Ma Jiamen: I was forced to fight for supremacy

Chapter 187 Si Yongcai's Working Diary

"Big Brother, where are we?"

Xiao Lan woke up quietly.

Ma Zhan saw that she was pale and her body was a little swollen. It would take another two or three hours for her to recover.

Si Yongcai trotted over to Xiaolan and asked with concern:

"Xiao Lan, are you feeling better?"

Xiao Lan replied respectfully, "I feel a little dizzy and nauseous."

Si Yongcai looked at Ma Zhan for help. Ma Zhan stepped forward, took the towel off Xiao Lan's forehead, washed it in cold water, and put it back on.

Feeling a slight chill on her forehead, Xiao Lan blinked her big eyes and looked at the little brother in front of her with confusion.

Si Yongcai introduced Xiao Lan:

"This is Junior Uncle-Master, a scholar of the Jixia Academy. The Thousand Character Essay you copied was written by this Junior Uncle-Master."

Xiao Lan blinked her big eyes and became even more confused.

'Junior Master?

Shouldn’t the junior master be an old man with a white beard like the master?

This guy is only a few years older than me.'

"Iced sour plum soup is here."

Chun Xiaoman, who always had a smile on her face, brought two pots of sour plum soup, gave one to Ma Zhan, and took the other away to take care of the two young Confucian scholars with Xue Lan and Qi Luo.

Ma Zhan poured the purple-red sour plum soup into the cup, lifted up Xiao Lan's head which was tied into a bun, and patiently fed the sour plum soup into Xiao Lan's mouth.

"tasty?"

Xiao Lan's expression was filled with satisfaction.

"It's delicious, thank you, Junior Master."

Ma Zhan handed the task of taking care of Xiao Lan to Meng Yao, then poured a glass for Si Yongcai and handed it to him.

Si Yongcai first saluted, then bowed and took the teacup with both hands.

"Yongcai thanks Junior Master."

He covered his face with his sleeves, drank the contents of the cup, and then handed the cup to Ma Zhan with both hands.

Ma Zhan took the teacup and said casually:

"Two pots of sour plum soup, twenty cents."

Si Yongcai was stunned for a moment, then he reacted. After rummaging through his bag for a while, he took out some loose change and a dozen copper coins.

He picked up a piece of silver and handed it to Ma Zhan with both hands.

Ma Zhan pointed at Meng Yao and said:

"Give the money to your junior aunt."

Ma Zhan nodded at Meng Yao, indicating that she should accept the money.

Ma Zhan continued: "I will take you to Hanzhong in ten days at most.

For you, one adult and three children, the daily fare is one or two taels of silver, not including the cost of food, drink, and toilet.

You can buy your daily necessities from your junior aunt, at a 20% premium over the market price."

Si Yongcai counted the few pieces of silver in his hand and found that there were about two taels.

After some hesitation, he took off the jade pendant from his waist, handed it to Ma Zhan with both hands, and said sincerely.

"Junior Master, the family heirloom jade pendant should be enough for us to spend."

Ma Zhan's appetite was aroused. To be honest, this piece of jade was much better than Kong Hyo-hyun's.

If nothing unexpected happens, it should be a magic weapon, a very high grade one.

Ma Zhan still held back and said:

"I only accept silver here, not jade."

Si Yongcai was in a dilemma for a moment. He looked at Xiaolan, who looked pale, and knew that he really did not have the ability to take good care of them.

Although he was in pain, he still said:

"Junior Master, when we get to the county town, I can pawn the jade and give the silver to you."

Ma Zhan wanted to give this simple and stupid guy a big fight.

Ma Zhan pointed at Si Yongcai's nose and cursed:

"You have hands and feet, and you're so big, yet you want to trade jade for money.

I don’t know how your teacher was so confident in letting you take the three of them out for a study tour...”

Si Yongcai opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but held it back.

"Just say whatever you want to say, don't be such a sissy."

Si Yongcai bowed towards the east and said:

"It was the teacher's order that students take their junior fellow students on study tours.

Before leaving, the teacher gave me his ruler and asked me to bring my fellow apprentices back to Hanzhong safely, and then to become a teacher at Hanshui Academy.

Neither the master nor the apprentice is reliable. "Where is your teacher now?"

"Teacher, you are at Jixia Academy, and are working with Master Kong to revise your Three Character Classic."

Ma Zhan was also impressed by this strange master and disciple. He said:

"I'll give you a way to make money. This palace needs cleaning every day, the stables in the backyard need cleaning, and the flowers and plants need trimming.

I leave these matters to you.

I will give Xiaoman the standard for how to pay you. You can ask her to pay you after you finish your work every day."

Si Yongcai bowed again.

"Thank you, Junior Master."

That night, the small palace was hidden outside Lingbao County.

With the addition of three children, the small palace became much more lively.

Under Chun Xiaoman's guidance, Si Yongcai started working to earn money for tomorrow's expenses.

Ma Zhan discovered that Xiao Lan, after recovering, suffered from psychic obsession.

It took several hours.

Mengyao taught her formation patterns, Chun Xiaoman taught her Huahong, Xuelan taught her swordsmanship, and Qiluo taught her singing.

Even Ma Zhongtong promised to teach him how to use a spear the next day.

The other two young Confucian scholars were named Wang Xiaoshi and Wang Xiaotan.

Si Yongcai told Ma Zhan that the two of them came from a poor family and everyone in the village had the surname Wang. Their parents were illiterate and just gave them this name at random.

The two of them are rather shy, forming a sharp contrast with Xiaolan.

The next day, after seeing the three children eating breakfast, Ma Zhan brought Si Yongcai over and scolded him.

"What the hell did you make? Pasty? You're just giving this to the three of them?"

Si Yongcai was so ashamed that he whispered back:

"I'm sorry, Junior Master, I'm a clumsy student. I broke a few teacups while cleaning the living room yesterday, and the remaining loose change was taken away by Miss Xiaoman.

The student could only use the few copper coins he had to buy a pound of flour and a bucket of water from the teacher's aunt to make these."

Ma Zhan was also speechless. He gave each of the three children an egg, a piece of pork fillet and a bowl of soy milk.

Then he took Si Yongcai to Mengyao to write an IOU.

After breakfast, Si Yongcai took his three children to the backyard of the small palace for morning reading.

Ma Zhan saw that Si Yongcai's temperament changed instantly as soon as he picked up the book. That kind of temperament of being well-read and elegant was not something that the stars in his previous life could perform.

After the morning reading, Xiaoshi and Xiaotan were practicing calligraphy, Xiaolan took Ma Zhongtong to learn spearmanship, and Si Yongcai started working to earn money.

"If you can't even wash a dish properly, what are you going to eat?"

"Are you pruning? You're going to kill the tree."

"Be gentle! Don't brush the horse's nose or it might kill him."

"..."

Si Yongcai spent a morning of hard work amid Ma Zhan's scolding.

He remembered every word Ma Zhan said, and next time he did it, he would definitely satisfy his junior uncle.

Ma Zhan had been scolding Si Yongcai for the entire morning and was tired.

Mengyao gently pressed Ma Zhan's head and asked:

"Huzi, why do you always scold that scholar?

I noticed that he was very serious in cleaning, scrubbing and trimming.

It’s just that I didn’t do it right the first time.”