Chapter 899: Beaten
The carriage took the four people to Qili Village. They jumped off the carriage at the entrance of the village and hesitated for a while. Finally, the three of them decided to go to the most difficult level first - the master's place.
So the three of them went to the Bai family first, ready to die.
Mr. Zhuang has not been home for a long time. He is not in a hurry when his three children do not come back to study. He just reads books, writes, or plays chess with Mr. Bai every day. When his apprentices left for more than half a month, he did not ask a word and let them play in the field.
The three of them carefully lay on the gate of the courtyard and quietly poked their heads in to look. They saw Mr. Zhuang sitting under a tree, basking in the sun and reading a book.
The three of them pushed each other and poked each other, but no one dared to step forward easily.
Mr. Zhuang heard the noise and turned around. When he saw three little heads poking in through the gate, he coughed twice.
The three men who were about to play rock-paper-scissors to decide who would be the first to die paused, raised their heads stiffly, and met Mr. Zhuang's gaze.
Bai Erlang immediately pushed Bai Shan, and Bai Shan pushed Manbao, so Manbao, who was at the front, took two steps forward and moved further forward.
Mr. Zhuang watched them silently. Manbao, as a senior sister, was pushed to the front and could only wave her trembling hands, "Sir, are you reading?"
Mr. Zhuang looked at her for a long moment, then looked away. Bai Shan and Bai Erlang, who had been hiding behind him, had no choice but to move out. They smiled and waved to Mr. Zhuang, "Sir, how have you been lately?"
Mr. Zhuang put down the book in his hand and asked, "Have you seen your family since you came back?"
The three of them shook their heads together.
Mr. Zhuang asked again, "Are you done with the things outside?"
The three of them nodded in unison, then shook their heads again after thinking about it. Who knew if County Magistrate Yang and the others would have something else to ask them later?
"He nods and shakes his head. Is it over yet?"
Manbao pondered and said, "I've found the things and sorted out the information. There shouldn't be anything urgent in the next few days, but it's hard to say what will happen in the future."
Mr. Zhuang understood what was going on. He nodded and said, "Then go home and see your parents first. Then come to me in an hour and I'll test your homework."
The three of them felt relieved a little. Although they hadn't read for more than half a month, they still remembered some of the homework from more than half a month ago. Even if there would be a punishment for the test, it shouldn't be too severe, right?
The three of them left the yard.
Bai Shan said, "I'll go over and pay my respects to my grandmother and mother."
Bai Erlang: "I'm also going to pay my respects to my grandmother and mother, and meet my father by the way."
Manbao was more relaxed than the other two, "I'm going to see my parents too."
Manbao skipped home happily. Old Zhou hadn't seen his daughter for a long time. He held her hand curiously and asked her many questions, but he didn't punish her. The same went for Qian.
Everyone in the Zhou family knew that she was living in County Magistrate Yang's house, where she had food, drink, shelter, and was safe and secure. Zhou Silang said that she was there to help County Magistrate Yang sort out some documents.
Anyway, it sounded like a serious matter, so no one in their family was worried, and no one would be angry about it.
Manbao took a walk around the house and enjoyed some special treatment before going out with Daya and Erya to dig wild vegetables with a bamboo basket. Half an hour later, they came down from the mountain with several bundles of wild vegetables, which they had washed and put in the bamboo basket.
Old Zhou felt very embarrassed, thinking that County Magistrate Yang had treated his daughter to fine rice and meat for more than half a month, but they gave her only a basket of wild vegetables in return.
Manbao said, "They don't lack meat, but they lack vegetables."
Old Zhou didn't believe it, "We're not short of meat, so how can we be short of vegetables?"
But Manbao just carried a basket of wild vegetables to the coachman who stopped at Bai's house. She said to her father happily, "The teacher will check my homework later, so I will be home late."
Old Zhou also stood at the door and waved to her, "Okay, if you come back late, Dad will ask your sister-in-law to save some meat for you to eat."
Seeing Manbao running away, Old Zhou happily turned back to the house. Qian looked up at him and said, "Are you relieved now? Manbao didn't become estranged from us just because you're not her father."
Old Zhou blushed and said, "Nonsense, who said I was worried about this? I'm obviously concerned about my daughter."
Qian snorted and said nothing.
Manbao handed the basket to the coachman and asked him to take it back to County Magistrate Yang. Then she stood in front of the gate of the Bai family with her hands behind her back and thought, should she go directly to find the master, or go to Bai Shan first and ask him to go see Mr. Zhuang together?
Manbao hesitated for a moment, and felt that as a senior sister, she should still care about her junior brothers and save them from the dire situation, so she went to knock on Bai Shan's door first.
Bai Shan, who had been kneeling for more than half an hour and listening to a long scolding, heard the servant come in and report quietly, "Madam, Miss Man is here. She said she wants to invite the young master to go to Mr. Zhuang's class together."
Madam Liu then glanced down at her kneeling grandson, snorted, and put down her teacup. "I'll punish you when you come back. Now, go to the class with Manbao."
Bai Shan immediately got up, stumbling a little because of the numbness in his feet. He bowed and then retreated.
As soon as he got out of the yard, his legs and feet started to move, and he just started running.
Manbao was waiting for him in the garden, looking down at his ginger patch. When he saw him running towards him, he waved and said, "Come and see, your ginger is growing well."
Bai Shan ran over to see and found that it was indeed the case. "Now the servants are taking care of it. They were the ones who harvested it at the beginning of winter last year."
Manbao noticed that his knees were a little dirty, so he asked, "Were you punished to kneel?"
Bai Shan then rubbed his knees and sighed, "I guess I'll be punished again when I get back tonight."
Unfortunately, they didn’t have to go back at night. As soon as they arrived at Bai Erlang’s house next door, Mr. Zhuang asked them to kneel down.
Mr. Zhuang pulled out a ruler from under the table, walked up to the three of them, and asked, "Have you all told your families?"
The three of them nodded blankly.
Mr. Zhuang asked, "Have you been punished?"
Bai Shan and Bai Erlang nodded together, while Man Bao shook his head.
Mr. Zhuang looked at Manbao first, then walked up to her and said with a serious face, "Then stretch out your hand. I'll start with you."
Manbao held out his hand with a clenched fist and asked cautiously, "Sir, how many times do you want me to hit you?"
Mr. Zhuang tapped Manbao's small fist with his ruler, asking her to stretch it out. He said expressionlessly, "Originally, you should have been punished with twenty lashes, but you're their senior sister. Not only did you fail to discipline your junior brothers, but you even led the mischief. So, I'm going to give you six more lashes, for a total of twenty-six."
Manbao widened her eyes. From childhood to adulthood, the most she had ever been beaten was five times.
Manbao's little hands began to tremble.
Mr. Zhuang brought down the ruler, and Manbao instinctively flinched. Mr. Zhuang missed, and he became even more angry. He shouted, "Hold it out for me."
Manbao stretched out his hand tremblingly.
Mr. Zhuang spanked evenly, thirteen times on each hand, until both hands were equally red and swollen. Then, panting, he looked at Bai Shan, who was kneeling beside him, and said, "Stretch out your hand too."
The next update will be around 10pm
(End of this chapter)
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