Chapter 28: Cao Meng Speaks of His Father

Li Si was practicing the “Mystic Tortoise Record” in the courtyard, his body movements alternating between fast and slow. Sometimes he stumbled, but he quickly became proficient. After two rounds, he could already complete the practice moves smoothly.

Before long, he had easily practiced the entire set of moves once. This set of practice moves was now deeply ingrained in his mind. In the future, he only needed to practice long-term to strengthen and master them.

At this moment, Li Si was covered in sweat. He took off his clothes, bare-chested, and felt much more comfortable.

After practicing the “Mystic Tortoise Record”, he felt a force slowly flowing through his body and limbs, making him feel that his strength had increased somewhat.

However, at this point, his physical strength had reached a state of exhaustion, and it was no longer suitable to continue practicing.

After washing his whole body with water, Li Si put on his clothes and walked to the door, because he had notified the neighbors today, and children had already come to study at this time.

Li Si smiled and welcomed them, distributing the osmanthus cakes he had bought in the morning, and then began today’s lecture.

During the lecture, he placed Xiao Yu in the corner. To his surprise, these children seemed to have become smarter, almost able to learn everything quickly.

The learning atmosphere suddenly became relaxed, Li Si taught easily, and the children learned easily.

This lecture lasted from the hour of Monkey (3-5 pm) in the afternoon until the hour of the Rooster (5-7 pm), almost reaching the hour of Dog) (7-9 pm), a total of nearly four hours.

When Li Si announced that today’s lecture would end here, everyone felt it was not enough, feeling they had learned a lot here.

Especially Li Si’s teaching style of using examples and telling stories, which fascinated them. Some of them who were attending private schools also felt that this teaching method was unprecedented and novel.

It’s worth noting that the teachers in private schools now just made them memorize by rote, never teaching so vividly.

In fact, Li Si himself was a normal school student who had always wanted to become a teacher. When he was in school, he had been constantly pondering teaching methods, preparing to become an excellent teacher in the future.

Although his teaching level was not high, it was incomparable to the rigid teaching methods of this world.

After everyone left, only one child remained. This was Cao Qing’s son, Cao Meng.

Although Cao Meng was only seven or eight years old, he was as sturdy as an eleven or twelve-year-old, with some muscle already developed on his body.

“You’ll stay here today. Sit for a while, I’ll go cook,” Li Si said to Cao Meng with a smile, then walked into the kitchen to start cooking, planning to reheat the leftover dishes from lunch.

Busy in the kitchen, Li Si suddenly noticed Cao Meng quietly cleaning the courtyard. He shook his head helplessly.

Cao Meng had lost his mother at a young age and had even personally witnessed his mother, grandfather, and grandmother being eaten by a tiger. These experiences had obviously changed him, making him seem much more mature than his peers.

So he tacitly accepted Cao Meng’s behavior of cleaning his courtyard, which could make this precocious child feel more at ease.

Covering the wooden lid and stuffing firewood into the stove to light it, he walked out of the kitchen.

Li Si sat on the bluestone steps and called out to Cao Meng, who was still cleaning, inviting him over.

When Cao Meng came over, Li Si looked at this somewhat awkward child, put on a gentle smile, and said softly, “Cao Meng, tell me about your father. I’m very curious about him.”

Li Si was indeed somewhat interested in Cao Qing, because when cutting the jiangshi earlier, while others were looking around, only he had given him the knife.

Moreover, this man had raised a child alone to be so sensible, which was clearly not ordinary. Because in this world, there were many people who raised children without educating them.

“My father?” Cao Meng was somewhat stunned, then a light flashed in his eyes, but it immediately disappeared and dimmed. He muttered, “Does the teacher also know about my family’s situation?”

Seeing the child like this, Li Si naturally knew that he had inadvertently made the child sensitive, so he smiled and said, “I know a little. I heard your father is a very skilled hunter?”

Hearing his words, Cao Meng’s eyes lit up again, and he said proudly, “My father is the most skilled hunter in Fengmen County.”

“Oh?” Li Si became interested and continued to ask with curiosity, “How is your father skilled in hunting?”

“My father can catch prey every day, and he has even killed tigers and wolves. In Fengmen County, only my father can do this,” Cao Meng said, his face lighting up when talking about his father, extremely excited, his eyes revealing a look of admiration.

“But my father no longer hunts,” Cao Meng’s excitement suddenly dropped, then he looked up at Li Si and said, “Teacher, actually, I don’t hate my father at all.”

“My father is a hunter who follows the ways of our ancestors. He never kills pregnant animals or cubs. That time was completely an accident. That tiger cub had taken my father as prey and wanted to hunt him.”

“At that time, my father wasn’t paying attention and accidentally killed the cub. Later, the mother tiger wanted to kill my father. My father, feeling guilty at the time, didn’t kill the mother tiger, but only shot and wounded its front leg to scare it away.”

“No one expected that the tiger had developed intelligence and harbored a grudge, following my father back from afar.”

At this point, Cao Meng’s eyes reddened, tears almost falling, obviously remembering his deceased relatives.

“Alright, don’t think too much about it. Believe that this time your father will definitely be able to kill that tiger,” Li Si patted Cao Meng’s shoulder, comforting him gently.

Then he said no more and walked into the kitchen. After a while, he came out, bringing the cooked rice and reheated leftover dishes to the living room.

After washing their hands, the two sat down to eat dinner.

When Cao Meng put a thin slice of pork belly into his mouth, his eyes lit up, and he couldn’t help but exclaim, “Ah, it’s so delicious.”

“If it’s delicious, eat more,” Li Si smiled and put some meat slices into Cao Meng’s bowl.

“Thank you, teacher,” Cao Meng’s eyes revealed a touched expression.

Afterwards, the two began to eat quietly, and the hall became silent for a while.

This also made Li Si feel very comfortable. He preferred not to talk while eating or sleeping.

After finishing the meal, Cao Meng began to silently clear the table.

“Let me do this. You can go to my study to read some books,” Li Si took the bowls and plates from Cao Meng’s hands, smiling as he spoke.

Unexpectedly, Cao Meng held onto the dishes tightly and said seriously, “Teacher, my father said I should help you do more things while staying at your house. I think so too. If I eat and live here for free, I would definitely feel uneasy.”

Hearing the little one say this, Li Si’s expression froze, then he let out a long sigh and said, “Alright then, you can wash the dishes. I’m glad you’re so sensible.”

He understood Cao Meng’s thoughts. Having lost his mother, he was more sensitive than many people might think.

If he didn’t let him do anything at this time, it would instead make him feel uncomfortable staying here.

As for why Li Si could guess Cao Meng’s state of mind, it was because in his previous life, he was an orphan abandoned by his parents, so he had similarities with Cao Meng.