Chapter 76: Chicken Baby
Heihe Village vividly demonstrates what it means to raise a child early.
All the children who were officially recruited had to gather at the open space at the entrance of the village after breakfast every day to prepare for training.
This vacant lot now has a name, called the martial arts training ground.
There was a big drum in front of the martial arts training ground. When the drum sounded, the children began to line up, and then Ye Buwei gave them a lesson.
One hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon every day.
After the practice, the kids were so tired that they could fall asleep while standing.
Of course, Xiaojiu is an exception.
Xiaojiu, the youngest baby in the room, was sometimes in Ye Buwei's arms and sometimes in the village head's arms.
Apart from Xiaojiu, no one else had the energy to squat in the corner, play in the mud, or catch ants...
Xiaojiu shook his head in sympathy.
As expected, as long as the children attend training classes, they will no longer be happy.
The children practiced "Ho-ho-ha-hei" at the top of their lungs every day. The disaster victims who were only separated by a wall could hear it clearly. It would be a lie to say that they were not touched.
Compared with them who live a life of eating and waiting to die with no hope in sight, Heihe Village, just across the wall, seems like an unreachable paradise, full of the wealth, vitality and vigor they have always dreamed of.
There is only a wall between them, but it seems like one is in the sky and the other is underground.
They were so hungry that they couldn't walk, but the kids in Heihe Village actually had enough energy to practice martial arts?
How full would one have to be to eat this? Is there so much food in Heihe Village that it can't be eaten up?
It’s true, as the number of disaster victims increases, the food donated by Heihe Village before is no longer enough.
The villagers had planned to donate a second batch of grain, but the headman never mentioned the topic of donating grain again.
The villagers were puzzled, "Village head, why is the food in the ancestral hall so durable?"
Village head: "You ask me, who should I ask?"
What can he do?
There is this much food when we open the door today, and there will still be this much food when we open the door tomorrow.
It can never be used up, it can never be used up...
That day, the woman on duty hurried down the tower and asked, "There's a disturbance outside. Should we intervene?"
When everyone climbed up to the city wall, they saw a group of evil people surrounding a young girl with laughter.
The girl held a wooden stick in her hand, her whole body trembling, "Get out of here! No one come over here!"
The evil people looked at her with lewd expressions and made teasing remarks.
"Is this little girl new here? She's quite sassy! Interesting!"
"It's okay if you don't want to give us the porridge, but you have such delicate skin and tender flesh, how about letting each of us touch it?"
The middle-aged man beside the woman kept bowing and saying, "Please, kind man, spare my daughter. She is young and ignorant. If you want to drink porridge, we can give you ours."
"But we don't want to drink porridge now!" The group laughed. "Your daughter is much more delicious than porridge!"
"What a bunch of beasts!" The people of Heihe Village couldn't stand it anymore.
Ye Yanping rushed out with a group of men and knocked down the group of evil people in no time.
It was not enough to just knock them down, Ye Yanping directly broke their tendons in his hands and feet, making it impossible for them to do evil again.
The middle-aged man hurried over with his daughter to express his gratitude, but the village head who rushed over was stunned, "This...this is not..."
The man covered his face and turned to leave, but the village head grabbed his sleeve and said, "Master Zhao, why are you here?!"
The man struggled to break free, "It's not me! You got the wrong person!"
The girl stamped her feet in anger, "Dad, it's already this late, and you're still trying to save face!"
The man sighed deeply, and after a long moment, he turned around and said, "Zhuang Lizheng, long time no see. It's really me."
The village head looked at him in surprise, "Master Zhao, what the hell is going on?"
Since the lawyer is not in the yamen, why did he come to Heihe Village as a disaster victim?
"I'm no longer a legal advisor." Mr. Zhao smiled bitterly. "Zhuang Lizheng, this is a long story. Please don't ask any more."
After saying that, he sat down directly on the straw mat.
The girl was so anxious that she kept shaking her head. "Don't be surprised by the village. My father is just like that. He was actually..."
"Rong'er!" Zhao Xingjian didn't let his daughter continue.
Zhao Ronger's eyes turned red with anger, and she glared at her father, "Alright! I'll shut up! I won't say anything! We'll just continue to be refugees, waiting for a bowl of porridge every day! I should have been bullied to death by those evil people just now!"
Zhao Xingjian suddenly stood up, thinking of something. "Village Chief, I heard that the children in your village are all practicing martial arts. I wonder if there are any teachers to teach them how to read and write?"
The village head shook his head and said that there was no private school or academy in Heihe Village.
"Then...then..." Zhao Xingjian hesitated for a long time but couldn't say the second half of the sentence.
Zhao Ronger glanced at her father speechlessly, her voice as clear as a yellow oriole, "Zhuang Lizheng, my father wants to ask if you need a teacher to teach the children. If so, can I be the teacher?"
The village head's eyes lit up. "Master Zhao as a teacher? That's definitely possible!"
Master Zhao's talent is well-known in the town, and even he, a peasant, has heard of it.
In addition, Master Zhao is humble and compassionate. Every year when people go to the county government office to hand over grain, Master Zhao is the easiest to talk to. Unlike other people in the government office, they always look down on others and make things difficult for them.
It would be a blessing for the children if Master Zhao could be their teacher.
This is the repair fee...
Zhao Shiye thought that Zhuang Lizheng didn't trust him, so he sighed and said, "Zhuang Lizheng, although I am only a lawyer, to be honest, in the imperial examination that year, I was the second place in the Jinshi exam..."
When these words were spoken, everyone's eyes widened.
What? Master Zhao is actually the runner-up!!!
You should know that in the Dayu Dynasty, those who passed the palace examination were divided into three classes. The first class was awarded the title of Jinshi, and there were three people in total, namely the top scholar, the second place, and the third place.
The runner-up is second only to the number one.
It is something that is out of reach for many students!
But why didn't this runner-up, who should have been a favored child of heaven, become an official in the capital, but instead worked as a legal advisor in this remote village?
"Master Zhao, you misunderstood!" The village head was sweating. "If Master Zhao could be our teacher, that would be what we all want! But nowadays, the situation of every household is not so good. I'm afraid that this money for repairs will..."
I'm afraid I can't afford the tuition fee to hire the runner-up as my teacher!
"The village is worrying too much!" said Master Zhao. "If I were someone who pursued fame and fortune, I wouldn't have ended up in this situation. I don't need any tuition fees. As long as my daughter and I can join Heihe Village and have a place to stay and hot meals to eat, that's enough!"
The village head was overjoyed when he heard this. "That's easy! It's a blessing for Heihe Village that Master Zhao has settled here! Invite him!"
Ye Yanping and the others hurriedly helped to pack their bags. Everyone was delighted. The children were just learning martial arts, and now the teacher came to their doorstep! Doesn't this mean they need to be both civil and military?
The group led Master Zhao and his daughter towards the city gate.
When the victims saw that the people who had just received porridge with them were suddenly taken into Heihe Village, they were all surprised and envious, and ran forward to block the way of the village head and others.
"Zhuang Lizheng, why are they allowed to enter the village?"
"Zhuang Lizheng, we also want to join Heihe Village, is that okay?"
"Zhuang Lizheng, we know you're a good person, but you can't be partial to one over the other! We came here earlier than them and have long wanted to join Heihe Village. Please give us a chance!"
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