The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 1005 - 984 Punished

Chapter 1005: Chapter 984 Punished

Mr. Zhuang continued to lecture Manbao and Bai Shan on the topic for over a quarter of an hour, until Bai Erlang’s knees were aching from kneeling. It was then that he dealt with him, "Stand up. I remember you haven’t copied the ’Book of Rites’ yet, have you? This time, you’ll copy it once and hand it in before Mid-Autumn Festival."

Bai Erlang’s mouth fell open in shock.

The ’Book of Rites’... the thick ’Book of Rites’?

Manbao and Bai Shan, who had already copied it several times, sympathetically glanced at Bai Erlang and then silently lowered their heads, deciding to keep out of sight of their teacher as much as possible.

Every time Manbao got into trouble, Bai Shan would be dragged into the punishment with him, or when Bai Shan caused a problem, Manbao would also be implicated. But this time, Mr. Zhuang didn’t extend the punishment to the two of them because of Bai Erlang; he simply assigned the punishment and waved Bai Erlang to his feet.

He said, "If you dare touch gambling again, it won’t be as simple as spanking your palm and making you copy texts."

Bai Erlang grimaced and replied with an "Yes."

The three of them stole a glance at their teacher and quietly withdrew.

Bai Erlang extended his right hand for them to see his swollen fingers, "There are only twelve days left until Mid-Autumn, and I don’t know when my hand will be better. The ’Book of Rites’ is both thick and full of convoluted, difficult language - how can I possibly copy it?"

"It’s simple. While your hand hasn’t healed, first read through the ’Book of Rites’. Aren’t you currently studying it?" Bai Shan said, "Review what you’ve learned, read through what you haven’t, and ask us any questions about parts you don’t understand. It will be much easier to copy once you’ve memorized it."

Manbao nodded, "And your hand...," she pondered briefly before saying, "I’ll prepare another jar of medicine for you. You’re young and will heal quickly; it should take no more than four or five days at most."

Bai Erlang counted on his fingers and then opened his eyes wide in realization, "Then I’ll only have seven days left."

Both of them nodded and patted his shoulder to console him, "It’s alright. You won’t be able to finish copying it anyway. Prepare to copy it in two parts."

Bai Erlang, seeing their reaction, became angry and said, "You’re not even offering to help me."

Manbao spread her hands and said, "There’s nothing I can do - Teacher Mo is very sharp-eyed. He can tell at a glance whether or not you were the one who copied it. He’s not like other teachers, who just skim through the copied work; he actually inspects every single page carefully."

"Exactly. I bet Teacher Mo wants you to copy it twice, but thought that directly assigning two rounds of copying would be too harsh. That’s why he chose this timing. After all, you definitely won’t finish, and according to the rules, you’ll have to copy it twice," Bai Shan added.

Manbao remarked, "It’s also possible that Teacher Mo just doesn’t like you and will directly assign you to copy it twice more."

Bai Erlang pulled out a copy of the ’Book of Rites’ from the bookshelf, holding it in both hands, his eyes brimming with tears as he looked at the two of them.

Manbao and Bai Shan felt not the slightest pity for him and scornfully rebuked him, "You deserve it. We’ll see if you still gamble after this."

"This is what comes of keeping the wrong company."

Manbao then remembered to ask Bai Shan, "Have you seen Zhang Jinghao?"

"I have. He said he isn’t close to that horse merchant at all, and his classmates didn’t even know he was acquainted with such a person."

Bai Erlang said with grievance, "He told me that the horse merchant and his uncle are good friends, and since the merchant has many favors to ask of his uncle, that’s why he’s been so eager to please him."

Manbao retorted, "You believe anything he says, but why don’t you believe me when I say I know a really skilled gardener who can grow any flower in the world? If there’s one he can’t grow, it’s just because he doesn’t have the seeds."

Bai Erlang replied, "That’s just too fake, it sounds like a load of hot air."

Bai Shan, who was by their side, nodded in agreement but stopped mid-nod when Manbao turned to look at him. He immediately thought of Uncle Zhou and added, "There are all sorts of remarkable people in this world, maybe there really is someone like that."

Bai Erlang stared at Bai Shan and said, "You’ve changed, ever since you wanted to... with her..."

Bai Shan clamped a hand over Bai Erlang’s mouth, glaring at him in warning.

Manbao blinked, watching silently as she asked, "What are you two doing?"

"Nothing. I’m going to take him downstairs for a little ’training’ and also ask him in detail about Zhang Jinghao," Bai Shan said before dragging Bai Erlang away.

Manbao shrugged, took the medicine container out from Bai Shan’s basket, cleaned it, and weighed out the next day’s dose to give to Aunt Rong.

Unlike the two-day dose prescribed to others, Manbao prescribed a daily dose for Yin Huo, which was smaller.

Yin Huo’s body was weak, but he had been taking tonics that were somewhat excessive, so Manbao prescribed a neutral medicine to calm the excess heat in his body. The goal was to balance the five internal organs rather than focusing solely on strengthening the kidney qi, as that could easily interfere with the functioning of other organs.

Once the balance was achieved, slow and gradual tonification combined with life-nurturing exercises and breathing would show little improvement in a day or two, but a commitment to one or two months would be noticeable. After persisting for one or two years, the results would definitely be substantial.

However, throughout this process, it was necessary to continually adjust the prescription according to the body’s condition, with the larger challenge being to maintain consistency, as the medicine was not pleasant to take and the exercises were not easy to perform.

Manbao returned to her room and pulled out the treatment plan she had formulated with Teacher Mo over the past two days, reviewed it again to ensure nothing needed adjusting, and then wrote down the next steps on her to-do list.

Next door, Bai Shan was lecturing Bai Erlang on how to behave properly, mentioning Zhang Jinghao only after he calmed down, "Next time he invites you to the horse races, call me, understand?"

Bai Erlang hesitated, "Didn’t the teacher say I shouldn’t go to horse races anymore?"

"Are you dumb? With me by your side, what’s there to be afraid of? I’ll invite our classmates and Feng Zongping, and you invite your classmates and friends you get along with..." Bai Shan chuckled and instructed, "Tell them you’re close with Zhang Jinghao and you could get a discount of three hundred taels on a horse. If anyone asks you how much the horse is, just smile and keep quiet, don’t let it slip to anyone, got it?"

"Why?"

"Because once you blab, they won’t join us for the fun. If you tell them, they’ll just think you’re a fool, understand?" Bai Shan said, "We’ll get him back for duping you, then corner him outside and give him a thrashing. That’ll be payback for what he did to your palm."

Bai Erlang still hadn’t figured out how exactly Zhang Jinghao had lured him into gambling. The horse betting scam he could accept, but the gambling...

Bai Erlang felt guilty, as he thought the gambling issue was his own fault. Swallowing hard, he said, "Isn’t this bad? Once we get even, maybe we should just let it go, forget the fight. What if he complains to the school?"

Bai Shan took a step back and looked seriously at Bai Erlang, shaking his head after a long pause.

Seeing him just shaking his head without speaking, Bai Erlang pressed, "What are you shaking your head for? Speak up."

"It’s a mix of pride and heartache."

Bai Erlang asked, "Can you really feel both those things at once?"