"Now you feel pain?"
In the room, Zhang Wan gently applied medicine to Zhao Zhi, scolding her playfully, "You're just too wild."
Zhao Zhi looked at her mother and gestured for her to close the door.
"Tell me, what trouble have you gotten into this time?" Zhang Wan asked, sitting down next to her.
Zhao Zhi thought to herself, since she had already been beaten up like this, she might as well tell everyone what had happened during this period.
It's better to get beaten up once and for all, so that you won't have to suffer all over it again if you get caught later.
With this in mind, she poured out her story in a whirlwind: how she was drugged at Qinglian Temple, how she mistakenly took Shen Hanshan as the antidote, and how Shen Hanshan later locked her in a room and wouldn't let her out.
After hearing her daughter recount the whole story, Zhang Wan was so shocked that she couldn't recover for a long time.
If Prince Rui, Shen Hanshan, does not take the initiative to annul the engagement, his marriage to Zhao Zhi will soon be on the agenda.
As a form of premarital enlightenment for the couple, Zhang Wan was determined to find some erotic paintings to give to Zhao Zhi as a premarital enlightenment.
Unexpectedly, by a twist of fate, Zhao Zhi ended up trying it ahead of time.
The problem is, Shen Hanshan has already broken off the engagement. What if Zhao Zhi is pregnant?
"Mother? Mother?" Zhao Zhi asked in a low voice, "Did you hear my question just now?"
Zhang Wan then came to her senses and asked, "What's the problem?"
“That’s right, I slept with Shen Hanshan. What should I do about this?” Zhao Zhi said, covering her face.
“This isn’t a big deal,” Zhang Wan said after a moment of silence. “Anyway, you’ll definitely have more than just him in the future. The problem is that he broke off the engagement, so no matter how much you like him, you can’t make him your official partner…”
"Mother!" Zhao Zhi interrupted her, "What nonsense are you talking about?"
Zhao Zhi never expected that she was a maverick, and her mother was even more unconventional.
Zhang Wan realized she had spoken out of turn, so she steered the conversation toward Liu Yun. She warned Zhao Zhi not to act on her own, as she had already planned this and would make sure Liu Yun would slip up.
“You’re destined for great things,” Zhang Wan said, stroking Zhao Zhi’s soft hair. “Don’t let these dirty things get your hands dirty. But you should also understand that no one in this world is absolutely clean. Everyone has their own unspoken words, but everyone must have their own bottom line.”
Zhao Zhi nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.
Zhang Wan added, “Although you are in pain, your mind is still clear. You must continue to read the Zizhi Tongjian and Qimin Yaoshu every night. If you don’t understand something, write it down and ask the Master about it later. But you must not let anyone else know about this.”
"Mother, can't we tell Father and Sister either?"
Zhang Wan nodded.
Zhao Zhi was somewhat troubled. "Mother, I'm not going to be an empress, so why do I have to read these things?"
"Zhizhi, you must be a good girl and listen to your mother." Zhang Wan looked at her lovingly, yet it was as if she were looking at someone else entirely.
Zhao Zhi nodded.
"By the way, I've found you a new tutor. Be prepared. Treat your new tutor with respect, just like before. Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask, and don't pry into things you shouldn't pry into."
Zhao Zhi responded weakly.
She started her formal education at the age of three. She gets up earlier than the rooster in the morning and goes to bed later than the dog at night.
During the day, she would study the Six Arts with Zhao Yun and Zhao Rou. At night, she would go to a separate place to study with a mysterious teacher for an hour.
Her mother, Zhang Wan, didn't teach her medicine skills separately. She only taught them to her and Zhao Yun.
As for Zhao Rou, the illegitimate daughter, she was not qualified to learn medicine from Zhang Wan.
"Mother, you're not planning to have someone carry me to class looking like this, are you?"
Zhang Wan nodded, "That's exactly what I was thinking."
"Mother! I still have a sense of shame!" Zhao Zhi was furious; she didn't want her first meeting with her new teacher to be so ridiculous.
"Alright, come here, let me calculate for you. How many days did you spend at Qinglian Temple? How many days did you spend during the time when Prince Rui broke off the engagement? Zhizhi, your time is running out?"
"Stop! Stop! Oh my god! I don't want this face anymore! Anyway, we'll be separated by a screen, and the teacher will be wearing a mask, so we won't recognize each other."
Zhao Zhi felt extremely wronged.
She didn't understand why her mother was so strict with her when both Zhao Yun and she were her mother's biological daughters.
Seeing that she was about to cry from feeling wronged, Zhang Wan felt a pang of sympathy.
She pondered for a moment, then said earnestly, "Zhizhi, when Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a person, it will surely test their will and strengthen their body..."
"Stop! Mother, quickly have someone carry me to see the new teacher. It's only an hour or so, I can still bear it."
Zhang Wan stood up, clapped her hands, and soon two men in black came out from the shadows and carried Zhao Zhi onto a stretcher.
Zhang Wan knocked on a hidden compartment by Zhao Zhi's bedside, and a secret door slowly appeared. Zhao Zhi went through the secret door and went down and up the steps lit with candles.
After exiting the secret passage, new guards replaced the men in black who had been carrying Zhao Zhi.
The two men carried Zhao Zhi through a bamboo grove, across an arched bridge, and finally into an elegantly furnished room.
The room was spacious and divided into north and south sections, separated by a hanging sheer curtain.
On the south side, there was a small couch with soft cushions. There was also a rosewood desk with writing brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, and other study tools on it.
A desk was placed on the north side, and the utensils on it were the same as those on the south side.
The guards carried Zhao Zhi to the small couch, nodded to the masked man opposite them, and quietly withdrew.
"I have met you, Master," Zhao Zhi said, embarrassed.
Her posture was extremely ungraceful. She was lying face down on the small couch with her buttocks sticking out, a book under her face. Tell me, has anyone ever seen a man in such an unseemly position?
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