Chapter 274 I'm so angry I cried! (Second update)
The news that Zhuang Yuexi had been humiliated by the Empress Dowager didn't spread so quickly. However, the Empress Dowager's phoenix seal was broken—the phoenix on it had fallen off, and Eunuch Qin took the seal to the Shanggong Bureau for repair.
With Zhuang Yuexi moving out of the palace at this time, people began to speculate that she might have broken the Phoenix Seal.
However, information about Renshou Palace was not easy to obtain, and the Zhuang family remained tight-lipped about it, so it was never confirmed.
Xiao Liulang knew nothing about what was happening in the palace. He finished his shift and looked rather unwell.
It wasn't because he was ostracized by his colleagues, nor because the head of the academy secretly tripped him up, but because he saw Liu Quan waiting by the roadside as soon as he left the Hanlin Academy.
"What's wrong?"
He remembered telling Liu Quan that he didn't need to come pick him up and that he could walk back by himself.
Liu Quan said with difficulty, "It's Jingkong... he... something happened to him."
To be precise, the little guy's parents were called in again.
Xiao Liulang has a toothache. How many times has it been this semester? It seems like only a few months have passed since the big bird ate the little bird incident, and he's already in trouble again?
Xiao Liulang took a deep breath and slowly said, "Which classmate was bullied by him this time?"
Despite being the youngest in the elementary school, he always managed to bully those several years older until they cried. While it's not entirely true that he did it on purpose, this little guy simply had an uncanny talent for making people cry.
Liu Quan said awkwardly, "No, not a classmate, but a teacher, Master Sun."
Xiao Liulang's brow twitched. This little brat had dared to bully the Master? Was he trying to betray his master and ancestors?
Xiao Liulang then understood why Liu Quan had made a special trip to the Hanlin Academy; this matter was indeed of great importance.
Liu Quan couldn't explain the specifics, so Xiao Liulang went directly to the elementary school and met the school administrator in charge of the entire school, whose surname was Ouyang.
Xiao Liulang was the top scholar in this year's imperial examination. He had studied at the Imperial Academy's Shuaixing Hall. Ouyang Xuezheng had heard of him before and greeted him politely.
Xiao Liulang put down his cane and cupped his hands in greeting: "May I ask what brings you here this time?"
Ouyang Xuezheng hesitated for a moment, then said helplessly, "You...go and see for yourself."
Led by Ouyang Xuezheng, Xiao Liulang went to Master Sun's office, which was where Master Sun usually handled academic affairs. It was not far from the classrooms of the prodigy class; you could get there by walking through a corridor and turning a corner.
Before Xiao Liulang arrived, he heard loud crying and shouting from inside.
He was taken aback at first, then realized that it must be Master Sun shouting.
Xiao Liulang's temples throbbed again. What had his son done to provoke Master Sun like this?
"Xiao Jingkong is in the classroom. I'll take you to meet Master Sun first," Ouyang Xuezheng said awkwardly, raising his hand to knock on the unlocked door.
The shouting inside the house stopped abruptly.
A moment later, the door was opened, and the person who opened the door was Xiao Jingkong's former teacher—Master Jiang.
After Master Jiang was transferred to teach at the Sixth Hall of the Imperial Academy, he almost never came to the elementary school. Just now, he was the one comforting Master Sun.
Clearly, the attempt to offer comfort was not very effective.
Master Sun could vent his emotions in front of his old friends, but he couldn't lose his composure in front of Ouyang Xuezheng and the students' parents. He tidied himself up and came out from behind the screen with his eyes swollen like walnuts.
Master Jiang knew Xiao Liulang. He was present when Xiao Jingkong first "got into trouble." At that time, he did his best to protect Xiao Jingkong, even at the cost of offending Qin Chuyu, who was a prince. This greatly increased Xiao Liulang's goodwill towards him.
Xiao Liulang cupped his hands in greeting: "Master Jiang."
Master Jiang politely returned the greeting and, without beating around the bush with Xiao Liulang, directly explained what had happened.
It turns out that in today's arithmetic class, Master Sun explained a problem that extended to the concept of ancestral ratios. Xiao Jingkong then said that Master Sun had made a mistake, as he had said it in front of all the students.
“In fact, you’re not wrong,” said Master Jiang.
The approximate ratio is 22/7, and the accurate ratio is 355/113, accurate to seven decimal places. This is recorded in the "Ten Mathematical Classics".
Xiao Liulang has recently been studying the "Ten Books of Mathematical Classics" and knows that Zu's ratio is indeed this number.
"Why did he say that Master Sun was wrong? Did Master Sun show him the Ten Mathematical Classics?"
Xiao Jingkong is a meticulous child. Once the source is found, he generally won't argue unnecessarily.
That's where the problem lies.
Master Sun showed him the "Ten Books of Mathematical Classics," but he said it wasn't precise enough. He rattled off a long string of numbers, at least seventeen or eighteen microdigits, which completely baffled Master Sun.
Master Sun thought he was disrupting the class, so Xiao Jingkong said that Master Sun was misleading students. In order to prove his point, he set a trap for Master Sun by throwing ten arithmetic problems at him in one go.
As a result, Master Sun couldn't solve a single problem.
If he couldn't do it, it means that Master Sun's own knowledge was not solid enough. If his knowledge was not solid enough, it proves that there was also a problem with the ancestral methods that Master Sun taught. In that case, Master Sun was misleading his students.
This is Xiao Jingkong's logic. In fact, we cannot generalize like this. It is possible that Master Sun could not solve those problems because those problems were beyond the scope of Master Sun's knowledge. We cannot say that knowledge points within the scope of Master Sun's knowledge are also wrong.
But Xiao Jingkong was the king of the class, and everyone followed his lead.
Xiao Jingkong gave Sun Fuzi ten questions, and Sun Fuzi couldn't solve any of them. Then Sun Fuzi gave Xiao Jingkong ten more questions, and Xiao Jingkong solved at least five of them. Afterwards, Xiao Jingkong said nonchalantly, "What's so strange about me not being able to solve the remaining questions? I'm a student! I came here to study precisely because I don't know the answers. If I knew them all, what would I need a teacher for?"
Listen to that infuriating tone!
Master Sun lost all face and dignity. He grabbed the ruler to hit Xiao Jingkong's palm, but he missed and tripped and fell.
The whole class burst into laughter!
The scene was like a major traffic accident at the Imperial College's elementary school.
I heard that students from the other four classes all came to watch, and the whole elementary school knew about Master Sun's embarrassing moment.
No wonder Master Sun was so angry he cried; it was truly embarrassing.
Master Jiang said earnestly, "Don't rush to blame Jingkong. While his actions against Master Sun were wrong, he never used you to back him up. He is different from those spoiled brats."
"Thank you, Master Jiang. I will talk to him." Xiao Liulang sincerely thanked Master Jiang, then apologized to Master Sun, and turned to go to the classroom to pick up the little guy.
"Tell me, why exactly did you bully Master Sun?" Xiao Liulang asked.
The two stood behind a large tree, its thick trunk perfectly concealing their figures.
Xiao Jingkong said seriously, "Brother-in-law, you're wrong! How can this be called bullying? He himself is wrong. He's not knowledgeable enough, yet he won't admit it or humbly seek guidance. Doesn't he know that among three people walking together, there must be one who can teach me? If he's wrong, he's wrong. Just admit it! It's a great virtue to know one's mistakes and correct them! Even the Hermit of Xiangshan knew to read his poems to the shepherd boy and the old woman first. He never looked down on children!"
When it comes to reasoning, they are quite erudite, citing numerous examples and sources.
Xiao Liulang was initially very angry, but upon hearing this, he suddenly felt like laughing. Perhaps this was the difference between his own child and other people's children. Even though his child was wrong, he would still be pleasantly surprised by every bit of progress the child made.
Xiao Liulang: "Who told you the story of the Hermit of Xiangshan?"
Little Jingkong hummed, "Grandpa."
It's good that they can apply what they've learned.
But Xiao Liulang knew him well; this kid was just bullying people. He said, "This is not a reason for you to bully Master Sun in public. Are you going to tell me yourself, or do you want to tell Jiaojiao later?"
Xiao Jingkong would become listless at the mere mention of Gu Jiao.
Xiao Liulang was very good at poking people's weak points. After Xiao Jingkong was caught, he obediently confessed his motive.
The incident actually started when Xiao Jingkong brought a fledgling eagle to the elementary school, and it almost bit off Qin Chuyu's...things. Unlike Master Jiang, Master Sun didn't protect him, but instead cowardly handed him over.
He was very disappointed in Master Sun, and from that time on he felt that Master Sun was not worthy to be his teacher.
Xiao Liulang never expected the little guy to be so vengeful.
Xiao Liulang considered his words carefully and said to him, "Master Sun did have his faults. He shouldn't have bowed to power. But have you ever thought that not everyone has to be as brave as Master Jiang?"
"Why not?" Xiao Jingkong asked, puzzled.
Xiao Liulang was somewhat at a loss for words to explain to him. Perhaps it was because he was surrounded by extremely brave people that he had developed a preconceived notion that everyone should be righteous, courageous, and fearless.
In fact, self-preservation is a person's instinct.
One day, he will leave Gu Jiao and his home to go to a wider place, where he will find that people like Master Sun are the people he meets most often.
Master Sun never intended to harm him and worked hard to teach him. To be fair, apart from his shortcomings in handling the young eagles, he was an excellent teacher in all other respects.
Xiao Liulang shifted his bald head: "You can be more demanding of yourself, but you should be less demanding of others."
"Why?" Xiao Jingkong still didn't understand.
Xiao Liulang thought for a moment and said, "Because they may not be as outstanding as you."
This was the first time the bad brother-in-law had praised Xiao Jingkong, and all the arguments Xiao Jingkong had prepared suddenly got stuck in his throat.
His throat was dry, his palms were hot, and his cheeks flushed red.
"Me, me, me, of course I'm excellent, do you need to tell me?"
The little guy looked up at the sky and walked away, his hands and feet moving in unison!
Finally, with Xiao Liulang's mediation, Xiao Jingkong came to Master Sun and apologized for his provocation.
Actually, I felt a little wronged; Zu Shuai wasn't wrong.
Master Sun accepted Xiao Jingkong's apology. Just when he thought Xiao Liulang was finally going to take the little rascal away, Xiao Liulang suddenly said, "Regarding the issue of Zu Shuai, I will try my best to verify it. If it turns out that Jingkong is right, then I hope Master Sun can also apologize to Jingkong, because you have wronged him."
Upon hearing this, Master Sun was stunned.
A teacher apologizing to a student? How could that be?
How could anyone stand up for a child like this?
And what about Suan Zulu? Has he gone mad? Who does he think he is?
Even Xiao Jingkong didn't expect his wicked brother-in-law to say that.
Although he didn't know how difficult it was to calculate the ancestral formula, his wicked brother-in-law was willing to believe him.
After his initial shock, Master Sun gradually came to his senses. He simply did not believe that Xiao Liulang could calculate the ancestral ratio to seven decimal places, so he accepted the bet without any pressure.
After getting into the carriage, Xiao Jingkong pouted and said, "What if I'm wrong when I calculate it?"
Xiao Liulang said nonchalantly, "Then I'll go apologize to Master Sun. What's the big deal?"
Is this really such a big deal? How embarrassing!
Xiao Jingkong was silent for a moment, then suddenly moved closer to Xiao Liulang.
Xiao Liulang glanced at him: "What's wrong?"
Little Jingkong took a deep breath, clenched his little fists, and said defiantly, "I'll give you a hug."
The fact that my brother-in-law stood up for him like this means he must be hopelessly infatuated with his charm and adores him to death!
Well, then he'll just have to make a sacrifice!
Xiao Liulang gave someone a strange look.
Thank you, but I don't want to hug you.
When Xiao Liulang and Xiao Jingkong returned to Bishui Hutong, Gu Jiao, Gu Yan, and Gu Xiaoshun had not yet returned. Gu Jiao had taken on some work at the clinic and had gone out to make house calls. As for Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun, they were learning their skills at their master's and mistress's house.
While having dinner at his teacher's wife's house, Gu Yan sensed that his teacher's wife was looking at Gu Xiaoshun rather strangely. She hesitated several times as if she wanted to say something, but unfortunately, Gu Xiaoshun, being so oblivious, kept his head down and ate without noticing anything.
After getting into the carriage to go back, Gu Yan asked Gu Xiaoshun, "Have you noticed that your master's wife has been treating you differently lately?"
Gu Xiaoshun exclaimed in surprise, "Huh? What's different? Doesn't my master's wife like me anymore?"
Gu Yan thought to himself, "It's clearly because I like you too much."
That blatant look in his eyes, as if he wanted to pack you up and take you back to his house, never letting you leave again!
Gu Yan said seriously, "I think your master's wife has taken a liking to you. You should be careful, or I'm afraid your master will get jealous and retaliate against you."
Gu Xiaoshun: "..."
(End of this chapter)
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