CHAPTER 49: CHAPTER 25: TEACHING AND LEARNING CHARACTERS

At least, even if Mrs. Wang still blamed herself, she knew there were other reasons, and it wasn’t all her fault.

"Young Madam, you’re back!" Liu Ya had finished writing the characters and was reciting the text Sang Wan had taught her yesterday, occasionally looking outside. Seeing her coming in, she quickly put down the book and ran to serve her tea.

"Restless already?" Sang Wan sat down, took the tea, and glared at her.

Liu Ya rubbed her hands together and smiled sheepishly.

Sang Wan knew that changing her temper could not be accomplished overnight, so she shook her head with a smile, "Alright, let’s stop here for today! Show me the characters you’ve written, and put the book away!"

"Ai!" Liu Ya’s eyes brightened, and she happily agreed. Fearing Sang Wan would change her mind, she hurriedly went to bring out the characters she had written, unfolding them like a treasure, "Young Madam, take a look, are they good? I didn’t slack off and wrote all of them!"

Sang Wan laughed at her serious manner, flipping through the pages one by one. Some characters were slanted, some were neat and orderly, but just a bit too orderly. With varying size and thickness, they looked like wooden sticks piled up, amusing to look at.

"What do you think? Didn’t the slave lie?" Liu Ya, seeing the laughter on Sang Wan’s face that could not be suppressed, asked with pride.

"Better than yesterday and the day before!" Sang Wan laughed and closed the pages, putting them aside, "Improving day by day, good job!"

Liu Ya was overjoyed, laughing so hard her eyes almost disappeared, and said hurriedly, "Then, Young Madam, you rest, and I’ll go to the kitchen to see what you’d like to have for dinner tonight!"

Sang Wan couldn’t help but sigh inwardly, knowing that some habits were truly hard to change. Liu Ya had always been restless even when she was in the Sang family. It was difficult for her to stay in this small courtyard all day! No sooner had she put down her book than she was looking for an excuse to get out.

"Go ahead!" Sang Wan smiled helplessly, "Don’t dawdle outside, and don’t wander to other places! Go and come back quickly!"

"Yes, this slave understands!" Liu Ya replied, and hurriedly left.

Sang Wan looked up, seeing Xingzhi staring at Liu Ya’s handiwork with wide eyes, and a smile crept onto her lips.

Xingzhi realized she was being rude and quickly averted her gaze, smiling sheepishly, "Young Madam."

"Can you read?" Sang Wan asked with a smile.

Xingzhi’s eyes dimmed, and she shook her head as she forced a smile, "This slave is just a servant, how can I have such good fortune to read!"

Sang Wan laughed, "That’s nothing to be proud of, isn’t Liu Ya the same as you? Haha, she’s even worse than you!"

Xingzhi’s heart filled with hope and her eyes brightened. She asked hesitantly, "Young Madam... could you...may you..."

"Do you also want to learn to read?" Sang Wan asked for her.

"Yes! If Young Madam doesn’t find this slave too stupid, please teach me too!" Xingzhi immediately knelt down and kowtowed to Sang Wan.

As a first-class maid, her knowledge and vision were above those of other young maids. She had seen Gu Fangzi help the young master a lot because of her literacy. She couldn’t help but think, if she knew how to read, would she have more opportunities when finding a husband? Would she be able to help her husband more and gain his respect and love?

However, she was ultimately a servant and had no right to actively request to learn to read. If she said this out loud, the Master might even think she had ulterior motives and ambitious goals. Especially since she was serving the young master, a single suspicious action would not be forgiven by Miss Wang.

"Quickly, get up!" Sang Wan hurriedly leaned over to help her up, laughing, "This is nothing, you don’t have to kowtow! If you’re willing, you can study with Liu Ya every day!"

Xingzhi was overjoyed, kowtowed again to Sang Wan, gratefully saying, "This slave thanks Young Madam for her grace! Thank you, Young Madam!"

"Alright, alright!" Sang Wan laughed, raising a hand, and seeing Hong Ye’s eagerness, she said, "Do you want to learn too? I don’t mind adding one more, but I can’t handle any more than that!"

Not wanting to miss the opportunity, Hong Ye’s eyes lit up, and she followed Xingzhi’s example, kneeling down and kowtowing to Sang Wan, saying, "Thank you, Young Madam!"