Chapter 101 [Extra Chapter] Jiang Family Jiang Mian "Greetings, Junior Sister."...
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Chapter 3 [Extra Chapter] Jiang Family Jiang Mian "Greetings, Junior Sister."...
Upon hearing that Mr. Li had arrived, Jiang Mian immediately hid. Her intuition told her that Mr. Li was definitely not there to speak well of her to her mother.
Jiang He invited Mr. Li into the study, and the two talked for a long time. Although Jiang Mian was curious, she was also afraid of being discovered by her mother for eavesdropping, and that she would get a good spanking.
Spanking hurts a lot! Last time, she was in so much pain that she couldn't even sit on a chair.
Jiang Mian was a little anxious, and being so young, she couldn't sit still any longer. She simply pulled Jiang Xi, who was eating candied hawthorn, over and asked, "Little brother, do you think Mr. Li complained about me to Mother again?"
"Sister, what mischief have you been up to at the Imperial College again?" Jiang Xi used the word "again" very accurately. He took a bite of a candied hawthorn, and the sweet and sour taste made him extremely satisfied. The hawthorn swelled up his little mouth, and paired with his bright, dark eyes, he looked incredibly cute and fair-skinned.
“Of course not,” Jiang Mian replied immediately, as she always followed her teacher’s instructions.
"Sister, have a taste." Jiang Xi put the candied hawthorn to Jiang Mian's mouth. He was shorter than Jiang Mian and had to stand on tiptoe to reach it.
He was so eager that Jiang Mian, as his older sister, couldn't refuse her brother's kindness, so she symbolically took a bite.
Unexpectedly, the candied hawthorn was so sour that it almost made her teeth fall out. Jiang Mian's eyebrows shot up, and her face scrunched up like a little bitter gourd as she looked at Jiang Xi, who was enjoying her candied hawthorn with disbelief.
She was a foodie after all, and she forced herself to swallow it, almost bringing tears to her eyes from the sourness. She gave Jiang Xi a look of great admiration.
"You must have grown up eating sour things."
Seeing that Jiang Mian refused to eat no matter what he said, Jiang Xi finished the rest and still felt unsatisfied. However, when his mother came back from her trip, she only brought him one skewer, saying that eating too much would rot his teeth and make him fat.
Jiang Mian doesn't like sweets, let alone sour things; only little boys would eat these.
Her current focus is on what Mr. Li actually said to her mother.
But she quickly forgot about that. There was a swing in the yard, and she was seized by a playful mood, so she dragged Jiang Xi to play on the swings.
Jiang Xi sat on the swing, and Jiang Mian gently pushed his back. The swing started to swing slowly. Because they were all children, the swing was not very large, not to mention that Ji Xue was watching from the side.
After Jiang Xi was born, Jiang He sent Ji Xue to take care of her, so that the little one wouldn't be taken by Jiang Mian to play with dangerous things and get hurt and cry loudly.
Xue was very responsible at first, but he quickly became friends with the two little ones.
Attracted by their cheerful whispers, Ji Xue jumped down from the tree. Jiang Mian saw him, quickly sat on the swing next to him, and waved her little hand, saying, "Brother Ji Xue, push me up! I want to go high!"
“Okay!” Xue Li immediately replied.
With a push, Jiang Mian felt the wind rushing past her ears, and looking down, she could see her toes far off the ground.
Remembering Jiang He's instructions, Xue did not exert any more force, lest Jiang Mian lose her grip and fall.
Jiang Xi looked at his sister with envy. He also wanted to swing that high, but he was afraid of falling. He was the one in the Jiang family who was most afraid of pain. Even if he bumped or scraped his skin, he would hug his father's neck and cry. It would take a long time to comfort him before he calmed down.
Moreover, he was heavier than his sister, who was as light and agile. However, he was also very happy to see his sister swinging so high, and he even clapped excitedly.
A stern female voice rang out.
“Remember Xue”.
Ji Xue immediately shuddered and quickly used his light-footed skill to return to the tree. He knew that if the young lady saw him playing so wildly with the young lady, she would definitely be angry.
Seeing that the person behind her hadn't reacted for a long time, Jiang Mian, still immersed in her joy, hadn't realized the seriousness of the situation. She urged, "Brother Xue, why aren't you pushing anymore? Mian'er wants to swing to the highest point!"
Jiang Xi wanted to get off the swing, but his legs were too short to reach the ground, so he opened his arms to Jiang He and called out, "Mother."
Jiang He lifted him off the swing and said to Jiang Mian:
"Mian'er, come with me."
"!!!" Her mother was going to settle scores with her.
Jiang Mian wanted to escape immediately, but she had no choice but to obediently follow behind Jiang He.
Jiang He led Jiang Mian and Jiang Xi to the study, gave Jiang Xi a calligraphy copybook, and told him to practice writing large characters there first.
Jiang Mian looked at the empty study, rolled her eyes, and said, "Mr. Li is gone?"
Jiang He nodded.
Jiang Mian thought her mother was going to scold her with Mr. Li, but since Mr. Li had left, it seemed that things weren't so serious after all.
Unexpectedly, Jiang He asked leisurely, "You said that Mr. Li said you were second only to Xile in the Imperial Academy, is that true?"
Jiang Mian put her hands behind her back and drew circles in her palms, her voice slightly hesitant, "It's true. Mr. Li said that among my classmates at the Imperial Academy, I was second only to my cousin Xile in age..."
She was only five years old, at most a few months younger than her cousin Xile. It was all because some people bribed the teacher to get her into the Imperial College, and even a four-and-a-half-year-old could get in.
She passed the exam with her real skills!
"It was your uncle who thought Xile needed to lay a solid foundation and shouldn't be rushed when she was young, which is why he arranged for Xile to be in the same class as you. Otherwise, you wouldn't have met your cousin Xile long ago." Jiang He pinched the bridge of her nose.
She didn't care what other people did, but her daughter's lack of learning and skills was really worrying her.
This is exactly like her when she was a child, leaving Jiang He at a loss as to how to teach her.
After hesitating for a long time, Jiang Mian finally asked, "Then, Mother, did Mr. Li come today to complain about me to you?"
"Are you talking about how you pounced on Mr. Lu and kidnapped Mr. Wang's beloved dog?"
These are all things from long ago, and Jiang Mian had almost forgotten them. Only now that they have been brought up do she remember that they are things she did.
“Mr. Li didn’t complain to me.” As soon as Jiang He finished speaking, she saw her daughter looking at her with disbelief.
Mr. Li was a great Confucian scholar. Although he was sometimes a bit pedantic and rigid, and liked to restrain Jiang Mian's personality, he genuinely cared for her and never severely punished her.
Jiang He said, "Do you like Mr. Song from the Imperial Academy? I'll pay him a visit another day and see if I can let you study under Mr. Song."
Jiang Mian looked incredulous. She was interested in Mr. Song's mechanical skills, but she could only go to Mr. Song in private. She didn't dare to tell her mother, for fear that her mother would think she was not doing her job properly and only knew how to play all day.
Little did they know that the organization was extremely useful!
"This is what Mr. Li told me when he came to visit today. He said that you don't like studying or doing business. Since you have some interest in mechanical manufacturing, he will let you study it as soon as possible, so that you won't suffer so much at the Imperial Academy."
Mr. Li also showed her Jiang Mian's studies, which far exceeded the level of children her age. Given time, she might very well pass the imperial examinations. However, Jiang Mian's mind was not on studying the classics, which was something that could not be helped. If they were forced to study too much, they might bury a talented person.
Jiang Mian immediately threw herself into Jiang He's arms, her eyes sparkling, and grabbed her sleeve with her little hands, saying, "Mommy, is what you said true! Can I really learn from Mr. Song?"
The thought of being able to play with the mechanical bird and disassemble and reassemble everything made her so excited she could hardly speak!
"Of course, but you can't stay with Mr. Song all the time. You still need to learn Confucian classics from other teachers." Jiang He patted Jiang Mian's head. She herself didn't study hard when she was young and relied on her intelligence to get by. In the end, she couldn't even write a poem well. Although she made up for it as an adult, it was still not as good as the foundation she had built in her childhood.
"Okay! Thank you, Mother." Jiang Mian smiled brightly.
Jiang He pulled her onto her lap. "You still need to thank Mr. Li tomorrow. If she hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known you were interested in mechanical arts."
Jiang Xi was practicing calligraphy on the side, and Jiang He didn't ignore him either, sitting on one knee on each side.
Seeing that her sister had gotten her wish, Jiang Xi shouted, "Sister, I want to see the mechanical bird too!"
Jiang He looked at Jiang Mian and said, "Even Xi'er knows that next time something happens, you must tell your mother. Even if you're too embarrassed to tell your mother, you must tell your father, understand?"
Jiang Mian couldn't help but lower her head, poking her fingers as she said, "I know, I'll definitely tell Mother everything next time. This time, I just didn't want Mother to think I was being playful."
Seeing that she knew her mistake and corrected it, Jiang He didn't continue.
Regarding accepting Jiang Mian as a student, Mr. Song said there was no problem at all. Although she taught older students, few of them were interested in the mechanical arts, since it wasn't tested in the imperial examinations, and they were bound to be neglected.
Jiang Mian is a gifted child, and Mr. Song is very happy that she can become his student.
It was decided that Jiang Mian would continue attending her morning classes as usual, and in the afternoon she would study with Mr. Song.
Jiang Mian listened to Jiang He's words and went to apologize to Mr. Li.
“Mr. Li, I shouldn’t have skipped your class. This is an apology, please accept it.” Jiang Mian placed an exquisitely packaged box on Mr. Li’s desk.
Mr. Li was quite surprised, but he accepted it at Jiang Mian's insistence.
Seeing Jiang Mian's happy expression, Mr. Li couldn't help but say, "Jiang Mian, could you write your words more neatly next time?"
At such a young age, his writing was like cursive script; if the content hadn't been so remarkable, Mr. Li would have almost refused to critique it.
"Okay, I promise I'll be more careful next time!" Jiang Mian readily agreed.
She pushed the box closer to Mr. Li. "Mr. Li, please remember to open it soon."
After saying that, Jiang Mian slipped away.
Mr. Li thought the box contained food, and she was curious to see what kind of food Jiang Mian, the clever little devil, had put in. Unexpectedly, when she opened it, it turned out to be a mechanical doll.
Only a clever and mischievous little girl like Jiang Mian could make such a childlike and whimsical gadget.
After leaving Mr. Li's place, Jiang Mian immediately ran to Mr. Song's place.
She stretched out her little hand and circled around Mr. Song, saying, "Mr. Song, I want to play with the mechanical bird!"
Mr. Lu gave her a mechanical bird and said it was a gift for her. After thanking him, Jiang Mian held the bird in her palm and was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling.
When Cong Shan came in, he wanted to muster up the courage to greet her, but Jiang Mian walked up to him first. This time, she didn't grab his hand, but instead raised her head to show him what she had just acquired.
"Brother, look at my little bird!"
Seeing her radiant appearance, Cong Shan smiled and said, "Beautiful."
Mr. Song said to Congshan, "By the way, Mian'er officially became my student today. Congshan, from now on, you should call her junior sister."
Cong Shan looked at the chubby Jiang Mian and nodded slightly, saying, "Greetings, Junior Sister."
He was shy and quiet, and had no idea what it would be like to have such a lively junior sister and spend every day with her in the future.
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Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 22:08:27 on March 15, 2022 and 19:39:36 on March 16, 2022!
Thank you to the little angels who watered with nutrient solution: Guo'er (5 bottles); Bu Cai (3 bottles); Wan Yi Rong Feng (2 bottles); 57647020 (1 bottle);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!