After getting off the boat, walk out of the Jinling Old Courtyard and then cross the Zhenhuai Bridge. On both sides of the official street, there are more high-rise courtyards. This area belonged to the residential area of ​​noble officials and nobles who were heroes of Nanjing in the Ming Dynasty.

"As expected of a noble family..."

Shen Yichen stood in front of Chengguo Duke's Mansion, looking at the three red beast-headed doors and the five golden characters "Edict Chengguo Mansion" on the beams, and couldn't help but sigh.

Not to mention the majesty of the rich and powerful, the area of ​​the door panel is almost equal to that of my own small courtyard. No wonder the ancient literati regarded the title of prince as their lifelong pursuit. Only by visiting it in person can you feel this. The "forced style" of the Zhonghou clan is indeed different!

After looking at it for a while, Shen Yichen did not enter the Duke Cheng's Mansion from here, but walked to the corner door on the side.

The reason is very simple, that is, it is not worthy!

In ancient times, the main entrance of a mansion would only be opened when distinguished guests arrived. For those of Duke Cheng's level who could enter through the main entrance, apart from the royal family members, there were probably only other princes and ministers of the same rank. How could a maid like me give birth to a son? …

In addition to the guards, there were several concierges chatting at the corner gate. They just glanced at Shen Yichen casually, without saluting or showing any other signs, which seemed a bit contemptuous.

As the saying goes, there are seven ranks of officials in front of the prime minister. These concierges usually come into contact with high-ranking officials, and most of them lick their faces and beg them to inform them of their affairs. They have already set their sights above their heads.

As long as the illegitimate son Shen Yichen is not included in the genealogy of Duke Cheng, he will not be considered a "master" and there is no need to please or respect him.

And judging from Shen Yichen's performance in the past, he probably has no hope of joining the Duke's family tree in this life. If he still fails to pass the Tongsheng examination in two years, he may have to be kicked out of the private school.

Shen Yichen naturally has no feeling at all about the contempt of these concierges. After all, it is Shen Yichen who you despise. What does it have to do with me, "Zhang Ning"?

After entering the Duke's Mansion, Shen Yichen relied on his memory and walked towards the west courtyard where the private school was located.

Most wealthy gentry families in the Ming Dynasty would set up their own libraries at home for their own children to study. However, some wealthy families or well-known scholarly families would also accept the children of their relatives, close friends, and even the children of their trusted subordinates to study together. This is called "Additional study".

Shen Yichen was not included in the genealogy of Duke Cheng, so he was not considered a member of the clan. He could only attend classes at home as an "affiliated student". Moreover, his classmates were not the children of Duke Cheng's relatives or friends, but Studying with the children of close subordinates in the outer courtyard.

This is why the concierge did not take Shen Yichen seriously before, because this arrangement meant that even if Duke Cheng Guo allowed Shen Yichen to "attend school" in the mansion, he did not really treat him as his own son. , more like a gift and charity.

As soon as Shen Yichen approached the lecture hall of his home school, he heard the sound of reading loudly, and instantly he felt a chill in his heart.

"Damn it, morning school has already started, and I'm late again!"

Immediately, various images of being slapped and punished appeared in my mind. It seemed that the previous "Shen Yichen" was also a veteran who was often late, and had many experiences of being punished.

But now that I've come here, I can't possibly "go back home", right? And there is no such thing as nine-year compulsory education in this era. If you skip school and make your master angry, it's really possible to go home and never have to come back again.

So Shen Yichen could only push the door open and walk in, lowering his head and shouting in the same way and tone as he remembered giving in.

"gentlemen."

The sound of reading suddenly stopped. A middle-aged scholar wearing a green shirt on the podium found out that it was Shen Yichen standing at the door. A trace of anger immediately appeared on his face. He was Shen Yichen's private school teacher Li Tingxiu, Xuande Wu. Year (1430) Juren.

"The ancients said that learning comes from hard work, and there are thousands of books on the window, but you can't even study on time in the morning!"

Li Tingxiu is a typical traditional literati who adheres to the teacher-student relationship in a rigid and professional manner and has extremely strict requirements for academic studies.

What he cannot tolerate the most is students being lazy and being late. After all, poor grades are also due to talent and understanding. It is impossible for everyone to be on the gold list. But being late and being lazy is an attitude problem and must not be indulged!

"The student realized his mistake."

Shen Yichen didn't make any excuses. He knew he had to admit his mistakes and stand at attention when he was beaten.

And there is really no way to explain it. It is impossible to just say that it was caused by saving a brothel girl who was about to jump into the river on the way to school, right?

Let’s not talk about whether Li Tingxiu believes it or not. According to his traditional old master character in his memory, if he learns that he is involved with a brothel girl, or if he further misunderstands that he is late for a visit to a brothel, the consequences will not only be solved by getting slapped and punished with cheat sheets, so I can only bite the bullet and bear the blame for being late!

Faced with Shen Yichen's frank admission of his mistake, Li Tingxiu was a little surprised, because this kid usually made various excuses for being late, whether it was abdominal pain, brain fever, or an accident on the road. Under normal circumstances, Li Tingxiu didn't have time to listen to Shen Yichen. When explaining, it has almost become a fixed pattern to directly hit the palms of the hands with a ruler and then copy the textbooks.

Therefore, Shen Yichen's abnormal performance caused Li Tingxiu not to punish him directly, but asked: "Why are you late?"

Hearing Li Tingxiu's question, Shen Yichen was stunned. He just didn't know how to explain it, so he admitted his mistake frankly.

As a result, I didn’t expect that this gentleman didn’t play according to the routine. He used to make excuses not to listen, but now he doesn’t make excuses and asks questions again. Is this the legendary reverse psychology?

If that's the case, don't blame me for being ridiculous...

"Sir, the students studied and reviewed too late last night, so they were delayed in the morning."

Shen Yichen suppressed such a literate sentence, but actually he wanted to express it in a more popular way, that is, he overslept.

Hearing what Shen Yichen said, the expression on Li Tingxiu's face turned livid instantly. It seemed that he had overestimated this boy's virtue. The excuses he used in the past were just fake, but the excuses he used now were simply outrageous!

Is it too late to study and review? After a few years of teaching him, I didn’t realize that Shen Yichen was someone who would review his homework at night!

"To establish your studies first, you must first establish your morality, and then I will give you another chance to confess frankly."

If you admit it and then ask, if you say it but don't believe it, isn't this torturing people?

Shen Yichen didn't expect that he would be late in the morning. In ancient times, it was such a tangled matter. But since the words had been spoken, he could only bear it to the end.

"Sir, didn't you just say that you wanted thousands of books to be read by the window, so I read them by candlelight at night."
Chapter completed!