Chapter 199: Chapter 163: Could She Be a Genius at Teaching and Nurturing?

“The line before ’holding hands with you, growing old together’ is ’shall we live and die together, my promise to you.’ It means we’re brothers who weather hardships together, once making a vow, holding each other’s hands, and living or dying as one,” Shen Jingxian paused and asked the speaking maid, “The person who told you this poem… is it someone you’d live and die with?”

The maid tilted her head, thought for a moment, and said, “No, back in Red Cool Spinning, a scholar stole my money, claiming he was heading to the capital for the exams and got swindled, out of necessity. He also said that as a scholar, he’d surely repay the money, so I asked him to write a love poem as a guarantee.”

Shen Jingxian: …

The maid cheerfully said, “So it turns out this poem isn’t about love at all, it’s about life and death together.”

Shen Jingxian nodded, yes indeed, this poem isn’t about love, so sister, your money isn’t coming back, that scholar is a major fraud!

But the maid seemed not to mind at all; she looked very happy. What a delight to learn a poem today, one about life and death together.

“Holding hands with you, growing old together, what a beautifully written line.” Another maid began to recite along.

Shen Jingxian had already heard from Xiao Qi that these maids were illiterate, and seeing their apparent interest, she thought, might as well teach them to write since there’s nothing else to do.

When Shen Jingxian saw the maids’ eyes light up, she knew she had asked the right question.

So Shen Jingxian brought the maids to the study room and began teaching them one character at a time.

“This character is pronounced ’hold,’ you write the left side a bit narrower and the right side a little wider.”

The maids listened attentively as they watched the princess dip the brush in ink and write down an unfamiliar character on the paper stroke by stroke, something they found beautiful even if they didn’t understand it.

Fearing they hadn’t memorized it, Shen Jingxian slowed down, separating each stroke as she wrote on the paper.

The maids all nodded, they got it!

But once they picked up the brush, they discovered that while their eyes understood, their hands did not.

Especially Xiao Qi, as she looked at the large blot of ink on the paper, she was quite disenchanted. Why did the princess’s brush move so smoothly, but hers seemed clogged?

They were the same pens, could it be that brushes recognize people? Was the brush refusing to cooperate because she wasn’t the princess?

The princess’s brush wasn’t at all noble; it was too unfair.

Xiao Qi felt quite wronged. She longed for the soft seating cushion of the princess.

Shen Jingxian, not knowing what Xiao Qi was thinking, walked closer when she saw Xiao Qi frowning, and noticed the large ink blot in front of her.

It was a huge blot, the brush’s bristles even split in half, indicating that Xiao Qi must have exerted a lot of force, almost like fighting over food.

In any case, the brush in Xiao Qi’s hand was definitely unusable.

Luckily, at Yi Fen Palace, there were plenty of everything except people, and brushes were no exception.

Then Shen Jingxian pulled out another fine brush, handed it to Xiao Qi, and reminded, “Xiao Qi, you shouldn’t apply too much force when writing, feel the tip of the pen, and go with the flow.”

Xiao Qi only heard five words: go with the flow.

She felt confident; she believed she could do it. The paper was the enemy, and the ink and brush were her weapons. Having completed far tougher tasks, why would she fear a mere sheet of paper!

Xiao Qi, taking a deep breath to focus, and then with one swift move, the brush snapped again.

With a crack, the brush head flew off, a drop of ink splashing from the tip, seemingly about to spill onto the princess. Xiao Qi swiftly jumped up, shielding the princess behind her.

Shen Jingxian: ?

Why did the girl suddenly jump up, was writing that scary?

Shen Jingxian’s eyesight wasn’t as sharp as Xiao Qi’s, plus she was focused on the paper and almost didn’t notice she was nearly splattered with ink.

She even thought Xiao Qi was startled by the brush; being scared by a pen, wasn’t that cute?

So she picked up another brush, this time holding Xiao Qi’s hand as she placed it in her hand.

Xiao Qi’s not-so-bright mind went blank instantly, what, what’s the princess doing.

She was just a mere hidden guard; how could the princess…

“Focus, remember this pressure.”

The princess had a lovely voice, a pleasant scent, and her hand was so soft and delicate, completely unlike hers.

The princess had such little strength; she seemed she could easily knock her away with a gentle push, so she absolutely couldn’t move.

Shen Jingxian noticed how tense Xiao Qi was.

Yesterday, her mother said that the dozen hidden guards following her were the most skilled and loyal ones, even Dark One could sometimes be defeated by them one-on-one.

If faced with special circumstances, they could catch their opponents off guard.

They sounded incredibly formidable.

Shen Jingxian couldn’t help but wonder if this prowess and high-level martial arts made their bodies stiff due to muscle all over.

She really wanted to pinch Xiao Qi’s stiff spots to see if they were all muscles, but thought better of it, fearing she might scare Xiao Qi.

She continued guiding Xiao Qi in writing, and after completing a character, Xiao Qi’s face flushed red.

Shen Jingxian thought, it really seemed her status as a princess was putting too much pressure on Xiao Qi, better to call it a day.

“Xiao Qi, just write like you did just now.”

Although Xiao Qi hadn’t snapped back to her senses yet, her body automatically nodded, and her hand began to write.

To Shen Jingxian’s surprise, after only guiding Xiao Qi once, her writing resembled hers by seventy to eighty percent.

This was Xiao Qi’s unique ability, bodily memory.

Her body had more ideas than her head.

Several times, Xiao Qi dodged danger relying purely on her body’s instinct.

You could say her mind and body played separately, with her brain’s rhetoric unrelated to her body.

Shen Jingxian looked again at Xiao Qi’s writing, suddenly realizing, maybe she was a genius.

An educational genius!!

Oh dear, being a princess was such a waste of her talent; she ought to charm her father for a chance at being a tutor at the Enlightenment Hall someday.

Other maids, seeing Xiao Qi being taught hand-in-hand by the princess, turned green with envy, they wanted the same!!

Thus, while Shen Jingxian was still immersed in her musings, she suddenly heard a series of cracking sounds around her.

Turning her head, she found the maids holding broken brushes and looking innocently at her.

Shen Jingxian: …

What did these brushes ever do to deserve this?

In the maids’ expectant eyes, Shen Jingxian waved her hand, she couldn’t encourage this wastefulness! Time for some introspection!

“There are no more brushes left, now the only one left in the entire Yi Fen Palace is the one in Xiao Qi’s hand.”

No sooner had she spoken than Xiao Qi immediately looked up, seeing the hungry wolf-like stares from the others, she swiftly tucked the ink-stained brush into her clothes and made a run for it.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep