Rule 1007
And so began Tang Feng's life at the academy. He initially wanted to study diligently, but unfortunately, he simply lacked the innate drive for academic excellence. He was constantly drowsy. At first, he could understand some of the literature lectures given by the old master, but later, the various courses on chess, music, and other miscellaneous subjects gradually made Tang Feng somewhat impatient.
"Little brother, it's only been a week of classes, don't be so listless, okay?" Zhang Mobai is usually quite easygoing, but he's a different story when it comes to classes. Leaving aside his literary talent and poetry, his piano skills alone are enough for Zhang Mobai and Tang Feng to brag about for half a year. Even though Zhang Mobai tutors Tang Feng every day, it still can't save Tang Feng from his absolute unwillingness to learn.
Tang Feng leaned on the table, glanced at Zhang Mobai, and asked, "What does the master want us to write?"
"Don't write anything! This lesson is about chess! You're playing against me. The calligraphy class you mentioned is over now." Seeing that the teacher was about to turn around, Zhang Mobai quickly arranged the chess pieces and then stuffed a white piece into Tang Feng's hand. "Little brother, you go first with white."
Tang Feng, with his back to the aisle, couldn't see the teacher approaching. Zhang Mobai casually handed him a chess piece and told him to play white first. Tang Feng didn't understand, so he pouted, placed the piece haphazardly, and said, "What does this mean? What did you say? I just fell asleep and didn't hear anything." Perhaps his voice was too loud, attracting the teacher's attention. The teacher pulled out a ruler hidden in his sleeve and slammed it angrily on Tang Feng's table, startling Tang Feng so much that he immediately grabbed Zhang Mobai beside him.
Zhang Mobai didn't dare to move, so he whispered, "Little brother, get up quickly! It's the teacher!"
Upon hearing this, Tang Feng quickly stood up. "I... sir..."
"Tang Feng, Lishan Academy is a place for learning. Look at you! Lazy and drowsy, what kind of behavior is this?" The old teacher tapped Tang Feng's arm with his ruler, signaling him to raise it. But who was Tang Feng? He had never been afraid of those two big sticks from Tang Feng before, let alone a small ruler. He walked to the old teacher's side and said, "Teacher, to be honest, I have never left home since I was a child. Now, Lanxi is more than a hundred miles away from Xiling. Even if I stand at the highest point, I cannot see Xiling. I am so lovesick that I toss and turn every night. Please forgive me, teacher." Tang Feng was originally an unknown employee in modern society. As for how to survive, he relied on his mouth. He spoke to people in a human way, to ghosts in a ghost way, and was opportunistic. He always greeted people with a smile. As the saying goes, you can't hit a smiling face. When he arrived in Yanyun, he suffered quite a bit of beatings from Old Master Tang, but he could usually resolve most of the conflicts with his fabrications. Tang Feng didn't know if Old Master Tang knew he was lying, but seeing the old man's good mood, he figured it wouldn't matter even if he did.
The old man thought it over carefully, perhaps feeling that it was his first time making a mistake and there was a reason to forgive him. "Alright, I won't punish you this time, but next time, I will definitely punish you severely."
Tang Feng nodded and sat down. Seeing the man walk away, Tang Feng breathed a sigh of relief. "Little madman, why didn't you tell me the man was coming sooner?"
"Heaven and earth bear witness! I even put the Go pieces in your hand. Even if you hadn't moved, the teacher wouldn't have said anything. Heaven knows why you reacted so strongly!" Zhang Mobai said, feeling wronged. "You haven't been paying attention in class much. Let me explain the rules of Go to you first! The pieces are divided into black and white, which can be seen as yin and yang. The Go board is interlocked. The pieces must be placed on the intersections. Players take turns making moves, and once a piece is placed, it cannot be moved. The player who controls more territory wins. Because Black has the advantage of taking the first move, it is artificially stipulated that Black must give White a komi at the end of the game."
Tang Feng listened for a while but still didn't quite understand, so he said to Zhang Mobai, "Little madman, I have an even more fun way to play, do you want to hear it?"
Zhang Mobai, unaware of what new trick Tang Feng had come up with, nodded. Tang Feng leaned close to Zhang Mobai's ear and said, "Little madman, I'll teach you how to play Gomoku." After hearing the rules, Zhang Mobai didn't find it absurd; on the contrary, he thought it was much more fun than Go. After three or four games, the old man stood up and said, "That's all for today's lesson. Everyone, go back and review carefully."
Hearing that get out of class was over, Tang Feng hurriedly asked what the menu was for lunch. Zhang Mobai calmly tidied up the chessboard and smiled, "Your mind is always on the corridor. It seems like today's dish is lotus root and osmanthus porridge. It's the height of summer now, so it's perfect for cooling down."
Tang Feng lay on the table waiting for Zhang Mobai to finish tidying up when Yang Fei and the others arrived. "Bai Bai! Let's go! I heard there's braised pork knuckle at Langxia Hall today!" Yang Fei had been talking about Zhang Mobai to Zhou Ziliang the whole way, making Zhou Ziliang want to strangle him. Now that he saw Zhang Mobai, he rushed over and snuggled up to him. Zhang Mobai put away the chess pieces, clapped his hands, and pushed Yang Fei's head off his shoulder, saying disdainfully, "Go away, all you know is eating. Didn't you just have braised pork knuckle a couple of days ago?" Then he got up. "Let's take the food back to the courtyard to eat today! It's almost the hottest time of summer, and Langxia Hall is crowded and too hot."
Tang Feng nodded in agreement. Staying on the mountaintop would be much cooler, and he might even have an increased appetite and eat an extra bowl of rice.
Actually, by the time Tang Feng and his group arrived, the hall was already nearly empty. However, due to Tang Feng and Zhang Mobai's insistence, Zhou Ziliang and Yang Fei still went in to get food to take away. Yang Fei, always eager to enjoy himself, ordered seven or eight dishes. By the time they came out, Tang Feng was practically starving.
After the four returned, while Zhang Mobai was getting bowls and chopsticks, Tang Feng secretly took a piece of meat from the food box and started chewing. Just as he was enjoying it, he noticed Zhou Ziliang staring at him from a short distance away. Tang Feng frowned, spat out the bone, and threw it at Zhou Ziliang. Afraid of being overheard by Zhang Mobai, he whispered, "What are you looking at? Haven't you ever seen someone steal food before?" Zhou Ziliang quickly dodged and said, "It's a misunderstanding. I was just thinking that Hongdou hadn't been fed yet." Hongdou was Zhou Ziliang's horse. Tang Feng couldn't understand why a perfectly good red date horse would be named Hongdou—it sounded too girly!
"Feed the horses?" Tang Feng had never fed horses before, so he found it quite novel. "Then let's feed them now! I'll help you!" Tang Feng said, walking towards the stable. Zhou Ziliang nodded. "Then bring some hay over, and I'll tell you how to feed them."
Tang Feng curled his lip. "Just put it in the manger! What's there to teach! Let me tell you, don't try to win my favor with these little tricks!" With that, Tang Feng grabbed a bundle of hay, placed it in the manger, and clapped his hands. "That's it! What's there to teach!" He then slapped the horse's rump. Zhou Ziliang, watching, didn't dare breathe, wanting to call Tang Feng back, but it was too late. Hongdou, without hesitation, kicked Tang Feng in the chest. Tang Feng was kicked more than a meter away, just as Zhang Mobai and Yang Fei, who were holding bowls and chopsticks, saw it. "Little brother! Little brother, are you alright!"
Zhou Ziliang, being closer, stepped forward and helped Tang Feng up, holding him in his arms. He saw Tang Feng's pale face, clutching his chest and coughing a few times, with blood still trickling from the corner of his mouth. Zhou Ziliang was stunned by the sight of blood. He had killed countless people on the battlefield, seen countless births and deaths, so why was he so bewildered by this little bit of blood? Seeing Zhou Ziliang's lack of reaction, Zhang Mobai quickly patted him on the back. "Don't stand there like that! Quickly take him to the clinic down the mountain! Could this amount of blood be internal injury?"
"Cough cough... cough cough cough..." Tang Feng was dazed from Hongdou's kick, feeling as if a huge rock was pressing on his chest. It was making it hard to breathe, but after a few coughs, he felt much better. Seeing Zhang Mobai say he would take him to the clinic, he slowly sat up, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. His tongue still stung slightly. Tang Feng sighed and said, "No need, I just bit my tongue."
Hearing this, the group breathed a sigh of relief. Zhou Ziliang frowned, turned Tang Feng's face away, pinched his cheek to force him to open his mouth, and examined Tang Feng's tongue, saying, "Judging from the amount of bleeding, it shouldn't just be a matter of biting the tongue. Just to be safe, let's go down the mountain to the clinic!" With that, Zhou Ziliang carried Tang Feng on his back, turned to Zhang Mobai, and instructed, "You go explain the situation to the teacher; I'll take him alone." Tang Feng was initially very reluctant, but just as he was about to struggle, a sharp pain shot through his chest, so he gave up. He lay on Zhou Ziliang's back, closed his eyes, and, out of sight, out of mind, fell asleep. When he woke up again, it was already evening.
Seeing that Tang Feng was awake, Zhang Mobai quickly poured him a glass of water and sat down by the bed, saying, "Little brother, are you alright? You scared me to death! But the doctor said he's fine; luckily, the horse didn't kick him too hard."
Tang Feng picked up the water Zhang Mobai handed him and said through gritted teeth, "What kind of horse is that? It keeps throwing off its hooves. Just like its owner, it's unlikable!"
Zhang Mobai chuckled after hearing this. "Alright, alright, it's all because of you this time. Who pats a horse's butt? I patted yours, and you didn't complain! Besides, Ziliang is a really nice guy; he even carried you to the clinic."
Tang Feng was somewhat displeased by what he was being said, so he shoved the teacup into Zhang Mobai's hands and lay down. "Whose side are you on anyway? I'm already like this, and you still can't say something nice to cheer me up."
"Okay, okay, my little brother did nothing wrong. If there's any fault, it's Zhou Ziliang's. Is that alright?"
The next day, although Tang Feng still felt a bit of tightness and pain in his chest, he was able to walk. After stretching his body and receiving repeated confirmation from Zhang Mobai, he finally went to school. Originally, Tang Feng didn't want to go, but he couldn't resist the fact that lunch was stuffed chicken! The morning was filled with literature classes. Tang Feng's class was in the Xue Si Hall, and Zhang Mobai, worried about Tang Feng's chest tightness, specially found a seat by the window for him. The teacher was lecturing on classical Chinese texts. Although Tang Feng could recite the poems, he was quite confused by the classical Chinese passages. Fortunately, the teacher didn't ask him any questions, so he managed to get by. As get out of class was about to end, the faint aroma of food wafted from the corridor. Tang Feng, pen in hand, stared blankly out the window, only to find his eyes meeting Zhou Ziliang's. Zhou Ziliang, who had come to check on Tang Feng after class, was worried he might be attending class injured. He saw Tang Feng turn to look at him, and Tang Feng quickly looked away. Zhang Mobai also noticed Tang Feng's change and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong, little brother?"
"Nothing, I just saw a pervert," Tang Feng said, turning his back to the window as if to hide something.
Zhang Mobai raised his head and saw Zhou Ziliang standing by the window. He smiled, lowered his head, and said, "Then what I see is love!"
Just as Tang Feng was about to explain, Lu Changyuan stood up abruptly and said, "Teacher! Tang Feng is talking during class!"
As luck would have it, the teacher who taught literature today was the same one who taught chess yesterday. Turning around, the teacher saw Tang Feng and Zhang Mobai with their heads down. Without a second thought, he grabbed his ruler and rushed forward. "Tang Feng, have you forgotten what you told me yesterday?! Don't give me any excuses telling me you were whispering because you were homesick!"
Tang Feng glared at Lu Changyuan, and after hearing what the teacher had said, he quickly bowed and said, "Teacher, it was indeed my fault for talking in class, but I was feeling unwell. You must have heard about it yesterday, I was kicked by a horse. I didn't want to disturb your teaching, so I had to tell my deskmate about it."
The teacher withdrew the ruler again. "This..." Tang Feng wasn't lying; he had seen Zhou Ziliang carry him down the mountain yesterday, so he toned down his attitude. "You may escape death, but you can't escape punishment. I already made my stance clear yesterday, so today you'll be punished by copying the academy rules! Bring them to me first thing tomorrow morning."
Tang Feng responded and sat down. Perhaps he was too happy with the chicken stuffed in his stomach at noon, and had long forgotten the teacher's words. So when a servant knocked on the courtyard gate in the afternoon, Tang Feng was still confused. The servant held a scroll in his hand and said, "Teacher Chen instructed that a copy of the courtyard rules be delivered to the young master for easy copying."
"Oh my god, I almost forgot!" Tang Feng untied the scroll and slowly opened it, but his hand slipped and the scroll fell to the ground, rolling out the doorway. "This is way too long!" Tang Feng jogged to pick it up, but the road beside the path was downhill, and he only caught up at the bend after rushing. Looking back, well, this scroll must have been at least two hundred meters long! But there are so many rules!
Tang Feng picked it up and read: "No eating after curfew; no talking back to the teacher; no entering the corridor before the appointed time; no leaving the mountain without permission at any time; all four rules are invalid if the dean allows; no physical conflicts with other students in the academy..." Tang Feng counted, a total of 1007 rules. "This... this... how many lifetimes will it take me to copy all this!"
That evening, when Zhang Mobai and Yang Fei returned from sightseeing, they saw Tang Feng still inside, copying the courtyard rules by candlelight. "Little brother! You haven't finished copying yet! Curfew is almost here!"
Tang Feng didn't say anything. He shook off the uncopied portion of the scroll, which rolled off the table and went straight to the door. Seeing Zhang Mobai's surprised expression, he said, "I've only copied a little over three hundred lines. It's still early. You should go to sleep."
Zhang Mobai originally wanted to stay with Tang Feng, but Tang Feng refused. Zhang Mobai gave Tang Feng a few words of advice and then went to sleep. Tang Feng copied the rules until the night watchman had lost track of time, finally succumbing to sleepiness and falling asleep at the table. At this moment, Zhou Ziliang quietly opened the door, intending to check on Tang Feng's injuries. Seeing Tang Feng asleep, Zhou Ziliang shook his head, gently picked him up, put him back on the bed, and covered him with a blanket. Then he changed the candle and picked up the remaining copy of the courtyard rules, writing them down stroke by stroke.
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