Chapter 704 Climbing the Wall
"Ouch!"
A low cry suddenly came from the wall of the main courtyard of Rongsheng Academy.
Di Tao, who had just jumped off the courtyard wall by grabbing a tree trunk, had not yet stood firmly when he quickly turned around and covered the mouth of the person behind him.
"Keep your voice down!"
He grabbed the man like a thief and hid in the shadows, then looked around several times.
Seeing that he hadn't alerted the patrolling guards in the distance, he glared at the man and cursed in a low voice, "Do you want everyone to know that I'm climbing over someone's wall?"
"Well, right here..."
The man whose mouth he covered had a muffled voice, but Di Tao still understood what he said.
He was a little embarrassed and annoyed: "Shut up!"
When he exerted force with his hands, the man's breathing was blocked and his face turned red instantly. He whimpered twice, indicating that he was about to die.
Only then did Di Tao let go of his hand in annoyance.
The man took two breaths and followed Di Tao and whispered:
"Young General, you just want to see Miss Xue, why don't you go through the main gate? The walls of this academy are as thick as the imperial palace, it almost killed someone. And since you like that girl, why are you sneaking around like that? If you were in the northwest, you could just take her back..."
"Bang!"
Di Tao slapped the man on the back of the head and glared at him fiercely: "Do you still think you are a bandit? You just snatched it back?"
"If you have the guts to tell my father this, he'll probably just throw you back into the camp and have you beaten to death."
Shi Lin was originally the bandit leader in the Black Stone Village in the northwest. He led a group of people to rob people on the road. Later, one time he robbed Di Shuangcheng who was leading people to Linping for a meeting. Di Shuangcheng wiped out both him and his lair.
After the interrogation, Di Shuangcheng learned that Shi Lin's father was originally a blacksmith who knew some basic skills. He originally lived with his family in a small border town and made a living by working as a blacksmith. Later, when Beiling came south to harass, burn, kill, and rob, his father died while saving people, and his mother was also killed. Only the young Shi Lin survived by chance.
Shi Lin had no one to rely on and became a bandit. Relying on his natural strength, he became the bandit leader. He gathered together some people who were displaced and homeless like him because of the war and set up the Black Stone Village.
His hands were not stained with the blood of common people. Normally he just led his men to rob the money of some wealthy families passing by, and usually he would let them go as long as they were given silver. Di Shuangcheng carefully asked the people in Heishi Village and knew that Shilin was a good man. In addition, he had some skills, so he arrested the man and brought him back to the Zhen'an Army.
Shi Lin was a wild man who had always been unruly. When he was a bandit, he had no rules at all. When he first joined the Zhen'an Army, he was extremely unruly and would butt heads with anyone he saw.
Later, Di Shuangcheng kept the man by his side and beat him three times a day, beating him one stick at a time until he straightened himself up.
Shi Lin was not afraid of anything except Di Shuangcheng. He shrank his neck and muttered softly, "I was just talking, I didn't really want to rob..."
"That's my future wife. Do you dare to snatch her away?" Di Tao's eyes were full of ferocity.
Shi Lin rolled his eyes: "She hasn't married you yet, and the Major General has already said she's your wife, so why don't you go through the main gate?" He paused and muttered: "If the General knew you were climbing over the girl's courtyard wall, he'd break your legs!"
"you!"
Di Tao waved his hand and wanted to hit him.
Shi Lin quickly lowered his head and retreated.
Di Tao glared at him, embarrassed and annoyed: "If you don't speak, no one will think you are dumb!"
If he could just go through the main gate, why would he need to climb over the wall!
Seeing Di Tao walking in angrily, Shi Lin hurriedly followed him. The area around the academy was pitch black, with only occasional people patrolling with lanterns.
The two of them avoided the patrolling guards, and Shi Lin whispered, "Major General, why are you walking in blindly? Do you know where the young lady is in the middle of the night? Don't go to the wrong place and get caught as a flower thief."
"Or I'll grab someone and ask them so that we don't go to the wrong place. Besides, you have to go with that kid from the Qi family to count the troops early tomorrow morning, and you also have to go to the Ministry of Revenue, you..."
Bang!
Di Tao kicked a stone and it hit Shi Lin's calf, and Shi Lin hissed in pain.
Di Tao said expressionlessly, "Can you just shut up?"
He just sent a message to his father asking for someone to come to the capital to help him so that he wouldn't be tied up in the four camps outside the capital, but who knew why his father brought this chatterbox over, who kept chattering all day long.
"...Dean, these are what I found in the library these past two days. What do you think of them?"
The sound coming from not far away made Di Tao's face change. He glared at Shi Lin as a warning, pulled him to hide behind a beam, and then turned his head to look forward.
In the house not far away, Xue Ru was holding several volumes of books and piling them on the table, while Shi Changan and Mr. Tong were sitting opposite her.
The windows in the room were open and the lights were bright inside. Xue Ru, who had not been seen for a long time, was wearing a green jacket embroidered with dark bamboo patterns. Her long sleeves outlined with silver thread were rolled up slightly, revealing a small part of her fair and slender wrists.
Xue Ru's figure was still petite, only her cheeks had become more radiant. Compared to her previous thin and withered appearance, her black hair was now tied into a small bun, and her skin was as white and tender as a peeled egg. Only her eyes had a calmness that was different from that of a little girl.
Mr. Tong flipped through the books on the table and was a little surprised: "Where did you find all these? I've been to the library before, how come I didn't see them?"
"It's in the attic. I stumbled upon it these past few days. It must have been something sent from the noble family. It was mixed in with the books that Your Majesty had confiscated from the Lu family and sent earlier."
"Didn't you and the dean look for these books a few days ago? Please see if they can be used. If not, I will look for them again." Xue Ru said softly.
Mr. Tong flipped through the books on the table, took a quick look, and laughed: "It can be used, of course it can be used. I was just worried about not having the right textbooks to teach those students, and now I have these, which is perfect. Little girl, you have helped me a lot."
"As long as it's useful."
Xue Ru's voice was soft, with a bit of girlish sweetness:
"The library has an increasing number of books, and they will continue to add more in the future. Previously, we just had them sorted and put away, so mistakes are inevitable. I think we should take some time to re-compile them to avoid omissions."
The books sent by the aristocratic families, as well as those that Xiao Yan and his sister later sent from the palace, were almost all rare items in the outside world. It would be a pity if they were just piled up there and left to waste.
"I heard that the dean plans to divide the academy into different departments, teaching engineering, agriculture, and other subjects separately. This will allow students to borrow books according to their specific categories."
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