Yan Qingli has been quite busy lately. As a woman holding power, she already makes many people want to tear her apart. Now that she is showing signs of falling out of favor, many people naturally can't help but act hastily.
Although they will restrain themselves once they realize that Emperor Qinghe has no intention of dismissing Yan Qingli, Yan Qingli will not be able to have any peace and quiet for at least a long time to come.
For Yan Qingli, this wasn't a particularly difficult matter. After all, someone who could impulsively jump out like this had limited abilities; it would only take up some of her time.
When she entered the study, Qiu Lanxi didn't even notice her arrival. Yan Qingli stood behind her, her brows slightly furrowed.
In her opinion, Qiu Lanxi's handwriting was actually not bad, especially since she was not using the font popular in this dynasty, which made it easy to judge her as having a higher score. However, her handwriting lacked a certain strength and structure.
This doesn't refer to the spirit or charm of the art, but rather to the literal meaning that the hand wasn't steady or strong enough.
That's for sure. Someone who lives in the back of the house, has never exercised since childhood, and still has limited physical activity, could never have much strength.
Yan Qingli couldn't help but say, "You can't exert that much force."
As a martial artist, Yan Qingli thought for a moment and quickly found a clever way. She pressed on the acupoints on Qiu Lanxi's hand and told her the more suitable way to exert force.
Qiu Lanxi listened attentively. She was quick to learn and grasped the essentials in no time, even faster than Yan Qingli had imagined.
Aside from herself, the people she learned the fastest from were Princess Min Si and Min Hui, but even they sometimes needed Yan Qingli to slow down and deliberately accommodate them.
Thinking of this, Yan Qingli suddenly felt regretful. If women could also go to school and become officials, she felt that their achievements would not be much worse than those of many men.
Qiu Lanxi breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this, after all, a person's energy is limited, and if one thing can be done in advance, more energy can be devoted to another.
She turned and hugged Yan Qingli, pressing her body against hers: "Thank you, Your Highness, you've worked hard."
Qiu Lanxi pressed her cheek against Yan Qingli's abdomen, her head against her soft flesh. Her body stiffened slightly, yet she didn't want to push her away. A blush rose to her cheeks, and she whispered:
"No, there's no need to be so polite."
Yan Qingli finally managed to speak, but instead of relaxing, her body became even stiffer.
Qiu Lanxi smiled and said, "Qingli, are you saying I should be rude to you?"
Yan Qingli: "Mm."
Her mind went blank; she seemed completely unaware of what she had said.
Qiu Lanxi said, "Then let's go and rest."
Yan Qingli was taken aback. She glanced at the sky and realized it was indeed time for dinner, so she didn't object. Just as she was about to step out, Qiu Lanxi grabbed her hand.
"You've come to the wrong place."
Hearing the other person's soft voice, Yan Qingli's mind was still a bit confused. She subconsciously responded, but had no idea what the other person had said.
I just felt that the atmosphere had suddenly become strange.
To be precise, it's been strange ever since it started.
They had been close before, but strangely, Yan Qingli could still maintain her rationality in the past, but not now. Qiu Lanxi could pull the atmosphere into a strange state with just a gesture or a glance, making people dizzy and infatuated.
Sometimes, when Yan Qingli regained her senses, she couldn't help but wonder if her mother had cast some kind of spell on her.
In reality, Qiu Lanxi was merely reinforcing some psychological suggestions; if Yan Qingli hadn't had those intentions, it wouldn't have affected her at all.
But every time, Qiu Lanxi succeeded.
Qiu Lanxi's hands enveloped her, soft and delicate. Anyone looking at such hands would find it hard to honestly use words like "sense of security," but they made Yan Qingli feel numb from the soles of her feet.
She was a very observant person. More than once, when Yan Qingli regained her senses, she noticed that she was observing her. She didn't like the dark, and she didn't like the position where they couldn't see each other. Her soft and gentle voice always made Yan Qingli feel a little embarrassed and indignant at the wrong time in bed.
But her eyes were always moist, making Yan Qingli rather cling tightly to the brocade quilt beside her than push her away.
Under the orange-red sunset, the contours of Yan Qingli's face were also rendered with a subtle warmth. She was not good at expressing herself, and her expression was always clear and indifferent, yet gentle enough.
Knowing that Qiu Lanxi liked to observe her, she would not rely on force to oppose her behavior. She would just frown and turn her face away in embarrassment. At such times, beads of sweat would drip down the curve of her face, and the one on the tip of her nose would fall precariously. Soon after it fell, a new bead of sweat would gather on it again.
But as soon as Qiu Lanxi gently calls her, she will turn her head back, her eyes filled with silent indulgence.
She doesn't even try to hide her voice. She's a very honest person. Whenever Qiu Lanxi asks her a question, no matter how embarrassing it is, she'll answer after a moment of silence.
This left Qiu Lanxi with nowhere to put her last remaining mischievousness; she felt that taking advantage of the other person's affection to bully her was really inhuman.
...
As night fell, Yan Qingli called for water in a slightly hoarse voice and led Qiu Lanxi into the bathtub.
She lowered her head and rubbed her wrist, her fiery eyes softening with tenderness. Qiu Lanxi snuggled back into her arms and asked curiously, "Your Highness, do you know any other ways to exert force?"
Yan Qingli looked at her with a puzzled expression.
"It's the kind of pen you taught me to use today, but not the kind you use when writing."
As someone whose frailty is best described as delicate as a willow swaying in the breeze, Qiu Lanxi discovered that the way one exerts force has a tremendous impact on a person. In terms of endurance, it was simply astonishing.
Yan Qingli: "…………"
She was speechless, and almost instantly realized what she was thinking. Her expression became somewhat subtle, and after a while, she frowned and said, "There are no shortcuts in this world."
She tried to appear more serious, saying, "If you're not satisfied, you can just get up early and exercise with me from now on."
Qiu Lanxi stared intently at Yan Qingli, her dark hair clinging to her neck. Although she tried her best to appear nonchalant, she couldn't help but blush, her eyes sparkling.
She smiled and said, "Your Highness, you are so cute."
Yan Qingli looked at her with puzzlement, but roughly understood that this was a compliment, so she said, "You are cute too."
Qiu Lanxi couldn't help but chuckle.
Chapter 48
A person who has never traveled far from home since childhood and has been confined to the inner quarters will naturally not be able to match the physical strength of someone who practices martial arts.
Qiu Lanxi didn't think this was a blow to her pride. After all, even with her body that she had trained regularly in her previous life, she couldn't possibly be a match for Yan Qingli, a martial artist. So she believed that technique was the most important thing.
It's not shameful to lack stamina; it's shameful if your partner falls asleep during sex.
However, most of the nights they simply cuddled and slept together without having many other thoughts. It wasn't that they had limited energy; Yan Qingli was full of energy because of her martial arts skills, and Qiu Lanxi knew how to sleep efficiently. As long as she maintained enough deep sleep, she wouldn't be exhausted the next day.
Despite this, their nightlife remains limited, likely due to the influence of the academic atmosphere.
Yan Qingli is a very self-disciplined person. Although there were few entertainment activities in ancient times, she was not the kind of person who would easily become obsessed with trivial things. She always had a book in her hand before going to sleep, and this has not changed even now. Qiu Lanxi did not think there was anything wrong with this.
Although she wasn't as fond of studying as Yan Qingli, she was someone who could find joy in learning. So, under normal circumstances, Qiu Lanxi wouldn't disturb her when she saw her studying. She would also summarize what she had learned that day in her mind, and sometimes, when a flash of inspiration struck, she would be even more engrossed than Yan Qingli.
This way of getting along reminded Qiu Lanxi of the study partners she met in the university library.
If you encounter a suitable "co-learning" partner, there are many benefits for many people. Supervision, companionship, encouragement, competition... all of these can motivate them to study more diligently.
Qiu Lanxi didn't really understand this model because she had always studied alone. She didn't slack off because of it, nor did she feel lonely. She didn't slack off while studying just because she was alone. Her execution ability was not bad.
But now Qiu Lanxi understands those who study together a bit better. After all, no matter how hard people work, they will get tired and want to relax. Qiu Lanxi herself can adjust to this, but Yan Qingli can shorten this process.
Most importantly, Qiulanxi developed a sense of 'home' during this process.
They get to know each other, there are frictions and conflicts, but also warmth.
During this process, Qiu Lanxi also discovered that she was not actually that good at handling interpersonal relationships.
To be precise, it's about not being very good at handling emotions arising from close relationships with others.
Qiu Lanxi often encountered this problem when she opened her clinic and visited other hospitals. She was successful in everything, but only had an extremely volatile temper at home. She was praised as a patient and gentle teacher in public, but when she educated her own children, she could only make them fear her...
Most people subconsciously use their closest loved ones as outlets for their negative emotions. They will subconsciously show no restraint in front of their loved ones, and even if they don't admit it, they will think that since the other person loves them, they should accept all of this, otherwise it means they don't love them enough.
Most of the emotional management skills that Qiu Lanxi had learned in the past would fail at this time. The few that she could use were subconscious attempts to make everything favor her.
That's obviously not good.
In comparison, Yan Qingli was undoubtedly much more patient and had a much better temper. She was not good at arguing with Qiu Lanxi because people are prone to saying hurtful things when they are emotional. Qiu Lanxi, on the other hand, was a master of sarcastic remarks. She knew too well how to hit people's sore spots and always managed to break their defenses.
So sometimes when she and Yan Qingli had a disagreement, it could really make her so angry that her heart would ache. But usually, Yan Qingli would either take a step back and let them both calm down before talking, or she would simply shut down her hearing and they would talk at cross purposes until things calmed down completely.
Qiu Lanxi is not someone who cannot manage her emotions. After realizing the problem, she will not let it go but will try to improve it. After all, this kind of problem is not unsolvable. It depends on whether the person involved is willing to change.
And she was willing.
Qiu Lanxi truly felt the impermanence of life because of this. In her previous life, she had received help and care from many people and understood that there were many beautiful things in the world, but she had never established any close relationship with anyone. It was not that she had never met anyone who was sincere, but that Qiu Lanxi's heart had always been closed off.
She did try to understand them, but she just couldn't show her true self in front of them.
From a young age, she was used to analyzing a person's motives and speculating on how the other person would react if she did something. She had already decided the outcome for the other person from an outsider's perspective. Reason prevailed over emotion, so naturally she would not get any closer to them.
Yan Qingli was different; she was an unexpected event in her life.
Two parallel lines that never intersect have inexplicably become entangled, and no one can remain uninvolved in the process of untangling them.
As this understanding deepened, Qiu Lanxi could no longer regard the other party as a native, even though their thoughts were not so compatible, their educations were completely opposite, and they had lived in an era that the other party could not even imagine.
Qiu Lanxi found it difficult to describe her current feelings, which couldn't be explained using her existing knowledge of psychology. She believed that human love is generated by hormones, which is why many people say that many people's love eventually turns into familial affection.
Qiu Lanxi used to agree with this view, but now she doesn't think so anymore.
She was certain that she wasn't initially attracted to Yan Qingli. It wasn't due to hormones; it was a spiritual connection. Qiu Lanxi believed that even if Yan Qingli had a different body now, she would still recognize him.
But Qiu Lanxi still couldn't be sure whether this could be categorized as liking or love. She could only say that if someone told her now that she could return to the modern world by dying, she would probably at most give a formal farewell and still choose to die.
Qiu Lanxi couldn't imagine what she would be like if she acted irrationally for someone else.
She didn't think much about these things. For most students, the imperial examination in ancient times was a more difficult hurdle than the college entrance examination. Only one hundred students from all over the country would be selected for the palace examination. In the palace examination, everyone would only remember the top three. If Qiu Lanxi underestimated it even slightly, she felt that she would end up as a clown.
The ancients were neither stupid nor foolish. In fact, some of their skills would still baffle people today. How did they manage to do it in such a technologically backward era? For example, mathematics. Qiu Lanxi would find it difficult to guarantee that he was superior to everyone else. Even though their arithmetic was not as simple as it is today and was more complicated, they would still eventually arrive at the correct answer.
In mathematics, she was in no way comparable to the eloquent literary talents of this era. Without insights from the future, Qiu Lanxi was certain that she would need to study for at least several decades in this era before she could even make a name for herself.
Fortunately, Qiu Lanxi was always aware of these things, so she was prepared to take an unconventional approach from the beginning.
On the day of the palace examination, Yan Qingli originally wanted Qiu Lanxi to wear a green collar. The so-called green collar, also known as a green collar, is what students wear nowadays. Most students taking the palace examination would wear this, as it is the formal student uniform for students on formal occasions.
However, Qiu Lanxi refused. There was no need for it; she had never attended school in this world.
Seeing this, Yan Qingli did not insist, but simply tied the pendant with the good news of three academic achievements to her.
She wasn't a superstitious person. In Yan Qingli's eyes, seeking good omens was nothing more than last-minute prayer. After all, if one had prepared properly in advance, why would one need to go through the trouble of praying for something that didn't exist?
But now she so sincerely wishes for the protection of all the gods and Buddhas.
Qiu Lanxi held the jade pendant tightly. The day had finally arrived, but she was very calm. In fact, it was not difficult to be granted an official position in ancient times. Many sons of noble families could receive the court's salary without having any real talent or learning. The number of officials who actually did practical work in the Ning Dynasty court was even less than that of the former, but that was only for the privileged class.
This is a centralized world, and as long as Emperor Qinghe persists, all dissenting voices can be suppressed.
On the day of the imperial examination, the Hall of Preserving Harmony will be wide open. This is the only opportunity for many students to enter this place in their lifetime. Yan Qingli can already imagine the uproar that will follow. She is not sure if Qiu Lanxi can handle it. She has seen many students perform poorly due to nervousness in such situations.