Stirring Up Trouble

"Yun Wan, are these the characters you had Chang Gong and Qing practice writing?"

In the Hall of Longevity, everyone could hear the displeasure in Old Madam Lu's voice.

"Yes."

Lin Yunwan's expression was calm, showing neither fear nor alarm.

Old Madam Lu asked in puzzlement, "When I see ordinary people learning to write, they form each character stroke by stroke. Why do you make them draw horizontal lines every day?"

"Many renowned calligraphers practiced this way."

Lin Yunwan spoke calmly.

Old Madam Lu was only half convinced, though her tone made it seem as if she were asking Lin Yunwan for advice. "What is the principle behind this method?"

Lin Yunwan briefly explained the characteristics of the Bamboo Branch Calligraphy Model and the results it could ultimately achieve.

"They begin with horizontal strokes to get a feel for the pressure of the brush. Afterward, they must train the steadiness and flexibility of their wrists. That is where the real difficulty lies."

There was something even harder?

How else did she intend to make things difficult for Qing?

Old Madam Lu's face darkened. "Where exactly did this method of practicing calligraphy come from?"

"Have you heard of Wang Xizhi?"

"Of course!" Old Madam Lu said. "He was a great calligrapher of the Eastern Jin. Who doesn't know him?"

Lin Yunwan explained at length, "The saying 'the ink penetrates three-tenths of an inch into the wood' comes from a story about Wang Xizhi practicing calligraphy."

"He placed great importance on training his wrist control. When it came to practicing calligraphy, not only was he diligent to the point of obsession, he also drew insights into his practice from the world around him. He once observed the posture of white geese and learned how to move his brush."

"To others, he seemed to be doing strange and peculiar things, but in truth, he was studying his craft with painstaking care."

Only then did Old Madam Lu realize her own ignorance, and she was rather embarrassed.

Lin Yunwan continued, "Our Lin Family ancestors learned this very method of practicing calligraphy."

"Though it looks strange, it is extremely effective."

"If one can persist in practicing day after day, in less than ten years, one's writing can be like that of a great calligrapher, with strokes whose force penetrates the back of the paper, vigorous and seasoned."

"As you have seen, Old Madam, Chang Gong's writing is already beginning to show results."

Old Madam Lu sucked in a breath.

By Lin Yunwan's account, Qing's arduous practice had only just begun, and his hard days still lay ahead.

But the child was already so exhausted that he had fallen ill. There would likely be even more exhausting work ahead. How could that be allowed?

Ge Bao'er was dumbstruck with fright as well.

She had never even heard of this method of practice, and it would take a full ten years!

How was this teaching a child? It was clearly an excuse to mistreat him.

She did not dare leave her son in Lin Yunwan's hands to be put through such an ordeal.

Old Madam Lu looked at Lu Chang'gong's writing, then at Qing's, and could not help asking, "Then can Qing write such beautiful characters now too?"

"No."

Lin Yunwan's answer was far too blunt.

Old Madam Lu sensed that she was being brushed off, and anger flared in her heart. Frowning, she said, "Yun Wan, whether I entrusted the Lu family to you or the two children, I have always felt at ease."

"If you truly don't want to teach Qing, the household won't force you. We can simply hire another teacher. He is a young master of this household. As his legitimate mother, how could you resort to such roundabout means to harm his health and ruin his future?"

In all the years since Lin Yunwan had married into the Lu family, this was the first time Old Madam Lu had made her granddaughter-in-law lose face in front of the servants!

Old Madam was genuinely angry this time.

Fearing the matter would become impossible to settle, Nanny Yan hurried over and urged in a low voice, "Old Madam, when this old servant went to deliver the booklet to Madam late the other night, she was still marking both young masters' assignments. Even if she deserves no credit, she has put in hard work..."

Old Madam Lu's expression did not improve.

Lin Yunwan, however, merely said calmly, "Old Madam, please look at both of their assignments first."

She glanced outside. Sure enough, the two clever maids were already waiting there, along with... Lu Chang'gong!

Why had this child come too?

She looked at him in surprise.

Putting those thoughts aside, Lin Yunwan called, "Tao Ye, come in."

"Yes, Madam."

Tao Ye came in with her arms full of Xuan paper and walked up to Old Madam Lu.

She placed two stacks of Xuan paper of different thicknesses separately on the table.

Old Madam Lu did not understand. "What is this?"

Tao Ye lowered her head. "In answer to Old Madam, these are the assignments the eldest young master and the second young master each practiced in one day."

Old Madam Lu was dumbfounded.

The stack on the left was as thick as a city wall, while the one on the right was hardly thicker than a sheet of toilet paper.

Old Madam Lu first pressed her hand on the thicker stack.

"This..."

Tao Ye said, "Those are precisely what Young Master Chang Gong wrote."

Old Madam Lu's eyes widened.

Lu Chang'gong had written on this many sheets of paper in a single day?

Not to mention Ge Bao'er, even Nanny Yan could not believe it. Both of them looked astonished.

Old Madam Lu kept her face taut and personally leafed through the sheets of Xuan paper.

It had to be said, some people truly were gifted. Even a single horizontal stroke could be drawn with great beauty, and as she turned through the sheets, the improvement was almost visible to the eye.

Her lips moved, but for a long while she could not get a word out.

Lin Yunwan said calmly, "Old Madam, please look at Qing's assignments as well."

Of course, Old Madam Lu had to leaf through those too...

There were fewer than ten sheets, and the difference was also visible to the eye—the horizontal strokes simply had not been drawn by the same person. How could the work of an older servant boy possibly look the same as a child's?

Qing had actually had a servant boy do his assignment for him!

"The teacher opens the door, but the practice is up to the individual. Chang Gong writes well because he has earned that result. If Qing could write as well as Chang Gong... with talent like that, he ought to be my teacher."

Lin Yunwan's bright, beautiful eyes were as calm as still water.

Old Madam Lu, however, sensed mockery.

Her confidence faltered. After a moment's silence, she said, "Even so, you should not have worked Qing until he fell ill. He is only a child, after all."

Lin Yunwan found it laughable. "He fell ill from writing so little? I've never heard of such a thing!"

Just then, a servant woman from the inner gate came to deliver a message. "Old Madam, the physician has finished taking Young Master Qing's pulse."

"How is he?"

Old Madam Lu's heart tightened.

Ge Bao'er's heart rose into her throat as well.

The servant woman faltered. "Young Master Qing, he, he..."

Old Madam Lu said impatiently, "Out with it! How is he? Is it serious? Did he fall ill from exhaustion, or did he catch a chill or come down with a fever?"

"In answer to Old Madam, Young Master Qing isn't ill. The physician said so, not this servant!"

Even the servant woman felt ashamed after saying it.

When the Lu family heard that Young Master Qing was ill, the front and rear courtyards had been thrown into such a commotion that they had summoned five physicians to examine him, only for it to turn out that he was feigning illness!

Everyone was speechless.

"Then why did his servant boy say he was ill from exhaustion?"

Old Madam Lu frowned, utterly unable to understand. Would a mere servant boy really dare deceive her?

The servant woman brought the boy over, and he answered with his legs trembling. "O-Old Madam, Young Master Qing said so himself... This servant only... only..." He had only repeated what Young Master Qing said. How was he to know whether the young master was truly ill or merely pretending?

Old Madam Lu's face turned ashen.

He had feigned illness to shirk his work and even laid the blame on his legitimate mother.

Neither her sons nor her grandsons had ever behaved like this! Not even a son born of a concubine had been so unruly.

How on earth had Ge Bao'er taught Qing before? How had she raised him to be like this?

At this point, Ge Bao'er could no longer contain herself.

What a formidable mistress of the household. After all that talk, she had been blaming everything on a mere child, Qing!

Had she, Lin Yunwan, done nothing wrong at all?

Qing had clearly performed exceptionally well when he studied in the countryside before. Had he somehow changed only after coming under Lin Yunwan's care?

Ge Bao'er stepped forward and said, "Students are all different to begin with. It's nothing unusual for a young student to be playful and naughty. I have heard it said that different students should be taught in different ways. As long as a teacher is willing to put her heart into it, there is no student she cannot teach well."

To put it plainly, Lin Yunwan simply had not been willing to devote herself to teaching him.