Qi Yun was a very responsible teacher. Even when Wang Lun was struggling badly, he didn't feel it was Wang Lun's fault, only that he hadn't taught him well enough.
"It's almost lunchtime, take a break first. I'll teach you in the afternoon. If you really can't get it..." Qi Yun's voice trailed off.
Hearing this, Wang Lun, walking unsteadily with blurry eyes, stopped in his tracks and blurted out, "I can't!"
"No!...I have to get it!" Wang Lun's tone was extremely determined.
"Good! I'm very pleased to see you working so diligently. But let's eat first and take a break." Qi Yun said with a smile.
Wang Lun had already eaten two meals at the tutoring center, ordinary meat and vegetable dishes for dinner last night, and buns and soy milk for breakfast this morning, all personally delivered by Qi Yun to his dorm door.
The food was nothing special but tasted pretty good, clearly made by a skilled cook.
With over a hundred people living here, there was naturally a canteen.
But the teacher had never told him to go eat at the canteen, instead always bringing food to him personally.
Wang Lun felt he shouldn't stand out too much!
He was here to study, not to enjoy special treatment. He shouldn't keep making the teacher bring him food.
So before Qi Yun came with food, Wang Lun went up to the second floor canteen by himself and bumped right into Qi Yun who was on his way to get food.
Wang Lun: "Teacher, I want to eat with everyone!"
Qi Yun nodded and handed Wang Lun a food tray, "Then let's go together."
The two lined up with everyone else to get food, waiting for rice.
The portions at the canteen were very generous, heaping the bowls full.
There were two staple foods: rice and steamed buns.
Everyone in line took both rice and buns. Unlike a regular canteen where one server handles all the food, here the buns were handed out separately by a dedicated server who spread sauce on them—they looked extremely appetizing.
When it was Wang Lun's turn, he specifically called out to the server dishing food: "Could I get a little less rice, and less of the dishes too!"
Then he went to the next window for buns, but the server didn't move!
Wang Lun stood there, very confused.
With a subtle smile, Qi Yun said, "Give him some."
Only after hearing Qi Yun did the bun server give Wang Lun the sauced steamed buns.
Although he now had the buns, Wang Lun was still puzzled. What's so special about these buns that he wasn't allowed to have them?
Sitting down at a nearby table with Qi Yun and Shen Feixian joining him, Wang Lun looked around and saw everyone else eating the buns first before the rest of the food, so he picked his up too.
The first bite tasted pretty good even without getting any sauce—the server's skills were not bad.
On the second bite...BLECH...
Wang Lun spat it out uncontrollably!
What kind of sauce is this? It's so disgusting!!!!
Shen Feixian and Qi Yun exchanged a knowing look tinged with helplessness.
They understood a child's curiosity.
Shen Feixian patted Wang Lun on the back while Qi Yun got up, "Let me pour you some water."
A few minutes later, after rinsing his mouth, Wang Lun looked around again and saw everyone else had finished their buns and started on the rest of the food.
Glancing at the remaining buns in the two men's bowls, he frowned and asked, "Why make these buns so nasty tasting?"
Qi Yun: "They don't taste nasty. The server's skills are pretty good."
Wang Lun shook his head. "The buns themselves are fine, but what's with that sauce? It's so bitter I nearly died!"
Recalling the taste, he still felt traumatized.
"This is a sauce from our hometown, made the traditional way. Outsiders probably aren't used to it!" Qi Yun made up an excuse.
Wang Lun nodded, seeing everyone else eating calmly made him accept this explanation.
Some local delicacies could be quite exotic, like canned herring, stargazing pie, ox stomach soup etc, not necessarily palatable to most people.
Still, Wang Lun was curious, "What sauce is it anyway?"
The viscous green substance didn't resemble anything in its original form.
Shen Feixian: "Matcha sauce!"
"Oh no wonder it was so bitter!" Wang Lun agreed with this and reluctantly continued eating with his chopsticks.
From now on whenever he ate at the canteen he would never order those sauced buns again!
In the afternoon it was Qi Yun himself who taught Wang Lun patiently one-on-one, guiding his every step and movement. After two hours of drilling, he found some outer sect disciples to accompany Wang Lun practicing on the soccer field.
While dribbling and passing, Wang Lun clearly felt his mind become much clearer and his footsteps lighter.
After an hour of play he was very satisfied with his progress. Hugging the ball excitedly he went to Qi Yun, "Teacher, I can do it now! I've improved!"
Qi Yun was still extremely gentle, "Very good!"
In the pause of their conversation, the outer sect disciples who had been helping Wang Lun practice picked up buckets and tools and went to the vegetable garden next to the field to draw water and weed.
Seeing this, Wang Lun asked curiously, "Teacher, do you grow all the canteen vegetables yourself?"
"Yes, it saves money that way."
"But doesn't our school have plenty of money?" Wang Lun thought about the small wooden building and his toilet door—hadn't those been expensive?
How could they be lacking money? They were starving every day, living off tree leaves!
"Uh, money always runs out eventually, still have to earn it." Qi Yun hurriedly made up a reason.
"I see, that makes sense." Wang Lun nodded.
Wang Sheng came very early, at 4 pm, to pick up Wang Lun. Father and son chatted a bit in the car about Wang Lun's day.
The tutoring was great, no problems.
However, looking at the country road in the rearview mirror, Wang Lun said, "Dad, pay the tuition early okay? And if I pass the exam, give the school a red envelope!"
Seeing his son's attitude, Wang Sheng was extremely pleased. "Okay! Money is no object, as long as you learn well."
As soon as the car left, the hundred-plus outer sect disciples put down their gardening tools and resumed renovating the school.
Those assigned to paint were painting, those moving furniture were moving furniture, and some were barehanded climbing up high laying windows.
Song Jixing could only grow a limited number of trees, most of which had gone into decorating the wooden building, the facade of the Qingyun Sect—that couldn't be compromised!
They had to be more casual about the new buildings. Refurbished old furniture was used to save money. With so many disciples skilled in various techniques, no one doubted when they painted new patterns on old furniture.
The refinished furniture went into the recruitment building while their own living quarters still used the old furniture.
Of course this kind of work couldn't be done openly, so once Wang Lun left, they resumed work.
-
Rave reviews kept pouring in for Northern Song as the cast toured various major cities, everyone except Song Jixing.
Xu Kai was extremely annoyed by this. What was so great about Y City that Song Jixing insisted on staying put, giving up such a prime opportunity to raise his fame?
Still, Song Jixing didn't sit idle but diligently carried out all required tasks, no longer insisting on clocking in and out on time like before. His professionalism and dedication in the troupe gave Xu Kai less to worry about on one hand, yet pained him on the other as he continued looking for local jobs for Song Jixing.
"This engagement looks good, filming near the ancient town, just a bit odd—want to take a look?" Xu Kai frowned.
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