Qingli sat in the small courtyard behind the house, unable to go out. She wandered around at home, and her younger brother, Luo Yisheng, stayed by her side. However, being a child, he soon lost interest and ran off to chase butterflies.
At that moment, she heard a boy’s voice from next door, reading aloud.
The voice was clear and rhythmic. Just listening to it, Qingli could imagine a young scholar shaking his head as he read.
Suddenly, the reading stopped, and another boy appeared, laughing teasingly. “Wang Shanxue, you’ve been trying to memorize this piece for five days and still can’t get it right. You’re wasting resources being here; hurry up and make room for the teacher to take in another talented student!”
Luo Yuzhi’s private school was located right next to the Luo family, in a rented courtyard. There were only twelve students, most of whom came from well-off families in town, with a few from nearby villages.
They were all around fifteen or sixteen years old. Luo Yuzhi mentioned that the relationships among the students in this small school were harmonious.
Qingli chuckled softly, realizing that it wasn’t as harmonious as it seemed.
The boy who was being mocked, Wang Shanxue, didn’t mind at all. Instead, he laughed and said, “You’re all just jealous that my family has money. I came here with my father’s silver, so how could I be wasting resources?”
“Jealous of you? I got in directly, which is way better than your situation!” another boy scoffed. “I think you’re wasting your time. Your father is so good at business; why not go into business instead of coming here to study?”
Wang Shanxue replied earnestly, “My mother said we have more than enough money, and I need to learn to be content. What I need to do is change our family’s situation!”
His voice carried a comically earnest tone.
The boy mocking him had no reply.
After a moment of silence, Wang Shanxue wondered aloud, “Huh? Where did you go?”
Once the others left, he resumed reading the same piece, starting from the beginning again.
Qingli couldn’t help but smile. It had been a long time since she had seen such a simple-minded child. Unfortunately, the classical texts were difficult to understand and extremely convoluted. Even reading them could sometimes lead to stumbling, and with his attempts to memorize, he often forgot the lines as soon as he closed the book.
After thinking for a moment, she spoke up as the boy stumbled over his words again, “Do you know what this sentence means?”
Wang Shanxue was taken aback, instinctively looking around. He realized that the voice came from the other side of the wall, where the teacher’s house was located. The only young woman there was the teacher’s daughter. He felt a shy embarrassment as if he were caught by the teacher for not memorizing his lessons. He quietly replied, “I don’t know. The teacher says that if you read a book a hundred times, the meaning will become clear. If I read it a few more times and memorize it, I’ll understand it.”
Qingli fell silent for a moment and asked, “Hasn’t the teacher explained this text to you?”
“Not yet,” Wang Shanxue shook his head. “We’re still learning the previous text. We’ll learn the next one the day after tomorrow. The teacher wants us to memorize it in advance.”
So that was it.
Feeling bored and noticing how endearingly naïve the boy was, Qingli decided to help him, saying, “Then let me teach you first. It’s easier to memorize once you understand the meaning.”
“Thank you, Senior Sister!” Wang Shanxue exclaimed with delight, genuinely happy to receive her help.
Qingli smiled and began teaching him over the wall. She had learned the same material in her past life and understood it much better than he did. She had read all the books in Luo Yuzhi’s study and would borrow books on her own to read.
Teaching a boy like him with her depth of knowledge was no problem at all.
However, Qingli’s teaching style was quite different from Luo Yuzhi’s. Even the material they used in class was complicated and wordy, while Qingli used plain and simple language, making it easy to understand. She could weave a story from a single word’s meaning.
By the time their lesson ended, it was already dark.
Qingli stretched deeply and coughed as she returned to her room to feign illness.
Today, her health had improved a little because tomorrow was the day Cheng Zhaoyang would distribute wages.
Qingli looked forward to it eagerly.
The next day
Cheng Zhaoyang usually distributed wages in the afternoon, and that day he finished work earlier than usual, meaning the workers didn’t need to return to work the next day.
In this regard, the era was still quite humane.
Therefore, Qingli made sure to go over with Luo’s mother just before the time.
Since it was in town, everyone knew each other. The tavern manager, hearing that someone was looking for Cheng Zhaoyang, enthusiastically pointed the way, saying, “He just received his wages and is preparing to let them leave early.”
After thanking him, Qingli headed to the back courtyard and immediately ran into a few young men chatting and laughing. Among them, Cheng Zhaoyang limped noticeably, and she quickly spotted him holding some silver coins.
The accountant earned five taels of silver a month, which included meals. Although it wasn’t much, a family of three could live comfortably if they were a little frugal.
Yet, even after two years of marriage, the original owner had never seen a single coin.
As they bumped into each other, everyone froze for a moment, instinctively looking at Cheng Zhaoyang.
His expression shifted slightly, and he immediately tightened his grip on the silver, trying to hide it. Realizing that this motion seemed too obvious, he awkwardly froze his hand by his waist and forced a smile, saying, “What brings you here?”
Qingli looked at him with a sorrowful expression and forced a smile, saying, “Since you haven’t come to see me, and my health has improved a little, I had no choice but to come and see you.”
Cheng Zhaoyang frowned slightly, “It’s my fault, but I have been busy. The house is still in disarray. You’re unwell; you shouldn’t be running around so much; it might aggravate your condition.”
“I—cough cough!!!” Qingli seemed anxious to speak but was interrupted by a fit of coughing. Her frail body shook slightly, and Luo’s mother, with red-rimmed eyes, silently patted her back to help her breathe easier.
Cheng Zhaoyang was compelled to move closer to support her.
Qingli immediately grabbed his sleeve, her eyes reddening as she said, “Husband, my parents are completely out of money, and I ran out of medicine yesterday. I was hoping that since you’ve received your wages, you could help me buy some medicine.”
The other young men who worked with Cheng Zhaoyang exchanged glances, their expressions somewhat awkward as they looked at him with increased disdain.
After all, they had just been discussing where to have fun.
Now they realized his wife was in such a serious situation.
Cheng Zhaoyang felt the weight of their gazes, his face flushing slightly. He hurriedly said, “It’s my fault. I had planned to come and see you. I just got my wages; you see…”
Qingli interrupted, extending her hand, “Then just give it to me.”
Cheng Zhaoyang hesitated to hand it over; after all, he had worked an entire month for those five taels of silver and was exhausted. He said, “What medicine do you need? I can go buy it for you.”
Qingli took a step back, coughing a few times, and said, “Cheng Zhaoyang, you don’t want to give it, do you? When you were injured, my parents exhausted their savings for you. Now, I’ve fallen ill to the point of developing lung disease to help your sister, and yet you’re unwilling to part with just five taels of silver? Is the person who once risked his life to save me the same person standing before me now?!”
Cheng Zhaoyang panicked, a cold sweat breaking out on his back. His mind went blank. He was guilty and was frequently reminded of this by Qingli. With so many people watching, he feared they would guess what he had done, and his face turned pale. “What nonsense are you talking about?!”
Qingli felt so distressed she couldn’t speak, only covering her mouth as silent tears streamed down her face, her eyes fixed on him, filled with deep grievance.
Luo’s mother rushed over, red-eyed, and slapped him across the face. A sharp “smack” echoed as she pulled out a stack of papers and angrily said:
“I knew you were ungrateful! Luckily, I kept a record. This is the total amount of silver my Luo family has given to your Cheng family since your injury. On April 25th of the fifteenth year of Qingle, due to Cheng Zhaoyang’s leg injury, we paid you two hundred taels; on June…”
She cried as she read through the bills, her voice trembling with anger. “Not to mention the monthly wages you’ve received over the past two years. With all this silver, I refuse to believe you’ve spent it all. Now my son has fallen ill trying to save your sister, and all the money has gone to you. She has no money for medicine, yet you won’t even part with this small amount! What is your intention?!”
After finishing, she threw the papers at Cheng Zhaoyang, hitting him in the face once again, and scattering them across the ground.
The onlookers picked up the scattered papers, each one containing the same information that Luo’s mother had just read. After reading them, everyone gasped in shock, exclaiming, “So much?!”
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152