Horse-head Wall Reflects the Qing Dynasty

Chapter 85 A sudden storm was temporarily quelled by resourcefulness, turning misfortune into good fortune.

“If the people my daughter chose are not good, how can she give advice to others?” Liu Jiao’an knew what her father meant, but at this moment she could only pretend that she did not understand at all. “If it weren’t for thinking of Father, I would like to be like my cousin and find a Taoist temple to spend my days with the lamp and the scroll.”

"Could I possibly suggest that my father, a fellow student in the same field, send his son to become a monk?"

Taking the opportunity to joke, Liu Jiao'an told her father that she was currently disheartened and had no intention of remarrying for the time being.

"You've gotten quite the talker lately, kid."

"Of course, I now think there isn't a single good man in the world!" As soon as she said this, Liu Jiao'an didn't realize that her words had included her father in the conversation.

As expected, Liu's father, Liu Qingxian, feigned anger, put down the letter in his hand, and joked with his daughter, "What? Even your father isn't a good person?"

"Since you don't even think your own father is a good person, then you should move out of the Liu residence now..."

"Father is of course a good person, Father..."

"Hmph, now I'm the good guy!" Liu Qingxian turned her head away, only glancing at her daughter out of the corner of her eye. "Isn't it all just to keep her at home and fool me?"

Liu Jiao'an was clever; she knew her father simply wanted her to continue to appease him. As people get older, they always yearn for the company of their children and grandchildren. Liu Qingxian had no son, so he could only focus all his attention on his daughter.

"This is why Father has wronged his daughter!"

Liu Jiao'an was good at talking, she always was: "Father is talking about those men who want to take their daughter away from him. Father is father, daughter's father, of course he is not comparable to those men!"

"My daughter is not good at speaking and has angered her father. Please forgive her."

"Let you off the hook?" Liu's father was clearly still enjoying teasing his daughter, giving Liu Jiao'an a reproachful look.

"Father, I clearly meant well in this matter, yet you're blaming me... If you still refuse to forgive me, I'm going to make a scene!"

Everything seemed to have returned to when Liu Jiao'an was very young, when her father, Liu Qingxian, had not yet reached his current official position, and Liu Jiao'an's mother was still alive. The family of three lived a very warm and happy life.

Perhaps fearing that he might bully his daughter too much and cause her to truly refuse to talk to him anymore, Liu Qingxian finally turned around, met his daughter's hopeful gaze, and said mercifully, "Then Father will forgive you."

Just as the happy scene of a loving father and son was about to end, Liu Jiao'an thought she had already moved on from what had just happened, but unexpectedly Liu Qingxian spoke up again: "The son of my colleague is quite handsome. This time when he sent the letter, he also included a portrait."

"Come, come, take a look with your father... see if you like it?"

Among the Jinshi graduates of Liu Qingxian's cohort, Liu's father, Liu Qingxian, has the most stable position. He has never left a bad impression on the emperor. Of course, most of them come to curry favor with Liu's father—even if it's to marry Liu's father's second daughter.

"Father, if I were to remarry now, I would be considered a second-time bride, and I'm afraid I wouldn't be a good match for your son who graduated from the same cohort."

"Deserves it!"

"How can you not be good enough for him?" Liu Qingxian clearly couldn't stand his daughter's self-pity. "You are my daughter, Liu Qingxian's daughter. Even if you are good enough for him, how can you not be good enough for a boy who hasn't even achieved any official rank?"

If this plan fails, Liu Jiao'an cannot allow herself to marry again now, so she has to find another way.

I remember Guan Yin telling me back then that sometimes the best thing to defeat all the fancy tricks is sincerity. Even though I know my father has been in the political arena for so many years and has seen all kinds of excuses, I am still his daughter: "Father, please think of your daughter."

“My daughter has just come out of an immature past, so she has no mind to associate with others... Father, please have pity on your daughter and let her stay at home for a while longer.”

After Liu Jiao'an finished speaking, Liu Qingxian did not immediately respond with "good" or "bad". Instead, he handed the painting to his daughter and said, "Why don't you take a look first? If it doesn't suit your taste, you can make a decision later."

When Liu Jiao'an held the portrait in her hands, she was somewhat surprised. It resembled Tongtong in three parts, with an added touch of scholarly air—if it were actually placed in front of her, so polite, or perhaps her childhood sweetheart, Liu Jiao'an felt she might really not be able to refuse.

"How about it? Father won't hurt you."

"Father said you would like it."

Rolling up the portrait in her hand, Liu Jiao'an slowly placed it on her father Liu Qingxian's desk: "Father, why do you think I would fall in love with someone who looks so much like him?"

"When I see this portrait, I think of that person... Father, please keep it away from me, otherwise I will feel nauseous and I'm afraid I won't be able to hold back my vomiting."

Liu's father, Liu Qingxian, clearly hadn't expected his daughter to react so strongly to that Yin Yunshan man. He was even more convinced that sending someone to cause trouble for the latter was the right thing to do!
Liu's father wanted everyone to know that offending his daughter, Liu Qingxian's daughter, would not be so easily forgiven!

"Daddy?"

"Hmm?" Mr. Liu realized his brief loss of composure and did not want his daughter to find out and plead for the immature boy who dared to lay a hand on her. As he came to his senses, he began to try to take control of the conversation.

“I have read this boy’s poems, and he is far superior to that good-for-nothing in the music academy. Jiao’an, if you trust your father, I will arrange for you to meet him another day… Just take a look behind the screen.”

"Father, it's not your daughter..."

"Ok?"

"Father, I really don't have such thoughts right now." Liu Jiao'an sensed from her father's words that there was still room for negotiation, so she quickly explained, "Father, you know how hard it has been for me and that man Yin Yunshan to be husband and wife. Now I just want to stay at home and spend more time with you so you can rest."

Liu Jiao'an's words clearly struck a chord with Liu's father, who immediately softened upon hearing them.

"Is that really what you think?"

"really."

"Father, don't you believe your daughter?" Liu Jiao'an, who hadn't uttered such a coquettish tone in a long time, used it to the fullest today, and even she herself felt a little unaccustomed to it.

Unfortunately, despite this, Liu's father still didn't give his daughter a friendly look immediately, and his words were tinged with sarcasm: "Don't you know how credible your own words are?"

"Father..." Liu Jiao'an called out sweetly, unable to resist her father's coquettishness.

"My daughter is truly heartbroken, she needs to be well..."

"Rest? I don't see you getting tired when you're managing Qingmiao's affairs in your room!"

When Liu's father's words reached her ears, it was like a bolt from the blue for Liu Jiao'an, exploding in her mind with a "boom".

So that's what it was about?
So that's why...? Liu Jiao'an suddenly felt that she couldn't understand her father anymore.

The love he felt for her seemed genuine; the words he uttered were so firm; the words he repeated to the clan members time and time again—from when he was a junior member of the clan to now being the clan leader, they had never changed.

Those words were like a brand ingrained in my bones, always warm. "Father, it's because I felt that Qingmiao's experience was really tragic that I asked about it and told you about it."

"It's no wonder that my daughter has always lived a good life and never had to worry about food or clothing. That's why she was deceived by the man in that brothel... It turns out there are still such pitiful people in the world."

"Pity? You have time to pity others?" Father Liu didn't think these servants were anything to be pitied. "A person's fate is predetermined at birth; whether they are rich or poor is their destiny!"

"But……"

But is there any such thing as predetermined wealth or poverty in this world? Do people only realize what suffering, joy, good, and evil are when all of this happens to them?

"But what? But a flood destroyed her home, otherwise she would be a young lady like you?" Liu's father suddenly attacked his daughter. "Or do you pity her for not receiving the so-called disaster relief funds, and for her whole family losing the chance to make a comeback?"

Liu Jiao'an was stunned by her father's two consecutive questions and stammered, "Isn't that... true?"

"Now you are her mistress, and she is your servant, that's all."

"Flood? Wasn't my Liu family also in the flood? How could it be that her house was destroyed?" Liu's father sneered. "This is her fate. She was born with this kind of destiny!"

But if there were disaster relief funds, wouldn't that be... Liu Jiao'an felt indignant, but this time she didn't dare to speak up directly.

Liu's father's imposing manner frightened her somewhat.

"As for disaster relief funds, there are so many people affected by the disaster. If everyone asks the imperial court for disaster relief funds, even if the imperial treasury is emptied, it will not be enough to help them!"

"Jiao'an, are you even listening to me?"

Even the cleverest Liu Jiao'an didn't know how to deal with her furious father. Although every word came calmly from Liu's father, Liu Qingxian, Liu Jiao'an could clearly hear the dissatisfaction in his voice.

Now Liu Jiaoan really didn't dare to say anything more. She opened her mouth, but all she could do was nod repeatedly.

As she nodded, tears welled up in her eyes without her realizing it. A single tear rolled down her eyelid to her chin, leaving a noticeable tear stain on her lightly made-up face.

"Don't cry."

"You are my daughter, Liu Qingxian's daughter. You were born with a life more precious than theirs. This is your fate, this is your destiny!"

Liu Jiao'an was still silently weeping, but this time the tears rolled down from her other eye. Just as the two tear tracks were drying, more tears began to fall.

"Oh... Father isn't..."

"Jiao'an, Father didn't mean to scare you."

"Hmm." After rubbing her eyes dry, Liu Jiao'an looked down at the ground less than a foot in front of her feet and nodded repeatedly.

“Alright, you should go back and rest first… As for this…” Mr. Liu walked around half the table to a spot less than a meter away from his daughter, picked up the scroll that Liu Jiao’an had just placed next to the table, and said, “I will refuse. As for the matter of remarrying, we can talk about it when you are in a better mood.”

Liu Jiao'an went back to her room, silently, without saying anything more.

Liu Qingxian held the painting in his hand for a long time before remembering to put it back on the table.

"Don't put it here!"

"This is my spot... If it falls on my book, it won't do me any good even if you compensate me!"

"It's just a book; I can afford to lose thousands or even tens of thousands of copies!"

"These contain the teacher's corrections..."

As Guan Yin watched the children arguing and making a ruckus, his initial anxiety vanished.

It was as if nothing had ever happened last night. My heart, which had been pounding like the drums of a school sports meet opening ceremony, finally calmed down amidst the children's noise.

"If you leave it here, it will stain your clothes." Guan Yin stood between the two children who were about to start arguing. "Come on, you two sit separately. When you stop arguing, you can sit together again."

Guan Yin knew that the two children were originally very good friends and often went to play together during their time off.

However, they are just children, and there will always be times when they are noisy and a little temperamental, which Guan Yin can understand.

"Oh……"

Somewhat dejected, the child leaned to one side. Not long after, just as Guan Yin turned away, the child couldn't help but say again, "Sir, we actually..."

"No, let's separate them for three days and see how they behave." Teachers can't always give in to these students; otherwise, without authority, they won't be able to control them. A combination of kindness and firmness is needed to get students to listen attentively in class.

With the right balance of approachability and discipline, students won't dislike a teacher, a skill Guan Yin learned from her own teachers.

"Ok."

"Sir, it's our fault, we..."

This time, Guan Yin simply shook his head, and the two children obediently separated. If they weren't allowed to separate for two or three days to calm down, even if they seemed to have reconciled for the time being, they would definitely start fighting again before the afternoon.

Guan Yin was able to give lectures quietly again.

“Sir, I feel like you’re not quite the same as before.”

"Hmm?" The kids actually noticed? Guan Yin wasn't worried they'd say anything out of line. "How is it different?"

"The students couldn't put their finger on what was different; they just felt that it was different."

"So, what do you think of the present compared to the past...?"

Before Guan Yin could finish speaking, the student in front of him spoke up with a hint of restraint: "This student thinks that you are good no matter what, sir."

"Ah."

It was unusually quiet outside the window, and the person who made those harsh remarks yesterday didn't come to cause trouble.

Before him stood a group of obedient students, and he could share some of the principles he wanted them to know in his books. Guan Yin felt quite satisfied—the sunlight outside the window shone through the many obstacles into the room; it wasn't exactly beautiful, but it was very relaxing.