The Ninth Princess, who had been fishing secretly in class with her own cautious thoughts, saw Master Lin and her face wrinkled like a bitter gourd. Not to mention Princess Changhe, when she got up today, she asked her maid to put some dried walnut kernels in the small pocket sewn on her clothes.
The pocket was right at the cuff, and she could reach it by lowering her head. But now with Master Lin so powerful, she didn't dare to eat at all.
"You all came early today, and you are really motivated." When facing a few little girls, Master Lin was naturally not as serious as when facing the princes. He first praised a few of them, patted the head of Princess Changhe, who was closest to her, and said, "Please sit down in order."
Several people looked at the place where Master Lin pointed, and their faces turned bitter.
I came here with the sole intention of grabbing a seat at the back, but I didn't know it was Master Lin. If I had known, I would not have come so early.
Shen Qingqiu was not in a good mood when she saw her two little friends who looked like they had lost their parents. She had no interest in these nonsense either. Sitting in such a conspicuous position, she was afraid that she would not be able to take a nap secretly.
Soon the Eighth Princess, the Tenth Princess, and the Eleventh Princess all arrived, leaving only these princesses who were not yet married. Together with their companions, there were about fifteen people sitting in the courtyard. The youngest among them was the Eleventh Princess, Yongping, born to Empress Pei. She was only seven years old this year.
"Master, why is the Ninth Princess sitting in the first row? She usually sits in the last row." Yongping asked in a baby voice.
The Ninth Princess in front couldn't help but feel like she was stabbed in the back.
Master Lin smiled and said, "The Ninth Princess is eager to learn, so she specially invited me to the morning office today."
There was another sound of the knife entering flesh.
Princess Yongping opened her watery eyes, "I'm afraid you have misunderstood my Ninth Sister. When she was in school, she also got up early to study, and always sat in the last row. My father said that the Ninth Sister can't read a single word. If you let the Ninth Sister sit in the first row, won't she be unable to sleep in class?"
Even a child in his teens has a sense of shame, and suddenly he wanted to ask his sister to expose it in front of everyone. The Ninth Princess felt that everyone's eyes were on her, and for a moment she lowered her head and wanted to bury it in the table. Shen Qingqiu's eyes fell on Yongping.
It is indeed a royal product. A little seven-year-old baby can hurt others with words.
Taifu Lin's eyes fell on the Ninth Princess, whose face was red to the neck and who was trying hard to lower her head. He sighed and said, "No matter what, this old minister's seating arrangement is arranged like this." Without mentioning the matter any further, Taifu Lin asked the other noble ladies to take their seats. A few of them had their seats adjusted because of their height.
"My dear princesses, you ladies have already received your enlightenment not long ago. I will not mention the basics any more. Today I will explain the "Records of the Grand Historian" to you."
It wasn't "Four Books for Women" or "Biographies of Virtuous Women" or something like that. Shen Qingqiu raised his head.
Princess Yongping was not interested in the class at all. She just stared at the seat of the Ninth Princess in front of her with anger. She was the legitimate daughter of her mother, so according to reason, she should sit in the main seat in the middle. As her companion, Gu Yanran naturally sat close to her. Seeing her angry look, she had an idea in her mind.
Master Lin knew that the children were young and all girls, so they had no interest in these things, so he only let them go out for a while every three quarters of an hour. Princess Changhe had been hungry all morning and her stomach was growling with hunger, so she quickly dragged her two friends to eat the walnut kernels she had hidden in her sleeves.
The Ninth Princess didn't mind the sticky sugar crystal walnut kernels that Chang He touched with his hands. Shen Qingqiu took a look and immediately lost interest.
"Do you have a bad relationship with Princess Yongping?" Shen Qingqiu asked the Ninth Princess.
She raised her eyes and thought for a moment, "No, but Eleven and I don't talk much." She was weak and started to learn later than her sister. In addition, she was doted on by her father and did not need to pay respects to the empress, so the two had not met many times before.
Shen Qingqiu said: "But I see that she doesn't like you very much, so be careful in class."
The Ninth Princess was about to say no, but her mind couldn't help but think of the scene where Yongping deliberately made her look bad. "No... maybe." She was a little dejected, and looked at her friend pitifully. "Why would she hate me for no reason?"
Shen Qingqiu felt that her friend was not like a princess in the palace. Even a seven-year-old knew how to embarrass her without leaving any trace, but she was still thinking about sisterly harmony. Shaking her head, "You also know that I am not my father's biological child. Before, I was a concubine's child in my father's house, but for a while, I was lucky enough to be favored by my father. Our eldest wife and the legitimate sister are determined to kill me. What do you think is the reason?"
The Ninth Princess was simple-minded but not stupid. She also knew that her father's favor had attracted some jealousy, but she... wouldn't live long, so why would they hate her? Shen Qingqiu was quick-witted and soon noticed that the Ninth Princess was in a depressed mood. But she was not the type to say sweet words, so she fell silent for a while. The Princess Changhe next to her was generous, "What's the big deal... This lotus cake is so delicious, there are still people in the world who don't like it, why think so much, I just like it."
"That's true." Shen Qingqiu smiled, "My stepmother doesn't like me and wants to kill me, but I just want to live a better and better life."
The Ninth Princess was also much more relaxed after being persuaded by her two friends. It didn't matter if Eleven didn't like her. She still had two such good sisters! "Qiu'er, if your stepmother comes to bully you again, come to me and I will let my father arrest her!" The Ninth Princess promised Shen Qingqiu while hammering her chest. Shen Qingqiu felt warm in her heart. She knew that Song Shi might not have the courage to come to the capital again in this life, but she nodded when she saw her friend's eagerness to show off.
"Ouch... It's time for class!" Seeing Tutor Lin ring the bell, Chang He stuffed all the walnuts into his mouth and kept chewing them like a hamster.
"This is the Princess Changhe. She is so out of tune. Look at her, she eats like a pig. There is no other girl in the world with a body shape like this!"
If this had happened in the past, Princess Changhe would have lowered her head and dared not say a word after hearing this. But Shen Qingqiu's words opened her Ren and Du meridians. She chewed the food in her mouth clean and walked up to the noble lady, "What did you say? Say it again!"
Princess Changhe was of noble status, and the companions who had just whispered were the companions of the Eighth Princess and the Tenth Princess, one was Ge Weier, the daughter of the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and the other was Chen Shihua, the younger sister of the Junior Official of the Dali Temple. The mothers of these two were both famous chatterboxes in the capital, and they naturally learned a lot from their words and deeds.
I used to dislike Princess Changhe. She was fat as hell but had a noble status. People still praised her for being plump and cute. But after scolding her for being fat at a banquet one day, this coward would just hide aside and hold his mouth. Then the two of them seemed to have found happiness. They would always pretend to be whispering intentionally or unintentionally, and then deliberately hurt Changhe.
But I never thought that she would stand up like this today.
"You, what did you say!" Ge Wei'er stuttered, "I was talking to Sister Chen, why did you suddenly come here?" Even if she was a fool, she would not admit to saying bad things about others to their faces.
Changhe used to be bullied because of his low self-esteem, but now he has lost his low self-esteem. After all, he is a royal relative, so how could he be afraid of the daughter of a low-ranking official? "You just said that what I said was very reasonable, why don't you dare to say anything now?"
"Even if you are the princess, you can't slander us!" Chen Shihua also quickly added, "You heard it wrongly, so why blame us?"
Princess Changhe widened her eyes. There was really no other way if they refused to admit it.
Shen Qingqiu patted his friend on the shoulder, "My father gave me a horse whip a few days ago, but my old whip is of no use. I'll give it to you someday. If you hear anything unpleasant in the future, just use the whip to whip you."
This frightened Ge Wei'er and Chen Shihua so much that their faces turned pale. Chen Shihua lived up to her name and had good literary talent. "A gentleman has a saying that he should not do certain things. Although the princess is a woman, she is still a princess. If she were to go out on the street with a whip and start beating people, it would be a disgrace to the royal family."
Princess Changhe scratched her cheek and said, "Beating someone, isn't that scary?"
The two of them felt relieved after hearing this. It turned out that Princess Changhe was still that useless fat girl.
But Shen Qingqiu continued: "But you should also look at who you are hitting. Shouldn't you hit someone who insults you?"
"It's your fault!" Princess Changhe nodded vigorously.
"You are a princess, a member of the Imperial family. There are not many people in this world who are more noble than you. If you really hear these unpleasant remarks in the future, they will be disrespectful first, understand?"
Princess Changhe nodded more and more vigorously, while Chen Shihua and Ge Weier beside her turned pale, but were still pulled to sit on the chair by the maid. When the class was about to start, Princess Changhe couldn't help but admire her, "Qiu'er, you are really amazing."
Chen Shihua has always been good at talking. She has never won in previous encounters. This time, Shen Qingqiu scared her without saying a word. Shen Qingqiu shook her head and said, "You should read more books..." This was the first time she said this to someone.
If it weren't for Furong and Lingdang, two bad friends who only knew how to eat, drink and have fun together, and knew nothing about worldly things, how could a princess be ridiculed because of her body shape?
Master Lin was a man who kept an eye on all directions and listened to all sides in the court, so how could he not understand the wit of the children below? He tapped his fingers on the table and said, "Today, this old minister will tell you another word - forgiveness." Then, centered around the word forgiveness, Master Lin told some allusions from the Analects of Confucius. The story was very interesting, but Shen Qingqiu still smiled in response.
"Shen Qingqiu, what are you laughing at?"
Who would have thought that the old man's eyesight was still sharp despite his age, and he immediately spotted her when she was absent-minded.
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