"What? Cheating in an exam? Cutting class? And refusing to be disciplined?"
In this private school called the Mingde Hall, Jiang Wang stood torn between shock and fury.
He had been uneasy ever since yesterday, when An'an said her tutor wanted to see her guardian. It had been all too easy to connect that to Fang Zehou's threat. If the Fang family resorted to petty tricks — say, using their connections to have An'an expelled from the school she attended — he genuinely had no way to fight it. He had even prepared himself to hire a private tutor for An'an out of his own pocket.
But rack his brains as he might, he had never imagined that Jiang An'an's tutor wanted to see him because, in truth, Jiang An'an had simply been behaving badly.
Jiang Wang felt a sense of profound absurdity. When a tutor taught, striking palms, standing pupils in the corner, and making them copy texts were all common enough — no tutor ever claimed there was a student they could not handle. Had not he himself, Jiang Wang, been made to copy Dao scripture over and over under the watchful eye of Xiao the Iron-Face, even after being admitted into the academy's Inner Court?
How terrible, how disobedient would a student have to be for the tutor to summon her guardian?
"Take a look." The old master of the Mingde Hall tossed over a stack of copybooks. "I punished her by making her copy the Thousand Character Classic. See what she actually wrote."
Jiang Wang received them with both hands, looked, and was about to say there was nothing wrong — the contents were indeed the Thousand Character Classic. But he soon realized: the contents were indeed correct, yet the handwriting shifted through seven or eight different styles.
In other words, even the copying the tutor had set as punishment, Jiang An'an had completed by cheating.
Jiang Wang wanted only to cover his eyes. He could not bear to look. When Xiao the Iron-Face had made him copy the Dao canon a hundred times, it had never even occurred to him to ask for help — he had copied it out honestly, character by character, himself, through so many sleepless nights!
How was it that this Jiang An'an's mind ran so lively?
"She cheated on the exam too?" Jiang Wang asked, his voice trembling.
"In the little test she wrote answers for someone else, and I caught her red-handed." At this point the old master's voice rose sharply. "She can't even pass her own exam! What right has she to that!"
Jiang An'an was standing right there beside him, her little head hanging low, wearing a pitiful look as though she braced herself for punishment. But those big eyes kept stealing glances at Jiang Wang's face, and each time he looked back, she would swiftly turn her gaze away.
There was also a little girl in the room, who at that moment was lounging sloppily in a reclining chair, playing with her fingers. Presumably this was the classmate who had asked Jiang An'an to help her cheat... and the girl's attitude was far too brazen!
Her looks were genuinely fine — skin smooth as congealed fat, delicate brows and eyes. Though she had not yet grown into herself, one could already see the makings of a beauty. The only flaw was that her little nose tilted high in the air, looking altogether too proud. Everything she wore and adorned was worth no small sum — a veritable little she-devil born to stir up trouble.
And after all... could a good, studious child be expected to rely on Jiang An'an, who failed her own exams, to cheat for her?
Jiang Wang told himself to stay calm. His little sister was shy, quiet, self-possessed, lovable — surely there must be some misunderstanding... Misunderstanding, my foot! The evidence was ironclad!
Jiang Wang seized Jiang An'an and turned to stride outside. "Come home with me!"
So it was said: an eldest brother is as a father, and a father bears the fault of a child untaught. He decided that today was the time to display a guardian's authority. How had that timid, shrinking little girl become like this in only a few months? He resolved to give her a proper thrashing — at least ten smacks on the palm. Getting spanked in the schoolhouse would be too humiliating, so he had to bring her home to do it.
Hmm... three smacks, then. Three was vicious enough; it would sting for a long while.
At that moment the little she-devil leapt up and waved a hand, piping crisply: "Goodbye, An'an!"
With one hand held by Jiang Wang as she walked out, Jiang An'an had long since sensed the danger and had been keeping her head demurely low for some time. Now, hearing her friend's call, her other hand timidly rose, ready to wave in reply...
Jiang Wang pulled hard and cut short this farewell of friendship.
A few steps from the Mingde Hall, heading south along Xuanwu Street, one would pass the Cai Family Mutton Shop. When she caught the aroma of mutton, Jiang An'an deliberately coughed. In the past, a single look from her — or even just a sniffle — would make Jiang Wang stop and lead her inside.
But today Jiang Wang pulled her along and walked straight past, eyes fixed ahead.
And so Jiang An'an understood: her brother was truly angry.
Turning left up ahead, they entered Green Wood Avenue; going east along Green Wood Avenue to its end would bring them to Flying Horse Lane. In Flying Horse Lane lay their home.
"Brother..." Jiang An'an called out.
But Jiang Wang made no sound.
"Brother..." Jiang An'an gently tugged at Jiang Wang's hand.
Jiang Wang let out a snort through his nose, to show his cold detachment.
At that moment they happened to reach their doorstep. Jiang An'an said eagerly: "Brother, let me open the door! I brought the key!"
But Jiang Wang opened the lock himself, pushed open the courtyard gate, released the hand that had been holding An'an all along, and his voice was deliberately cold: "Go in."
He could not let Jiang An'an think this matter could be glossed over so easily. A child of four or five was precisely at the age when a character was slowly being formed; he had to teach her a lesson.
Jiang An'an's little hand brushed against Jiang Wang's, and when she saw he truly had no intention of holding it again, she let it droop disconsolately.
But then, as though remembering something, she perked up and darted ahead all at once.
Jiang Wang followed her into the bedroom, where he saw Jiang An'an making straight for her little bed.
He was about to shout at her to stop. In the past, whenever Jiang An'an faced something she did not want to do, she would flop onto the bed and cry out, "Oh, I'm so sleepy, I'm fast asleep," and slip easily out of any trouble.
But Jiang An'an suddenly crouched low, and her tiny body dove with a bound right under the bed.
Do you think hiding under the bed will keep me from reaching you? Jiang Wang was almost amused into laughing. He casually grabbed the broom by the door and blocked the front of Jiang An'an's little bed.
But An'an soon scrambled out again. She was clutching a small wooden box, and after having rubbed around under the bed for a while, her little face was already covered in dust.
Raising this old, plain little wooden box high in both hands, she chirped happily: "This is for you!"
Jiang Wang leaned the broom against the cabinet nearby and, taking the box with mingled trust and doubt, asked: "What's this?"
He opened the little wooden box, and there caught sight of the heap of stacked silver, red gold, pearls, and more — a dazzle of riches.
Jiang Wang's heart suddenly clenched as if gripped by something. Holding the box in one hand, his voice was already stern beyond anything before: "Where did this come from?"
Jiang An'an had never seen such an expression on her brother's face. She panicked at once, puckering her lips and wailing: "I... I earned it!"
"Earned it?" Jiang Wang's hands were trembling. "Earned it where? How?"
He flung the wooden box to the floor with a great crash. "Speak!"
The gold, the silver, the pearls scattered everywhere before them.
Jiang An'an was terrified. She burst into loud tears: "Helping classmates with their tests..."
"Helping classmates with their tests earns this much money?"
Jiang An'an sobbed: "Qingzhi... Qingzhi is very rich. When I help her with tests, she gives me money."
Jiang Wang felt the heart that had been dangling high in his chest slowly settle back down.
He began to regret it — a moment ago his manner had been far too fierce.
He crouched down, bracing both hands on Jiang An'an's small shoulders. She was like a piece of exquisite porcelain, as though, if one did not take care in protecting her, she would shatter.
"Since when has our family needed you to earn money?" He looked at her, reaching out to wipe away her tears. "Your brother has money — plenty of it. Do you understand?"
Jiang An'an kept blubbering: "Didn't you borrow money from that pale-faced one to buy the house? Borrowed money has to be repaid..."
Jiang Wang suddenly remembered — the day he went to Zhao Rucheng to ask for silver and a courtyard, he had carried An'an with him.
Poor little An'an. Her little box, her heart carefully cradled in her palms — the moment it was dashed to the ground, how much did it hurt her?
Jiang Wang looked at her, tears streaming down her dusty face, washing out a base of white like snow.
Jiang Wang's nose stung.
His heart suddenly softened beyond measure, and shattered into a thousand hopeless pieces.
...
...
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