13. I understand!
Jin Lanyue was stunned to see a dark finger mark left on her tutor's fair face.
Then, feeling guilty, she tried to pull her little hands back.
Qu Zijin, however, took her small hand in his.
He wasn't angry; instead, he smiled, as if he had let it go. He took her a few steps to the riverbank, dipped his handkerchief in water, and wiped her dirty little hands clean, then wiped his own face clean.
Jin Lanyue still held the two leaves in her other hand. When the two returned to the tree, she laboriously stood on tiptoe and held the leaves high: "Leaf, for Ni..."
Qu Zijin bent down to accept it: "Thank you, teacher."
Taking the opportunity, Jin Lanyue patted his hand like a little adult: "Tonic medicine hurts the heart, Ruoye, fallen leaves return to their roots!"
"Yes, teacher, you've learned a new idiom. But 'fallen leaves return to their roots' isn't used like that; it's usually used in..."
"Ye Ye, go back to the tree!" Jin Lanyue had her own opinion. "Go back to where you were before!"
Qu Zijin was taken aback: "Back to...the original place?"
Jin Lanyue thought he hadn't understood.
She silently imitated the adults' sighs.
Honestly, how could the Grand Tutor be so stupid? He didn't even understand.
But it doesn't matter, she is the Grand Tutor's teacher, she will teach him.
So she gestured wildly, saying, "Leaf, from the tree, back to the tree! Fallen leaves return to their roots!"
"Fallen leaves return to their roots..." Qu Zijin pondered, "Does it mean that we return to where we came from?"
"That's right!" Just then, Qu Zijin squatted down to watch her gesture, so Jin Lanyue jumped up and patted his head. "Grand Tutor, you're so clever!"
Two pia~pia~ sounds.
It doesn't hurt.
But Qu Zijin seemed to have had some kind of breakthrough.
"I understand!" He suddenly stood up, a look of sudden realization on his face.
Jin Lanyue was startled and fell to the ground with a thud, completely bewildered.
She tilted her head up to look at the Grand Tutor, who gave her an expression as if he had solved a difficult problem.
can't read……
Jin Lanyue scratched her little head, patted her bottom, and got up from the ground by herself.
"I understand! I understand how to solve this!" Qu Zijin paced excitedly. "Go back to where you came from... What was taken from the people should be used for the people!"
"Hmm... I really don't understand..." Jin Lanyue wanted to tug at Qu Zijin's clothes, but when she saw her little hands getting dirty again, she withdrew them.
However, the next second, Qu Zijin picked her up and spun her around a few times, his face beaming with an unprecedentedly joyful smile.
"Thank you, teacher, thank you for your guidance!" Qu Zijin's eyes were bright and his expression was cheerful, making him look several years younger—although he wasn't very old to begin with, he had gone from being "that somewhat fierce uncle" in Jin Lanyue's eyes to "a somewhat older brother."
...Fortunately, Qu Zijin didn't know what Jin Lanyue was thinking, otherwise his feelings would probably be very complicated.
"...Huh?" Jin Lanyue was a little confused.
Although spinning around was fun, she was still a little confused.
"I understand how to solve the drought in the Northwest and the problem of corrupt officials! It's killing two birds with one stone!" Qu Zijin explained, "What is taken from the people should be used for the people. Let them use all the money they embezzled for disaster relief!"
"Ah... I still don't understand..."
Qu Zijin, in a very good mood, sat down with her in his arms and explained to her in detail.
From the origins of the drought in Northwest China to the ingenious solutions...
He quoted extensively from classical texts, speaking eloquently and logically.
Looking down, I found that Jin Lanyue was already fast asleep.
She lay on his chest, the flesh on one cheek flattened, a small hand beside her cheek, her breathing even, her little face rosy from sleep.
It was as if I was hypnotized; I slept very soundly and sweetly.
Qu Zijin was stunned before he realized that he was actually holding a three-year-old baby in his arms, and had been holding her for a while, "coaxing" her to sleep.
He instinctively held his breath and tried to pick her up gently, but his limbs stiffened for a moment.
The hands that could write with powerful strokes and exquisite prose now didn't even know where to place them.
He frantically picked up Jin Lanyue with great difficulty, and just as he was about to walk towards the carriage, he discovered that the blanket had not been put away.
I wanted to collect the blankets, but then I realized I didn't have any extra hands.
The eloquent scholar, now holding his baby, stood bewildered, feeling as if he had encountered the most difficult problem of the century.
Before he could even cry for help, passersby's chatter drifted into his ears on the night breeze—
"What's that guy doing standing by the river with that stiff expression, holding a baby? Is he going to jump in?"
"How could that be? They're probably just here to have fun. Didn't you see there's a blanket laid out underneath?"
"He doesn't seem to know how to take care of kids. Is this really his child? Could he have stolen it?"
"Hey, hey, maybe he just became a dad recently! He doesn't know how to take care of a baby yet. Everyone goes through this."
"That's true. I didn't know how to hold a doll at first either, just like him, haha. But now it's different. I can just tuck it under my arm and take it with me..."
Passersby cast friendly and encouraging glances at him before gradually walking away.
Qu Zijin's mood also changed from initially wanting to argue, "I didn't want to take the child to jump into the river" and "I didn't steal it, it's my teacher," to gradually accepting reality peacefully.
"It's alright, this won't stump me." He silently encouraged himself, and with his upright and unyielding demeanor, he carried Jin Lanyue back to the carriage.
Thank goodness, he also brought a coachman.
Qu Zijin carried the sleeping Jin Lanyue to the carriage. The coachman looked up and saw that the Grand Tutor's usually serious and handsome face was unusually flustered.
He stood stiffly, his arms cradling what seemed like a fragile little treasure, and even his breathing unconsciously became softer.
Of course, what they were holding was indeed a little baby.
He's just a tough little darling.
"Sir, it's uncomfortable for you to hold the young lady like that," the coachman, a middle-aged man with several children, said, suppressing a laugh. "The young lady should rest her head on your arm, like this..."
He never expected that he, a rough man who could barely read, would have the opportunity to mentor the top scholar.
Qu Zijin carefully adjusted his posture as instructed, only to see the little dumpling squirming restlessly in his arms, her little skirt all crumpled up.
He froze, unable to move, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
"It should be like this..." The driver couldn't bear to watch any longer and stepped forward to demonstrate, "Left hand supporting your back, right hand supporting your legs, yes, like this."
Qu Zijin adjusted his movements as instructed, his actions clumsy, like a puppeteer who had just learned to perform.
Jin Lanyue seemed to feel comfortable, rubbing her face against his chest and purring like a kitten.
He breathed a sigh of relief, but then the coachman said, "Sir, there's still a blanket under the tree that we haven't taken..."
"Go and fetch it," Qu Zijin instructed in a low voice, afraid of waking the little one in his arms.
After the coachman left quickly, Qu Zijin looked down at the sleeping Jin Lanyue.
Her long eyelashes cast two small fan-like shadows on her rosy cheeks.
Her small hands unconsciously gripped his lapel, which had gotten dirty again, leaving fingerprints on it.
Surprisingly, he didn't mind at all, and even found the fingerprints cute.
"Sir, you're back." The coachman hurried back, looking at Jin Lanyue sleeping soundly, and couldn't help but sigh, "Miss sleeps so well, unlike my naughty boy, who kicks people even in his sleep..."
Qu Zijin nodded slightly and carefully carried Jin Lanyue onto the carriage.
Inside the carriage, he remained in a stiff sitting posture, afraid that a jolt would wake her.
The little dumpling was sleeping soundly, her warm breath coming through the thin fabric of her clothes. Qu Zijin held her soft body and suddenly felt a little regretful.
—This isn't his child.
They actually want to return it...
The carriage slowly drove into the Marquis's residence.
Marquis Beiding and Jiang Xiyue had been waiting for a long time and immediately went out to pick up their beloved daughter and take her home.
The two were taken aback when they saw Qu Zijin carrying Jin Lanyue out of the car.
"This..." Marquis Beiding was about to speak when his wife tugged at his sleeve.
Qu Zijin, who is usually stern and unsmiling, was holding his youngest daughter in an extremely awkward position, as if he were holding a powder keg that could explode at any moment.
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