Zheng Xiao Mistake: The Mistake of Rebirth Provoked the Cold Master

After the poetry gathering in the previous life, the person who kept crying on the way back in the carriage was Zhu Qing.

Zhu Zheng knew why she was crying.

After Zhu Zheng learned to be rebellious, she received more and more beatings. Zhu Qing spent the whole day either begging for her or accompanying her in suffering punishment.

She thought she could prove something by resisting, but she didn't realize it was useless except making her sister cry for her every night.

Although Zhu Qing never said anything, Zhu Zheng had to bow her head and admit her mistake to her grandmother as soon as she looked at her sister's tearful eyes.

Before long, things took an unexpected turn.

One of the two sisters was well-educated and well-mannered, while the other was hopeless. In contrast, the elder sister was gradually gaining some favor from her grandmother.

My elder sister was treated harshly when she was in her mother's womb. She had a weak body since childhood and could not bear to kneel in the ancestral hall every other day.

Zhu Zheng was extremely happy and sincerely thanked several ancestors in the ancestral hall. This was really the best thing.

I didn't expect that better things were yet to come.

As autumn approached, Madam Zhu arranged to send the second young master Zhu Long to Sihai Academy. It was the best academy in Shengjing, and almost all the children of the rich and powerful families were sent there to study.

Old Madam Zhu never put herself in a lower position than others, so naturally she hoped that the only child of the Zhu family would also be given the title of that place.

At that time, Zhu Long had just entered the world of romance and was unwilling to go no matter what.

Old Madam Zhu thought about it day and night and finally came up with a solution.

Find someone to replace Zhu Long.

This person must be obedient and not talkative, and be of the same mind as the Zhu family. Most importantly, he must be intelligent, so as not to bring shame upon himself by bearing Zhu Long's name.

Therefore, Zhu Qing was dressed up as a man and sent to Sihai Academy.

Zhu Zheng was arranged to live in a women's courtyard near the Zhu Mansion.

That women's orphanage only taught people to be obedient and submissive, but Zhu Zheng was not interested in anything. She just waited for her sister to come back every month to learn something new from her.

Zhu Qing was very diligent. He took good care of the books he brought back, treating them as if they were new, and filled the booklets he copied and annotated with them.

It was through her elder sister that Zhu Zheng learned that what was taught in the men's academy was "The mountains and rivers are opened up for the real men. One should pursue his lofty ambitions and understand the past and the present."

The little Zhu Zheng yearned for it, but was also full of doubts, "Can mountains and rivers also be opened by women?"

"Of course." Zhu Qing touched her head, "It's just..."

But what...Ajie didn’t say anything else.

Sometimes, after finishing her classes, Zhu Qing would talk about what she saw and heard at Sihai Academy.

Most of them were trivial matters between classmates. Zhu Qing's personality was not very good, and because she was a girl disguised as a man, she did not make many friends.

Until one day, a name appeared in her knowledge, called "Ayin".

The first time Zhu Qing mentioned this A Yin Gongzi, it was on a rainy day by the bridge. He was a boatman. When she mentioned him again later, he had somehow transformed into her classmate.

The two of them became acquainted and gradually became familiar with each other. He could play the zither, loved to write poetry, and had a free and easy personality. Today he would pick spring apricots, tomorrow he would steal lotus pods, and he would not delay his studies and he was excellent in every subject.

When Zhu Qing mentioned him, there was often a smile on his face.

Zhu Zheng had just read a new story from a book of operas she bought on the street, and she used it to tease her sister, "Sister, this Master A Yin doesn't know that you are a girl, right?"

Zhu Qing shook his head, "Of course I don't know."

"This Ah Yin can't be a nickname, right? Did he tell you his surname and first name?"

Zhu Qing shook his head again.

She never asked. After all, she was not using her own name, so she could not help but avoid the question.

"I see..." Zhu Zheng smiled slyly, "Could it be that his last name is Liang?"

Zhu Qing was puzzled, "Why do you say that?"

"Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai!"

Zhu Zheng stretched out two fingers, one on the left and one on the right, intertwined them together, and sang in a long voice, "People have three thousand diseases in life, but only lovesickness cannot be cured."

Zhu Qing's face turned red in an instant. He stretched out his hand and twisted Zhu Zheng's ear, saying angrily, "Where did you learn these words from, little kid?"

“Oh, sister, it hurts, please let go…” Zhu Zheng begged for mercy, “I learned this from operas. You said reading is beneficial…”

Perhaps it was a prophecy, as Zhu Zheng had not yet read the ending of the play, and Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai did not stay together.

On an ordinary day, this young master Liang Shanbo disappeared.

Just as it appeared out of thin air, it disappeared out of thin air.

The two never met again until Zhu Long died and Zhu Qing left the academy.

"Ayin."

Zhu Qing never mentioned this name again.

During that stolen time, she experienced the excitement of first love, but it ended in failure. She never talked about the feeling in her heart again and hid it completely.

In her previous life, Zhu Qing was coaxed into drinking that glass of wine. After waking up, she allowed her grandmother to drag her to ask for an explanation from the Wen family.

A circle of people, some strangers and some familiar, surrounded her. Zhu Qing lowered her head and said nothing.

As if all this had nothing to do with her.

It was not until she got on the carriage that the tears in her eyes finally fell.

Zhu Qing seldom shed tears for herself. She always compromises, tolerates, stands in front of her sister, and accepts all arrangements.

No one ever knew what she wanted.

Fortunately, things are different now.

Someone wants her to get her wish.

*

In the backyard of the Zhu residence, a tall man with a dark face was chopping wood and sweating profusely under the midday sun.

Amidst the wood chips on the ground, a pair of moon-white, beaded shoes suddenly appeared, making a subtle sound when stepped on.

He looked up when he heard the voice, and was obviously frightened by the person coming, so much so that the axe was chopped off course.

"Miss Fourth?"

Zhu Zheng saw a pair of thick black eyebrows jumping with fear and said with a smile, "Your name is Changying, right?"

Changying nodded hurriedly, threw the axe in his hand far away, bent down and used the hem of his clothes to sweep away the wood chips around Zhu Zheng.

"I have already told Manager Xu that you don't have to work as a laborer in the backyard from today on." Zhu Zheng said.

Changying was stunned, "Fourth Miss, did I do something wrong?"

"Of course not." Zhu Zheng shook her head, "Don't be afraid, you will be under my command from now on."

Changying rubbed his hands. He couldn't understand what it meant to be under the orders of the Fourth Young Lady. Did he mean to only chop firewood for the Fourth Young Lady?

"Change your clothes first." Zhu Zheng turned and walked out, "Come with me."

Although Changying was completely confused, he still followed in a daze.

"By the way, can you read?" Zhu Zheng asked.

Changying said in embarrassment, "My dear Fourth Miss, I don't know much."

Zhu Zheng said, "It's okay. I'll learn slowly when I get to the teahouse."

To talk about why we were looking for Changying, we have to go back to early morning this morning.

This morning when Mingcui came to serve with the teapot, Zhu Zheng was dozing off at the desk over a pile of account books.

Not long after her grandmother passed away, Gong Yixiu burned down the Zhu Mansion for three days and three nights. After all the family wealth was gone, Zhu Zheng finally realized that most of the suffering in the world is related to money.

This time she has the opportunity to prepare for a rainy day, and she must find a way to secure a way out so that she can have enough food and clothing.

Zhu Zheng counted the money she had saved over the years and asked her sister indirectly, but the result was not satisfactory.

Although she had collected some money, it was still far from what she had expected.

So she coaxed Zhu Qing into giving her the account book of the Zhu Mansion, to see if there was any way to get some gold from the gold mountain.

The result was as she expected. All expenses, no matter how big or small, were managed by her grandmother herself. Even if a mouse got into the accounting office, it couldn't take away a single penny.

This is quite difficult.

Zhu Zheng looked at the prosperity of the mansion, and her mind was filled with the thought of them all turning to ashes.

The rain was bound to fall, but she was not prepared for it. She was so worried that she couldn't sleep all night. During the day, she had to look at the account books, and her eyelids were so sleepy that she could only drink strong tea to keep herself awake. She wished she could soak her nose and eyes in the teapot for the next few days.

Mingcui, who had made tea, walked in and saw Zhu Zheng was so sleepy that she felt like her bones were being pulled out. She couldn't help but said distressedly, "Miss, why don't you go to sleep for a while."

Zhu Zheng opened his eyes tightly and said, "I'm not sleepy..."

She pinched her arm, picked up the teacup and took a big gulp.

The tea tasted slightly bitter and astringent, and didn't seem as delicious as it was a few days ago.

Zhu Zheng took two sips and asked Ming Cui, "Did you change the tea? It wasn't this the other day, was it?"

"Miss, you have a very sensitive tongue. You can taste it right away!" Mingcui was surprised and quickly explained, "The tea shop we usually buy from is out of stock recently, so we changed to another one."

"Whose tea is it usually?"

"Qianye Tea House."

Zhu Zheng frowned. Although there were only three of them, the grandparents and grandchildren, the food, clothing and other expenses in the mansion were divided into different levels. Her grandmother's tea was purchased from the imperial shop of the First Tea House. She and her sister were never entitled to the same treatment.

Zhu Zheng was very familiar with the name Qianye Tea House, the most famous tea house in Beijing.

"Did you take the wrong tea a few days ago?" Zhu Zheng asked, "Why am I drinking the same tea as grandma?"

Ming Cui: "I didn't miss it. The old lady has always had tea from the First Tea House."

Zhu Zheng: "Isn't Qianye Tea House the No. 1 tea house?"

Mingcui: "Miss, the number one tea house is Yuelai Tea House."

Yuelai Tea House?

Zhu Zheng's puzzled face was reflected in the green tea soup. She clearly remembered that Qianye Tea House was the number one tea house.

How could it be different from what Mingcui said?