The little girl with apricot cheeks and peach blossom face lowered her head, gently rubbing the corner of her clothes. She stood straight, not daring to look up, and said softly, "I’m sorry, Mr. Qin, I really can’t recite it. I forgot to review it this morning, so I forgot."
"Then, what did I say yesterday would be the punishment if you couldn’t recite it?" Mr. Qin raised his eyebrows, not angry, as he stood beside the petite girl, looking at her neatly tied bun.
Of course, Ye Zhi remembered and answered in a small voice, "Three strikes on the palm."
"Then what should you do now?"
With Mr. Qin’s eerie voice, Ye Zhi extended her left hand, palm up, and placed it before him.
Beat, go ahead and beat!
Usually, she used her right hand, so if her left hand was hit and became inconvenient, she’d use her right.
"Smack, smack, smack."
The long ruler hit her tender palm three times as punishment.
The crisp sound even made others feel the pain.
Ye Zhi’s several little companions all looked in her direction worriedly.
Fortunately, the person involved only frowned slightly and did not burst into tears; the injury should not be severe~
Mr. Qin knew she was the third young lady of the Minister’s Mansion and the beloved daughter of the dean’s senior brother. The dean had spoken to him last time about this young girl from the Ye Family; how could he dare to hit her hard?
Just a token gesture would be enough.
Returning to the podium, he resumed calling students to recite. He glanced again at the seating chart, "Gongsun Chi, you’re up next to recite."
In the corner, a tall and robust-looking young boy among his peers stood up. His nascent sword-shaped eyebrows, high and straight nose, a righteous face, neither particularly handsome nor unsightly.
Wearing a blue Qiankun Society and Country Robe, with a Vermilion White Jade Waistband, and hair tied high, he appeared full of spirit.
Such a person had little presence in the class, and this unexpected call to recite caught everyone’s attention.
Gongsun Chi, the name sounded somewhat familiar, though no one could recall where they’d heard it.
"Yes. Wei, Wei, Ling, Ling Gong asked about Chen to Confucius, Confucius replied...
...like someone who loves beauty."
Like Ye Zhi, he recited halfway through in a faltering manner, then stopped.
Mr. Qin mercilessly gave him three strikes on the palm. This time, there was no sparing the fairer sex—a solid strike indeed.
Afterwards, he selected two more students, but fortunately, the other two recited smoothly and weren’t punished.
Once the recitation finished, the lesson continued.
"Alright, this small exam’s results are satisfactory. The two students who were punished, remember the lesson well, study diligently next time. Now, take out ’The Analects’, turn to page thirty, and open to the Ji Family Chapter."
The students in the study followed the teacher’s instructions, taking out their books and turning to the designated page.
The words "Ji Family Chapter" were printed at the top left corner of page thirty as the title.
The teacher’s bright and forceful voice was heard, "The Ji family is about to attack Zhuanyu. Ran You and Jilu appeared to Confucius and said, ’The Ji family is planning an action on Zhuanyu.’ This means that Ji Sun’s family intends to attack Zhuanyu, and with any attack, it’s the common people who suffer. Confucius advised the two to desist..."
Mr. Qin began his lengthy discourse, occasionally interacting with the students, making it not too dull.
"Dong, dong, dong!"
The end-of-class bell rang.
After the teacher left, Ye Zhi and Huanhuan immediately started gossiping, surrounding themselves with Little Traitor and Changzhou, forming a small clique.
After looking around to ensure no one was paying attention to them, Ye Zhi continued.