Rebirth: Not Being a Waste - Chapter 129

“Brother Zhang is a man of great understanding. Such noble intentions, I truly admire,” Young Master Nan said, bowing to him with the same expression on his face.

People like them usually invited well-known scholars for private lessons. They never experienced the feeling of attending an academy since their youth. After all, as the heir to the Nan family, Young Master Nan didn’t need to rely on education to make a fortune.

Zhang Shu appeared to be just a simple farmer who, by chance, developed a recipe for selling vermicelli. Although he earned quite a bit, it was still a far cry from the merchants who casually spent thousands or even tens of thousands of silver.

Once people made money, most focused solely on how to make even more. But Zhang Shu kept a clear mind. He didn’t blindly chase after wealth. Instead, he thought about future generations. It must be said that he really had long-term vision.

“It can’t be called noble character. I am mainly doing this for my family,” Zhang Shu said, shaking his head quickly.

“Brother Zhang, don’t be so modest. If you truly wanted to do this for your family, you could just hire a teacher to teach at home. Why go through the trouble of building a school?” Young Master Nan replied.

“The villagers have helped me a lot. By building a school, they’ll have the opportunity to learn about books and etiquette, so they won’t be taken advantage of when they go out looking for work in the future. Isn’t that why they have to go in groups to find jobs? It’s because they fear being cheated due to illiteracy. And when they face hardship, they won’t even be able to voice their grievances.”

“Have you found a teacher yet?” Young Master Nan asked.

Zhang Shu shook his head. “Finding a teacher isn’t easy. They must have true talent, knowledge, and upright character. They must not be too rigid, nor rebellious or eccentric. Otherwise, they will mislead others as well as themselves. In the end, it may be better not to build a school at all.”

Master Nan smiled slyly, like a fox who just stole a chicken. “That’s easy. Tomorrow, you and I will go meet someone, and I guarantee your teacher will be just right.”

Zhang Shu felt overjoyed. After thanking him repeatedly, he returned with Qianjin.

Back at the inn, Li Mujin quietly asked Qianjin a few questions before greeting Zhang Shu with a smile. He sighed with relief upon hearing that Master Nan would take Zhang Shu to meet the teacher the next day.

At first, he thought it would be a simple matter. But it turned out to be much more complicated. If no one introduced a reliable teacher, they would have to visit family after family, and might even encounter someone stranger than that scholar Wang. After all, scholars always had their quirks.

The next day, Zhang Shu was ready to leave. Before heading out, he asked Li Mujin if he should bring Qiujin along, but Li Mujin shook his head. “Why bring the child? Don’t worry, I can take care of things here.”

Zhang Shu found it strange. Didn’t he say something different yesterday?

Young Master Nan also got up early. He invited Zhang Shu to get into the sedan chair to go meet the teacher. Zhang Shu quickly refused. “If it were a carriage, I would sit in it. But a sedan chair needs to be carried by someone, and I can’t enjoy such a privilege.”

The group walked for about half an hour. Zhang Shu began to feel something was strange. The road seemed increasingly familiar.

It wasn’t until he saw the gate of the Mo Mansion that he realized where they were—it was the very family where he once worked for a short time.

The Mo Family Academy was well-known throughout the area. In the last imperial examination, two juren were selected, which earned much praise.

Could it be that Young Master Nan wanted a teacher who specialized in the imperial examination to teach the children? That seemed a bit of a waste of talent.

Before Zhang Shu could sort his thoughts, Young Master Nan already asked someone to knock on the door. After presenting his visiting card, Chief Steward Mo came out to greet them.

He clearly didn’t recognize Zhang Shu and assumed he was simply a guest of Young Master Nan. He invited them to the flower hall and went to inform Master Mo.

Master Mo and Young Master Nan shared a deep relationship. Young Master Nan’s uncle and Master Mo were close friends for years, though Master Mo was more casual. After passing the imperial examination, Master Mo traveled but didn’t continue making political progress. The other two men rose to positions as capital officials.

Master Mo helped Young Master Nan open his eyes to the world, and there was a little master-disciple relationship between them.

Master Mo arrived a little later, still as gentle and elegant as Zhang Shu remembered from years ago. He had an extraordinary presence.

He invited Young Master Nan and Zhang Shu to visit his garden. Despite the summer heat, the small garden was lush with greenery. The small trees in the center of the flower bed grew large, sheltering the path beneath, creating a cool breeze for all who entered.

The garden was shaped like a crescent moon, with a pavilion sitting in the middle, nestled between the two crescents. The curtains hung low, fluttering gently with the breeze. It was truly a perfect place to escape the summer heat.

Even Young Master Nan, impressed by the small but brilliantly designed garden, couldn’t help but praise it.

Master Mo beamed with pride. Since the garden’s completion, no one in the county could compare. In their spare time, people came to drink tea and escape the summer heat, all of them envious of his “Four-Star Moon Viewing” garden.

As the two continued praising the garden, Zhang Shu, however, began to feel restless and embarrassed.

Master Mo glanced over, feeling that the man looked very familiar, but he couldn’t quite place him.

Zhang Shu stood up and bowed respectfully. “The skilled craftsman you were just talking about is me. I am unworthy of such praise. I wonder if Master Mo remembers that three or four years ago, when your family built this garden, you hired a dozen temporary workers? I was one of them.”

Master Mo thought for a long while before suddenly clapping his hands. “So it’s you! I even spoke to you a few times back then. How could I not recognize you? It’s truly a case of not judging a book by its cover. I never expected you to have such a prosperous business now. Truly impressive, truly impressive!”

Young Master Nan didn’t expect Zhang Shu to have such a connection with the Mo family, so he seized the opportunity to bring up Zhang Shu’s request.

Master Mo asked Zhang Shu about his requirements for a teacher, and Zhang Shu explained everything frankly, without hiding anything. He knew that if he kept quiet for the sake of politeness, he would only end up dissatisfied with the candidate and make more enemies.

Master Mo thought for a moment. “Do you have any age preference?”

Zhang Shu shook his head. “As long as the person has good character, real talent, and knowledge, and isn’t too pedantic, age doesn’t matter.”

“I have a candidate in mind. He’s an old man, but very knowledgeable and wise when it comes to handling people. If you invite him, it will definitely benefit the whole village. However, he is quite old—he’s 65 years old.”

In this era, where people rarely lived to 70, he was indeed considered elderly.

“Don’t worry. As long as the old master can come to our village, we’ll take care of him until he’s a hundred.”

Zhang Shu’s grandparents were about the same age, and as long as they were well cared for, they would likely live more than ten more years. By then, the children in the village would be well-educated, and they could choose a teacher from their own community.

After hearing this, Master Mo was reassured. The old man’s name was Huang. He once taught in an imperial examination class, but the workload was too heavy. Given his age, he was sent to the clinic several times due to overwork. If he could go to the village to teach children, it would be a more relaxed position, and he wouldn’t have to work so hard.

Once the decision was made, Master Mo sent someone to invite him.

After talking with Zhang Shu, Master Huang agreed to the arrangement and waited for Zhang Shu to build the school.

Zhang Shu felt a great sense of relief for accomplishing something important. He thanked Master Mo and Young Master Nan repeatedly, invited them to visit once the school was built, and then prepared to return.

Before heading back to the village, Zhang Shu stopped by the Zhang family store. His second aunt was still greeting customers and collecting bills at the front. Zhang Shu discussed the recent business with her and mentioned that someone sent firewood.

“You’re talking about Wang Meng, right? This ger is really something. When he sent firewood to me a couple of days ago, I was stunned for a moment, but he said you asked him to send it, so I paid him. But he refused to take it, saying he had already eaten a bag of cakes for free and that the firewood for the first three days was free of charge. He noticed that the wooden barrel in my yard was broken, so he helped me cut a bamboo to fix it. When he was too busy, he’d still help a little with the firewood he brought.”

The second aunt praised Wang Ge’er endlessly, and Zhang Shu felt a surge of sympathy for him. Such a good person had such a troublesome brother. It was truly unfortunate. He hoped Wang Meng could escape the clutches of the devil soon.

Zhang Shu then returned to the inn to pick up the children. Li Mujin originally planned to come with them, but the two children had fallen asleep, making it difficult to leave, so he stayed behind.

When they returned to the inn, the children were awake and having breakfast. Zhang Erbao was still drinking milk, while Qianjin was enjoying a bowl of egg custard. Zhang Shu took out the oil-paper-wrapped tea eggs he brought and gave one to each person in the store. Many stores now sold tea eggs, but the best ones were still from Zhang Family Store. The servants often bought dozens at a time. These tea eggs alone made a lot of money every day.

Wu Jiang and Wu Hai, the two brothers, had a new idea. Although they were young, they didn’t want to stay in the store doing odd jobs forever. Eventually, they would become waiters for the rest of their lives. With the tea eggs selling so well, they wanted to raise chickens at home to provide eggs. This would lower the cost and increase their profits.

Zhang Shu naturally supported the idea. At that point, they could not only make tea eggs but also pickled salted eggs, and the roosters could be smoked. It would be a win-win situation.

Of course, that was still a long-term plan. Right now, the school was the most important thing.

They set up the carriage and headed back to the village, but when they reached the entrance, they were stopped by a sudden surge of enthusiasm from the villagers. Everyone greeted them, “Zhang Shu, you’re back!”

What happened while he was away? Why was everyone suddenly so friendly?

Zhang Shu was confused but didn’t understand until he passed the school site his family marked out. He then realized what happened.

There were piles of wood stacked up, and the foundation was already dug. They were simply waiting for Zhang Shu to start the construction of the school, and the villagers already began helping to build it.

Remembering what the village chief told him, Zhang Shu felt immense admiration. He didn’t know how the village chief managed to convince them to help voluntarily.

His original plan was for all the children in the village to attend the school together. Now that the villagers were so supportive, he certainly couldn’t let them down.

However, he still had to maintain a proper demeanor and, when necessary, pretend not to know things. He didn’t want to become someone like Wang Shusheng in the eyes of the villagers.