"So you are saying that he does not have a teacher yet?"
"Yes. Because no one likes him, and no one dares to send a teacher to teach him. Poor Young Master, he could only learn from me."
Xiaoqi secretly glanced at He Deping. He Deping was aware of Xiaoqi’s cautious eye movements.
He cleared his throat and said, "Alright. That will be all for yesterday's topic. Today, we will start with a new topic."
Xiaoqi’s face fell.
It seemed that He Deping was not moved by his words.
However, he knew that Shen Xiangwan was right. To persuade a capable person like He Deping to help them, they had to make him see hope and future in Murong Xiude.
If Murong Xiude was a useless person who did not want to help himself, why should He Deping bother to teach him?
That night, when Shen Xiangwan sent dim sum and other things to Murong Xiude’s courtyard as usual, Xiaoqi escorted her out.
"I told Mr. He about Jiuye’s story today. He asked a few more questions, but when I wanted to talk more about Jiuye, he interrupted me and began talking about the new topic instead."
Shen Xiangwan ruffled his hair. "Xiaoqi, you did a good job."
"Sister, it would be great if Mr. He could offer to go to Jiuye’s courtyard. This way, Jiuye could have a decent teacher."
Shen Xiangwan frowned. "If he is willing to do this, I will arrange it by then!"
It was a must to find a good teacher with good character and talent for Murong Xiude.
He Deping was obviously a good candidate.
However, if they wanted to capture his attention, they had to let Murong Xiude show more of his talents, as well as his farsightedness.
After thinking about it , Shen Xiangwan frowned as she began thinking about how to persuade He Deping to be on Murong Xiude's side. The best thing to do was to let Murong Xiude stay in this mansion and gain a foothold first.
He only needed to gain a strong foothold, but not so much as to let others pay attention to him, so that he could live safely.
She turned around to talk about it with Yixuan.
"This matter is actually very simple, Wanwan. The Duke’s common wife, Sima Ying, is actually the Prime Minister's daughter. Although she is only a b*stard child, and so far she is not made the Duchess, but she is the person-in-charge of the Duke’s main courtyard. She also helped raise the Duke’s children too. Besides, she is also a person who pays great attention to her reputation."
Speaking of this, Yixuan stopped talking.
Shen Xiangwan knew what Yixuan was about to say. "That’s it! Since the Lady pays so much attention to her reputation, we may take advantage of the opportunity to show off Jiuye’s talents when there are important people visiting the mansion. For the sake of her virtuous reputation, the Lady would have to be nice to Jiuye. Of course, the best thing to do will be to let someone say some nice things about Jiuye in front of her to remind her of the pros and cons of supporting Jiuye."
Yixuan smiled and nodded in relief.
Shen Xiangwan was indeed clever.
"Mama Yi, I heard that you have recently won the favor of Fifth Lady. It seems like you are going to work in her courtyard soon."
Yixuan nodded. "Yes. When I was on an errand some time ago, Fifth Lady noticed me. The arrangements are still in progress."
Shen Xiangwan held her hand. "That’s great. Finally, you don't have to move things here and there every day in the warehouse anymore. Look at your hand, it's all rough."
Yixuan’s hands had always been the broadest and gentlest.
Now that she was assigned to Fifth Lady's courtyard to be her child’s nanny, she would have to follow the Young Master in the future in terms of boarding and lodging.
"This time I am in charge of her son, Young Master Qing. It is said that he has a bad temper. He had beaten and scared away several Mamas before. I may not be able to see you as often as before now. You must think carefully before you act. Your one move could affect all of us. Yue Er, Xiaoqi and I, we are all counting on you."
Shen Xiangwan nodded solemnly. "I know."
"I will observe again and see which Young Master in this mansion is worth supporting. If there is a candidate worthy of all our efforts, we may still consider him. However, before that, it is better to treat the Ninth Young Master nicely. We can’t see through the future, and even if some people do not perform well when they are young, it doesn't mean that they won't achieve success when they grow up."
Shen Xiangwan understood these words clearly, and she nodded fiercely. The two of them exchanged some reminders to each other before they broke up and left.
The next day, when He Deping was teaching, Xiaoqi told him his own opinion on the story. As he saw that He Deping was not too satisfied with his answer, he faltered.
"Sir, when Jiuye had finished listening to your story, he felt that my idea was wrong. He said that as gentlemen, we should be filial to our parents, but if we blindly obey them, we would lose our own self, and it was a stupid thing to do. He believed that that kind of attitude was undesirable. I suggested that we should find the parents a teacher to teach them, but he said that this method is even more undesirable."
He Deping seemed distracted, he stared at the book in front of him and didn't interrupt Xiaoqi.
Then, Xiaoqi understood what to do next.
"What Jiuye meant is to point out the shortcomings of the parents directly, and even a small mistake should not be tolerated. If they still refuse to give up, then we should cut our flesh and return to them."
"What?" He Deping exclaimed.
Xiaoqi was surprised to see He Deping so moved by this answer, and he was puzzled.
He seemed to be surprised by this answer.
But the answer was nothing out of the ordinary.
"Xiaoqi, you may go back."
Back in the courtyard, Xiaoqi told Murong Xiude the answer that he had said today.
“Young Master, do you think it is strange? I only told him the answer that you gave, but why would he have such a big reaction?"
Murong Xiude pondered for a while, and looked up at Xiaoqi. "Was there a painful expression on his face when he responded to the answer?"
"Yes, he looked like he was in pain," Xiaoqi replied.
"Well, that can only show that Mr. He must have blindly obeyed his parents before. And because of the ignorance of his parents, he had paid a considerable price for it. It also explains why he studied so hard yet he still chose the unpopular road of doing business. I think that there are many twists and turns behind his background."
Xiaoqi looked at him in a daze, "Young Master, why do you speculate this?"
Murong Xiude smiled. "Little Qi, use your brain and think more, then you will be able to see things through with observation."
Xiaoqi was still very skeptical that his Young Master could make such an inference.
However, when he turned around and told Shen Xiangwan about this matter, she was silent.
After a long time, she let out a soft sigh. "Little Qi, treat your Young Master with a sincere heart."
"What?" Xiaoqi was puzzled, and he scrunched his little nose. "I have always treated him sincerely." In fact, he couldn’t be any more sincere than that.
Shen Xiangwan shot him a meaningful look and patted his little head. "If you were to ask me which Young Master in this mansion is as smart as an elf, I will tell you that it is none other than your Young Master.”