Giant Ship Across the Song Dynasty: My Supplies Come from My Motherland

Chapter 80. This isn't about education for all; this is called reproductive isolation.

"Then I heard a creak at the door..."

"Sudden!"

A sudden, loud voice silenced all the classmates around him. When Lin Zhou slammed the gavel, many of them shuddered.

However, just then, he looked up and saw two old men huddled among a group of young heads. He didn't know how long they had been there, but Mr. Li, who had just been there, looked very serious, while the unfamiliar old man next to him was all smiles.

He saw Lin Zhou looking at him, but he didn't blame him. He just put his hands behind his back, raised his chin, and laughed, "Speak up, don't stop at this exciting moment."

Upon hearing this commotion, all the classmates scattered like birds and beasts in an instant. Some who were not quick enough could only bow respectfully and say, "Headmaster."

The headmaster smiled and nodded to them, then stood next to Lin Zhou, looking him up and down before saying with a smile, "Come with me."

Lin Zhou was all too familiar with this scene. Back in his school days, he would get caught by his homeroom teacher every few days. Eventually, they developed a bond, and Lin Zhou even served as the best man at his homeroom teacher's wedding.

Mr. Li finally got rid of this plague and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He glanced around at the students and coughed coldly, "Class begins!"

Lin Zhou followed the headmaster into his study. The headmaster was not serious at all; on the contrary, he was chubby and somewhat cute.

"So you are Lin Zhou?"

"Yeah, that's right..."

Although Lin Zhou was a scoundrel, he was still very respectful to intellectuals. This was probably an instinct; he had some reverence for such figures. So when the old man called him into the house, he was much more obedient.

"Sit down." The headmaster sat down in the armchair. "I am Chen Shouchang, the headmaster of the academy."

Lin Zhou quickly bowed to him: "Hello, Headmaster Chen."

"Alright, alright." Headmaster Chen waved his hand. "The story I just told wasn't finished yet. Stories need a beginning, development, climax, and conclusion. I haven't heard the conclusion yet, and I'm itching to hear it."

"Really...really?"

"Speak up, there aren't any of those old pedants here."

Lin Zhou was unsure whether what Chen Shanzhang said was true or false, but he didn't care about that; if they told him to say it, he would say it.

So he continued telling the story of Chu Renmei that he hadn't finished earlier. Actually, the story of the old corpse in the mountain village was really good, and even Headmaster Chen listened with great interest.

Unlike the other children, he wasn't afraid, but he would try to figure out the logic in Lin Zhou's stories. Whenever the logic was consistent, he would nod with a smile, and when he heard obvious problems, he would just frown slightly and continue listening patiently.

After Lin Zhou finished recounting how Chu Renmei let the loving couple go, the story ended there. Headmaster Chen clapped lightly: "Good, good eloquence, good story. Strange tales have existed since ancient times, but very few can be told so vividly."

At this point, Headmaster Chen laughed and said, "You shouldn't go and eavesdrop on Mr. Li's lecture. I'll take you somewhere else."

"Oh...we have to go to class? Headmaster, I really don't understand..."

Lin Zhou didn't pretend; he just couldn't understand. For someone who had never read the Four Books and Five Classics or even studied the Thousand Character Classic in his entire life to come and take the imperial examination was simply torture.

"It's nothing." Headmaster Chen waved his hand and laughed heartily. "In the academy, there are students whom teachers like you are unwilling to teach, and naturally there are teachers whom students are unwilling to learn from. Perhaps you two will just find yourselves at each other's throats?"

Following Headmaster Chen to a room in the east wing, the headmaster opened the door and found two students sitting inside. One was clearly a dark-skinned physical education student, sleeping on his stomach, while the other, whose gender was unclear—whether effeminate or a woman dressed as a man—was writing at his desk.

On the podium, a man around fifty years old was leaning back, fast asleep, with an empty wine gourd beside him, reeking of alcohol.

"Yizhi! Yizhi!!" The headmaster gently shook the drunkard: "Get up, I've brought you a disciple."

After some commotion, the drunken, disheveled old man finally woke up. He wiped his face, squinted, and looked Lin Zhou up and down: "Whose rags are you now? Go down and get a copy of the Book of Rites."

Lin Zhou immediately understood. He had been thrown from the top class to the bottom class. That was good, that was good. This was what he wanted.

He didn't say anything, but just happily found a seat and sat down. Headmaster Chen didn't say much either, just smiled at Lin Zhou and walked out.

What could Lin Zhou do sitting there? He wasn't reading, so he could only find the only other classmate in the room who was still breathing and whose gender was indistinguishable, and go over to him.

"Bro, you smell so good."

The student frowned and clicked his tongue: "A guy, a guy, a guy!"

"Oh!! I remember you, it was you during the ventriloquism performance that day! What was your name again? I think it was a ci poem title."

Seeing this handsome profile, Lin Zhou remembered that during the brawl at the tavern that day, this guy almost bewitched Yang Ti. Strictly speaking, the fight was caused by Yang Ti's Dao Heart being shattered upon learning that he was a man.

Although he was indeed dressed as a man today, he looked incredibly handsome, with such delicate pink skin that you just wanted to pinch his cheeks.

"Hey, brother..."

"My name is Dou Ke, courtesy name Jiangxing."

"Oh? Your name has five characters? Dou Ke, courtesy name Jiang Xing..."

"Dou Ke! His courtesy name is Jiangxing!"

"Oh, oh." Lin Zhou quickly apologized with a smile, "You spoke so fast, I thought your name had five characters."

This person looked aloof, but was actually alright. Perhaps he was bored sitting here reading alone, so Lin Zhou chatted with him for a few minutes and they quickly became acquainted.

"You should stay put; other teachers wouldn't want this place."

"You seem quite diligent, so why aren't any teachers hiring you?"

Dou Ke glanced at him but didn't answer. Judging from his demeanor, Lin Zhou probably thought he was the kind of person who studied very hard but just couldn't learn anything. But then again... he had seen him on short videos before. They said that people as beautiful as him had some kind of illness, anyway, he was a stupid beauty.

But I have to say, this guy is really good-looking, with rosy cheeks, willow-leaf eyebrows, cherry blossom lips, and a delicate nose. I wonder if he lives on campus or not. If he does, his dorm is probably notorious for being noisy in the mornings and evenings after lights out.

"Brother..."

Before Lin Zhou could speak, Dou Ke interrupted, "No going out, no listening to music, no boating, no eating, no staying overnight, and no accompanying someone to study."

"Damn...you answered fast."

"If you don't cover your behinds, who knows what kind of filthy things you'll do?" Dou Ke said bluntly without looking up, "I see a hundred or so like you every year. You guys are something else, so uninhibited. Men, men, men!"

Seeing his fluent reply, Lin Zhou knew there was no secret to it; it was simply a matter of practice. Heaven knows how many painful attempts this guy had made to strike up a conversation before he became so adept at it.

Just as they were chatting together, the teacher on the podium woke up. He stretched out his arms, making crackling sounds, and then groggily looked up at Lin Zhou.

"Now that you've come to my tutelage, I won't ask where you come from or where you're going. If you want to learn, then learn. If not, then you can lie there and sleep with that brute." The master stood up, still feeling slightly unsteady. He walked to Lin Zhou: "My surname is Li, Li Yizhi. And you?"

"Lin Zhou, is my name Lin Zhou?"

"No words?"

"No, no one has given me a courtesy name," Lin Zhou shook his head and said, "How about Teacher Li gives me one?"

"I see that your demeanor is somewhat similar to that of my deceased younger brother. My brother's name was Runzhi, so you may also be called Runzhi."

"Absolutely not!" Lin Zhou immediately stood at attention: "I can't memorize this character..."