Chapter 11: Quite Obedient Today.

The next day, at the third quarter of the Mao hour, Fu Jizhou woke from his slumber, staring blankly at the cyan-white peacock gauze canopy above.

He had always been a light sleeper, and after arriving at the Wen mansion, he dared not sleep deeply. Often, he would wake up while the night watchman was still snoring softly. Now, as the days grew shorter and nights longer, through the gauze curtains, he always felt the outside was still pitch black, as if it would suffocate a person.

At times like this, he would reach out to touch the auspicious brocade surface of his quilt, the delicate and exquisite texture allowing him to clearly feel the difference from the Fu family. But this feeling, most of the time, was like floating in the sky, unable to touch the ground.

Last night, he attended the Wen family banquet for the first time. The Wen mother and daughter formally introduced him to the other members of the Wen family. They were warm, kind, and distant towards him, which surprisingly gave him a sense of reality.

It seemed he had really escaped from that place, although he didn’t know exactly what he had done right.

Fu Jizhou slowly closed his eyelids, turning slightly to curl up entirely in the warm blanket.

Why hadn’t the sky brightened yet? He wanted to wash up early, get up early, sit in the courtyard to bask in the sun and feel the breeze, watch the servants play kickball with Wen Ru.

Thinking about these relaxing things, drowsiness took advantage, and Fu Jizhou gradually fell asleep.

“Young Master, Young Master…” At the first quarter of the Si hour, Gu Fan knelt by the bed, calling him softly.

“Hmm?” Fu Jizhou woke up slowly, startled that he had fallen into deep sleep again, “What time is it now?”

“Young Master, it’s past the Si hour,” Gu Fan, seeing him awake, quickly stood up and, along with the servant carrying the copper washbasin, assisted Fu Jizhou in washing up.

After washing, he handed Fu Jizhou the clothes to change into, then turned to have the servants replace the flower branches in the cyan cong-shaped vase on the flower table with freshly cut osmanthus branches.

The refreshing fragrance instantly filled the entire room’s air, making Fu Jizhou feel much clearer-headed.

Seeing Fu Jizhou dressed and standing there, Gu Fan hurriedly came forward to guide him to sit at the dressing table, to tie his hair. While carefully grooming, he spoke softly: “Today at the first quarter of the Chen hour, the young lady went to the Mingli Academy in the mansion for class. Master Hua Ting brought back some books from there on his way, delivered them to our courtyard. He said you’ve been cooped up in the courtyard without going out, afraid you might get bored, so he arranged with the male teacher at Zhulan Pavilion for you to attend classes with the young men from the West Mansion three days later. Those books are all from Zhulan Pavilion. After you’ve had your morning meal, you can familiarize yourself with them first, so you’ll be more at ease when the time comes.”

He spoke casually, but Fu Jizhou was still somewhat incredulous. He turned his head slightly to look at him, and Gu Fan, afraid of hurting him, loosened his hands that were tying his hair.

The ink-silk-like black hair fell down, making Fu Jizhou’s face appear soft and delicate, like a woman more favored by the creator.

“I’m going to attend classes too?” Fu Jizhou asked in surprise.

When he was at the Fu family, he had no classes to attend. He learned to recognize characters from an old person who had served his mother years ago, who, out of pity, taught him in the courtyard using tree branches. So, in the few days since coming to the Wen mansion, seeing the calligraphy copybooks among the items sent, he had been tracing them obsessively. Afraid of using them up and having none left, he always had Gu Fan grind light ink, so he could trace over them again after they dried.

“Yes, although Zhulan Pavilion can’t compare to Mingli Academy, the teaching gentlemen are also from scholarly families, known for their high virtue. Sometimes, when we servants go there to serve, we also listen with great interest.” Seeing Fu Jizhou calm down, Gu Fan went up again to tie his hair.

After Gu Fan finished tying his hair, Fu Jizhou stood up and walked straight out, instructing, “Bring those books over first.”

Gu Fan originally wanted to persuade him to have breakfast first, but remembering his young master’s recent obsession with tracing, knowing how much he loved these things, he went to bring the books first before going to prepare breakfast.

The books Hua Ting sent included more than ten volumes. On top was a volume of the concise history of the Great Mi Dynasty, followed by books on zither, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, wine, and flowers, as well as some strange tales, biographies of refined men throughout history, admonitions for men, instructions for men, and at the very bottom was a navy blue-covered book of Wen family precepts…

Fu Jizhou flipped to the bottom, slightly dazed, his earlobes gradually turning red, feeling he had grasped something extraordinary. In his mind flashed the image of Wen Ru sitting by the table that day, holding a cup of hot tea, earnestly reading the marriage contract word by word.

When Gu Fan returned with breakfast, he thought his young master would surely be buried in the books, but to his surprise, Fu Jizhou was sitting properly at the table, looking up at him, while the pile of books had been pushed far away.

“Young Master, are those books too difficult to understand?” Gu Fan asked after instructing the servants to set out the breakfast and waiting for them to leave.

Fu Jizhou shook his head, paused for a moment, and asked him, “Is Zhulan Pavilion far from Mingli Academy?”

“Not far, just separated by a small bamboo grove.” Gu Fan stood to the side with his hands down, pondered for a moment, then his eyes lit up, “In the future, you can go to school together with the young lady. Once out of the inner courtyard, the outside can be a bit chaotic. Going with the young lady will be much quieter.”

“Mm.” Fu Jizhou glanced at the books pushed away, then turned his gaze back, saying nothing more.

*

Meanwhile, Wen Ru, dressed in a moon-white narrow-sleeved Hu-style riding outfit, was napping in the reading tower of Mingli Academy, with the rise and fall of reading voices in her ears.

It had been a long time since Wen Ru had gotten up at 7 am, especially in this cool, sleep-inducing weather. She simply couldn’t wake up. Sitting amidst the chanting-like reading voices, she unconsciously fell into a deep sleep, making the other studying people seem particularly diligent.

Among these people were the young ladies from the second and third branches of the Wen family, as well as others. Although Mingli Academy was a place for the Wen family’s daughters to study, based on the saying that a family of accumulated virtue will surely have surplus fortune, the Wen family allowed some students from poor backgrounds who came to the capital to study to attend after passing an examination.

At this time, they were properly dressed in the academy’s issued cyan silk robes, shaking their heads and swaying as they recited, deeply remembering the teacher’s teachings, to understand principles and rectify their hearts, in pursuit of scholarly honor.

As the saying goes, the poor study literature while the rich practice martial arts. So, in the same classroom, although Wen Ru’s attire stood out, seeming somewhat arrogant, their sidelong glances often swept over her, full of envy. They knew that the Wen family’s young ladies would only attend classes here for an hour and a half, then go to the adjacent training ground to ride horses, practice archery, and martial arts, things they didn’t dare to even dream of. Just the minor injuries from horse riding, archery, and hand-to-hand combat were something their own family resources couldn’t handle.

Tao Hong and Tao Lu, who came to class with Wen Ru, couldn’t stay in the inner room. Seeing Teacher Liu approaching the classroom with dignified steps, while their young lady was still sleeping soundly, they became anxious. Half their faces pressed against the window frame, mouths open, calling her in muffled voices.

Hearing the commotion, Wen Xilan and Wen Xixue, sitting diagonally in front of Wen Ru, kept looking back, as if waiting to see a good show.

Wen Xihua was unreliable. Yesterday when asked if Wen Ru was coming, she didn’t come herself, so there was no hope of her waking anyone up.

Tao Hong and Tao Lu’s vision darkened. It was over, Teacher Liu was going to scold their young lady again. The madam had just reminded them to watch over the young lady in class, not to let her be distracted and waste time, but now—

“Wen—Jin—yi—” Teacher Liu sat down at the front desk, enunciating each syllable of Wen Ru’s current name, her tone devoid of any emotion, yet sounding particularly chilling to the ear.

Wen Ru jolted awake, sitting up with a bewildered look, staring blankly at the female teacher sitting in front, dressed in brown clothes, with her hair in a bun, holding a scroll.

This was the teacher of the Wen family school, Teacher Liu Lianghuei. She was consistently rigorous, serious, and unsmiling, most disliking Wen Ru’s casual and perfunctory attitude in class, both towards others and herself. If not for the sake of Wen Nianyue’s face and the other poor students at Mingli Academy, she might have long wanted to quit.

“Miss Wen seems to be recovering from a serious illness, so I won’t be too hard on you. But without rules, there can be no square or circle,” Teacher Liu opened the scroll in her hand, lowering her gaze to read, continuing to speak without emotion, “Since you’re not fully awake, you’ll be sent to Wei Niangzi’s place for some discipline. Once you’re fully awake, copy ‘The Great Learning’ five times, and I’ll consider you to have attended this class.”

Hearing this, Tao Hong and Tao Lu kept making faces at Wen Ru from below the window, afraid she would disobey the teacher’s words again.

Wen Ru looked left and right, understanding Tao Hong and Tao Lu’s meaning, and hurriedly raised her hands in a salute: “This student respectfully follows the teacher’s instruction.”

With these words, Tao Hong and Tao Lu let out a huge sigh of relief.

Teacher Liu looked up at her, inwardly snorting, quite obedient today.