Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Baohua Village had once produced a principal seventh-rank Recorder, who brought his parents and brothers with him to the capital. In one stroke, the whole family shook the mud from their hems.

Because of that, the village had long had a tradition of letting girls study.

Jiang Rui was one of them, and the teacher I was going to pay my respects to this time was her teacher.

Feng Zhaoqiu had originally planned to take me there herself, but at dawn, the family cow had suddenly gone into labor. Unable to leave, she entrusted me to Jiang Rui’s care.

“Teacher is young, but exceptionally talented. I heard she’s the daughter of some high-ranking official family in the capital. After her husband died, she resolved never to remarry and came to Baohua Village to live in seclusion.”

Like beans pouring from a bamboo tube, Jiang Rui told me everything she knew about the teacher.

A young lady from an official family had her future tied to her father and brothers’ prospects. Even when such women gathered only to talk of rouge, powder, and jewelry, saying three parts out of ten was already considered frank.

Jiang Rui and I might very well become rivals in the examination hall, yet she held nothing back. It was unlike anything I had known growing up.

I told her what I was thinking, and Jiang Rui laughed heartily, bright as the morning glow.

“Sister Nianzhi, you’ll understand once you meet Teacher.”

The teacher’s home stood by the lake, built along the water. Only a single narrow path led to it.

Willows drooped and flowers bloomed on either side of the path. As we walked, we parted blossoms and brushed past willow branches; it was elegant beyond words, like a hidden paradise in the countryside.

At the end of the path was a green bamboo fence, and the bamboo gate stood wide open. In the courtyard, a woman dressed like a Daoist stood beneath a tree, pouring… wine into her mouth?

When she saw Jiang Rui arrive, she smacked her forehead. “I forgot. School starts today!”

Jiang Rui said helplessly, “Teacher, before the others arrive, hurry up and sober up!”

Qi Jianzhen lowered the wine jug. Her eyes rolled over my face, and she said, “This little sister… I feel as if I’ve seen her somewhere before.”

Jiang Rui pressed a hand to her forehead. “I told you about her a few days ago. This is Auntie Feng’s daughter. She just came back from the capital. It wouldn’t be strange if you had seen her before, Teacher. Please hurry and get ready. It’s almost time.”

Qi Jianzhen gave an “oh.” “Your Auntie Feng looks familiar too.”

“Of course she does. All those bamboo shoots you eat every year? Auntie Feng digs them up for you.”

Jiang Rui turned to me and said, “She still hasn’t sobered up, so she’s talking nonsense. I meant to come early so you could at least be introduced properly, but who knew she’d already started drinking again. From the look of things, this whole morning is wasted. If she’s awake by afternoon, that will be good enough. Come on, I’ll show you to your seat.”

The schoolroom was also built from bamboo. For better light, only half-walls had been put up. Beyond the wall was a bamboo grove. When the clear breeze blew in from the lakeside, the grove blocked the fishy smell of the water, so by the time it reached my cheek, only the crisp fragrance of bamboo remained.

People said it took three generations of wealth and nobility to truly understand food and clothing. Yet Qi Jianzhen had shown such clever taste in something as simple as where she lived. Her background was likely anything but ordinary.

But none of that had anything to do with me. I sat at the desk. On top of it lay a copy of the Spring and Autumn Annals. I had once seen this book in Luo Rou’s hands, while Madame Yan taught her word by word, sentence by sentence.

And now, this book belonged to me.

I no longer had to cling to a crack in the door and steal glances at a happiness that was not mine.

Feng Zhaoqiu would guard a home for me, just as Madame Yan had done for Luo Rou, and keep the bitter cold at bay.