coobybook Chapter 63, Part 2: Blackie
Chapter 63, Part 2: Blackie
Chapter 63 Erheizi
Wang Wenzhou had a drink with his brother-in-law and, before leaving, slipped him two hundred taels of silver. Although the goddess hated Sheng Lei, Wang Wenzhou also realized that she cared about Sheng Lei. Otherwise, she wouldn't have stopped him from hitting Sheng Lei.
The brother-in-law asked Wang Wenzhou to arrange a job for his son, Sheng Liang. This was no big deal for Wang Wenzhou. He agreed and told Sheng Liang to come see him the next day. Wang Wenzhou planned to take Sheng Liang with him and teach him some things. After all, he loved his goddess's nephew; how could Wang Wenzhou neglect him?
After seeing his brother-in-law off, Wang Wenzhou strolled over to the labor camp. He knew his goddess was angry and wanted to cheer her up.
Wang Wenzhou stood outside the classroom door, looking inside.
Sheng Lan stood on the podium, pointed to the words on the blackboard, and said, "Repeat after me: At the beginning of life, people are inherently good."
The prisoners, like primary school students, squatted on small stools and recited in unison with the teacher: "At the beginning of life, people are inherently good."
Wang Wenzhou looked around the classroom and noticed someone who stood out. Everyone else was following the teacher, reading aloud. But this guy just stared blankly at the teacher, mouth closed and motionless, not even moving his lips.
"You good-for-nothing bastard!" Wang Wenzhou was furious. He made the prisoners literate for another reason, as the saying goes, "knowledge changes destiny." Most people find it difficult to change their own lives through their own efforts, but they often easily change the lives of others.
This reflects the mindset of many volunteer teachers: to use their knowledge to change the lives of children in mountainous areas. Although Wang Wenzhou was a fraudster and rarely did good deeds, he longed to volunteer as a teacher. However, lacking formal education, he could only offer his support to the volunteers psychologically.
After transmigrating, facing these beggars and homeless people, Wang Wenzhou's inner kindness resurfaced. Behind every homeless person was a heartbreaking story. Wang Wenzhou wanted to change their lives.
Who would have thought that I'd run into such an ungrateful bastard? Everyone else is studying hard, but this guy is too lazy to even pretend to be something he's not.
"boom!"
Wang Wenzhou kicked open the door and stormed in, giving the man a thorough beating.
"Ah...ah..."
Erheizi was completely bewildered after being beaten. He recognized Lord Wang and dared not fight back. He was a beggar who had heard that there was such a good deal as selling tax stamps in Hanshan County, so he came to Hanshan with his companions.
His time in Hanshan County was the happiest he had ever been. With sixteen coins a day, he not only bought himself a new set of clothes, but also ate meat three times a day, and was always well-fed. Occasionally, he could even go to a tavern for a few drinks, living the life of a carefree immortal.
But his good days didn't last long. He was thrown into jail. But you can't blame him for that; he was a beggar and didn't have the guts to cause trouble.
The main reason was the local bullies in Hanshan County. They went to a tavern and encountered a group of beggars, whom they couldn't stand. The bullies thought that while they could eat and drink at a place like a tavern, how could the beggars be allowed to? It was asking for a beating!
Erheizi didn't even glance at them before getting a good beating and being thrown into jail by the yamen runners. The local bullies, on the other hand, were locals from Hanshan, and the runners treated them like brothers, leaving them on the spot.
Lord Wang stormed in and gave Erheizi a sound beating. Erheizi felt so wronged he wanted to cry; he hadn't done anything! Last time, perhaps it was just because he glanced at the Little Tyrant, but this time he hadn't even looked at Lord Wang.
"Stop hitting him!" Sheng Lan grabbed Wang Feng's arm, trying to pull him away, but she couldn't hold him back no matter how many times she tried.
Wang Wenzhou brutally beat Er Heizi, and apart from Sheng Lan, no one dared to step forward to stop him. In the eyes of the prison guards, let alone an adult beating a prisoner, even if they were to slash a prisoner with a knife, they would be helping the adult slash.
"Stop fighting, what's wrong with you today?" Sheng Lan couldn't pull Wang Wenzhou away, so she could only squeeze between the two of them and use her body to separate them.
Wang Wenzhou had no choice but to give up. He angrily walked to the platform, pointed at the prisoners, and shouted furiously, "I taught you to read, but you don't know what's good for you!"
Wang Wenzhou pointed at Erheizi and said angrily, "This bastard is outrageous. He doesn't study properly and doesn't even open his mouth. I don't need you lazybones living at the bottom of society. You'll thank me later. Now I'm setting a rule. Every day, everyone must learn three characters. The next day, there will be a test. Anyone who doesn't write them correctly is considered to have failed to reform! They'll be dragged out and given thirty lashes."
Wang Wenzhou turned to look at Liu Yunli and said, "Liu Yunli, you must do a good job of administering the beatings every day from now on."
Liu Yunli quickly cupped his hands and said, "Yes, sir!"
Wang Wenzhou pointed at Er Heizi and said, "Men, drag him out and give him thirty strokes of the cane. And let this be a lesson to all of you. I mean what I say. Tomorrow, anyone who writes something wrong will also get thirty strokes of the cane."
After Wang Wenzhou finished speaking, Liu Yunli quickly waved to the two jailers.
Two jailers stepped forward, grabbed Erheizi, and pulled him out.
"Wait a minute!" Sheng Lan shouted, ran to Wang Wenzhou's side, and whispered, "Wait a minute, I have something to tell you."
Girls are kind-hearted; this lazybones deserves a beating. He won't learn his lesson unless he's punished, but Wang Wenzhou didn't want to offend his goddess, since she was now his teacher. So he waved to the jailers, signaling them to stop for the time being.
“Lazy Blue, I know what you’re thinking. Pleading won’t help. You can’t teach a man a lesson without showing him what’s what.” Wang Wenzhou said with a smile.
"Oh dear!" Sheng Lan stamped her foot in frustration, pulled Wang Wenzhou towards the door, and said plaintively, "Come out first, I'll tell you something."
Stepping outside, Sheng Lan frowned and said softly, "That man is mute. He can't speak. The people with him don't even know his surname, only his nickname, Erheizi. It's not that he doesn't read along, but he can't speak at all."
"Um..." Wang Wenzhou was immediately embarrassed.
“Although Erheizi is mute, he studies very diligently. He can write all the characters I taught him these past two days. Drink less alcohol in the future, drinking too much is bad for your health and will cause you trouble! Look at you, you didn’t even know what happened, you just started hitting people.” Sheng Lan moved closer to Wang Wenzhou, sniffed, and smelled the alcohol on the adult, and began to complain.
Wang Wenzhou smiled awkwardly. The goddess's words were loaded with meaning, and it was unclear whether she was blaming him for hitting Er Heizi or for hitting Sheng Lei.
Seeing that the goddess looked unhappy, Wang Wenzhou quickly apologized: "Lazy Blue, I'm sorry! I didn't know he was mute."
Sheng Lan pouted and said softly, "Hmph! You didn't hit me, so why are you apologizing to me!"
"It's just an apology, no big deal." Wang Wenzhou gently hugged Sheng Lan and said, "I'll go apologize to Er Heizi right now!"
Sheng Lan stared blankly at Wang Wenzhou. "Your Excellency is the magistrate of a county, yet you apologize to a prisoner just because of a single word from me?"