Chapter 22 : Deep Water and Scorching Fire (4)

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Yuxi was walking in the garden, thinking about things.
The wind blew and a refreshing fragrance came to her face.

 

Knowing that Yuxi was in a bad mood, Moju wanted to say something to ease her mind, so she said with a smile, “Miss, the osmanthus planted in this garden blooms late, but the fragrance is especially strong.
Less than half of the garden is full of osmanthus fragrance.”

 

Yuxi listened to Moju and went straight to the tree, looking up at the tall, thick sweet-scented osmanthus tree.
Her mind could not help but remember in her past life where she once wiped foul-smelling grass on her body to be safe when fleeing the country.
It was also because of this fishy smell that people retreated three feet from her, thus saving her.
An idea seemed to rise in her mind.

 

It took Teacher Song only three days to finish her lectures on «Thousand Characters Classic», then two days to talk about «Lessons for Women», and then she began to talk about «Women’s Analects».

 

Yuxi previewed these books a few days ago, so it wasn’t hard for her.
It was just that, neither she knew what was going on.
Yujing suddenly began to have a strong determination to succeed.
She listened attentively in class and her school works were also completed on time.
Even the text and analysis were recited very well.
Yuxi did not perform worse than Yujing, it was only that Yujing suddenly had great progress.
By contrast, Yuxi was inferior.

 

Yujing said with a face full of smile, “Si Mei, we have to work hard!”

 

Yuxi turned her head and ignored Yujing’s sarcasm.
She was very clear about Yujing’s temperament where she was not a person who could suffer hardships.
There must be something fishy with this big change.

 

Moju wanted to spray Yujing on her face.
Yujing didn’t even look at how old she was and how old her Miss was.
She still had the face to ridicule her Miss.
On the way back, she said indignantly, “That Second Miss has not been hit for these two days, but she was hit by the teacher a few days ago.
How dare she mock Miss.“ Honest people also had their temper.

 

Yuxi replied, “It’s true that I didn’t do a good job lately, so I have to work harder.”

 

Moju wanted to cry, “Miss, you have worked hard enough.
I’m afraid your body can’t even endure it anymore.
Miss, you must take good care of yourself!“ Her Miss didn’t sleep until midnight these two days and yet, she would always get up at the beginning of maoshi.
Because of this, she lost a lot of weight and the meat she had just raised was also gone.
Moju felt distressed when she looked at her Miss.

 

Yuxi laughed, “I will not invert root and branches.” Learning something was important, but no matter how important it was, it was not as important as a healthy body.
If the body collapsed, everything else would be in vain.

 

Over the next few days, Yujing had always wanted to push down Yuxi and even actively provoked her.
Unfortunately, Yuxi simply ignored Yujing and left her alone.

 

Yujing was so angry that made her teeth itched .

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Motao brought a set of green clothes for Yuxi to change into.

 

When Yuxi wore it, she found it was too big.
She took it off and said, “Take it and change it.”

 

Sitting back in front of the dresser and looking at herself in the mirror, Yuxi couldn’t help touching her face.
The little meat that she had been raising for months disappeared again.

 

She changed into a peach-coloured dress and took Moju to Magnolia Courtyard.

 

Motao was looking anxious as she said to Mama Shen, “Mama, this is not the way to go, right? Miss' health would not bear it.” The new clothes were all just made a month ago.
Now, all couldn’t be worn.
The clothes could be altered, but what made her worried was Miss' body would finally stop enduring.

 

Mama Shen couldn’t do anything about it too.
If Miss didn't work hard like this, she won't be able to catch up with the lessons.
“I'll ask the kitchen to cook some more delicious food.“ With a full dining table, Miss could at least eat more.
If she could eat more, her physical strength would not be easily broken down.

 

Motao was worried, but she could not help her Miss solved the problem.

 

Yujing saw Yuxi’s face that looked like she was hungry, as she asked with a smile, “Si Mei, how is your recitation today?” She was very proud of herself when she believed that she had managed to suppress Yuxi.

 

Yuxi looked at Yujing, who was still in high spirits and said with a straight face, “I have memorized all of them.
”

 

Yujing smiled proudly, “Be careful.
Don’t give a wrong answer later or you will be criticized by the teacher again.“ Once she had done talking, she ignored Yuxi and went straight to Magnolia Courtyard.

 

Moju turned red with anger.

 

Actually, Yuxi was not that angry as she'd believed.
It wasn't something worthwhile to be angry over Yujing's words.

 

Yuchen looked disapprovingly at Yujing.
Yuxi’s performance was no worse than hers, but for Yujing to be praised twice by the teacher and she already satisfied with this? What could Yujing achieve with just that?

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Yuxi saw the «Analects of Confucius» sent to her hand.
She had no objection to learning it.
Just thinking about it meant that they would also be taught «The Great Learning», «The Doctrine of the Mean» and «Mengzi».
This made her, who thought she was finally going to be relieved, felt like crying.

 

Yujing stood up and asked, “Teacher, I don't understand why I need to learn the «Analects of Confucius»?”

 

Teacher Song answered with a straight face, “What’s wrong? You don’t want to learn? “

 

Yujing really didn’t want to learn, because she felt that it was something useless to learn.
It wasn’t like learning qin, chess, calligraphy and painting, which were good for raising one's reputation.
“Teacher, «Analects of Confucius» is a scientific research book.
It is useless for us to learn it.” From what she said, it was a waste of time to learn it.

 

Teacher Song didn’t like Yujing, but she won’t go as far as making her life difficult, so she said, “Then tell me, why did you study with me?”

 

Yujing wanted to learn such things as qin, chess, calligraphy and painting.
She wanted to become a talented woman, then she could marry into a rich family.
However, she could not give that kind of answer.
“To study with a teacher is naturally to learn something.”

 

Instead of paying intention to Yujing, Teacher Song turned to Yuchen and asked, “Third Miss, tell me something, what are you studying for?”

 

Yuchen thought for a moment and then answered, “Naturally, to be a wise sensible person.”

 

Yuxi sniffed at these spoken words.
In her previous life, Jiang Hongjin’s younger sister, her sister-in-law Jiang Qi, was also known as a talented woman in the capital.
However, in private, she was bitter, ferocious and evil.
It had nothing to do with being a wise sensible person.

 

Teacher Song nodded and said, “Third Miss said very well.
Reading or studying is for a person to be a wise sensible one.
After reading a book, one can also see things in the long run.“

 

Yujing curled her lips, but she didn't dare to refute what Teacher Song said.

 

After class, Old Woman Ding discontentedly said, “Ma'am, this Second Miss is too presumptuous.” For such a person, they must find a reason before they could expel her.

 

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Teacher Song laughed and said, “Everyone has a temper.”

 

Old Woman Ding felt a little strange, “She performed so badly before, but now she’s doing very well.
Ma'am, don’t you smell anything fishy regarding this?”

 

Teacher Song did not think much of it, and just said, “This older Young Miss is beginning to get it straight.”

 

Old Woman Ding, however, had some doubts, but there was no evidence to support her claim.
It would be bad for her to say this rashly and offended the host family since her Master was only a teacher.
Although her Master had a great reputation, she couldn’t offend the government for such a trivial matter.
 

Yuxi was holding the «Analects of Confucius» in her hand, thinking that there were still so many things that she could not finish learning.
She felt that the future was dark as she looked at her small body and wondered if she could hold out until the end.

 

When Moju saw Yuxi was pulling a long face, she asked in a low voice, “Miss, did Teacher Song criticize you?” Yujing had performed well, unlike Yuxi.

 

Yuxi shook her head and said, “No, just felt a little tired.”

 

Moju right then felt sorry for her Miss, but she didn’t dare to ask her to stop studying.
Otherwise, Mama Shen would skin her alive.

 

Yuxi went to a junction and went straight to the main courtyard.
However, she didn’t stay there long since her time was too tight.
Nowadays, she was vexed at not being able to fully use her twenty-four hours.

 

Out of the main courtyard, she happened to meet Yuru.
Yuru said with concern, “Si Mei, you have lost so much weight.
You must take care of your health!”

 

Yuxi smiled and said, “I know, thank you for your concern.” Looking at Yuru’s complexion, she knew that Yuru was almost recovered.

 

After walking away, Moju asked in a low voice, “Miss, what does Eldest Miss mean?” Moju was honest, but not stupid.
She could feel that the Eldest Miss' words were not good ones.

 

Yuxi lightly said with a smile, “Dajie is just concerned about me.“ Whether Yuru really cared was up to debate.

 

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The more Moju thought about it, the more she felt that Eldest Miss words were not right.
“Miss, why do I feel that Eldest Miss is cursing you to be sick?” She felt like the way the words were spoken did not seem to be wishing her Miss to be not like her.
If you felt ill, you didn’t have to study.
Moju used to think that Yuru was gentle and amiable, but now that she looked at Yuru, she felt that Yuru was a fake.

 

Yuxi only smiled softly.
Sometimes she wondered if all the good aura of the residence had gone to Yuchen alone.
Otherwise, Yuchen, the chosen girl out of a few girls in the Duke Han of the State’s residence, could not have become the favoured Empress of the Harem, which others were unable to obtain.
Even though Yuxi worked hard all her life, she was not smart enough to go anywhere that far.

 

When Yuxi returned to her courtyard, she began reciting.
This was her learning method that she had summed up herself.
She learnt the text by heart, then she did her homework.
It would be done faster like this since she didn’t have to read the text while writing.

 

The only thing Yuxi felt fortunate now was that her memory ability in this life was much better than in her previous life.
Otherwise, she would not have been able to hold on this long.
“Confucius said, is it not pleasant to learn and practice what is learned time and again…” Reciting and remembering all the written words in her mind over and over again could also deepen her memory.

 

After dinner, Yuxi asked Mama Shen who was beside her, helping her with digestion, “Where did Mama hear that as long as one survived the first half of the month, the days after that would be better?”

 

Mama Shen answered, “That’s what they said outside.”

 

Yuxi shook her head helplessly.
It was only her who thought too much on this matter.
The first half of the month was really testing students’ perseverance, but with Teacher Song’s temperament, even after half a month, it was impossible to even relax in the future.
Sigh, she didn't know when will these deep water and scorching fire days came in full of vigour.
She didn't want to back down, but she felt that her body was not going to endure it much more.

 

Mama Shen thought that Yuxi couldn’t help thinking about quitting, so she hurriedly said, “Miss, no matter how hard it is, you have to hold on!” Yuxi’s current performance had made Mama Shen no longer expected Teacher Song to accept her as a student.
She only hoped that Yuxi could continue surviving the first few months.

 

Yuxi smiled and said that she would never voluntarily quit unless Teacher Song kicked her out.
Although this period was very hard, she did learn a lot of things, which were not even mentioned in the textbook.
Only now, she was worried about one thing, “Don’t worry, I won’t give up halfway.
It’s just that I feel like my spirit is willing but my flesh is weak recently.
I’m worried that my body won’t endure it any longer.”

 

Mama Shen was shocked, however, when she saw Yuxi’s unchanged expression, she felt a little bit at ease, “Don’t worry, Miss.
I’ll send a physician to take a good look at you.“

 

Yuxi intentionally told Mama Shen about this, to let the Old Lady know, so that the Old Lady would have a physician come over to help her recuperate.

 

NOOB TRANSLATOR'S MUSING

 

Hahaha…
I just posted Chapter 23 inside Chapter 22.
Silly me! Must be because I was busy these few days and still busy, so I stole a bit of time to post this chapter.
Thank God, I noticed it.