In the afternoon, she read "The Story of Filial Piety of Women" for half an hour, and then learned needlework. Only then did Mi Niang understand what women's learning was. It was indeed different from men's learning. Men only needed to study books and make arts.
But women's education is mainly based on virtue, speech, appearance and merit. Virtue refers to women's virtue, speech refers to speech, appearance refers to appearance, and merit refers to needlework. Even an open-minded woman like Ms. Xue must be taught these, otherwise she will be considered heretic by people of the time.
However, Mr. Xue did not teach women's needlework by dividing the lines, but by drawing first. In this way, she not only learned how to draw, but also how to draw patterns. It was really killing two birds with one stone. She was familiar with this course. In her previous life, when she had nothing to do, she often learned women's needlework. When she was not familiar with it at the beginning, she asked someone to give her a pattern to follow. Later, she also drew it when she was free, so she liked this kind of drawing the most.
She usually made many of the emperor's underwear and her son's bellybands herself.
Of course, Mr. Xue first explained how to mix pigments and gouache, and how to outline a painting. These were things that Mi Niang didn't quite understand, so she listened very carefully, and when it was time to paint, she started without hesitation.
"Huh——" Ms. Xue was very surprised. She thought that Mi Niang was young and new, so she might not be very good at it. Unexpectedly, she performed the best.
Could this be a talented painter? He suppressed his joy.
Mr. Xue then returned to his usual indifferent attitude: "Have you ever learned this before?"
“No.”
"Not bad, but the painting here is a bit heavy. You have to know that when painting, you have to make the heavy things seem light as if they were heavy. Do you understand?" Mr. Xue lightly touched one spot with his pen.
Mi Niang was very impressed. She knew that people who dared to tell you the truth and wanted the best for you should be cherished.
After finishing the painting, Mr. Xue began to teach needlework. She was from Fengyang, but she learned Suzhou embroidery, which is always exquisite and not something that ordinary people can achieve.
Among the students in the private school, Guo Yaoyu was the best at needlework. She had already passed the stage of only knowing how to knit and had started to sew purses and hold embroidery strings. Therefore, Mr. Xue specially arranged for Guo Yaoyu to teach Mi Niang how to knit, and only after Mi Niang caught up could she learn needlework with them.
But Mi Niang was very familiar with needlework, and she was unwilling to hide her incompetence. She wanted to finish the needlework as quickly as possible so that she could devote more time to writing and reading.
So she deliberately slowed down, but still surprised Guo Yaoyu.
"Sister Ruan, do you know how to do it?"
Mi Niang nodded: "I know how to do it all." After saying that, she took the silk thread and demonstrated it again. She quickly made a heart-shaped plum blossom knot, and also made the Fangsheng Ruyi knot and willow twig silk knot that Guo Yaoyu had just taught her.
Guo Yaoyu couldn't help but look at her with admiration. You have to know that she started learning when she was only six or seven years old, and it took her at least ten days or half a month to learn one knot, and she would forget what she learned at the beginning.
Only then did Mr. Xue allow Mi Niang to learn embroidery with the others. Of course, Mr. Xue only taught the general needlework and techniques, and gave instructions as he went around. Anything that could not be finished had to be taken back to be done.
Thanks to her needlework and painting, Ji Chunfang and Luo Qiujun, who had rarely spoken to Mi Niang before, started to talk to her. Mi Niang thought, no matter where one is, only real talent will make others admire her.
However, Mrs. Ding felt very uncomfortable at home. Usually, she was accompanied by Mi Niang at home. She always felt empty when Mi Niang was not around. Moreover, she had to pack luggage for her husband, and the feeling of separation overwhelmed her.
Fortunately, Mi Niang came back from school, and when Mrs. Ding saw her daughter, she felt that she was alive again.
"How is it going, Mi Niang? How is your meal today at the girls' school? Is anyone bullying you?"
Seeing her mother asking questions like a string of cannonballs, Mi Niang couldn't help but laugh and said, "Mother, I'm fine. Mr. Xue treats me well, and the sisters in the girls' school are also very close to me. My daughter has eaten up all her food."
She also took the school bag from Erniu's hand and took out the paintings she had drawn, the knotted paper, and the unfinished words from it.
When Mrs. Ding saw that the painting showed a pile of red persimmons, she thought it had a good meaning.
"Is this your husband's painting?" She was still wondering whether she should go buy gouache for painting with her daughter.
Mi Niang covered her mouth and laughed, "No, this is drawn by my daughter herself."
Even Ruan Jiading, who was sitting next to him, was surprised and asked, "Did you draw this today?"
"Yes, Mr. Xue taught us to draw Persimmon Ruyi, and I drew according to Mr. Xue's instructions. He even praised me. And this silk thread, the section chief who taught me said that it would take others half a month to learn a silk thread, but I learned it after just one study." Mi Niang took out the silk thread and showed it to everyone.
Not to mention Ruan Jiading and his wife, even Haopo and Erniu were amazed.
Mrs. Ding really didn't know how to praise her daughter. She just felt that no matter how much she loved her, it was never enough. She even gave a big chicken drumstick to Mi Niang at the dinner table. This big chicken drumstick had belonged to Ruan Jiading before. Ruan Jiading also praised his daughter highly, saying that she was a female scholar.
After receiving many compliments, Mi Niang said unhappily, "It's a pity that my daughter doesn't know many words, and her handwriting is so bad."
Ruan Jiading quickly comforted him, "You just started learning, it's good enough that you can memorize it. Writing is not something that can be learned overnight. Daddy will teach you tonight."
"Okay, thanks, Dad."
Ruan Jiading wrote in the Taige style, which of course seemed unoriginal to people nowadays, but it was the best font for examinations. He taught Mi Niang very attentively, even more carefully than Mr. Xue.
This is normal. There are seven or eight female students in the school, but my father only teaches me, so it is of course different.
The father and daughter were writing, while Grandma Ding was doing needlework nearby, which was very heartwarming.
Seeing his daughter writing seriously, Ruan Jiading suddenly remembered something and asked carefully, "Mi Niang, have you had any dreams recently?"
"no."
Ruan Jiading was a little disappointed.
But he also thought it through. If he did it more often, it might shorten his life. So he decided not to mention it again.
After a dreamless night, Mi Niang got up early the next day and suddenly ran into her parents' room, which scared Ruan Jiading.
Fortunately, because Second Lady Ding was pregnant, the couple had almost no intimate actions, but they still kissed and hugged occasionally. It would be bad if their daughter saw it. You know, their daughter is seven years old this year and is different from a child. When she was about to scold her, she heard Mi Niang say, "Daddy, I dreamed of the old man with white beard again."
Although Lee Gwan would pass the imperial examination and his father would serve as an assistant in the imperial court for many years, Lee Gwan already had a childhood sweetheart. She was given the title of Consort Xian, and the one who was chosen to be the Grand Academician was Lee Gwan's father.
It is said that when his father was going for the provincial examination, Li Guan unfortunately fell into the water. In the icy and snowy weather, only Ruan Jiading dared to jump into the water to save Li Guan. The Li father and son were very grateful. His father saw that Li Guan was a handsome man and came from a prominent family in Jiangxia, so he refused the gold, silver, jewelry and allowances from Li's father and only asked to marry into the Li family.
Mi Niang knew that her father's wife had died, leaving behind only a young daughter, and all he could do was to find a very good marriage for his daughter.
Facts have proved that Li Guan is indeed a man of outstanding talent and has won the third place in the imperial examination.
Unfortunately, it was not a marriage that was forced upon them. Li Guan and Li Guan had been childhood sweethearts. Moreover, the two families had only exchanged tokens of love, and his father had also taken advantage of the situation. This was not appropriate. In fact, it was not appropriate to say that the Li family broke off the engagement, because if the Li family's status was known in the officialdom, it would not be a big deal, but they could drag it out. At that time, Mi Niang had reached the age of marriage, and the Li family did not send anyone to come. Her parents died early, and her grandparents did not care about her. At that time, he could only ask Grandma Shang Si to help him go to the Li family to inquire.
What they meant was that Li Guan went to Beijing to take the imperial examination. Fourth Mistress Shang also wanted to meet Madam Li, and asked what if Madam Li also went to Beijing.
If the Li family had sent someone to check on her on normal days, she could still wait, but apart from sending a holiday gift when her father came back, the Li family had no further contact with her afterwards.
Many years later, she finally found out that Li Guan had secretly married his husband's daughter. Lord Li and his wife were not the kind of people who would really forget the grace of saving their lives. They were just in a stalemate. When Lord Li was in Suizhou, although Mrs. Li was dissatisfied with Mi Niang and could not make her his wife, she could take her in as a concubine and take care of her.
But Mi Niang was already fifteen years old at that time and could not wait any longer. Besides, the Li family had not expressed any opinion, so she decided to go to the capital with her family.
"What? You dreamed of the old man with white beard again?" Ruan Jiading was overjoyed.
I only heard Mi Niang say, "Grandpa Whitebeard told Dad not to get engaged to Mi Niang."
She tilted her head in confusion: "Dad, what is engagement? Does it mean that Mi Niang will get married?"
Seeing his daughter's confused look, Ruan Jiading didn't expect her to say this. He thought, my daughter has only been in girls' school for one day, but she is so talented. I think it is God's will that I should not marry my daughter off rashly to avoid hurting her.
He smiled and said, "Dad knows his limits in this matter. Don't worry about it. Just study hard."
Seeing that her father believed it, Mi Niang also breathed a sigh of relief.
This time, she and the Li family had nothing to do with each other. In her previous life, the Li family had expressed their willingness to support her, but she had rejected them all. This world belonged to the emperor, and she only needed to be in the emperor's favor. Why would she collude with the court officials? Moreover, when she was alone and helpless, the Li family never sent anyone to care about her. But when she became a virtuous concubine, they did all the hard work for her.
Mi Niang was not the kind of person who would fuss over trivial matters. Although her father had saved someone, she felt it was inappropriate to force the person to agree to such an unequal marriage. So even if the Li family gave up on them, she had no reason to blame them, and would not retaliate. In the end, she walked out of this bloody road on her own.
But she had been able to stand on her own feet, so she was not grateful at all for their efforts to help her. Even when Li Guan was reported by historians for being indecent in front of the emperor and was stripped of his official status because he had spoken out against those who opposed her becoming the imperial concubine, she was not moved at all.
Fortunately, fortunately, many things can be changed in this life.
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