CHAPTER 100: CHAPTER 100 MENG FUSHENG

Zhao Dong’s sudden exclamation made Sun Mei jump. She said irritably, "What’s wrong with you? Trying to scare me to death?"

Zhao Dong chuckled and quickly soothed his wife, "Honey, don’t be angry. I just suddenly remembered something and got a bit excited."

Sun Mei tucked the mosquito net under the straw mat and asked, puzzled, "What did you remember?"

Zhao Dong then said, "I remembered who Mr. Meng is. The original owner of this body once heard the name, but the memory was vague, so I didn’t recognize it until now."

He sighed and continued, "You know, Mr. Meng is actually related to Scholar Meng. And their relationship is quite close."

Sun Mei looked at Zhao Dong, who was playing coy, and said irritably, "What, could it be his son?"

Zhao Dong clapped his hands. "Hey, you’re right! It is indeed Scholar Meng’s son."

Sun Mei exclaimed, "Ah, I’ve never heard that Scholar Meng had a child."

When Scholar Meng came to their place to live in seclusion, he was all alone, with no wife, children, or other family. Later, when he started teaching at the school, he never brought any family to live with him. She had assumed he didn’t have any.

Seeing his wife’s surprised expression, Zhao Dong said, "A few years ago, when the original owner of this body went to work at Country Gentry Wei’s estate, he overheard some gossip. I don’t know if it’s true, though."

"The story goes that Scholar Meng’s wife passed away young, leaving him with a son."

"Since Scholar Meng repeatedly failed the imperial examinations, he pinned all his hopes on his son, dreaming he would achieve greatness. He had such high expectations for him. However, his son wasn’t interested in studying the Four Books and Five Classics. Instead, he loved practicing martial arts and dreamed of venturing out to explore all corners of the country."

"The two of them had many disagreements and frequent quarrels. After one particularly heated argument, Meng Fusheng felt that his father didn’t love him. So, in a fit of anger, he left home to explore all corners of the country."

He left and never came back.

After listening to Zhao Dong’s narration, Sun Mei sighed, "I guess Mr. Meng came back this time to visit his father. But he was afraid that his father didn’t want to see him, so he hid."

Zhao Dong also sighed. "It seems that many fathers, throughout history, haven’t been good at expressing their feelings. Scholar Meng must miss his son dearly. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have chosen to live in seclusion in Xiaoyi Village. I heard Xiaoyi Village was his deceased wife’s home village."

Sun Mei nodded, "That’s true. There is no father who truly doesn’t love their child."

The couple lay in bed, chatting intermittently. They didn’t notice Zhao Zhitong, who had come looking for them, crouched by the door, listening to their entire conversation.

Not until the two of them started chatting about something else did Zhao Zhitong run in, shouting, "Mom, Mom!"

Sun Mei sat up in surprise. "Eh, why aren’t you sleeping in bed? What are you doing here?"

"Mom, I have something to tell you."

As Zhao Zhitong spoke, she had already crawled onto the bed, her little bottom in the air. "Mom, today I promised my classmates they could come to our house for a meal during the school break. Do we have enough food?"

Sun Mei replied helplessly, "How can we not have food? Don’t we have piles of rice and wheat in your space? How many students are coming over?"

When Zhao Zhitong attended kindergarten in her previous life, she often brought classmates home. Therefore, Sun Mei was very experienced at hosting them.

Zhao Zhitong thought for a while and said, "There should be six or seven classmates coming. They say they really miss your cooking."

Sun Mei nodded, "Okay, when the time comes, let your dad set up a barbecue stand in the courtyard. We can barbecue and eat river snails. How’s that?"

"Great, great!" Zhao Zhitong’s eyes lit up immediately, and she said excitedly, "Mom, I also want to eat Liuzhou river snails rice noodle!"

Sun Mei laughed. "You little scamp, you sure know what to ask for! Alright, no problem. It’s getting late. You should go to bed now; you have school tomorrow."

Zhao Zhitong nodded, then crawled down from the bed and scampered back to the west room.

The next day, Zhao Zhitong arrived at the school very early. She went to her Teacher’s study first, tidied up his desk, and cleaned the study.

When Scholar Meng walked into his study, Zhao Zhitong was neatly stacking the scattered paper and books on his desk. He laughed, "Young girl, why did you come so early today?"

Seeing her Teacher approaching, Zhao Zhitong immediately ran over to greet him, then hurriedly ran to pour some tea for him.

"Teacher, here is your tea."

Looking at the diligent and sensible little girl in front of him, Scholar Meng took the tea contentedly.

This girl was truly sensible and intelligent; he was incredibly pleased with this student.

He was truly glad now that he had accepted her as his disciple back then. If he had been overly pedantic at the time, he would surely have regretted it immensely later on.

Seeing that her Teacher had finished his tea, Zhao Zhitong bit her lip, then asked with twinkling eyes, "Teacher, can Tongtong ask you a question?"

Scholar Meng put the teacup on the table, straightened his posture, and nodded, "Go ahead."

Zhao Zhitong blinked. "Teacher, if a father scolds his child, and the child runs out of the house in anger, will the father be so furious that he’ll hate his child and never want to see them again?"

Hearing this question, Scholar Meng was taken aback. He subconsciously assumed Zhao Dong had scolded Zhao Zhitong that morning.

So, he asked anxiously, "What happened, young girl? Did your father scold you?"

Zhao Zhitong shook her head quickly, "No, no, Daddy didn’t scold Tongtong."

Only then did Scholar Meng breathe a sigh of relief. He then patiently explained, "Young girl, sometimes when parents scold their children, it’s because they’re disappointed, wishing they would live up to their potential. They might lose their temper in the heat of the moment and say things they don’t mean. But usually, after scolding their children, parents feel guilty and regretful. They won’t hate their children because of it."

"If a child runs away from home, the father would be very worried. So, young girl, if you ever have an argument with your father, you must never run away from home in anger, understand?"

After hearing her Teacher’s words, Zhao Zhitong nodded heavily, "Okay, Teacher, I get it."

After bidding farewell to her Teacher, she ran towards the classroom.

Upon reaching the classroom, she saw Qiao Muchen and Wei Shulan already sitting at their desks reading.

She ran over, called out to the two, then the little trio huddled their heads together under the desk and began whispering secretively.

Upon hearing Zhao Zhitong’s story, Qiao Muchen and Wei Shulan were both surprised.

Qiao Muchen spoke in disbelief, "Tongtong, are you saying that the man in the green robe we saw yesterday is the Teacher’s son?"

"Shhh!" Zhao Zhitong gestured for quiet. "Quieter, Qiao Jiaojiao! Don’t let anyone hear you."

Qiao Muchen hurriedly covered his mouth, looked around to see if any students were listening, and then asked quietly, "Is it true?"

Zhao Zhitong confirmed, "Of course, it’s true. The man in the green robe has the same surname as the Teacher, Meng. He must be the Teacher’s son."

At that moment, a small head suddenly stretched in, asking in a low voice, "What are you talking about? What about the Teacher’s son?"

As the little trio was currently embarking on a great plan, they were already on edge. Suddenly, the appearance of a head startled them all.

Once they saw who it was, they realized it was Zhao Yue.

At that moment, he was looking at them curiously. Then, he suddenly seemed to realize something and said confidently, "Oh, I get it. You’re scheming something, aren’t you? I’m going to tell the Teacher."