Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 13 The Chatty Brother

"Brother Taozi, hahaha, this is my first time giving a lecture in the classroom."

"I feel like I didn't prepare much this time, and what I said wasn't good enough. It seems like I still need to prepare well and not just say whatever comes to mind."

“I didn’t expect that they all liked to listen to it.”

“I thought I couldn’t finish the speech.”

Lu Qubing was extremely excited. He sat opposite Taozi and danced with joy.

He returned to his previous state and spoke with great passion. Even after speaking for such a long time today, he didn't even feel tired.

The new changes in the classroom attracted a lot of attention.

After a few days, students started to come and watch.

They stood outside the door, and some even rode their own servants and leaned out from the courtyard wall to look.

Seeing Lu Qubing explaining the law to everyone in such a vivid way, they couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Someone started to make a noise: "Tell them about the classics! Tell them about the classics!"

Lu Qubing's class was not so smooth, he was hesitant and intermittent.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead from time to time, and became more and more embarrassed as he spoke.

Fortunately, these people only came to watch for a few days. When they felt that it had lost its fun, no one came here anymore.

No matter how clean Liu Taozi cleans this place, to those people, it is still a pigsty and a place where a group of cattle and horses live.

The filth and stench emanate from the depths of the souls of cattle and horses and cannot be cleaned away.

Without these scoundrels to disturb, teaching went particularly smoothly.

This is the first time in the past five years that a teacher has come to give lectures to the law school.

These students were not familiar with each other in the past. They all stayed in their own rooms and rarely interacted with others.

But now, they really began to be like a window. Led by Lu Qubing, everyone told each other their names and household registrations.

They became familiar with each other.

Ten days passed by in a blink of an eye.

The earliest group of people, those headed by Qihu, were about to take the exam.

Before leaving, Qihu came to Taozi's room with some things.

"Brother Taozi, I got my student card today, and I will be taking the exam at the county school in a few days."

"I know Brother Taozi doesn't like me, so I came here to apologize to Brother Taozi and admit my mistake."

"If I have offended you in the past, please forgive me. I grew up in Cheng'an, and in all these years, I have never seen anyone like you."

"Even if Brother Taozi didn't take the exam, he would definitely be able to accomplish great things. I don't ask Brother Taozi to help me, I just ask Brother Taozi not to mind my past rude behavior."

As Qi Hu spoke, he stood up, bowed to Taozi, and then walked out of the room slowly and respectfully.

These earliest batch of people have left. They have obtained the qualifications of students and can officially participate in the examination.

The rest of the students also had their break, which lasted only one day.

Many students decided not to go out. Although they had to eat leftovers, it was still safer inside the county school than outside.

Liu Taozi started packing her bags early in the morning.

Lu Qubing sat opposite, looking at Taozi who was busy.

"My relatives and friends are all in my hometown. If I take a day off, it will be too late to go there. It will take at least three days."

"I don't know anyone here, and no one likes me. I have nothing to do all day and nowhere to go."

"I eat the food in the county school every day, which is a bit boring. I want to eat some wheat rice or something, but there is no place to eat it."

"I've been in Cheng'an for so long, but I've only been out once, and I've never been to other places. The main reason is that I don't have someone familiar with the local area to guide me."

Lu Qubing's words were full of hints.

But Liu Taozi ignored him. He packed the package, put it on his back, and then looked at Lu Qubing.

"Then I'll go back."

"If it's convenient for you."

Before Lu Qubing could finish his words, Taozi had already walked out.

Lu Qubing sat on the bed dejectedly, shaking his head and sighing.

Suddenly, Taozi came in again.

Lu Qubing's eyes were full of surprise.

"Brother Taozi!"

"I didn't take the book."

Liu Taozi strode along the road in the county town, and his behavior always attracted the attention of passers-by.

When everyone was lowering their heads and walking carefully, Liu Taozi's vigorous steps were out of place.

His steps were big and heavy, and every step he took stirred up dust. He was like a carriage pulled by three horses, rushing forward.

Lu Qubing had to speed up his pace to keep up with him.

"Brother Taozi, slow down! I, I, can't catch up!"

Taozi still brought this talkative brother along.

The two men arrived at the city gate one after the other.

A row of heads were hung on the city gate.

They pierced the skulls, tied them with ropes, and hung them at the city gates, so that people passing by would pass under them.

Taozi looked up and saw that they were all familiar faces.

Zhang Cheng finally lost weight. His head had already rotted. Although these people had performed procedures to prevent decay, the head still became horrible.

Two guards were hung on his left and right, continuing to protect his safety, and the bandits' weapons were also swaying in the wind.

Lu Qubing’s face turned pale as he watched this horrifying scene.

Their empty eyes stared at everyone who passed by below them with inexplicable malice.

After showing the pass, the soldier did not make things difficult.

After leaving the city, Lu Qubing gradually forgot the horror at the city gate and became excited, like a child going out to play with his parents.

He really didn't lie, this was his first time going outside the city in several years. However, Taozi's expression became much colder, and as he walked, his eyes kept looking into the distance.

Taozi walked very fast, he seemed never to feel tired. No matter how difficult the road was, he would not slow down. Lu Qubing had a lot of things he wanted to say, but in order to keep up with Taozi, he really didn't have the energy to say anything.

There was a familiar high slope in the distance, and Taozi slowed down her pace slightly.

When the two of them walked over the high slope, Taozi stopped.

There were densely packed people standing at the foot of the high slope.

They were barefoot and ragged, many of them only had cloth hanging on their bodies, and some were naked.

Their hair was disheveled, their bodies were pitch black, their stomachs were sunken, their feet were moving slowly, their eyes were dull, and they didn't notice the peaches on the hillside at all.

Taozi couldn't count how many of them there were, and was now moving numbly towards the north.

A trace of pity flashed in Lu Qubing's eyes.

"Dead."

"Those who escaped during the corvée labor dared not return home, nor could they see the officials. They could only run around and pick up food everywhere."

"In the end, they can only eat each other. The remaining few most ferocious ones will occupy the mountains and become bandits, attacking and killing passers-by, and become man-eating beasts."

"Back then, Your Majesty used benevolence to stabilize the country, reduced taxes, lightened corvée labor, established schools, rectified the administration of officials, and appointed upright and honest officials."

"Fight against foreign invaders, pacify internal enemies, grant amnesty to all people, what a prosperous time it was"

"But in recent years, Your Majesty has renovated the palace and built many temples. There have been frequent corvée labor and miscellaneous taxes. Just for the Santai Palace, 300,000 civilians were conscripted. There are no strong men left in various places, only the old and weak."

"I really shouldn't have done that! I really shouldn't have done that!"

Or if they left the city, Lu Qubing would become much bolder.

Taozi said nothing, just looked deeply at the walking dead.

Only after they had gone far away did Taozi lead Lu Qubing to continue moving forward.

They walked past the charred land, passed the dead trees, turned left and right on the path, and under the gaze of the crows, they finally saw a peach forest.

Lu Qubing was very excited. For literati and poets, peach forests always carry a special meaning.

He looked at the beautiful peach forest, brewing the elegance of a scholar in his heart, and muttering some poems unknown to outsiders.

Taozi’s home is hidden among these dense peach trees.

Outside the yard, there was a little kid holding dead branches in his arms, sniffing his nose, and picking up the fallen dead branches.

"Brother Peach!"

When he saw Liu Taozi suddenly appear, he immediately took a few steps back.

"Brother Taozi is back!!"

He yelled and rushed back into the yard.

Lu Qubing was about to say hello and felt a little embarrassed, "Is this your younger brother?"

"I found it in the village."

"peach!!!"

Then I heard a call.

Liu Zhang ran out of the courtyard at a trot. Her pace was getting faster and faster, and she was about to bump into Liu Taozi in a few steps.

Liu Zhang pinched Taozi's arm, then stood on tiptoe to pinch his face and head, looking him up and down to make sure he was okay, and her eyes couldn't help but become moist again.

"Do you know how scared I am? Zhang Cheng and the others..."

Only then did Liu Zhang notice Lu Qubing standing nearby and quickly stopped talking.

Lu Qubing hurriedly bowed, "Lu Qubing greets auntie!"

“I came in a hurry and was unable to bring any prayer gifts”

Liu Zhang subconsciously returned the greeting, "Since he is my son's good friend, why should I be so polite? I didn't know there were any guests coming, Xiaowu, go and open the gate."

Lu Qubing was a little surprised.

Because of Taozi's personality, Lu Qubing had made many predictions about this family. He thought that she might be a "violent woman" with broad limbs, but he never expected that Taozi's mother looked so polite and decent, and did not look like a peasant woman at all.

Besides, listening to this skillful answer, why does he sound like someone from a wealthy family?

He couldn't help but glance at Taozi. Why did Taozi have such a personality?
These two people seem incongruous standing together.

Liu Zhang invited the two men into the courtyard.

They could only sit down in the courtyard. Liu Zhang obviously had a lot to say to Taozi, but because there were guests, she couldn't say it.

Lu Qubing also knew this situation, so he was about to leave the courtyard on the pretext of looking around, but Taozi caught him.

"Mom, this person is the county school's official."

"I have entered the county school's internal administration rules. I have a break every ten days. After another twenty days, I will be able to take the exam."

Liu Zhang looked at Lu Qubing, who quickly cleared his throat and said, "Taozi is studying hard in the county school. Both I and his classmates like him very much."

Liu Zhang smiled and nodded, her face full of tenderness.

"My daughter Taozi has been well-behaved and studious since she was little, but she rarely goes out. Thank you, Lu Lingshi, for taking care of her."

Taozi's mother is as gentle as water, and the food she cooks is even more delicious.

Lu Qubing, who was eating voraciously, couldn't understand why Taozi wanted to leave here and go to some crappy county to learn how to eat slop.

How could such a gentle and kind mother raise someone like Taozi?

"Bang!!!"

With a loud bang, a wild boar was thrown to the ground.

Lu Qubing jumped up in fright and almost vomited the food he had eaten.

A sturdy man who looked like a peach but was a little bigger than a peach walked into the yard.

"You're not going to eat until I come back?!"

The man opened his mouth, roaring like a wild animal.

Lu Qubing suddenly realized.

Oh, I see.

(End of this chapter)