Chapter 42: Picture Book
After lunch, Anji hugged her mother, who left reluctantly to return to work. Lizi was still made to rest, so the other maids assisted Anji with her massage.
Gu Ying had no idea why an assistant teacher was assigned to remain by Anji’s side until dinner. Although her official work started tomorrow, she could not defy the Madam’s orders. Hence, she stood guard inside Anji’s bedroom and watched the small girl groan in agony at the massage the other maids were giving her.
"What’s Manchuria like?" Anji asked. "Is it pretty? Can you see the ocean from there?"
Happy to share more about her country of origin with Anji, Gu Ying reminisced about the little memories she had about her childhood while her parents were still alive.
"We’re nomads," she explained. "All the people born in the grassland are nomads. Some raise horses, while others raise sheep. The sky was very huge, and there was nothing but grass and snow as far as the eye could see."
Anji listened to Gu Ying recount the condors and wild horses she encountered during her travels. The Manchu people loved their music and hunting competitions during their free time. They drank strong alcohol even as children and ate weird food like sausages made from blood and sheep cheese.
Somewhere in the middle of the story, Anji fell asleep. Gu Ying smiled at the sleeping child as the maids bowed and left the bedroom. The teaching aide was about to do the same when she spotted a pile of books on the table. They were all related to medicine.
After exiting the room, she approached a nearby maid on standby duty.
"Those books on the table... do they belong to the young miss?"
Smiling proudly, the maid on duty praised Anji’s intelligence and reading ability even at an early age. According to her, Mingshen taught Anji how to write her name at the age of two in secret because the sect master refused to enrol Anji in formal lessons.
"Although the young miss still cannot count, she can easily read the Doctrine of the Mean without the dictionary. Master was very impressed and had nothing more to teach her. That’s why Madam took over her morning lessons to teach her martial arts."
Cannot count? Contrary to popular belief, basic arithmetic skills were required in learning martial arts. Some of the natural practitioners remember best by moving their bodies. However, regular learners must count the number of rotations and remember angles when learning a routine. Spatial awareness was equally important when dealing with longer weapons like the staff and spear. Even without weapons, it was common to count heads and steps when sparring to prevent fatal injuries. A slight shift in the angle of elevation could lead to broken craniums and internal injuries.