Chapter 15 : Teacher Song (1)

How could Qiu Shi didn’t know of Yuchen’s intelligence? In order not to hurt Yuxi’s self-confidence, she immediately changed the subject, “The copybook your second brother found for you is inappropriate. So, is there any copybook that you want to find?“

Yuxi shook her head and said, “I don’t know either. “

Qiu Shi thought for a moment and said, “Teacher Song wrote a beautiful zanhua xiaokai script. If you want to practice calligraphy, you better find a copybook on that script.” Yuxi already studied zanhua xiaokai in her last life, so she didn’t want to bother herself to find another copybook on it again.

Image Credit: TodayOnHistory

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Zanhua Xiaokai (簪花小楷) was created by Lady Wei, the most prominent female calligrapher during Jin Dynasty. It was based on Zhong Yao’s regular script, but written a bit narrower than him. This type of calligraphy is one among the most used copybook for student of calligraphy.

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Seeing no response from Yuxi, Qiu Shi reminded her, “Yuxi, you are the youngest out of the four girls in this residence. Teacher Song will definitely examine you first, and only through this examination can you succeed. If you can’t write, she definitely won’t accept you. ”

Yuxi really didn’t expect this, “Then, what can I do?” This was a rare opportunity that she didn’t want to miss! But, wouldn’t it be strange, if she suddenly could write with Teacher Song’s favourite script – zanhua xiokai?

Qiu Shi turned around and asked Mama Li, “Do I have a zanhua xiokai copybook here?” There were too many things for her to remember.

Mother Li shook her head and said, “No, Madam. “ Qiu family was the home of military generals. All the men in the family were required to be able to read and write. Even better, if the girls in the family would also learn the same thing. But, they won’t be forced, if they decided not to learn. Even Qiu Shi didn’t like studying. After reading a few books and knowing how to do accounts, she stopped her study.

Qiu Shi thought for a moment and said, “I’ll find the copybook for you. When I find one, you have to begin practicing your calligraphy.” She also hoped that Yuxi could follow Teacher Song’s class. She lost her mother at an early age and was not loved by her biological father. It would not be easy for her to find relatives later on. If she could get Teacher Song’s approval, then she could also find a good household in the future. When that time came, Qiu Shi could also relax a lot.

After Yuxi left, Qiu Shi’s face fell and said, “Mama Li, go and bring over Zhiyi!” Just now, when she heard what Yuxi had said, her heart already burning with anger. But she didn’t want Yuxi to see her ugly face, so, she pretended to be okay.

When Yuxi returned to her courtyard, she read with Mama Shen again. Enlightenment books, women’s books, she had learned all them in her past life. In order not to arouse suspicion, she slowly learned them again this time around.

After taking a nap, Yuxi took the embroidery basket to do some embroidery works. Hongshan came in with a white face, looked at Yuxi and asked, “Miss, did you tell Madam about the copybook?”

Yuxi blinked her eyes, “Yeah! What’s up? “

Hongshan was going to cry, “Miss, Sister Zhiyi is going to be released by Madam.”

Old woman Shen who was also there asked, “What’s going on?“ Zhiyi was the Heir’s personal maid, so, how did she get involved with her Miss?

Yuxi explained the matter in a few words to Mama Shen and then said to Hongshan, “I didn’t know it would be like this. When I saw my aunt today, I just said it offhandedly.” Four-year-old children will be guarded against if had too many intentions, so Yuxi won’t admit that she said it intentionally.

Old woman Shen said, “Miss did the right thing. This matter should being told to Madam. This Zhiyi was too daring. To let her stay would only bring disaster.“ For her to dare framing the Second Young Master for not being uptight and honest, if such a servant girl not being kicked out of the residence, she didn’t know what will happen in the future.

Hongshan did not dared to speak anymore.

Yuxi deliberately pretended to be worried and said, “Mama Shen, I’m afraid my grandmother will blame me.” The four pretty maid around the Heir were all given by the Old Madam. Now, by getting rid one of the maid, her grandmother would surely became more displeased with her.

Mama Shen said with a smile, “Miss, don’t worry. Zhiyi isn’t one of the maid given by the Old Madam to the Heir. Ziqing, one of the maid sent by the Old Madam, gets married at the end of the year, so she was released. Zhiyi came as her replacement. “

If Yuxi could tell Qiu Shi about this, she would not be afraid of retaliation. Yuxi took one thoughtful look at Hongshan. She thought Hongshan was clever, but this time she did something stupid. If she didn’t guess wrong, Hongshan even did it on purpose. As for her reason, Yuxi really didn’t know. She asked, “Hongshan, what is the relationship between Zhiyi and you? “

Honghan saw Yuxi’s displeasure, and her heart was still pounding. She lowered her head and said with a lovable look, “Miss, Sister Zhiyi is my first cousin.”

In front of Yuxi, old woman Shen said, “Your cousin, nine times out of ten, has been planned on.” It was said that the Heir liked this Zhiyi very much. It was expected that the other maids were jealous of her, which was why this thing had happened. But she was only the servant girl beside the Heir, so it was not really her concern.

Hongshan face turned pale.

Yuxi thought this Zhiyi was really stupid. Wasn’t it stupid to arrange the fault of one of her master? Even without her getting involved, Zhiyi would still be kicked out.

Yuxi went to greet the Old Madam the next day. The Old Madam rewarded her with a pair of twisted suede jade rings, and a zanhua xiaokai copybook.

The Old Madam said, “You did a very good job. “

Yuxi knew what the Old Madam was referring to, and she smiled happily when she received the gift. However, the Old Madam was actually satisfied with Mama Shen by two points for her report. Anyway, she also felt that Yuxi was easily tempted by money, just like the girls from her maternal home who were extremely shallow.

When Yuxi was alone in the Rose Courtyard, her expression was complicated. As could be seen from this copybook, the Old Madam knew whenever there was trouble on her side, which meant that no matter what she did or said , she was under the Old Madam’s eyes and had no privacy.

She was glad that she was very well-behaved in other aspects besides showing her genius in embroidery, which was different from that of ordinary people. She was just like a normal four-year-old child, otherwise, the Old Madam would have been suspicious of her. It was also because of this, Yuxi became more cautious in the future.

In the following period of time, Yuxi was having a hard time in her life. Usually, she slept until the end of Maoshi (5-7 am) hours. As a result, Mama Shen woke up at the beginning of maoshi and started chanting about Yuchen’s excellence in Yuxi’s ears. She then said that Yuchen had started learning to play the zither after she done with women’s literature. Currently, she was learning the art of painting and zither. Yuxi reluctantly got up and practiced her calligraphy. However, she was only willing to sit on three things, namely, reading, practicing calligraphy and embroidering. She was not willing to learn other things, for example, if she was persuaded to learn zither, for the life of her, she would never will herself to learn. She would just give an excuse that she had a headache, then ran away.

Was Mama Shen kidding around? Was Yuchen comparable? She had lived an extra lifetime and learned things very quickly, but she was still incomparable with a monster like Yuchen. Comparing oneself to Yuchen, made it easy for one to loose one’s common heart.

When Mama Shen saw that her talk for half a month had no effect on Yuxi, she finally decided to give up.

More than a month passed in the blink of an eye. Today was the day when Teacher Song would come to the residence.

As Yuxi done memorizing books and practicing writing words in the morning, she noticed that Motao did not come back. After she waited for a while more, she ordered a nearby maid, “Go and see why hasn’t breakfast been brought in yet? ”

After half a column of incense, Motao came back with the food box in her hand and angrily said, “Miss, the crispy thick porridge was stolen by Yunbo, the Second Miss’ maid, saying that her Miss wanted to eat it.” The effect of the crispy thick porridge was to nourish the five Zang organs (lung, heart, spleen, liver and kidney), tonify Qi and blood, and moisten hair. Yuxi’s body was well-known for being weak, and eating this porridge was just for nourishing it.

Crispy thick porridge is a food made with ghee, honey and glutinous rice. Just cook it like the usual way you make a normal rice porridge.

Despite losing her porridge, Yuxi’s expression stayed the same. Then she said, “I’m hungry, set out my meal.” It was not that she had a big heart, but today was a special day. She would suffer if she made any noise today.

Speaking of Concubine Rong’s ability, she was currently put under house arrest in Pleasant Courtyard by the Old Madam. In the case of a Concubine Lian, she could still be able to pull the another half of the Duke Han of the State back to her by the hand of Yujing. The reason why she was called half was that the Concubine Lian was also favored by Master Duke. But despite this, Yuxi still admired Concubine Rong’s means. Of course, Concubine Lian would not let Concubine Rong to succeed in her plan. It was known that the concubines that Eldest Aunt gave to Eldest Uncle in the past could not compete with Concubine Rong. Yuru’s mother died in her hands. It must be said that the Old Madam was still the most powerful in the government.

After breakfast, Yuxi changed her clothes and went to the main room. By the time she arrived, everyone was there.

When Yujing saw Yuxi, she deliberately pretended to be surprised, “Fourth Sister, you are only four years old. Do you want to study together with us?”

Yuxi despised Yujing so much. She also had to learn from Teacher Song. Though, no one in the whole mansion knew about it. Yujing said knowingly, “Well, Teacher Song is a famous lady in the capital city. If I can learn anything from Teacher Song, I will be satisfied.”

Yujing sneered, but she also wanted to learn a little. Not to mention whether Teacher Song will accept her or not, it would certainly not last for three days.

Old Madam Han glanced at Yujing and she dared not speak anymore. Yujing’s worst fear was the Old Madam, no other. As long as she did something wrong, the Old Madam would shut her up in the Buddhist temple to copy Buddhist scriptures.

Yuxi also knew that the Old Madam did not like Yujing, but the Second Miss had good luck. She was her father favorite child, and nobody dared to provoke her for being arrogant and domineering in the official residence.

Qiu Shi seemed to ignore the contradiction just now and said with a smile to the Old Madam, “Madam, Magnolia Courtyard has already been set up, but the maid has not been chosen yet. I think it is better to let Teacher Song chooses the maid herself. “ She has prepared several maids, but she did not know Teacher Song’s preferences, so she did not wanted to be a good advocate. In doing so, she also expressed her respect for Teacher Song.

Old Madam Han always believed in Qiu Shi’s ability to handle internal affairs, “Well, you think so well.” If you rushed to send a servant girl to Teacher Song, she would think that they were prying into her privacy!

At the end of the morning, the long-awaited Teacher Song finally arrived. She went up to Old Madam Han and gave her a gift.

Today, Teacher Song was wearing a gold butterfly patterned cyan colored beizi, a brown skirt, and black hair combed into a bun, adorned with a pair of double – happiness hair clasps inlaid with cat’s eyes gems. This dress was very old-fashioned.

Yuxi had seen Teacher Song several times in her previous life. Every time she saw Teacher Song’s facial impression, she would feel afraid. But now she didn’t feel afraid at all.

After exchanging a few words of greetings with Teacher Song, Old Madam Han then introduced Yuru and her other grandchildren one by one to Teacher Song.

Teacher Song only glanced at Yuru and Yujing, and then her attention was focused on Yuchen. When Old Madam Han talked about Yuxi, Teacher Song shook her head and said, “Old Madam, the Fourth Miss is too young to join.”

Yuxi stood up and said, “Ma’am, it was me who asked my Grandmother and Aunt, and they couldn’t resist me. I really want to learn Chinese characters with Ma’am.” After a pause, she continued, “Don’t worry, Ma’am, I won’t hold back my other three sisters.”

Before Teacher Song came, she had made a clear inquiry on the situation inside the State House, and also made a lot of inquiries on the Fourth Girl. However, all Teacher Song knew was the news before Yuxi fell ill, which made her felt that Yuxi was different from the information she had received. However, she still shook her head and said, “You are too young.” If teenagers couldn’t even stand the way she thought, let alone a four-year-old child.