Chapter 017: Expectations of Two Mothers

Yingniang's illness was cured the next morning, Zhen Shi breathed a sigh of relief, and the main wife was overjoyed, but no one noticed An'er who was bought back. Originally, she was bought by Zhen Shi to win favor, but Yan Yingqi didn't go to her all night, and didn't even let her serve him with writing, which made Zhen Shi unhappy. How could Zhen Shi care about her at this time!

But for a concubine, face is more important than anything else. If you serve a man with your beauty, but your face is not good, you will have no capital at all.

"What should I do? Xiao Lian, please help me beg the madam." An'er pleaded.

If a woman in the back house is not favored, she will have no money, so An'er is poor, and even the maids below do not obey her orders, so she just curls her lips and makes excuses.

An'er was stroking her face, anxious. Just then, a housekeeper outside said, "Miss An, are you available? The Second Madam heard that you had rashes after eating seafood, so she specially asked us to bring a doctor over."

Unexpectedly, it was Xie who sent someone here, and An'er finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Later it was said that An'er recovered after taking some medicine, and the storm over the incident was over. The grievances that Xie suffered during that period finally came to light.

Yingniang was able to go to school normally, but when she came, she found Yan Rubei was not there, and she was a little surprised: "Why didn't Sister Bei come?"

Yao Niang covered her mouth and laughed, "Sister Bei is very happy this time."

Yingniang was puzzled and asked Xinwan, "What does this mean?"

Xin Wan shook her head: "You seemed quite clever in the past, but now you don't understand. Don't you love Lu Zhaolin's poems? Don't you remember "Ancient Style of Chang'an"?"

Seeing Yingniang was still confused, Yaoniang sighed, "A talented man and a beautiful woman are born to be together, but I only envy the duck and not the fairy."

Ying Niang slapped her head and said, "I really forgot. I ate the food your family sent. I didn't expect Sister Bei to get married so quickly."

"Come on, it's not like I haven't had rubella before, but my memory is pretty good." Yao Niang said with a smile.

Yan Rubai and Zhao Fang were not on good terms before, and now that Zhou Lingguang was in trouble, Second Madam Ming was afraid that Xie would let Yan Rubai marry Zhou Lingguang, so she quickly arranged a marriage for her daughter.

The weather is cooler now, so we don't just study in the first half of the day, we also have classes in the afternoon until noon as usual.

Lunch was delivered to the school. It was then that everyone realized that Yao Niang ate very little. The rice in her bowl was only a small fist's worth, and there was only a small bowl of soup. The meat and vegetables were mostly lean meat or seafood, and the portions were not large.

"I originally thought that Sister Shen often couldn't eat, but it turns out you only eat this little." Ying Niang took a bite of the elbow in her mouth.

Yao Niang said, "That's because I eat a lot for breakfast. My mother always prepares several dishes for me. To be honest, I'm not hungry even now."

In fact, Yao Niang was not allowed to eat anything too sweet in the morning, and could only eat two pieces of snacks at most. Xie was afraid that she would not eat properly after she started to grow up, and then she would not only have acne on her face but also gain weight. They all went through the teenage period, and Xie had seen some women who were greedy for food and became fat in their prime.

Although people cannot be judged solely by appearance, good looks are still very useful.

Zhao Fang lowered her head and ate noodles. She was impatient to get involved in the scheming between the Yan sisters, but she thought of Zhou Lingguang. Her brother still interacted with him as usual, but he didn't care about other things.

In the second half of the afternoon, Mr. Yu taught painting. Painting was what he was best at, and he only taught some chess and music.

Yao Niang is indeed not talented in painting. Her paintings are only skillful but not lively, which makes her not as talented as Qian Niang. Qian Niang doesn't like playing the piano. She prefers playing chess, which can be more quiet. Yao Niang is different from her. She can learn and understand the music score almost immediately and can learn a piece of music in almost an hour.

She learned guzheng in school and also learned konghou during breaks. Yan Yingqi hired a teacher who specialized in teaching konghou to his daughter.

On the contrary, Zhen did not prepare anything for her daughter. Mother Wei even said, "It stands to reason that the third young lady is so excited about learning the konghou, shouldn't our young lady learn it too?"

"No, I think women should learn more about women's virtues. Of course, they have learned those lewd songs, but with the beauty of the third girl, it is easy for them to become too arrogant. For women in the world, virtue, tolerance and generosity are the most important. I ask you, are all men in the world loyal?" Zhen asked.

Mother Wei immediately shook her head and said, "It's impossible. To be honest, my husband is still having an affair with the widow next door."

Zhen smiled and said, "That's it. You are too arrogant. No matter how beautiful and talented you are, you are not as good as an ordinary woman who is gentle and considerate. People like us are married to be the principal wife, so we should be more open-minded and generous. Even if we study, we should not study too deeply. If we take everything too seriously, we will easily get stuck in a dead end."

After hearing this, Madam Wei suddenly understood. Madam Zhen said, "You see, what really attracted Master Xie was her humbleness and gentleness. She used to be stubborn with Master, but now she is gentle. Isn't that a sign of favor? Instead of learning those things, it's better to ask someone to teach our Ying Niang how to make tea and soup."

"Madam is really smart." Mother Wei praised.

How many wives can still have leisure time after getting married? Look at Jie, who can cook small dishes and do needlework, and is humble and considerate, which is the essence of a woman.

Because in Zhen's view, a woman who is noble and sociable outside and gentle and virtuous at home can be a good helper to a man. This is the most successful path taken by most ladies who succeed in becoming old ladies.

Even though Xie was able to seduce Yan Yingqi, it was because she was lucky that her son was not taught badly by his elders and was very smart and motivated. If Yan Jingzhao, this son, was spoiled and became a thief, what hope would Xie have? The third house had already failed.

The reason why she took action was not to win favor, but entirely for her own son.

Now the enemy is strong and we are weak, so we should wait and see. Zhen found that her son's studies had been slacking off a lot these days because she was only concerned with fighting with the Jie family, which made her uneasy.

**

"Press, press, rub, pick, and sweep are the five fingerings for learning konghou. Come here every ten days and I'll teach you. Once you've mastered these fingerings, we can learn to play music."

Yao Niang was indeed going to take a carriage to visit this gentleman's home. She heard that he was originally a colleague of her father in the Hanlin Academy, but because he was tired of the paperwork, he lived in seclusion at home. He was also a master of calligraphy and was a second-place winner in the imperial examination, so he was an extraordinary person.

Therefore, she said very respectfully: "Okay, I will follow your arrangements, sir. I will also practice diligently at home."

Having learned how to read musical notation and the fingering techniques for the guzheng in school, Yao Niang was now learning the konghou again. She was studying very seriously. After finishing her lessons, she had to take a carriage back home, as she was already very hungry.

"No matter how anxious you are, you can't eat too fast. You have to chew slowly. Nannan, what's wrong?" Xie was worried while serving food to her daughter.

Yao Niang nodded: "The teacher seems to know a lot, but he doesn't look very funny. Anyway, he just taught me. What he taught was quite simple, not as much as Mr. Yu."

Xie said, "This is the person your father found. He should be a real talent."

Yao Niang pouted: "But why didn't my second sister and fourth sister learn it? Isn't it bad for me to learn it alone?"

"Why are you talking nonsense? I heard that the lady there found someone to teach them how to make tea and also hired someone to teach needlework. They have learned as much as you have. I think most women in the palace are locked up in the back door. If they don't learn something to pass the time, they will have no way to get rid of it. For needlework and tea making, we can just do it every day. There is no need to deliberately learn it, especially needlework. If you do too much, it will easily hurt your eyes."

Xie hoped that her daughter would always be full of spirit, and even if she was confined in the backyard, she could be happy and have something to rely on, rather than becoming a so-called "virtuous wife and loving mother" who looked the same as everyone else.