Chapter 40
evil idea for dealing with her. Yun Qianyue gave a cold laugh; if she had any tricks up her sleeve, she hoped she would use them all. Better yet, she wished that Viscountess Feng would be expelled fr...Volume 1: Smiling at the Flourishing World Chapter 40
Yun Qianyue felt unexpected when Yun Muh寒 unexpectedly returned. Looking at his gloomy face, she trembled and quickly put down her frozen hand, giving him a bashful smile. "Brother, didn't you leave Why are you back"
Yun Muh寒 stared at her without any expression.
The forced smile on Yun Qianyue's face froze, and she pursed her lips as she looked at Yun Muh寒.
A moment later, Yun Muh寒 suddenly said, "If you don't want me to teach you how to manage the household, it's fine."
"Really" Yun Qianyue was delighted.
"But I will invite the Marquis of Rong王府世子to come and teach you. I think if he teaches you, you might be willing to learn and could even learn quickly." Yun Muh寒's tone changed as he continued.
The corner of Yun Qianyue's mouth twitched. Rong景 teaching her Thinking about that person who looked elegant on the outside but was actually heartless, she decided against it. She immediately shook her head and walked over to him in an attempt to be nice, reaching out to pull his arm. "Who said I don't want Brother to teach me I'm willing to learn, come in quickly and let's continue learning."
"This is what you said. If you still don't study properly, I'll really not treat you kindly." Yun Muh寒 dodged her hand, circled around her, and went back into the room.
Yun Qianyue touched her nose with her hand. What bad luck did she have
Cai Lian, Zhao Mama, Ting Yu, and Ting Xue exchanged a glance, covering their mouths to suppress their laughter as they retreated.
Yun Qianyue slowly walked to the table, plopped down in her chair, looked at the white paper with black characters on it, and helplessly said, "Alright, continue then! This time I'll study properly."
"Hmph!" Yun Muhuan harrumphed and sat down by lifting his robe, continuing to point at the black characters on the white paper. "Chao Yan and Chao Meng, first-class maidservants of Fifth Concubine in charge of her daily life; Qian Ahua, a maid who accompanied Fifth Concubine as dowry; Qiuye, a second-class maidservant managing some trivial matters within Fifth Concubine's courtyard; Fang Si, a third-class maidservant responsible for washing…"
Yun Qianyue nodded. It seemed that Third and Fifth Concubines' status in the Cloud Prince Manor was not much different from how Princess Feng fared before being demoted to concubine. Otherwise, one would not have twenty or thirty servants attending them. With Princess Feng out of power now, it appeared these two still held significant positions.
"Cai Lian, your personal maid; Zhao Mama, previously in charge of the kitchen at Qingyue Pavilion; Tingxue and Tingyu, formerly responsible for cleaning within the courtyard of Qingyue Pavilion—now all under your direct command." Seeing Yun Qianyue silent for a long time, Yun Muhuan looked up at her. Seeing her intently staring at where his finger was pointing, he lowered his head again to read further, "Yan Die, personal maid of First Miss Yun Xianghe; Jiang Ahua, wet nurse of First Miss; Bailu, personal maid of Second Miss Yun Xianga; He Ahua, wet nurse of Second Miss..."
Yun Muhuan's voice was indifferent and his articulation clear. At first, Yun Qianyue sat upright but gradually slumped bonelessly onto the table as she stared at where his finger pointed, wondering why a grown man would have such beautiful hands.
"There, I've read everything to you—have you remembered" Yun Muhuan retracted his hand and looked at Yun Qianyue.
"Nope, there's too much; how could I remember all that" Yun Qianyue shook her head without looking up.
Yun Muhuan didn't get upset but continued, "Then let's do it again."
"Alright!" Yun Qianyue nodded.
Half an hour later, Yun Muhuan looked at Yun Qianyue and asked, "Have you remembered this time"
"Nope." Yun Qianyue shook her head again.
"Then... let's do it once more!" Yun Muhuan pointed back to the beginning of the list.
Another half hour later, Yun Muhuan looked at Yun Qianyue and saw a sullen expression on her face as she stared at the characters with an aggrieved look. He sighed and rubbed his forehead before asking, "Still haven't remembered
"Hmm!" Yun Qianyue nodded listlessly.
Yun Muhuan's eyebrows knitted together, and he suddenly sighed. "I was too hasty. Then let’s start from the beginning, learning one character at a time."
"Alright!" Yun Qianyue agreed.
Yun Muhuan stood up and picked up another sheet of paper, writing a cloud character on it before passing the brush to Yun Qianyue. "Write this character."
Yun Qianyue took the brush with her small hands gripping tightly onto it as if afraid that it would slip out.
Seeing this, Yun Muhuan shook his head and pointed out gently, "You don’t need to hold on so tight; you won't drop it."
"Oh!" Yun Qianyue nodded obediently but hesitated for a long time with the brush in her hand, unable to bring herself to put pen to paper.
“Go ahead and write,” Yun Muhuan said somewhat exasperatedly.
“Hmm!” Yun Qianyue gave an expression of facing death bravely, then forcefully brushed a stroke onto the paper.
"You don’t need to press so hard." Yun Muhuan spoke up again.
Yun Qianyue nodded once more and shut her eyes tightly. She forced herself to recall what she had written when she first learned how to write characters, but even with her good memory, she could no longer remember anything from over twenty years ago. All that remained in her mind was the knowledge of how to write beautifully. Her eyes opened again as she felt disheartened.
“Write more relaxedly; it’s okay if you make a mistake,” Yun Muhuan's voice became much gentler.
"You heard me! It's okay if I make mistakes, right" Yun Qianyue tilted her head to look at Yun Muhuan. She had thought that this brother was aloof and cold when she first met him in the imperial palace. But now it seemed not quite so!
"It’s fine." Yun Muhuan no longer looked at her, as he had already prepared himself for the possibility of her making mistakes.
Yun Qianyue lowered her head and smirked. Suddenly, she picked up a brush and started to imitate how Yun Muhuan wrote characters. It took nearly half an incense stick before she finished writing one "cloud" character; when she was done, even she found it hard to look at what she had written. But she still had to pretend to be happy as she shouted to Yun Muhuan: “Brother! I'm done! Do you think I wrote it right”
Yun Muhuan lowered his head and looked at the scribbles on white paper that couldn’t even be called characters. The corner of his mouth twitched.
"What’s wrong Aren't they good" Yun Qianyue looked at Yun Muhuan, feeling contempt for herself as she thought about her grandmother's family but still pretended to be disappointed and threw down the brush: “I told you I can’t do it. You just wouldn’t listen! I don't want to learn how to run a household; it’s too difficult.”
"If Grandpa finds out that you wrote the character 'cloud' like this, he will certainly beat you with his cane," Yun Muhuan sighed and picked up the brush before turning to Yun Qianyue: "Watch. Hold the brush like this, and write like this."
Yun Qianyue nodded as she stared at his hand. The strong handwriting rendered on white paper under his hand looked so good.
"Your turn!" Yun Muhuan handed the brush to Yun Qianyue.
Yun Qianyue took it and continued her scribbling, then looked back at Yun Muhuan.
“Keep going!” Yun Muhuan said again.
Yun Qianyue could only continue scribbling. When she was done, she turned to look at Yun Muhuan again.
This time, Yun Muhuan didn’t watch her and reached for the account book on the table instead; he flipped it open and said: “Write one hundred sheets of cloud character practice copies, then show them to me together.”
"A hundred sheets" Yun Qianyue nearly couldn't hold her brush.
"Yes, a hundred sheets." Yun Muhuan said: "Not even one sheet can be missing. We have plenty of time."
Looking at the character 'Cloud', Yun Qianyue instantly felt like crying but with no tears to shed.
Lifting her eyes to look at Yun Muhuan, she saw that he seemed prepared for a long battle. Her small face kept changing colors and looked quite amusing. She couldn’t stop thinking—could she still correct her mistake now Could she complete the writing perfectly in one go to satisfy him Could she say that she already knew these characters, could write them well, could read account books, and manage household affairs without needing any study at all Was it possible
Probably not! If so, she would be found out as a fake Yun Qianyue and be treated as an abomination to be killed. She wouldn’t even get to pretend to be the lady of the house here. How unlucky was she to have become this illiterate lady
The more Yun Qianyue thought, the stronger her urge grew to hit herself with a brick. In the end, she slumped onto the table and asked Yun Muhuan: "Brother, do you really not have anything else to do today"
"None!" Yun Muhuan didn’t even look at her.
"Then can I start writing on my own Once done, Cai Lian will give the sheets to you," Yun Qianyue asked.
"No way. I’ll stay here and watch you write." Yun Muhuan shook his head and added: "Don’t talk anymore; hurry up and write. Otherwise, I’ll have Grandpa come over to supervise."
That damned man! Yun Qianyue gritted her teeth in frustration. Helplessly, she spread out the paper and started scribbling.
It didn’t take long before she finished a hundred sheets of calligraphy. Before she could speak, Yun Muhuan said: "Write another character next—the ‘Meng’ (孟) character—also for a hundred sheets."
"What about after I finish the Meng character Can I rest then" Yun Qianyue asked.
"No, you must finish writing the character Meng before moving on to the next one. Keep going until you have written them all," Yun Muh寒又道。
"That's too inhumane! I refuse to write!" Yun Qianyue suddenly stood up, angrily staring at Yun Muh寒,"I want to go out and play, I want to race horses with Ye Qingran, I want..."
"Do you want me to ask Rong Jing to come and watch you write" Yun Muh寒截住她的話，淡淡地問。
"I... " Yun Qianyue felt the dark clouds of despair pressing down on her, and her anger suddenly dissipated. She slowly sat back down and grumbled in annoyance: "No, I don't want him to come. That guy looks like a no-good fellow. But fine, I'll write."
"That's more like it. Write then!" Yun Muh寒繼續看著賬本。
Yun Qianyue cursed the ancestors of Yun Muh寒 in her heart as she reluctantly picked up her pen and continued to scrawl. She hoped that night would come quickly.
After struggling through till noon, Yun Qianyue thought this person wouldn’t be back for lunch. But unexpectedly, Yun Muh寒 instructed Mrs. Zhao to bring him food at the Pear Blossom Pavilion. Yun Qianyue felt utterly desolate and hopeless, experiencing what it was like to have no light in sight.
When evening came, after checking the thousand sheets of paper that Yun Qianyue had written, Yun Muh寒 nodded his head and left with just one sentence: "Continue tomorrow."
After he left, Yun Qianyue sprawled out on her large bed made of pear blossom wood in a state of exhaustion.
The Buddha once said: Even pretending is hard work!
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Thank you to Dream Ling Ruyi (4 flowers), kisses, O（∩＿∩）O~ kindly. "Your father isn’t weak. Go now; be careful at the Lan family. But with Little Jing around, I don't need to worry too much."Cloud Qianyue nodded and left the room. She walked through the morn...