But the grass showed no reaction. Chen Xiaobei picked up a stone and shouted at the grass, "Come out, or I'll throw this stone!"
As he spoke, Chen Xiaobei's hand quietly reached for the satchel on his shoulder.
For safety, Chen Xiaobei now always carried a repeating crossbow when he went out, just in case.
At his shouting, the grass rustled again, and two young faces appeared.
They were two children.
Chen Xiaobei recognized them.
One was called Pang Dun, the other Gou Wa.
It wasn't noon yet, so they shouldn't have been out of school. Why were these two boys out?
Chen Xiaobei waved to them, "Pang Dun, Gou Wa, come here. Why aren't you going to school?"
Pang Dun was straightforward, sniffing. "I don't want to study anymore. Mother said since I can write my own name now, that's enough. It's better to help at home and feed the pigs."
Chen Xiaobei couldn't help but laugh. "If you're going to cut grass to feed pigs, why did you hide in the grass and not want to be seen?"
Gou Wa's answer was even more direct. With an angry expression, he said, "Cutting pig feed is too tiring, and we don't want to do it."
Chen Xiaobei almost burst into laughter, "Then if you say cutting pig feed is too tiring and you don't want to study, what can you do?"
The two looked at each other, but neither said a word.
Chen Xiaobei pointed at the horse-drawn carriage and looked at them sternly.
"You two, follow me."
He let the two children get into the carriage, turned the carriage around, and headed towards the school.
When he reached the school entrance, the scene was quite lively.
A dozen children were playing happily in the yard. Chen Qiao'er saw him arrive and ran up to hug his leg, "Brother, brother, why are you here?"
Chen Xiaobei patted Chen Qiao'er's head. "Where is your sister Ziyan?"
"Sister is in the classroom. She let us come out to play for a while."
Chen Xiaobei nodded and walked towards the classroom. Shen Ziyan was sitting in a chair inside, staring blankly at the empty classroom. Chen Xiaobei raised his hand and knocked a few times on the doorframe. Shen Ziyan then came back to her senses.
Seeing him, she quickly got up to greet him.
"Brother Xiaobei, why are you here?"
Chen Xiaobei pointed to Pang Dun and Gou Wa behind him.
"Caught two truants playing outside the village. I've brought them back for you."
Shen Ziyan looked at Pang Dun, then at Gou Wa. "They didn't come this morning."
What?
Chen Xiaobei turned to look.
Pang Dun and Gou Wa's faces instantly turned red.
Chen Xiaobei's expression turned serious. "Good, you two have learned to skip class. I'll go find your parents."
Upon hearing this, the two became very nervous. Pang Dun even burst into tears.
"Brother Xiaobei, don't go."
Gou Wa also waved his hands repeatedly.
The behavior of the two children aroused Chen Xiaobei's suspicion.
Thinking back to what the two children had said, it was contradictory. One moment they said their families told them to cut grass for the pigs.
The next moment they said cutting pig feed was too tiring.
And now they didn't want him to find their families.
Chen Xiaobei's expression became very stern. He stared at the two and said word by word, "Tell me the truth, what's going on?"
Cornered by Chen Xiaobei, the two looked at each other, and finally, with resignation, they spoke.
"We went to the fields outside the village to catch grasshoppers. We originally planned to go home after school, but we didn't expect you to catch us."
Finally telling the truth, Chen Xiaobei's face turned ashen with anger.
He wanted to lose his temper, but he remembered they were just children.
Shen Ziyan clearly sensed Chen Xiaobei's emotional shift. In her urgency, she reached out and grabbed Chen Xiaobei's arm. "Brother Xiaobei, leave it to me. They are just children."
Chen Xiaobei suppressed his anger and nodded, stepped back two paces, and casually sat down by a desk.
Shen Ziyan looked at Pang Dun, then at Gou Wa, and said earnestly, "You two think class is boring and want to go out and play. I can understand your feelings, but you shouldn't have lied to Brother Xiaobei, right?"
The two children nodded lightly, then lowered their heads, remaining silent.
"This time, I can choose not to tell your parents, but remember this, there won't be a next time. If I or Brother Xiaobei catch you again, then this teacher will not be lenient."
Hearing this, the two felt as if they had been granted amnesty. They let out a long sigh of relief and eagerly nodded in agreement.
Seeing the two run out joyfully, Shen Ziyan also showed a relieved expression.
Chen Xiaobei, however, did not feel any relief. He asked with a serious expression, "Ziyan, how are the children's motivation for learning now? They seem to be playing very happily in the yard."
"The children are still young, and they are used to it. It's naturally difficult to keep them in the classroom, but please believe me, it will get better slowly."
Although he hadn't witnessed Shen Ziyan's teaching firsthand, Chen Xiaobei had absolute trust in the person recommended by Cui Hongyu.
Just as Chen Xiaobei was about to head home, Huang Ying rushed over like a whirlwind.
In front of many students, Huang Ying restrained herself somewhat. "Brother Xiaobei, can you make a few more of those landmines? I want to visit my master in a couple of days and want to bring him some."
Chen Xiaobei nodded. After all, Huang Ying had helped him greatly. Making him a few landmines would be considered repaying the favor.
"Okay, I'll make a few more when I get back. By the way, when you see Master, ask him to bring me some more ignition powder."
"No problem, no problem. If I bring back the explosive powder, my master will definitely be generous with what you need."
With Huang Ying's promise, Chen Xiaobei was reassured.
After returning home and resting briefly, Chen Xiaobei headed to the fields. He needed to conduct an experiment with so many cabbage and radish seeds.
Fortunately, Chen Dachun's fields had already been largely harvested.
Chen Xiaobei chose a flat area by the roadside, cleared away the weeds, brought in clear water for irrigation, and then sowed some seeds.
He sowed fifty seeds of each type and marked where each was planted.
Then he moved to another plot, sowed another fifty seeds of each, and again marked them.
Once he understood the germination rate, he would have a rough idea of how much to plant.
While he was busy with this, Chen Daqiang, a member of the village guard, rushed over.
"Liz, someone has entered Qingniu Mountain. We, we couldn't stop them."
Chen Xiaobei stood up and stretched. "Who told you to stop them? Didn't I say, just ask for clarification?"
Chen Daqiang looked anxious. "There are over a dozen people, carrying shovels and baskets, saying they want to collect herbs in the mountain."
Chen Xiaobei became anxious at this. In the past, he wouldn't have cared, but now he had the land deeds. Qingniu Mountain was equivalent to his personal property, and he had to pay the imperial court silver every year!
"Did you find out which village they are from?"