Annual Ceremony

Chapter 9: Waking of Insects (Part )

Qian Yuling is only thirteen years old this year, and there is still childishness in her eyes and eyebrows. The older ladies looked at her, but seeing her young age, they just smiled and did not comment.

Only Shuyi, who was her good friend, whispered: "...Even if our poems are published, whether they are collected by anthologies or put in bookstores, they can never be listed with those of literati. They can only be placed after the poems of monks and Taoists, and together with the poems of prostitutes."

"If you do this, you will inevitably lose your virtue and fortune, and you will just be laughed at for nothing. If you don't do it well, you will be judged and criticized by those men... Why bother?"

"I don't care about that. In recent years, many women in Huizhou have published poems. I have read a lot of them and think they are very good!" Qian Yuling smiled "with ill intentions": "When the time comes, I will make a collection of poems, not only mine, but also yours and Zhenyi's..."

As he said that, he reached out to grab another friend: "And you!"

He smiled and said, "I'll publish them all for you!"

Shuyi's face flushed, she smiled and slapped Qian Yuling's hand away: "Go away, I won't mess with you!"

The other girl also blushed a little, and there was a flash of light in her eyes, but it was immediately suppressed. She quickly echoed Shuyi's words: "That's right, don't hurt others!"

"Sister Zhenyi is the best!" Qian Yuling smiled and took Zhenyi's hand: "Zhenyi, grow up quickly, so you can write a preface for me!"

Zhenyi was still a little confused about this, but nodded enthusiastically.

"And Juzi!" Qian Yuling squatted down and rubbed Juzi's head. He gently touched Juzi's furry paws with one hand and said with a smile, "Then dye Juzi's paws with ink, and print a plum blossom under Zhenyi's preface!"

The group of girls all laughed, and Orange arrogantly retracted his claws - his claw mark was a limited edition seal of the Forbidden City, and it was worth at least ten dried fishes!
Looking at the laughter here, a young lady not far away sighed: "After all, she is the daughter of the Qian family, the descendant of old lady Chen Shu...it's normal for her to be a little flamboyant."

"Old Madam Chen Shu did not dare to publish poems during her lifetime. It was only after her death that her descendants presented her paintings to the palace, winning His Majesty's favor and praise..."

Nowadays, even if a woman is famous for her talent, her poems are mostly circulated among her boudoir. Most of the famous talented women in the past were published by their husbands, fathers and brothers after their death.

The same was true for Yuan Ji. Her poems were all compiled and sorted by Yuan Mei, so they were preserved and circulated.

Qian Yuling's statement of publishing his own poems was undoubtedly extremely bold.

But as the young lady said, her boldness was not accidental - her great-grandmother Chen Shu was quite famous after her death, and Qian Yuling's painting style was most similar to Chen Shu's, so the Qian family treated her more indulgently than other younger generations. The countless praises she received since childhood also made her feel more worthy than ordinary women.

The struggle of the soul must lag behind external material conditions.

A bold mind will not grow out of thin air in an environment of confinement.

Just as a bird that has been locked in a cage and covered with a black cloth since birth will not yearn for the vast sea and sky. The prerequisite for yearning is knowing, but they do not even have the opportunity to know the existence of the sea and the sky, let alone yearning and chasing them.

Talent and temperament are not enough to change the fate of women nowadays. The environment is far more important than talent. Whether it is to be discovered or buried, it all depends on the environment.

But besides excavation and burial, there is another outcome - excavate it first, and then let the environment devour it.

In such circumstances, talent often turns into punishment.

……

Jingzhe, the first sign of the year, the peach trees begin to bloom.

Early in the morning, Chun'er sprinkled lime powder outside the courtyard gate. This is the custom of Jingzhe, used to drive away insects.

It became troublesome for Orange to go in and out, as he always had to jump over the lime strips for fear of getting his paws dirty.

I don’t know if it was because of this reason, but Chun’er didn’t see Orange for most of the day.

No...the lady hasn't seen it either!

Chun'er, who was busy sweeping the floor, was startled and looked around with the broom in hand, but did not find Zhenyi.

The scene of searching for someone during foot binding last year was repeated at the Wang family.

This time Zhenyi seemed to be hiding even more secretly. As it was getting dark, they still couldn't find her. Yang Jinniang imagined the scene of a beggar taking her daughter away, and she felt like the sky was falling.

This incident alarmed the Zhan father and son who were staying at Wang's house. Zhan Mei also followed Wang Yuan and Shuyi to look for people, and the Wang family was in chaos.

Finally, Wang Yuan and Zhan Mei found Zhenyi in the Jifang Study. They had passed by this place during the day, but no one answered their calls, so they did not look for her carefully. Now it was dark, and they saw the candlelight in the study, so they went in to check.

There was a desk under the window of the study, and sitting in the armchair behind the desk was the small figure of Zhenyi.

There was wind outside the window. There was paper spread in front of her and she was writing with a pen in hand. The orange acted as a paperweight, pressing down a corner of the paper as firmly as Mount Tai.

Wang Yuan and Zhan Mei pushed the door open, but Zhenyi still didn't notice.

Wang Yuan walked forward and saw that what his second sister had copied were numbers, and the used papers on the side had piled up into a tall stack.

Wang Yuan reached out and picked up the book his second sister was copying. When he looked closely, he found it was Mei Wending's "Calendar and Calculation".

Wang Yuan was stunned - isn't this the heavenly book that makes him sleepy as soon as he reads it and becomes useless as soon as he studies it!
Hearing the footsteps outside, Wang Yuan hurriedly gathered up the books and the arithmetic paper that Zhenyi had copied, and urged Zhan Mei: "...Hurry, hide! Don't let anyone see you!"

Zhan Mei, who was also stunned, asked subconsciously: "...Is it forbidden to learn mathematics at home?"

Wang Yuan: "My father will beat me again if he sees this!"

When the wind blew, the calculation papers were scattered everywhere, and Wang Yuan didn't have time to hide them all.

Yang Jinniang, with red eyes, was stunned when she saw her daughter sliding down from the chair.

Zhenyi's sleeves were rolled up, her hair was a little messy, and there were two ink marks on her cheeks. She looked very messy, but her eyes were bright.

When the Waking of Insects arrives, all insects chirp and all things come to life.

The south wind blew in from the window, and the first muffled thunder of this spring rolled in.

The thunder seemed to be rolling in Yang Jinniang's heart.

The Third Wife and Shuyi also arrived soon. Wang Xirui took the arithmetic paper that Zhenyi had written, and did not rush to beat his son. He just quickly signaled his second brother to come and see.

Seeing her uncle being so amazed, and listening to something like "calendar calculation", and seeing that everyone's eyes were on her daughter, Yang Jinniang became inexplicably flustered.

She suddenly stepped forward and pulled Zhenyi over.

"We have been looking for you all day long... but you are hiding here writing and drawing, pretending to be oblivious to everything!" Yang Jinniang scolded her daughter with red eyes: "Tell me, should you be punished?"

This was almost the first time Yang Jinniang got so angry.

Zhenyi was a little frightened. She looked up at her mother and explained in a timid voice, "Mother, I didn't mean to do that. I didn't know when it got dark. I didn't hear anyone shouting..."

Then, he admitted his mistake and held out his hands obediently: "Mother, please don't be angry. You can hit me. I won't do it again."

Yang Jinniang looked at the pair of outstretched hands, which were also stained with ink, and suddenly tears rolled down her cheeks: "Never again? How can you really know where you went wrong! It's not just this one thing, you refused to bind your feet... I just said yesterday that I would teach you needlework, but today you hid here to learn these incomprehensible things! Your hands and face are covered with ink, how can you be a woman at all! You are already seven years old, what are you going to do in the future!"

Yang Jinniang didn't know what she was saying. She didn't want to lose her composure like this. She felt so ashamed that she grabbed her daughter's hand and walked out, holding back her tears: "Come back with me, and don't come here again!"

Juzi felt that the matter seemed a little serious, so he hurriedly followed. He wanted to say that everything was written by him, and if anyone wanted to kill or cut him up, they could come after him, and it had nothing to do with Zhenyi. However, no one believed him.

No one had ever seen Yang Jinniang like this before, so Shuyi and the third wife went up to persuade her.

Wang Xichen also hurriedly followed him out.

Wang Xirui was still in the study, holding a thick stack of abacus paper, sighing with a complicated expression, looking at his son with a look of disappointment. Just as he was about to speak, Wang Yuan had already resigned himself to his fate, dropped his robe, knelt down properly, kowtowed, and apologized to his father in shame: "Father, there is no need to say anything. I am incompetent, unfilial, and I feel ashamed."

Wang Xirui snorted, threw the stack of papers at his son, and limped away.

Wang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that he had escaped a disaster. Fortunately, he had already mastered the sliding kneeling technique. He would kneel in front of anyone who dared to be rude to him.

"Let's go! Let's watch the fun! Judging from the situation, Second Sister will definitely be tried in court again!" Wang Yuan stepped out and said to Zhan Mei behind him.

Zhan Mei was bending over to pick up the calculation papers. After picking them all up, he put them on the desk. He took the "Calendar" and pressed it properly, closed the window, blew out the lights, and left just now to follow the Wang family.

　Thank you Hanhan for the reward! Thank you for your monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, rewards, and messages~
　　I will try my best to add another chapter this week as a thank you.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)