Chapter 66: Chapter 65: Better than
ng Zhaojun instructed the maid by her side and the maid leading the way not to talk, and also told the people standing by the door to remain silent. She quietly observed from the window, watching Tang Shunyan’s serious deanor, with admiration gleaming in her eyes.
No one knew that the person propping her chin with her hand, her gaze so mature, was not rely watching a boy of a little over two or three years old, but was seeing him as a young boy growing into a handso man.
Mrs. Li stood at the doorway, not disturbing the Young Master as he studied, yet ready to pour tea or grind ink whenever he needed it.
The maid by her side stood smugly; the less she had to do the better. With Mrs. Li around, although envious, she felt quite comfortable.
The teacher who was instructing had of course noticed the people outside. He initially frowned at them, but since they did not co to disturb, they also did not divert the students’ attention.
Tang Shunyan wrote a sheet of paper and handed it to the teacher for inspection, saying, “Teacher, Shunyan has finished the howork you assigned. Could you see if my writing has improved?”
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The teacher thodically took the sheet full of writing from the student’s hand and looked it over.
He nodded and said, “It has improved a little, but there is still room for improvent. You lack strength in your writing hand. I will assign more howork for you. Practice with this character model, and learn its style.”
“Yes, thank you, Teacher.”
The teacher picked up a pen and took another blank sheet. On this blank sheet, he wrote a few characters for the student to learn, then said to Tang Shunyan:
“The howork I have arranged for today involves studying the character model I have left behind. I will co tomorrow to check your progress. You have half an hour’s break, and in the afternoon you must continue studying martial arts.”
After the teacher finished speaking, Tang Shunyan still looked bewildered and said to the teacher:
“Teacher, do you have sothing else to attend to? Why are classes ending half an hour early today?”
ng Zhaojun, watching from the window, giggled as she saw Tang Shunyan still naively looking at the teacher.
Tang Shunyan heard a girl’s laughter, which sounded sowhat familiar. He looked towards the direction of the window and then understood why the teacher had given him half an hour’s break early: his family had a visitor.
“Your family has a young visitor. I will co back this afternoon to teach you martial arts,” said the teacher, ignoring what else the student might say, touched his beard, and left the study.
Tang Shunyan didn’t rush out imdiately; he first put away the sheet of characters the teacher had written. Even though there were visitors, he still intended to practice the howork left by the teacher.
The teacher had just ntioned that he would check it the next day, and although he was young and wanted to play, he still rembered his father’s words that being a man, one must not be diocre. Since he was learning, he must learn well and put effort into everything.
ng Zhaojun watched as the teacher left, then naturally entered the study where Tang Shunyan was studying, walked beside the bookshelves and looked at the rows of books. The boy’s studies were different from hers; Tang Shunyan, like her elder brother, received a variety of educational pursuits aiming toward the Imperial examinations.
She felt that Tang Shunyan might not understand all the books in these shelves, probably not even recognizing many of the characters. Yet the adults had arranged so many books in the study room.
This represented the great expectations a prominent family had for its descendants. The legacy was indeed strong, even more so than the number of books in her elder brother’s study.
An idea struck her, and she decided to bring her elder brother here next ti. When her brother was resting from the academy, they would co together to visit Tang Shunyan’s study.
Usually, her elder brother was so proud, boasting about the nurous books in his rented room, busy with his studies and not sparing her any attention.
He would say she was only a woman learning female virtues, and her teacher only taught her to write poetry and praised her learning as adept, even though it was re show without substance.
“Tang Shunyan, can you understand the books in here? These are all various books studied in the academy, right? And there are so many ancient texts, do you recognize those characters?”
Tang Shunyan had put away the teacher’s belongings and was holding a brush, learning to write one character at a ti, without turning back to look at ng Zhaojun.
He felt no excitent about a girl coming to play with him. If it were his brothers, they could practice martial arts together, but as for girls, he’d rather not.
“ng Zhaojun, I of course don’t recognize those texts right now, but I will learn them gradually, needing to focus undistractedly, so if you’re asking out to play, there’s no need.”
ng Zhaojun, hearing Tang Shunyan’s refusal, rolled her eyes at his back. The little boy she fancied was actually such an unromantic bookworm.
The more this bookworm seed indifferent toward her, the more she wanted to win this boy’s heart. Was he not focused on writing and reading abilities?
Then let’s just have so fun together, ng Zhaojun thought proudly as she stood by Tang Shunyan, watching him write.
Watching Tang Shunyan write each character attentively, she did not disturb him by standing beside him.
“Tang Shunyan, just like your teacher said, you are still too weak. You’re even weaker than a girl like , hehe!”
ng Zhaojun’s probing words made Tang Shunyan, who was initially ignoring her, unable to ignore such criticism.
He stopped his writing, his hand hovering mid-air, and with a look of disbelief, he turned to ng Zhaojun and said,
“ng Zhaojun, you’re just a girl similar to . Don’t pretend to be more capable than you are. The education for boys and girls is different. I don’t believe your parents would educate you the sa way as a boy. Don’t just boast.”
ng Zhaojun, smiling smugly, responded to him, “Don’t believe ? Then give the brush, and I’ll write a few characters for you to see the quality of my writing, otherwise your condescending view toward girls is really annoying.”
“Here, let you write, let’s see if you can produce anything spectacular?”
Tang Shunyan, with a look of pride, handed the brush to ng Zhaojun, watching her skeptically, haughtily puffing up his chest, his deanor proud yet coquettish.
“Fine, Lady here will show you what good writing is, otherwise you keep saying that n are stronger than won. I’ll make you admit it willingly.”
ng Zhaojun spoke proudly, taking the brush in hand, and began to write in the student’s script.
The more Tang Shunyan watched, the more astonished he beca. From the very first stroke that ng Zhaojun wrote, it was clear her skill surpassed his own.
The hand that wrote was more agile than his, creating characters that, although slightly inferior to the teacher’s, clearly showed her impressive imitation.
The only difference was that a girl’s handwriting technique differed from a boy’s, lacking a bit of the robust power.
Looking at ng Zhaojun, around his own age, yet able to produce such fine writing, in that mont Tang Shunyan couldn’t help but admire her; girls could also have such strong learning abilities.
No wonder he had heard that in the past ng Zhaojun’s father was a scholar, and her elder brother was quite famous in the academy. These were all things his father had told him, but he had been reluctant to believe them at the ti.
“What do you think? Convinced? Let’s go play in the garden! My mother and Madam are enjoying the flowers there. Lady specially ca to invite you to join,” ng Zhaojun looked at Tang Shunyan’s expression, more proud and smug, and made a face at him.
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