Chapter 385 - 386: Punishment

Yang Chuxia glared at Ye Zi’an.

At this moment, Ye Zi’an stood up and straightened his clothes. By the time he reached the door, the blush on his face had disappeared.

Seeing Yang Qingrui and Yang Qingtong standing at the door, he said calmly, "Qingrui, Qingtong, our teacher once said, ’Do not look at what is improper, do not listen to what is improper.’ The actions you just took go against the daily teachings of our teacher. Furthermore, although I am not your formal teacher, I did give you your initial enlightenment, which makes me half a teacher to you. Peeking into your teacher’s affairs is disrespectful, and peeking into your elder sister’s affairs is even more so. What you’ve done is not the behavior of a gentleman. As your enlightenment teacher, I now require you to submit thirty large-character writings as punishment after the New Year. Do you accept or not?"

Ye Zi’an’s speech was in classical Chinese, his voice cold yet solemn, and he was serious about it. That’s why Yang Chuxia, as well as the Yang Qingrui brothers, were all stunned.

Yang Chuxia finally grasped the meaning of his words, and when she looked at Ye Zi’an, who was now acting all serious and gentlemanly, her face darkened with annoyance.

Is this some kind of face-changing act? Was this cold and noble Ye Zi’an the same naughty boy who had just asked her for a reward?

However, looking at Yang Qingrui and Yang Qingtong, seeing that Ye Zi’an had gotten serious, they obediently stood in place, head down, accepting the teaching.

"What? Are you not convinced?" Ye Zi’an asked coldly when the two little devils remained silent.

Then Yang Qingrui and Yang Qingtong nodded again and again, "We’re convinced."

After that, Yang Qingrui said, "Brother Zi’an, we were wrong. Sister, we were wrong."

"We’ll go home now," Yang Qingtong added.

Seeing that the two boys didn’t mention the thirty large-character writings, Ye Zi’an snorted and reminded them, "Don’t forget about the thirty large-character writings. I’ll be checking them before you start classes."

Yang Qingrui nodded listlessly, "Got it."

"And you, Qingtong?"

"I know too," Yang Qingtong quickly said, "I’ll write it after tomorrow." With that, the two troublemakers ran off hand in hand, all the while wondering, why was Brother Zi’an scarier than their teacher when he changed faces?

Only after the two little boys had gone far did Ye Zi’an think to himself, ’I’ll teach you two little brats a lesson for always messing up things between your sister and me.’

However, when he turned around and saw Yang Chuxia staring at him, his cold face instantly vanished.

"You’re awesome!" Yang Chuxia praised him, "Why do they listen to you so much? I’ve never seen it before."

Yang Chuxia really didn’t understand this.

"Have you forgotten? There’s an old saying that goes, ’a teacher for one day, a father for life’, you should know that most of the words they recognized initially were taught by me. Even now, when they have questions about their studies, I’m usually the one who explains it to them. So, while we joke around, deep down they still have respect and reverence for me."

Yang Chuxia naturally knew about this. However, she just couldn’t understand why ancient people placed such importance on teacher-student and teacher-pupil relationships.

"Wait, were you taking advantage of this situation for your personal gain?"

Ye Zi’an chuckled lightly without giving an answer.

Yang Chuxia, however, said firmly, "Xiao’an, you’re getting worse."

Hearing the name Xiao’an from Yang Chuxia’s mouth again, Ye Zi’an felt the urge to contort his face. Xiao’an sounded so much like the eunuchs mentioned by those storytelling masters.