The carriage pulled the four people to Qili Village. The four people jumped off the carriage at the entrance of the village and hesitated for a while. In the end, the three decided to go to the most difficult level first - Mr.'s place.
So the three of them went to Bai's house first as if they were dead.
Mr. Zhuang has never gone home. He is not anxious if his three children do not come back to study. He just reads, writes, or plays chess with Mr. Bai every day. After the apprentices have been away for more than half a month, he does not say a word.
Don't ask, just let them be in the field.
The three of them carefully leaned on the courtyard door and quietly poked their heads in to take a look. They saw Mr. Zhuang sitting under the tree, basking in the sun and reading a book.
Three of you, you push me, I poke you, no one dares to come forward easily.
Mr. Zhuang turned around when he heard the noise and coughed twice when he saw the three little heads peeking in from the courtyard door.
The three of them, who were about to guess who would die first, stiffly raised their heads and met Mr. Zhuang's eyes.
Bai Erlang immediately pushed Bai Shan, and Bai Shan pushed Man Bao, so Man Bao at the front stepped forward two steps, further forward.
Mr. Zhuang watched them silently. As a senior sister, Man Bao was pushed to the front again. He could only wave his little hands, "Sir, are you reading?"
Mr. Zhuang looked at her for a while, then moved his eyes back. Bai Shan and Bai Erlang, who were hiding behind, had no choice but to move out. They smiled and waved to greet Mr. Zhuang, "Sir, how are you doing recently?"
Mr. Zhuang put down the book in his hand and asked, "Have you met your family when you came back?"
The three of them shook their heads together.
Mr. Zhuang asked again, "Are you done with the things outside?"
The three of them nodded together. After thinking about it, they shook their heads. Who knows if Magistrate Yang and others will come to see them later?
"He nodded again and shook his head again. Is it finished?"
Man Bao considered it carefully and said: "The things have been found and the information has been sorted out. There should be nothing urgent in the past few days, but it's hard to say in the future."
Mr. Zhuang knew what he was doing. He nodded and said, "Then you go home and meet your parents first. Come to me in an hour and I will test your homework."
The three of them relaxed a little. Although they had not read a book for more than half a month, they still remembered some of the homework more than half a month ago. Even if they were to be punished for the homework test, they should not be punished very much.
Heavy?
The three of them exited the yard.
Bai Shandao: "I went over to pay my respects to my grandmother and mother."
Bai Erlang: "I'm also going to pay my respects to my grandmother and mother, and see my father by the way."
Man Bao was more relaxed than the two of them, "I'm going to see my parents too."
Man Bao skipped home. Lao Zhoutou had not seen his daughter for a long time. He held her hand curiously and asked many questions, but he would not punish her. The same was true for Qian.
Everyone in Lao Zhou's family knew that she lived in Magistrate Yang's house, where she had food, drink, shelter, and safety. Zhou Lang said she was there to help Magistrate Yang sort out some paperwork.
Anyway, it was a serious matter once I heard it, so no one in their family was worried, and no one would be angry about it.
Man Bao walked around the house, enjoyed the special treatment, and then went out to dig wild vegetables with Da Ya Er Ya and the others, carrying a bamboo basket. Half an hour later, he came down from the mountain and picked out several bundles of wild vegetables, cleaned them and put them away.
In a bamboo basket.
Lao Zhoutou was particularly embarrassed. He felt that Magistrate Yang entertained his daughter with good rice and meat for more than half a month, but they gave him a basket of wild vegetables.
Man Bao said: "Their family is not short of meat, they are short of vegetables."
Lao Zhoutou didn't believe it, "You're not short of meat, how can you be short of vegetables?"
But Man Bao just carried a basket of wild vegetables to the coachman who stopped at Bai's house. She happily said to her father: "Sir, he will check my homework later, and I will go home later."
Lao Zhoutou also stood at the door and waved to her, "Okay, if you come back late, dad will ask your sister-in-law to leave some meat for you to eat."
Seeing Man Bao running away, Old Zhou turned back to the house happily. Qian raised her eyes and looked at him and said, "Are you relieved now? Man Bao didn't alienate us just because you are not her father."
Lao Zhoutou blushed and said, "Nonsense, who said I'm worried about this? I'm obviously caring about my daughter."
Mr. Qian snorted and said nothing.
Man Bao handed the basket to the coachman and asked him to take it back to Magistrate Yang. Then she stood in front of the Bai family gate with her hands behind her back and thought about whether she should go to her husband directly or go to Bai Shan first and make an appointment with him.
Going to see Mr. Zhuang?
Man Bao hesitated for a moment and felt that as a senior sister, she should still care about her junior brothers and save them from danger, so she knocked on the door of Bai Shan's house first.
Bai Shan, who had been kneeling for more than half an hour and listened to the scolding for a long time, heard a servant come in and report in a low voice, "Old madam, Miss Man is here. She said she wants to invite the young master to come with Mr. Zhuang to listen to the class."
Mrs. Liu then lowered her head and glanced at her kneeling grandson. She snorted and put down the tea cup, "I will punish you when you come back. Now let's go and listen to the class with Man Bao."
Bai Shan got up immediately, staggering because of numbness in his feet. He bent down and bowed before bowing out.
As soon as he got out of the yard, his legs and feet started to move and he simply ran away.
Man Bao was waiting for him in the garden. He was looking down at his ginger field. When he saw him running towards him, he waved and said, "Come and see, your ginger is growing well."
Bai Shan ran over to take a look and found that it was true, "Now the servants at home are cooking it. They harvested it when winter came last year."
Seeing that his knees were a little dirty, Man Bao asked, "You were punished to kneel down?"
Bai Shan then stretched out his hand to rub his knees and sighed: "I guess I will be punished again when I come back tonight."
It's a pity that they don't have to go back at night. As soon as they arrived at Bai Erlang's house next door, Mr. Zhuang made them kneel down.
Mr. Zhuang pulled out a ruler from under the table, walked up to the three of them and asked, "Have you all said hello to your family?"
The three of them nodded blankly.
Mr. Zhuang asked: "Have you been punished?"
Bai Shan and Bai Erlang nodded together, while Man Bao shook his head.
Mr. Zhuang looked at Man Bao first, then walked up to her and said with a serious face: "Then stretch out your hand, starting with you."
Man Bao clenched his fist and stretched out his hand, and asked cautiously, "Sir, how many blows do you need?"
Mr. Zhuang tapped Man Bao's little fist with a ruler, asked her to open it, and said expressionlessly: "Originally, it was supposed to be twenty blows, but you are their senior sister. Not only can you not restrain the junior brothers, but you also
You took the lead in causing mischief, so I’m going to punish you six more times, so I’ll give you twenty-six.”
Man Bao's eyes widened. She was the oldest since she was a child, and the most she was beaten was five times.
Man Bao's little hands started to tremble.
Mr. Zhuang lowered the ruler, and Manbao shrank subconsciously. Mr. Zhuang was even more annoyed and shouted: "Put it out for me."
Man Bao stretched out his hand cautiously.
Mr. Zhuang hit him very evenly, hitting one hand thirteen times, making both hands equally red and swollen. Then he panted and looked at Bai Shan who was kneeling beside him, "Stretch out your hands too."