Chapter 14

Chapter 14 – Academy For Women

As Ye Zhen and her maid strutted forth the silent corridors of the mansion, Old Madam Lu’s laughter suddenly rang out. Her age didn’t seem to dampen her lively mood! Taking a series of flights of stairs, she finally arrived and the curtain was quickly lifted by Old Madam’s maid-in-waiting.

“Third Miss is here, Madam.”

Ye Zhen nodded to the maid with her usual smile, lowered her head, and went in.

“Grandmother, I have come to greet you.”

Lu Jing was already inside the room. She was sitting on Old Madam’s left, with a look of displeasure on her face. Carrying a particular dislike towards Ye Zhen, she was somewhat reluctant to pay courtesy the moment she came in but nonetheless gave a small courtesy afterwards for she was in the company of Old Madam.

Old Madam had sharp eyes for such things. If anything, Lu Jing shading Ye Zhen would spoil the elder’s impression of her.

Wearing a calm dexterity, Lu Fang lounged comfortably on Old Madam’s right, holding a round fan hiding half of her face.

“Third Sister, you look rather better today.”

Ye Zhen laughed. “Well, that shows that this mansion has the spirit to make people well!”

Old Madam Lu laughed, almost like a chortle, and shook her head at the remark. “Yes, she looks better, but she’s still too thin and needs to take care of her body.”

“Grandmother can rest assured that I will keep myself fair and plump. I just came in and heard you laughing happily, what is the pleasure?”

“Fourth Sister here is talking about the academy. A lady from a famous family looks down upon us and is not shy in expressing it. Oh, but the poor lass lost herself in crying!” said Lu Fang.

Not all families, aristocrats and peasants alike, looked positively at the Lu Family. It was just normal that such temperament, as Lu Jing’s, was used to make room for ridiculing her of her birth status.

“It seems quite fun in the academy.”

As soon as Ye Zhen had spoken those words, the little smile left on Lu Jing’s face was wiped away.

“Third Sister, how can you so casually say that when you have never been admitted to an academy? You cannot say that in public without making a joke out of yourself!”

Lu Jing felt a bit indignant.

A country bumpkin was shooting off her mouth. How dare she?

Even so, Ye Zhen’s face was innocent and ignorant. “I have not been to an academy. Naturally, one does not know what it’s like. The next time Fourth Sister takes me to have a look, I will know.”

Old Madam Lu nodded and said, “Yaoyao certainly did not experience life in an academy back in the border town. But now that your eldest brother has some status, I’ll let him support you and let you study in the Academy for Women. It does not matter how many things you have to study. You just have to at least earn a respectable reputation, especially now that you are of age.”

A century or so since its establishment, the original intention behind Qi Yanling founding the vocational school – to take in lonely, shelterless women and help them acquire enough skills to make a living – had been lost. Instead, as the fame of the establishment grew, the place that once took in women from all walks of life turned into the Academy for Women- one that only accepted young ladies from prominent families well versed in literature, or those few from ordinary families who had literary talent extraordinaire.  Moreover, they had to succeed in the infamous examination of Six Arts.

There was a flicker of contempt in Lu Jing’s eyes. If it were not for Old Madam Lu’s presence, she would not be able to stop herself from laughing at Ye Zhen right in the face. In her mind, how could someone who grew in the border town be able to keep up with the academy’s demands? Not to mention music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, she was not even acquainted with at least one famous figure in the academy. If by some miracle she passed, she would still be driven out like an outcast everybody believed that she was.

“Still, Third Sister has to pass the exam even if she has Eldest Brother to support her. She is also too old, fifteen years. I’m afraid it’s too late,” Lu Fang said, followed by a scoff from Lu Jing.

“The academy didn’t stipulate that one cannot go to school when one is aged fifteen! Besides, Lu Yaoyao can learn the Four Arts¹ just like those eleven or twelve-year-old girls!” Old Madam Lu strongly disagreed then looked at Ye Zhen seriously. “Tell me, child, I heard you studied medicine with your mother before. Would you like to go to the academy’s School of Medicine to study then?” Old Madam Lu asked.

Originally, medicine was a profession that was heavily looked down upon. Men who were a part of it were not seen in a favorable light, to say nothing of women. However, all that changed with the advent of Empress Duanhui, Qi Yanling, who was a well-known physician herself. Given her gift of healing, and since medicine was a field that did not interfere with politics, it was easy for her to usher in positivity without as much as a resistance. Soon, she took over the Academy for Women and founded Renhe Tang– the first medical guild of its kind and heralded a new outlook towards the profession in general and women in particular. She went on to add the School of Medicine as a branch of the academy and the women who graduated were given the opportunity of becoming imperial physicians.

If she chose to become an imperial physician, would she have a chance to take her revenge? If she wanted revenge, she must find a prominent figure to back her up.

Looking across the capital, Ye Zhen surmised, there was only one such personage: The Empress Dowager of the Qin Dynasty, Mo Rongzhan’s mother.

Back when she was still the Ye Zhen wed to Mo Rongzhan, the empress dowager had been kind to her.

“Grandmother, I will consider!” she said.

No matter what method she used, she had to enter the palace. Only by doing that could she have the chance of revenge! Only when she entered the palace could she obtain the power she longed for!

Not only did she want to be a female physician, but she also wanted to make use of the position of the Lu Family to strive to achieve more good things for herself.

Lu Lingzhi used to manipulate her in a hypocritical manner. Blinded by hurt and anger, she wished she could do the things they did to her. Now, whether she poisons Lu Lingzhi or rob Lu Wushuang of her identity, it would never be enough. She would retaliate against them for how they treated her in the leastways expected!

The next time she met Lu Lingzhi, she would be firm and unafraid. She would instill in her mind that as long as she lived through her sister’s body, she was his cousin. In the presence of the enemy, she must forget Ye Zhen’s identity.

Lu Lingzhi and Lu Wushuang, I’m back. Are you ready?