Scholar Wan had recently taken a strong disliking to He Jinseng.
He Jinseng, for so reason, had announced that he would no longer be staying at the private school and instead would return ho.
Half of Wan’s Private School’s revenue ca from the students’ lodging fees: each student paid a hundred copper coins per month, plus thirty kilograms of rice and a load of vegetables.
However, He Jinseng had been residing properly and suddenly stated that he wouldn’t stay anymore, which infuriated Scholar Wan. Lately, he had been giving He Jinseng strenuous and dirty tasks to perform frequently.
"Yes, I will move the rice to the backyard right away," He Jinseng, being an honest boy, knew that as a student at the private school he shouldn’t be doing such nial tasks suited for servants, but he did it anyway, carrying bags of rice to the backyard.
He had moved about half of it when he was about to turn back to the front of the private school and heard a burst of teasing laughter.
"Cousin~ so early in the morning, you are blocking soone’s way here. What if soone sees us? Aren’t you afraid that our affair might reach Gu Yui’s ears and she’ll get angry and call off the engagent with you?" Although Ni Ruiniang said this, her body kept moving closer into Wan Lifang’s arms, showing no sign of fear of being discovered.
Wan Lifang hugged Ni Ruiniang, kissing her and said: "That woman, a famine escapee and eldest daughter of a widow, ought to be grateful soone is willing to marry her. How dare she even think about calling off the marriage with yours truly?"
"Moreover, she’s no saint or strong woman; last ti I already had my way with her."
Upon hearing this, Ni Ruiniang almost exploded and started crying pitifully: "Cousin... you, you already got intimate with her?"
She knew Wan Lifang was a beast, unable to resist any woman he saw. That Gu Yui was also despicable, letting Wan Lifang have his way.
"What stage have you reached with her? Could it be that you also want to have a child with her before even getting married?" Sobbing, Ni Ruiniang cried with tears like a pear blossom bathed in the rain, looking utterly pitiful. Her tears and vulnerability made Wan Lifang even more tempted and passionate.
"Cousin, you are thinking too far. I just touched her, nothing else."
Even if he wanted to do sothing, there wasn’t a place to do it, unlike with her, Ni Ruiniang, who had a room available for their activities.
Assuaged by his words, Ni Ruiniang felt sowhat relieved: "Cousin, you must rember your promise to mother and , you can’t let Gu Yui bear a child."
"That’s for sure. When have I, your cousin, ever failed to keep a promise? Let’s not talk about this anymore; cousin, hurry and help sate my longing," urged Wan Lifang, pulling Ni Ruiniang towards a nearby room.
Caressing her belly protectively with one hand, Ni Ruiniang hesitated: "Cousin, be careful, aunt said it’s a critical period before three months."
Wan Lifang assured her: "Cousin, don’t worry. This is my child, and of course, I will be gentle and won’t harm our son."
As their voices faded away after they left, He Jinseng, who was hidden behind a cluster of lush bamboo, could no longer bear it and collapsed slowly to the ground.
What... what did he just hear?
Brother Wan and Miss Ni had already beco intimate... and Miss Ni was even pregnant with Brother Wan’s child!
How outrageous, what a violation of morals!
In He Jinseng’s view, n and won should only have children after getting married. The news of Wan Lifang and Ni Ruiniang’s affair had left him utterly shocked and bewildered.
He sat behind the green bamboos for about a quarter of an hour before he mustered the strength to get up, dazedly heading toward the private school ahead.
"Jin Sheng, you lazy brat, where have you been hiding? I asked you to move so rice and you skive off. Such behavior truly disgraces scholars!" Scholar Wan, seeing that it took Jin Sheng a long ti to return, felt that his action was an expression of dissatisfaction towards him and got very angry, pointing at Jin Sheng, "Co here, if I don’t teach you a lesson today, won’t you ruin the reputation of Wan’s Private School in the future?"
Jin Sheng, still not having recovered his senses, walked towards Scholar Wan in a daze.
Seeing his bewildered appearance, Scholar Wan got even angrier, grabbed his hand, lifted the iron ruler, and fiercely hit Jin Sheng’s palm ten tis.
Jin Sheng’s hand swelled terribly, and the skin on his palm was broken.
Jin Sheng, with tears streaming down, didn’t dare to cry out loud. The other students, seeing this, so sympathized with him, while others laughed at him.
"What are you still dazed for? Think you don’t have to move things because you got a few hits from the ruler? Hurry up and move the remaining rice to the backyard, then chop the firewood in the kitchen yard, consider it your punishnt for being lazy."
Old Ni returned to the Ni Family today, and no one was available to chop the firewood at the Wan’s. Seeing that Jin Sheng was easy to bully and had caught him making a mistake, Scholar Wan took the opportunity to make him chop the wood.
Poor Jin Sheng, with his bleeding palms, not only had to move heavy bags of rice but also chopped a pile of firewood, and didn’t get ho until dusk.
Seeing that it was dark for a long ti and Jin Sheng had not yet returned ho, Dacang was worried sick. He took a torch, called his brothers Dasu, and the three of them went looking, eting Jin Sheng on his way ho from Da Feng Village to the town in the dark.
"Jin Sheng, why are you coming ho so late? Did sothing happen?" Dacang, seeing Jin Sheng, anxiously asked.
"Dad, don’t worry, I’m fine, I just angered the teacher today, and he punished , that’s why I’m late," Jin Sheng said, then bowed to his uncles Dasu, "Sorry for troubling you two uncles, I’m fine."
But today, Jin Sheng was scared, beaten, and had done heavy labor all day. In the middle of the night, he developed a high fever, frightening the entire family of Village Chief He. They hurriedly went to town to fetch a doctor to treat him.
Fortunately, it was just a common fever, nothing serious, and he recovered after resting for a couple of days.
The He family excused Jin Sheng from school for two days. When Scholar Wan learned of this, he cursed Jin Sheng behind his back: "This kid must have done it on purpose, annoyed that I punished him, who knows what he would say at ho?"
Jin Sheng didn’t talk about Scholar Wan deliberately picking on him, but he did talk about the affair between Wan Li and Ni Ruiniang.
"Grandfather... I know I shouldn’t have spoken about this matter, but what they are doing is not right, how can people do such a thing? They are harming people."
"They are disgracing the Gu Family... Gu Family has helped our family a lot... Grandson really can’t cover up such filthy matters for the sake of preserving the Wan Family’s face."
Village Chief He was completely confused: "Jin, Jin Sheng, are you serious? Did Wan Li really get Miss Ni pregnant?!"
Oh God, this is a deadly serious matter.
Jin Sheng, still a naive youngster, blushed to the roots of his ears when he heard the words of the Village Chief & nodded: "... What grandson heard is indeed so."
Dacang was absolutely furious: "This Wan Family, a family of scholars, turns out to be so disgraceful. Wan Li, this young man, is absolutely not worthy of being a scholar, so filthy!"
"Why are you yelling? Keep your voice down, Old Man, if others hear this, it will be troubleso," Village Chief He scolded Dacang.
Scolded, Dacang lowered his voice, asking Village Chief He, "Dad, what should we do about this? We need to notify Gu Dafu’s family quickly, we can’t delay."
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