Thump, thump, thump!
Just then, someone knocked on the door.
The door was already open, and Tianqing stood at the entrance, carrying a book chest in his hand. His breath was a bit rapid, clearly having hurried all the way. "Jiang Siji, this servant has brought Young Master Lu's school supplies."
Jiang Siji nodded. "Come in."
Tianqing entered the side room, walked over to Lu Shuo, and bent down to take out the brush, ink, paper, inkstone, and books from the book chest, placing them one by one before Lu Shuo. Finally, he said to Jiang Siji, "Please forgive us, Siji. Since the decision was made hastily, the mansion didn't have time to prepare new books for Young Master Lu. These elementary texts were previously used by the Second Young Master, so they are borrowed for now. The Madam said that if you know of better elementary texts on the market that would be more suitable for Young Master Lu, the mansion will go and purchase them."
"I understand," Jiang Siji said. "Elementary texts are mostly the same; it mainly depends on how the teacher instructs. You may leave now. After today's session ends, I will report to the Madam myself."
Tianqing bowed and withdrew.
Lu Shuo no longer had the mind to look at Helan Pei. He stared at the book in front of him and swallowed nervously.
The supplies had arrived, and now it was down to business. Jiang Siji stopped making small talk with Lu Shuo. She casually flipped open a page of the book and said with a smile, "You said you've learned a few characters before? Can you read the content on this page?"
Lu Shuo: "..."
This was terrible; he didn't even recognize the first character.
Seeing him open his mouth and stall, Jiang Siji kindly said, "Skip the ones you don't know. Read as many as you recognize."
Lu Shuo had no choice but to skip the first character and force himself to read the ones he knew: "...Zhong Shang... Mu... An... Ren Ming Yuan... Bai..."
There were about sixty or seventy characters in total, but he recognized only about eleven or twelve.
As he continued reading, he grew more and more ashamed, and his voice became quieter and quieter.
Just when he felt his ears burning, he heard Jiang Siji say, "Not bad, better than I expected. I thought you would only know two or three characters."
Lu Shuo: "..."
He felt a little comforted, but then he heard Jiang Siji's next sentence: "But you misread one character. This is not 'Mu'; it's 'Wu,' meaning 'don't.'"
Lu Shuo's ears immediately burned again.
Jiang Siji closed the book. "Write a couple of characters for me to see."
Lu Shuo had seen others write with a brush, but he had never used one himself. When he learned to recognize characters from the old man in the village, he had traced them on the ground with a stick.
He recalled the process of writing that he had observed, clumsily ground some ink, picked up the brush, dipped it, and tremblingly wrote his name on the paper.
The characters looked ugly, and he knew it. But he didn't know how to hold the brush and couldn't control the pressure.
After he finished, he looked up, embarrassed, waiting for Jiang Siji's evaluation.
Jiang Siji said, "Hmm, as I thought. We'll have to start with brush control. Take it slow from now on..." She suddenly stopped and sniffed hard. "What's that smell?"
She turned her head and saw two heads squeezed together at the window, peering inside. One of them was even munching on a meat bun.
There was also a taller head that, unlike the two shorter ones, didn't lean in too much but stood at a distance, observing with a gaze equally intense, staring fixedly into the room.
Jiang Siji: "... Young Masters, are you also this eager to learn?"
Helan Chang swallowed the bun in his mouth, rubbed his head, and gave an awkward smile. "We were just passing by, just taking a look, taking a look."
Helan Rong shoved Helan Chang aside, looked at Lu Shuo inside the room, and said with a somewhat regretful tone, "Lu Shuo, are you really not coming to the Imperial Academy with us?"
If Tianqing hadn't come to borrow the elementary texts, they wouldn't have known about this at all!
Honestly, why did their parents change their minds so suddenly? They had already prepared to take Lu Shuo to the Imperial Academy and had even fantasized about the two of them acting like adults to have Lu Shuo's back. If anyone dared to bully Lu Shuo, that would be contempt for the Duke Mansion, and they'd quickly give them two punches!
They were supposed to return to the Imperial Academy tomorrow, but now only they were going back to 'prison,' not Lu Shuo!
Was there no justice?
They also wanted to study at home! Only half a day each day, and then they could play!
They were dissatisfied and curious, so they went to tell their eldest brother about it and dragged him along.
"The master and madam's opinion is that the curriculum at the Imperial Academy is a bit too advanced for Little Lu right now. It's better to wait until he has a solid foundation before going," Jiang Siji said leisurely. "If you have any further questions, young masters, you can ask the master and madam."
"I thought it was too early to send him to the Imperial Academy anyway. It's good that our parents changed their minds," said Helan Zhen, standing behind with his hands clasped behind his back. "Is Jiang Siji already having class?"
"There's no class scheduled today; I'm just having a chat with Little Lu for now," Jiang Siji replied.
Helan Zhen said, "Then you two continue your chat." He paused, then looked at Helan Pei, who was sitting inside. "Pei'er, come out for a moment."
Helan Pei bit her lip, put down her book, and stood up to walk out.
In truth, she hadn't read many pages of that book. With an unfamiliar person in the room, she couldn't help but feel unsettled.
Plus, from the start, Lu Shuo had been telling Jiang Siji about his life back in the countryside—how he was bitten by bugs in the mountains, cut by straw in the fields, and how he teased a stray dog only to be chased for two miles... The bugs were brightly colored and could fly, the straw was bundled into stacks like mountains, and the stray dog was scared away by adults holding rocks... Each and every story had captivated her, making it even harder to focus on her book.
As a result, when Lu Shuo's serious business began, she was still thinking about what he had just said, imagining what the biting flying insects looked like, only to end up feeling disgusted and scared. She didn't even notice that three spectators had appeared at the window.
She slowly walked out of the room and came to Helan Zhen's side.
Helan Zhen led her a little farther away and asked in a low voice, "Do you agree to have Lu Shuo study with you?"
Helan Pei nodded.
Helan Zhen said, "Since you agreed, I won't say anything more. If you get along well, having a friend to pass the time isn't bad. But if he affects your studies or offends you in any way, remember to tell our parents. His father did our father a favor, but that doesn't mean we have to tolerate his mistakes—especially when it comes to you. Remember that?"
Helan Pei nodded again.
Helan Zhen reached out and gently adjusted the tiny ribbon that was tangled with a few strands of hair on his sister's head. "Alright, go back inside."