Having finished his introduction, Daozi scanned the classroom and chose the nearest empty seat at the front, then set down his backpack and leisurely arranged the storybook, watercolor brushes, blank sketchbook, wooden stationery box, and counting rods that Daohua had prepared for him on the desk.
Daozi was protective of his belongings, and from a young age, he knew how to tidy them up. Daohua, seeing this, intentionally and unintentionally cultivated his ability to organize and store.
Now still young, he was nevertheless quite capable of arranging his items; he was always the one cleaning up his toy room, not allowing the maids anywhere near it.
People were still a bit stunned by Daozi’s introduction monts ago, and seeing the ’curious’ items he brought out, everyone in the classroom, including the teacher, focused their attention on him, silently observing his every move.
After Daozi was finished setting up, he looked up and noticed everyone was watching him, and he instantly flashed a broad smile.
His mother had told him, a child who smiles is liked by everyone, so he should smile more!
Madam and other students: Does this person appear sowhat foolish?
Xiao Moreng and others also felt a bit speechless, not because of Daozi’s silly smile, but because they thought, since Daozi has introduced himself, could they avoid it?
Watching the three to forty students in the classroom, Xiao Moreng took a deep breath, stepped into the center, and imitated Daozi in making his own introduction.
"Hello everyone, my na is Xiao Moreng, I am eleven, and I look forward to studying and attending school with all of you. Please take care of ."
Having said that, he walked over and sat down behind Daozi.
Next were Xiao Mokuan and others.
The teacher, listening to the introductions, felt sowhat uneasy—these little fellows all had the surna Xiao, surely they weren’t who he was thinking of?
At that mont, the teacher’s perspective on Daozi and others changed, not out of fawning, but feeling troubled.
Sons of nobility can neither be hit nor scolded; they are the most challenging students to teach.
Alas, what is the Academy Head thinking, sending him such untouchable and unoffendable students?
Does he not want him to teach properly anymore?
Contrary to the teacher’s reluctance, Daozi was quite happy; with the teacher remaining silent, he looked around left and right, and whenever soone made eye contact, he grinned.
The little fellow was very excited for his first class.
The teacher sighed, as the children were already here, he couldn’t just ignore them, nor did he dare to, so he asked Xiao Moreng and others about their academic progress.
After asking, he promptly took Xiao Moreng and Xiao Mokuan to the advanced class.
Xiao Moreng, having received elite education at the Prince Residence, had already mastered the Four Books and Five Classics.
Xiao Mokuan, eager to excel, studied fiercely. Though his progress could not match Xiao Moreng’s, he was certainly able to surpass most of the Academy.
Watching the two leaving, Daozi felt sowhat reluctant, missing two brothers. If soone bullied him, he would have two fewer allies.
Still, it was fine. He had brother seven, brother eight, and brother ten with him, so he wasn’t entirely alone.
Xiao Moqing and Xiao Mobao, one favored and the other fond of luxuries, both disliked studying and only recognized a few more characters than others. Academically, they were hardly noteworthy.
Xiao Moqing, feeling bored, imdiately approached Daozi’s desk: "Daozi..."
Daozi interrupted Xiao Moqing: "Brother Seven, this is the Academy, you can’t use my nickna here, you should call Moru."
Xiao Moqing was speechless, but he didn’t dwell on it, pointing to the items on the desk, he asked, "What are these? They look quite fascinating."
Hearing Xiao Moqing’s inquiry, everyone around perked up their ears.
Although many students here were descendants of frontier generals, the generals of Xiliang were poor and had seen very few things.
Seeing everyone looking at him, Daozi straightened up, grinned, and took out the stationery box, then opened it and started introducing the items inside such as a ruler, various colored numbers, and phonetic alphabets.
When the teacher returned, he saw everyone crowded together quietly in the classroom, only hearing Daozi’s voice echoing as he spoke.
I ant to scold, but with what Daozi introduced, I swallowed my words.
"This is a ruler; with this, you can asure the length, width, and thickness of objects."
"These are my arithtic rods; I’ve only learned to count to fifty, and these rods help keep track of numbers."
"These are phonetic alphabets; my dad said that once I learn them, I can teach myself to read."
"This is the nuric alphabet, used for arithtic."
"This is a storybook drawn by my mom; it has lots of stories. Look, the gourd babies on my school bag are characters from the stories. When I have ti, I’ll tell you the stories. I guarantee you haven’t heard them before."
"And this is..."
Every ti Daozi introduced sothing, the children’s eyes around him brightened. When Daozi finished, Xiao Moqing imdiately shouted, "I will ask my aunty for them after school, too."
Xiao Mobao and Xiao Moxu quickly followed, "We want them too."
Daozi shook his head, spreading his hands, "You can’t get them; my mom is pregnant with my siblings now, and my dad won’t let her worry about things. My storybook hasn’t had new additions for a while; I can only just manage to read the old ones."
Xiao Moqing and the others imdiately looked disappointed.
"Cough cough~"
At this mont, the teacher, who had been eavesdropping for a while, quietly coughed twice.
Seeing the teacher arrive, everyone imdiately returned to their seats.
The teacher glanced at the items on Daozi’s desk, and upon seeing the phonetic and nuric alphabets, his eyes lit up and he smiled as he walked towards Daozi:
"Xiao Moqing, could you lend these things to the teacher for a bit?"
Daozi, thinking of his mother’s instruction to listen to the teacher, obediently nodded, "Sure, teacher, but you can’t damage them, and you have to return them to ."
The teacher’s lips twitched slightly: "Of course, would I ever keep a student’s belongings?" Saying that, he quickly collected everything on the table, and even took Daozi’s school bag to carry them.
Daozi: "..."
After taking the items, the teacher promptly instructed the children to take a break, then he left with the items.
Daozi looked around at Xiao Moqing and others, puzzled: "Will the teacher actually run off with my things?"
Xiao Moqing smirked, "He wouldn’t dare. If he really did, we’d ask your dad to catch him."
Daozi wasn’t quite convinced, "It’s my first day of school and I couldn’t protect my own things. It’d be too embarrassing to tell dad, wouldn’t it?"
"Moreover, when I left ho, my mom said that I should solve any problems that happen at school by myself."
Xiao Mobao: "But we are still children; when there are problems, of course, we should ask adults for help."
Daozi thought about it and agreed, "True!"
Xiao Moqing put an arm around Daozi’s shoulder, "Alright, let’s not worry about that for now. You ntioned the story about the gourd babies earlier, tell us that. It sounds really interesting."
Daozi, seeing that everyone hadn’t gone out to play but were watching them from near and far, rembering his father’s words from last night about not disgracing the Prince Residence at the academy, he straightened his little chest, mimicked Xiao Yeyang’s posture with hands clasped behind his back and a stern face, and began telling the story of the Gourd Babies.
"A long, long ti ago, in the mountains, there was a Hulu Mountain...."
When Xiao Yeyang stealthily ca to see how his son was adapting to the class, Daozi was already standing on a table, dramatically and expressively narrating the epic battle between the eldest Gourd Baby and the snake spirit.
The children in the classroom were surrounding him in inner and outer circles, so amazed, so impressed, so excited, so angry, all listening attentively.
Xiao Yeyang watching the engrossed Daozi: "..."
The family was worried that Daozi wouldn’t adapt well to the Academy, but that worry was clearly unnecessary.
Reviews
All reviews (0)