On the same day, Meng Zhong found a firewood knife, and together with Meng Hu and Meng Sui, he went to the bamboo forest outside Zhuangzi's residence to cut a bamboo, and then split it into bamboo chips, ready to make bamboo slips.

As for the purpose, it was naturally to transcribe the "Treatise on Confession".

Meng Hu was very confused by this, and couldn't help asking: "That kid from Le Jin has already given you the "Jianbai Treatise" copied by his brother Le Xu, why do you have to copy it again?" ”

Meng Zhong explained with a smile: "Of course, it is to prove sincerity, and in addition, to eliminate all omissions that may be criticized by the other party in turn...... After all, taking someone else's copy of a book to consult Zhuangzi might be accused of not being sincere enough. ”

"I see."

Meng Hu and Meng Sui nodded, and then helped Meng Zhong to make bamboo slips together and transcribe the volume of Keiko's writings.

The three of them were busy until noon, when Le Jin was sent by Uncle Zhuang to call them for dinner.

During this period, Le Jin also noticed what Meng Zhong and others were busy with, and also raised this question, and Meng Zhong also used "to show sincerity" as a perfunctory - Le Jin is just an outsider, and Meng Zhong does not need to explain in detail as Meng Hu and Meng Sui.

The place where the meal was served was in a room on the west side of the courtyard, the area was about two rooms the size of the house where Meng Zhong and the three people lived.

According to him, there were dozens of children of various clans living in Zhuangzi's residence at the most, but when Le came in, there were only twenty-three people left, and at present, except for Meng Zhong, Meng Hu, and Meng Sui, there were only six people left.

Among these six people, there are two children of the Le family, one of them is Le Jin, and the other is his brother "Le Xu" - as for the brother Le Xu who copied the "Jianbai Treatise", he had left a year ago and returned to the Le family's hometown.

As for the remaining four people, when they had dinner together at noon, Le Jin also introduced them on their behalf.

The biggest of the four was a disciple of the Wu family, named "Wu Ying", when Le Jin introduced him, he just raised his head and nodded at Meng Zhong and the others, even if he ate the food in the basin by himself, he either disdained to communicate with Meng Zhong and the others, or he was not good at communicating.

But according to Lejin, Wu Ying has been living in Zhuangzi for four years, and he is the oldest 'qualified' among the juniors in Zhuangzi. And his sturdy physique also made Meng Hu feel a little inexplicably restrained.

From Wu Ying down, the oldest is the disciple of the Xiang family, "Xiang Yu", who seems to be weak in Wenwen, and his face is full of sarcasm when he looks at Meng Zhong and the others, and he even smiles maliciously: "I know you, you are the Meng Zhong who will definitely become a disciple of Zhuangzi, right?" Look up for a long time. ”

"Looks like a proud man."

Meng Zhong was unmoved, his face did not change, and he continued to listen to Lejin's introduction.

There are also two people, Fahrenheit's "Hua Hu" and Mu Mu's "Mu Wu", the former is said to have lived for just half a year, while the latter has lived for a full year, and these two are similar in age to Menghu.

When Le Jin introduced them, they were also like the same as Xiang Yu, looking at Meng Zhong and the others with a kind of "I don't know the height of the sky", with a slight sneer on their faces.

It can be said that except for Wu Ying, who took care of himself, the rest of Xiang Yu, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu were not optimistic about Meng Zhong, and even regarded "Meng Zhong will definitely become a disciple of Zhuangzi" as a joke.

"Hey, I was talking to you, didn't you hear?" Seeing that Meng Zhong ignored himself, Xiang Yu said with some displeasure.

Meng Hu was about to have a seizure when he heard this, but Meng Zhong stretched out his hand to stop him.

Meng Zhong looked around, looking at the expressions of the people in the room.

In his eyes, although it was Na Xiangyu who jumped out to find fault at this moment, this kid who seemed to be weak and weak didn't look like the leader of this gang of people - in comparison, Meng Zhong felt that the silent martial arts baby was more like.

In all fairness, when it comes to fighting, he and Meng Hu and Meng Sui are never false, but meaningless fights can naturally be avoided, not to mention that the attitude of the brothers Le Jin and Le Xu is also uncertain.

After thinking about it, Meng Zhong calmly said to Xiang Yu, "Brother is called Xiang Yu, right?" The three of us met my brother for the first time, but my brother provoked him for no reason, what is the reason for this? ”

Xiang Yi was stunned for a moment, and his tone was sluggish: "It is said that your Montessori elder boasted today, saying that you will definitely be able to become a disciple of Zhuangzi......" Speaking of this, his tone returned to normal, and even brought a little displeasure: "Don't you take us seriously?" ”

Meng Zhong was stunned when he heard this, and said with a smile: "I see. …… The elder of the clan did say such a thing, but this was said by the elder, not me, is it a bit unreasonable for my brother to be angry with me? …… If my elder thinks that my elder's words are inappropriate, my brother might as well reason with my elder. ”

"You ......" Xiang Yi was dumbfounded, and was stunned for a while before he returned his mouth: "But what he said is you, right?" ”

"That's not true." Meng Zhong shook his head and said, "Elder Yi's words are just out of his love for me, but whether this matter can be done depends on Master Zhuang's attitude. It's like I'm saying here, my brother will definitely become a disciple of Zhuangzi, will my brother definitely become a disciple of Zhuangzi? It doesn't make sense for my brother to be angry with me because of this. ”

“……”

Xiang Yi opened his mouth, speechless.

Seeing this scene, Meng Hu smiled privately and said to Meng Sui: "This idiot was scolded by Ah Zhong and kept in the dark. ”

"You're smart!"

Meng Sui gave Meng Hu a roll of his eyes.

At this time, Zhuang Bo was actually standing outside the house, quietly watching the skirmish between Meng Zhong and Xiang Yi, and when he saw that Meng Zhong was tepid and speechless, he nodded secretly in his heart.

"No wonder I am so highly regarded by this son, this son is indeed extraordinary. However, even so, I am afraid that this son will not be able to attract the attention of his master......

Shaking his head secretly, Zhuang Bo was indeed sorry for Meng Zhong.

Just as he felt sorry for Wu Ying, Xiang Yi and others, after a long period of contact, he felt that the talents of these children of various clans were very good, but unfortunately, they were sent here by their families and embarked on a path that might not have any results at all.

The food in Zhuangzi's house is not much different from that of Meng Zhong's usual home home, and the main ingredient is "尗 (shū)", or soybean (soybean).

In contemporary times, boiled beans for cooking, and bean weed (huò) for soup, that is, a true portrayal of ordinary people. [PS: Herb, that is, the leaves of beans. Eaters, i.e., ordinary commoners, correspond to the nobility referred to by the term 'meat eaters'. 】

Like Meng Zhong's family, they usually mainly eat bean rice and bean vegetables, and unless it is a special day, there are few opportunities to eat meat.

In addition to bean dishes, there is also a fish on the table, but before Zhuang Bo has moved the chopsticks, no one dares to move the chopsticks without permission.

This made Meng Hu pout secretly, after all, river fish were not uncommon for them, and he often went to the rivers near the township with Meng Zhong and Meng Sui to fish to improve the food of their respective families.

After lunch, Zhuang Bo ordered Meng Zhong and others to clean up the dishes and chopsticks, and by the way, he also told the three of them the rules of Zhuangzi's residence, that is, those who do not work are not allowed to eat.

Just like this lunch, the beans and rice are harvested in the fields near Zhuangziju, Wu Ying, Le Jin, Xiang Yi and others have contribution, in addition, the firewood for the fire is chopped by Wu Ying, and the fish is caught by Hua Hu from the river and raised in the tank, it is not an exaggeration to say that this meal is the hard work of the people in Zhuangzi, and Meng Zhong and a few people have not made any contributions when they first came, so they should take on the chores of washing dishes.

This is still because Meng Zhong and the others have just come to the village, and from tomorrow onwards, Meng Zhong and the others will still have to be responsible for miscellaneous things such as laundry, ploughing, and chopping firewood, all of which are on par with the rest of the children in the village.

This is fair, and the three of them nodded in acceptance.

Afterwards, when distributing chores, Meng Hu was sent to chop wood with Wu Ying because he was strong, while Meng Zhong and Meng Sui were in charge of laundry.

Although he was in charge of changing the clothes of everyone in the village, considering that there were only a few people in the village, and they didn't change clothes every day, it was an easy task.

In just one hour, Meng Zhong and Meng Sui washed all their clothes by the Hun River.

After doing all this, Meng Sui continued to help Meng Zhong chop bamboo pieces and make bamboo slips, while Meng Zhong carried a bundle of firewood chopped by Meng Hu as a stool, and sat near the courtyard gate with his own copy of "Jianbai Treatise", reading Huizi's writings while waiting for the rabbit to pass by.

Seeing him like this, Xiang Yi, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu who passed by all had a bit of a good show on their faces, but Meng Zhong was unmoved.

Before dusk that day, Zhuangzi did not know where to return to the inner house.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong immediately got up, held his copy of the "Jianbai Treatise" in both hands, and bowed his head and said respectfully as Zhuangzi passed by: "Master Zhuangzi, boy Meng Zhong, I have all kinds of incomprehensions about Huizi's "Jianbai Treatise", and I implore Master Zhuangzi to give me some explanations. ”

『……』

Probably hearing the name "Keiko", Zhuangzi glanced at Meng Zhong slightly, but his footsteps did not stop at all, as if he had not heard Meng Zhong's words, and returned to the main house where he lived.

At this time, all the sons in the houses on the east and west sides of the courtyard walked out, and among them, Xiang Yu, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu all pointed at Meng Zhong and laughed.

Among them, Hua Hu sneered unceremoniously: "I thought this guy had some tricks, but it turned out to be nothing more than that." ”

On the side, Xiang Yi and Mu Wu also sneered and said that if it was so simple to attract Zhuangzi's attention, they would have been Zhuangzi's disciples a long time ago.

Even Le Jin said to Meng Zhong with a bit of schadenfreude: "Look, I told you a long time ago that this trick won't work." ”

Seeing Meng Zhong being ridiculed, Meng Hu was furious in his heart, and immediately scolded: "What are you laughing at? If you have the ability, why have you been here for years and have achieved nothing? ”

Xiang Yi and the three of them were furious, and even the faces of Le Jin and Le Xu were not good-looking.

Is it humiliating to be ignored by Zhuangzi?

Meng Zhong didn't feel it, he only knew that he was occupying the "reason" step by step, and when he completely held the "reason" in his hands, it would be the day when he would attack Zhuangzi.

But before that......

"Ah Hu, stop, don't be impulsive."

Yes, before that, he had to work with Meng Sui to persuade the grumpy Meng Hu first, lest the latter fight with Xiang Yi, Hua Hu, Mu Wu and others.