spoiled brat

Chapter 105 104. It’s hard to calm down (4)
A faint, inexplicable envy arose in her heart, but then she heard Yuan Zhen laugh loudly and say, "You think he's a lovesick fool? Silly Zhao Zhao, his family runs a silk shop. Not long after he got involved with me, he started secretly trying to get business for his family. I was pleased with how well he was served, so I gave him a little treat. He got the benefits and put on an even more enthusiastic act. Just treat him as a joke."

After saying this, he didn't forget to remind Zhaozhao: "Let me remind you, we've passed through countless villages and met all sorts of people along the way, some of whom may have ulterior motives. Although you've only just entered the manor, you'll have some power by my side... You'll also encounter bribery and seduction that men face, so you must be extremely careful."

Zhao Zhao nodded, but didn't take those words to heart.

That night, the group entered the first manor. The steward prepared wine and food to entertain them. After a few toasts, he asked Yuan Zhen, "Zhen'er, I just went to the main table to pay my respects to the young master. He said he wanted to recruit refugees to come to the manor and divide the land. Is this true?"

"Of course it's true. The Prince, the Empress, and the Princess all think so."

The steward protested, "Wouldn't it be better to allocate it to the military dependents under our jurisdiction? Their families are either dead or wounded. They finally managed to get some extra land; it's only right that we should provide compensation to our own people..."

Yuan Zhen chewed on peanuts while drinking, and said familiarly, "You must have taken a lot of bribes from your subordinates, right? A few thousand bushels of millet and a few square meters of white rice?"

"A thousand is 'gan' (干), ten thousand is 'fang' (方), gold and silver." The steward, having indeed accepted a bribe, chuckled awkwardly and remained silent.

Zhao Zhao thought to herself that the two must have been friends for many years, and that it was reasonable for Yuan Zhen to be loyal and not pursue the matter of accepting bribes.

Unexpectedly, Yuan Zhen's face suddenly turned cold, and he said seriously, "Don't you know that the border troubles in the north are about to break out again? The border troops are useless, and this fire will break out sooner or later. I don't need to explain your intentions in recruiting refugees. I don't care about your petty embezzlement in the past, but this time you must return the money immediately and make it clear to the people below that they should be treated as one of our own and that they should be helped more often."

She was unusually serious, and the steward wiped the sweat from his brow, repeatedly replying, "Yes, sir." The atmosphere at the table became awkward. The steward looked at the handsome young man beside him: "What are you sitting there for? It's been so long since you've seen your real sister, aren't you going to go and offer her a toast?"

Zhao Zhao could tell that the young man was unwilling, but bound by his father's orders, he walked around most of the table to offer the wine. With a flick of his sleeve, he exuded a pleasant fragrance, unlike the usual sweaty smell of a man.

He softened his voice and called her "Sister Zhen," offering her the wine with both hands. Yuan Zhen smiled, seemingly enjoying it, and drank it down. Zhao Zhao was just muttering about how she was blinded by lust when the young man's hand, holding the wine, reached up and asked, "How should I address this sister?"

"I..." Zhao Zhao wanted to say, "Are you blind? How can I be worthy of being called 'sister' by you?" But then she suddenly realized that this title represented a difference in status, just like how prostitutes call their customers "master."

Yuan Zhen smiled mischievously: "She's your sister Zhao."

"...Sister Zhao, I'd like to offer you a toast."

Zhao Zhao was annoyed by this, but the other party was forced by their father, and refusing would be even more embarrassing, so she closed her eyes and drank the wine in silence.

It tastes sweet and sour, like plum wine. Apparently, there's a special way to serve these female managers.

The alcohol made her head feel hot, and Zhao Zhao leaned back in her chair, tipsy. She heard Yuan Zhen's voice in her ear: "Is that all? Keep practicing. When you're out dealing with men, alcohol is the first thing you need to show."

After drinking a few more cups, Zhao Zhao was half-drunk, her mind drifting and unsteady. Suddenly, she felt a chill on the back of her neck, as if someone was slashing her with a knife in their eye.

Turning around sharply, he saw that the main table was full of soldiers who were drunk and making a lot of noise. Only Xiu Yi, who was in the main seat, was very quiet. No matter what interesting things He Bi said, he listened indifferently.

Zhao Zhao thought to herself, "It can't be this person looking at me." She turned away, but soon the chilling sensation returned.

To test her suspicions, Zhao Zhao asked the steward's son to step forward and offer another toast. Before she could even swallow the wine, she suddenly turned her head, expecting her gaze to meet those light-colored eyes, only to find the main seat empty; Xiu Yi had already led his attendants away.

For some reason, Zhao Zhao felt a little disappointed, as if she had played a game without anyone's cooperation. She slowly swallowed the wine. The steward's son wanted to offer her another toast, but she said sullenly that she wouldn't drink anymore.

The next day, before dawn, the survey team knocked on the door: "Miss Zhen, when shall we set off?"

"immediately!"

Yuan Zhen responded and brought two sets of coarse linen clothes, straw sandals, and bamboo hats for Zhao Zhao to change into. He then found a blank booklet, put it in Zhao Zhao's arms along with a charcoal pencil, and said, "We can't have come all this way for nothing. We have to learn something. The young master won't teach you to write, but I will—from now on, you will follow me and assist me. You don't have to do anything else. Just record what I say every day in this book."

Records? Zhao Zhao was a little confused.

Yuan Zhen patted her shoulder: "No matter if you draw circles, lines, or scribbles, I guarantee you can recognize your own characters. I remember what I said every day. After you finish one book, I'll test you on the other side and teach you how to write the correct characters. Good luck, Zhao Zhao'er."

With her so open and honest, how could Zhao Zhao possibly be a hopeless case? For several days in a row, Yuan Zhen went to the fields to measure the land. He walked briskly ahead, talking non-stop with the surveying team, while Zhao Zhao followed behind with a booklet in hand, writing down words that only she could understand.

At first, Zhao Zhao thought it was pointless, but later she realized its wonder. She discovered that many of the characters she wrote haphazardly were almost identical to the correct ones. She figured that although she hadn't received formal education, she had absorbed some of that knowledge through constant exposure. It was like a crooked sapling that Yuan Zhen straightened with a simple gesture.

After passing through several villages in this way, Zhao Zhao filled seven or eight small notebooks and used more than a dozen charcoal pencils. Gradually, he was able to write some decent characters and often pondered and analyzed what he read. In addition, by recording Yuan Zhen's instructions over a long period of time, he also gained some superficial understanding of agricultural affairs.

Seeing that Zhao Zhao had entered the door, Yuan Zhen told Zhao Zhao that she no longer needed to learn to read, but could follow the surveying team to learn how to measure fields and demarcate land.

This is a hundred times harder than learning to read. The terrain of each village is different, and the fields are naturally crooked and uneven. It is difficult to measure and even more difficult to calculate. All kinds of ropes and wooden rulers have to be used.

In the past, Zhao Zhao would never have believed that anyone could calculate the area of ​​those crooked and twisted fields. Now she realized that there are always people more capable than her, and the surveyors in the team could calculate the area of ​​the twisted fields clearly. Zhao Zhao was eager to learn and kept asking others for several days, and finally learned a little bit.

After half a month of hard work, Zhao Zhao wore out countless pairs of straw sandals. The blisters on her feet were repeatedly popped and turned into thick calluses, and her skin became rough and sallow. Even if she claimed to be a prostitute, no one would believe her anymore. But she could feel a genuine sense of satisfaction. In the countless moments of learning to read and calculate, it was as if a clear spring had been poured down, gently flowing through her veins. It was an indescribable joy, without the luck of scheming or the fear of seeking fortune in danger. It was calm and undisturbed, like water flowing into a bottomless pool, quietly filling her.

She became so engrossed in it that she forgot everything else except learning. Time flew by, and before she knew it, it was time for the Frost's Descent.

That evening, Zhao Zhao and Yuan Zhen wrote a letter by lamplight, reporting all the recent events back to their residence.

Zhao Zhao was very worried. She had asked Xiu Yi to be her teacher in front of Xiu Ning and said she wanted to learn to read from him. But for the past month, Xiu Yi had been recruiting refugees to the village, and Zhao Zhao had been running around in the fields with Yuan Zhen, so she hadn't been able to see him at all.

My handwriting is so ugly now, how could I possibly show it to Xiu Ning?

“Sister Zhen…” Zhao Zhao tugged at Yuan Zhen’s sleeve, “Can you help me catch a knife?”

The two sat side by side. Yuan Zhen was pondering how to write the letter when he saw that Zhao Zhao's paper was all messy. He laughed and said, "You're so close to the princess, why are you worried about saving face in front of her?"

Zhao Zhao rubbed her face: "Your young master is very stingy. If I make a fool of myself in front of the princess, wouldn't it make him seem like a dishonest teacher? He'll wonder what he'll think of me then, and he might even want to interrogate me like a criminal."

Yuan Zhen nodded and said, "That makes sense, that makes sense." Then she turned her face back.

Zhao Zhao leaned over to take a look and saw that Yuan Zhen's handwriting was all crooked and messy, not much better than hers.

Yuan Zhen scratched his head: "I used to be semi-literate too. The way you learned to read was taught to me by the head steward of our household..."

The two of them had just finished writing their ugly letters and handed them in when the villagers came to deliver their evening meal. It was plain and simple, with hardly any meat or oil. Yuan Zhen was displeased and said, "I've been to so many villages before, and I've never encountered such meager food. Who is the person in charge of the village? Call him here right now!"

The man delivering the food said with difficulty, "Miss Zhen, it's not that our village is deliberately mistreating you. It's just that it's almost winter, and it's not cost-effective to slaughter livestock. The young master also told us not to be extravagant, so we only slaughtered fifty pigs, cattle, and sheep..."

Yuan Zhen sneered, "Your steward is a coward. He gave all the meat to the soldiers, but considering that I have two girls here, he tried to fool me with some bland food?"

The delivery man apologized repeatedly, but Yuan Zhen was too lazy to make things difficult for him and didn't want to cause trouble with her own family, so she and Zhao Zhao just ate it.

At night, the two tossed and turned, unable to sleep, their stomachs growling with hunger.

Zhao Zhao said, "Sister Zhen, I want to eat meat."

She'd been working incredibly hard all month, and felt lightheaded if she didn't eat meat for a day. Yuan Zhen's stomach was growling louder than hers, so she got out of bed and dressed, saying, "Let's go hunting!"

The two men got up in the dark, borrowed bows and arrows from a hunter in the village, and stormed to the pasture behind the village.

They had intended to wreak havoc, but the moonlight illuminated the waist-high autumn grass, a vast expanse of white, devoid of any sign of prey. Driven by intense hunger, they pressed on, and eventually found a rabbit burrow. The two blocked off several burrows, leaving only one opening.

Everything was ready, and they were about to raid the burrow when a rabbit suddenly darted away, grazing the two of them as it flew into the deep grass.

"So plump!" Yuan Zhen's eyes lit up as he aimed his arrow at the rabbit.

Zhao Zhao helped to hurry, and several arrows came flying through the wind, chasing into the deep grass as if on command.

Soon, a whimpering sound came from the grass. Zhao Zhao followed the sound and found that each of the three arrows had hit a rabbit, miraculously striking the rabbits in the ears, pinning them to the ground without killing them.

"Sister Zhen!" Zhao Zhao caught three rabbits and was about to praise Yuan Zhen's archery skills when she saw a group of people coming from afar. It was Xiu Yi, who rode up to the two of them.

"Greetings, Your Highness." Yuan Zhen bowed, and Zhao Zhao followed suit.

Although they had both been busy for a long time, Xiu Yi didn't look weathered like Zhao Zhao. He glanced at her sallow face and said calmly, "You're running around in the fields at night instead of sleeping? Is that fun?"

Zhao Zhao, carrying three thrashing rabbits, swallowed hard and said, "We're so hungry we can't sleep."

"Are you going to go hungry?" Xiu Yi frowned slightly.

Zhao Zhao nodded, and Yuan Zhen explained the situation. Just as they were about to discuss dividing the rabbits, someone rushed in to deliver a message saying that something had gone wrong somewhere. Yuan Zhen cursed his bad luck inwardly, took out the flint and spices and gave them to Zhao Zhao, then quickly left with the messenger.

Once she left, only Zhao Zhaoxiuyi and the soldiers, far away, remained on the vast grassland.

Zhao Zhao handed over a rabbit, saying, "Young Master, thank you for your help."

Xiu Yi refused, saying, "If you really want to thank me, then roast it for me." With that, he led his horse to the riverbank, picked up a clean rock, and sat down.