Bury a wine jug in the backyard
The next morning, the academy's morning bell rang three or four times before Tang Feng finally opened his eyes. He lay in bed for a while, feeling like he hadn't done something. Tang Feng rubbed his heavy head, but what could it be? Tang Feng slowly sat up, looked around, and saw that Zhang Mobai was still asleep. He got up to pour himself a glass of water to wake himself up, but then he saw the academy rules on the table and was so startled that he threw down his teacup. "Damn it! I almost forgot about it! I haven't finished copying the academy rules yet. How could I have fallen asleep yesterday?! I'm so ashamed of myself!" Tang Feng quickly got up to look at the punishment writing he had done yesterday, but what he saw was a neatly stacked pile of punishment writing, every single word written. Tang Feng stared at the completed punishment writing for a long time, squinting, afraid that he was seeing things. "Could this be something I wrote in my sleep yesterday?" Tang Feng took out two pieces of paper. One was written in a flamboyant, cursive style. The handwriting was strong and neat. "But this isn't my handwriting either!" Tang Feng looked at the sleeping Zhang Mobai while holding the punishment writing, a smile creeping onto his face. He quietly walked to Zhang Mobai's bedside, hugged him tightly, and said, "Little madman, I knew you spoiled me the most. I didn't expect you to get up so late at night to copy my punishment writing."
Zhang Mobai woke up when Tang Feng hugged him like that. Looking at Tang Feng acting cute in his arms, Zhang Mobai was completely confused. "Little brother, what's wrong with you so early in the morning?"
Tang Feng quickly got up, picked up the punishment writing on the table, and pointed to it, saying, "Look! I fell asleep last night, did you help me finish writing the remaining seven hundred-plus rules of the college?"
Zhang Mobai took the punishment paper from Tang Feng's hand and examined it carefully. "Little brother, this handwriting isn't mine at all! I can't write such vigorous and powerful strokes." As if to prove something, Zhang Mobai rolled out of bed and pulled out his poetry collection from his desk. "Look, these are completely different fonts."
Tang Feng examined the two sheets of paper. Indeed, as Zhang Mobai had said, the handwriting was completely different. Compared to the handwriting used for punishment, Zhang Mobai's handwriting was much more elegant. But who exactly copied this punishment for him?
Zhang Mobai tidied up Tang Feng's messy desk and said, "Don't think too much about it, go to class first! Teacher Chen is definitely keeping an eye on you because of what happened the last two times, so don't cause any more trouble today."
Tang Feng nodded, still full of doubts and confusion, but he couldn't withstand the pressure from Master Chen! He didn't want to be caught by Master Chen again and forced to copy as punishment. Tang Feng neatly sorted out the messed-up punishment papers and put them in his cloth bag, then washed up and changed his clothes.
Once the two of them were almost ready, Yang Fei knocked on the door. "Bai Bai, are you up? We're all ready and waiting for you outside."
Zhang Mobai responded and nudged Tang Feng, "Then let's hurry up! Don't keep them waiting too long." He then opened the door. "Good morning! Brother Ziliang? Your eyes... what's wrong?" Zhou Ziliang's eyes were bloodshot, with a faint dark patch beneath them.
Zhou Ziliang rubbed his eyes. "It's nothing, I just didn't sleep well last night."
Yang Fei grabbed Zhou Ziliang, rolled her eyes, and said, "Give me a break! You didn't get back until dawn this morning, who knows what you were up to?"
After listening, Zhang Mobai glanced at Zhou Ziliang again. Zhou Ziliang seemed to have been caught out; his hand nervously twisted the hem of his clothes, and his eyes kept looking down. Zhang Mobai instantly knew what had happened. "This morning, the little brother even asked me who helped me copy the school rules. It turns out... Waaaaah..." Before Zhang Mobai could finish, Zhou Ziliang rushed forward and covered Zhang Mobai's mouth. "Brother Mobai, don't let him know. Knowing his personality, he definitely doesn't want me to help him. Who knows what kind of tantrum he'll throw if he finds out?"
Seeing Zhang Mobai struggle a few times while Zhou Ziliang covered his mouth, Yang Fei quickly stepped forward and said, "Alright, alright, I know, I know. Don't make my Bai Bai suffocate, let go now."
As they were talking, Tang Feng came out carrying a cloth bag. "What were you all talking about so early in the morning?!" Zhang Mobai quickly shook his head. "Nothing, nothing, we didn't say anything." Tang Feng looked at Zhang Mobai and the others with a blank expression. "Really didn't say anything?"
"Oh, no, no! You don't believe me? Hurry up, let's go early today, you still have to hand in your punishment assignments." Zhang Mobai half-pushed, half-pulled Tang Feng to the door. Tang Feng actually thought Zhang Mobai had a point, after all, he had offended Master Chen a few days ago, and it would be unreasonable to be late today. Tang Feng followed behind Zhang Mobai and hurriedly said, "I'll go, don't hold me back!"
After Tang Feng walked away, Zhou Ziliang let out a long sigh of relief. Seeing this, Yang Fei nudged Zhou Ziliang's chest and leaned in to ask, "What's wrong? Now you think your wife is better? You ignored Tang Feng when she was chasing after you. Now that she wants to break off the engagement, you're starting to care about her again?"
Zhou Ziliang's face flushed slightly as he glared at Yang Fei. "When did I ever care? He's been like this since he was little..."
"I've always liked being by your side since we were little, and you've always treated him like a younger brother. I know that, but the problem is, nothing stays the same forever. Tang Feng will change, and you'll change too. Can't... Hey! Don't go, I haven't finished yet!" Yang Fei saw Zhou Ziliang turn to leave and quickly followed, continuing, "You copied his punishments for him and even stood up for him. I don't believe you don't like him at all! Hey! Slow down, you're just being stubborn! You... how can you be so oblivious to your own feelings!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ziliang abruptly stopped, calmed himself for a moment, and slowly said, "I'm good to him because I feel guilty about what I did to him before."
"Feel guilty? Tang Feng cried his heart out for you before, where was your guilt? When you went to the border, he chased you for miles outside the city, where was your guilt? When he wrote you his last letter, you returned it unopened, where was your guilt? Because he changed, you started to like him!" Yang Fei grabbed Zhou Ziliang's arm.
Zhou Ziliang broke free from Yang Fei's hand. "I didn't!" he said, and then turned and walked away.
Tang Feng spent another day slacking off, doodling and sketching at his desk. He couldn't understand Master Chen's explanations of Yin and Yang anyway. Zhang Mobai, meanwhile, was preoccupied with how to subtly let Tang Feng know about Zhou Ziliang's affair that morning. After several attempts to bring them together, Zhang Mobai had gradually come to understand their personalities. He knew Tang Feng was too proud to accept praise of Zhou Ziliang, but he was perfectly aware of the situation. Zhang Mobai's eyes lit up, and he smiled, patting the dazed Tang Feng beside him. "Little brother," he said, "the Yin-Yang and Five Elements technique exam is in two days. If you're still daydreaming, what will you do for the exam?"
"An exam?" Tang Feng's eyes widened. He had no idea about this, and the old man had never mentioned it.
Zhang Mobai frowned as if he had made a huge decision. "How about this? Tonight, you copy down the key points that the teacher taught, and I'll explain them to you again!"
"ah?"
"What?! It's settled then! I don't want you to fail to graduate in the end."
Zhang Mobai kept his word. Right after dinner, he dragged Tang Feng to his room, took out a thick book, and began explaining it to him. Even though Zhang Mobai explained it in the most detailed way possible, Tang Feng still didn't understand. "Alright, alright, I won't go into such depths. Here! These are my notes. Don't forget to return them to me after you've copied them down. I'm going to go boil some water."
Tang Feng picked up Zhang Mobai's notes and annotations from the table, glanced at them, and thought, "This handwriting... it looks so familiar!" "You little madman! You still say this isn't your handwriting? It's exactly the same as the handwriting I wrote as punishment this morning!"
Zhang Mobai chuckled secretly with his back to Tang Feng, then turned around and said seriously, "It really isn't me!" Zhang Mobai picked up the notebook from Tang Feng's hand and examined it carefully. "Oh dear, sorry, I took Brother Cheng Ziliang's. No wonder it didn't look like my book!"
What was said in jest was taken seriously by Tang Feng. He snatched the notebook back from Zhang Mobai and checked it carefully once more. Could it be that the person who helped him copy the punishment notes last night really was... Zhou Ziliang?
Seeing that Tang Feng already knew, Zhang Mobai remained silent, simply turning and leaving, leaving Tang Feng alone in the room lost in thought.
Seeing Zhang Mobai leave, Tang Feng stroked his chin, pondering for a long time. He had indeed treated Zhou Ziliang somewhat differently in the past, but Zhou Ziliang had still forgiven him. Tang Feng, rubbing the pages of his book, thought, "He's gone to such lengths; if I remain indifferent, wouldn't that make me seem petty?" Tang Feng closed the book, slowly walked to the door, and looking at the fringe flowers blooming beautifully in the courtyard, an idea came to him.
Tang Feng planned to brew a jar of fine wine to give to Zhou Ziliang. He had learned the traditional winemaking method for a while when he lived with his grandmother. Tang Feng sneaked into a side room, found a ladder, and scouted around. Zhang Mobai and Yang Fei were out, but Zhou Ziliang was still inside. Tang Feng had no choice but to prop the ladder up on his head and slowly walk to the fringe tree. He gently placed the ladder against the tree. Hongdou, who was in the stable nearby, sneezed. "Shh!" Tang Feng shook his head at Hongdou. He didn't want Zhou Ziliang to know right now, but Hongdou seemed to be doing it on purpose, shaking her head and stomping her feet.
"Red Bean! Quiet down!" Zhou Ziliang, hearing the commotion, shouted outside, startling Tang Feng so much he didn't dare breathe, like a child secretly doing something naughty behind his parents' backs. Tang Feng listened intently until there was no more noise from inside, and Zhou Ziliang didn't come out. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. Tang Feng climbed the trellis up the tree, picked a basketful of petals, took out the Daughter's Red wine he had secretly brought from the manor, mixed the two together, added some sugar cubes, and finally poured it into a clean wine pot. He sealed it with mud, buried it under the tree, and, picking at the dried mud on his hands, said angrily, "Zhou Ziliang, when you drink it, if you dare say no, I'll twist your head off and use it as a football!"
Just then, Zhang Mobai and Yang Fei returned. Zhang Mobai saw that Tang Feng was a bit dirty and frowned. "Little brother, what have you been doing?" After saying that, he let go of Yang Fei's hand and quickly went over to pat Tang Feng's clothes. "Don't tell me you tripped and fell on flat ground."
"No...no, I just thought the moon was nice tonight, so I climbed up to enjoy the view."
After hearing this, Yang Fei looked up and was even more confused. "But it's a cloudy day! Why are you going up to look at the moon?!"
"What do you know! This is just sentimentality, this is romance."
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