Chapter 104: Chapter 106: The Snobbish Classmate Chapter 104: Chapter 106: The Snobbish Classmate “Husbands and wives don’t carry grudges overnight; they fight at the head of the bed and reconcile at the foot of it. My father has been at the Ministry of Revenue these past few days.”
Speaking thus, the little one dashed off.
Feng Bailing was unable to help but laugh and cry at the words written on the paper.
Who told him this? It must have been Feng Wan!
Fighting at the head and reconciling at the foot of the bed, alas, for the sake of her child, she had better make ands with Dugu Wu.
Not wanting to reject Dugu Xiaojin’s kindness, Feng Bailing accepted the silver note. She decided to invest the money into the dicine Shop and save it annually for Xiaojin, as her dowry fund!
At Yuxiu Academy, all the new female students recruited this year had arrived.
Although they were all new students, the noble female students maintained a significant distance from the commoner female students, as if being too close would degrade their status.
A commoner female student walked over. Just a few steps forward, and a foot stretched out in front of her, causing her to stumble and fall to the ground.
“Are you blind? You stepped on my new embroidered shoes. These were bought by my father from an Imperial rchant of Daye Country, a pair costing fifty taels. You wretch have dirtied them; compensate quickly.”
A beautiful young girl cried out.
The fallen student’s face turned pale with fright, trembling like a small rabbit and reaching out to wipe the embroidery girl’s shoes.
“I… I’ll wipe them for you…”
“Keep your dirty hands off.”
The embroidery-clad female student kicked away the commoner girl’s hand.
Feng Bailing and Ouyang Chenchen entered, and Feng Bailing scanned the crowd but did not see Princess Mingxia.
Witnessing this scene, Ouyang Chenchen, who was upright and straightforward, briskly stepped forward and pulled up the commoner student.
“You claim she stepped on it? I clearly saw you stick out your foot to trip her. If it were , I would dare to break your leg. And these shoes of yours are worth fifty taels?”
Ouyang Chenchen glanced at the shoes on the student’s feet.
“Daye Country’s Treading Snow Shoes, fifty taels, genuinely irreplaceable. She dirtied them, she must compensate.”
The embroidery-clad female student said haughtily.
Treading Snow Shoes are rarely seen in Great Chu; only the princesses and imperial concubines of the Royal Family wear them.
“Treading Snow Shoes are only embroidered with orchids and plums, with three threads mixed with one silver thread. Your pattern has peach flowers and lacks the silver thread, clearly fake. The shoes I’m wearing are genuinely irreplaceable Treading Snow Shoes, see? There’s also a vermillion imprint on them that doesn’t fade even when exposed to water or fire. Your tattered shoes, I wouldn’t even pay one tael for them.”
Ouyang Chenchen lifted her own foot, revealing indeed an imprint on the sole.
The face of the embroidery-clad student imdiately couldn’t hang on anymore.
At that mont, the vice dean walked in.
“Today is the first day of class; you should all have received your academy uniforms and na tags by now. Yuxiu Academy is divided into four classes: Sun, Moon, Star, and Celestial.”
The vice dean spoke, beginning to announce the school rules.
The rules of Yuxiu Academy, as stated by the vice dean, were lengthy and complex, taking half an hour just to finish.
“As I just ntioned, there are four classes in Yuxiu Academy, mainly studying the Six Arts and the Eight Elegances. The talents learned in each class are the sa; there will be a small evaluation monthly and a major evaluation every six months. Failing two small evaluations or one major evaluation will result in expulsion from Yuxiu Academy.”
The vice dean spoke and glanced again at Feng Bailing. Several years ago, when Feng Bailing entered Yuxiu Academy, she had chosen the vice dean’s guqin class and failed her first month’s small evaluations.
Later, Feng Bailing pushed Princess Mingxia into the lake, nearly causing a fatal accident. Although the incident wasn’t widely spread, the vice dean’s impression of Feng Bailing was extrely poor.
Feng Bailing and Ouyang Chenchen were both assigned to the Celestial class.
The earlier bullied commoner girl was also assigned to the Celestial class; she ca over to thank them.
“I’m Mo Qianqian, thank you both; if it weren’t for your help just now, I really wouldn’t know what to do.”
Mo Qianqian said with a lingering fear in her heart.
“A piece of cake.”
Ouyang Chenchen said generously, and within just a few exchanges, they had beco familiar with each other.
“I also admire the Crown Princess Consort Nalan a lot, which is why I ca to study at the Yuxiu Academy. Unfortunately, during the assessnt, I was too busy with my preparations to have a conversation with her.”
Mo Qianqian ntioned Nalan Yan’er with a face full of admiration.
“Seeing soone in person is not always as impressive as hearing about them. I actually think she doesn’t live up to her reputation.”
Ouyang Chenchen always felt that Nalan Yan’er wore a mask in dealing with people, which was too exhausting; Bai Ling, on the other hand, was better – not to ntion her looks, her personality is good, and she is talented.
“The position of the Crown Princess Consort is not easy to hold. Being too high-profile makes one prone to jealousy, and being too low-profile leads to being trampled upon. If I were you, I’d just focus on learning skills at the Yuxiu Academy. Having a skill is much more reliable than getting married.”
Feng Bailing gave Mo Qianqian a aningful look.
Mo Qianqian remained silent.
“What classes have you chosen?”
Ouyang Chenchen was pondering over several courses.
It is for a reason that the Yuxiu Academy is considered a leader among won’s academies in the Great Chu; ordinary academies only teach the six arts – rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics, along with qin, chess, reading, painting, and poetry.
But in the Imperial Academy and Yuxiu Academy of the Great Chu, the Imperial Academy requires learning rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, mathematics, qin, chess, reading, painting, poetry, and fragrance.
Because the Yuxiu Academy is a won’s academy, it includes rites, music, calligraphy, mathematics, qin, chess, reading, painting, fragrance, flowers, and tea; in comparison to male academies, there are actually more choices.
As for archery and charioteering, Yuxiu Academy also offers courses, but not many students take them, mainly relying on male teachers’ popularity to recruit female students.
A student only needs to study three subjects a year.
“I have already chosen mine. I’ll take archery, charioteering, and fragrance classes.”
With a flourish, Ouyang Chenchen chose three subjects.
Feng Bailing had earlier noticed that Ouyang Chenchen’s palms did not have the delicate skin typical of girls; there were calluses at the base of her thumb. If she was not mistaken, Daye Country is also known as the ‘Dynasty on horseback,’ where both n and won excel in horseback riding and archery.
Feng Bailing smiled inwardly.
“I’ll accompany you then.”
She was not interested in qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and she also wanted to avoid eting Feng Xiangxue, Feng Ruoyan, the Vice Dean, and others.
“You chose the fragrance class?”
“If I rember correctly, does the fragrance class teach wine tasting and brewing?”
In that previous lifeti, Feng Bailing had already struggled with just handling qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting in Yuxiu Academy, and had not explored the other subjects.
“In the Imperial Academy, ‘fragrance’ indeed refers to wine. Yuxiu Academy is ant to nurture ladies, and originally it planned to change to perfu blending. But who knew the Dean would say that it was appealing yet impractical, so they changed it to a new ‘fragrance’ course, which refers to the kitchen. It’s newly introduced, and the teacher might still be a chef, so no one wants to choose it.”
Mo Qianqian was unwilling to learn cooking skills.
She had finally left her hotown and did not want to end up like her mother, spending her life busy in the kitchen. Won in the kitchen always ends up greasy and aged, unlike the Crown Princess Consort Nalan, who was fresh as a lotus flower, radiant in any setting.
“Cooking skills are quite useful, I’ve been wanting to refine my culinary skills.”
Feng Bailing, seeing Mo Qianqian’s reaction, knew she wasn’t of the sa mind as herself and Ouyang Chenchen.
Indeed, Feng Bailing was looking to capture a man’s heart through his stomach, but it was just a little boy.
Xiao Li was fine, being a food lover who wasn’t picky. It was said that Dugu Xiaojin was picky about food; once she married into Prince Shun’s Mansion, she would have to change that bad habit.
After choosing their courses, the group made plans to go together and familiarize themselves with Yuxiu Academy, but unfortunately, Feng Bailing ran into Feng Xiangxue and Feng Ruoyan on the way.
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