Chapter 26: Clever Strategies
Looking at the item in her hand, Zhong Min suddenly felt like crying. Oh my god, what is this? Xiao Mingzheng is really cruel. Why is he a prince? He might as well change his career and become a teacher.
Making students copy things as punishment is really a specialty of teachers in ancient and modern times. I didn't expect that the prince could learn it by himself and come up with such a trick to punish her.
When Zhong Min heard Mr. Li's kind explanation downstairs just now, she was completely defeated. She had to copy "The Instructions for Women" three times, and even more terrible, she had to finish it before Xiao Mingzheng came to the study again tomorrow!
This is truly bizarre. What kind of place is this? Isn't it some fictional universe with no historical records? How could there be something like "Nujie"?
To be honest, Zhong Min didn't know that the book in her hand was "Legitimate Children". Fortunately, Mr. Li mentioned the title of the book when he talked to her. Otherwise, she would not be able to answer what it was.
Ever since she was reborn in this shabby place, she'd found herself illiterate, a true female illiterate. Each of these characters looked familiar, similar to ancient traditional Chinese characters, but they were actually different. She didn't recognize any of them.
Zhong Min was utterly depressed. Being illiterate was one thing, as copying wouldn't be too difficult. But the main problem was that she couldn't use the brush in her hand at all. She'd been used to pens since she was a child, so there was no way she was used to this.
She can write very well with a fountain pen, but when it comes to writing with a brush, she doesn't even have the correct pen-holding posture. I guess what she writes is even uglier than that dog-painted handwriting. How can she show such handwriting to others? In all likelihood, it will be considered as a sign of bad attitude and intentional writing.
Originally, there was nothing wrong with a maidservant not being able to write well, but that day, in order to make Xiao Mingzheng and the others believe her, she lied that she liked to read military books before entering the mansion as a slave. Just imagine, in such a society, how could a person who could even understand military books write handwriting uglier than dog scratching?
"God, you are so cruel!" She put the things on the table, fell onto the small bed, staring at the beams above her head in a daze, looking helpless.
Copy, don't copy, copy, don't copy, copy... She kept repeating this in her mind, while constantly analyzing the pros and cons of copying and not copying. After weighing the pros and cons for a long time, it seemed that not copying would not be enough to get away with it. What a miserable life! Why was she reborn as such a bullied servant?
"Go ahead and copy, I'm not that easily defeated!" She suddenly jumped up from the crib, smiled angrily, and said fiercely, "I just don't believe such a small thing can stump me, Zhong Min!"
Just as he finished speaking, he heard a knock on the door, and then Mr. Li's voice came in: "Open the door, I've got something for you."
"I'm coming!" Zhong Min said as he immediately adjusted his expression and went to open the door.
When he opened the door, he saw Mr. Li holding a small food box and handing it directly to Zhong Min. He said, "This is the midnight snack that the kitchen just sent over for me. I'm not hungry, you can have it."
When Zhong Min heard it was food, he immediately smiled and reached out to take it, saying, "Thank you, Uncle Li, you really are a timely help!"
Well, it wasn't all bad luck. At least I had something to eat for the time being, which was infinitely better than copying the "Nu Jung" on an empty stomach. "Be content, be happy!" Zhong Min muttered to herself, feeling more and more like an Ah Q.
Seeing Zhong Min not hiding his emotions at all, with a rare straightforwardness, Mr. Li smiled immediately and seemed to want to say something, but in the end he didn't say much. He just waved his hand and said, "Take your time eating. I'm going to rest first." After that, he turned around and left.
"Uncle Li, take care!" Zhong Min said sweetly to Uncle Li's departing back, and then seeing that he had already gone downstairs, she quickly closed the door and went back to her nest to eat.
Opening the lunch box, he found a steaming bowl of beef noodles, accompanied by two small dishes that looked particularly refreshing and appetizing. Zhong Min was overjoyed and began to eat. In a short while, he had devoured the entire bowl, leaving not even a drop of soup.
After eating and drinking her fill, her mind became more alert. Looking at the pens, ink, paper and inkstone on the table, she suddenly had an idea.
Standing up, holding the dim oil lamp, Zhong Min carefully searched the bookshelves at the front of the room. Sure enough, near the first shelf, she found a feather duster she usually used for dusting. After a quick glance, she decisively plucked three of the thicker, white, tubular feathers from the bottom of the feather duster. Satisfied, she returned to the table beside the cot.
It's no big deal if you can't use a brush. Can't you just dip a chicken feather tube in ink and use it as a fountain pen? It's just a little more troublesome because you have to keep dipping it in water. It's a little troublesome, but it's better than being completely clueless about how to use a brush.
In other words, there is no better choice now. Otherwise, using duck feathers would be better. Isn't that what the earliest fountain pens used in Europe used? Thinking of this, Zhong Min couldn't help but smile, and slightly modified the chicken feathers in his hand, barely making it into a makeshift chicken feather pen.
The inkstone is good, so I dipped some ink in this chicken feather brush and tried it out. I found it was quite usable, though it took a bit of time to keep dipping it in ink. But it was much better than the brush, and I could finally start writing.
After making all the preparations, Zhong Min didn't waste any more time and began copying the characters in the book. Because he didn't know the characters, he had to look carefully at each one and copy them. Furthermore, his pen wasn't working very well, so his speed was even slower.
Zhong Min didn't know how long she'd been writing; her arms were aching and her eyes were tired, yet the content on the paper wasn't even half enough to finish once. She put down her pen and rested for a moment, her anger simmering inside her. She secretly thought that if Xiao Mingzheng ever fell into her hands, she would definitely make this bastard feel the same way.
Reluctant as she was, she had to keep copying. After a moment, Zhong Min looked at the pile of garbage before her and had no choice but to continue her struggle. No matter what, she had to finish it to avoid some other more perverted punishment.
As the night deepened, Zhong Min gradually lost her temper from copying. She just mechanically copied word for word onto the paper, her entire body becoming numb. She had no idea what she was copying, and she had no idea if the women's commandments of this world differed from the ancient women's commandments of her own world.
Of course, even if it was exactly the same, it wouldn’t be her problem, because she couldn’t recite a single sentence!
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