Chapter 38 (1/2)

Mao Badou held back all morning.

In the meantime, Meng Xian Sheng1 was teaching scripture in the front, and he, who was sitting next to Xue TingRang, stared straight at him. Only after the bell rang and Meng Xian Sheng left did he hurry over.

“Hurry and tell me…”

Li Datian tugged at him from the side, looked around and said, “If you have anything to say, say it after we go back to our dorm.”

Mao Badou grabbed Xue TingRang and left. Li Datian sighed helplessly. He helped clean up the case and his own things, and asked Chen Jian to go back to the dorm together.

When the two entered the door, they heard Mao Badou’s impatient voice: “Quickly, tell me, the girl who came that day is your little fiancée?”

Xue TingRang knew that they would eventually discuss this, and looked at him helplessly: “So you pulled me out in a hurry, just to ask this!”

“You don’t know I went back and thought about it for a whole day. Why did your fiancée wear men’s clothes? Who was the man who came with her to pick you up? The day I saw your expression looked weird? Could it be—”

Mao Badou’s expression turned horrified. It seemed that in his head, he, who had read countless scripts, had created a story based on what he had seen.

How would Xue TingRang know that he has this kind of ability, so he was still wondering how to explain when Mao Badou said: “Could it be that she is not your fiancée, but your sister-in-law and that person is your brother. You actually…”

Xue TingRang’s face turned black on the spot, but Mao Badou didn’t notice it at all. It was unclear what he was thinking of, but he actually patted Ting Rang on the shoulder with a sorrowful expression: “This is against the norm. You must hold it back, brother.”

“Stop, stop, stop…what are you thinking about indiscriminately! That person is from our village. His father is good friends with my father. Zhao’er needs help for her business, so we asked him to help…”

In desperation, Xue TingRang briefly talked about the matter.

He didn’t want to say too much, but the whole thing was too complicated. In the end he could only explain his own life experience and some things about Zhao’er.

In fact, he didn’t want to hide from Mao Badou and the rest; he would have let them know over the years.

And Mao Badou followed his complaint, cursing Xue Qingshan and his wife.

“In that case, this Jiang Wu likes Zhao’er Jie2, but Zhao’er Jie doesn’t know. You also like Zhao’er Jie, but Zhao’er Jie treats you as a younger brother?”

This was probably the most embarrassing moment in Xue TingRang’s life. His face was stiff and he did not speak.

Mao Badou kept mouthing off. It was the first time Xue TingRang wanted to beat up a person, wanting to throw him out.

“Ai ya, and I thought it was some big problem. Leave it to me. I’m sure that from now on, Zhao’er Jie will only see you in her eyes and won’t see any good in Jiang Wu.

Xue TingRang looked at him with suspicion.

Mao Badou became excited: “Don’t look down on me, I’m the one who reads all the stories on the market. I’m not good at learning, but when it comes to the relationship between men and women…” He chuckled wryly, patting his chest: “I am definitely better than you.”

“Alright, alright. Ting Rang, don’t listen to his nonsense.” At this moment, Li Datian came over: “He is the kind of person who says that he is invincible in the world and has good intentions but no power to do anything. I don’t know who it was who hid in the bed in the middle of the night crying when Xiaocao MeiMei3 from next door moved away.” Honest man Li Datian said the truth again.

Mao Badou was so excited that he jumped three feet high, his face and ears were red, and he looked like he was going to cut off his friendly relations with Li Datian.

“Good! You, Li Datian. You actually look down on me. You guys wait for me. I will come back soon.” After speaking, he ran away like a tornado.

This wait extended from when the three of them had their lunch, returned to the hall to rest for a quarter of an hour, and then got up to read a book for two quarters of an hour before Mao Badou returned from outside.

It wasn’t clear where he went, but he looked like a thief, and his chubby body was even fatter now. If it weren’t because the three of them lived together, they wouldn’t be aware of it.

Panting for breath, he picked up the teapot on the square table and took two sips, and then began to undress.

The loyal and honest Li Datian scolded: “It’s in vain that you are a scholar. In broad daylight, you can take off your clothes in the bright sky.”

“Pei! You, Li Datian, are always going against me today. I’m still gonna take it off, I’m gonna take it off…”

This guy proceeded to strip his 3 outermost layers, and then took off another layer before revealing a few books that were tied to his chest and waist with a mess of cloth inside.

No wonder this kid suddenly looked fatter. It turned out that there was something else there.

Mao Badou began to pull the books from his body, and the few people sitting cross-legged behind the table saw one book, two books, three, four books being taken out. In the end, Mao Badou had untied a dozen books from his body.

He patted the stack of books with his hands, and then pulled off the cloth strips on his body and threw it on the ground. While wearing clothes, he said: “This is my collector’s edition. I never let anyone borrow it. Ting Rang, I’m letting you take a look since we are brothers4.”

Xue TingRang was confused by his action, and Li Datian gave him the answer: “Badou, you wanna to die? You actually dared to bring these scripts in. You forgot what the curator told you!”

Mao Ba Douhun didn’t care and waved his hand: “It’s nothing. There are only four of us in this house. If you guys don’t tell, I won’t tell, then who will know?”

At this moment, a bell rang outside.

Mao Badou picked up the notebook, climbed up the bunk and stuffed it into the cabinet. But his cabinet was too messy. The socks and clothes he had worn were piled up, and in the end the books could only be stuffed into the cabinet of the other three people.

Meng Xian Sheng finished the “University” in ten days, and today he started to speak “Xue Er”, the first chapter of “The Analects”. He is very particular about the principle of gradual and orderly teaching, and he also follows the Zhuzi reading method that most scholars nowadays use.

Zhu Zi has said: The method of reading should be sequential and constant, unremittingly, calmly read between the text and meaning, and experience the actual practice, and then with calm and reason, you will gradually see the true meaning.

Zhu Ziyou said: “The Daxue” is the gateway to morality. Scholars are the first to give lectures. Knowledge is the scale of the degree of study. You should read “The Analects”, “Mencius” and “The Doctrine of the Mean”. First see the general use of the source in the principle of justice, and then test the scriptures and you will see some results in your understanding. The scriptures are different, and the skill is vast. If you don’t read “The Daxue”, “On”, “Meng”, and “The Doctrine of the Mean” first, then it will not be easy to gain enlightenment.5

Generally, no lectures are given in the afternoon, and time is left for the students to self study, that is, to integrate the chapters learned in the morning. Of course, if it is not the first time to learn the Analects, you can also learn other things, but you must study in the lecture hall.

Meng Xian Sheng is sometimes there, sometimes not, but don’t think that because he is not there, you can do whatever you want because you never know when he will appear suddenly. The rules in Qingyuan Academy are extremely strict. If the homework assigned by the Xian Sheng is not completed, or it is noisy in the lecture hall, they will be reprimanded and punished, or sometimes with heavier consequences, they could even be expelled.