The Rebirth of the Vengeful Empress from a Military Family

Chapter VII: The Hall of Extensive Writings

Volume I: The Spring Breeze is Only a Stranger

Chapter VII: Guang Wen Hall (广文堂)

The Hall of Extensive Writings is an academy in Dingjing.

(T/N: Ding (定) is the name of Ming Qi's capital. Coincidentally, this is also the same Ding character in Fi Xiu Yi's title. Jing (京) means 'Capital', and this is the same Jing character in Beijing (北京), China's real-life capital city. )

Because all of its instructors are either famous scholars or renowned talents, the Hall of Extensive Writings is often where members of Ming Qi's upper-class sends their sons and daughters. Those noble boys and girls take pride in being able to enter this prestigious academy.

Shen Miao's alma mater is the Hall of Extensive Writings. 

Unfortunately, Shen Xin and First Madame Shen both hail from families of military generals and Shen Miao's older brother, Shen Qiu, is someone whose head aches every time he has to study. The person who raised Shen Miao since her early childhood, Old Madame Shen, is a songstress who has not read many books. Shen Miao had been taught by Third Madame Shen, Chen Rou Qiu, who came from a family of scholars. However, the books she had taught Shen Miao were all obscure, nowhere near the appropriate level of difficulty for someone of Shen Miao's age. After enduring repeated sessions of such teachings, Shen Miao, who had been at the age that children favored playing, developed a hatred and disgust for reading and writing.

Chen Ruo Qiu had noticed that Shen Miao loathed studying and had not forced her to continue. Instead, she taught her to focus on food and clothing, and enjoy the life of a delicate noble miss. Then, when Shen Miao reached the age needed to be educated in the Hall of Extensive Writings, Shen Miao could not keep up with the lessons discussed by the instructors. Because her knowledge had been inferior to the other noble children, she had sunk into the very bottom of her class. Little by little, Shen Miao grew to despise studying even more, and she became notorious throughout the whole Capital for being stupid and ignorant.

Among the three Di daughters of the Shen family, Shen Yue is the most renowned. She excels in all of the Four Arts of Scholars: the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Shen Qing, though inferior to Shen Yue, still does well. She is especially proficient in embroidery and she tops the class in arithmetic. As a young miss who will eventually marry and become a noble family's Madame, being exceptional at bookkeeping will certainly be viewed favorably by her future in-laws. Thus, Shen Qing still bears the distinction of being competent.

The more extraordinary Shen Qing and Shen Yue are, the more disappointing Shen Miao appears to be. Even the Second Household's Shu daughter, Shen Dong Ling, seems to be better than her.

Inside the carriage, Jing Zhe questions, "Young Miss, why not go with First Young Miss and Second Young Miss?"

Shen Miao usually insisted in taking the same carriage as her Tang older sisters, as she felt emboldened by their presence. On their part, Shen Yue and Shen Qing probably allowed her to accompany them as having their stupid younger sister serve as their contrast will make them seem even more superior.

Now though, Shen Miao has no interest in putting up this pretense.

"When people are from different households and are following diverging paths, why must they be together?"

Jing Zhe does not know why she opened her mouth. Her Young Miss becomes more and more incomprehensible the more her Young Miss spoke, but she feels that this is an improvement. Her Young Miss' character had always been too cowardly, and she had allowed the Second and Third Households to be in control. Now, after she fell into the pond once, she seems to have had an epiphany. This is as it should be. After all, as the Di daughter of the First Household, her Young Miss is not inferior to anyone, so why must her Young Miss act like an obedient servant?