Transmigrated as A Farm Girl Making Her Family Rich-Chapter 151 - 150 Xinghe Academy
Chapter 151 -150 Xinghe Academy
Tang Shunyan, now over five years old, had progressed beyond receiving education at home from a tutor and had entered the junior class at Xinghe Academy to pursue his studies, leaving the home tutor to teach his younger brother.
This was because his mother had given birth to another brother, who was now one year old, a prime time for enlightenment.
There were not only Shunyan studying at Xinghe Academy, but also a group of his young friends; his cousin Tang Xiyue was in the same class, studying with many other pals.
In the junior class, some students were diligent in their studies while others were lazy. There were also rich Young Masters who were quite dull, yet their parents, wishing for their sons to be well-versed in literature, enrolled them in the academy regardless of the cost.
The students of the junior class, for the wholesome growth of the children, were grouped together following the advice and persistent insistence of the parents, whether they had good or bad grades or were mischievous.
The students in the junior class could not be expected to do much, as many had not mastered the Four Books and Five Classics, Thousand Character Classic, or Three Character Classic.
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The teacher had to reteach these simpler texts, but for Tang Shunyan, who had studied at home for over a year, and some of the smarter kids, it felt as if going back home would be better than learning these things again.
Then there were troublemakers in the classroom, who, if not falling asleep during lessons, would make noises and draw everyone’s attention, disrupting the learning atmosphere.
There were also the slower learners, who, no matter how much the teacher taught, never seemed to catch on, scoring either zero or failing when it came to grading assignments.
Feeling that this was hindering his own studies, Shunyan and some of the brighter kids, including Tang Xiyue and two or three other boys, sought to move up to the intermediate class and leave behind those still sniffling and causing trouble.
When these few students from the junior class moved up to the intermediate class, they became a highlight of the group.
The intermediate class was split into two: class one consisted of the smarter students with good grades, who were overall talented.
Class two harbored students who were poor in their studies and prone to mischief. Apart from struggling in liberal arts and martial arts, they were also expected to excel in Qin, Chess, Calligraphy, and Painting upon entering the intermediate class.
This posed a challenge for the seven- or eight-year-old boys, some of whom had fallen behind during their enlightenment studies, had played the fool in the junior class, and had not learned much of use by the time they came of age.
The teachers could not allow these older students to continue in the junior class, so they pushed them up to the intermediate class and, out of necessity, grouped those with poorer grades into class one.
When Tang Shunyan and his friends entered the intermediate class, they entered a much more competitive environment with better-performing students. The older students of the intermediate class watched these Little Doudings with amused expectation in their eyes.
Since they were younger than the others, the teacher could only provide them with additional desks and chairs, and they were seated at the very front.
Tang Shunyan and Tang Xiyue were seated opposite each other, with their two other friends behind them.
Under the strict supervision of the teacher, Shunyan and Xiyue’s posture, intelligence, and capabilities earned them praise from their teachers in all subjects.
The older intermediate students, who initially anticipated a spectacle, gained no advantage in the various subject competitions.
Students who had previously excelled and graduated from the junior class now faced two formidable rivals, especially Tang Shunyan, which gave them a headache and motivated them to study harder.
For those who had skipped a year to join the intermediate class, the pressure was substantial, but Shunyan and Xiyue could still compete with those who had the best grades.
Seated behind them, their two companions couldn’t keep up; their scores were competing with the average students in the junior class.
In such a competition with the younger ones, they felt the pressure but also realized that not all the kids were invincible, some were a bit clumsy too.
Tang Shunyan and Tang Xiyue and the others had been at the academy for three months now, and with the assessments approaching in June and July, they should have been studying even harder.
Yet, Tang Shunyan was quite confident. The day before the assessment, there was a day off, and he had plans for this holiday; he wanted to go and play at the Ye family’s place.
He had not told his young friends about his plans to visit the Ye family, as they were all diligently striving to achieve the highest scores on the assessments.
But he felt the need to relax, so when he went home that evening after school, he told his grandparents and his parents that he wanted to go to the Ye family’s the next day.
“No, you have an assessment the day after tomorrow. You need to achieve a good score, and you shouldn’t waste your study time by going out to play,” said Lady Tang after hearing her eldest son’s words, the first to disapprove. Her eldest son’s intelligence was noticed by all and was a source of pride for her as a mother. To achieve such results while studying with the junior class had earned her much praise from other noble ladies like herself.
As for her younger son, at only a year old, they were already starting his enlightenment to ensure he would be just as intelligent as his older brother.
“Mother, I’ve already learned what I need to, and I’m not someone who crams at the last minute. Going out for a day is just to relax, and besides, I can pick fruit in the Ye family’s orchard and bring some back for you to enjoy.”
“Yan’er, you could wait until after the assessments and then go with your young friends. Wouldn’t that be more fun?” Mr. Tang suggested, his words not outright rejecting but rather offering an alternative.
“Grandchild, the day after tomorrow is your assessment. If you play too wildly at the Ye family’s and get a little sick, wouldn’t that interfere with your assessment?” Old Master Tang had barely finished speaking when he was glared at by Madam Tang, who said, “Old Master, what nonsense are you talking about?”
“Ah, Madam, that was just a figure of speech. Our grandson is so young, and we don’t feel at ease with him going to the Ye family’s. Let’s have him go after the assessment,” Old Master Tang, unoffended by the glare from Madam Tang, continued with a smile.
“Grandfather, I’m already five or six years old and can do many things independently. Moreover, you would definitely send someone with me when I go out. I can’t wait several days more; I’ll leave early tomorrow morning and return in the afternoon,” persisted Tang Shunyan.
After much persuasion, Tang Shunyan’s parents and grandparents finally relented, sending Housekeeper Tang along with guards and maids to accompany him.
The maids in Tang Shunyan’s courtyard were replaced when he grew a bit older and was capable of making such decisions. Mrs. Li dismissed the wet nurse, and when the family wanted to assign him a new wet nurse and maids, he asked to replace Xiu Zhi and Mei Zhi.
Tang Shunyan no longer needed nursing, so his wet nurse could be taken over by a newly married daughter-in-law.
Since the young master did not favor the young madam’s maid, Madam Tang had no choice but to assign Jinhua—recently betrothed to Housekeeper Tang’s son and now Housekeeper Tang’s daughter-in-law—as Tang Shunyan’s wet nurse.
She also reassigned two second-class maids from her own side to replace the two maids unliked by the boy in his courtyard.
Madam Tang brought people from her own entourage into her eldest grandson’s courtyard to serve as the wet nurse and Maid, and although Lady Tang remained silent outwardly, internally she was displeased. Her mother-in-law held tight control over the housekeeping and even started managing her eldest son’s life.
Even as a grandmother, that seemed too much interference, but the thoughts of rebellion couldn’t be voiced. What could she do when her own aides were not very capable?
