Early the next morning.
A man carrying a cloth bundle, dressed in a yellowed long gown, drifted lightly into the shabby room.
"I only have one request, and that's for you to remember the words up there, write them down, and then read them with me!"
Lu Chang'sheng stood in the room, looking at the 'teacher and students' in front of him.
"How old is this teacher supposed to be? Why are the students so old?"
Fragments of whispering came from nearby, but as soon as the middle-aged man put on a stern face, no one dared to speak anymore.
The room was empty; those seeking to learn formed little circles as they stood.
No pens, ink, paper, or inkstone; and nowhere to sit, either.
Everyone stood quietly, faces serious.
The words the middle-aged man wrote were, sure enough, one of the 168 characters Lu Chang'sheng had memorized before.
"So this is 'zhuang'!"
Everything suddenly clicked, and then a rush of excitement followed.
It was that long-awaited feeling of a harvest, at last.
"That's kind of a lot!"
Not long after, the middle-aged man seemed to become aware, stopped in the middle of writing a word on the wood board, and sat down to rest.
"Twenty-five characters in total!"
Lu Chang'sheng watched the middle-aged man stop, feeling a bit disappointed.
Afternoon.
The middle-aged man took the wood board, walked up to a boy, and pointed to a character: "How do you read this?"
The boy stammered, unable to answer, so the man stared him down and moved on to the next.
"You, read!"
"Xu?"
"It's 'huang'!"
Then on to the next.
The boy had remembered how to read 'huang', but when the middle-aged man pointed to another character, he was instantly thrown off.
This time, instead of continuing, he walked over to a little girl.
"How do you read this one?"
"Yu!"
"Is that right—hmm?"
The middle-aged man paused, focusing on the little girl for a moment.
"Not bad! What's your name?"
"Li Nangua!"
The middle-aged man didn't say more, asked a few more questions to the others, then put away the board and went back.
"Class is over for now!" he said, heading out.
On the first day of reading class, Lu Chang'sheng managed to sort out and learn all twenty-five characters.
During mealtime, Liang Hu came over with a big bundle of steamed buns.
One of the Zhao Family kids thought they were for everyone, and since he was hungry, reached over to grab one.
But a stick slapped down hard on his hand.
Liang Hu put one hand on his hip, bouncing it up and down, mouth crooked in a sneer, "What are you doing, huh? Just look at you lot—do you look anything like students? How are you supposed to learn to read like that? Buncha damn bastards!"
After cussing them out, he planted the stick right on top of the buns.
"Two copper coins for one bun! The teacher's no saint—teaching you to read, giving you a roof over your head, that's more than generous! If you want something to eat, cough up the copper!"
The Zhao Family boy glared furiously at Liang Hu.
His name was Zhao Liang, and back in Zhao Family Village, he was something of a ringleader, but he didn't like hanging around with Lu Chang'sheng, Wang Heihou, and the other outsiders.
The anger wasn't so much about the money; it was Liang Hu's disrespectful way of doing things.
"Heh, got some temper on you, I see!"
Liang Hu's face took on a mean edge, stepped forward, and grabbed Zhao Liang by his shirt.
Liang Hu was over thirty, in his prime, while Zhao Liang was barely twelve—he had no chance of fighting back.
He was picked right up off the ground.
Zhao Liang's face flickered with fear, and Liang Hu's brow furrowed.
"If you weren't—"
He seemed to catch himself, quickly shut up, and let Zhao Liang go.
"That's the teacher's rule. If you can't handle it, you can just go home!" he said, shaking his head all smug.
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"Spent four copper coins, still got fifty! That'll last maybe ten days, tops!"
Lu Chang'sheng didn't bother getting mixed up in Zhao Liang and Liang Hu's drama.
He just paid and bought two buns for the meal.
Once he did, Wang Heihou and the others bought two each as well.
"Chang'sheng, these buns are kinda pricey. I remember, at the town, they only cost one copper coin!"
Wang Heihou chewed his bun, still crave-eyed for another, but seeing Lu Chang'sheng and the others hold back, he gave up the tempting thought.
"Maybe things in the Prefecture City are just more expensive!" Lu Chang'sheng said.
"How much money do you guys have left?"
That was a private kind of question.
At their age, even if they didn't know to ask, their families would explain ahead of time.
But Lu Chang'sheng wanted to see if these three actually trusted him.
"This is just the starting stage—if you're gonna invest, you need people you can trust!"
If they weren't willing, he'd have to rethink his plan.
Fortunately, out of the three, only Wang Heihou hesitated a bit, but when he saw the other two sharing, he spoke up too.
Li Nangua had thirty-eight copper coins!
Niu Dazhuang had ninety!
Wang Heihou had the most—one hundred and fifty copper coins on him.
Lu Chang'sheng took note.
Wang Heihou's family was better off, so he got more copper coins sent with him.
Niu Dazhuang and Li Nangua were more like Lu Chang'sheng, though each had their own situation.
Li Nangua's family mostly just let her run wild—getting her forty-something copper coins was already being generous.
Niu Dazhuang's family only had an old mother and an older brother, but the brothers were close, so to send him here, they likely cleaned out all their savings.
And Lu Chang'sheng himself—he'd spent some on gifts before, and more when he got engaged.
So that's why there was such a big gap in copper coins between them.
"All because of that Zhao Xinghua screwing me over!"
Lu Chang'sheng sighed inside.
"First gotta learn all these characters! Maybe I can find work once I'm literate."
Normally, teaching a group of illiterates twenty-something characters would take repeating several times.
But this teacher just wrote them up and made them read and write after him.
This way of teaching was something only Lu Chang'sheng could keep up with.
Sure enough, by the next day, the teacher wrote a new row of characters on the board.
Taught them once how to read, once how to write, and once what the words meant.
Before leaving—same as yesterday—he quizzed them.
He asked a bunch, and no one could answer.
The 'teacher and students' looked put out, but didn't say much. Still, those called on looked crushed, clearly pretty demoralized.
"The teacher's strict, huh!"
"Yeah! If I hadn't learned some reading from you before, Chang'sheng, I'd have gotten chewed out for sure this time!"
That night, a bunch of them huddled together.
Lu Chang'sheng ran a little reading session for them.
He nodded, "Strict teaching is a good thing. It gives us pressure—which means more motivation!"
Wang Heihou mumbled a few words, forced himself to focus, and practiced writing with a stick.
All of them were fired up, wanting to learn as many words as possible. If they couldn't become actual students, at least they could use what they learned to get a job somewhere.
But—
"Something about this doesn't quite sit right with me!"
Lu Chang'sheng thought about Liang Hu's behavior and just couldn't see him as a regular guy.
"If the teacher was really looking for students, he wouldn't pick people like him!"
There wasn't anyone to talk it over with, so Lu Chang'sheng just kept it to himself for now.
"Whatever—at least I can learn some words here. Even if it's a scam, as long as there's no real danger, it's no big deal!"
Lu Chang'sheng thought to himself.
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