Baichuan Academy was the county academy officially established by Baichuan County and was also the best academy in Baichuan County.
Only those who were either from rich families or, like Li Xian, Li Yao's younger brother, who had a gift for studying and whose whole family made sacrifices to support him, could come here to study.
Half of the students came from villages far away, so they all lived at the academy. Their meals were either delivered by their families or they spent money to eat in town.
In short, everyone who was sent here was the apple of their family's eye and had some pocket money.
It was just after class and they set up their stalls.
Seeing the clean, refined students coming out in twos and threes, Da Zhuang and Wang Er immediately started shouting energetically.
Hearing that they were selling stewed meat, they immediately became curious.
They considered themselves well-informed and knowledgeable, but had never heard of stewed meat before, let alone smelled such an aroma.
Many came over to take a look. The quantity was large and the price was cheap, so a number of them sat down to try it.
"Oh, the taste of this stewed meat is really unique and lingers in the mouth."
"I think the meat is the best, fragrant and tender."
"No, no! If you want to talk about the best, it has to be the radish, more delicious than the meat!"
...
Amidst the elegant praises, Li Xian walked out of the academy with several classmates.
Wang Er saw him from afar and wanted to find a place to hide.
"Don't you dare hide!" Li Yao said, "Just stand right there."
Wang Er didn't dare disobey, so he stood stiffly in place like a statue.
Attracted by the aroma, Li Xian grabbed a returning classmate and asked, "What are they selling over there?"
"Stewed meat, with meat, rice and vegetables, very delicious. If you want to eat, hurry, there's not much left."
What is stewed meat?
Just as he was curious, Li Xian suddenly saw busy Li Yao in the crowd, and his heart rejoiced.
Isn't that my big sister?
She is actually selling here!
"Brother Wen, Brother Liu, Brother Fan," Li Xian smiled slightly and said, "Come on, today I'll treat you to the taste of this stewed meat."
"Let's not, it's not that we don't appreciate it, it's just your family circumstances..."
"That's too polite!" Li Xian said, "Don't be polite today, I must treat you!"
Does he need to pay when he goes to his sister's stall to eat?
Forget a few bowls of rice, if he asked, his sister would give him the whole stall!
Leading his three classmates to the front of the stall, Li Xian pretended to have just noticed Li Yao.
"Oh, how come it's you..."
"What auntie? I'm not your auntie, I'm your big sister!" Li Yao said coldly, "You call your big sister auntie, which master taught you that?"
Stunned speechless by her sharp rebuke, Li Xian was a little surprised.
What was wrong with his big sister today? Why was she so fierce towards him?
"Why are you yelling at me?" Losing face in front of his classmates made Li Xian unhappy too, "Hurry up and give me four bowls of stewed meat, we are all hungry."
Li Yao sneered inwardly.
The original body was too indulgent with this younger brother before, he was getting arrogant.
If he wants to eat, that's fine.
"Four bowls, 60 wen."
Li Xian's mouth twitched. Was his big sister crazy today?
"I'm here to eat and you're asking me for money?"
"What," Li Yao asked coldly, "In broad daylight, do you still want to openly rob me?"
"I..."
Li Xian was so angry that smoke was almost coming out of his seven orifices, but he couldn't refute her.
Although she was his big sister, she had been married out for more than ten years and was no longer one of the Li family!
It was normal for her to give food for free out of feelings, and to charge money according to principle.
He just couldn't understand why his big sister, who was always so yielding and obedient to him before, suddenly became like a different person today, not even giving him a smile.
"Brother Li," his three classmates could also see what was going on, and advised him, "Why don't we just buy it ourselves."
"No!" How could Li Xian lose this face, "A promise is a promise, I said I would treat you, so I must treat you."
But the problem was, he didn't have enough money.
"Big sister, hurry up and serve the rice!"
Li Yao didn't move at all: "Pay first."
"You... you..." Li Xian was anxious now. Suddenly he saw Wang Er standing to the side and said, "What are you staring for, go serve me rice!"
Wang Er instinctively moved a little, but held back in the end.
Now that Mother was not siding with Uncle anymore, he didn't need to be Uncle's study companion either, so why should he still listen to him?
"Can't even order you around anymore? This uncle?" Seeing that he didn't move, Li Xian was even more angry. "Watch me teach you a lesson today!"
Saying that, Li Xian walked over in a few steps, grabbed Wang Er by the collar, and pressed him to the ground.
Da Zhuang and Wang Er wanted to help, but were stopped by Li Yao with a look.
Wang Er was 13 this year and Li Xian was 14. The two were only months apart in age and similar in build.
So Li Yao decided to let Wang Er handle this matter himself.
Winning or losing didn't matter.
The important thing was to let him pluck up the courage to face it himself, so that he could get out of the shadows of the past.
Obviously Wang Er was still very afraid of Li Xian. Punched on the ground several times, he only dared to protect his head with his hands, and didn't dare fight back at all.
Da Zhuang felt distressed watching this and anxiously said, "Mother, look at this..."
"Don't help." Li Yao said coldly, "He's not a child anymore. He has to learn to resolve his own affairs and can't always be a good-for-nothing."
Hearing these words while being passively beaten, Wang Er gritted his teeth tightly.
Mother was right, he was a good-for-nothing.
In the past when being bullied and humiliated, he never dared to resist, only endured silently.
But it was different now.
He didn't need to follow Uncle to study anymore, so why should he still take this abuse?
Why should he be beaten without fighting back?
"If you hit me again, I'll hit back!"
"You dare to hit back?" Hearing this made Li Xian even more angry. He simply kicked Wang Er directly, venting all his anger on him, "Watch me teach you a lesson today!"
"Ah—"
Wang Er finally couldn't stand it anymore. He shouted loudly, got up from the ground, swung his fist and punched Li Xian in the face.
Li Xian didn't expect him to really fight back. Caught off guard, he was punched hard several times, even bleeding from the nose.
"I'm your uncle!" Li Xian shouted loudly, "You little bastard, how dare you hit your elder? Aren't you afraid of heavenly retribution?"
Wang Er didn't back down an inch: "If you can hit me, why can't I hit you?"
"Big sister! Is this how you indulge your son?" Li Xian turned to Li Yao angrily, "You must give me an explanation for what happened today!"
"Does it hurt?" Li Yao asked.
"How could it not hurt? My nose is bleeding!"
"Good that it hurts," Li Yao said with a smirk, "I was worried just now that he didn't have enough strength, and was going to help out with a few punches."
"You... you dare!"
"Why wouldn't I dare?" Li Yao said with an icy smile, "It's normal for an uncle to hit his nephew. Then isn't it also natural for a big sister to discipline her brother?"
Li Xian was so angry he almost spit blood. He suddenly remembered that although this big sister was submissive to him, she was a famous shrew in He wan Village.
If she really turned hostile, he couldn't win against her in an argument.
Or in a fight either.
But this was in front of the academy gates, with so many classmates around.
So he shouted loudly: "Everyone come and judge, who so blatantly indulges their child's violence? Is there no morality or ethics left between heaven and earth?"
He thought his impassioned speech would earn the support of his classmates to jointly condemn her.
But instead, it was dead silent around him.
Those with eyes could see what had happened.
The three classmates who came with him also felt they had lost face.
"Disgraceful!"
"Shouting loudly at the academy gates is inappropriate!"
"We're going to eat, goodbye!"
The three turned and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Li Xian's face turned pale.
He never expected that his righteous actions would lead to desertion.
"Fine, wait for me! I'm going back to tell Mother, let's see how she deals with you!"
Li Xian turned and left.
"That's great, help me ask her," Li Yao called at his back, "when she'll return that old hen I lent her to lay eggs."
Lent an old hen to lay eggs?
The students' eyes bulged wide open. They originally thought it was just a joke in an allegory, and didn't expect there was really such an absurd matter?
Feeling their strange looks, Li Xian almost tripped and fell.
He had truly lost all face today!
Just you wait.
When he goes back, he'll definitely give his elder sister a piece of his mind. Otherwise, how can he get this anger out of his system!