what brings you here?"
Shao Yanzhe stood in front of the bookshelf with his back to him, taking out several books as he walked, quickly stacking them up to an arm's length high.
He stuffed the books into Zhou Jiming's arms: "You must finish reading these books today. Originally, I thought you didn't need to take the imperial examinations, so I didn't urge you to study, but now it seems I can't let you continue like this."
Zhou Jiming: Huh?
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