She violated all the rules the master had set out to say.
However, Shuangshuang is still so young, it's normal that she doesn't understand many things. We can't scold her, we have to teach her patiently.
Wang Hongbo moved to Wushuang's side, first taking out a handkerchief to wipe her left hand, which was covered in pastry oil stains, and then prying open her right hand fingers, saying, "Put your index and middle fingers in front and your ring finger behind. This way, it will be easier to hold the pen and write more smoothly."
He removed the paper covered in black ink from Wushuang's writing, replaced it with a new one, and held her hand as he taught her to write, saying, "Look, isn't this much better? You can't trace characters when you write."
When Junshu returned from outside, he saw the two little ones sitting side by side on the tatami mat, their heads touching and their hands clasped, looking exceptionally close and affectionate.
Upon seeing her father, Wushuang immediately threw down her pen, stood up, and jumped up to hug him.
Junshu picked up his daughter and bounced her around, not forgetting to pat Wang Hongbo's little head and praise him, "Teaching your little sister to write? Hongbo is such a good boy."
Wang Hongbo said, "Shuangshuang can write it herself, she writes very well without me teaching her." As he spoke, he raised the paper with two lines of large characters written on it for Junshu to see.
Jun Shu knew, of course, that Wu Shuang's handwriting wasn't as neat and beautiful as this, but seeing his daughter being protected, he couldn't help but be happy as a parent. So he didn't expose her, but smiled and praised Wu Shuang, "Good girl, your handwriting is getting better and better. Daddy will reward you later."
Wushuang rubbed her rosy cheeks against her father's shoulder. She was a good girl at catching cheaters, and she was really embarrassed because she had cheated today.
"Uncle Jun, when you went to see the Emperor off today, did you see my father? Did he tell me when I could go home?" Wang Hongbo put down the paper and looked up to ask.
He stayed at the Jun family's house for seven days. His initial excitement and carefree joy gradually turned into a longing to return home. However, his parents seemed to have forgotten he even existed; they hadn't visited him or given any indication of when he should return. [qiushu.cc updates quickly, has a clean website, few ads, and no pop-ups. I love this kind of website! Definitely a good review!]
Jun Shu frowned slightly. He didn't want to lie to Wang Hongbo, so he simply said, "There were too many people at the dock today, so I didn't run into him."
Wang Hongbo was very disappointed and lowered his head, saying, "I thought that after His Majesty returned to the capital, Father would not be so busy anymore and would remember me."
Jun Shu frowned even more deeply, rubbing Wang Hongbo's head and saying, "Although His Majesty has left, he has left us with many tasks to complete. Look, he still won't let me go back."
"Father is busier than when His Majesty was alive?" Wang Hongbo suddenly realized. "Then Mother must be busier too, so it's not that they don't miss me."
Junshu neither admitted nor denied it, letting him concoct a perfect excuse on his own.
“You two continue writing,” he said softly to the two children. “I’m going to see your mother.” The last sentence was addressed to Wushuang.
Wang Hongbo didn't notice anything amiss, obediently agreed, and took Wushuang's little hand to sit back in a distance.
Wushuang watched her father's departing figure, feeling something was off, but she couldn't quite put her finger on why. She patiently let Wang Hongbo hold her hand and write two more lines before asking, "Brother Bo, is my writing really good?"
“Of course!” Wang Hongbo said. “You have to believe me.”
Wushuang squinted and smiled, "Then I'll take it to show Mother." With that, she got off the bed, picked up the paper, and ran outside, saying, "Brother Bo, wait for me here when I come back."
Wang Hongbo is seven years old this year, and he knows quite a few rules. For example, there is a difference between men and women, and when visiting someone's house, one cannot freely enter or leave a woman's room. Therefore, unless Yang invites him or asks for permission, he will not go into Yang's room. When he heard Wushuang say this, he did not feel that there was anything wrong with it. He agreed, spread out a sheet of Xuan paper, and began to do another set of homework.
Yang had been staying in the delivery room since giving birth and had not yet moved back to the main house. Wushuang ran over, but instead of going in, she hid behind the curtain to eavesdrop.
Yang's gentle voice came out: "...This can't go on forever. Sooner or later he'll have to find out. Today is the seventh day after his death..."
She spoke in a low voice, and Wushuang couldn't hear what she said after that.
The seventh day after death?
Has someone died?
Wushuang tightened her grip on the paper.
Who died, and who doesn't know?
"What kind of ritual is being performed? His Majesty gave the order that day that no burial was allowed before the murderers were punished. The bodies were to be kept in the yamen and guarded by the Lingguang Guard. No one was allowed to touch them."
Junshu had a loud voice, and Wushuang heard him clearly.
It turned out that a murder had occurred.
She felt relieved, but then heard Madam Yang ask, "Was this really done by pirates? The sea is so vast, how can we find out which group it was? When will the real culprit be brought to justice?"
Having lived in Hangzhou for a long time during her youth, Yang was aware that during the reign of the late emperor, a maritime ban had been implemented to prevent pirate activity, strictly prohibiting ships from going to sea or entering ports. While this measure provided some degree of self-protection, it forcibly disrupted normal maritime trade. Skilled and daring individuals in coastal areas then banded together to engage in smuggling.
The Qi Kingdom has a long coastline, stretching across most of its borders from north to south, making it impossible to station troops along every inch of the shore. While ports of all sizes can be shut down to prevent merchant ships from coming and going, smuggling boats have never ceased operating on the desolate beaches.
Seeing that these people were making huge profits, the imperial court reopened the Maritime Trade Office and restored maritime trade. Merchant ships with official permits could go to sea, and ships from overseas also had to apply for port entry permits before they could dock.
From then on, anyone who continued to engage in maritime trade without official credentials was classified as a "pirate," and once they were apprehended, they were severely punished.
However, many people are still willing to take this risk.
Because merchant ships that have received official warrants must have their goods inventoried by the Maritime Trade Office, taxes must be levied based on the type and value of the goods. Domestic goods leaving the port are subject to lower taxes, while overseas goods entering the port are subject to higher taxes. These higher taxes reduce profits and, in severe cases, can even lead to losses.
However, merchant ships never sail empty-handed; they always leave port with one shipment of goods and return with another. Therefore, the current tax policy has caused great dissatisfaction among merchants and has provided smuggling and piracy with room to continue to thrive.
Jun Shu sighed and said, "Isn't it His Majesty who ordered me to stay and supervise the Commander-in-Chief's training of the navy so that the murderer can be brought to justice as soon as possible?"
"You've never fought a naval battle before." Warfare can be a big or small matter, and Yang, concerned for her husband, said anxiously, "Why didn't you send someone with naval experience?"
“Where would you find such a person?” Jun Shu retorted. “The navy in the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian areas has never actually fought a major battle. At most, they have only been suppressing pirates in coastal waters.” After saying this, he realized that his words might be considered disparaging to his father-in-law, so he added, “For the past hundred years, the navy’s policy of resisting enemies has focused on defending the country and preventing foreign invasion. Fighting in the open sea has never been their strength.”
Is Father going to war at sea?
After eavesdropping for a while, Wushuang finally understood this sentence.
She abruptly lifted the curtain, about to say "I don't want Father to go," when Jun Shu spoke first: "Don't worry, for your sake and the children's sake, I will definitely not let anything happen to myself."
“Now we have another child,” said Mrs. Yang.
Are you talking about your younger brother?
Through the gauze screen, Wushuang heard Junyu cooperating with the "ee-ee-ya-ya" sounds, and could vaguely see her mother leaning on her father's shoulder. Embarrassed to disturb her parents' intimacy, she quietly lowered the curtain and took small steps back, only to hear her father say, "Yes, Hongbo will stay by our side from now on, just like our own child. I will nurture him well so that Brother Wang and his wife, if they have spirits in heaven, can be comforted."