Come on, dear, make a bit more effort and you'll be second!

  －

  "The student, knowing he was wrong... The young master of the wealthy family, accustomed to sizing up situations, had already investigated Wang Fang's background. If he were to provoke the old man, it would not be worth the cost to the Cheng family."

  "To know and to change is the greatest virtue." Wang Fang said calmly, "From now on, you all must remember that when writing poetry or prose, it's essential to have substance in your words. Writing should convey truth, not just show off your eloquence, remember this well."

  "The students humbly accept your teachings......" The scholars bowed together in unison.

  "Let Yuan Zhi Shi tell you about the rules of the academy. I'm going down the mountain." Wang Fang stood up.

  "See you off, Shan Chang..." The etiquette and rules of the school are much stricter than those in society. Although Chen Ke didn't have other people's learning experience, he had a kind-hearted old father who taught him everything he should know.

  "The School Rules of Zhongyan Academy." Yuan Zhi looked at the students with a cold gaze: "Often ask your parents; on New Year's Eve and the 15th of the month, pay respects to the sages; correct your behavior and get rid of bad habits; be dignified and serious in your demeanor; dress and eat modestly; do not interfere with external affairs; when walking or sitting, follow the order of seniority; strictly forbid gossiping and criticizing others; reject friends who are detrimental to you; do not waste time on idle chatter; recite classics three times a day; read outlines several pages a day; understand current events and natural phenomena; read ancient texts, poetry, and essays; when reading books, take notes; finish your homework early according to the schedule; still be cautious of oversleeping at night; strive to clarify doubts! The above 18 school rules, you must remember them carefully, recite them every morning, speak and act cautiously, and strictly punish those who violate them!"

  "We remember..." The students responded in unison.

  "Alright, let's disperse for now." Yuan Zhi said: "The school will officially start on the day after tomorrow, at exactly 4 o'clock." He paused and continued: "According to the rules, students from this county should attend classes without boarding, but the principal has made an exception for you. If any student from this county wants to apply for accommodation, go next door and sign up with me!"

  As soon as Yuan Zhi Shi left, all the students sat down on the ground at once, rubbing their legs and feet that had gone numb from kneeling for so long, and calling out in unison about how painful it was. Everyone had been used to sitting on chairs since they were young, how could they endure such a long time of kneeling?

  "Are you going to stay overnight?" Chen Ke propped up his knee and slowly stood up.

  "I won't stay, I plan to leave and read." Su Shi said: "My mother and sister have all moved to Qing Shen, isn't it for the sake of meeting every day?"

  "Hmm." Chen Ke smiled and said, "I don't plan on living in the dorms either. Even sleeping has to be supervised, it's too restrictive." As he spoke, he pulled Si Lang up and said, "You should go back home to live too."

  "Big brother has already arranged a place for me to stay." Fourth Brother was the most gentle and elegant of the Chen family brothers. But to think that such a pair of scoundrels, the parents, could have two good sons like them, it's really heaven being blind.

  "If you can stay, then stay; if you can't, then leave." Chen Sanlang was the most powerful of the Chen brothers: "Home is always better than school, and we can be closer to each other."

  "Alright then." The last sentence moved Shirō.

  "Is your house still empty?" Song Duanping leaned over and chuckled: "As long as there's room for a bed, it's fine."

  "If I dared say no, Old Man Song would come after me with a knife." Chen Xiao laughed and said: "Let's go together, let's go together!"

  A few people gathered their book boxes and walked out smiling, but were stopped by a teaching assistant who asked, "Which one of you is Su Shi?"

  "I am."

  "Follow me, and you'll be treated with hospitality."

  Su Shi left mysteriously and returned after a while, still holding an envelope in his hand: "It turns out that Mountain Long and my father are old friends, and he asked me to bring this letter back."

  "It's like that." The time was not early, and the crowd ran down the mountain in a hurry. When they reached the foot of the mountain, Gorō had already been waiting with his head raised: "Second brother said, they moved to the upper temple, it's too inconvenient to come down the mountain, and they won't be coming home every day anymore."

  "Alright," said Chen Ke, "let's hurry up and get on our way."

  The group of people left Zhongyan Temple and headed towards the county town.

  The sunset dyed the sky red, and the wind on the dam blew the wheat waves rolling. The young people who were relieved of their burdens played happily, chasing each other with their schoolbags on their backs, their laughter echoing in the countryside... until they were blocked by the horses and men of the Cheng family on the river dam.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Cheng Zhongyuan and his two brothers all went to the lower temple, so they had already dispersed from school, and specially waited here for the Chen brothers.

  With the two elderly men gone, Cheng Zhiyuan had no more reservations. He sat on his horse, looking down at them and said, "Now that you're six or seven miles away from the academy, beating you up would be pointless, wouldn't it?"

  "This should be said by me." Chen Ke threw the book box to the ground and stretched his muscles, saying: "I've been looking at you with disdain for a long time!" How dare he show off in front of me every day, riding a horse back and forth? Can't he see that I don't even have a donkey to ride?!

  The flames of jealousy blazed up, Chen Ke rubbed his fists and palms together, his face excitedly saying: "Let's go together!"

  "Huh?" The Cheng brothers were somewhat surprised, thinking to themselves, "Are there still people like this who are itching for a beating?" In their opinion, the three family guards on their side were skilled fighters, and they would easily take care of these young whippersnappers. So they bared their teeth and shouted: "Stop wasting words, let's go!"

  "One 'Golden Flower Mouse' is enough!" A house servant stepped forward. In the Song Dynasty, the lower class liked to give themselves nicknames. Only "Golden Flower Mouse" took off his upper garment, revealing a body full of tattoos, and said calmly: "Girl, let's go up together!"

  "Up!" Chen Ke shouted, and Wu Lang rushed up. The golden mouse hadn't reacted yet, but was kicked to the ground by Chen Ke with one foot, then picked up by Wu Lang with one leg, shouting loudly, and thrown into the rice field.

  "Ah yo......" This was the first mournful cry to come from the fields.

  The Chen brothers who grew up eating beef, the Chen brothers who practiced military boxing since childhood, can take down these little rascals with no more than three or two pounds of flesh all over their bodies, and ten or eight are not worth mentioning.

  The Cheng brothers were stunned, thinking they had come to bully the weak, but who would have thought that they kicked an iron plate.

  "You launched a sneak attack, two against one! It's not a glorious victory!" Cheng Zhiyi urged the other two to come forward and respond.

  "Leave them to me." Before Chen Ke and Wu Lang could react, a figure flashed forward and in the blink of an eye, had beaten the two house guards until they couldn't get up.

  A small whirlwind blew by, and the household staff groaned in distress: 'How annoying, we haven't even gotten our registration numbers yet...'

  "Extras don't need a name," the man said with a flourish, striking a pose. "I'm different, my name is Bao Da Bu Ping Song Duanping!"

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "Hahahaha......" Chen Ke sneered, step by step closing in on the Cheng brothers. He had only ever beaten up street thugs before, but he had never tasted the flesh of these refined and pampered young masters from a wealthy family.

  The three book boys were all half-sized, seeing the usual bully being knocked down, they were so scared that they retreated backwards. The Cheng brothers on horseback also lost their superior feeling and hastily said: "You, don't be reckless, do you know who we are?"

  "I don't care what your surname is!" Chen Ke pointed at the three of them and said, "Today, let you all remember. In these few acres of land in Qing Shen, if it's a dragon, I'll make you coil around me, if it's a tiger, I'll make you lie down for me!" When he spoke, his fierce energy shot up to the sky, without any hint of a scholar's tone.

  "Never mind, never mind." Just as he couldn't bear to see Chen Ke being bullied, Su Shi also couldn't bear to see the Cheng brothers getting beaten. He hastily pulled Third Brother and said: "Third Brother, I'm begging you, this time don't bother with him, otherwise I won't be able to face Mother." He then angrily scolded the Cheng brothers: "You're learning from that evil young master's ways, I'll definitely tell Uncle and have him severely punish you!"

  "This matter can't be settled like this." The Cheng brothers were already pale and embarrassed, Cheng Zhongyuan dropped a ruthless remark, turned his horse's head to leave... but felt a tight grip on his ankle. He looked down to see that he had been grabbed by Chen Hei Wu Lang, thinking of the scene where the black man threw someone earlier, he didn't doubt at all, if the other party used force, he would fly out.

  "How do you want to end this?" Chen Ke said coldly.

  "My intention is..." Cheng Zhongyuan burst out laughing and said: "Another day, let's set up a table at the wine tower to apologize to Brother Chen." He was indeed a good fellow who didn't take advantage of the situation.

  "Who ate your bird's food." Chen Ke squinted and said, "Considering Hé Zhòng's face, I'll forgive you this once. But from now on, you're not allowed to ride a horse in Qīng Shén County; otherwise, I'll hit you every time I see you!"

  "What does this have to do with anything?" Cheng Zhīyuǎn was confused.

  "Because you're blocking traffic and affecting the city's appearance!" Chen Qiaojun said with a domineering wave of his hand, as if to say, "Is it because I'm nakedly jealous?"

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  When they returned home before dark, their elders had already prepared a sumptuous dinner for them.

  It's said that all the kids were admitted, so the elders were naturally very happy and told them to hurry up and wash their hands before taking their seats.

  After washing his hands, Su Shi took out Wang Fang's letter and handed it to his father.

  Su Xun unfolded and looked at Yao Nu who was handing towels to her brothers, smiling: "Little sister, why haven't you been happy all day today?"

  "What's wrong..." Su Xiaomei laughed and said: "All of you brothers have been admitted to the academy, I'm so happy I haven't had time to react yet."

  "That's how she looks every day, with a tight face." Su Xun chuckled and said: "Her little mouth can even hang an oil bottle."

  "That was worrying for brothers." Su Xiaomei made a ghost face and smiled: "Now put your heart at ease."

  "Oh, it seems Father misunderstood," Su Xun said with a sudden realization: "I thought you were envying your brothers for being able to go to school."

  "There isn't anymore..." Little sister's face was smiling like a flower, but her eyes were red-rimmed.

  "Is this how you behave as a father?" Madame Cheng rebuked, giving Su Xun a disapproving look.

  "Haha," Su Xun ignored her and teased the little girl, "Since you don't envy your brothers, I'll go back to Wang Lao Fu Zi and let him find another family's daughter."

  "What's going on?" The little sister was extremely clever and, upon hearing this, widened her eyes and stared at the detestable old father: "Is Master Wang going to take a female disciple?"

  "Clever." Su Xun twirled his mustache and smiled, "Old Master Wang has a daughter who is one year older than you. After her mother passed away last year, she moved into the academy and felt lonely and dependent on no one. Old Master Wang remembered that I have a virtuous and gentle daughter, so he wrote to ask if it would be possible for you two to study together." He paused, looking at Little Sister with a sly gaze, "What do you think?"

  In the Song Dynasty, it was not unusual for ordinary girls to attend school and learn to read before they came of age. Moreover, Wang Fang guaranteed that he would not let the girls and boys mix together, so Su Shi had nothing to worry about.

  "It's all up to Father." Little sister smiled with curved eyes.

  "I'd rather you didn't go." Su Xun shook his head and said, "Girls, what's the point of reading so many books? It's more important to learn how to be a good wife and daughter."

  "One must read books to understand the truth." As they say, "when you're in a situation, you're confused", everyone knew that Su Xun was teasing her, but little sister was so anxious she almost cried: "Father doesn't want his daughter to become that kind of ignorant and boring woman, does he..."

  "Hahaha......" The whole table was amused by this little girl of about ten years old.

  --------------------------------------------------- Divider ---------------------------------------------------

  It's even more certain tonight. It's really hard to adjust the state back... Seeking recommendation votes, seeking second!