Cui Hualuan’s face turned pale at the question. She lowered her head, not daring to look directly into Madam Qin’s eyes.

“Of the noble daughters who have emerged from the Cui clan, if not a thousand then certainly hundreds, and most have lived up to their reputation.” Madam Qin stared at her intently without the slightest retreat. “Only you have a hollow appearance, falsely bearing the empty name of a model maiden. How do you look now like a young lady from a respectable household who has received good upbringing and knows propriety and right from wrong? You’ve disgraced the Cui family, and you’ve disgraced me. Having taught a student like you, I’m ashamed to face my own teacher.”

These words were spoken too harshly. Cui Hualuan looked up at Madam Qin in disbelief, feeling as though a layer of skin had been cruelly stripped from her face. There was already a faint taste of rust in her mouth.

“I never married in my life.” As Madam Qin spoke, her voice finally softened, looking at the young lady in the prime of her youth before her. “But I don’t feel I’m lacking anything, nor do I feel that not marrying makes me inferior to other women. There are countless people in this world, and countless ways to live. To transform yourself beyond recognition for the sake of a man—in my view, nothing could be more foolish. This principle, I remember teaching you in the beginning.”

“Teaching through words and example—I believe I’ve achieved these four characters.” Madam Qin looked at her, slowly reaching out to take her calligraphy copybook. After looking it over once, she threw it on the ground. She turned to order Danzhu, “Take it out and burn it. Such sharp characters filled with jealousy—keeping them would only sear people’s eyes.” After Danzhu left, she turned back to look at Cui Hualuan again. “Why must you compare yourself to Sixth Miss Song? Even if she truly doesn’t act like a young lady of a great family, so what? Must you follow her example? Why would you follow her example? Because His Highness the Crown Prince likes her? Hualuan, you’re a clever girl. Ask yourself—why are you so angry and jealous? It has nothing to do with Sixth Miss Song. Even if it were some other young lady who gained the Crown Prince’s favor, you’d still hate her just the same, even if that person was inferior to you in every way. Emotion can destroy a person. If you make yourself unrecognizable for the sake of a man, that would be truly disgraceful.”

Madam Qin stood up, looking at the now-trembling Cui Hualuan. “That you like His Highness the Crown Prince—there’s nothing shameful about that in itself. But when you went to Yangquan, why did you first go ask Sixth Miss Song for her thoughts? When has this world ever cared about women’s thoughts? You simply wanted to force Sixth Miss Song, to get a definite answer from her mouth. But you’ve been raised since childhood with the same education as your brothers. Don’t you know that many matters aren’t things Sixth Miss Song herself can decide? When she said she didn’t know, that many things weren’t for her to decide—this wasn’t a lie. You clearly knew that if the Empress, the Crown Princess, or His Highness the Crown Prince—any one of them—had intentions, it wouldn’t be something Sixth Miss Song could avoid. Yet you deliberately targeted the one person who couldn’t make the decision… Cui Hualuan, you’ve grown quite capable…”

Cui Hualuan’s face flushed red with shame. The last shred of dignity was ruthlessly stripped away by Madam Qin. She looked up at Madam Qin once, her hands on the small table clenched so tightly that the veins stood out.

“Tomorrow I’ll go take my leave from Old Madam. I’m incompetent and cannot properly teach the Cui Manor’s legitimate eldest daughter. I’ll ask her to select another renowned teacher for you.” Madam Qin glanced at her coldly and rose to leave.

By the time Madam Qin had spoken her first sentence, only Danzhu remained in the room. At this moment, Cui Hualuan couldn’t care what Danzhu thought. Biting her lip, she quickly stood up, took two rapid steps, and grasped Madam Qin’s sleeve.

She slowly bit her lip, her eyes red, but she no longer cried. Looking at Madam Qin, she admitted her fault with complete sincerity. “I was wrong… Teacher, I was wrong. Please teach me.”

Madam Qin looked at her for a long while. Seeing her open and honest, not avoiding her gaze, she paused for half a moment before moving to sit back in her original place.

Cui Hualuan breathed a sigh of relief and immediately knelt across from her.

“I don’t have anything more to teach you. The principles you should know, you already know.” Seeing Cui Hualuan’s expression change as she was about to speak, Madam Qin raised her hand to stop her, her tone softening. “That you truly like the Crown Prince—there’s nothing shameful about that. Although I’ve never married or loved anyone, I’ve never felt that marriage was such a bad thing. As I said before, each person has their own way of living. But that you lack confidence in yourself and blame others—that is your fault.”

She rapped on the table, causing Cui Hualuan to look up, and stared directly at her. “You should go tell Old Madam and your mother plainly what you’re thinking. Although they’ve previously hinted to you about wanting you to become Crown Princess, that’s only their idea, not His Highness the Crown Prince’s. You should at least ask what he thinks.”

Cui Hualuan lowered her head. Her grandmother had been angry with her before over the Yangquan matter. After returning, she had deliberately avoided, snubbed, and isolated Song Chuyi…

“Old Madam is a wise person. She can see through what you’re thinking. She’s always been especially tolerant of you because your parents aren’t by your side. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been able to go to Yangquan.” Madam Qin laughed once. “But why would you rather listen to Miss Kong’s instigation than have a heart-to-heart talk with your grandmother?”

Cui Hualuan’s head shot up to look at Madam Qin, not understanding how Madam Qin knew even this. She clasped her hands together, hesitating for a long while before lowering her head. “You’re right. I was blinded by anger and jealousy. Thinking about it now, even if it’s as Miss Kong said—that His Highness the Crown Prince risked his life to save Xiaoyi—that was still His Highness the Crown Prince’s own choice.”

“Exactly. In this matter you can’t blame anyone.” Madam Qin nodded decisively. “You should go have a proper talk with Old Madam Cui. She’s been waiting for you for quite some time.”

Cui Hualuan sat alone in a daze for a long time. It wasn’t until the sun gradually moved westward that she finally turned to call Danzhu, who had been so quiet she seemed almost non-existent, and softly instructed her, “Go tell Little Nanny Xu to select the embroidered pouches and handkerchiefs prepared for Sister Huaying. I’ll go over tomorrow.”

Although Cui Huayi was her younger sister, she had come representing the intentions of Yu Shi and Cui Huaying. Her earlier words had been very rude behavior.

Danzhu responded with a relieved “Yes” and left with light, quick steps.

Cui Hualuan stood up again and carefully examined all her calligraphy from the past two days. She reached out and rolled them all up. Her teacher was right—her heart had been improper, and even her characters had become ugly.

Author’s Note: Updates have started again. I saw a comment saying that the only difference between Cui Hualuan and Chen Mingyu is that the Cui family pulled her away from the fire pit. Actually, there’s another difference—Cui Hualuan’s heart is fundamentally not wicked.