The Empress’ Livestream

The Liu family school was very different from what Jiang Pengji had imagined. There were no more than 30 pupils, and their ages ranged from three to 15. It reminded her of her own school life.

Dazhuangzu Furen: “This is what schools looked like during the ancient times? The conditions seem poor, and there are not many children. I wonder what the teacher is like.”

Fenhai Kuangju: “This was the best they had at that time. The cost of education was exorbitant because of low literacy rates and an insufficient number of instructors. The family school provided most things that one could hope for in that era. After all, the main expenditures were covered by the house.”

The costs of teachers and learning materials were unaffordable for most people.

Jiang Pengji sat down and took out paper that Taxue and Xunmei, close attendants of hers, had cut to a suitable size. As she prepared ink on her desk before the teacher arrived, the other pupils wasted no time fixing what they done the day before.

Mofashaonu Afeng: “Haha. It feels like students in every century need to study by themselves before class in the morning.”

Meishaonu Zhanshi Ayuan: “That is right! It is no different from us.”

Jiang Pengji attracted attention from the other students. She chose to sit in the back of the room even though the best seats were in the front row. Her materials were also different from the other students’. While they used heavy, bulky rolls of bamboo slips, she wrote on bamboo paper that was scarce and pricey. It agitated the children to see her bad handwriting ruining the lavish paper.

At last someone spoke all of their thoughts. “Ha-ha, Cousin Xi! I have not seen you in a year! Yet your calligraphy is as ugly as it’s always been.”

Jiang Pengji looked up at the speaker who was casting a shadow over her desk. It was her cousin, the legitimate son of Master Liu’s illegitimate younger brother.

She understood now from Liu Lanting’s memories why she never liked the family school. She would feel the same if she had experienced the unhappy events that took place there.

Liu Lanting had stayed in the family school until she was eight years old; after that, she began learning at home. Between the ages of four to eight, Lanting became more and more introverted. Her fear of interacting with others deepened, and she could not look at others without uncertainty and anxiety because of the bullying that had happened at family school.

It seemed as though the kids were born with an instinct to flatter their superiors and bully the weak. Liu Lanting was an easy target because of her small figure and shyness. Her cheeks blushed when she talked to others, and her timidity assured the bullies that she would not dare tell anyone what they did to her.

Although they belonged to the same house, some children from poorer backgrounds envied the variety of her clothes and the quality of her writing supplies, and they took their jealousy out on her.

They bullied her by mocking and excluding her from their circle of friends. But because Liu Lanting was too young at that time, she did not understand their sneers and taunts.

Her unaffected manner irritated her peers, and the situation gradually worsened. At first they took away her tools. Then they began verbally insulting her, saying that she would be abandoned as soon as her stepmother had her own children. In the end there was “violence,” which involved pushing Liu Lanting into a pond near the school, causing her to injure her forehead.

When her stepmother learned about the incident, she hurried to the school and criticized the teachers and parents. To express her disappointment at the family, she withdrew all the subsidies that she had given for purchasing brushes and ink sticks. The quality materials had been ordered from a shop that had become her property when she married Master Liu.

To regain the benefits, the parents of the bullies visited Liu Lanting’s house to express their apologies.

Jiang Pengji thought that being poor or ignorant was never an excuse to hurt others.

After searching through Lanting’s memories, she recognized the cousin who had approached her. He was one of the bullies, and Liu Lanting only saw him at festivals such as the one on the New Year.

And what did just he say? Was he laughing at her handwriting?

Toudu Feiqiu: “(Laughed.) Host, how do you feel about your writing being mocked?”

Baihe Saigao: “She must be thinking, ‘you dumb ass! I have just practiced for a few hours, what about you?’”

Jiang Pengji glimpsed at the livestream interface, which made it seem like she was ignoring the cousin. To retaliate, he sat in front of her with his legs placed comfortably straight before him. This was a very disrespectful way to sit during the ancient times. He was excited about humiliating his Cousin Xi again.

He added, “You should have work hard at home with your teacher. Read more, play less. How angry will your father be when he sees your handwriting and finds out you have neglected your studies!”

She examined him and then replied slowly, “I will be fine. My father may even praise me after visiting you, for judgment is often the result of comparison.”

Huh? What did she mean?

Both the cousin and the audience were perplexed.

“My cousin,” she continued slowly. “Mosquitoes in the third month are not that large.”

Mosquitoes? The cousin did not understand until his eyes followed Jiang Pengji’s gaze. His face immediately reddened, and he awkwardly pulled up his collar as he gawked at her with anger and embarrassment.

“I bet your companion loves your handsome face,” she said mischievously. “You had better ask for sick leave if you are not feeling well today. It is not polite to move your thighs restlessly as you sit, let alone to sit with your legs straight.”

As she finished her sentence, the instructor arrived. The cousin was too surprised to change his pose on the floor, and the sight incensed the teacher, who almost blew away his beard out of indignation.

“You impudent fool!”

“Ma… Master?”

Jiang Pengji took out her bamboo slip rolls as if nothing had happened. Sometimes she browsed through the bullet screens during the lesson.

Baihe Saigao: “Can somebody explain what happened just now? All I saw was the teen coming to mock the host, and then he was lectured by the master… Wow, I never imagined that ancient scholars would have such a sharp tongue!”