The First National Preceptor of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 287

Xu Tian was very pleased to hear these words. He hadn't expected that even the butler knew and was worried about his grandfather.

The butler continued, "Sir, I think you should have someone who cares about your well-being to serve you."

Xu Tian was taken aback for a moment, then said, "This matter needs further consideration. You may leave now."

He breathed a sigh of relief after the steward left. Fortunately, the officials, sons of officials, and scions of powerful families in the Six Ministries had been behaving well these days, listening attentively to the lessons.

Soon it was time for PE class. Xu Tian noticed that Zhang Yunlie and Gu Zhihuai showed great interest in the class, so he immediately went to the sandpit he had just dug and said, "Jump over there."

"How do we jump over that?"

"That's a full three meters long! Unless I grow wings."

Not only Zhang Yunlie, but Gu Zhihuai also nodded.

"Master, are you joking? How could the two of us possibly jump over there?"

Xu Tian smiled immediately and then said, "Watch me demonstrate."

Then Xu Tian walked over, tied his hair up, took off his coat, ran a few steps forward, bent his knees, and leaped forward, jumping over the sandpit.

"Your abilities are still weak now, but after a while you will be able to jump farther and farther. This is called the double jump, which can exercise your waist and abdomen and strengthen your body. Come with me and let's run together."

Xu Tian led Gu Zhihuai and Zhang Yunlie to start running on the playground. Zhang Yunlie only ran one lap before he started panting heavily.

"When will the Master be done running?"

Gu Zhihuai nodded and said, "I feel like my heart is going to jump out of my throat. I'm so tired."

Xu Tian smiled slightly and said, "You two did well today. You only need to run two laps before you can play on your own."

Gu Zhihuai was taken aback and said, "Master Xu, we can play after running two laps?"

Xu Tian nodded. This was enough exercise for an eight-year-old child. As long as he continued to attend physical education classes, he would definitely not catch a cold.

In the following days, Xu Tian discovered that Zhang Yunlie and Gu Zhihuai were good at sports. Their second jumps were getting farther and farther. In particular, Zhang Yunlie had excellent endurance in long-distance running and could run seven or eight laps at a time, which was much better than that of children of the same age. He also noticed that the two were very interested in the physical education classes.

Xu Tian simply waved to the two of them.

"Master Xu, you called us!"

Xu Tian nodded: "Actually, besides these sports, there are many other sports, such as water paddleboarding, swimming, high jump, long jump, and even basketball, football and badminton."

Zhang Yunlie was taken aback at first, and said, "I understand swimming and paddling. But what are badminton, football, and basketball? I've never heard of them before."

Gu Zhihuai, standing to the side with his arms crossed, said, "Scholars are often said to be weak and powerless, which is because they are not physically strong enough, and that's why they are criticized."

But if we scholars are physically strong, even stronger than those generals, then naturally those people will not dare to look down on scholars, and will no longer say that scholars are useless.

As he said this, Gu Zhihuai ran out and came back with paper and pen.