Chapter 19 Let Me Go
The Buddhist beads on her wrist felt slightly hot, and Rong Jianxue frowned and looked at her.
Pei Jingxu also met the man's gaze steadily. Her eyes had already turned red, but tears hung on her long eyelashes, trembling and refusing to fall.
"Although I am stupid, I am not worthy of your teasing."
"If you want to humiliate me, you can just do what my mother-in-law did and make me kneel in the ancestral hall for a few days. There's no need to condescend to give me hope and then destroy it with your own hands."
Rong Jianxue's expression grew even colder. "Just asking you a few questions is considered humiliating?"
Pei Jingxu twitched the corners of her mouth and lowered her head in panic, not wanting him to see her weak side with tears in her eyes.
"Your Excellency may say whatever you wish, but from now on, there is no need to invite Mr. Zhang over. I cannot bear the thought."
Rong Jianxue's knuckles turned white, and her voice was cold and deep: "Pei, you don't have to be so petty with me."
Pei Jingxu took a deep breath, stiffened his neck, and knelt on the ground.
She put her textbooks aside and kowtowed towards the study. "Please, sir, have mercy on me and consider me ignorant and foolish. Please let me go."
After saying that, Pei Jingxu stood up and did not go to get the homework. He turned around and left without looking back.
Seeing this, Jiang Hui hurriedly shouted: "Hey! Second Madam——"
"Let her go!" Rong Jianxue said coldly, looking at the direction Pei Jingxu left. "Where did you learn this temper? You're so willful and reckless!"
After Pei Jingxu left the East Courtyard, Jiang Hui sighed and looked at Rong Jianxue helplessly, "Master, you don't get angry easily. Why are you so angry with the Second Lady today?"
Rong Jianxue's thin lips were pressed into a straight line. She did not respond to Jiang Hui's words, but said coldly: "Close the door."
Jiang Hui wanted to say something, but he didn't know how to start, so he could only respond with a "yes".
He first went outside the yard and picked up the homework that Pei Jingxu had just left behind. Then he closed the door and placed the books and papers on Rong Jianxue's desk.
"Sir, then... do you still want Mr. Zhang to come over today?" Jiang Hui asked cautiously.
"Since she herself doesn't want to learn, why should I take it seriously?"
Rong Jianxue lowered his head and searched for the "Classic of Purity and Tranquility" in the drawer.
Jiang Hui nodded, his eyes falling on Pei Jingxu's homework.
There were some papers stuck in the book, and he took out a piece at random and looked through it.
"The weakest one?" Jiang Hui read out the words above.
The search for the scriptures paused, and Rong Jianxue frowned slightly: "What?"
Jiang Hui scratched his head: "Sir, this is the homework that Second Lady copied."
Upon hearing this, Rong Jianxue took the rice paper from Jiang Hui's hand and looked at it with a frown.
【Weakness comes first.】
[Lying under the bed shows that he is humble and weak, and is the master's servant.]
[To be humble and respectful, to put others before oneself, to be grateful for kindness and to be humble when wronged, to endure humiliation and disgrace, and to always be fearful, is what is called a humble and lowly person.]
——It is "The Admonitions for Women".
The hands holding the rice paper turned slightly white.
Rong Jianxue put down the copybook and went back to looking at the homework.
On that thumb-thick stack of rice paper were the "Admonitions for Women" that she had copied and recited over and over again.
Open that book - it's not a ledger at all!
It is a bound book of women's virtues and training!
Outside the study, raindrops from the eaves hit the stone steps.
Looking through the copies, Rong Jianxue's eyes were frozen, veins bulged on the back of his hands, ink surged in his eyes, and his pupils were cold.
His jaw was tense, his lips were pursed into a straight line without any curve.
[Although I am stupid, I am not worthy of your teasing.]
If you want to humiliate me, you can just do what my mother-in-law did and make me kneel in the ancestral hall for a few days. There's no need to condescend to give me hope and then destroy it with your own hands.
…
So, she thought he was deliberately humiliating her.
The accountant who was sent to her taught her the Three Obediences and Four Virtues, as well as ethical principles.
He "knew" that she had never learned how to do accounting, but he still wanted to test her about the account books and belittle her.
He said, rotten wood is difficult to carve.
As if he had figured it out, Rong Jianxue closed his eyes slightly. When he opened them again, there was anger and coldness in his eyes.
He held the stack of manuscripts and spoke word by word, "Call Zhang Zheng."
Jiang Hui also reacted and quickly clasped his fists: "Yes!"
--
West courtyard, bedroom.
"Miss, I heard that the old lady is very angry and is preparing to punish you severely!"
Pei Jingxu chuckled slowly, the round fan in his hand spinning rapidly: "Now is not the time for her to cause trouble to me."
"Miss, what you mean is that the eldest son will take action to stop the old lady for you?"
Pei Jingxu raised his eyebrows: "I want more than just this."
She wanted to be his regular guest, make him beg her to teach him how to keep accounts, and let her enter his study openly.
"But young lady, the eldest son was raised by the old lady after all. Will he really turn against her for you?"
Pei Jingxu laughed and said, "Others won't, but Rong Jianxue will."
It was written in the storybook that Rong Jianxue was upright and impartial, and he would dare to point out even the mistakes of the crown prince and the emperor.
The title of "the only true gentleman in the world" is not just talk.
Playing with the round fan in her hand, Pei Jingxu said in a delicate voice, "These past few days, I've been saying that I haven't recovered from my cold and can't see guests. I won't see anyone who comes."
Hongyao nodded: "I understand."
--
It was noon when Zhang Zheng arrived at the East Courtyard.
The summer sun was hot and long. Zhang Zheng wiped the sweat from his forehead and stood respectfully outside Rong Jianxue's study, waiting.
After waiting for about half an hour, Zhang Zheng's face was sunburned purple. He laughed dryly and asked Jiang Hui outside the study respectfully, "Master Jiang, may I ask when the Grand Tutor will summon me?"
Jiang Hui's face was gloomy, and he only said: "The master is handling official business, Mr. Zhang, please wait a little longer."
"That's right, official business is important, official business is important..."
Zhang Zheng had no choice but to stand outside the study for another two hours.
As the sun was setting, Zhang Zheng felt dizzy and his clothes were soaked with sweat. He was staggering as if he was going to faint in the next second.
At this time, the study door opened.
Zhang Zheng hurriedly straightened his clothes and knelt down to pay respect to the man in the study: "I am Zhang Zheng, the humble servant, and I pay my respects to Master Shaofu!"
In the study, Rong Jianxue was flipping through books related to account books.
He wore the Buddhist beads on his wrist without twisting them.
Even though Zhang Zheng bowed deeply, the man's eyes did not fall on him.
He didn't say anything, so Zhang Zheng knelt on the ground, not daring to move.
Just wait until the sun sets.
Zhang Zheng knelt on the stone ground for another hour!
My knees are so sore and I have lost all feeling!
In the study, the man spoke in a cold and indifferent voice, "I've heard for a long time that Mr. Zhang is an expert at accounting. I happen to have an account and would like to ask Mr. Zhang for help."
Zhang Zheng bowed and smiled flatteringly, "I am honored to be able to help Master Shaofu!"
Rong Jianxue signaled to Jiang Hui with her eyes. Jiang Hui nodded, took a wooden box from the study and handed it to Zhang Zheng.
Zhang Zheng took it with a smile. When the wooden box was opened and he saw what was inside, the smile on his face froze and cracked.
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