Chapter 46 - 45: Pei Xuan’s Poem, Cui Jinghan’s Calligraphy
Chapter 46: Chapter 45: Pei Xuan’s Poem, Cui Jinghan’s Calligraphy
Xu Zhao Yu was slightly taken aback. "Mrs. Huo, what do you mean by..."
"Zhao Yu, you are in poor health and have never stepped into society. The Xu Family has always protected you so well that you don’t know how sinister people’s hearts can be nowadays." Mrs. Huo’s voice was cold. "Don’t be fooled by someone’s young age. Some have plenty of schemes up their sleeves. Don’t get played for a fool and end up thanking them for it!"
Xu Zhao Yu quickly reacted. "Are you talking about Changying? You must have misunderstood. The child is beautiful, and she hasn’t been negatively affected by growing up in Ming Village..."
"Beautiful? What use is beauty?" Mrs. Huo interrupted unceremoniously. "Are her grades good? How many foreign languages can she speak? Is she proficient in the four arts? Even to be a mere showpiece, one still needs to be well-educated and sensible!"
"Chengli didn’t have the resources to let Changying learn these things." Xu Zhao Yu’s eyes turned red. "It’s all my fault. They never would have had to endure this in the first place."
"Zhao Yu, why do you still like taking all the blame upon yourself?" Mrs. Huo sighed in exasperation, frustrated by her lack of ambition. "You must guard your territory and not let anyone snatch it away!"
Xu Zhao Yu pursed her lips, her voice strained. "It didn’t belong to me to begin with, so how could it be snatched?"
"In my eyes, you are my only in-law." Mrs. Huo was firm. "I don’t care about who’s real or fake. Shuyu is the only daughter-in-law I will ever acknowledge."
"Shuyu will be thrilled to know you like her so much." Xu Zhao Yu took out four exquisite tickets from her bag. "She even prepared a gift specially for you. It’s nothing expensive, but please don’t mind."
Seeing the words on the tickets clearly, Mrs. Huo gasped. "Xie Lin’s concert? Zhao Yu, how did she manage to get these?"
Xu Zhao Yu smiled again. "As long as one puts their heart into it, they can get it. However, there’s no other channel aside from scrambling for them online. I couldn’t even find a way to buy them at a high price, so the seats aren’t the best."
"No, no, no, this is more than enough!" Mrs. Huo suppressed her excitement. "Last year, I made a special trip to Mingjing just to hear his music live."
Observing Mrs. Huo’s expression, Xu Zhao Yu knew this gift had hit the spot.
Blood relations were indeed important, otherwise the Xu Family wouldn’t have brought Ming Chengli and his daughter back. But after more than forty years, everything was already set in stone. The intertwined interests between the major families were deeply rooted; a single move would trigger a domino effect. No one wanted an outsider to break this dynamic.
The waters in Jianghuai’s social circle were far too deep. If someone rashly barged in, they wouldn’t even know how they drowned.
Xu Zhao Yu lowered her head and took a satisfied sip of her coffee.
***
Jianghuai High School, Senior Grade Three, Class 17.
The first period of the afternoon was literature class. Seeing that the students were all drowsy, Teacher Bei put down her textbook and cleared her throat. "The students whose names I call next will come up to the blackboard and recite ancient poetry from memory."
The power of this sentence was comparable to a falling nuclear bomb. Everyone instantly perked up.
Teacher Bei asked with a smile, "Any volunteers?"
Song Qingmu muttered softly, "Who would ever want to volunteer for this?"
A second after he spoke, he saw Shi Changying raise her hand.
The entire class could only see her hand—the undisputed first person to volunteer.
Shi Changying was very satisfied. She had to be first in everything.
Teacher Bei was also surprised. "Besides Changying, anyone else?"
"..."
The classroom was dead silent. Some students wished they could shove their heads into their desks to avoid being seen by Teacher Bei.
"Then let’s have Changying come up," Teacher Bei said. "Today, we’re reciting from memory Pei Xuan’s Day and Night Joy. This is a key poem for the college entrance examination."
"So it’s Day and Night Joy," Shi Changying thought casually.
She remembered that Pei Xuan composed this poem on New Year’s Eve in the third year of Taichu, and it had been presented to her immediately. She didn’t know what the deeper meaning of Pei Xuan’s poem was, but fortunately, she had the advantage of an eidetic memory.
Although it was Shi Changying’s first time writing on a blackboard with chalk, she felt no discomfort whatsoever. It was practically the same as writing on the ground with charcoal, so she wrote very smoothly. After writing the poem from memory, she accurately tossed the chalk into the chalk box.
The classroom, however, was dead silent. Everyone was staring blankly at the blackboard.
"Did I write something wrong?" Shi Changying glanced back.
"No mistakes, not a single word off." Teacher Bei immediately took out her phone and snapped a few photos with a CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, not forgetting to praise her. "Changying, your handwriting on the board is absolutely beautiful."
This compliment was very much appreciated by Shi Changying, who then returned to her seat.
Shaoyuan raised his eyes and looked at her. "It bears the style of Nanling Jun, Cui Jinghan. However, it’s sharper and more incisive than his. I much prefer your—"
Lu Mi, sitting at the desk in front, secretly pricked up his ears.
Shaoyuan let out a soft chuckle before unhurriedly uttering the final word: "—handwriting."
Lu Mi’s ears drooped.
Shi Changying raised an eyebrow, taking the tactful way of saying "thank you" to its absolute peak. "I guess my doting on you wasn’t in vain."
***
The sky hung low, and the evening breeze blew gently.
It was supposed to be a beautiful and pleasant night, but Xie Qingshi was trapped in a severe nightmare, unable to break free. Messy noises rang in his ears, sweeping in alongside freezing winds and a biting frost, nearly tearing him apart.
"Xie Qingshi, look closely! This is your newborn cousin. If you open the city gates today and surrender to us, I will let him go."
"He is a blind man, and a stubborn mule at that! Don’t waste your breath on him!"
Then, a sharp blade pierced through the swaddling clothes, and blood splattered everywhere.
The wind brushed past. Scalding hot liquid fell on his face, and he couldn’t tell if it was blood or tears.
Xie Qingshi jolted awake from his dream. He abruptly sat up, panting heavily, his entire body drenched in cold sweat.
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK—a knocking sound came from the door.
"Mr. Xie?" The assistant outside the door sounded worried. "Did you have a nightmare again? Do you need me to call the psychologist over?"
Xie Qingshi recovered his senses and said indifferently, "No need. I’m going out for a walk."
He draped a coat over his shoulders and opened the door, fine beads of sweat covering his pale forehead.
The assistant tried to dissuade him. "Mr. Xie, it’s already very late. Ever since you arrived in Jianghuai, entertainment reporters have been keeping an eye on you. What if..."
Xie Qingshi shook his head. He put on a mask and sunglasses before leaving the hotel.
At two in the morning, even the stars were hiding behind the clouds, unwilling to come out. The world was so quiet it felt as if he was the only person left in it.
Xie Qingshi walked aimlessly toward the streetlights. He didn’t know how long had passed or where he was, but he suddenly stopped and stood right in the middle of the quiet road. He felt a momentary daze, as if he could no longer distinguish between reality and dreams.
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP—suddenly, a frantic honking sound blared.
But Xie Qingshi acted as if he hadn’t heard a thing. He remained rooted to the spot, about to be hit by the car in the very next second.
A hand suddenly grabbed his collar. A lazy voice drifted down as lightly as the wind, instantly pulling him back to four hundred years ago.
"Hey, watch where you’re going."