CHAPTER 412: CHAPTER 0393: THE UNIQUE STUDENT (1)

Outside the house, Li Yuzhu and Mu Yuanxiu leaned against the window, craning their necks to watch.

"I must say, my father’s left-handed writing is really impressive," Li Yuzhu whispered to Mu Yuanxiu.

It was no different from the writing of famous calligraphers she had seen in her memories.

It seems that when Prince Luling boasts about his calligraphy being unmatched in the Capital, it’s not just talk.

Mu Yuanxiu agreed, "Being able to write so well with the left hand is truly remarkable."

"Wow—"

In the classroom, the children quietly murmured in amazement.

The disabled child asked Prince Luling in surprise, "Teacher, how do you write so well with your left hand?"

"It all comes down to practice, practicing in the dog days of summer and the coldest days of winter, whenever there’s free time," Prince Luling said. "It took several years to achieve the level others do with their right hand."

"How many years did you practice?" The disabled child looked on with admiration in his eyes.

Prince Luling replied, "It took about five or six years, and by my coming-of-age ceremony, my left hand could write almost as well as my right."

The disabled child pursed his lips and lowered his eyes, calculating something in his mind.

Prince Luling patted his shoulder and spoke meaningfully, "In this world, there are many people who can’t write with their right hand, and some others, without hands at all, have practiced writing beautifully with their toes."

The disabled child was even more surprised, "How do you write with your feet? How long would that take to practice?"

Prince Luling said, "As long as there’s perseverance, an iron rod can be ground into a needle. In this world, there are many who, with determination and unyielding effort, turn the impossible into possible. When you grow older and leave Qingyang County, you’ll see more of the world."

The disabled child nodded, "I’ll listen to Teacher and make sure to practice writing well."

Prince Luling then had the disabled child write a few more characters to check his penmanship strength.

This time, the disabled child was no longer timid and wrote seriously.

Prince Luling corrected his pen-holding mistakes and posture.

He then held the pen with his left hand and demonstrated a few movements.

The disabled child watched and remembered keenly.

He wrote as Prince Luling instructed, and indeed, his writing was much more proper than before.

He grinned happily.

Prince Luling patted the back of his head, "Not bad, not bad, you’re learning quickly. Practice as I’ve shown you, whenever you have free time, and in three to five years, your writing will be as good as mine."

The disabled child, hugging his books, paper, and pen, happily returned to his seat.

Unnoticed, the hourglass on Prince Luling’s desk had emptied, signaling the end of the morning class.

He closed his book and said to the children, "All right, everyone, get up now."

A group of kneeling children rubbed their knees as they climbed up from the ground.

"Will you still mock others in the future?" He asked solemnly, his voice authoritative as he looked at all the children in the room.

The children replied in unison, "We won’t dare." No laughter was heard.

With their knees still sore, how could they dare?

"Very good, remember your promise." Prince Luling stood up and said, "The morning class is over; go have your meal."

He gathered his textbooks and, with his hands behind his back, walked out of the classroom.

In the room, all the children stood up and said together, "Goodbye, Teacher."

Li Yuzhu came towards Prince Luling, "Father."

Mu Yuanxiu also smiled and called out, "Uncle Li."

"Oh, you two are still here," Prince Luling said with a smile.

"We were worried about you," Li Yuzhu laughed.

"What is there to worry about, just teaching a bunch of kids," Prince Luling laughed.

Song Jinxiu, Mr. Song’s granddaughter, approached them, "Have lunch here. The cook has prepared it."

"Thank you very much," Prince Luling nodded with a smile.

Song Jinxiu also invited Li Yuzhu and Mu Yuanxiu to join them for lunch.

They both thanked her and walked to the kitchen with Prince Luling, following Song Jinxiu.

After Prince Luling left the classroom, the atmosphere in the room became lively again.

The children gathered in small groups to chat.

Some complained about others tattling, while some said the new teacher was amazing, even able to write better with his left hand than Mr. Song could with his right.

In any case, no one dared speak ill of Prince Luling again.

The children chatted and fetched their bowls and chopsticks from the cabinets in the corners of the room as they headed towards the kitchen.

Because the journey home was far, they would eat at the school.

Only a few students who lived nearby would walk home to eat.

For example, Song Baoshun, the skinny child who dared to challenge Prince Luling with a question earlier.

His home was just a hundred steps away from Mr. Song’s house, where he could still hear the sounds of reading from the school when at home.

Additionally, there was the double-eyelid boy, Wang Huizi, who joined the school last.

The Wang family was also close to Mr. Song’s house, so he walked home for meals.

He and Liu San were direct cousins, one with single eyelids, the other with double. They looked about seventy to eighty percent alike, and Liu San also went to his house for meals every day.

The pair of brothers packed up their books and ran together towards the Wang family residence.

At noon, there was a full hour to rest—plenty of time to finish a meal and then go fishing for shrimp by the pond or watch the ducks catch fish for a while.

The rain that had fallen all morning stopped, but the road remained muddy; yet, the brothers joyfully ran along.

Most of the children came in threes and fours to the room beside the kitchen for lunch.

The person cooking for the children was a village woman Mr. Song had hired. She came every day to prepare lunch for the children and earned a bit of wage.

The food for the children was the same as the meals Mr. Song’s family had.

Four dishes were prepared, two vegetarian and two with meat.

They were placed in four large basins.

After Song Jinxiu filled the children’s bowls with rice, the children lined up in front of the cook to get their dishes.

The cook handled a large ladle, giving a little of each dish.

Once their food was served, the children sat around three large tables to eat together.

There was also a table in the room where Mr. Song and several others were seated.

The table held the same four dishes the children had, served in large bowls.

The large pot meals were not tasty, with little oil and much water.

However, even Prince Luling had lived in caves before, and when he was exiled here, he had eaten white steamed buns for a month. He had become less particular about food and only cared about getting full; he never refused whatever was offered here.

Li Yuzhu, Mu Yuanxiu, and he sat together to eat.

After Song Jinxiu finished serving the rice, she also came to join the meal.

Except for Prince Luling, who ate three bowls of rice, everyone else only ate a bowl of rice and some dishes.

Li Yuzhu wanted to persuade Prince Luling to eat less, but before she could, in the process of serving vegetables, Prince Luling already had his third bowl of rice shoved into his mouth.

The children were fast eaters, eating quicker than the adults.

After finishing their meals, they went outside to the water tank, each taking a scoop made of a gourd to draw water for washing their bowls.

After putting their bowls back in the wooden cabinet in the corner of the classroom, they went off to play in small groups.

The lunchtime break was the happiest time of day for them.

Inside the kitchen, only Li Yuzhu, Prince Luling, and the others were eating.

Once Prince Luling finished eating, as per etiquette, he had to wait for everyone else to finish before leaving. He sat at the table and drank tea, chatting casually with Mr. Song.

Mr. Song asked him about his teaching experience.

Prince Luling praised the children for being intelligent and lively, saying it was definitely due to Mr. Song’s excellent teaching.

Mr. Song smiled humbly.

Suddenly, a burst of children’s laughter rang out from the yard outside.

Everyone stopped talking and looked outside to see that it was the disabled child who, in his rush to the bathroom, had tripped and fallen on the road in the yard.

With only one hand to push himself off the ground, he appeared quite disheveled as he got up.

He shook the mud off his hand and went to scoop water to wash his hands.

Seeing Li Yuzhu, Mu Yuanxiu, and Prince Luling watching the kid, Mr. Song shook his head and said, "The poor child is neglected by his family. I brought him into the school. His family refused to pay the tuition, saying a useless child couldn’t learn anything anyway, paying money would be wasting it. I didn’t want this child’s life to be entirely wasted, so I waived his tuition."

Prince Luling indignantly said, "Neglecting one’s child—how can such family members exist?"

Mr. Song replied, "Yes, I agree with Mr. Li’s opinion, one’s child is born with their flesh, good or bad, how can they be abandoned?"

Prince Luling said, "To be called useless over mere disability of the right hand is excessive!"

Mr. Song nodded, "Indeed, isn’t it? I persuaded his family to send him to school, and I told the child that if his right hand couldn’t bear strength and couldn’t do farm work, he should learn more characters to work at a pharmacy or become a teacher like me. I taught him to write with his left hand—even though it doesn’t look good, he works hard at it. He knows more characters than other children; he is evidently not useless but a smart child."

Prince Luling was surprised, "He isn’t the oldest and knows more characters than the other children?"

"Yes, he only started school late, having been here for just a year. There are two children who’ve been here for ten years and still don’t know as much as he does," Mr. Song replied.

Li Yuzhu thought of her shop in the county town, which lacked assistants.

If the child was willing to go, she could employ him.

After speaking, everyone finished their meals.

Song Jinxiu and the cook collected the bowls and chopsticks.

Mu Yuanxiu helped arrange the tables and chairs.

Li Yuzhu went outside to find the disabled child.

The children were grouped in threes and fives, some squatting on the ground playing chess with sticks, some exchanging jokes, some tapping painting boards, and some playing stone toss.

Only the disabled child wasn’t seen.

She grabbed a child to inquire.

"Ha, why are you looking for him? He’s a fool," the child laughed.