The sick king's bride to bring him good fortune

Ruan Mozhu genuinely felt that the Emperor was not young anymore, and if he were to accept Wei Jingnan, given his mental state, it would be like killing him.

Besides, the Emperor has always doted on Wei Jingnan, sigh.

Wei Jingnan is just ignorant.

Ruan Mozhu looked at Wei Jingnan. Of course she believed him; he was naive, he wouldn't lie. So Ruan Mozhu cupped his face and said, "Wei Jingnan, you're not a child anymore. You need to mature gradually. At least you need to be sensible and polite. You can't resort to violence. Besides, what you did to someone else's shop just now was wrong." As Ruan Mozhu said this, Wei Jingnan stared at her, feeling that Ruan Mozhu's eyes were so bright, something he had never noticed before.

Ruan Mozhu released his face and walked ahead alone, saying to Wei Jingnan, "Wei Jingnan, you're silly, but I'm not afraid. I will take care of you for a long time, until you regain your memory and are able to act independently. I'm not afraid of anything, I'll always be there for you." Ruan Mozhu seemed to be speaking to herself.

Wei Jingnan is actually very kind-hearted, so Ruan Mozhu needs to guide him properly now. After returning to the palace, she had someone help Wei Jingnan review his lessons.

As soon as Wei Jingnan sat down, his page stood beside him, instructing him on what to memorize. Wei Jingnan was already impatient, and upon seeing the book, he became even less interested and threw it away, saying, "I already know all of this, why do you need to give it to me and make me read it?"

Wei Jingnan's words left Ruan Mozhu speechless. How come you forgot everything but the word "forgot"? Sigh, well, it turns out that the word is more important to you than the word is to you and your father. That's the only way Ruan Mozhu could understand it.

Wei Jingnan was clearly impatient with reading. Ruan Mozhu slowly picked up the book and saw this idiom.

"The story of 'hanging one's head from the rafters and pricking one's thigh with an awl' tells of a great man who studied very diligently. He would read at night, but he would always feel sleepy. So he came up with a solution: he tied a rope to his hair and attached it to the rafters. Whenever he felt sleepy, the rope would pull on his hair, causing him pain and keeping him awake so he could continue reading."

"And the story of 'lying on the ice to catch carp' tells of a very filial son. His stepmother wanted to eat fish, so in the dead of winter, he went to the frozen river. He had no tools and couldn't break the ice. He had no choice but to lie on the ice, hoping that his body heat would melt the ice so he could catch the fish below." Ruan Mozhu spoke with great enthusiasm, and Wei Jingnan stared at her intently.

"And the story of Kong Rong giving away the pear means that there was once a very filial son named Kong Rong. One day, his parents gave him and his younger brother a pear, and they couldn't divide it. So Kong Rong gave it to his brother. This was when Kong Rong was a child. He was so sensible even then, so he grew up to be very polite and became a great man." Ruan Mozhu was only explaining based on her vague memory. She didn't know if she was right or not, but the meaning was probably similar.

Wei Jingnan looked at Ruan Mozhu and thought to himself, "Mozhu knows quite a lot. That's good. Mozhu reads very well. Mozhu's voice is beautiful, and she is beautiful too. No, she is beautiful too."

Wei Jingnan looks silly now, and it seems that Ruan Mozhu likes him a lot. Ruan Mozhu looked at Wei Jingnan and suddenly leaned closer and asked, "Did you remember it?" Ruan Mozhu thought that Wei Jingnan probably already knew it.

"I know all of this, Mozhu. I think I must have been a very book-loving person before, otherwise I wouldn't know so much. Mozhu, your family must have been very wealthy before. I heard that only wealthy families can afford to study." Wei Jingnan looked at Ruan Mozhu with great curiosity, his big eyes making Ruan Mozhu feel very guilty.

His eyes were exceptionally beautiful, but they always made her feel as if he was trying to see through her soul, which made her feel guilty. It was true; Wei Jingnan's eyes were like that. Just now, she was afraid, afraid to look directly into them.

Therefore, she dared not look directly into Wei Jingnan's eyes. She used to think he was a scheming person and that there was nothing wrong with eye contact. But now that he was so pure, she always felt that she was corrupting him and that he could see through all her bad thoughts, which made her feel very inferior.

Ruan Mozhu felt that Wei Jingnan was becoming more and more naive.

Ruan Mozhu turned to Wei Jingnan and said, "Wei Jingnan, don't ask if you don't know. Since you've already learned everything from reading, go out and exercise." Uh, Ruan Mozhu thought of Wei Jingnan's terrifying muscles, so she decided against it; he didn't need to exercise.

"Wait, you just stay in the palace and don't go anywhere. Eat whatever you want, drink whatever you want, okay? Just don't go out and cause trouble, okay?" Ruan Mozhu really disliked Wei Jingnan going out and causing trouble, which made her very unhappy. Ruan Mozhu felt like she was cleaning up his messes, and she felt like he was a disobedient child, and she was going to teach him a lesson and spank him. Sigh, just thinking about it made her feel ridiculous.

Ruan Mozhu looked at Wei Jingnan, ignoring his pitiful gaze, and focused only on what she needed to do later before leaving the mansion.

Ruan Mozhu thought that Bu Yu had given her one million taels of silver to Xue'er, and Xue'er would take it with her to look at shops later, so she could open a clothing store herself.

Ruan Mozhu was determined to do what she said, so she took Xue'er and left the manor under Wei Jingnan's pitiful gaze. Ruan Mozhu thought, "For a clothing store, I should choose a street with many noble ladies."

Still on South Street, Ruan Mozhu hired a carriage to go there. When she inquired at the shops on South Street, she learned that there was a shop for sale, so Ruan Mozhu took a look.

The location was good, the layout was good, and it was on the third floor. Ruan Mozhu thought it was all good, so she bought it for 80,000. Ruan Mozhu also drew up the blueprints and gave them to Xue'er, asking Xue'er to find a craftsman to make it.

Ruan Mozhu left again and asked Xue'er how the workshop was going. Sure enough, the efficiency was fast. Xue'er said that the workshop and the machines would cost about 20,000 taels in total. After all, it was not on the main street, so the location was cheaper. Ruan Mozhu thought it was acceptable, so she asked Xue'er to give the Du brothers 30,000 taels of silver and ask them to set up the workshop and then hire more technicians.

It will take about four or five days, since a workshop is quite large.

Ruan Mozhu thought of the technician Qi Yu had mentioned. Okay, once the workshop is set up in a few days, she'll go and bring that person over.

Ruan Mozhu looked at the beggars on the street, so she asked Xue'er to buy a large basket of steamed buns and distribute them to the beggars. Under the emperor's nose, the beggars did not dare to snatch them, so they accepted the steamed buns from Xue'er one by one and thanked her very much.

Ruan Mozhu thought that ancient times were really tragic. Beggars could never have enough to eat and wear, the rich only cared about their own lives, and the poor didn't know how to make progress. The polarization was severe, and Ruan Mozhu was determined to change this situation.

Ruan Mozhu had someone lead her to a nearby school, where there were quite a few students. As soon as Ruan Mozhu entered, the children looked at her with great curiosity.

After all, the academy only has teachers and children, and it's not common to see women of Ruan Mozhu's age.

So the children simply took Ruan Mozhu for one of their mothers, and one of them raised his beautiful, sparkling eyes and said to Ruan Mozhu.

"Madam, who are you looking for?" This little boy is so cute, but his way of addressing her surprised Ruan Mozhu. Does Madam really look that old?

Ruan Mozhu then remembered that she had her hair up, no wonder she was called Madam, but she was indeed Madam.

Ruan Mozhu looked at the child and felt a surge of affection. She squatted down and touched the child's headband. He looked so cute.

"Little boy, may you tell your mother that she should go to school here?"

"Oh no, Mother always says tuition is too expensive. I think I won't be able to go to school next year. I'll have to go to the market with Mother to sell vegetables." Ruan Mozhu's heart suddenly tightened.

This child is so young, is he going to drop out of school and start selling vegetables? Ruan Mozhu was speechless.

So Ruan Mozhu went in and found the teacher. She felt that the teacher was in high spirits and looked very healthy. Ruan Mozhu said, "Teacher, the tuition you charged for the children is too expensive. Here's what I'll do: I'll pay all the tuition for these children, so you don't have to charge them tuition anymore. You can ask me to reimburse the children for their expenses."

The scholar's eyes lit up; he was a wealthy man. He quickly asked, however, with a hint of doubt, "But why is the lady doing this?"

“The country is currently in dire need of talent. Children can’t even afford to go to school. How can they become pillars of the court in the future, let alone serve the court? After all, I am also a patriot. I just hope that these children can finish their studies and share the burden of the current emperor. Master, do you think what I said is right?” Ruan Mozhu’s words made him blush.

Even a lady understands this principle, yet I don't, and I'm still here arbitrarily charging fees and exploiting the people. This is truly a sin of mine.

He thought to himself that he had lived for so long, no wonder he could never teach a few people to become top scholars. They were either rich but spoiled, or they loved to read but had no money. He thought about how many opportunities he had missed to cultivate talents for the country.

The teacher also felt embarrassed, so Ruan Mozhu simply had Xue'er step forward and place the silver notes into the teacher's hands.

When Confucius saw this, he sighed, realizing that he was just an ordinary person and that it was best to leave it at that.

"Okay, I promise you."

And so, after the teacher went in to teach, Ruan Mozhu left. Xue'er gave the teacher about five years' worth of tuition for the children here, which amounted to about a thousand taels of silver. Ruan Mozhu didn't feel any heartache; she only felt that these children deserved to be loved, and that they were all very cute.

They are at the age to study, and they should be studying. Selling vegetables or something like that won't work. In this ancient era, the rich die rich and the poor starve. Alas, the poor have no way out; they can only live at the bottom and be exploited.

Their hard-earned fruits of labor are discarded and wasted without hesitation by the wealthy, which is just sad.

Ruan Mozhu left the school and saw a beggar child outside. He seemed to want to go in and study, but he only looked and didn't go in. Ruan Mozhu felt sorry for him.

She smiled, squatted down, and said to him, "Do you want to study? Go in and study. The teacher will want you."

The little boy hesitated for a moment, then blurted out, "I have no money." Ruan Mozhu smiled.

"This is a loan to you. Remember, use this money to make sure you eat and dress well. Xue'er, take him inside and give the teacher proper instructions."

This book was first published on Kanshu.com