lying down

Niu Liu was extremely stubborn, he stumbled and fell down after a while.There was lamb stew in the end, but only when the other children were almost full.

According to the habits of the children, it is time to go to bed once the weather is dark, because there is no electricity at this time, it is extremely wasteful to light wax and grease lamps.Moreover, many people are also malnourished and lack vitamins. When it gets dark, they can't see clearly and have night blindness.

But it didn't work in this place. Ouyang was very willing to devote himself to the children, and lit four torches made of grease, which illuminated the main room that entered first.

The children looked at Ouyang and the outfit behind him very curiously.

It was a large piece of wood, painted shiny black, and Zhao Yuju was holding a piece of yellow dirt in his hand and facing everyone.Ouyang didn't have time to make chalk for later generations. He only knew that chalk was probably made of a mixture of clay and gypsum, so now he can only make do with it.

"Starting tonight, you will study here for an hour and a half every night. Whether I am here or not, don't slack off!" Ouyang settled down: "There will be an exam every quarter. Down."

The children were shocked when they heard the words. Since ancient times, it has never been heard that the master's family let them study on the first day they bought the maids and servants.

The status of child servants and domestic slaves is extremely low at this time, how can the master's family waste time and money on them?Reading was almost impossible for these children who had been sold into slavery.

"Today I'm going to teach you numbers." Zhao Yuju didn't give these children too much time to be amazed. After a pause, he raised the clod in his hand.

He first wrote the ten Chinese characters from zero to nine on the upper row of the blackboard, and then marked the corresponding Arabic numerals under each Chinese character.This symbol invented by the Indians is very concise, and it is suitable for mathematics enlightenment for children with low IQs.

"Whether it is accounting or measuring the acres of land, these numbers are indispensable." Ouyang wrote habitually from left to right when writing. If a scholar who has read poetry and books would definitely not be used to it, but these children are almost illiterate , naturally there is no such problem.

Ouyang chose mathematics as the first content of basic education for these children, after careful consideration.First of all, because mathematics is the beginning of all disciplines, and philosophy is the end of all disciplines, especially in natural sciences, without a mathematical foundation, it is bound to be difficult; secondly, no matter how he keeps it secret, there will always be omissions in this era with his own strength Teaching children to count will not arouse the suspicion of those literati who control public opinion. After all, as he said, mathematics can be used to calculate accounts and measure fields; thirdly, because these children are at the age when they start to learn basic mathematics, If one reaches the age of Wang Chen or Hanxi, the ability to accept new things has weakened, and it will be difficult to learn well.

The ancient Chinese did not pay little attention to mathematics. Otherwise, in the imperial examinations after the Sui and Tang Dynasties, mathematics was also a part of the examination. In the imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty, there was a subject of clear calculation.In fact, Meng Yuankai was the first to select scholars based on the content of the Four Books, and Zhu Ming just followed Meng Yuan's practice. In the previous imperial examinations, the content was far richer than the rigid and imprisoned Four Books.

Therefore, to teach these boy servants to count, there is no need to worry about the literati's clear discussion, and there is no need to worry about the suspicion of the neighbors. Even if one or two caring people learn about this, they will only praise the Li family for their generosity.

Niu Liu looked at the twenty symbols on the blackboard, his eyes straightened for a while.

He is not a very smart person, that's why he came to the last place in memorizing the family rules. These twisted characters really made his head big.

The same is true for Lin Hao. What is better than Niu Liu is that he at least knows how to wrench his fingers to sign one, two, three, four, and he also knows to change one hand when the other is not enough.

After Ouyang taught the ten numbers three times, he stopped. Several maids gave each child a neat and smooth white stone board, a charcoal pen, and a rag. The children were a little dazed at first, but this time Lin Hao was the first to react. He enthusiastically grabbed the slender charcoal stick and wrote a horizontal line crookedly on his small stone slab: "One."

The rest of the children followed suit. Li Zihao carefully reviewed Ouyang's handwriting on the big blackboard before writing each stroke, so his writing was fair and just, which seemed to be more standard than Ouyang himself.Li Feng was also very smooth when writing Chinese characters, but he had some difficulty writing those twisted numbers. He sneaked a look at Li Zihao's writing, and felt even more anxious when he realized that the other party's writing was excellent.

Under Ouyang's intentional or unintentional instigation, the first batch of children has already developed a sense of competition. Li Feng and Li Zihao, Niu Liu and Lin Hao, they don't know how their fates will intersect with each other at this moment, but they just vaguely feel that each other is not pleasing to the eye. .

An hour and a half is equivalent to three hours. These children have not had a good life near Japan, and they have been yawning for a long time, but they are afraid of their new masters, and no one dares to show their distress.Ouyang was quite satisfied after reading it, which should be the advantage of returning to ancient times.He himself coaches the whip. If these children don't want to make progress and don't want to study, there will naturally be family rules and laws to deal with them, whipping, hunger strike, and confinement. They can use whatever they want, and there is no need to worry about any opposition.The only purpose is to hope that they will become talents, and slowly instill the knowledge of their future generations into their brains and hearts.

Not teaching is the fault of the father; lax teaching is the laziness of the teacher.

During this period, every half an hour or so, Ouyang would arrange a stick of incense for them to relax.Adding ten numbers to ten Chinese characters is not a problem for smart children like Li Feng and Li Zihao. Before the first break, they have recognized them all.During the second break, they can basically write, but occasionally make mistakes.Even Niu Liu and Lin Hao recognized all the numbers and Chinese characters before the third break, that is, after school.

This time, it was the girls who fell last.An eight-year-old girl is the most outstanding among all the girls. She is the third one who knows everything, second only to Li Feng and Li Zihao. Ouyang remembers that her name is Chen Juan. The eyes looked exceptionally clear and bright.The girl who learned last is the oldest, already 12 years old, she always bows her head and blushes, her name is Wang Yu, but at least she can trace Chinese characters and numbers before finishing the class.

"It's time, you go to wash and rest, someone will wake you up at sunrise tomorrow morning, and it will be like this every day." Ouyang ordered, and today's class was considered to be over.

These children couldn't hold back for a long time, and couldn't help cheering when they heard the order.Ouyang frowned slightly, and then let go. This is the true temperament of a child, so he didn't say anything.

Niu Liu was not noisy, he was still silently recalling the Chinese characters and numbers taught by Ouyang in his heart. He knew he was clumsy and lonely since he was a child.

He didn't intend to make noise, but Lin Hao, who always looked at him disliked, didn't want to let him go. Taking advantage of the opportunity that Ouyang, Wang Chen and Han Xi didn't notice when he was going out, Lin Hao pushed Niu Liu from behind.Just as Niu Liu was about to cross the threshold, he was pushed forward and staggered, and was tripped by the threshold again. With a sound of "ah", he fell to the ground, and the skin on his head was smashed immediately.

Although Niu Liu was stubborn, he was only a ten-year-old child, so he naturally shed tears under the pain.When Ouyang looked back at him, he saw that he was wiping blood and tears, but gritted his teeth and did not cry out, his heart moved.

A person's talent and knowledge can be cultivated through acquired efforts, but a person's character cannot be easily changed by acquired efforts.This Niu Liu is resolute and strong, and he should pay attention to making use of his specialty in the future.

By the light of the torch, Han Xi saw that Niu Liu was still bleeding, so he hurried up and pressed his wound with a white silk handkerchief.He only felt a faint fragrance from the silk handkerchief, and his face immediately turned red, as if his forehead didn't hurt so much anymore.

"Does it hurt?" Han Xi asked softly.

Niu Liuhe had encountered such treatment before, he wanted to reach out to grab the silk handkerchief, but Han Xi's hand was pressed on the handkerchief, and he dared not touch it.He was originally a man of few words, so his face flushed, and he murmured after a while: "No...it doesn't hurt!"

Lin Hao hid among the children, seeing Han Xi leaning beside Niu Liu, he felt jealous for no reason, thinking that this deaf and stupid Niu Liu was a fool.As he was thinking about it, a sharp look made his heart tremble. During his wandering days, he had also done petty theft, and he was very sensitive to other people's gaze, so he lowered his head and revealed the expression on his face. hid.

"Lin Hao." He lowered his head to confirm Ouyang's guess, so Ouyang calmly called out his name.

"In..." Li Ye's body trembled lightly: "What orders does the young master have?"

"You won't have lunch tomorrow." Ouyang said: "Sister Hanxi, remember, this Lin Hao won't have lunch for the next three days. Wang Chen, remember, for the next seven days, before breakfast every day, smoke this in public. It's called Lin Hao's Ten Whips."

"Master, spare me, master, spare me!" Lin Hao never thought that he would be punished so severely for a prank. He immediately knelt down and begged Ouyang for mercy.

"I'll count to three. If you still kneel and make noise to me, then I will drive you out of the house tonight." Ouyang frowned. This Lin Hao has many bad problems, and it really takes a lot of effort.

"Admit your mistakes, and stand at attention when you are beaten." Ouyang said something that made everyone feel incomprehensible, smiled to himself, and then said: "Success must be rewarded, and mistakes must be punished. Lin Hao, do you still remember the fifth rule of the house?" Article?"

In the family rules memorized by the children in the afternoon, Article [-] clearly stated that the family members of the same Li family should be friendly and help each other, and not make troubles by flattery.Lin Hao's heart trembled again, only then did he realize that Ouyang's punishment was not a whim.

Seeing Lin Hao's pitiful appearance, Han Xi originally wanted to plead for him, but before she could speak, Ouyang's eyes swept over her, and she swallowed back the words of pleading.

The rest of the children heard that he punished Lin Hao in a simple way, and they were all terrified in their hearts. Lin Hao made himself a tool of Ouyang Liwei for one rash move.

After everyone dispersed, Lin Hao still knelt on the ground, secretly regretting that Ouyang never asked him to get up, and he didn't dare to stand up at all.

"Get up." He was regretting and worried at the same time, when he suddenly heard a voice like the sound of heaven, he looked up, and saw Niu Liu's stinky face.Looking to the side again, Han Xi's concerned and annoyed eyes came into his eyes.

"Get up." Han Xi stretched out his hand and said, "Brother Ouyang is a celestial immortal with a very kind heart. If you weren't too naughty, you wouldn't be punished like this. You will remember it in the future and don't mess around." !"

This kind of preaching was originally what Lin Hao disliked the most, but for some reason, Han Xi said it softly, which warmed his heart and greatly benefited him.He nodded unconsciously, but Niu Liu was still stern, looking unhappy.

Once they entered the compound, they were divided into two rooms for the ten people, one for six boys and one for four girls.Zhao Yuju had long asked a carpenter to put a bed frame in the house. This kind of bed was made by imitating the bunk beds in the dormitories of later generations. You only need to squeeze six beds in each room. These children have never lived in this kind of bed. The upper and lower bunks were very excited after entering, even Niu Liu and Lin Hao felt extremely happy.

But when the two learned that they were divided into a room, the joy immediately faded a lot.