Chapter 31: 031 — Favorable Winds and Seasonable Rains

"So the big boy shouted: 'Change, change, change, change! Grow, grow, grow, grow!' In an instant he swelled in the wind, growing as tall as a mountain. Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud — with every step he took, the ground shook..."

"A toad spirit charged in, bellowing: 'Little brat, surrender at once, or I'll make you eat the rolling-knife meat!' The big boy paid no attention, just brought his foot down like he was stepping on a bedbug. Squish — hah, flattened him..."

Inside the pavilion, Fei Chun was telling the tale of *The Gourd Boys*.

And he was padding it shamelessly — all kinds of onomatopoeia, ad-libbing his own dialogue, and throwing in some fight moves for good measure.

A story Zhao Han could finish in one quarter-hour, Fei Chun managed to drag out to three.

"Bravo!"

"A reward, from this young master!"

The schoolboys, young and old, cheered in unison, and their study attendants hurried forward, tossing copper coins into Fei Ruhe's book box.

Fei Ruhe cracked melon seeds between his teeth, already giddy with delight inside.

"... Boom! A thunderous noise rang out, the gourd dropped to the ground, and out came a boy dressed in orange. Ahem! If you wish to know what happened next, pray listen to the next installment!"

Fei Chun was even more ruthless than Zhao Han — he cut the story off after finishing only the big boy, and even left a hook dangling about the second boy's birth.

"Keep going, quick, here's your reward!"

"What divine power does the second boy have?"

"Did the big boy get caught? Is he dead?"

"..."

The schoolboys clamored noisily, itching with curiosity, desperate to hear the whole thing in one go.

Fei Ruhe went on cracking melon seeds.

Fei Chun raised his hand and shouted: "Fellow students, quiet, quiet! Now, each day I can only tell one episode. However — I have here some gourd seeds, specially begged from the Mountain God himself. Tend these seeds devoutly every day, and come spring you can grow gourds from them. One gourd seed costs only five mace of silver, and there are just this few — if you're slow with your money, you won't get any!"

"Can you really grow gourd boys?" one schoolboy asked.

Fei Chun answered: "If you water them well, you really can grow gourds!"

"Then I'll buy ten seeds," the schoolboy said excitedly.

Fei Chun shook his head. "No, these seeds are precious. Each person is limited to one. At most, you can count your study attendant as well."

There was actually a purchase limit?

Then they must be fine things indeed!

The sons of wealthy families eagerly dug out their money; the poorer students gazed on with envy, all of them daydreaming that they could grow their own gourd boys.

Hanzhu Academy was divided into a private school and an academy proper.

Hanzhu Private School was further divided into the beginner hall and the classics hall.

The beginner hall taught pre-school reading material, mostly to young children only a few years old.

The classics hall taught the Four Books and the Five Classics, all to schoolboys who had not yet passed the child student examination.

Those willing to pay for gourd seeds were mostly under twelve, with the majority being young children of only a few years, each one cradling their seeds and grinning foolishly.

Fei Ruhe and Fei Chun dashed back to the bamboo grove, where Zhao Han was practicing his thrusting strikes.

"Split the money, split the money!" Fei Ruhe cried jubilantly.

The storytelling tips, plus the sale of gourd seeds, had brought in a total of 16 taels and 5 mace of silver, along with over 700 copper coins of various kinds.

Divided evenly three ways, each man received 5 and a half taels of silver and 238 copper cash.

Fei Chun laid on the flattery with heartfelt sincerity: "Elder brother, you truly are a genius, coming up with such a fine money-making scheme. So much in a single day — by the time we finish telling *The Gourd Boys*, won't we have earned over a hundred taels?"

Zhao Han poured cold water on that: "Where's the ease in that? The gourd seeds are a one-shot deal. From now on, we can only earn a few tips."

Fei Chun laughed. "Earning tips is enough."

Fei Ruhe held the silver in his hand, a tremendous sense of accomplishment welling up. Delighted, he said: "In the past it was always spending money; today I've actually earned some. From now on, Brother Han shall be my military advisor!"

"Young master, then what am I?" Fei Chun asked at once.

Fei Ruhe said: "You are this young master's great general under my command!"

"Fine, you three swindlers!"

Suddenly, Fei Yuanjian appeared with his hanger-on and threatened: "I'm going to report you to the academy head. You three have been swindling your fellow students out of their silver!"

Fei Ruhe clenched his fists and asked: "Who saw me swindle anyone?"

"Exactly!" Fei Chun hid behind his young master.

Zhao Han asked: "We told a story, our schoolmates gave tips — a matter of mutual consent. How can that count as swindling?"

Fei Yuanjian said: "You sold fake seeds!"

Zhao Han smiled. "Who says they're fake? Plant them at the start of spring, tend them well, and they'll certainly grow gourd vines."

"They'll certainly never grow gourd boys!" Fei Yuanjian said.

Zhao Han turned and asked Fei Ruhe: "Young master, did you say they would grow gourd boys?"

Fei Ruhe shook his head. "No, I only said they'd grow gourds."

Zhao Han said with a smile: "In that case, it can't be counted as deceiving people, can it?"

"Right, no deception!" Fei Chun played the straight man.

You could do that?

Fei Yuanjian was instantly tongue-tied. His face flushed red, and he said: "I don't care. You have to give me a share of your silver. Otherwise I'll go report you to the academy head!"

Fei Ruhe laughed. "Go ahead and report us. I'd also like to report you for bullying your schoolmates!"

"You... you just wait. Hmph!"

Fei Yuanjian stormed off, growing angrier the more he thought about it.

He wasn't angry about not getting a share of the silver — he was envious that the others had stolen the limelight. If Fei Ruhe had said even one soft word, Fei Yuanjian would have immediately chosen to join in, following them to steal the limelight and swindle people together.

"Fifteenth Uncle, are we going to report them?" one schoolboy asked. This fellow was also of high seniority — he was Fei Ruhe's clan uncle.

Fei Yuanjian said: "What kind of real man settles things by reporting?"

His page boy asked, "So we just swallow this?"

Fei Yuanjian thought for a moment. "First, let's find someone to vent on!"

A li beyond the private school ran a small stream. After classes let out, Xu Ying often came here to practice writing.

He had not yet passed the child student exams and could not receive any stipend; brush, ink, paper, and inkstone all had to be bought with his family's money. That was unsustainable, so he used a tree branch as his brush and the muddy bank of the stream as his paper, practicing his characters here every day without fail.

A child who begins formal schooling is merely a schoolchild. Only after passing the first two stages of the child examination does one advance to child student, gaining the qualification to sit for the xiucai exams.

Xu Ying had started his schooling rather late. To become a child student, he would need to work hard for at least another half year to a year.

Holding a tree branch in his hand, Xu Ying sat cross-legged by the stream, practicing standard script stroke by stroke.

"Get him!"

A shout suddenly rang out from behind. Startled, Xu Ying flung away the branch, clutched his tattered cloth book bag to his chest, and lay flat on the ground, waiting to be beaten.

Truth be told, in recent days, he had rarely been beaten anymore.

Because he never fought back, beating him had grown dull. Fei Yuanjian was already looking for a new target.

But today Fei Yuanjian was deeply frustrated. He had to find someone to vent his anger on, and Xu Ying was the perfect punching bag.

A flurry of punches and kicks rained down. Xu Ying endured the pain without crying out, only hoping the beating would end quickly so he could seize the time to keep practicing his characters.

"Drag out his book bag!" Fei Yuanjian shouted.

Xu Ying could hold back no longer. He cried out in terror, "Don't take my book bag! Beat me, just beat me!" As he shouted, he began to sob. "Please, just beat me, don't take my book bag. Wuwuwu, just beat me…"

The schoolchildren paid him no heed. Some pried Xu Ying's arms open, while others seized the chance to snatch the book bag away.

Fei Yuanjian dumped out everything inside the bag. He picked up an inkstone ground from a cobblestone and sneered, "What kind of broken rock is this? I wouldn't take it if you gave it to me. Let me help you toss it and get a new one."

Plunk!

The inkstone was flung into the stream.

Xu Ying tried to rush out and retrieve it, but the schoolchildren held him down firmly.

Fei Yuanjian then picked up the "Collected Commentaries on the Four Books," flipped through it casually, and threw it into the water as well, laughing. "The teacher praises you as a child prodigy. Let's see how this prodigy of yours attends class without his books!"

"My book!"

Xu Ying suddenly let out a hoarse roar. From who knows where, a surge of strength came, and even four boys could not hold him down. Scrambling and crawling, he leaped into the stream and fished out the textbook floating on the water's surface.

Books in ancient times came in different grades. This one was of the lowest quality, a privately printed movable-type edition, and many places were already blurred and unclear when it was first bought.

Now, soaked through by the stream water, it was utterly ruined.

Xu Ying retrieved the "Collected Commentaries on the Four Books" and felt around until he found the cobblestone inkstone as well. Wading across to the opposite bank, he examined them.

Turning page after page, tears streamed down Xu Ying's face like pillars. That book and his ink stick had been bought with the money from selling his family's old hen!

That look of utter desolation delighted Fei Yuanjian immensely. The gloom in his heart swept clean away, he led his lackeys off, laughing, to amuse themselves elsewhere.

Afternoon, in the classroom.

Pang Chunlai frowned at the empty seat and asked a farmer's son, "Why hasn't Xu Ying come?"

Farmers come in many kinds.

There are poor farmers, rich farmers, tenant farmers, and even powerful tenants!

Powerful tenants are those tenant farmers who attach themselves to great clans, acquire the surface rights (perpetual tenancy) to large tracts of land, and then hire long-term and short-term laborers to farm it. They fawn upon the gentry above and exploit the tenant farmers below, their methods more ruthless than most local strongmen, because if their exploitation wasn't harsh, they would certainly operate at a loss.

This farmer's son before him came from a family of large tenant farmers who had attached themselves to the Fei clan. His goal in studying was not the civil examinations, but to build good relations with the young masters of the Fei family. Thus, he had always acted as Fei Yuanjian's lackey.

"Teacher, I don't know," the farmer's son answered, head lowered, his heart full of guilt.

Pang Chunlai asked, "You and Xu Ying are from the same village. How could you not know?"

The farmer's son buried his head even lower. "I truly don't know."

Pang Chunlai sensed something was wrong. Even if he fell slightly ill, Xu Ying would insist on coming to school, let alone the fact that he had been here in the morning. How could he vanish by afternoon?

"Who will go and find Xu Ying?" Pang Chunlai asked.

"Teacher, I'll go!"

Everyone who was not one of Fei Yuanjian's lackeys eagerly raised their hands to volunteer. Fei Ruhe even stood straight up.

Finding the person was just a pretext; roaming freely over the hills was the real goal, as long as they didn't have to stay in the classroom.

Pang Chunlai closed his eyes, gripping the discipline ruler, and said, "All of you, go."

The classroom emptied by more than half in an instant, leaving only Fei Yuanjian and his little followers.

Pang Chunlai asked, "Why aren't you going?"

"Ah?" Fei Yuanjian panicked slightly and hurriedly stood up. "Going, going, I'm going."

Fei Ruhe was like a bird freed from its cage, roaming the hills in carefree delight.

Zhao Han asked, "Where does Xu Ying usually like to go?"

"How would I know? Am I his father?" Fei Ruhe said with a laugh.

Zhao Han thought for a moment. "Let's check his home first."

Fei Chun cut in, "I know where his home is."

After walking for roughly a quarter of an hour, Zhao Han arrived at the village below the hill.

Fei Chun pointed ahead. "Go through this little bamboo grove, then a few dozen more paces, and that's Xu Ying's home."

The three entered the grove and suddenly heard a sound.

Going over to look, they saw a farmer digging a pit, a bamboo basket set beside him.

Zhao Han walked over and asked, "Uncle, have you seen Xu Ying?"

The farmer spun around sharply. Seeing they were just three children, he turned back and continued digging, muttering, "Haven't seen him."

"Zhao Han, let's go. What are you standing there for?" Fei Ruhe urged.

Fei Chun also asked, "Brother, what's wrong?"

Zhao Han stared at the bamboo basket, his whole body trembling. In the end, he chose to walk away in silence.

Inside the bamboo basket was the body of an infant. Though covered with rags, faint bruise marks shaped like handprints were visible around the neck.

They gave birth to a child they couldn't raise, so they could only strangle it and bury it...

This is the rich and prosperous Jiangnan — and this year Yanshan had favorable weather and good harvests!

(End of chapter)