"So you do feel pain after all."
After Meng Chijian applied the medicine, he estimated that A-Mian's back would look even more terrible tomorrow.
Ah Mian lay on the bamboo mat like a turtle, listlessly finishing her story: "When I realized I couldn't win, I grabbed the jade pendant and climbed up the pillar. And then you all came."
The next day, Meng Chijian went to the academy to ask A-Mian for two days off. A-Mian was resting at home and was very bored, so she decided to teach Meng Jing how to solve the Nine Linked Rings puzzle.
Meng Jing also noticed her injury and said worriedly, "Why did they hit me so hard? A-Mian... I'm a little scared. What if they bully me too if I go to the academy..."
"It's alright, we'll just bring more weapons." A-Mian said confidently. "I was ambushed. Next time we'll bring bamboo sticks."
"But aren't we going there to learn to read? Why are we fighting every day?"
A-Mian couldn't answer, and mumbled, "Maybe that's just the academy's rule."
Meng Jing was somewhat reluctant to back out, but considering that A Mian was weak and alone, she thought that if she went, at least A Mian would have a helper, so she nodded.
When Meng Chijian returned home with his vegetable basket in the evening, he found the house unexpectedly lively.
Half the village's little ones and fuzzy kids gathered in the courtyard, listening intently to Lu Amian's story of the "Battle of the Academy," in which the number of enemies had now risen to several hundred.
Among the group of children, the more loyal ones shouted, "Isn't this bullying the people of Qingshan Village? Let's go to that dog-like academy and settle the score with them!"
"That's right, otherwise people would think our Qingshan Village is deserted!"
This is how things have always been in the village: people from the same village can only be bullied by other villagers, but outsiders are not allowed to bully them...
Ah Mian, sprawled on the bamboo chair, had already been exaggerating to the heavens. Seeing the adults return, she quickly shooed the group of children away, "That's enough, that's enough, you can all go home! I'm going to have dinner."
The little ones groaned and walked away, sniffling.
Amian wanted to get up and help out, but Meng Chijian told her to stay in bed.
“If anything happens in the future, come back and tell us first. Don’t rush into fights alone anymore. Today when I went to the academy, several people came to ask for leave…” He considered that Ah Mian was injured and should eat something nutritious.
But I didn't tell her, afraid she'd think that being injured meant she could eat delicious food.
So they boiled goat milk, and each person in the family had half a bowl. Ah Mian pinched her nose and gulped it all down.
Meng Chijian is not exactly well-off these days, mainly because the expenses of sending his children to school are quite high. Today, he brought some gifts for the teacher at the academy, hoping that the teacher would take good care of Amian on a regular basis.
When buying groceries, he has to consider whether they are affordable, delicious, and easy to pick and choose.
He went to the butcher shop first. It's the season for gaining weight for winter, so pork prices have gone up slightly. He thought that since A-Mian had injured her back, she needed a bone broth, so he only asked about the price of pork bones.
The pork bones were cleaned very thoroughly, and this was still very cheap, only five coins per pound.
Then I bought white radishes and half a pound of chives at the vegetable stall, which cost me two coins.
I cut some scallions in my backyard and made scallion oil with shredded radish; I had four eggs in the kitchen, so I beat them all and made scrambled eggs with chives; I chopped up all the pork bones and boiled them into soup.
Meng Jing had steamed the rice early in the morning.
Seeing that it was about time, he called all the people in the courtyard who were pretending to study diligently with copies of the "Thousand Character Classic" and everyone else to come and eat.
Ah Mian, smelling the aroma of the food, couldn't concentrate on her studies anymore.
She was very diligent at this moment, bringing out bowls, chopsticks, and chairs. Seeing everyone sit down and start eating, Ah Mian also started eating heartily.
After finishing her meal, she secretly scooped some soup from the pot with a ladle and found it was all bones with no meat at all, which puzzled her.
Is the blacksmith shop going out of business?
She drank two bowls of bone broth, and after finishing, she sat under the tree and, before the sun had completely set, began to read seriously this time.
When it got dark, she practiced using the abacus by the moonlight.
Ah Mian thought that she must study hard so that she could go out and find a job as soon as possible.
After resting at home for two days, she went to the academy on the third day and asked Meng Jing to come find her at noon so they could go to the academy to take a "test".
This time, the academy was peaceful and no one dared to provoke Lu Amian.
And there was another surprise: the academy provided a lunch. Some scholars complained that the academy's food was not good, so their servants brought them meals. This was a boon for A-Mian, who ate her fill and even put two hard-boiled eggs in her pocket.
"Ah Mian, over here!" Meng Jing waved at the entrance of the academy, glancing around suspiciously as if two villains wielding large knives might jump out at any moment.
Amian handed the hard-boiled egg to Meng Jing, "Did you bring the Nine Linked Rings? I'll take you to find the Abbot!"
The two went to the library to look for someone. When the headmaster heard what A-Mian said, he saw that her eyes were shining and she knew nothing about the inside story. After a long silence, he told her about Meng Chijian paying the money that day.
"What?!" A-Mian was surprised, her mind a mess. She had always thought that she was admitted to school because she was very smart.
That's ten taels of silver. Even if Meng Chijian wanted to send someone to school, shouldn't he have sent his younger sister, Meng Jing?
Why... do I have to be so good to her?
"A-Mian, it's alright. I was just worried that you might be bullied at the academy..."
Amian shook her head vigorously, grabbed Meng Jing's hand, and asked the headmaster, "Is it okay for anyone to study for ten taels of silver? Can it be replaced by her?"
The head monk nodded indifferently. Seeing the two arguing, he said calmly, "Go back and discuss it. I will only allow you to make one change. 'The beginning of troubles is the learning of characters.' Sometimes, knowing characters and understanding principles does not necessarily bring happiness. However, there is no turning back on this path. Just like swimming, once you know how, you know how."
He had been a teacher for so many years, but had never had any outstanding students. The resources of this small town were very limited, and the last time someone passed the imperial examination was more than a decade ago. He had seen many people spend half their lives trying to obtain official titles, only to achieve nothing, and some even ended up going insane and falling into misery.
A-Mian and Meng-Jing couldn't understand what they were hearing, and watched as the headmaster gradually walked away.
After returning home at the end of the day, A-Mian found her hidden stash of money in the woodshed. She had more than four taels left after buying the Four Treasures of the Study last time.
Meng Jing never expected things to turn out this way. She had unintentionally exposed what her third brother had been doing behind her back. Would this cause trouble in the family?
For some reason, A-Mian felt a guilty sense of guilt, like a thief had done something wrong. She didn't even dare to look at her mother. If others found out that she had spent ten taels of silver from the family, she would probably be scolded by the whole village as a spendthrift wife.
Panicked, she quickly started preparing dinner. After finishing the meal, she cleaned and dusted the place, sweat beading on her forehead. "It's alright, Ah Mian," she thought, "as long as we work hard to save money, we can definitely go again."
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