“Thank you, Old Madam.” Qin Yining stood up and immediately received an apologetic smile from Eighth Miss. Knowing it was unintentional, she smiled back.
Just then, a maid announced from outside: “First Madam, Second Madam, and Third Madam have arrived.”
Hearing this, all the girls stood up and arranged themselves in order of age.
Nanny Qin then led Sun Shi, Second Madam, and Third Madam into the room in succession.
The Old Madam sat even straighter. After her daughters-in-law had bowed to her, she smiled and instructed them to be seated.
Seeing everyone had arrived, Qin Huining immediately took a stack of papers from Bi Tong’s hands, holding them respectfully before the Old Madam, curtsying with lowered head: “Old Madam, your granddaughter speaks too frankly and unintentionally caused household discord some days ago. This is the Classic of Filial Piety copied ten times by your granddaughter. Please review it.”
Seeing Qin Huining so submissive with such proper words, the Old Madam accepted the papers and casually flipped through them. The handwriting was elegant and neat, clearly written with care.
“Mm. You wrote quite well.” Looking toward Qin Yining, the Old Madam said: “Yi Jie’er, where is yours?”
“Granddaughter will have it brought immediately.” Qin Yining spoke, then called toward the outer room: “Rui Lan.”
Rui Lan from the outer room immediately responded, carrying a thick stack of papers. After bowing to the masters in the room, she placed the stack on the low table before the Old Madam.
Bending down to casually pick up a few sheets and looking at the writing, the Old Madam’s face instantly darkened.
“This is what you copied?”
Qin Yining quickly replied: “Yes.”
Everyone was observing the Old Madam’s expression. Seeing her so angry, they couldn’t help but be curious and all craned their necks to look at the writing on the low table.
Upon seeing it, everyone’s expressions varied.
Sun Shi’s face immediately darkened.
Second Madam and Third Madam leisurely fiddled with the patterns on their sleeves and hems as if they hadn’t seen anything.
The sisters kept their heads lowered, their expressions unclear.
Only Sixth Miss actually burst out laughing, muttering under her breath: “So this is your handwriting – it’s worse than chicken scratch.”
Hearing this, Second Madam looked over with great severity, startling the previously arrogant Sixth Miss into immediate silence.
The Old Madam held the entire stack of papers on her lap, placing Qin Yining’s writing alongside Qin Huining’s for comparison, making the difference even more obvious.
Still harboring resentment over Sun Shi’s audacity to quarrel with Qin Huaiyuan and return to her maiden home, she couldn’t help but speak reproachfully:
“Sun Shi, you should properly supervise Yi Jie’er’s studies. Look at what she’s written! Even rolling a cockroach in ink would produce neater writing than her scrawls! What a waste of so much paper and ink!”
Sun Shi’s face alternated between red and white. She glared fiercely at the silent, downcast Qin Yining, but she was also defiant toward the Old Madam, speaking quite directly:
“Old Madam’s words are unreasonable. She’s only been back a few days – even if her handwriting is poor, you can’t blame me for teaching her badly. I certainly wanted to teach her, but Heaven didn’t grant us mother and daughter the fate to be together!” She was implying that it was because Qin Huaiyuan had offended someone that caused their mother-daughter separation.
The Old Madam was so angry she nearly fell backward!
Thinking about it, this scene seemed familiar.
When that house-born servant Yu Xiang came to complain, in her anger she had also spoken harshly to scold Qin Yining. At that time, Qin Yining had politely accepted it, maintaining dignity for both the Old Madam and Sun Shi.
Now the mother dared to talk back so directly, proving even less magnanimous than a young girl.
Seeing the atmosphere in the room grow cold, Nanny Qin, who was serving nearby, looked at the papers submitted by both Qin Yining and Qin Huining and timely broke the silence.
“The Old Madam punished both young ladies to copy the Classic of Filial Piety ten times. Now both have submitted their work – why don’t we count them?” She added jokingly: “Let’s see which one was clever and wrote one or two copies less.”
The Old Madam didn’t want things to become too awkward, so she went along with Nanny Qin’s suggestion. After giving Sun Shi a withering look, she said languidly: “Then let’s count them.”