Mr. Shizi was found two days later.
He was around fifty years old, with a beard and thin cheeks. His expression was quite serious. Just one glance at him reminded Meng Huan of the fear she experienced in middle and high school when dominated by her homeroom teacher.
Fengzhi whispered, "His name is Shan Shu, the scholar guest of the prefectural government. He is highly educated and obtained the top rank in the imperial examination several years ago. He still holds an official position."
"The top rank in the imperial examination?" Meng Huan was a bit puzzled. "Wouldn't it be a waste for someone with such high knowledge to teach me?" She pondered for a moment. In ancient times, the jinshi degree was equivalent to the top scholar in the province, and the top-ranked candidate in the examination was considered the top scholar in the country. She was a little confused. "Besides, he will be paid five taels of silver every month."
Fengzhi replied, "Maybe we got lucky."
"..."
Meng Huan wanted to say something, but Mr. Shan Shu coughed and said, "Madam, please."
"Coming."
Meng Huan approached and sat down. Mr. Shan Shu closed his eyes and said, "For beginners, the textbooks include the Three-Character Classic, Hundred Family Surnames, Thousand Character Classic, Dragon Script and Shadow, Concise Sentences for Teaching and Enlightenment, and Children's Language. Madam, which book do you think is suitable for you to start with?"
Yesterday, Meng Huan had someone buy her a literacy book. She took out a book called "New Four-Character Phrases" and said, "Mr. Shan Shu, this book has illustrations. Shouldn't I study from this book?"
Shan Shu glanced at it.
This book had an accompanying illustration for each character, depicting elements like the sun, moon, mountains, rivers, clouds, rain, lightning, aiding in understanding. However, the overall word count was relatively small, with just over three hundred characters. It was generally intended for young children.
The reason Meng Huan chose this book was precisely that: for elementary school students, it was a bit childish, but for herself, who had just entered university, it was just right.
Meng Huan: ^v^
"If Madam wants to learn from this book, then let's learn from this book." Shan Shu picked up a ruler and flipped through the papers in front of him. "I will teach you how to read first. Once you finish reading, you can start reciting."
"Okay."
Meng Huan quickly annotated the homophonic characters next to each word, so as not to forget how to pronounce them.
After teaching the pronunciation, Shan Shu put away the ruler and closed his eyes. "Madam, start memorizing the first two pages. After an hour, write them down from memory. If you can't write it correctly, you'll receive ten palm strikes for each wrong character."
"..."
She would have to receive palm strikes?
What on earth, I'm the wife of a prince... In her mind, Meng Huan silently muttered, but she had always been afraid of teachers since childhood, and upon hearing those words, her scalp tightened, and she felt a suffocating sensation. She quickly lowered her head and scanned the two pages.
The first page was manageable, with most of the characters resembling modern simplified characters. However, the second page contained some unfamiliar and noticeably more difficult characters, although most of the radicals and components were still somewhat similar.
Meng Huan took a deep breath and picked up a brush to memorize them on a draft paper.
The weather was hot, and the maid did not dare to approach while he was in class, only occasionally coming to replenish his tea. Meng Huan wrote with sweat pouring down, and when she raised her head, she noticed that Mr. Shan Shu was tilting his head, dozing off in his chair.
"..."
Silence.
Silence was the theme of tonight's Kangqiao.
—Only in this transmigrated world, where one must endure hardships, could she achieve her goals.
The shadow of the sundial gradually moved, and just before an hour had passed, Meng Huan managed to remember it bit by bit. She relaxed and then took a closer look at the old man napping in front of her.
He really knew how to nap. Just as she thought that, the old man opened his eyes and yawned, asking, "Did you remember, Madam?"
"...I remembered." Meng Huan took out the draft paper for dictation.
"Now, let's have a dictation."
The sedan chair that transported Lian Bozhou stopped in front of the Wang residence. Lian Bozhou lifted the hem of his vermilion python robe and flower-patterned attire, stepped on the stool prepared by the servants, and confidently walked on the stone pavement.
"Is the prince back to the residence?" Shanxing and the chief eunuch You Jin were waiting at the door, familiar with the routine of welcoming and seeing him off. "The prince, please have some tea."
This was the custom when Lian Bozhou returned home. In winter, a cup of hot tea, in summer, a cup of iced tea, to refresh the mind.
"The prince returned from court early today?" Shanxing followed behind him.
"There were some unpleasant matters. A governor was appointed recently, and now there is a lot of discussion in the court. The Reformist Party is kowtowing and offering remonstrations again. Although it's useless, it's very noisy," Lian Bozhou handed the teacup back to the chief eunuch You Jin, "I've had enough of listening to it. I came back first."
"Will it escalate?" Shanxing looked a bit worried.
Lian Bozhou had a basis for killing people, but the court had many officials and complex factions. The problem lay precisely in this aspect. Not everyone could understand his perspective and preferred to consider things from their own interests.
It wouldn't be surprising if Lian Bozhou was criticized again today.
"It won't escalate."
Lian Bozhou's voice was calm. As he walked, his steps suddenly halted. "Where is the madam?"
"The madam?" Shanxing thought for a moment. "My father hasn't returned yet. The madam is probably still studying."
"It's getting dark." Lian Bozhou glanced at the sky.
"So late?" Shanxing slapped his forehead. "Then the madam might have been kept in the study by my father. You know my father's bad temper when it comes to teaching. Even the smartest people have to endure his ruler. Wait a moment, if it were the madam—"
The atmosphere suddenly became somewhat silent.
Lian Bozhou glanced at him.
Shanxing immediately shifted blame. "Wasn't it my suggestion to have my father teach her how to read? It wasn't, right?"
"..."
Lian Bozhou couldn't be bothered to argue with him and said, "Go and check."
In the courtyard, the sun was gradually setting. Meng Huan was lying on the table, using a brush to write characters. Her little face was pale, drooping, but her expression revealed hidden resilience and strength.
In front of her, Shan Shu, with a
grim expression, held a ruler and looked down at the ink-stained draft paper on the table, his expression serious.
Under the eaves, the maid Fengzhi swallowed her saliva and whispered to Ah Qing, "The madam still hasn't remembered?"
"It seems she wrote two characters wrong again. Shall we continue learning another day? It's so late, we should prepare dinner."
"How about you go and suggest to Mr. Shan Shu to end the class today and continue tomorrow?"
"...Why don't you go?"
The two maids murmured to each other and then turned to the kitchen.
Meng Huan dipped the brush in ink again, confirming that she had remembered those two characters correctly, and said, "Mr. Shan, I've remembered them. We can start the dictation again."
The old man's face remained stern as he recited with emphasis, "Goose, duck, chicken..."
Meng Huan felt increasingly nervous and inexplicably thought of the tutor in Lu Xun's "Diary of a Madman." Was the atmosphere as terrifying as this?
The memories in Meng Huan's mind began to blur again. He quickly waved away his wandering thoughts, trying to avoid forgetting how to write the characters.
"Guī..."
When he reached this character, Meng Huan's finger paused, and a chill ran down his spine.
"It's over."
The old man frowned. "Madam."
Meng Huan suppressed the urge to cry and left a blank space. "Mr. can read the next one. I'll think about it later."
Thinking again would only be a delay tactic. Failing to write again and again, Meng Huan's mood became extremely poor. He felt more discouraged as he wrote, his lips turned downward, wearing a distressed and gloomy expression.
But at that moment, there was a commotion at the door, the voice of a maid.
"Greetings, Your Highness."
Meng Huan turned his head, and the slanting rays of light fell perfectly on the courtyard door, dim and hazy, casting a shadow on the tall young man at the entrance, creating a kind of oil-painting-like beauty.
Lin Bozhou changed out of his imperial robe and wore a jade-white regular attire, appearing exceptionally deep, handsome, and elegant. Seeing Meng Huan's small, bitter face, he couldn't help but show a hint of a smile.
Lin Bozhou?
...Why is he here?
Just as Meng Huan felt nervous, he heard the cold voice of the old man by his ear. "Bīe."
Meng Huan immediately lowered his head.
Before Mountain Pivot rose to greet him, Lin Bozhou spoke first, "Uncle need not be formal. Do what you need to do. I just came to have a look."
Then, the voice shifted to above his head. The shadow descended, approximately two or three steps away, and Meng Huan realized that Lin Bozhou had walked up to him, blocking the warm sunlight, and was looking down at the characters he had written.
Through the lingering warmth, Meng Huan sensed the scent of sandalwood emanating from him, hot and uncomfortable all over.
"..."
Meng Huan's handwriting was already ugly, but under Lin Bozhou's gaze, coupled with his high level of cultural cultivation, the brush in his hand became even heavier. He clumsily drew strokes, making the characters look even more unsightly.
"..."
He heard Lin Bozhou's laughter in his ears.
Meng Huan blushed, lowered his head, and his chest tightened. He felt an uncomfortable surge of shame, unable to put it into words.
To let him see that he couldn't write and that his handwriting was ugly.
How embarrassing it was QAQ.
How embarrassing...
Forcing himself to continue writing, Meng Huan resisted the urge to cry, leaving his hand with the brush near an empty space, scratching his head in frustration, unable to recall, looking distressed.
"What character?" Lin Bozhou finally asked.
"Guī." Meng Huan reluctantly answered.
"Madam doesn't know how to write it?"
"..."
Meng Huan responded listlessly, "Hmm."
The tone was prolonged, with a hint of nasal sound.
Lin Bozhou glanced at Mountain Pivot and said patiently, "What will happen if you can't write it?"
"Palm-slapping punishment, ten times."
The old man was giving him face. The first time should have been punished, but he had given Meng Huan two chances. If he couldn't write it this time, he would definitely be punished.
"It seems it's palm-slapping punishment..." Lin Bozhou drew out the last syllable, looking at Meng Huan's hand. His wife couldn't handle a brush, and her small, fair hands were now covered in
ink stains, making them pitch black.
Lin Bozhou wanted to laugh, but he looked up at Mountain Pivot.
Mountain Pivot was strict with his students, and even Lin Bozhou, as a smart and talented child, had been punished with standing facing the wall, with a self-criticism paper pinned to his head, for half an hour before he was allowed to leave, feeling utterly ashamed.
Although Lin Bozhou had no experience with palm-slapping punishment, he had seen Mountain Pivot discipline his own biological son, slapping his palms until they swelled.
If it were Meng Huan, there was a high probability that his palms would turn red as well.
Would he cry again then?
Lin Bozhou fell silent, looking down at Meng Huan, and slowly said, "Is it that you can't remember the character at all, or just some parts of it?"
"Ah?" Meng Huan looked up.
His expression seemed a bit dazed.
"I'm asking if you can't remember the character at all?" Lin Bozhou's voice contained a very obvious implication.
Meng Huan had just taken a breath when he heard "Your Highness—". Mountain Pivot had also noticed and his expression turned stern.
"Uncle need not be nervous. I won't tell him how to write the character," Lin Bozhou smiled and pointed his finger at the draft paper, gesturing something, but only speaking to Meng Huan, "Recall what a turtle looks like, its head, the shell on its back, and its legs."
Meng Huan lowered his head, his gaze following Lin Bozhou's finger.
He seemed to be drawing a little turtle, but the strokes or something made Meng Huan vaguely familiar.
Meng Huan's scalp tightened, and he suddenly exclaimed, "I remember!"
"Smart." Lin Bozhou chuckled, "Write it."
Meng Huan quickly wrote the character "Guī". After finishing, he noticed that Mountain Pivot's face had turned pale, apparently not knowing what to say. It seemed like he had violated the rules, but then again, maybe not. Meng Huan had a knot in his heart.
Lin Bozhou took Meng Huan's paper, smiled, and handed it to Mountain Pivot, "Uncle, I've checked it. Madam wrote all these dozens of characters correctly, without any mistakes."
Mountain Pivot: "..."
Meng Huan blushed, feeling a bit embarrassed, and stood up hesitantly.
Mountain Pivot sighed helplessly, seeming to suppress something, and said, "Fine. Tonight, Madam will copy each character ten times and hand it over to me for inspection tomorrow." After speaking, he left the courtyard.
Finally done dealing with the teacher, Meng Huan turned his head to look at Lin Bozhou, realizing the crux of the matter.
The atmosphere was a bit silent. He scratched his head and his gaze became clear. "Why did Your Highness come?"
"Can't I come?" Lin Bozhou looked at him.
"It's not that..."
For several days, Meng Huan hadn't seen him or been summoned. It seemed like he wasn't feeling any displeasure or emptiness. But now, looking at him, Meng Huan felt a bit at a loss and nervously scratched his hand.
Meng Huan fell silent for a while, then obediently said, "I thought I had fallen out of favor."