Good Man Operation Guide

Even if Zhao He perceived that something was wrong in hindsight, Lin Shiheng was still unaffected and came over to eat and drink every day. Not quite right… It was to discuss their studies.

Very soon, Zhao He no longer had time to think about how things had gotten to this point, because he, who, at any rate, had ranked seventh in his Juren examinations, already couldn’t handle the various questions from Brother Lin.

After they became friends, Lin Shiheng would show up at Zhao He’s door punctually every day with a book or an essay in his hand at mealtime. At first, Zhao He also secretly speculated that this Brother Lin just came to have a meal, but after he began to accept the various discussions with Lin Shiheng, he was deeply ashamed of his wild assumption.

He couldn’t not admit that Lin Shiheng’s knowledge was indeed mediocre, but Zhao He didn’t think it was Brother Lin’s problem at all. After all, every time they studied together, Lin Shiheng was always able to grasp things faster than him and when reciting, was much faster than him, who claimed himself to be a genius.

In layman’s terms, his foundation wasn’t that good, but his learning speed was exceptionally fast. The two have only known each other for seven days but by the time they discussed essays again, Lin Shiheng had already progressed to the point where he was just a little bit behind him.

One must know, on the first day, his essays were quite mediocre.

On the seventh day, Zhao He held Lin Shiheng’s essay in his hand and he couldn’t help but sigh, “I don’t know which teacher Brother Lin studies under but to teach such a talented person like you in such a way is really leading you astray.”

To be able to teach such a natural talent to be rigidly mediocre, this skill was simply amazing.

He really wanted to figure out this teacher’s name and silently remember it, then make sure to avoid him when he has to hire a teacher after he’s married and with children in the future.

Lin Shiheng’s teacher was a Juren in Ming County. Although there are several other disciples under his guide, he still taught with great dedication. As for the original owner, because he was diligent, he had even received some favoritism. But although he was diligent, his brain was not adequate, so no matter how much the teacher tried to teach him, he still couldn’t get the hang of it.

Naturally, he couldn’t let this good teacher take the blame.

Seated in front of him, dressed in an old green robe, the young scholar coughed twice with a pale face, while his handsome face looked slightly ashamed. The gentle voice explained, “Brother Zhao, please don’t misunderstand. Teacher is a Juren of Ming County and has been very kind to me. I was ill and physically weak at that time, so Teacher thought it would be too tiring for me to travel back and forth from home and specially asked me to live in his residence. But I was ill and unable to pursue my studies, to have been able to pass the Juren exam was only because Teacher never gave up on supervising me.”

Zhao He was startled, “Brother Lin actually had an ailment! You appear just like a normal person, then have you fully recovered now?.”

Lin Shiheng looked a little downcast and smiled. A rare occasion that he didn’t need to stay in the room to discuss, he only took his own essay, stood up, and saluted, “Thank you, Brother Zhao, for today. This foolish brother will visit again tomorrow.”

Zhao He wondered a little why he had to leave so early today, but he hurriedly stood up and returned the salute, then had the book boy, who took care of his pen and ink, send the person back.

Although Brother Lin lived next door, wouldn’t he appear more considerate by doing so?

The door of the suite closed, Zhao He watched the two figures leave from the window and was about to sit to continue his study when the book boy, who had studied medicine before, came forward.

“Young Master, you should refrain from mentioning the matter of his body in front of Master Lin in the future.”

“En.”

Zhao He looked strangely at the book boy who was kneeling in front of him, “Why? From how I see Brother Lin, he seems to be in good health.”

“Young Master knows, this small one understands a bit of medicine. Master Lin appears like a regular person on the surface but in fact, his face is pallid, fingers are pale, and always cough in a low voice. During meals, aside from fish, he doesn’t eat much of the other heavy meats. In addition, he walks with a swaying figure, so I’m sure he had already been suffering from an internal deficit, just that he has stubbornly held on.”

Zhao He was dumbfounded after hearing this.

When he heard Lin Shiheng say that the Juren was kind to him but he couldn’t learn much because of his health, he only thought it was because it was inconvenient to speak ill of his teacher.

So what he said was actually true!

These past days, the two had shared similar interests and learned from each other. So he had long regarded Lin Shiheng as a friend better and closer than his best friend. It would have been fine if he didn’t know about his physical ailment, but now that he knew, of course, he couldn’t just idly sit by and not do anything

“We’ll do it like this, when Brother Lin visits tomorrow, you can take his pulse and find out exactly where the deficit is. As long as it’s an illness, there will be a way to nurse his health.”

After saying this, Zhao He pondered again, and remembered something, then looked up at the book boy who could cook meals, “And you, starting tomorrow, don’t make those heavy fishes and meats anymore, make more medicinal and healthy dishes and such. Didn’t you learn those before?”

The book boy quickly assented and remembered something else, “Young Master, didn’t you dislike those medicinal foods before, saying that they taste strange? If I made medicinal foods, you wouldn’t be able to eat them. Why don’t I make medicinal meals while I cook normal meals as well, then let Master Lin have the medicinal meals while you can have the rest.”

“You stupid thing.”

Zhao He glared at him, irritated, “Didn’t you see how Brother Lin looked just now? He obviously didn’t want people to know that he’s still sick. So if you do that, you’re just openly telling him that we all know he’s still sick.”

“Go out, go out, all of you go out! Don’t continue disturbing this Young Master’s studies.”

“Aye.”

The book boys all retreated. They all had their own rooms and only came to wait upon their young master during the daytime. At the moment, since Zhao He didn’t need them, they naturally returned to their rooms with lightheartedness.

But instead of following the others to play leaf cards in the room, the book boy who would cook went to the ship’s large kitchen, intending to see what ingredients could be used.

(TNote: leaf cards = Leaf card is a kind of card game, also called Niangniang card, harmony card, evil talisman card. It is an ancient gambling game; the gameplay and algorithm are the same as Mahjong.)

He was very close to Lin Shiheng, the Juren master who appreciated his cooking skills. Although he couldn’t understand the words of the book boy who knew how medicine, he could understand that the Juren master was weak.

So that would require work to nourish him back to health again!

So in the days that followed, Lin Shiheng didn’t have to go over by himself every day. Once the medicated diet was ready, Zhao He would naturally send someone to ask him to have a meal together.

Ever since he was a kid, except for the merchant children he grew up with, Zhao He didn’t really have any friends his own age, especially the ones who also studied were even rarer. After all, there weren’t many merchants who just happened to have reached the fourth-generation, allowing them to take the imperial examinations. Most of them were just merchants of the second generation, who couldn’t take the examinations even if they were intelligent and talented, and would have to remain in the trade their entire lives.

Their daily activity was just to have fun. After all, their families have money and they wouldn’t need to struggle for their future. Therefore, although Zhao He grew up with them and had a friendship with them, sometimes he still felt lonely.

After all, his main occupation was still studying, so he also wished to find a like-minded close friend.

Previously when he couldn’t find one, it was still fine. But now, after finding one after all the difficulties, his friend was in poor health! So of course, as a friend, he had to put more thought into it.

***

Unfortunately, Lin Shiheng’s body may have been too deficient. The medicated meal had been taken every day for ten days in a row and Zhao He had endured the smell that he couldn’t get used to drinking. He followed along in drinking it while pinching his nose every day and he became glowing with health, but the Juren was as pale as ever.

After taking his pulse, the book boy probably didn’t have enough experience and could only detect that Lin Shiheng’s body was indeed weak, but he couldn’t tell exactly what kind of disease it was. Lin Shiheng seemed to have already expected this, he only smiled bitterly and said, “I’ve been weak since I was a child, perhaps because I studied too hard when I was younger. Now my health seems to be getting worse day by day. I used to dare to light candles at night to study, but now I would rest early when it’s dark and the daily reading time isn’t as long.”

Zhao He immediately sympathized.

His Brother Lin was simply a tragedy! He has such a brilliant brain but he can’t even study properly because of his poor health. His progress was so obvious these days, it was clear that if Lin Shiheng had been just a little bit healthier, he wouldn’t have been so mediocre and even dropped to the bottom of the rankings.

Compared with Brother Lin, he was simply too lucky.

After sympathizing, Zhao He sincerely said, “Brother Lin can practice cuju, horse riding and archery with me. The health of people who practice martial arts is generally not bad.”

(TNote: cù jū [蹴鞠] = kick ball, similar to soccer.)

He had liked these kinds of things since he was a child. If he didn’t know that the hope of his family was on his shoulders and absolutely mustn’t be taken lightly, as well as, military officials are sidelined by civil officials during this peaceful and prosperous age, he would have long gone to take the military examination.

Even later in the academy, his achievements in that field were still the best and because of this, he was also envied and hated by his classmates.

Speaking of this, Zhao He was indignant and couldn’t help complaining to Lin Shiheng, “Even the teacher had said that practicing martial arts are good for keeping the body healthy, but some people in our academy still believe that martial arts are only done by rough people. They can’t even see that their own bodies are like plague-ridden chickens that could be blown away by just a gust of wind, yet they still have the nerve to be lecturing me all day long.”

After saying this, he suddenly realized that his best friend wasn’t very sturdy either and changed his words in a hurry, “I don’t hate students who don’t want to learn riding and archery. For people like Brother Lin, even if you are thin and frail, you still look like the bright moon, and just by standing there, you can brighten up a room, then it’s fine even if they don’t learn it.”

Lin Shiheng smiled gently, “I had played cuju when I was a child. Later, after my health got worse and worse, I could only study at home, the same was true at the academy. Even if I admired my classmates for riding and archery, I still can’t go out to enjoy the breeze. I have eaten medicated food these days and my body seems to be better. I heard that there is a riding field in the capital, if Brother Zhao doesn’t disdain it, let’s practice riding and archery together after the exam.”

Of course, what he said was beautified. The original owner had felt that his brain was not enough and already couldn’t wait to read books for twelve hours if he could; so how could he be willing to spare the time to practice these things that were unrelated to studying?

It’s just that he was in poor health and everyone in the whole academy knew about it. He had a serious illness just after the exam, so no one would be able to call him out on what he said.

As expected, Zhao He readily promised to do so.

“If you ask me, the reason why some of the scholars are weak is still that they sit in the house all day and don’t move around enough, they should walk around more every day. Look at you. You only walk from your room to my room every day while the rest of the time, you’re still sitting in your room.”

As soon as he had just finished speaking, he realized that he had actually bluntly blurted out the words of his martial arts teacher and almost choked himself.

The other person was just grieving over his illness, yet here he ran out and said that he was sick because he didn’t like moving around…The one who said this was also a scholar who was about to go to the capital to take the exam…

Brother Lin wouldn’t mistake him(ZH) for not wanting him(LS) to study the books and essays properly, would he?