A life of clearness

Chapter 168: Is it a dream? Or not? Transformed into a butterfly (Ten)

Rong Qing put the ink-stained towel aside, propped up her chin with one hand, and watched Zhong Xiu write, occasionally glancing at the performance of the students in the classroom.

The classroom was very quiet. Apart from the sound of breathing, the rustling of pens across paper, and the sound of them turning pages, the only other sounds were.

While Zhou Jiying was writing, she secretly watched the movements of the two people above her. Her intuition was very accurate. Although the teacher did not show it, he just preferred Zhong Xiu!

After she finished writing the last stroke, she ran to the desk where Rong Qing was, holding a stack of papers with her calligraphy on them.

"Sir," she came closer affectionately, her soft body leaning against Rong Qing's left side, around the side where Zhong Xiu was. "This is what Ying'er just wrote."

"Yeah." Upon seeing this, Rong Qing propped herself up, took it, and quickly flipped through the pages.

After reading it, she said, "Not bad, Ying'er, go and have fun."

Although Zhou Jiying was willful and unruly, she was impeccable in completing her homework. Rong Qing didn't want to pay much attention to her, so it was best to coax her out to play.

"No." She smiled and said, "I want to go out and play with Sister Xiu. I'll wait for Sister Xiu to come with me."

Zhou Jiying looked at Zhong Xiu's progress and continued, "Sister Xiu writes so slowly, but it doesn't matter if Ying'er waits a little longer."

"Ying'er, it's time for lunch." An older girl came over to persuade Zhou Jiying. She was also a daughter of the Zhou family and ranked second in this generation.

"Second sister, you go by yourself." Zhou Jiying said to Zhong Xiu with a smile, "I want to wait for my sister Xiu."

"As for you, I'm sorry to trouble you, sir." Seeing that she couldn't persuade Zhou Jiying, she had to bow to Rong Qingfu and left with the maid who was carrying a book box behind her.

Rong Qing was too lazy to respond to Zhou Jiying's thoughts, but Zhong Xiu was still a child after all. Even if he was precocious, how precocious could he be? Under Zhou Jiying's slightly malicious gaze, his wrist trembled slightly, and his already crooked handwriting became even more of a mess.

Zhou Jiying looked quite proud.

He even exclaimed, "Oh, sister Xiu, this character is wrong, it's wrong!" and put the piece of paper he copied the character on in front of Zhong Xiu, "Look, this stroke is not written like this."

Although Zhou Jiying's handwriting was immature and clumsy, it was well-formed. This was nothing special, after all, she was a student Rong Qing had taught for more than half a year. However, this piece of paper was placed right above what Zhong Xiu had written, and the contrast was obvious.

Zhong Xiu pursed her lips even tighter, and her kneeling body became extremely stiff. Who among those present could not hear the contempt and ridicule between Zhou Jiying's words?
Rong Qing was already angry at this moment, but she didn't show it on her face, and her eyes were deeper than usual.

She sighed softly, "This one is indeed not the case."

He actually agreed with Zhou Jiying's words.

Before Zhou Jiying could feel happy, she saw the gentleman leaning over and hugging Zhong Xiu's thin body, and his slender and soft hands even wrapped around Zhong Xiu's small hands.

Rong Qing whispered in Zhong Xiu's ear, "This stroke is connected. You applied the force in the wrong direction and order, so it doesn't look like the imitation."

Having said that, he took Zhong Xiu's hand and asked her to rewrite it.

“Can you write now?”

"No, I don't remember." Zhong Xiu said timidly, in a voice so low that it was almost inaudible.

But Rong Qing heard it clearly, so she said, "Then do it again, I'll go slower."

She was very patient, and explained to Zhong Xiu in detail the direction of each stroke while writing. Although Zhong Xiu didn't recognize any of these characters, it didn't matter. Recognizing characters can be done slowly, but practicing calligraphy should be done early.

Zhou Jiying was stunned as she watched from the side, feeling like a blind candlestick that had to burn even in the daytime.

"Sir, Ying'er also wants you to teach me to write like this." Zhou Jiying was not giving up and moved over to rub against Rong Qing.

Rong Qing had just finished writing at this time, so she let go of her hand and turned her head to look at Zhou Jiying.

The look in his eyes was very calm, but this calmness made Zhou Jiying feel scared from the bottom of her heart...

Such a teacher is too creepy. "Miss Ying'er should be clear about the rules of the school. A place for teaching is not a place for playing. If you want to wait, please be quiet. Miss Zhong still needs two quarters of an hour to finish writing. If you don't want to wait, you can go and have your meal."

After Rong Qing finished speaking, she no longer paid attention to Zhou Jiying and just urged Zhong Xiu to finish copying the calligraphy.

Zhou Jiying stood aside, her face turning red and white, she suddenly choked up, picked up her skirt and ran out. The light yellow skirt swung out an arc like petals as she ran.

"Sir." Seeing Zhou Jiying running out, Zhong Xiu looked at Rong Qing in confusion. "Is Miss Ying'er angry with me?"

Zhong Xiu couldn't help but worry. Old man Zhong sent her here with the intention of relying on her to curry favor with Miss Zhou. So no matter how much Zhou Jiying bullied her, she would not resist.

Even Zhou Jiying's bullying of her was equivalent to noticing her, and Zhong Xiu was relieved about it.

"It's okay." Rong Qing shook her head. "Don't think too much. Just focus on studying. The teacher will take care of other things."

"Yes." Zhong Xiu responded softly and continued writing on the paper.

Rong Qing leaned against Zhong Xiu and recalled what Zhong Xiu had told her in real life, about his childhood studying at Zhou's private school.

"I studied in the classroom for three days, and then listened outside the window for three or four months."

"A Xiu once said that this happened because she had an argument with Miss Zhou. This Miss Zhou..." Rong Qing thought, "It is very likely that it is Zhou Jiying!"

"Today is the second day. If Zhou Jiying wants to make trouble, it will probably be tomorrow."

But what if Rong Qing figured it out?

"This illusion has greatly restricted me. I am now trapped in the Zhou family's mansion, and I can't even control my body."

Rong Qing missed her own strength. If she still had the strength, she wouldn't be so aggrieved. She wouldn't even have to think twice before teaching Zhou Jiying a lesson. Protecting Zhong Xiu was important, and protecting herself was also important. If Rong Qing fell into the illusion and couldn't return to reality, then everything she had done before would be in vain.

Rong Qing's gaze fell on the young Zhong Xiu and she sighed softly, as if she was once again in a situation where she was powerless to protect her.

What will happen after Zhong Xiu attends the class for three or four months? She will leave this house. Soon, she will be sold by old man Zhong to Gong Xiaolang, a businessman, to be his concubine.

It was clearly an illusion, but Rong Qing felt so heartbroken that she could hardly breathe whenever she thought of this. Even if it was an illusion, did she have to watch all this happen?

Just as Rong Qing lowered her eyes, a small white butterfly suddenly flew in from the window. It was the size of a thumb and very delicate and cute. It flew slowly in the wind and finally landed on Zhong Xiu's black inkstone.

"Sir, butterfly!" Zhong Xiu's surprised voice woke Rong Qing up.

When Rong Qing saw the appearance of the white butterfly, her heart was shocked!

……

On the other side, the second daughter of the Zhou family looked at the untouched food on the table and sighed, "My dear Ying'er, tell me what happened?"

She sat next to Zhou Jiying and coaxed her gently, even though she was only four years older than her sister.

"A wild girl who came from nowhere actually got close to the gentleman. The gentleman used to be very kind to me."

Zhou Jiling thought for a moment and realized that Zhou Jiying was talking about the new girl who came yesterday. "Ying'er, are you talking about Zhong Xiu? I heard from Aunt Li that she is the daughter of a bookstore owner."

"How come a person from a small family came to study with us? Do I have to call her my classmate in the future?" Zhou Jiying pursed her lips, "I don't want to be your second sister."

"Okay, okay," Zhou Jiling said with a smile, "Ying'er said no, then no. I'll find a way to kick her out tomorrow. It's not worth starving yourself for someone like this."

She pulled Zhou Jiying to sit at the table and said, "If mother knew that Ying'er was so angry and hungry, she would be so distressed."

Zhou Jiying smiled only after getting Zhou Jiling's assurance.

(End of this chapter)