Chapter 81 Time flied for girls
In Chengxu Academy, male students and female students couldn’t meet each other at ordinary times. A tall red wall separated them, so they could only listen to the laughter during their spare time, which came from the other side, and they could imagine the appearance of the voice owner according to the laughter.
Separated by the wall, their longing for love also had been prohibited. Most cruelly, someone set different hours of the male and female’s timetables. Female students left school an hour earlier than male students. And their sedans had waited outside for a long time. After a while, these female students who were as lively as birds were all taken back home.
When it was time for male students to leave academy, the air outside had no rouge fragrance at all. There were only their gharries and servants waiting outside. Standing up straight with a serious face, the servants were there to pick them up from school.
At the academy, if someone wrote an excellent article at the Poetry class, the article would definitely be passed and read round in both academies. So, they were familiar with a lot of talented members’ names. In this way, male students and female students could hear each other, know each other, and long for each other, but they couldn’t meet. Inadvertently, they remembered one or two person’s name in their heart. So, they hoped to know if the name and voice belonged to the same person through “Feast of Qushui Liushang”, and wanted to see what the person looked like.
As for the reason why “Feast of Qushui Liushang” was more attractive to women than men, that’s because men had many opportunities to go outside and meet beautiful women. Even if their wives that their parents chose for them were not pretty, they could marry other women as concubines. While for women, they would normally be faithful to their husbands unto death. Therefore, though women didn’t talk about marriage, they always put it first in their mind of all the things. For protecting their reputations, they couldn’t go out and get acquainted with the childes, and the suitable childes in their relatives were limited. It was not bad to marry a familiar man, while it made people feel lack of reverie, because they couldn’t derive the feeling of love.
So, the activity of “Feast of Qushui Liushang blind date event” in Chengxu Academy had realized a lot of maidens’ dreams. Under normal circumstances, even if the ladies’ parents allowed them to choose their husbands by themselves, they couldn’t meet them at all, but only could choose from a group of portraits of men with glazed eyes and single expressions. But in the “Feast of Qushui Liushang blind date event”, they could meet more than 100 childes whose family backgrounds were similar with them. And they could examine those childes’ literary grace and kung fu skill by themselves. As long as they were interested in each other, they could write letters to know each other. When they got familiar, they could ask their parents to propose a marriage for them or agree their marriage.
Besides, the activity was carried out in the name of learning. The ladies would not besmirch their reputations if they joined it. And Chengxu Academy was one of the top academies among dozens of academies in the Ming Dynasty, and also one of the two academies that opening a women’s academy. Thus, its fame and influence were enormous. If you had studied in Chengxu Academy for one or two years, it meant you were excellent, and you would be considered superior when you planned to get married.
A lot of wealthy and influential families didn’t want their daughters-in-law to be those who liked to compose poems, paint pictures, and sing songs. They preferred those who were good at accounting and could take charge of the house issues. Because women like these could manage household chores well, and then their sons did not need to worry about those things and could focus on developing their own business to make money.
Chengxu Academy was so famous, and there were many benefits to study there. Not only the Misses in Yangzhou wanted to study there, but even the nearby residents of Huaian, Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, and Zhenjiang, including the Yingtian Prefecture, Southern Zhili of the capital, also wanted to send their young ladies to study there for a few years, so that they could find a husband while studying.
More than a decade ago, He Danggui’s mother Luo Chuanxiong and Sun Meiniang, who was now Second Mistress Luo, both had studied at Chengxu Academy for 2 years. And they were classmates. Sun Meiniang met Luo Chuangu, Second Lord of Luo’s Mansion, at “Feast of Qushui Liushang blind date event”. He was one year older than her.
Luo’s Family and Sun’s Family were both famous Family aristocrats in Yangzhou, and they were matched for marriage. Sun Meiniang was a daughter of a concubine, but she was a famous talented woman at Chengxu Academy. And she was good at abacus arithmetic. Her ability of adjustment account and financial management was even better than that of men.
After Madam Luo heard this from Luo Chuanxiong, she felt Sun Meiniang was like a younger herself, so she had a soft spot for her. Then she found that her son Luo Chuangu had correspondence with Sun Meiniang. After asking her son, she knew they had been exchanging love letters for more than half a year. So, she sent a matchmaker to propose marriage to Sun’s Family. At first, Sun’s Family didn’t agree. The matchmaker said that Miss Sun didn’t agree. Madam Luo thought it was because Miss Sun was too shy, so she pretended to find a better matchmaker to propose marriage after a while.
Luo’s Family needed a young and capable daughter-in-law to take charge of the household. Besides, in the First Branch, Luo Chuanbai’s wife Zhao Qi was a standard elegant lady guided from Zhao’s Family, a famous Family in Zhenjiang City. In Zhao’s Family, ladies without talent were considered virtuous. Zhao Qi had not read any books and she didn’t even know how to use abacus, not to mention reading the account books. Even if you wanted to let her learn and perform immediately, she needed some basic knowledge of arithmetic. In a word, Madam Luo itched for the talented Miss Sun to be her son’s wife. In this way, even if she wasn’t in charge of the family in the future, the Second Branch could be competent. And it was easier for her to direct when necessary.
More than a month later, He’s Mansion of the capital proposed a marriage for East Yard of Luo’s Family. They wanted to help their only child He Jingxian marry Fourth Miss Luo Chuanxiong. Lord Luo Duzhong and He Jinpeng of He’s Mansion made this appointment early. The two unmarried did not object the marriage after they met several times in private. So, Madam Luo and Luo Chuanxiong’s mother, First Madam Luo, agreed this match in chorus at the first time. A month later, Madam Luo employed Guang Xiazhi, who was called “the first matchmaker in Yangzhou”, went to Sun’s Mansion to propose marriage for her son Luo Chuangu again. This time, they agreed immediately.
In this way, Luo’s Mansion made two marriages at once successfully. The wedding days were very close. At one time there were two marriages. It was very bustling.
4 years later, the young master of Luo’s Family, Luo Baiqian, was also sent to Chengxu Academy. He had studied there for more than 3 years, and then he was sent to learn kung fu for 2 years at Ziqimen School in Sichuan, which was Madam Luo’s birthplace.
After he finished his course and came back, he attended the civil and military imperial examinations, but he failed. Madam Luo comforted him that he was just 18 years old, and everything was just getting started at this age. It was normal he failed once or twice. He could take it as experience. Moreover, his father was 40, but he didn’t pass the exams as well.
After that, Luo Baiqian was sent back to Chengxu Academy for further study. Until now he had studied for 4 more years, and he was not hurry to take the imperial examinations again. At free time, he always helped First Lord deal with San Qing Tang’s business.
In the 9th year of Hongwu Period, the Emperor appointed San Qing Tang as the first medicine pharmacy to supply medicine for the palace. Though Ren Shu Tang of Guan’s Family and Yao Shi Tang of He’s Family were appointed later, they were not as good as San Qing Tang, which had 80-year history. So, the two medicine pharmacies just supplied normal medicines for the palace, while San Qing Tang was appointed by the Emperor to supply medicine for the Royal Pharmacy. Thus, even if the males of Luo’s Family failed at imperial examinations and couldn’t be officials, they could manage San Qing Tang. It was also an official position, and could bring them status and fames.
But Madam Luo still wanted Luo Baiqian to try his best to pass the imperial examinations and became a Juren or Jinshi (both were successful candidates in the imperial examinations at the provincial level) while spreading his offspring. If so, he could bring honor for the East Yard, and the East Yard wouldn’t be interior to the West Yard or Luo’s Family in the capital in every aspect. That was why he continued to study at Chengxu Academy. And he liked the activity which was held three times a year: “Feast of Qushui Liushang”. Every time he went up and showed his talent, numerous Misses blushed and acclaimed for him.
In the past two years, Second Miss Luo Baiqiong and Fourth Miss Luo Baishao had grown up. Madam Luo wanted to send them into Chengxu Academy to study, too. But according to the information they got, the academy had raised the admission standards, Misses needed to register for examinations first, and they would only enter the Academy if they got good scores in the exams.
Chengxu Academy made such admission standards for a reason. A lot of Misses couldn’t recognize a word when they were sent to the Academy by their family. And they only went there to choose a good husband, not to study well.
They didn’t listen to the teacher at all, but be immersed in embroidering or nailing their dyes. When the class ended, they ran to the red wall that separated male and female academy to sing songs. Because of that, many male students laughed, heckled and whistled. The learning environment in the Academy became a mess. Besides, after those messes, those male students were often unable to take their minds back from those Misses. A lot of them whispered at the class, which affected the effectiveness of teaching. It also affected the quality of academy teaching and the number of students who passed the imperial examination, which was a very serious problem. After all, women studied just for fun, but men’s studying was often connected with the kinfolks or even the whole family’s expectation.
Madam Luo found several sets of the entrance examination papers of the female academy, and then she asked Luo Baiqiong and Luo Baishao to do it. After that, Madam Luo invited the woman teacher to correct the examination papers. But the results showed that they both failed in almost all the subjects, not to mention get good scores. So, Madam Luo employed more rigorous women teachers for them, taking turns to teach them various subjects that would be tested for admission. She hoped they could meet the admission standards as soon as possible.
However, the two Misses were used to indolence. It took them a lot of time to get their hair done, work on their jewelry, and pick out what to wear every morning. In the afternoon, they would go to the drama stage, and take more than 2 hours to see a drama that called “series”, which was spread from Yingtian Prefecture. At night, there were always relatives of Sun’s Mansion or West Yard to visit Madam Luo at her room, so they were also busy asking their cousins if their hair, jewelry and clothes were suitable… That was why after a year’s studying, they were still below the standard.
For example, Luo Baiqiong couldn’t recite multiplication tables. Sometimes she would mix one or two numbers; Luo Baishao’s arithmetic was better than her sister, but she was too young to be calm, so her calligraphy was still at the beginner stage. Luo Baiqiong once laughed at her that the word she wrote was just like screwy handwriting, and it was more vivid than Taoist priest’s screwy handwriting.
A lot of subjects were written exams, but Luo Baishao’s handwriting was not good, so it was no use even if she could write poems and articles. The most authoritative woman teacher told Madam Luo that Second Miss could take the entrance examination, and it would be better if they had connections, or it was in vain. As for Fourth Miss, there was no need to send her to the exam at present.
Though Madam Luo felt disappointed, she couldn’t bear to blame her granddaughters. If they really didn’t like studying academic staffs, they could stay at home and learn from their women teachers about how to do the housework, how to knit needlework and how to play the Qin, chess, calligraphy and painting. Considering their powerful family background and beautiful appearances, they could also hold her husband’s heart, conform to parents-in-law’s intention and impeach maids and the concubines.
Madam Luo sighed, the two delicate little granddaughters were both about 10 years old, and they would grow up quickly and marry someone as their wives. How long could she continue to spoil them? Once they married to someone else’s Family, they wouldn’t have such a carefree time like now to enjoy.
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