Chapter 3507 Extra: Winning Life Without Anything 2
He himself didn't understand how he ended up playing with them step by step. Maybe it started by setting up a small farm together?
Maybe even earlier, when they ran away from home together to watch people’s military service begin?
As he grew older, his friends would go home to do farm work after school and on vacation, leaving him alone and very bored, so he couldn't help but go to see what Bai Shan was doing.
Bai Shan is reading a book!
Bai Erlang felt quite bored after peeking at it, and turned around to leave, but he saw Bai Shan holding the book and laughing. He couldn't help but look back and saw that Bai Shan's eyes were narrowed by laughing, but he was still staring at the book in his hand.
Bai Erlang came closer out of curiosity. He immediately recognized the book that Zhou Man had been holding a few days ago. "What book is this?"
Bai Shan closed the book quickly, and when he saw it was him, he felt relieved. He reopened the book and asked, "Why are you at my house? Aren't you going to play with your friends?"
Bai Erlang sat next to him, looking very familiar. He squeezed over to read along. "They have to go to the fields to work, so they can't play with me until later. What kind of book is this? Is there a story in it? Why are you smiling so happily?"
Bai Shan was like a little old man. He rarely laughed, let alone laughed as happily as he did now.
Bai Erlang squeezed next to Bai Shan and read dozens of chapters of the book, and was completely obsessed with it.
Bai Shan felt that it was time for lunch, so he put away the book, and Bai Erlang came back to his senses.
He hurriedly pulled him back and said, "Let me see."
Bai Shan said, "I've seen too much. It's time to rest and have lunch."
"I'm not tired or hungry. Go and rest and eat. Let me read the book first."
“No!”
Bai Erlang was a little annoyed, "Why are you so stingy? Last time I gave you my favorite snack."
Bai Shan said seriously, "We have to rest and eat first. Otherwise, if our uncles and the others knew we weren't eating or taking naps, they would definitely guess we were reading some random books. Do you know what "steady stream of water" means?"
It takes a lot of willpower for him to control himself, okay?
Although Bai Erlang really wanted to see it now, Bai Shan had always been smarter than him, and what he said might be right, so he agreed reluctantly.
Bai Shan really did what he said. After resting, he took him back to the study, took out a book and read it with Bai Erlang.
Bai Shan was very happy to read miscellaneous books with his friends, and excitedly discussed it with Bai Erlang.
Bai Erlang instantly forgot about going to play with his friends. Every morning after breakfast, he would run to Bai Shan to play (and read books for free). Most of the time, he would meet Zhou Man who also came to read books for free.
So in the study, Bai Shan and Bai Erlang read the miscellaneous books brought by Zhou Man, while Zhou Man was looking for various books related to medicine in the Bai family's study.
Zhou Man had a lot of books accumulated in his hands, so Bai Shan and Bai Erlang took turns reading them without interfering with each other.
Unfortunately, Zhou Man said that she didn't have much money and she wanted to save money for something big, so she couldn't buy books all the time. He could only read a book over and over again. Alas, it was so boring. He could only follow them to do homework and memorize.
In fact, he really wanted to give his pocket money to Zhou Man and ask her to buy the book for him, or she could tell him where the bookseller was and he could buy it himself.
But she said that the book was from a bookseller that one could only meet if one was lucky, and that the seller didn't use their copper coins or silver. Only she had that kind of money, so she couldn't buy it.
Bai Erlang was still young at the time and believed it foolishly. After he grew up, out of inertia, he never doubted it.
After marrying Mingda, he excitedly talked about the various miscellaneous books he had read since childhood. Mingda was puzzled and asked, "Although I am not a well-read person, I have read many books in the palace. Every year, a batch of books printed by external bookstores are sent in, including many miscellaneous books. From what you describe, these miscellaneous books are all good. Why haven't I seen any of them?"
Bai Erlang was about to say that these were all bought by Zhou Man and a powerful bookseller...
But when the words were on the tip of his tongue, Bai Erlang realized belatedly that he really had not seen similar miscellaneous books in other bookstores in all these years, not to mention the names of the authors on the miscellaneous books, he had never seen any of them before.
It is impossible for such a great author to write only one book in his lifetime, and those books are of good quality, and should not only exist in the hands of "booksellers with destiny". Even if there are no books in a small place like Luojiang County, it is impossible that there is no trace of them in a bookstore as big as the capital.
Bai Erlang swallowed his words and said to Mingda with a smile, "I was just kidding you. Maybe I remembered it wrongly."
Mingda looked at him and smiled, without asking any more questions.
Bai Erlang didn't ask Zhou Man where those books came from. He just found out some miscellaneous books that had gotten into his house at some point and put them on the top of the bookshelf. Those who were destined to see them would naturally see them, and those who weren't would just let them gather dust there.
The three of them grew up together, and their things were mixed together. Even if they wanted to separate them, they probably wouldn't be able to tell them apart.
Books and homework are the things that are mixed up the most. Bai Erlang can still find the homework books left by Bai Shan and Zhou Man with him.
Now that he had found those books, Bai Erlang simply found the homework and the textbooks that they had accidentally taken notes on, and stuffed them all on the top of the bookshelf.
The books he wrote himself were placed in the middle of the bookshelf so that anyone who came into the study looking for books could see them at a glance.
Mingda watched him tossing and turning quietly, and without saying a word, he signaled his servants to help.
But Bai Erlang refused seriously. The books in the study were all treasures. How could he let them touch them?
He has to put the books up one by one.
After following Mr. Zhuang for many years, Bai Erlang may not have a terrific talent for reading, but he has learned to love books perfectly.
Later generations did not know that Bai Erlang arranged the bookshelves in this way in order to hide some books and show off the books he wrote. When they found the books on the top shelf, they thought of the deep friendship between their ancestor and those two people, and they were moved to think that their ancestor was cherishing the books and precious manuscripts given by the two people.
Unfortunately, later generations did not pay attention to it, which led to the pearl being covered in dust, and these books and manuscripts have been hidden on it.
It turns out that their grandfather/father is not reliable at all and is not as good as them.
The filial descendants recorded this incident to publicize the deep friendship between their ancestor and his two senior sisters and brothers, and also indirectly demonstrated their own filial piety, intelligence and diligence.
Otherwise, like our parents and grandparents, who would have discovered such precious books and manuscripts on top of the bookshelf?
Most of these books and manuscripts were later lost in the war, but because there were so many of them, many of them were still preserved.
Later generations speculated on the thoughts of Bai Shan, Zhou Man and Bai Cheng, as well as their respective growth processes, based on these annotations and manuscripts.
Bai Erlang is considered to be the most outstanding writer of miscellaneous stories of that era. He created as many as 38 books of strange stories in his lifetime, and these were the ones that were printed and sold. Who knows how many manuscripts have not been made public?
Because unpublished manuscripts had been discovered, many authors in history had published stories and miscellaneous novels under the name of Bai Erlang, but they were later exposed as fakes by the descendants of the Bai family.
From the book annotations and manuscripts they left behind, it is not difficult to see that Bai Erlang was a very confident person. He once said that he was not as smart as Zhou Man and Bai Shan, and his talent for reading was not as good as his brothers.
Looking back from the perspective of time, even he himself was surprised that he would come to this point, because his original goal was to learn to read and write so as not to be bullied, inherit the family land in the future, and become a wealthy country gentleman like his father.
After his father confirmed that he had no talent for studying and did not have his brother's self-discipline and fighting spirit, he told him that in the future, his elder brother would serve as an official outside and he would manage the family business at home.
Even his eldest brother said that in addition to the ancestral property, he was willing to give him most of the land.
His grandmother and mother had already made the calculation for him. Apart from the ancestral property, they gave Bai Dalang some land and shops, and the rest was given to him.
His grandmother said that even if he only took half, he would still be the richest man in Qili Village and Baimaquan Town.
In the future, he can live a good life even if he just lies down, and he can eat and throw away snacks one by one...
So Bai Erlang knew from a young age that he didn't need to work too hard, and at worst he could live a good life. Anyway, his family was not poor, and as long as he didn't go to prostitutes and gamble, he would not only live happily himself, but also leave a large family fortune to his descendants.
The reason we were able to get to this point was partly because of Mr. Zhuang and partly because of Bai Shan and Zhou Man's support.
Mr. Zhuang’s teaching ability is naturally beyond doubt. Even Bai Erlang, a child with ADHD, can absorb many of his lessons.
Bai Erlang really doesn't like reading. He gets a headache just reading those difficult-to-understand words and sentences.
He only liked to read miscellaneous books and vernacular novels with strong storylines, which were simple and easy to understand. If it weren't for Mr. Zhuang who could tell complicated and difficult textbooks as stories, and if Bai Shan and Zhou Man were not around to compare and think about too many things, he would not want to learn.
However, as he studied deeper, he also found it interesting.
There are indeed many interesting things in the book.
Although he failed to be admitted to Yizhou Prefecture School, he did not do badly in his studies in Yizhou Academy. As long as he was not compared with Bai Shan Zhouman, he was confident that he was no worse than others.
Therefore, in Yizhou, everyone gave in to the hard-working Ji Hao. Even if he refused to give in, he was not afraid of the Yizhou Palace. At most, he could go home and inherit the land. What was he afraid of?
This confidence lasted until long after he entered the capital.
When he entered the Imperial College, he did not have a deep feeling. Although he was not a descendant of an official, his family was also a descendant of the aristocratic Bai family. Not to mention the side branches and distant relatives, if you count the same generations, who doesn't have the same ancestor?
It’s just that the eldest son of the legitimate wife has always inherited more property, so his status has become more noble. Counting all the ancestors back to the very beginning, who was not born to the same parents?
Therefore, he did not feel that he was inferior to the direct descendants, and naturally he did not feel that he was worse than his classmates.
Until entering the palace.
The imperial palace is the most noble and humblest place in the world.
The most noble people in the world live there, as well as the most humble people in the world. It is normal to flatter the powerful and look down on the weak. Although those most filthy things will never come to the eyes of students like them in Chongwenguan, even if they have never been treated like that, they have seen it after staying in the palace for a long time.
What's more, it is the place closest to imperial power.
Bai Erlang then slowly realized that people are different, and whether he is willing to admit it or not, it objectively exists.
Since it exists, it is better to face it calmly instead of making excuses or avoiding it.
The gentleman once said that the roads in this world are muddy and full of thorns. We don't have to avoid them. No road in the world is completely flat. Instead of hiding, it is better to walk on it calmly.
No matter if we are stuck in mud or torn by thorns, all we have to do is keep our original heart and move forward courageously.
So even though he knew that his cognition since childhood was biased, his teacher never said he was wrong, and Bai Shan and Zhou Man never said he was wrong, so his original intention was correct.
Since this is the case, he will not change his mind.
But he also knew how to restrain himself and face this deviation calmly.
He knew that compared with Princess Mingda, his status was not high. To put it in a high way, he was a distant relative of the small family Bai; to put it in a low way, he was just the son of a country squire, and his status was not worthy of Mingda.
But the gentleman said that the most important thing in life is to feel comfortable in your heart. He was confident that Mingda's ideas were the same as his, and Mingda's ideas were indeed the same as his.
Later generations commented that Bai Cheng was able to achieve such success because, firstly, his happy family environment fostered his honest and sincere character; secondly, it was due to the teachings of his mentor Mr. Zhuang; and thirdly, it was because he had people like Bai Shan and Zhou Man around him to supervise each other.
His success is not accidental, which shows the importance of educational environment.
(End of this chapter)
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