Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Schoolhouse Observations (VI)

All of Yu Manyi's prior knowledge of Miss You came from her Second Aunt, including the details about her engagement. According to the rumors, the first time Miss You's engagement was broken off was because of the birthmark on her face. The second time was because the groom eloped with his true love.

But after getting to know Miss You personally, Yu Manyi learned more nuanced details about those two incidents—

For example, although that young master indeed disliked Miss You’s birthmark, what he disdained even more was the You family’s practice of imprisoning concubines. As for the accountant who eloped with the eldest daughter, it wasn’t merely romantic passion—it was the oppressive and domineering attitude of the You family that ultimately pushed him to burn his bridges.

In short, Miss You’s inability to marry had nothing to do with her as a person. It was entirely the sins of the You family, and yet all the blame was laid on her. In the end, she was burdened with the label of “abandoned woman” and treated with contempt within her own household.

Only at this point did Yu Manyi realize that all the rumors about Miss You had come from the mouths of the You family themselves. And Miss You, in all of this, remained silent—quiet. After all, she was raised on the You family’s food and couldn’t speak ill of them. Even if she did, no one would listen.

Hearing this kind of talk for too long, Miss You had slowly come to believe it herself. After getting close to Yu Manyi in the literacy class, she would often, with heartfelt seriousness, warn her that since she already had a fiancé, she must do everything in her power to hold onto him—be humble, be accommodating, try to please him as much as possible. She must not end up like Miss You—unable to marry once, then again, and eventually becoming a topic of gossip for villagers, a burden and shame her parents couldn’t shake off.

“Elder Sister You, don’t talk like that,” Yu Manyi tried to console her that day. “You have such a good temper, and you’re smart too. You understand everything after being taught just once. You’re bound to meet a more suitable husband.”

“There’s no one left to meet,” Miss You shook her head, her tone more convinced than even her parents when talking about her fate. “Matchmakers all say I’m the one refusing proposals. The villagers already call me the ugly freak with a birthmark who scared off two men—one broke off the engagement, the other ran off with someone else… no one will come propose again.”

Miss You wasn’t ugly at all. She had simply been unlucky in marriage. And in this era, a woman unlucky in marriage might as well be condemned to death.

Yu Manyi didn’t know how to comfort her. She thought about it for a long time and finally came up with the idea of bringing a copy of the newspaper published by Song Qi and the others to the schoolhouse. She told her:

“Elder Sister You, look at this serialized story on the front page. It’s really interesting. You see, just because a marriage falls through doesn’t mean you’re doomed to grow old alone. There’s another possibility in love and marriage—free love.”

That day, Miss You listened to Yu Manyi as if she were hearing a fairy tale, especially when she spoke of “meeting by heaven’s will” and how love was “an experience, a journey.” Startled, she hurriedly covered Yu Manyi’s mouth and tried to stop her, saying:

“Manyi, don’t talk nonsense, and don’t be swayed by what’s written in these outside newspapers. Just look at the girls from the nearby villages—who isn’t waiting for their parents’ arrangement? Who has what you call ‘free love’… That would throw the whole family into chaos!”When she said the words “chaos in the household,” her facial features tightened with great intensity—eyes wide open, eyebrows raised high, her entire posture vivid and animated—completely different from her usual lifeless demeanor.

That day, Yu Manyi had a kind of instinct, a kind of woman's intuition. And by the time she stood on the bridge this day, Yu Manyi came to realize: in this world, nothing is more accurate than a woman’s intuition.

The scene back then had indeed been extraordinarily picturesque—a century-old stone arch bridge, falling petals all around, and a beauty standing upon it. The beauty slowly turned her head, reached out to catch the cascading petals, and even the birthmark reddening her cheek became a part of the floral rain. It was proof that there is no such thing as beauty or ugliness in this world, only love and lack thereof. One who loves you will see the mark on your face as a petal’s trace; one who doesn’t will only see a frightening blotch of red. And then, as the wooden windows of the classroom slowly opened, Teacher Su Wen, who had immersed himself in the art world for thirty-two years all alone, had nurtured a pair of eyes that could perceive beauty—and now, he used those eyes to look upon the dreamlike woman standing on the arched bridge.

Miss You, please come in.

By the time Yu Manyi returned, Su Wen had already stepped outside and invited Miss You—who had been waiting on the bridge—into the studio.

None of the students came that day. Yu Manyi hurried in, thinking perhaps the class had been canceled. Su Teacher was still fumbling for words in front of Miss You. Being tugged on the sleeve by a student asking what was going on, he waved his hand and said:

“Didn’t I announce last class that today’s lesson would start half an hour later than usual? You didn’t hear?”

Yu Manyi looked at Su Wen, then at Miss You, and suddenly understood: Su Wen—Teacher Su—perhaps had a bit of male intuition too. Yesterday, a dream sent by the immortals had postponed the class just in time to stage a love-at-first-sight encounter between him and Miss You.

So Yu Manyi introduced them at the perfect moment: “Teacher Su, this elder sister is from our literacy class. Her name is You…”

“You Xiaoqing,” Miss You said.

“Su Wen,” Teacher Su also promptly gave his name.

Then the two of them said nothing more, just stared at each other in a daze. Yu Manyi scratched her head anxiously—this was her first time witnessing a real-life moment straight out of a butterfly-and-mandarin-duck romance novel—and in her mind, the phrase that kept echoing was Miss You’s earlier exclamation: “chaos in the household!”

Of course, the one to recover first was Su Wen. He cleared his throat lightly and invited Miss You to have a look around the studio. Most of the sample works hanging on the wall were painted by him. Yu Manyi folded her arms and watched her teacher—it really looked like he was peacocking. At first, Miss You appeared shy, but after walking around once, she let go of her reserve and asked softly, “But I heard from Manyi that the tuition here…”“You’re transferring in midway, so no need to pay the full amount,” Teacher Su said quickly. “Just a quarter will do.”

Yu Manyi was stunned at his words. She raised all ten fingers and started calculating: first the total number of days of class, then the ones already attended, then the tuition. After running the math, she realized that after a whole month in the literacy class, her arithmetic had somehow gotten even worse. She had no idea how Song Qi had been teaching.

After a moment, Yu Manyi folded her fingers into a fist, deciding that either she was just hopeless at this, or there was something wrong with Song Qi’s lesson plans.

Miss You nodded and said, “But these paints… I wonder if I can afford them…”

Teacher Su replied, “I’ve got more paints here than I can ever use up. Any student who signs up for classes, I give them a full set for free.”

Just a moment ago, Yu Manyi was still able to place blame on Song Qi, but now she blinked and finally sensed something was off. She hesitantly began, “Su—” but before she could finish the three characters, Teacher Su suddenly turned around and said to her:

“I’ll give you your set later.”

Yu Manyi swallowed her words and thought to herself that she should have brought Sister You here sooner. If she had come earlier, she wouldn’t have had to buy her own set.

That day’s art class, Miss You sat behind Yu Manyi and audited the entire session. And Su Wen’s teaching was noticeably more enthusiastic and vivid than usual. Especially during the practice portion, Su Wen repeatedly walked over to Yu Manyi’s side to offer guidance. As he leaned over to demonstrate, one hand held the brush to sketch on her paper, while the other rested on the blank drawing board next to Miss You.

That day’s class left Yu Manyi especially exhausted, worked especially hard, and improved especially fast. After class, she left the studio together with Miss You. When the two of them climbed back onto the arched bridge, Miss You suddenly turned around and looked back through the open window of the studio.

Teacher Su stood by the window, hands behind his back, gazing at her across the river. Yu Manyi looked at Miss You, then at Teacher Su, and then she heard a soft whisper beside her—

“Manyi, his hands… are really beautiful.”

The quiet and reserved Miss You turned out to be someone with a hand fetish—this caught Yu Manyi completely off guard. She herself had a bit of a thing for hands too. Comparing Song Qi’s hands to Teacher Su’s, she felt Song Qi hadn’t lost the match, so she didn’t dwell too much on the topic—though she didn’t know why Song Qi came to mind just then.

She merely glanced at Miss You and thought to herself, This is bad… but not completely disastrous—this damned You family, after all their countless sins, are finally getting a taste of karma. Their own daughter, attending a literacy class and catching the spark of free love. At best, this was thunder from the heavens; at worst, it would still throw the whole household into chaos.Interesting. They say the world is in turmoil, but in this world, nothing can be established without first being broken. Under the blue sky, teetering on the edge—how could it be only the Yu family’s house?