Chapter 39 : Guest Student (1)

Early morning of the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, Teacher Song returned to the residence. She should have come back yesterday, but something happened in the Song family that delayed her return.

Yuxi heard that Teacher Song had returned to Magnolia Courtyard. She did not expect to meet Teacher Song, who happened to be going to the main house, halfway down the road.

Teacher Song said with an indifferent look, “I have work to do. You go back first. Come back to Magnolia Courtyard later. ”

When Yuxi heard this, there was a thump in her heart. However, she did not want to lose her composure in front of Teacher Song, so she replied respectfully, “Okay.” What if she decided not to go back? Could she still brazenly followed Teacher Song to the main house? At that time, the Old Madam will definitely get angry with her again.

Once Yuxi arrived at Rose Courtyard, she went into the study. She looked at the pile of books on the desk and gave a wry smile. No matter how hard she tried, she could never compare to Yuchen. This was really hard. However, this result was also as she expected.

Being in grief couldn’t solve any problems, and Yuxi didn’t like to let this emotion to surround her all the time, so she simply picked up the chess score on her desk and read it.

Moju whispered to Mama Shen, “Mama, what do you think Miss will do if Teacher Song doesn’t accept her?”

Mama Shen said, “I only hope that Teacher Song will make an exception for our Miss for the sake of her hard work.” As for Fourth Miss’ desperate efforts, she was moved by it and she hoped that it would also be able to move Teacher Song too.

At the end of chenshi (time between 7-9 am) hours, a servant girl from Magnolia Courtyard came to deliver a message, “Fourth Miss, Teacher Song asked you to come over.”

When Teacher Song saw Yuxi, she did not beat around the bush and directly said, “I have decided to accept Yuchen as my last student.” In other words, Yuchen was the last student she would teach, so there was nothing more for Yuxi to hope.

Yuxi tried to speak by opening her mouth but before she could say anything, her tears had already fallen down.

Seeing Yuxi like this, Teacher Song had a hard time to continue saying her following words. In fact, she could see Yuxi’s painstaking efforts in the past three months. If there were no Yuchen, she would definitely accept Yuxi as a student. Only that, with Yuchen around, she didn’t want to accept any other students. Yuxi had amazing talent. She could learn everything as soon as she was taught. She also worked very hard and had very good character, which could be said to be nearly perfect. Therefore, Teacher Song decided to teach Yuchen everything she could.

Teacher Song hesitated for a moment and said, “Yuxi, if you have any problems in the future, you can come and ask me at Magnolia Courtyard.” It meant that she still could give her extra guidance.

Yuxi wiped her tears, and said, “Teacher, can I ask for one thing from you?” Over the past few months, she had also thought of many ways to deal with this situation, but it the end, none could bring the outcome that she wanted.

Teacher Song nodded and said, “Tell me. As long as I can do it, I will promise you.”

Yuxi’s request was very simple. She only hoped that when Teacher Song taught Yuchen, she would be allowed to listen in. To put it simply, she would be a guest student. She said sincerely, “Teacher, I really like the Analects of Confucius and Mencius you spoke of. If I cannot finish the four books and five classics, it will be a lifelong regret for me.“ Self-study was totally different from being taught by a teacher. Therefore, she didn’t want to study by herself, because she couldn’t learn anything by herself.

This was the first time for Teacher Song to encountered this kind of situation, that she was momentarily stunned.

Seeing this, Yuxi knelt down on the ground and cried, “Teacher, please give me a chance! Teacher, you can rest assured, I will just listen in, and I absolutely won’t bother my Third Sister.” It didn’t matter even if she had to swallow her pride as long as she could achieve her goal. At least for now, she could still ask for favour. If she couldn’t ask for favour, then she was afraid that she had to go beg, which was the most terrible thing for her to do.

Teacher Song looked at Yuxi kneeling on the ground with a complicated look in her eyes. However, she still refused Yuxi’s request, “Fourth Miss, my energy is limited and I can’t teach two people.” Even if Yuxi was just listening on the sidelines, it still won’t work.

Yuxi didn’t expect her pleading was unable to make Teacher Song to yield. People said that human heart was squashy. Only Teacher Song’s heart was too hard. “Teacher, please give me a chance!”

Teacher Song shook her head and said, “Get up. What I said will not change.”

Yuxi walked out of Magnolia Courtyard with red eyes.

Moju said, “Miss, if Teacher Song didn’t want to teach you, just forget her. Miss has already learned so many words that it doesn’t matter if Miss doesn’t learn anymore. If Miss really wants to learn more, Miss can buy books to read!”

Yuxi kept her head down and did not say a thing. When they reached the fork on the road, she suddenly said, “Let’s go to the main house.” She was absolutely unwilling to resign to fate without giving her last effort.

Yuxi went to look for Yuchen. Now, the only person who can help to intercede was Yuchen. Yuxi, with her eyes red, started to beg Yuchen, “Third Sister, can you to help me talk to teacher?”

Yuchen was not stupid. How could she not know what Yuxi was asking for? “Fourth Sister, it is not that I don’t want to help you, but it is still useless even if I help you!” Although Teacher Song promised to accept her, she could not use that advantage to force her to accept Yuxi.

Yuxi shook her head and said, “Third Sister, I don’t expect teacher to accept me as her student. I just hope that when she teaches you, she will allow me to listen in. Third sister, you can help me to say something in front of teacher! Third Sister, I really like studying. “

When Yuchen listened to Yuxi’s words, she was moved. Moreover, her request was not particularly excessive. She thought about it and finally said, “Okay, I’ll go now.”

A ray of hope rose in Yuxi’s heart and she felt really thankful to Yuchen, “Thank you, Third Sister.” Of course, if Teacher Song still refused, then, she would have to give up forever.

Yuchen said softly, “Don’t thank me yet. I can’t guarantee that Teacher Song will agree to this. “

Yuchen went to the main room first and told the Old Madam about it.

The Old Madam did not support Yuchen intercede for Yuxi, “Since Teacher Song has already refused, why should you try to ask again on her behalf?” Anyway, Yuxi had been studying with Teacher Song for three months, so it was enough for her to at least be a household bookkeeper.

Yuchen had her own thoughts, “Grandmother, Fourth Sister is so eager to learn, and what she requested was not too much. Grandmother, Fourth Sister and I are sisters of the first kin anyway. I still want to help her if I can.“ If Yuxi had asked her to let Teacher Song accepted her as a student, she would certainly have refused her. But with Yuxi’s simple request, she felt that if she was the one who intercede, Teacher Song should be able to accommodate.

The Old Madam still disagreed.

Yuchen said, “Grandmother, Fourth Sister is so eager to learn, so let her do as she wishes. Later on, outsiders will surely praise us sisters for our outstanding performance. This is also a good thing for the residence.”

The Old Madam hesitated for a bit.

“Grandmother,” said Yuchen with a smile, “This matter still depends on teacher to decide. I will only be talking about this situation with her, and this will not bring harm to my status as her student. Teacher will also not have another opinion of me over such a trifle thing.”

The Old Madam was moved by Yuchen’s last words, “Since you are determined to go, then go!” Since Teacher Song had decided to accept Yuchen as her last disciple, she should not be dissatisfied with Yuchen over such a small matter.

After Yuchen came out, she asked Yuxi to return to Rose Courtyard and waited for her news.

Yuxi wanted to know the result as soon as possible, no matter whether she succeeded or not, “Third Sister, I will not enter Magnolia Courtyard, I will wait outside. Do you think I can do that?”

Yuchen nodded and said, “Okay, let’s go together!”

When Teacher Song heard Yuchen begging on behalf of Yuxi, she asked, “Yuchen, you are gifted, and you will learn what you’ve been taught. If you let Fourth Miss listens in, it will certainly affect you. I didn’t promise her because I was thinking of you.” For the first three months, she was actually holding back the pace of teaching because unfortunately, Yuxi had some difficulty in learning. If she sped up the learning process in the future, Yuxi would surely not be able to keep up with it, and then Yuchen would be dragged behind. After comprehensive consideration, she decided to refuse Yuxi’s request.

Yuchen did not know that Teacher Song refused Yuxi because of her. She said, “Teacher, Yuxi is not poor in talent. She is not slow in learning and will certainly not drag me down.”

Teacher Song looked at Yuchen and asked again, “Do you really don’t care that Fourth Miss will delay your study?”

Yuchen shook her head and said, “Teacher, I believe my Fourth Sister will not drag me down.”

Teacher Song was silent for a moment, then said, “If you say so, I won’t be a hard-hearted person. You let Fourth Miss in!”

When Yuxi got the news, she went into Magnolia Courtyard with feeling of restlessness.

Teacher Song thought that Yuxi’s perseverance was really worthy of praise. She was so persistent that she did not give up easily, “Fourth Miss, I can allow you to listen in, but one thing I have to tell you is that Third Miss is a quick learner, and I will definitely teaches on her basis. Are you sure you can keep up with the progress then?” That was to say that Yuxi was a drag, to also let Yuxi knew the difficulties and made her backed down by herself.

How could Yuxi backed down? However, she also knew herself well. She certainly could not match Yuchen’s genial talent. “Teacher, if I learn everything, I will definitely not be able to keep up. So, Teacher, I won’t learn the four arts. I merely just study together. “

When Teacher Song heard this words, she had a new level of respect for Yuxi. If Yuxi directly said that she could keep up, she would definitely refuse Yuxi’s request directly, but now, Yuxi only chose to study certain subjects, which would certainly not delay her. “Why only choose to study certain subjects? Don’t you like to play chess?”

Without thinking about it, Yuxi said, “I like playing chess, but I prefer studying. Teacher, I know I can’t compete with my Third Sister even if I try hard. In that case, I might as well choose my favourite one.” To be exact, she chose the one which she deemed as useful. Chess could be studied in private and could be asked later on if she didn’t understand it. However, if there was no analysis on knowledge of the books she read, even if she read it many times, she might not understand it.

Teacher Song looked at Yuxi carefully. After a long time, she finally said, “Even if you just a guest student, you can’t just study. You have to learn chess and painting skills, and you have to practice every day.” Words were learned by practice, not in just one day.

Yuxi’s face was radiant with joy.

When Teacher Song saw Yuxi’s face, she did not know why, but she felt a complex emotion which was hard for her to distinguish, “Fourth Miss, since this is what you asked for, you must be prepared. I will not slow down the teaching process because of you.”

Yuxi said without hesitation, “Don’t worry, teacher, I won’t hold my Third Sister back.”

Teacher Song grunted, “If you don’t understand anything, you can ask me after class.”

Yuxi kowtowed three times to Teacher Song and said, “Thank you, teacher.” It was expected that she would not be able to learn directly from a teacher, though it was also good to be a guest student now.

Teacher Song nodded and said, “Come to Magnolia Courtyard two quarter until maoshi (5-7 am) hours tomorrow.”

Yuxi happily went out of Magnolia Courtyard.