Chapter 66: Chapter 65: Better than Me
Meng 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 demeanor, with admiration gleaming in her eyes.
No one knew that the person propping her chin with her hand, her gaze so mature, was not merely watching a boy of a little over two or three years old, but was seeing him as a young boy growing into a handsome 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 come 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 homework you assigned. Could you see if my writing has improved?”
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The teacher methodically 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 improvement. You lack strength in your writing hand. I will assign more homework 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 homework I have arranged for today involves studying the character model I have left behind. I will come 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 something else to attend to? Why are classes ending half an hour early today?”
Meng 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 somewhat 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 come 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 immediately; he first put away the sheet of characters the teacher had written. Even though there were visitors, he still intended to practice the homework left by the teacher.
The teacher had just mentioned that he would check it the next day, and although he was young and wanted to play, he still remembered his father’s words that being a man, one must not be mediocre. Since he was learning, he must learn well and put effort into everything.
Meng 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.
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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 time. When her brother was resting from the academy, they would come together to visit Tang Shunyan’s study.
Usually, her elder brother was so proud, boasting about the numerous 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 mere 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 time, without turning back to look at Meng Zhaojun.
He felt no excitement 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.
“Meng 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 me out to play, there’s no need.”
Meng 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 seemed 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 some fun together, Meng 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 me, hehe!”
Meng 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 Meng Zhaojun and said,
“Meng Zhaojun, you’re just a girl similar to me. 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 same way as a boy. Don’t just boast.”
Meng Zhaojun, smiling smugly, responded to him, “Don’t believe me? Then give me 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 Meng Zhaojun, watching her skeptically, haughtily puffing up his chest, his demeanor proud yet coquettish.
“Fine, Lady here will show you what good writing is, otherwise you keep saying that men are stronger than women. I’ll make you admit it willingly.”
Meng 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 became. From the very first stroke that Meng 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 Meng Zhaojun, around his own age, yet able to produce such fine writing, in that moment 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 Meng 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 time.
“What do you think? Convinced? Let’s go play in the garden! My mother and Madam are enjoying the flowers there. Lady specially came to invite you to join,” Meng Zhaojun looked at Tang Shunyan’s expression, more proud and smug, and made a face at him.