"Dad, I want to go to the academy to audit classes." Xu Changsheng suddenly said to her father, Xu Shanzhang, while having lunch.
"Nonsense." Dean Xu put down his bowl and chopsticks, his face serious.
He then said to his wife, "Punish her by copying the "Nu Jun" (Girl's Commandments) a hundred times. You must review it carefully and don't let her down. It's all your fault for doting on her. How can a girl go to school among men? Besides, a woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent. Learn the ways of managing a household from your mother. In two or three years, she'll be of marriageable age. You must not bring shame upon the Xu family."
After saying that, he didn’t need to eat anymore and turned back to the study.
Changsheng watched her father walk away and continued to eat absent-mindedly.
"You silly girl." Changsheng's mother, Xu Yang, tapped her daughter's forehead with her index finger. "Mother told you long ago that your father, with his old-fashioned ways, would never have agreed to let you go to the academy. If he were that open-minded, he would have sent you there a few years earlier, when you were still a little girl, with no girlish qualities at all. Wouldn't it have been easier for you to just go to the academy and spend your days there?"
Changsheng curled his lips. At that time, he was still his original self. The little girl didn’t like to study.
"Tell me, how come after a serious illness, you've become interested in that damn poetry and song? Didn't you used to hate all that nonsense? You kept clamoring to learn embroidery and pastry making from me, but in reality, you were just being lazy in different ways."
"Mother, this is a different time. Do you think it's possible for me to become like Cai Wenji or Ban Zhao?"
Before Xu Yang could strike back at her daughter, her father's high-pitched, mocking voice could be heard from the window. "You think you can be compared to those talented women of the previous dynasty? It's not that I, as a father, look down on my family, but with your indolent energy, what could you possibly have learned? Even the Book of Women's Commandments, you can only recite it haltingly now."
Xu Changsheng: ...
Although it is true, you shouldn't hit your own child like this, dad.
"I went to the study to pick out some books for you. You can study them carefully in your room. If you have any questions, I will answer them for you when I come back from the academy in the evening." He is an awkward old man with a sharp tongue but a loving heart for his daughter.
"No, I'm going to the academy. Wait for me." Changsheng flew back to his room without caring about the old man who was on the verge of going berserk. After a short while, a handsome young man appeared in front of the two elders.
"Ah, this..." Yang wiped her eyes. Is this her daughter?
"I almost thought I gave birth to a little boy." There was nothing unusual at all. The clothes looked like Dalang's old clothes. I don't know when this little rascal found them in his brother's room. What a shameless little girl.
"This is simply nonsense." Xu's father was so angry that he jumped up and down. His little girl, dressed as a boy, looked exactly like his brother who went to Beijing to take the imperial examination when he was young.
"Just tell me if you can find the flaw?" Changsheng bowed like a student and took a few steps in front of his parents. He opened the folding fan that students loved in his hand. This was probably what a dashing young man looked like.
"My father is the headmaster, how can I make an exception?" This was a sign of relaxation. Changsheng had always been sure that this old man was a timid and conservative person. Although he had principles, when faced with the requests of his wife and daughter, he would usually persuade them a few more times before they would agree.
If this method doesn't work, it means that the essence of her mother has not been learned.
Xu's mother: Go away and let me go. It will definitely work.
"I am your distant nephew, Xujiu." It's not an exception since he is not your son.
"What an ugly name! Why don't you take your mother's surname?" The old man had secretly given his daughter nicknames: Changsheng and Jiuer. Only her mother knew about it. The mother and daughter must have discussed it privately. An old married couple, they really have no secrets!
Yes, Yang Jiu.
It's the same thing. It's better to have the surname Xu.
"You have the final say." As long as she agrees to let her study in the academy, anyone can be called.
"Go to the academy with dad tomorrow to register." The old man was so angry that his head was smoking. He glared at his wife fiercely when he left.
Unfortunately, Yang was not afraid of him at all, he was just a paper tiger.
Changsheng is twelve years old this year and is assigned to Class C.
This class is full of freshmen, and is specifically for new students from all over the country.
Among them was a particularly heroic student from a wealthy family named Meng Junran, who got along very well with a boy from a poor family named Zhang Shuhe.
I heard that they had known each other before entering school and even became sworn brothers.
The two of them are considered top students in Class C. After waiting for the level test, maybe in a few months, they will be able to transfer to Class B smoothly, and even transfer to Class A in the first year of the imperial examination.
The original body was unlearned, but fortunately Changsheng had lived in the ancient world before and had his own bugs. Otherwise, even though he got in through the back door, he would probably still be persuaded to leave in the end.
But she has the bug in hand, and she is destined to have a place among the top students in the academy.
Soon, the name Xujiu became like a dark horse in Class C, leaving the others far behind.
Maybe it was because the competition was too fierce. The students in Class C were learning at a good pace at the beginning of the school year, but later they were completely carried along. Even the teacher was constantly catching up with the teaching progress. The main reason was that if he did not increase the speed, he would not be able to catch up with the students' self-study progress.
It's quite magical.
Meng Junran was originally the daughter of a wealthy family. Because she longed for men to study abroad, she used a little trick and hired a fake Taoist priest to deceive her father a few words, so that her father agreed to let her disguise herself as a man and come to the academy to study.
As for why they didn't find a teacher at home, it was because a good teacher was hard to find, and Xiangshan Academy, which was only a day's journey away from home, gathered famous teachers from all over the world and was truly a holy place in the hearts of students.
Meng Junran and Zhang Shuhe met and got to know each other on their way to school. They became close friends through conversation. They were in the same academy and now live in the same building. What a fate.
The two lived together and had a good relationship. Every night, they slept on simple beds in the academy and talked about their thoughts and experiences during the day.
Every time I come up with a new solution, I can’t wait to sleep on it.
However, Meng Junran always refused, and Zhang Shuhe could only feel regretful. Perhaps this was a quirk of a rich young man who didn't like to sleep in the same bed with others?
But recently, Meng Junran has been a little angry. He blames the class for having too much academic atmosphere. Every day, everyone stays in the dormitory studying hard. The teacher sees many students studying late into the night and taking a long time to return to the dormitory, so he has increased the number of inspections and occasionally talks about books and philosophy with the students and answers their questions.
This directly led to a higher level of enthusiasm for learning among everyone, and some students who had previously returned to the dormitory to study did not go back at night.
Now the building has truly become a place to sleep, but the strategy of going back to bed every night to punch in, hiding in the quilt to study hard alone, and preparing to secretly surprise everyone no longer works.
Meng Junran loves going to school and also loves spending time in the same room with Zhang Shuhe.
Unfortunately, the appearance of Yang Jiu broke this balance.
Zhang Shuhe felt that he was inferior to others and did not want to waste time on daily conversations. He was emotionally dull and focused on his studies, so naturally he did not notice the mentality of Meng Junran's little daughter.
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