Chapter 11 Chapter 11 Who are you going with? Where are you going? When will you be back?

Previously, after Song Jin left, he did not return to Xiuzhu Pavilion where he lived, but went to Qingyu Courtyard where Shen Tingxue lived.

He was about to push the door open when he heard Zijuan, the maidservant beside her, almost crying in anxiety, "Princess, even if she is the Prime Minister's wife, she can't bully you like that. After all, you are the Prime Minister's disciple."

Shen Tingxue's lonely and bitter voice then sounded, "She is right. No matter how good the master is to me, I am just a disciple. How can I compare to her position in the master's heart?"

"But, it was clearly the Princess who liked the Prime Minister from the beginning, and the Prime Minister also had you in his heart. How could the Prime Minister do that?"

"He is my master."

"Master, so what? As long as two people can love each other, even if they are father and daughter or brother and sister, there is nothing wrong with that. And Miss, didn't you say that only those who are not loved are mistresses?"

Shen Tingxue's gentle voice suddenly rose, "Zijuan, if you say that again, I will be angry. Even if I like Master, so what? Master has already married. For me, as long as I can see that Master is living a good life and can see Master once in a while, it is enough."

"As for my feelings for Master." Shen Tingxue's eyelashes fluttered as tears fell. Her thin shoulders trembled as she covered her face with tears. "I will bury it deep in my heart. I will also make sure that I never appear in front of Master again. This way, my heart won't hurt so much."

"Tell me, is it better for me not to come back? That way, I won't have to watch her and Master go out together, and I won't be as painful as I am now."

The tears of his beloved are like a sharp sword that can kill people, and he is driven by it.

Song Jin, who was standing outside the door, was hesitating whether to go in when the tightly closed door was opened first.

Zijuan, whose eyes were red and swollen from crying, saw the person outside the door and suddenly widened her eyes, as if she couldn't believe it, "Master Song."

Song Jin, who was caught eavesdropping, also explained awkwardly: "I heard Zhixue was coming, so I wanted to come and see her."

"When did you come? You didn't even tell me." Shen Tingxue in the room heard the voice and hurriedly raised her hand to wipe away the tears that slipped from the corners of her eyes.

She wanted to smile at him, but that smile made her feel more and more distressed.

"Why are you crying? Tell me who made you angry. I will go and help you vent your anger right away." Song Jin was heartbroken when he saw his sweetheart crying. He wanted to tear the culprit into pieces and grind his bones to ashes to relieve the hatred in his heart.

How could he allow others to treat the precious pearl in his hand like this!

Chen Tingxue bit her lip and shook her head, "No, besides, who dares to bully me? You should stop worrying about me. What you should be most concerned about now is the upcoming Autumn Examination."

The more she acted like this, the more distressed Song Jin felt, and he wanted to do something for her to make her smile return to her face.

In the evening, Xie Ji returned home from work. Shen Tingxue came out to greet him and threw herself into his arms. "Master, you are finally back. You don't know how long I have been waiting for you."

When she was about to throw herself into his arms, Xie Ji subconsciously distanced himself from her and rebuked her unexpectedly, "Princess, although I am your master, you must also strictly observe the differences between men and women."

Shen Tingxue retorted dissatisfiedly, "You are my master. Once a teacher, always a father. Even if others see it, they will only think that we have a good master-disciple relationship. You said there are differences between men and women. You even held me in your arms when we were young. Why can't you hold me now?"

"Youth is youth, and present is present. How can the two be compared?"

Since Shen Tingxue was going to have dinner at the mansion, Xie Ji told Xie Yu, "Call Rong'an to come and have dinner together."

Rong'an is the name of Song Jinye.

When Song Jin also came to the main hall, he first found Shen Tingxue's position with a tender gaze, and then bowed with both hands, "Cousin, cousin, princess."

Xie Ji nodded, "Now that I'm here, I can wash my hands and eat after washing them."

Then a maid came over with a basin with lotus patterns, and Song Jin had to go aside to wash his hands first.

After washing her hands, another maid came forward holding a tray. On the tray were two white jade plates with lotus flowers, on which were placed bath beans and fragrant soap pressed into the shapes of the three gentlemen: plum, orchid and chrysanthemum.

When you wash your hands with the bath beans, you must also clean even the gaps between your nails, and the time must not be less than one Luoyu.

Jiang Wu glanced at Song Jin, who was also suppressing his temper while washing his hands. Sure enough, both the dog and he had to wash their hands three times with soap before eating at the table.

Most of the meals in the Xie Mansion are cooked according to the season. In spring, they eat fresh food, in summer, they eat light food, in autumn when crab roe is plump and delicious, and in winter, they cook lamb and venison to drive away the cold.

Xie Ji adheres to the principle of not talking while eating and not talking while sleeping, but he is not so possessive as to prevent others from talking.

"Master, this is delicious, try it." Shen Tingxue used the serving chopsticks to pick up a piece of oven-roasted chicken and put it in his bowl, her beautiful eyes full of anticipation, "Master, try it quickly and see if it tastes good."

Jiang Wu's eyes widened as she picked up some food. Then, while no one was paying attention, she quickly scooped three pieces of oven-roasted chicken into her bowl. Remember, there weren't many pieces of chicken, and most importantly, she loved it, and the kitchen didn't make it often. "Master, would you like to try it?" Shen Tingxue's eyes flushed with anxiety when he hesitated.

Xie Ji had no choice but to pick up the piece of oven-roasted chicken and put it in his mouth.

Seeing him eat, Shen Tingxue finally burst into laughter, and asked with curved eyebrows, "Is it delicious?"

"Not bad." Xie Ji put down his chopsticks after he finished speaking. The maid knew that it was a signal that the master had finished his meal, and hurriedly brought a tray with a handkerchief on it and a copper basin with cloud carvings for him to wash his hands and face.

The pride that was originally on Shen Tingxue's face suddenly disappeared, and she lowered her eyes with a sense of grievance after doing something wrong, "Master, are you going to stop eating after eating so little? Is it because Xue'er picked up the dish for you, and Xue'er also thought that the dish was delicious, so she just wanted you to try it."

Song Jin, who couldn't bear to see his beloved cry, also put down his chopsticks and said angrily, "Cousin, Xue'er just wanted to share the food with you out of kindness."

Song Jinye's voice immediately fell silent when Xie Ji glanced at him. The aura of someone who had been in a high position for a long time was so fierce that it was frightening, like a sword around the neck.

Jiang Wu, who was still unaware of their turmoil, was shoveling rice from a porcelain bowl with a gilded orchid bottom. He was chewing and chewing, not to mention how delicious the roasted vegetarian goose was.

Almond tofu, delicious, chewy and delicious.

Xuexia soup, delicious, chew and chew.

When Xie Ji stood up to leave, Shen Tingxue also put down his bowl and chopsticks and stood up, raising a cautious smile, "Master, I have some questions about my studies that I want to ask you."

Xie Ji nodded, his eyes falling on Jiang Wu who was still busy eating. He wondered if the family had skipped a few meals for her. "Come to the study later."

"ah?"

Jiang Wu, who was still chewing food on his left cheek, raised his head and looked at the man's old-fashioned and stern face in confusion. When he spoke again, he nodded in agreement and continued eating without taking his words seriously.

After all, with Shen Tingxue here, she might not even have to do her homework tonight and could just go to bed.

After eating, Jiang Wu decided not to write any big words tonight and go to bed early to conserve his energy for tomorrow's invitation.

After she bathed, she was about to climb into bed when a maid came over and said, "Madam, the master wants you to go to his study."

"Didn't I ask you to come to the study to find me?" The man, who was waiting in the study for no one to come, spoke in a low voice, as if someone had rolled a snowball and stuffed it into Jiang Wu's neck in the dead of winter.

"I saw that you were busy, so I didn't come to disturb you." Jiang Wu lowered his head, feeling guilty and not daring to meet his eyes.

Xie Ji guessed she hadn't written anything since she hunched her head and shoulders, so he still asked as usual, "Have you finished writing the big characters today?"

Jiang Wu didn't dare to tell the truth. She twisted her fingers around the pattern on her cuffs and stammered, "I was just about to write when I heard you ask me to come to the study."

To round it off, it wasn't that she didn't want to write, but he called her over just as she was about to write.

"I heard that when I called you over, you were getting ready to go to bed." Xie Ji didn't give her a chance to quibble and said directly, "Stretch out your hand."

When Jiang Wu heard that he was going to slap his palms, he immediately hid his hands behind his back, endured his trembling legs, and said with a stiff upper lip, "Today is not over yet. I wrote the big characters before going to bed, so it doesn't count as not writing, so you can't slap my palms."

The man's expressionless voice lowered slightly, "Hmm?"

Jiang Wu immediately felt guilty and timid. He stretched out his hand like a coward, not forgetting to bargain, "Can you please not hit my palm next time? I'm such a grown-up, and it's really humiliating to hit my palm."

Seeing her like a timid little calico cat trying to show off its teeth and claws, Xie Ji said with a smile: "If you don't hit the palm, where else do you want to hit?"

"Anything except the palm of your hand is fine." When the ruler was about to fall, Jiang Wu closed his eyes, turned his head to the side, tilted his shoulder and sighed, "It hurts."

"I haven't hit her yet." Xie Ji, who had only intended to scare her, retracted the ruler and came to the desk. Pointing at the extra abacus and the arithmetic book for young children, he couldn't help but think of Aunt Cui's unpleasant expression. He said with a bit of tiredness, "Let's not practice calligraphy tonight, but learn arithmetic."

"Well, my husband, I'm not very good at arithmetic." Jiang Wu, biting her lip and not daring to look at him, thought for the first time that not being able to study was such a shameful thing that she couldn't even raise her head.

Xie Ji frowned as the ruler gently landed on his palm. "Have you studied 'Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art' and 'Records of the Mathematical Art'?"

Jiang Wu, whose cheeks were red all the way to his ears, shook his head.

"Have you ever learned the numbers one and ten?"

Jiang Wu still shook his head, wishing he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

Xie Ji, whose bony fingers tightened around the ruler, was silent for a moment before he resigned himself to his fate and asked, "What do you usually do in the village?"

Jiang Wu scratched his cheek embarrassedly and said, "Play."

"Besides playing, what else is there?" Logically speaking, that person's granddaughter shouldn't be so ignorant.

Jiang Wu shook her head in shame, because she was really just playing. Whenever she wanted to study, her grandfather would give her a piece of candy.

Tell her: Girls should have fun before they get married, otherwise they will have no time to play after they get married.

Girls only need to learn how to wash clothes, cook and do housework. Studying is useless. Do you want to be like your mother and grandmother?

If a girl is good at studying, her heart will become wild, and it will be difficult for her to find a husband in the future.

After a long time, Jiang Wu thought that she should just play at home and wait until she got married. Besides, girls didn't necessarily have to be literate.

Xie Ji fell silent after hearing this. After a long while, he reached out and pressed his swollen brow. He said with great tiredness, "From now on, you will learn housekeeping from Madam Cui in the morning, practice calligraphy in the afternoon, and I will teach you arithmetic at night."

This actually filled up her entire time except for eating and sleeping!

Realizing that if she didn't speak out, she might not have another chance, Jiang Wu finally mustered up her courage and said in a thin, mosquito-like voice, "Husband, I want to go out and play tomorrow. Is that okay?"

Just think of it as the last good meal she has before she dies of exhaustion.

Xie Ji, twisting the ruler, didn't agree immediately, but asked seriously: "Who are you going with, where are you going, and when will you be back? Will you be back for dinner tonight?"

The author has something to say:

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Jiang Jiang: I'm going out tomorrow [Please][Please][Please]

Xie Yanshen: Where are you going, who are you going with, and when will you be back? Will you be back for dinner? [Angry]