Chapter 47: Teacher-Apprentice Banquet

Chapter 47: The Apprentice Banquet

The apprenticeship banquet wasn't just something the student had to prepare for—the master's side had to get ready too.

The Gu family set aside a day to bring Yin Hongxue to meet the teacher first, and the adults settled on a date for the formal ceremony.

Five days later, the folks in Xiaohe Village saw the whole Gu family head out, driving their donkey cart loaded with apprenticeship gifts into town.

The whole way there, the Gu family was grinning ear to ear.

A few folks who couldn't stand the sight muttered to whoever was nearby, saying they'd better watch out or they'd trip and knock their teeth out.

But the Gu family treated people well, and their fortunes were clearly getting better every day, so even though a few people grumbled, not many chimed in.

Since the date was picked on purpose, it happened to land on Gu Chaoning's day off from school.

That way, the kids who were studying could come to the banquet too.

The painter's name was Cen Yuanju. He'd never taken on apprentices before, but he had plenty of good friends.

They hired the best cook in town for the feast. Counting the kids, they filled five tables in all.

Teacher Zhang was there too.

With everyone watching, Yin Hongxue respectfully served tea, kowtowed, and then said in a clear, bright voice, "Master, Mistress."

Cen Yuanju smiled as he took the tea from Yin Hongxue, told him a few gentle words about studying painting hard, and then gave him a fine inkstone.

Cen Yuanju's wife, Feng Qiuling,

also took the tea from Yin Hongxue, said something along the same lines, and gave him a pair of hand warmers she'd sewn herself.

Master and mistress—once a teacher, always a father.

Everyone was surprised that Cen Yuanju, who'd never taken apprentices before, had accepted a little boy as his disciple.

But since they'd all been invited to the banquet, even if they didn't get it, they smiled and offered their congratulations.

After the ceremony, Cen Yuanju took Yin Hongxue around to meet everyone.

The Gu family sat off to the side, watching Cen Yuanju take Yin Hongxue around, and they were all over the moon.

Gu Chaoning stood off to the side, and as he watched Yin Hongxue collect gift after gift while being introduced to everyone, he couldn't help but smile.

The banquet wrapped up in the afternoon.

Cen Yuanju and Feng Qiuling had wanted to keep the Gu family for dinner.

But since neither Cen Yuanju nor Feng Qiuling had gotten much rest all afternoon, Chen Youyan politely turned them down, saying he was worried about the chickens and ducks at home.

It was only after Cen Yuanju and Yin Hongxue settled on starting lessons the day after tomorrow that they let the family go.

Gu Daniu and Gu Wen were both happy and had been drinking.

Gu Wen, though, remembered he had to drive the cart, so he didn't drink much.

But to be safe, Chen Youyan still sat next to Gu Wen to help drive.

The weather really had warmed up.

Feng Qiuling had been worried about the cold and given the two little boys, Yin Hongxue and Gu Muan, a thin quilt.

But the mule cart clattered along, the evening breeze was gentle, and it wasn't cold at all—actually, the breeze on their faces felt pretty nice.

When they got home, the chickens and ducks in the backyard were starving. Hearing the racket from the front yard, they all started clucking, quacking, and squawking.

Chen Youyan took a swig of water, rolled up his sleeves, and started chopping chicken feed. Gu Wen and Gu Daniu brought the mule cart in and unloaded everything with the kids.

Gu Daniu and Wang Xiuxiu were both worn out after the long day.

After they'd unloaded everything, Gu Wen urged them to go sit in the main hall.

Gu Muan had fallen asleep on the way home. He'd been woken up, but he still wasn't fully awake, looking all dazed.

Gu Chaoning rolled up his sleeves, grabbed some firewood and dry grass, and headed to the kitchen to start a fire and boil water.

Everyone was tired after the long day.

They had an early dinner, washed up, and turned in.

The next day, Gu Wen made Yin Hongxue a new book box, and Chen Youyan sewed the straps for it.

The day after that, Yin Hongxue put the book box on his back, and Gu Wen walked him over to the Cen house for his lessons.

Painting lessons were in the morning, and he'd come home after lunch.

So Yin Hongxue moved his painting-copying practice to the afternoon.

For the first few days, Gu Wen personally took him back and forth.

Once he got more familiar with the route, he'd take the ox cart into town by himself.

After all, Gu Wen had his own stuff to do every day, and driving him back and forth all the time just wasn't practical.

When it came to Yin Hongxue going to town to study painting, the happiest person in the whole Gu family was Yin Hongxue himself, with Gu Muan a close second.

That's because everyone in the family, young and old, doted on him.

Ever since Yin Hongxue started studying painting in town, every two or three trips he'd buy some snacks in town to bring home.

Sometimes the Cen family would make some special treats for Yin Hongxue to bring home.

Anyway, ten days had gone by since Yin Hongxue started studying painting.

Other folks might not have noticed, but Gu Muan had eaten until his belly was round and stuffed.

Chen Youyan set the sachet he was sewing down on his lap and looked over at Gu Muan with a worried expression. The little boy was poking at an anthill with a twig not far off.

The little boy still had a piece of the rice cake from earlier in his mouth, his chubby cheeks going up and down as he chewed.

Hearing him sigh, Wang Xiuxiu, who was embroidering a handkerchief nearby, looked over.

"What's with the sigh?"

"Xue Geer's been studying painting for ten days now. I hear from Wen Ge that Painter Cen often praises him, and Chaoning's been studying hard and doing well too..."

As Chen Youyan talked, he and Wang Xiuxiu both looked over at the little boy poking at the anthill.

Wang Xiuxiu let out a sigh too.

Chen Youyan let out a couple of bitter chuckles. "It's just that An Geer goofs off every day. I didn't think anything of it before, but now I'm getting more and more worked up by the day."

Back then, when Gu Muan messed around, his dad, who wasn't all that sharp himself, just figured that's how every family raised their kids.

But now, with Yin Hongxue leading the pack, he couldn't help but get antsy about his own boy.

Yet the kid didn't care about anything but eating, and as a dad, he couldn't for the life of him think of something for the kid to learn.

Wang Xiuxiu started fretting too when she heard this.

The two of them each let out a sigh, and before long, they heard a noise at the doorway.

"Hey, Yan Geer, Aunt Xiu, you two heading to the river to wash clothes?"

They looked over and saw Wang Xuelan carrying a wooden basin.

The river water was still a bit cold at this time of year, and Wang Xiuxiu and Chen Youyan didn't much like going.

But only a few households had wells, so as soon as the river thawed, folks were already heading down to wash clothes.

Still, staying home moping all day was no better than hauling their dirty clothes to the river.

After all, there were plenty of people by the river, and with everyone chattering back and forth, they'd forget their worries in no time.

Chen Youyan hurriedly got to his feet.

"Xuelan, wait for me. I'll go fetch the clothes."

Wang Xiuxiu also stood up, wanting to go along, but she didn't feel right leaving Gu Muan home by himself.

Lo and behold, Gu Muan, who'd been poking at an anthill, heard them talking and got up too.

"Dad, I'm coming with you!"

Well, that solves that worry.

Wang Xiuxiu, Chen Youyan, and Wang Xuelan trailed behind, watching Gu Muan run on ahead, and the four of them made their way to the river.

"An Geer!"

Before they even got to the river, someone called out to them.

Gu Muan didn't even need to look to know who it was: "Liu Geer!"

Gu Lvliu was wearing a dark blue robe today and came pattering over, grabbing Gu Muan's hand.

Gu Lvliu first paid his respects to the adults there, then turned to Gu Muan.

"An Geer, shall we go gather some herbs?"

With that, Gu Lvliu shot Gu Muan a wink.

"That spot we found last time must have grown back nice and thick."

Gu Muan quickly agreed: "Great, great!"

The two little boys chattered, quickly said their goodbyes to Chen Youyan and the others, then tore off in a whirlwind.

Chen Youyan watched the two boys run off, a little helplessly. "Kids, huh."

Wang Xuelan, though, just laughed.

"An Geer actually knows his herbs—that's something! He's quite the little medicine boy."

Hearing that, Chen Youyan's heart suddenly gave a jolt.

A little medicine boy?