Her vision darkened. Tie Ci’s smooth words seemed to transform into solid bricks, smashing her brains to mush. From the look of things, if she didn’t admit it, there would surely be more words to come, determined to obliterate all the advantages she had scraped together over the past decades.
She could only grip Tie Ci’s sleeve tighter, avoiding the crowd’s mocking gazes, suppressing her inner hatred, and say in a low voice: “Then… let’s go inside to discuss this.”
Tie Ci had been waiting for these words. He dusted off his sleeve and followed her inside. Once the door closed, it cut off the view from outside.
The supervisor’s wife looked dispirited, still trying to bargain: “…Five taels, how about it? But you mustn’t say a word about this to anyone…”
Tie Ci stared at her and smiled: “I find it very strange that madam usually uses the supervisor’s banner to gain benefits, but when I actually came to your door, you haven’t once used the supervisor’s influence to pressure me.”
The supervisor’s wife twitched her lips, forcing herself to say: “I’m not that lowly.”
Tie Ci laughed inwardly. “Oh, I thought madam and the supervisor had marital discord and couldn’t use him for leverage, actually fearing he would learn about these affairs of yours.”
The supervisor’s wife looked even more uncomfortable: “No such thing!”
She shifted uneasily, but after a while couldn’t help saying: “He labors day and night for the academy. His monthly salary is meager, and occasionally he has to help some poor souls. All the household affairs, the expenses above and below—isn’t it all my responsibility…”
She looked dejected as she reached for the silver, but Tie Ci suddenly said: “If madam is truly in such straits, then I won’t take this silver.”
The supervisor’s wife hadn’t expected this sudden turn, and was immediately overjoyed.
“I only want madam to help me with one small favor.”
“Speak, speak!”
“I heard my late aunt had considerable dealings with madam in her early years. Now the family wants to build a memorial hall for aunt and needs some of her belongings. I wonder if madam still has any here?”
The supervisor’s wife looked somewhat surprised, then averted her gaze: “You must have heard wrong. I didn’t have much contact with your aunt.”
“Didn’t aunt meet with madam on the day she departed?”
“No such thing! I didn’t see her that day! I only went after she died to…”
The supervisor’s wife realized her slip and suddenly stopped speaking.
“To what?”
“To… to help handle the funeral arrangements!”
“Then stole the hair ornament from the jewelry box.”
“You’re talking nonsense! There was nothing in that box…”
The supervisor’s wife stopped again.
Tie Ci tapped on the small table.
“Take it out,” she said. “Must I publicly declare that you once stole my aunt’s belongings before you’re satisfied?”
The supervisor’s wife dawdled for a long while before going to the inner room and bringing out a box.
“There’s nothing inside, just an empty box.”
The box was a jewelry case made of ebony inlaid with mother-of-pearl, not particularly valuable but very exquisite, except for one piece of mother-of-pearl that was slightly raised, as if about to fall off.
Inside was indeed empty, but Tie Ci knew there must have been other jewelry inside, all sold or melted down by this old woman.
This box was particularly exquisite—probably she had wanted to keep it for appreciation, so she preserved it.
Before Tie Ci left the valley, she had carefully asked He Zi what belongings his wife had left. He Zi had listed them one by one, and Tie Ci noticed there seemed to be a jewelry box missing.
There was a jewelry box among the belongings, which was why it hadn’t been noticed before. But He Zi had mentioned a hair ornament he had once given his beloved wife, which she wore when she took her own life. That hair ornament was very long, but the jewelry box buried with her was a very small, delicate one that could only hold some earrings and short hairpins.
Neither He Zi nor the male relatives from her family who came to arrange the burial would notice such details.
But Tie Ci was certain that since it was a hair ornament the wife cherished, there must have been a larger jewelry box to store it.
So where had that jewelry box gone?
She knew that women often liked to hide small secrets in their jewelry boxes. So she wanted to find this jewelry box first—there might be clues.
At that time, He Zi’s courtyard was adjacent to both the current headmaster’s and supervisor’s residences.
After hearing about the supervisor’s wife’s behavior and that she had envied this hair ornament, she wondered if it was possible that this money-loving supervisor’s wife with no moral boundaries would have taken the box.
After all, when the incident had just occurred, the room must have been chaotic. The neighboring ladies would certainly have come to help, and taking advantage of the confusion would be perfectly normal for the supervisor’s wife.
So she had made plans to find the supervisor’s wife, just hadn’t expected the two maids to pave the way by doing manual labor first. She might as well take this opportunity to extort the supervisor’s wife, then let her off easy when she felt sorry about the money, in exchange for answers.
She approached by asking for aunt’s belongings, and the supervisor’s wife, feeling guilty, immediately panicked.
When she casually mentioned that He Zi’s wife had met with the supervisor’s wife on the day she died, the supervisor’s wife instinctively denied it, naturally leading her thoughts to what she had actually done that day.
After just two sentences, Tie Ci knew she had guessed correctly.
Having obtained the box, she wasn’t in a hurry to leave, and said again: “I heard madam used to enjoy going to the library to read. My aunt also liked going there. Did you ever discuss literature together?”
“Your aunt did indeed like going to the library, enjoyed reading and writing there. I’m a crude person—I had nothing to say to her. She usually stayed on the second floor, I only on the first. Oh yes, on the day your aunt took her own life, she went to the library early in the morning.”
For the sake of ten taels of silver, the supervisor’s wife answered quite readily.
“Did she go alone?”
“She went alone, but when she came out there was someone beside her, though I didn’t see clearly who it was.”
“Could it have been Lady Zhu?”
“That couple is very loving. Lady Zhu always personally attends to her husband’s washing and breakfast in the morning, then goes back to sleep. She wouldn’t appear there in the morning.”
“By the way, does madam know who was best at copying back then?”
“I don’t understand such romantic matters. It’s just that copying skills weren’t particularly special at the academy. Most people could do it, like Rong Luchuan was skilled at copying famous paintings.”
“What’s interesting about copying paintings? If it were me, I’d copy the instructor’s handwriting and give myself a few excellent grades.”
“Your method is nothing. Back then the headmaster wasn’t as gentle as he is now—he was quite unstable. He once learned He’s handwriting and replied to letters for his good friend, asking to marry the man’s daughter, nearly causing discord between He and his wife. Later He beat him up…” The supervisor’s wife rambled on for a while, then suddenly stopped: “Old affairs, nothing worth discussing.”
Tie Ci didn’t pursue it further, said a few casual words, and fearing the supervisor’s wife might think too much and guess she was investigating Lady He’s cause of death, she took her leave.
She wasn’t afraid of the supervisor’s wife telling the supervisor about this. It wasn’t anything glorious—if she really told the supervisor, for the sake of reputation, he would inevitably punish the old woman. She wasn’t that stupid.
Although the supervisor’s wife had lost the box, it wasn’t particularly valuable, so she was quite satisfied and saw them out with smiles.
The crowd was still watching and waiting. Seeing the two go in with swords drawn and come out in harmony, they were all very puzzled.
That old woman had always been money-loving and unforgiving when in the right, yet now after such a big loss she was so happy?
Had she drunk that young man’s bewitching potion?
Tie Ci heard someone say she was wicked again.
She smiled and bowed farewell with perfect courtesy. When passing by the half-built courtyard wall, she lightly patted it with her hand.
Then she left with her maids in high spirits.
The crowd was about to disperse in boredom, and the supervisor’s wife spat and was about to go inside, when suddenly there was a tremendous crash and everyone turned back in alarm.
They saw the just-built wall collapse thunderously, broken bricks and stones scattered across the ground.
And the supervisor’s wife stood there with disheveled hair, covered in dust, looking bewildered.
“…”
On the way back, Tie Ci walked in front while the two maids followed behind.
Chi Xue finally caught up and grabbed her hem with an apologetic smile: “Young master… young master… don’t be angry anymore…”
Tie Ci looked at her expressionlessly. Chi Xue lowered her head under the gaze and stammered: “Young master… I was wrong. I thought you needed to establish relations with the supervisor’s wife, and since she approached us, why not go with the flow? I was afraid that if we offended…”
“Offense is offense. Why must you humble yourselves so? Or do you lack confidence in me, thinking I’m incapable of solving problems?”
Chi Xue solemnly bowed: “Yes, this servant was mistaken.”
Only then did Tie Ci’s anger fade. She actually wasn’t truly angry, nor did she think her dignity was particularly precious. She wasn’t upset about the two maids acting on their own either. It was just that Chi Xue and Dan Shuang had grown up with her like sisters and were extremely important people in her heart. She didn’t need them to instill in themselves the sacrificial concept of “when the master is humiliated the servant dies.” Not even for small matters.
She feared that if such things became habitual, one day they would be driven by this mindset to choose sacrifice when she didn’t know about it.
She would rather struggle forward alone than lose any of the people she cared about.
Dan Shuang came up and handed her a hot paper package: “Young master, here.”
The class bell had already rung and there was no food left in the dining hall. Tie Ci had been prepared to go hungry. She opened the package with some pleasant surprise—inside were snow-white, fluffy steamed buns with pork and scallion filling that oozed oil when bitten.
“That old woman is stingy with others but treats herself well. I stole these from her kitchen while you two were arguing.”
Tie Ci laughed and began dividing the three buns in the package, one for each person.
Neither maid declined. The three of them each held a bun, eating greedily under the dappled shade of early summer trees.
The girls’ eyes held laughing light, and hurried passersby couldn’t help but look twice.
Tie Ci finished eating and hurried to class, but was already late, running into the instructor at the door.
This morning’s class was mathematics, a subject that had never received much attention.
The imperial examinations had a mathematics section, but firstly, it had limited requirements for students and few people could study mathematics; secondly, in the examinations literary composition was supreme while mathematics was considered inferior, and those who passed initially received low official ranks of only ninth grade lower class. Therefore, except for those who truly enjoyed it, most people found the subject both difficult and useless, with little interest.
However, He Zi had established mathematics standards for academy students back then. He had always been dedicated to educating students to become practical talents who understood both the Four Books and Five Classics as well as practical affairs. Failing mathematics affected grading, outstanding student selections, and so forth.
The mathematics teacher was an old man with a goatee. Judging by his robes, he was a rank lower than the previous two, only an assistant instructor. He walked with such wind that he nearly collided with Tie Ci’s three-step stride. Tie Ci quickly moved aside, but the old man stopped and shooed her along like herding ducks: “Late and still dawdling!”
Tie Ci looked at her own long legs, strongly disagreeing with the term “dawdling.” She picked up her pace and left, the old man’s eyes blurred as her figure vanished.
The lecture hall was somewhat chaotic, everyone discussing something, but when they saw Tie Ci enter, voices stopped immediately, falling into eerie silence.
Tie Ci walked toward her seat under sunflower-like gazes, secretly wary of such intense attention.
She had expected new trouble, but nothing happened along the way. Her originally uneven seat had been repaired to be perfectly flat, and the desk and chair had been freshly wiped, gleaming brightly. When Tie Ci looked down, she could see her neighbors’ necks stretched out fox-like in the table’s reflection.
When she turned back, those necks snapped back like springs, some looking at books, others lowering their heads.
Tie Ci tapped on the desk—an unconscious thinking gesture—and everyone jumped in fright.
Tie Ci: “…”
Yesterday fierce tigers, today quails—why this change from arrogance to humility?
Naturally it was the achievement of verbal battles, fistfights, dead snakes, and wolf packs.
The goateed old man entered and said: “Get up! All get up! What are you sleeping for in broad daylight! You’re truly the laziest dormitory I’ve ever taught!”
He distributed printed test papers with swishing sounds: “Let me test you to refresh your minds!”
Tie Ci had just wanted to rest her head on the desk when the papers landing around her woke her with a start. For a moment she almost thought she had somehow transmitted back to the high school campus her master had once described to her.
Papers were passed from front to back, everyone around her sighing with dark circles under their eyes, while the teacher threw chalk from the podium, accurately hitting every person secretly cursing him as an idiot.
The goateed man looked at Tie Ci with disapproval: “You, Ye Shiba, right? The one who’s caused nothing but trouble since arriving. I don’t care about other things, but today I’m going to carefully teach you about respecting teachers! If you can’t solve today’s paper, don’t think of fooling me with anything else—get out of my lecture hall immediately!”
Tie Ci felt somewhat alarmed. She had encountered various types of great scholars, but had never seen this small pepper type.
Opening the paper, students around her began crying.
“There is a field 2 li wide and 2 li long. How much field is there?”
“There is a field 12 bu wide and 14 bu long. How much field is there?”
“There is a leg of 4 chi and hypotenuse of 5 chi. What is the base?”
“There is a square pond 1 zhang across, with reeds growing in the center, extending 1 chi above water. When the reed is pulled to the shore, it exactly reaches the bank. What are the water depth and reed length?”
“There is a well 5 chi in diameter, depth unknown. A 5-chi wooden pole is erected above the well. Looking from the pole’s top toward the water’s edge, it enters the diameter by 4 cun. How deep is the well?”
…
Tie Ci’s lips twitched.
Someone beside her was secretly watching.
The betting wasn’t over—they all feared she would get another excellent score.
She turned down the corners of her mouth, striving to make it look genuine and dejected.
Sighs of relief came from all around.
The goateed man stared at her with burning eyes and smiled smugly.
Today’s problems included the Pythagorean theorem—let this arrogant brat cry while turning in his paper.