As the sky gradually darkened, Yao Niang and Shi Yu returned together. Halfway through the journey, it began to snow, and the wind was howling. Even though she was holding a hand warmer, her hands were still frozen. The strong wind even blew her hood over her head, and Yao Niang hissed. It was so cold.

Fortunately, I drank a big bowl of mutton soup in the evening and felt warm.

The dragon fire in Wenhua Hall was the most prosperous, so Yu asked a few children to do their homework here. Today, Mr. Shen assigned them to do more word pairs, because they had been training them in the past few days on the correct pronunciation, extended rhyme, level and oblique tones, etc.

In her previous life, Yao Niang had a rich and magnificent imagination in poetry and prose, so adding words was not difficult for her.

Shi Yu wanted to ask her more questions, and she taught her carefully. After the two sisters finished their homework, they went back to their rooms. She also said that as soon as she returned to her room, she saw Shi Fang's maid Yunxiang coming over.

She bowed and then said, "Fifth Miss, our girl said that she didn't quite understand today's lesson and wanted to borrow yours to take a look."

It was obvious that this was copied from someone else, but Yao Niang didn't want to let others copy her hard work. She smiled and said, "If you don't understand, just ask me at school tomorrow. I still have some homework to check today."

The implication was that she would not lend it to him. It would be fine if she could see the annotations she made on a daily basis, but Yao Niang would not lend it to her homework.

Yunxiang had no choice but to borrow from Shiyu again. Shiyu couldn't bear to lose face and had to borrow it. The next day, Mr. Shen found the same homework and knew what was going on.

He warned Shi Yu and Shi Fang: "The key to learning is sincerity. You can't deceive your teacher or yourself."

So, we started to consider it on the spot.

Shi Fang hesitated and could not answer a single question, but Yao Niang was able to think of the answer in just a few breaths.

"Forest."

"In the woods."

"In the woods in early spring."

"New buds appear in the forest in early spring."

…

From easy to difficult, Yao Niang answered perfectly. Although Shi Yu was a little slower, he was able to answer most of the questions. Although Mr. Shen did not criticize Shi Fang harshly, Shi Fang, who was always carefree, blushed.

She is obviously older than her two cousins, but she is so inferior to them in academic performance. She is so ashamed.

If she went back and sat at the table for a while, she would easily do something else and could not stop dozing off. She did not dare to tell Ren about her situation in the school, but Ren had already known everything clearly through her maid.

Although Ren knew that her daughter had little chance of choosing a companion to study with, she actually expected a miracle to happen. Perhaps her daughter would be valued by a noble like her older sister and would soar to fame. Therefore, she was very dissatisfied with her daughter's academic performance.

"How come they are all learning it? Yao Niang is from the countryside in Fujian and couldn't even speak clearly at first. Shi Yu is also a bastard. You have been clever since you were a child and are loved by your grandmother. You are also smart in your daily life. How come these two are ahead of you?" Ren suspected that the two sisters from the eldest house might have learned it privately.

Besides, Mr. Shen was also invited by the eldest wife, so he might favor them more.

Shi Fang sighed, went back to her room, wrote a few words, and then could not help falling asleep. The maids did not dare to wake her up, so she did not do her homework the next day.

The next morning, Yao Niang was reciting the book to Yu Shi. After she finished reciting, Yu Shi nodded and said, "Yes, not a single word is wrong."

Yao Niang was immediately delighted and asked the girl to carry her school bag and go to school without even having breakfast. Yu Shi was so angry that she said, "This girl, she didn't even have breakfast and ran away so fast."

She sat down and said to Luo Zhizheng, "Master, there is something. What do you think the Shan family means?"

Luo Zhizheng glanced at her and asked, "Shan family? What's the matter with the Shan family?"

"Yesterday, other girls only gave two bracelets, but our Yao Niang gave a whole box. I don't think it's good to show favoritism." Yu was a little distressed.

Luo Zhizheng understood what was going on as soon as he heard it. He said, "Is that all you're thinking about? Don't you even think about whether the other person is interested in getting married?"

Yu was shocked: "How is that possible? The Shan family's eldest wife always showed great favor to the third lady when she came here before, and our Yao Niang is still a young girl."

If Yu hadn't said anything, Luo Zhizheng still didn't know about these inner house matters. Now when he heard Yu's story, he frowned. He walked to the study and asked a few people. Only then did he find out that it was indeed as Yu said. The Shan family had always been very caring and affectionate to the Third Lady, and now they gave a generous gift to Yao Niang.

What? Is Mrs. Shan coming to the Luo family to choose a concubine?

The more I think about it, the angrier I get.

Therefore, when Mr. Shan finally found the right opportunity to drink with Luo Zhizheng and tried to get married under the pretext of drinking, Luo Zhizheng directly refused: "Brother, our two families are already close enough, why do we need to do this again? Yujing is like my own son to me."

Seeing that Luo Zhizheng was not joking, Mr. Shan laughed. After returning home, he told his wife, Mrs. Shan, "Zhizheng does not agree. You know him well. He is a man who prospers when he obeys me and perishes when he disobeys me. I am afraid that if I say too much, he will complain."

Mrs. Shan deliberately bypassed Mrs. Yu and wanted her husband to go directly to Luo Zhizheng because she thought she was sure about the marriage.

Their Shan family was once a prominent family, and now they are also quite wealthy. Yujing is a handsome man with great talent. Such a talent is more than a perfect match for the girl from the Luo family, and is much better than those people outside who have unknown backgrounds.

Moreover, she chose the one born as a concubine; they had no desire for the eldest daughter.

But she didn't expect that it was her picky attitude that angered Luo Zhizheng and others. Luo Zhizheng had never looked down on Yu, nor did he think that Yao Niang was inferior to Jingrou.

Yu was relieved to see Luo Zhizheng refused, but she still said to Luo Zhizheng: "Actually, I am not angry. I am not as good as the late Madam. My family is poor, while the late Madam is the daughter of a marquis. There is a huge difference. Therefore, I am used to others treating me like this."

"Are you trying to earn my sympathy on purpose? Let me lift you up." Luo Zhizheng said calmly.

Yu knew that this man was almost a demon, so she did not dare to hide it from him. She just sighed quietly: "My master is very good to me, I know that, why should I seek pity? We are just the same daughter, but Yao Niang is being picked on so much, I really feel sorry for her in my heart. Because she looks down on me, she looks down on my daughter..."

After saying this, Yu changed her previous gentle attitude and tapped Luo Zhizheng's chest with her scallion-like jade fingers: "In the final analysis, it's you who treated me badly."

"Ahem." Luo Zhizheng didn't expect her to change so quickly, and he was a little overwhelmed.

At the same time, he also thought that he had indeed treated her badly in the past, otherwise, why did others look down on her and think that Yao Niang was inferior to others?

Of course, the person who was most happy after the matter fell through was Shan Yujing. He had seen Yao Niang a few times when he came to pay his respects to Mrs. Yu. She was either playing shuttlecock or playing baisuo. She was clearly still a little girl. Although she was extremely pretty, there was an age gap. He was already a teenager and had sexual thoughts about girls of the same age, but he was really into Luo Yao Niang, a little girl.

Yao Niang was of course unaware of all this. It gets dark very early in winter and she was a little hungry, so she pulled Shi Yu and hurried back to Wenhua Hall. Because they had to pay their respects to Old Lady Dou the next day, Yao Niang went to bed early.

And Shi Yu came over directly today to sleep with Yao Niang. The two sisters slept in the same bed, laughing and giggling. Only after the maids reminded her several times did she fall asleep.

Before going to bed, Shi Yu said to Yao Niang, "Fifth sister, I want to tell you something. When we ran out today, I saw Fourth sister dozing off, but I didn't call her."

"It's not a big deal. She brought a few maids with her. Nothing serious can happen." Yao Niang didn't think much of it.

Shi Yu also nodded, holding Yao Niang's waist and said, "Anyway, I won't show her homework in the future. If I show her, she will copy it all, causing me to be embarrassed by the teacher."

"Go to sleep, go to sleep. We have to go to Ganquanju to pay our respects tomorrow."

While the two sisters were fast asleep, Ren from the second house led people to look for Shi Fang near Huining Zhai and the garden. She said anxiously, "Why didn't she come back? I heard that the two people from the first house who ran away after school are missing."

Little Jiang was in charge of the household, but she had to go with her to look for it. She was really impressed by this little girl Shi Fang.

She was studying hard, but how come she disappeared? The maids looked for her for several times but couldn't find her.

Or Ren suddenly had an idea. She walked towards the plum forest for a long time before she found Shi Fang crying there. When Ren saw her, she slapped her and said, "You scared us to death, kid."

It was icy and snowy for a long time. Shi Fang was about to doze off, but when she saw Yao Niang and Shi Yu running out, she also wanted to chase them to the main house to play, so she ran out like a fly. She didn't know that she ran behind a rockery, and she walked farther and farther away, but she couldn't get out of Meilin.

Little Jiang asked curiously, "Fourth sister, why are you here? No wonder you can't get out. This Merlin is the result of the master of the eldest house using the art of Qimen Dunjia. Most people can't get out."

Because Merlin is in the corner, usually no one comes here.

After being warmed by Ren for a long time and drinking the ginger soup, she said, "I followed Yao Niang and Shi Yu out here. I heard Yao Niang say that the plum forest here is very interesting, so I walked here unknowingly."

Little Jiang glanced at Ren, and sure enough, Ren had already started to get angry. Little Jiang knew very well that this aunt was a jealous and narrow-minded person, who would stir up trouble out of nothing and liked to shirk responsibility. She had nothing to worry about anyway, so she made a scene at home and everyone gave in.

After all, those who are barefoot are not afraid of those who wear shoes.

Early in the morning, Yao Niang and Shi Yu got up together and went to Wenhua Hall. It happened that Luo Zhizheng was taking a day off, and he was very happy to see his lovely daughters.

Yu smiled and said, "Wait a moment, we will have dinner."

Aunt Qin was opening the curtain nearby. She was quite happy to see her daughter and the Fifth Lady talking intimately. After all, the Fifth Lady was very easy to get along with. She had her own little temper, but she was a sensible child.

Unfortunately, at this time, Ren came in full force, pointed at Yao Niang and said, "You are so good, you Fifth Lady, you scared our Shi Fang to go to Meilin and froze her half life. You little whore, you——"

Before she could finish her words, someone slapped Ren twice on the face.

Ren looked at the person who hit her with fear and realized it was actually that silly Yu. Luo Zhizheng realized that his chance had come. Didn't you all say that I didn't value Yu? This happened to be the case as I didn't have to find a way to prove it to Lianlian.