"I teach the young master to study the words of the sages. It requires the principle of heaven rewarding the diligent, the utmost concentration and single - mindedness. The most taboo is to be disturbed by others or lured away by food and play!"
"You deliberately chose the class time to send snacks to the young master. You distracted him, disrupted his focus, and enticed his soul with the sweet smell, making it impossible for him to be undistracted! Tell me, what's your intention?"
The food box crashed into pieces against the porch column. The eight - treasure cakes rolled into the brick cracks and scattered into crumbs on the ground, and the sweet and greasy smell spread.
Pei Yanqi's voice was even colder than the broken porcelain in the corner, as if it came from an ice cellar: "Nanny Chen, if the young master neglects his studies and fails to become a great man in the future, it will all be your fault!"
Nanny Chen shivered at these words and immediately broke out in a cold sweat: "This old servant... This old servant didn't mean that..."
Pei Yanqi's sharp eyes swept across her face like a blade: "If you dare to disturb the young master's class again, I will never forgive you lightly!" After saying that, he slammed the door shut with a "bang", leaving Nanny Chen standing in the yard blushing.
She was ashamed, embarrassed and angry. Her eyes drifted towards the direction of Shiyongzhai, and a hint of malice flashed in them.
Li Wanming...
It was all Li Wanming's fault!
Yesterday, when the young master was beaten, Nanny Chen was extremely distressed. She quickly found the golden sore medicine and wanted to apply it to the young master, but Li Wanming stopped her. She said that the ordinary golden sore medicine only contained pseudo - ginseng and dragon's blood resin, and the effect was not good. Her eldest sister had just prepared a new one with rosin and borneol, which could clear heat and relieve pain and was most suitable for applying on the wound.
Nanny Chen was filled with anger at that time, but she didn't dare to show it.
After class, she quickly took out the begonia cakes that the young master liked most, hoping to comfort the young master's wounded heart, but Li Wanming stopped her again.
Li Wanming said that the begonia cakes were too oily and sugary, and it was not good to eat too much, so she firmly stopped Nanny Chen from sending them in. In the end, it was Li Wanming herself who carried a food box into the Western Courtyard and talked with the young master for a long time...
Nanny Chen was filled with jealousy and hatred, and her heart was full of anger.
Clearly, she was the one who had watched the young master grow up and was his closest nanny! But now, she was like an outsider, unable to say or do anything!
What worried her even more was that after Li Wanming came out of the young master's room, the young master's eyes were different...
That night, after Li Wanming left, she secretly slipped in to comfort the young master. Who would have thought that the young master would say coldly that she was blocking his light and told her to leave quickly and not disturb his writing!
Just listen...
Don't disturb his writing?
— Could this be something the young master would say?
In just one day, Li Wanming had turned the young master into a bookworm who didn't recognize his nanny and was cold - blooded!
...
Nanny Chen stared at the flickering candlelight in the study and the silhouette of Xiao Jingbai writing. Her heart ached:
He had just been beaten with the board yesterday, written for a whole day today, and now he still had to study... and wasn't allowed to eat! Studying from morning till night, it would really exhaust the young master!
Besides the anger, a sense of bitterness welled up in her heart —
When Pei Yanqi scolded her just now, the young master not only didn't plead for her, but also pushed her food box out, as if she really had hindered his studies.
Oh, the young master she had raised since childhood didn't even look at her...
Nanny Chen felt a complex mixture of emotions and was extremely disappointed. Her resentment towards Li Wanming became even deeper.
If it weren't for that woman who had brought Pei Yanqi here, how could the young master have become so estranged from her?
And Pei Yanqi was so inhumane. He must have been instructed by that woman!
No, she had to go to Guiyuan Temple and tell Second Madam everything here. Let Second Madam come back to take charge. Otherwise, after seven days, the situation in the mansion might change!
Hey, if Second Madam knew that the young master had been beaten and starved in the past two days, she would be heart - broken and would surely find a way to deal with Li Wanming.
By then, Li Wanming's good days would be over!
...
"She's going to Guiyuan Temple?"
In Shiyongzhai, Li Wanming gently put down the teacup in her hand and fell into deep thought.
"Yes," Nanny Song stood at one side with her hands folded and replied in a low voice, "This old servant just heard that she is ordering the gatekeeper to prepare the carriage early tomorrow morning."
"Oh..." Li Wanming's fingertips slowly slid across the pattern on the cup rim, and she looked up at the sky outside.
The night was dark, and the clouds were as black as ink.
The moon was completely covered, not even a ray of light leaking out. It was just early summer, but the air was filled with stuffiness, and even the wind seemed to be frozen, making it hard to breathe.
"It seems that there will be a heavy rain."
Li Wanming murmured softly, and a faint smile appeared on her lips. "Let her go."
A glint of mischief flashed in her eyes. "However, we can make a little modification to the wheels of that carriage..."
————————
The next day, it rained cats and dogs, and it didn't stop until evening.
After Pei Yanqi finished his class, Li Wanming usually would have invited him to stay for dinner, but he said that since the heavy rain had just stopped and the air was fresh, he wanted to go out for a walk.
Li Wanming noticed that his eyes kept looking towards the direction of Liu's Silk Store. She knew that he would take a stroll there before going home every day, but she didn't expose him. She just pursed her lips and smiled, then turned around and went back to Jujing Hall.
On the octagonal table, the aroma of emerald celery shoots and honey - roasted ham rose slowly. The fresh okra was dressed with sesame oil, and there were fresh fruits and vegetables in the celadon bowls.
Li Wanming had specifically ordered the kitchen to remove all the sweet and greasy food before. Each meal only consisted of vegetables and meat, with staple food and some soup for replenishing qi and blood.
At first, the little maid in the Western Courtyard was very worried: "The young master likes sweet snacks and iced plum soup the most. He won't eat without sweets. Now that they're all removed, I'm afraid he..."
Li Wanming said indifferently: "He doesn't eat because he's not hungry. The young master's eating habits have become like this because you've spoiled him too much. It's okay. From now on, eat regularly and in a fixed amount. He'll get used to it."
As a result, after two days, Xiao Jingbai ate more deliciously than anyone else.
Could he not?
On the first day, he was hungry for two meals and only had dinner at the Xu hour.
On the second day, he copied books for a whole day without a single snack in between. He took a short nap in the afternoon and then continued with his class in the evening...
He was a twelve - or thirteen - year - old boy, at the stage of growing up. His appetite was originally not small. Before, he refused to eat properly simply because there were too many snacks at hand.
Now that all the snacks were cut off and his stomach was empty, of course he was as hungry as a wolf when it was time to eat...
Seeing Xiao Jingbai gobbling up his food, the maids in the mansion widened their eyes in surprise, as if they had seen something incredible.