After the noise subsided, Xu Jiang touched her face again. Her thin chin made her sigh, "I haven't taken care of you these days. Look how thin you've become. I'll make some soup for you tomorrow to help you replenish your energy."
Lin Hongchu waved his hands hurriedly, "Don't worry, Zeng Zhui has been stewing soup here every day these days. It's still hot on the stove and we can't finish it."
Xu Jiang sneered, then stood up and went to the kitchen. On the stove sat a clay pot. She lifted the lid and saw lotus root soup. It contained lotus root, peanuts, shiitake mushrooms, and red dates, a dish said to be nourishing and replenishing.
She leaned in and smelled it; it smelled quite nice.
Lin Hongchu was in mourning and could not eat meat or fish and had to be a vegetarian. Zeng Zhui had a crush on her.
At this moment, Zeng Zhui's voice came from outside the second door, "Little hoe, it's time to drink soup."
Then, two heads, one big and one small, popped in. They were Zeng Zhui and Lu Zhen.
Lin Hongchu sighed, "I see." Then he went into the kitchen, found a few bowls, and divided the soup into portions. He handed one to Xu Jiang first, then took two more bowls out to Zeng Zhui and Lu Zhen. "There's still half a pot of soup left. If we keep it here, it'll go bad tomorrow. Each of you help out with a bowl to avoid wasting it."
"Then I'll cook less tomorrow." Zeng Zhui took the soup, gulped it down, and boasted to himself, "It's really good."
Lu Zhen followed his lead and drank the drink, praising it as he finished, “It’s really good.”
This little yes-man has been following Zeng's lead ever since, and has been doing a lot of bad things.
Lin Hongchu pinched his face and said, "Don't learn from your senior brother." Then he took the bowls from the two of them and went back to the kitchen to drink his own.
"What's wrong with learning from me? I'm a good housewife, knowledgeable, eloquent, and the best speaker in Shu. I should be a role model for everyone to learn from."
Xu Jiang, who was standing under the eaves drinking soup, almost spit out a mouthful of soup when he heard this.
Lu Zhen was still flattering him, saying, "Senior Brother is really amazing."
Xu Jiang also reminded him, "Don't learn to be so shameless like him."
Zeng Zhui stroked Lu Zhen's head and said, "Don't listen to them. Thick skin is the key to making many friends. Look at your senior brother. Wherever he goes, he commands a great crowd. What a success."
Lu Zhen seemed to understand, then asked, "When one call reaches a hundred, it's called 'fengguang'. What do you call when one call reaches a thousand, or even ten thousand?"
Zeng Zhui had found a trick to deal with him these days. He didn't give a direct answer, but instead said, "The answer is in the history books. You'll know when you finish reading them."
Lu Zhen's face wrinkled into a bun, "But the teacher still won't let me read history books."
Zeng Zhui came up with a bad idea, "You can read it secretly, and I'll make a list of books for you later."
Lu Zhen said happily: "Okay!"
Lin Hongchu's voice came from the kitchen, "If you keep teaching me wrong things and teach me bad things, I'll skin you alive!"
Xu Jiang, who was reading a book to Lu Zhen, nodded in agreement without any guilt, "Yes, watch your skin!"
Zeng Zhui said proudly, "I'm not afraid."
"What are you afraid of?" A voice came from behind the big and small.
The two of them were startled and quickly turned around and stood up straight, "Master."
Master Lin frowned, "Class is almost starting, what are you guys still doing here?"
Zeng Zhui quickly left Lu Zhen behind and ran away, "I'm going to knock on the cloud board."
Lu Zhen stood there dumbfounded. After a long while, he lowered his head and admitted his mistake, saying, "Master, I'm sorry."
Master Lin scolded him gently, "Don't run around with Zeng Zhui. Go back."
"Yes." He walked away dejectedly.
Xu Jiang stared at his dejected back and said gloatingly: See, I told you not to learn from him.
When Lin Hongchu heard his father's voice, he quickly poured out a bowl of soup for him to drink, "Dad, drink it before you go back to the class."
Master Lin did not refuse. After finishing his soup, he said to Xu Jiang, "Master Lou is waiting for you outside."
Xu Jiang said embarrassedly, "That's alright."
Outside, the cloud board sounded, and Master Lin handed the bowl to his daughter, "I'm going to class."
Then he went outside.
Xu Jiang asked Lin Hongchu, "Is Zeng Zhui also attending classes with the students?"
"No, my father asked him to help teach, saying that teaching and learning are mutually beneficial, and he wanted him to make up for his shortcomings through teaching."
"That's true." But the most important thing is probably to use this to temper Zeng Zhui's temper and cultivate his sense of responsibility.
Xu Jiang remembered Lou Yunchun's purpose for coming outside the door, so she asked Lin Hongchu, "Did you know that the court wants to recruit Master Lin?"
"Know."
"Do you want him to go?"
Lin Hongchu was silent for a moment before answering, "I hope he goes. Life is too short, and I don't want him to have any regrets."
If you have not experienced the separation of life and death, you will not have this kind of understanding.
Lin Hongchu turned back to look at the main hall, where Mrs. Lin's memorial tablet was placed. "I think if my mother were still alive, she would definitely let him go."
Xu Jiang put his arm around her shoulders and couldn't help but sigh. Her little hoe had grown up too.
After Xu Jiang burned incense and kowtowed to Mrs. Lin, she said goodbye to Lin Hongchu.
She walked through the front yard and heard Master Lin and Zeng Zhui giving a lecture. She stopped to listen for a while before tiptoeing out the door.
After going out, I saw Lou Yunchun waiting beside me, holding a calligraphy in his hand.
"Did the Master give this to you?"
"Well, his reply to His Majesty."
"What's it about?"
Lou Yunchun unfolded it and showed it to her.
After Xu Jiang saw it clearly, she couldn't help but feel refreshed.
The calligraphy reads: An old horse in the stable still has a thousand miles to go.
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