Chapter 374: Grow vegetables, useless people
Xu Wan was so embarrassed that she kept shaking her head.
Due to Jincheng's personality, he could not correct that bad habit, and he would become sloppy while writing. She had tried her best to guide him to develop his strengths according to his personality, but the progress was like a drop in the bucket, and in Suxi's eyes it was just a show-off.
She said sincerely, "Two and a half years ago, Jin Cheng could not read a single word, not even his own name. But he was smart, hardworking, and eager to learn, so he was able to master all the subjects except poetry in such a short period of time. Now that the autumn exam is approaching, his poetry has not improved at all, and we really have no other choice, so we asked you to come and teach him."
Su Xi really couldn't understand: "Autumn examination, autumn examination... You people here are really weird. You do this and that all for the sake of imperial examinations. Your purpose is not pure. How can you write good poems?"
Xu Wan reminded him weakly: "Sir, you once participated in the imperial examination and entered the official career..." When you are arguing with others, think about yourself...
Su Xi naturally continued: "So I couldn't write good poems after I entered the officialdom. People in the officialdom are too petty. If I wrote a poem to scold them, I would be demoted. I was so angry that I finally resigned and ran away. I found a place where no one was around to write poems, specifically scolding those old turtles. As you can see, haha, people are free from constraints and can scold as much as they want, and their poems will naturally become popular."
Xu Wan: “…” It seems to make some sense.
Su Xi snorted and said, "Since you dare to trust me with the training of those children, then let me teach them for a month. Otherwise, I can't do anything. After all, you know that writing poetry should be free and spontaneous. Otherwise, how can you create with all the rules and regulations?"
Xu Wan understood what he said. Art does need a free atmosphere. She smiled and replied, "Don't worry, sir. I will do my best to cooperate with you. If you need anything, just let me know."
Su Xi was very satisfied: "You are a good person to talk to. Let's see how you perform. Tell those boys to come to the study room at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow to learn how to write poetry."
Xu Wan asked: "Is it the beginning of Mao hour? Is this too early? They usually get up at midnight. Children of this age should sleep more to help their bodies grow."
At their age, raising the time from seven to five is a little early, and Xu Wan is a little reluctant.
Su Xi asked back: "Then I'll listen to you?"
Xu Wan realized that something was wrong and immediately changed her words: "Change, change, change. All of us will listen to you, sir. I'll go tell them now." The impact of getting up earlier for a month would not be that big. She asked them to go to bed early at night and make up for it after the autumn examination.
"This is more like it." Su Xi started to chew the pancake again. When he turned around, he accidentally saw Zong Jincheng's poem again and took it a little further away in disgust.
After Xu Wan finished talking to Su Xi, she had someone send him back to his room to rest. Since Mr. Su had a lot of quirks, the satin quilts in his house were replaced with pure cotton ones, but Su Xi still complained that they were too luxurious.
It was already very late when the old gentleman was settled, and the children fell asleep one after another. Xu Wan asked someone to send a message to the servants in their respective courtyards, asking them to get up at dawn the next day.
When she returned to her room, Zong Zhao was sitting at the desk reading a book. When he saw her coming back, he raised his eyes and asked, "Are you done?"
Xu Wan smiled and said, "Yes, I just settled down Mr. Su. He has a strange temper and many demands. He even quarreled with Jin Cheng today. I think I will be busy in the next month."
"Why are you arguing?" Zong Zhao asked, "What did you talk about today?"
Xu Wan thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Su was forced to come here by Luo Jingfeng. He was unhappy, so he asked the children to write poems for an entire afternoon, all of which were used to scold Luo Jingfeng."
Zong Zhao was silent for a moment, then replied, "Then I'll remind Luo Jingfeng not to come to the mansion recently, lest he be scolded in person by Mr. Su."
Xu Wan was amused by him: "Haha, that makes sense..."
The next morning, at the hour of Mao.
The young men, who were immersed in a beautiful dream, were all awakened by the servants: "Young Master, it's time to get up and go to the study."
"Ah?" Five teenagers jumped up from the bed, each one more confused than the other, with a sense of déjà vu as to who they were, where they were, and what they were going to do.
Zong Jincheng yawned and looked outside. It was still dark outside. He rubbed his eyes and asked, "Is it cloudy today?"
Shunzi said weakly: "No, it's only the morning hour now."
The little devil was sobered up in an instant. He looked at Shunzi in disbelief and said, "Why are you waking me up at this hour? Don't I usually sleep until noon?"
Shunzi said aggrievedly, "I just received a message from Madam last night, saying that we all have to get up at dawn today. Mr. Su and Madam are already waiting in the study."
"Mom?" When Zong Jincheng heard that it was Xu Wan's intention, he immediately jumped out of bed, quickly got dressed and washed, and ran to the study room.
Five people came over in a hurry. They looked okay, but they were all confused and it seemed that they were awakened by the sudden attack.
"Good morning, you useless poetry writers." Su Xi greeted them like a devil.
The young men who were instantly spirited: "!!!"
Damn it! Who gets called a loser right after waking up?
But the one who cursed was Su Xi, a great poet of the time, and Xu Wan was there to calm the situation, so no one dared to do anything rash. The five boys looked sad and said in a low voice, "Good morning, sir."
Su Xi always got up at this time. At this moment, he said with full of energy: "Tsk, look at how weak he is. He is indeed a young master of a wealthy family. He can't carry anything with his shoulders or hands. He can only hold a pen and compose a few limericks for fun."
The little devil who was called out immediately glared at Su Xi: This weird old man is starting to make indirect accusations again!
Su Xi commanded: "Come on, useless people, do something first."
The five young boys had no idea what he was going to do, but soon the servants came over with hoes.
“???” The five boys looked at each other, totally unaware of what was going on.
Aren’t you here to learn how to write poetry?
Why are you still working on it?
Su Xi sent someone to put a hoe in each person's hand and ordered them as if it was a matter of course: "Your task this morning is to shovel out all the flowers in this yard."
They were now standing in the courtyard of the large study.
In the courtyard of the large study in the two-story building, in addition to a small pavilion, there is also a small garden with a wide variety of flowers and plants. Summer is the time when flowers are in full bloom, and the small garden is very beautiful.
Zong Wenxiu was the last one to waste anything, so he asked first, "Sir, these flowers are in full bloom right now, why are you clearing them out?"
Su Xi smiled and said, "Because I love eating water spinach, I want to grow some vegetables to eat."
"Water spinach?" Zong Wenxiu was confused. This vegetable was available everywhere and was very, very cheap, but Su Xi wanted to clear away the flowers in the yard and grow vegetables. It was such a waste.
Wei Xinglu also knew those flowers. He pointed out directly: "These flowers are very expensive, and water spinach is not worth the money. If you want to eat them, just ask the kitchen to go out and buy them."
Shen Yibai nodded and said, "Yes, it's not worth it."
Several teenagers expressed their opinions one after another, all of them thought that water spinach was not worth their while to dig out the flowers. When it came to the issue of trade-offs, they all knew who was big and who was small, which was one of the main reasons why they were able to write good policy papers.