Chapter 180: Let’s Test It Then
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
“Mistress, Aunt Hu! What happened to you two?”
Su Ying looked at the grime on her body and said, “We just delivered a newborn calf.”
“Delivered a newborn calf?” Bai Shuang did not think that Su Ying knew how to do this.
“Mm-hmm. Why are you here?”
“Someone is looking for you, Mistress.”
After Su Ying gave some instructions to Madam Hu, she followed Bai Shuang back to the house. “Who is it?”
“It’s those scholars.”
Su Ying understood immediately. The school building had probably been completed.
Su Ying returned home and washed the grime off her body before changing into a set of clean clothes. Then she headed for the hall.
When the people in the hall saw Su Ying emerging from within, they all stood up and bowed.
Su Ying sat down on a chair and gestured for them to straighten up. “Have you finished constructing the school building?”
One of the scholars, whose surname was Qi, replied, “Mistress, the school building was completed yesterday. However, the desks, chairs, and benches may take some time. We have already discussed this with Teacher Chu and feel that it is difficult for the children in this Tiger Base to have a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. Moreover, their basic skills are not very good. Therefore, we plan to make some sand trays and put them on the ground at the beginning. We will let them sit on the ground to listen to the lessons first, or ask them to bring small stools from their homes.”
“You mean to let them practice writing in the sand?”
“Yes. We can use tree branches in the beginning and we can go to the mountains to excavate the sand. If we really can’t get any, we can still use mud. There’s always a way.”
Su Ying felt that this idea was not bad. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing to have a poor learning environment in the beginning. Once they had a good foundation and the economy of the Tiger Base slowly developed, everyone would have a stable income. It wouldn’t be too late to buy expensive brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.
They could barely fill their stomachs now, so how could the school ask them to prepare a set of high-end school stationery?
“Good. If you have anything you don’t understand or need to discuss regarding teaching, you can just look for Chu Yun. After all, you are not teaching for free.”
“Yes, Mistress. Don’t worry. This is something we didn’t even dare to think about before. Now that we have such an opportunity, we will definitely cherish it.”
People said that scholars were useless. In particular, after they were exiled, this kind of mindset became even stronger. The scholars once felt that they could not even fill their family members’ stomachs, so what was the use of studying so much?
Now that Su Ying had given them a chance to realize their worth and earn a living at the same time, they naturally cherished it.
After thanking Su Ying, they went upstairs to discuss some details with Chu Yun.
Su Ying didn’t stay idle either. After drinking two cups of water, she went out to the back of the mountain.
Zhang Liang said that the charcoal business could carry on for another month. After December, he would transport the charcoal away. Therefore, she had to make as much charcoal as possible before the end of the month.
Meanwhile, Xiao Jin had also brought Jiang Yang, Number One and some other men to the outside of the Tiger Base.
Qiao Yang stood on top of the wall and looked at them busy themselves. He had no idea what they were doing.
“You guys are just messing around. Digging the tree up from one hole and dumping it into another hole. Do you think you can grow silver this way?”
When the guard at the side heard this, he became talkative and chimed in, “I heard that they are setting up some sort of delusional array formation.”
Qiao Yang gave a scornful snort that was full of contempt. They called it a delusional array formation by simply moving things around a bit? Only a fool would not be able to walk out!
Over the next few days, Xiao Jin set up the array formation outside the base camp. Qiao Yang stood on the gate tower every day and nagged incessantly. He even proclaimed that he would be the first to walk out after Xiao Jin set up the array formation. He would definitely give Xiao Jin a good slap in the face.
A few more days later, Xiao Jin stood at the outermost perimeter of the array formation and walked around it a few times to check if there were any flaws. After locating the problem, he repaired it on the spot. After confirming that there were no mistakes in any details, he told everyone to pack up and go back.
When Qiao Yang saw them coming back, he quickly came down from the top of the wall.
Qiao Yang walked up to Xiao Jin and tried his best to stand on his tiptoes and stretched his neck out to look at him, trying to make himself as tall as Xiao Jin. However, Xiao Jin was just too tall. Even if Qiao Yang stood on his tiptoes, he was still much shorter than him.
“You said yesterday that this whatchamacallit array formation would be completed today? Are you done now?”
Xiao Jin glanced at him indifferently and said, “You want to test it?”
Qiao Yang puffed out his chest. “Fine, I’ll test it then. Do you think I’m afraid of you?”
The corner of Xiao Jin’s lips curled up, but there was no smile in his eyes. He pointed at a small path beside him and said, “Go out from this path and then walk back.”
Qiao Yang felt that Xiao Jin was insulting his intelligence, so he immediately walked out along the path.
After walking for a while, he saw the entrance to the Tiger Base. He had been here for so many years that he could walk out of the array formation with his eyes closed!
Qiao Yang confidently puffed out his chest and walked in like he usually did. However, after walking for a while, he clearly felt that he was very close to the Tiger Base, but no matter how he walked, he could not reach the end.
Qiao Yang swore under his breath. Had he been hoodwinked by a ghost? That shouldn’t be the case. He had walked along this path for so many years. He didn’t believe that he couldn’t get out!
At this moment, Tiger Might, who was standing on the gate wall, watched as his younger brother kept walking in circles like an idiot.
It had to be said that Xiao Jin was an expert who had concealed himself deeply. It was impossible to create such an array formation in a short period of time unless one was an expert.
“Brother Xiao, you are indeed impressive.”
Xiao Jin watched Qiao Yang as he put his finger to his mouth and whistled loudly. At this moment, Qiao Yang, who was still walking in circles, shuddered all over as if he had received some shock. The view in front of him gradually became clear. When he looked up, he saw the gate not far away.
He hurriedly ran to the front gate as if he had seen a ghost. “Open the gate, open the gate! Hurry up and open the gate for me!”
The guard heard the noise and quickly opened the gate.
Qiao Yang ran in and saw Xiao Jin coming down from the gate wall. He said angrily, “What kind of delusional spell did you use on me?”
“That’s the Delusional Array Formation.”
Qiao Yang immediately stomped his feet. “What bullshit Delusional Array Formation? I don’t believe you…”
“Younger Bro, you don’t have the ability and still have the guts to rant and rave here.” Tiger Might felt that his younger brother was really an embarrassment.
“Big Brother, you can’t side with outsiders. He must have used some knockout drug on me. Otherwise, how could 1 not be able to walk out?”
Xiao Jin didn’t even bother to look at him. He mounted his horse straightaway and left.
“Hey, rascal! Don’t run away if you have the guts. Stop right there! Let’s fight one-on-one!” Qiao Yang didn’t want to lose his momentum.
Just as he felt that he had regained his dignity, Xiao Jin suddenly stopped and turned his horse around to look at him icily.
“You want to fight me one-on-one?”
Qiao Yang’s heart skipped a beat. When he saw Xiao Jin’s fists that were bigger than sandbags, he immediately jumped behind Tiger Might’s back in fear.
“Big Brother, this rascal wants to start an internal conflict.. Beat him up!”