Knowing that Xiaoguo had no experience, Master Kong and Mrs. Kong explained to her in detail everything that needed to be prepared for the apprenticeship banquet.

After confirming some details, Kong initially wanted Zhuangzhuang to live with him and go home occasionally, but Zhuangzhuang disagreed at the first sign, for no other reason than that he couldn't leave Xiaoguo.

Confucius did have a reason to keep him. Studying is not just about reading the surface content. Studying and being a good person are the two inseparable. He needs to penetrate into his daily life and stand up from the root. If the root is upright, the person will be upright.

Xiaoguo didn't quite understand why at first, but then he thought about it carefully and made a surprising decision with great reluctance.

"Okay, I agree!"

"Mom?" Zhuangzhuang looked at her in disbelief.

"Kong Fuzi..." Xiao Guo hesitated after saying this, "Can you make it shorter? After all, Zhuangzhuang has never left me. Suddenly he left for so many days. Both he and I can't adapt."

Confucius didn't say anything. He lowered his head and thought for a while, then nodded, "Okay, then we'll work five days and rest one day."

"How about a negotiation?" Xiao Guo looked at Zhuang Zhuang's sad eyes, feeling extremely sad, and mustered up the courage to speak again, "Work five days and rest two days, okay?"

Xiaoguo thought of the modern Sunday, with working days from Monday to Friday and rest days on Saturday and Sunday.

"This algorithm is quite novel." Confucius stroked his beard and said with interest.

After all, there is no such thing as a week nowadays. The 'week' was invented thousands of years ago. At that time, most people worked five days and rested one day. Even the morning court in the imperial palace was like this: work five days and rest one day. There were only six days in total, and there was no such thing as seven days.

Confucius thought for a long time before nodding and agreeing. Zhuangzhuang was still young, so he should be considerate. "Work five days and rest two days. It's settled."

Zhuangzhuang looked at Xiaoguo with dissatisfaction, then looked at Confucius. On what basis did the adults decide his freedom so arbitrarily? Why did they want to separate him from his mother? He didn't want to be separated from his mother!

Zhuangzhuang was very excited, but he knew he was outside, so he secretly endured it until they were on the way back. He left Xiaoguo alone, sat back in the car, and slammed the curtain down to cut off any communication with her.

Xiaoguo knew that Zhuangzhuang was unhappy, but she also had her concerns. She sighed towards the curtain and thought, "Forget it, let him calm down on his own."

Zhuangzhuang did not wait for Xiaoguo's comfort. He only felt the donkey cart shaking gently. His heart collapsed all of a sudden. He felt that his mother did not love him anymore. He sobbed softly at first, and then turned into a violent storm.

Xiaoguo heard it all clearly outside the donkey cart and felt almost miserable.

At first I wanted to talk about it after I got home, but Zhuangzhuang's voice became hoarseer the more he cried, and Xiaoguo's heart was like it was put in a frying pan and was fried dry.

He couldn't help it any longer, so he pulled the donkey cart over to the side of the road, quickly opened the curtain, and hugged Zhuangzhuang, whose eyes were swollen from crying.

"Good boy, don't cry. You are my favorite. I can't stand you crying like this."

"You are talking nonsense."

Zhuangzhuang cried breathlessly, accusing her of being heartless.

"Zhuangzhuang, please stop crying, okay?"

"You just ignored me and threw me out."

Xiaoguo took out a handkerchief to wipe away his tears, but the tears were like a tap that could not be wiped away.

"Mom didn't ignore you. Teaching by example is very important. Confucius just wanted you to experience it up close and understand the principles of studying and being a good person."

Back to the topic, Zhuangzhuang slowly stopped sobbing.

Xiao Guo continued, "And it's not always like this, it's just been like this for the past few months. If Zhuang Zhuang performs well, maybe it won't be long before you can go home to see your mother every day."

"Really?" Zhuangzhuang was skeptical. Why didn't he hear it just now?

Xiao Guo pinched his nose and smiled, "Of course it's true. You were just angry just now, how could you listen to what I said next?"

It was indeed Confucius who said this, but Zhuangzhuang was probably so immersed in his sorrow at the time that he didn't hear it.

"That's long enough." Zhuangzhuang suddenly became sad again. Let alone a few months, even if he was not able to see his mother for a few hours, he would feel very uncomfortable.

Xiaoguo let out a long sigh. This was why she agreed to let Confucius let him stay overnight.

It’s because Zhuangzhuang is too clingy to her. It’s not that she hates Zhuangzhuang’s clinginess, on the contrary, she likes it.

But for future consideration, when Zhuangzhuang grows up a little, if he is still very attached to her, people will think he is a loser. And now Zhuangzhuang is very attached to her. Although he won't die if they don't see each other for a while, it is true that he will keep talking about her. She has heard Qin Anming and Yang Dasao say it many times that if she is not around, Zhuangzhuang will talk about her at least seven or eight times.

She didn't want people to say that Zhuangzhuang was a mama's boy, so it would be best to take this opportunity to let Zhuangzhuang become independent, which is why she agreed.

"Then can you come to see me every day? Can you stay for a few hours at a time?"

Zhuangzhuang silently made his last small request.

"Do you want to tire your mother to death, or do you want to tire our little donkey to death?"

Xiao Guo shook his head and laughed, if he really went there once a day, he would be tired, but the donkey would not be able to bear it.

Seeing that Zhuangzhuang was about to pout again, Xiaoguo quickly said, "I'll visit you once every two days."

Zhuangzhuang knew it was too late, so he just listened to the fairly satisfactory assurance and gave up.

Seeing that Zhuangzhuang had calmed down, Xiaoguo turned around and walked towards the market. He had been crying so hard that he planned to buy things for the apprenticeship banquet tomorrow, but now he was fine, so he just bought them all at once to avoid making another trip tomorrow.

The six gifts required for becoming a disciple are celery, lotus seeds, red beans, red dates, longans, and dried lean meat strips.

Celery symbolizes diligence and love of learning, lotus seeds symbolize painstaking education, red beans symbolize bright red clouds, red dates symbolize early graduation from high school, longans symbolize fulfillment of one’s merits, and dried lean meat strips symbolize the disciple’s heart.

Everything has a good meaning. She also bought two red eggs for Zhuangzhuang, which meant top scorer in high school, and cooked them for him the day after tomorrow morning.

On the way back, Xiaoguo held Zhuangzhuang tightly and didn't let go, for fear that the child would feel that she didn't love him anymore. She didn't let go even when her legs were numb.

After returning home, Xiaoguo couldn't wait to pack Zhuangzhuang's luggage for the day after tomorrow. After all, he would be back in five days, so he had to prepare more clothes. But he didn't need to prepare food because he would eat every meal with Kong Fuzi's family.

If you think about it carefully, where can you find such a good thing? Living and studying with famous scholars without having to pay tuition fees. There is no other such good thing in the world.

Originally, Xiaoguo wanted to pay the tuition every month or year like other schools, but Confucius refused, saying that he was willing to accept Zhuangzhuang as his disciple unconditionally without any compensation.

Confucius was a highly respected person throughout his life and his name was recorded in history. He didn't care about these mundane things at all. All he pursued in his life was spiritual harmony. He just had a liking for Zhuangzhuang, so naturally he was willing to teach him everything he knew without asking for any reward.

She felt it was a little inappropriate at first, but Master Kong and Mrs. Kong's love for Zhuangzhuang was obvious, so she didn't say anything else. Since they didn't treat them as outsiders, it would be inappropriate for her to be polite.

When I have nothing to do, I will come and accompany Mrs. Kong more often, cook for them, take care of them, and do my best.