"Should we go?" Chu Qilin furrowed his small brow and asked once more.
"At her age, it's rare that she still diligently pursues learning. I'll go with you to take a look, and if necessary, I can offer her some encouragement."
"…!" Countless black lines instantly appeared on Chu Qilin's forehead.
The father and son then headed toward a school on the outskirts of the city.
On the way, looking at the small sword on his son's back, Li Yingfeng couldn't help but ask, "When did you take Si Muchi as your master? And how did you come to know him?"
"When I was two years old, Grandfather helped me find a master."
"You have a grandfather too?" Li Yingfeng paused mid-step, his brow furrowing involuntarily. "And who might he be?"
"Grandfather's identity is special—I can't say." Chu Qilin turned his head and shot him a dissatisfied glare. "Are you going or not?"
Li Yingfeng's handsome face darkened with another layer of gloom.
He hadn't expected this little brat to be so cunning!
He could now almost be certain that yesterday's dragging him around to buy out every shop in the city, big and small, was this little brat's deliberate doing!
Fine!
Very well!
How dare he treat his own biological father like a fool to be fleeced!
Yaoyao Academy.
This was established by Chu Xinrao at her own expense.
The academy was modest in scale, enrolling only the children of nearby impoverished families—about twenty or so in total. Though their ages ranged from five to ten, none of these children had ever attended school before, so they all started from the same point of enlightenment.
The academy had hired two instructors, both of xiu cai background, who took turns teaching on a daily basis.
Chu Xinrao came once every two days, mainly to indulge her own craving for teaching.
The father and son stood outside the academy's main gate, silently keeping still in mutual accord.
At that moment, Chu Xinrao was telling the children a story, completely unaware that someone was listening from outside the door.
"At this critical moment, the fox said to the tiger, 'I am the king of all beasts sent by heaven. If you eat me, you will be defying heaven's command and will be struck by lightning…'"
Chu Qilin remained expressionless, for he had heard these stories countless times already.
But the lord beside him listened with a look of utter disdain. "This is what you call your mother teaching? Rather than fooling ignorant children here, she might as well go tell stories at a teahouse!"
Chu Qilin was at a loss for words and rolled his little eyes at him. "This is called idiom stories. These stories are full of profound life lessons that make people think deeply and teach them wisdom!"
"Idiom stories?" Li Yingfeng looked at his son with a grim face. He too had been precocious as a child, and by the age of twenty had a mind brimming with classical knowledge, yet he had never heard of such a teaching method!
"There are plenty of things you don't know. Don't be so surprised!" Chu Qilin lifted his chin—the first half of his sentence was pride for his mother, the second half pure contempt for this father of his.
"You—!" Li Yingfeng clenched his back molars.
His hands itched—he wanted to hit someone!
From within the classroom came the woman's questioning voice again. "The story of 'The Fox Borrowing the Tiger's Might' is finished. Now I'll ask a classmate to stand up and tell us what lesson this story teaches us."
Soon a childish voice rang out, "Mr. Chu, this story teaches us that we must not lie or deceive others, or there will be no good ending."
"Mr. Chu, I know! This story teaches us not to trust people easily, because we might get tricked!"
"Mr. Chu…"
After the childish voices eagerly answered one after another, Chu Xinrao smiled and said, "We can think about this story from two perspectives. The fox deceived the tiger mainly to save its own life. In reality, we inevitably encounter dangers, and to protect ourselves, sometimes we must learn from the fox—doing everything possible to numb the enemy and escape danger. From the tiger's perspective, the tiger readily believed the fox's words, showing that it was not clever enough. In reality, when we meet people and face situations, we must think more carefully and be careful not to be fooled by others' hypocrisy. Students, do you understand?"
"Teacher Chu, we understand!"
"Alright, that's all for today's story. Next class, we'll learn nursery rhymes…"
Outside the door.
Listening to the children's joyful voices, the disdain in Li Yingfeng's eyes gradually vanished without him realizing it. He slightly turned his gaze toward the direction inside the door, a multitude of unnameable emotions churning in his eyes.
He was certain—this woman was the one who had defiled his innocence six years ago!
But…
This woman was absolutely not that useless farm girl from Heming Village!
Suddenly, this thought surged into his mind, and his eyes widened slightly. Even he found the notion utterly absurd.
He had personally witnessed Chu Zhiyang bringing Gu Quanfu and Liu Shuixiang to search for her. Even six years later, those people were still inquiring about her whereabouts…
How could she not be that farm girl?
But could a farm girl, in just six short years, become so well-read, eloquent, and erudite?
"Let's go. Don't disturb my mother's class!" Chu Qilin naturally noticed the change in his expression, so his tone also improved considerably. "Aren't you interested in the Replication Technique? I'll take you to see it now."
Li Yingfeng withdrew his complicated thoughts.
Looking at his son's straight little back, his legs unconsciously followed.
…
The so-called workshop was actually just a fairly large room that had been converted.
Inside the room were dozens of wooden shelves. Except for the shelves along one wall displaying scrolls of books, the other shelves were all lined with objects resembling dice—densely packed, and by a rough count, at least several thousand pieces!
Suppressing the shock within him, Li Yingfeng picked one up and examined it closely.
It was slightly larger than a die, square on all four sides, with only one side bearing a character, and the character was completely reversed compared to normal script…
"This is called Rubbing Printing. Don't underestimate this unassuming thing—my mother spent great effort carving these out. With these Clay Rubbings, no matter what book it is, we can arrange the type and print copies. We can print as many volumes as we want, no longer needing to copy by hand, which greatly saves time and labor." After explaining to him, Chu Qilin suddenly sighed. "Although we have this technology, we don't dare to publicize it widely. After all, it's just the three of us—my mother, me, and Aunt Caier. Being too busy is one thing, but what we truly fear is inviting trouble. Earlier, when my mother and I were in Cangling City, some bullies set their sights on us. Those bullies wanted to seize our printing technique for themselves. They not only captured me to threaten my mother, but they nearly burned her to death!"
"Such a thing happened?" A murderous intent surged in Li Yingfeng's eyes as he asked coldly, "Who were they?"
"It's already over." Chu Qilin grinned at him. "All those people are dead. Even if you wanted to stand up for us, you wouldn't have the chance."
"…" Li Yingfeng shot him a glare, exasperated.
"Alright, let's get to work. Since you've come all the way here, you can't just idle about—you'll have to lend a hand with the chores!" Chu Qilin extended his little finger, pointing at a stack of rice paper not far away. "If you please, Father, move those over there. I'm too small to carry them."
"…!" Li Yingfeng's handsome face turned pitch black, nearly spitting blood on the spot.
You little brat, daring to order him around!