Chapter 165: As long as you have enough dignity, no one can look down upon you!
Little Princess was furious: “You scoundrel, you even speak so eloquently about your greed for wealth, shameless! One day, I will definitely report to Empress Sister and say that you are a corrupt official!”
“If my secret is revealed, then I will have to leave Great Wu, and we won’t have a chance to see each other again!” Lin Beifan said sadly.
Little Princess suddenly panicked and grabbed Lin Beifan’s arm: “Don’t go, I won’t say anything, okay?”
“Alright, I won’t leave, give me a smile!” Lin Beifan’s expression instantly changed, he reached out his devilish claws and pinched Little Princess’s chubby cheeks, so cute!
Little Princess glared at Lin Beifan angrily.
In this way, she seemed to be treated as a child by the other party.
Little Princess swatted away Lin Beifan’s misbehaving hand, grinding her teeth and threatening, “How dare you bully me? I’ll have you know, I have tasted human blood, are you afraid?”
Lin Beifan scoffed, “You’re talking about bleeding gums, right? I’ve had that too!”
Little Princess: “…”
Little Princess continued to threaten, “I have even eaten human flesh. Are you scared?”
Lin Beifan sneered, “You’re talking about wife cake, it’s quite delicious, I’ve eaten it too!”
Little Princess shouted loudly, “Wrong!”
“Then it must be Fu Qi Fei Pian! If not, it’s Dongpo pork, haha!” Lin Beifan laughed triumphantly.
Little Princess became furious, “Why do you know everything?”
“If you smack your lips, I know what you want to eat!” Lin Beifan said proudly.
Little Princess clenched her fist in anger, “Damn it! I will never let you look down on me again! I swear, one day I will grow up and defeat you with my intelligence!”
“No need for that trouble. As long as you have enough dignity, no one can look down upon you!” Lin Beifan said again.
Little Princess became agitated once more, “Ah!”
Just as the two were playing around, a knocking sound came from the door.
“Dali, go and open the door!” Lin Beifan called out.
Little Princess pouted, “Big Sisterjust went out to buy something, Dali and Rushuang are with her! Those two monks went back to the temple and haven’t returned yet. It’s just the two of us in the mansion!”
“I see, that’s why it’s so quiet! I’ll go open the door myself!” Lin Beifan straightened his clothes and leisurely walked towards the main door.
Just before half an incense stick burned out.
An elderly man with gray hair arrived at Lin’s mansion with the support of two people.
“This should be the residence of Mr. Principal!”
The elderly man carefully took out several blue notebooks and said, “I hope this trip goes smoothly! If I can get the endorsement of Mr. Principal, my lifelong effort might finally be published!”
“But grandfather, although the other party is the top scorer in the imperial examinations and has now become the Principal of the Imperial Academy, highly respected and a role model for scholars throughout the country, I’ve heard that he is still a greedy corrupt official! Previously, when we visited other scholars, they wouldn’t even let us in without enough money! Will this work?” said a young woman in her twenties.
She was dressed in plain white clothes, without any adornments on her face. Her long black hair was simply tied with a white ribbon, reaching her waist. But her delicate features gave her a beautiful and ethereal appearance.
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained! We have to give it a try!” the old man sighed. “Son, you go knock on the door, and make sure to be respectful!”
“Yes, Father!” responded another person, around forty years old, with a hint of facial hair, giving him a mature and dignified look.
He adjusted his hat and lightly knocked on the door.
After several knocks, the door finally opened, revealing a handsome young man. “What can I do for you?”
The middle-aged man immediately bowed and saluted,
“Greetings, young sir! I am Li Yulang, and this is my father, Li Ruozhen, and my daughter, Li Yuxin! We come from a family of physicians and have an important matter to discuss with the Principal. Could you please inform him?”
Lin Beifan was a bit confused. These people knocked on his door and didn’t even recognize him?
It seems that they must not be locals!
Lin Beifan turned around and looked at the two people behind him. The old man had gray hair and wrinkles on his face, looking to be in his sixties or seventies. It was not easy to live this long in such troubled times.
As for the woman, although she was dressed plainly, she had a beautiful and ethereal appearance, like a lotus flower emerging from water. Lin Beifan couldn’t help but take a second look at her.
At this moment, the two people bowed and smiled politely at Lin Beifan.
Lin Beifan raised an eyebrow, as if he had discovered something interesting, and said with a smile, “What business do you have with him?”
“It’s like this!” Li Yulang said seriously, “Father has been practicing medicine for over sixty years, encountering numerous difficult and complicated cases, and saving numerous lives. He has compiled all his knowledge and experience into a book called ‘Li’s Medical Prescriptions.’ He hopes to pass down his medical skills and continue helping people. However, the book has been unable to be published due to lack of reputation. So we would like to trouble Mr. Principal to give a preface to our medical book. With that, it will be easier to get it published!”
Lin Beifan understood their intention.
They wanted to publish their own medical book, but they didn’t have enough reputation, and publishers wouldn’t accept it. After all, they also needed to make money!
Therefore, in this era, there was a compromise.
That is, to ask well-known scholars or intellectuals to write forewords and prefaces for the book, which would increase its reputation and make publishers more willing to accept it.
Lin Beifan happened to be such a famous scholar!
And he was also the Principal of the National Academy, highly respected and esteemed!
If we can get him to write a preface and endorsement, then there won’t be any problem with publishing this book, guaranteed to be a bestseller!
“What about the medical books?” Lin Beifan asked.
“Oh…here they are!” Li Yulang immediately took several volumes of medical books from his father’s hands and handed them seriously to Lin Beifan.
Lin Beifan flipped through a few pages and said, “The Principal is extremely busy and doesn’t have time to meet with you. I will give him the books to review, but I can’t guarantee whether he will agree to write a preface and endorsement.”
“Of course, of course, thank you, young sir!” they said politely.
“It’s no big deal!” Lin Beifan waved his hand.
Just as he was about to close the door, Li Yulang called out,
“Wait!”
“What else?” Lin Yulang took out a small amount of money from his pocket and pushed it into Lin Beifan’s hand.
“This is a small token of appreciation, please accept it!”
Lin Beifan was once again confused. This was the first time he received such a small bribe, not even enough to fill a tooth!
Lin Beifan found it amusing and weighed the money in his hand, smiling, “Alright. Come back in three days!”
“Thank you, young sir!” They bowed and thanked him in unison.
It was only after Lin Beifan closed the door that they straightened up.
“I hope this trip goes smoothly. Among all the people we’ve encountered, this young sir is the easiest to talk to, without making things difficult for us!” sighed Li Yulang, the middle-aged man.
“Let’s go back for now. We’ll come back in three days!” the old man said.
“Yes, Father!”
“Yes, Grandfather!”
The three of them slowly walked away.
Before leaving, the woman turned her head back and took another look. She always felt that the young man just now was a bit strange!
His beauty and demeanor were rare in her life, making her unable to resist wanting to look at him more!
At this moment, Lin Beifan had already gone back with the medical books.
“What are you holding in your hand?” the little princess asked curiously.
“Medical books!” Lin Beifan replied as he flipped through the books. “Someone just gave me a small amount of money, hoping that I could write a preface and endorsement for this medical book to facilitate its publication!”
The little princess was shocked, “They dared to give you just a small amount of money. Isn’t your calligraphy worth more?”
“Yeah, it’s the first time I’ve received such a small amount of money!” Lin Beifan tossed the small silver coin in his hand to the little princess. “Buy yourself some candy!”
The little princess caught the silver coin and looked at Lin Beifan studying the books. She asked, “Are you really going to write a preface and endorsement?”
“Take a look, anyway, I have nothing better to do! If it’s written well, I don’t mind writing a few words for him!” Lin Beifan said as he lowered his head, reading the book.
So, three days passed quickly.
The family of three once again arrived at Lin Beifan’s doorstep and knocked on the door.
This time, it was Di who answered the door. Looking at the three strangers in front of him, he asked, “Who are you? What do you want?”
It was still Li Yulang, the middle-aged man, who politely bowed and said, “We visited the Lin Mansion three days ago for an important matter, hoping to meet Mr. Principal. But at that time, the Principal was not available, and it was a young man who met us. He asked us to come back today. Is this young man here?”
“Young man?” Dali muttered.
“He was a very handsome young man, around 20 years old!” Li Yulang quickly added.
Dali blinked his eyes. The only one who could be called handsome seemed to be their young master!
… … …
As for the other young man, Guo Shaoshuai, he was not good looking!
And the little monk could only be described as fair-skinned!
All three of them were not at home three days ago, and it seemed that only the young master was!
“Just wait here, let me go in and inform!” Dali said.
“Thank you!”
In less than three minutes, Dali opened the door again.
“Follow me inside!” he said.
The three of them followed obediently behind Dali, entering the Lin Mansion without daring to look around or ask questions.
Finally, they arrived in a small garden and saw the young man from three days ago sitting in the pavilion.
The young man was sitting in the middle like the center of the universe.
“Nice to see you again, three of you!” Lin Beifan smiled.
“We greet the young sir!” The three immediately bowed in salute.
“What young sir? Your address is incorrect! This is the master of our Lin Mansion, Lin Beifan. You should address him as Master Lin or Mr. Principal!” Xiao Cui said somewhat displeased.
“You, you, you…so you’re the Principal?” Li Yulang and the others were dumbfounded.
“It’s a genuine article!” Lin Beifan smiled.
“Ah!” Li Yulang and the others’ legs went weak.
They never expected that the young man they saw before was the Principal they had been desperately searching for!
If they had known, they would have shown more respect!
Addressing him as “young sir” was so impolite!
Especially Li Yulang, the thought of him giving silver coins to the Principal, it was such a disrespectful act!
Their faces were filled with embarrassment, and they felt like dying!
Lin Beifan laughed heartily without a care.
Everyone glared at him with irritation. It must be this guy causing trouble again!
Every time he didn’t stir up some trouble, they felt uneasy!
“Mr. Principal, we were rude earlier, please forgive our mistakes! Please forgive…” the three of them hurriedly bowed and apologized with sincere fear.
“It’s nothing, it’s all trivial matters. Let’s talk about the medical book instead!” Lin Beifan waved his hand, not minding.
“Mr. Principal, how do you find this medical book?” the old man asked excitedly, while the other two eagerly awaited his response.
“I’ve read the medical book, it’s very detailed and covers almost all medical knowledge. Overall, it’s not bad!” Lin Beifan smiled.
The eyes of the three brightened.
“However, there are some issues! If these issues cannot be resolved, I won’t write a preface and endorsement for you, as it would tarnish my reputation!” Lin Beifan added.
The hearts of the three sank.
1. Wife Cake https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetheart_cake
2. Fu Qi Fei Pian https://omnivorescookbook.com/fu-qi-fei-pian/
3. Dongpo pork https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongpo_pork
