Practice Daughter Episode 6 Recap
> Practice Daughter Recap
Mei Yushan and Douzi were running late for their first day at Chongwen Academy. Douzi blamed Mei Yushan's lack of punctuality. Finding the main gate closed, Mei Yushan suggested they climb the wall. As Douzi stepped on Mei Yushan's shoulder and reached the wall, Nangong Yao and Nangong Pin arrived at the gate. Nangong Yao cleared his throat, startling the two girls, who tumbled to the ground.
Nangong Yao remarked he thought thieves were trying to break into the academy, then realized it was the Grand Chancellor's daughter and her maid. Douzi explained they were forced to climb because the gate wasn't opened. Nangong Yao offered to help them over the wall as compensation for scaring them. Mei Yushan and Douzi thanked them sincerely.
After helping them get over, Nangong Yao revealed he had a key and entered through the main gate, leading Mei Yushan to realize he had teased them on purpose. On the first day, the Little Book Boy announced the schedule: jurisprudence and etiquette classes in the morning, followed by an entrance examination in the afternoon. The Grand Tutor began the jurisprudence class, explaining the importance of understanding laws for future officials.
He read from classic texts, but the lecture was dry, and the students seemed bored. Noticing their lack of engagement, the Grand Tutor decided to tell a story about Li Kui, the writer of The Canon of Laws. He recounted how Li Kui, after misjudging a case years earlier, discovered his error during a new trial and, bound by his own legal principles, wrote a suicide note and took his own life for the wrongful execution of an innocent person.
The story sparked discussion among the students, who questioned whether laws made by humans could be flawed. Nangong Yao offered his perspective, stating that laws, applied to the people, should also originate from them, gathering collective wisdom for perfection. The Grand Tutor agreed this emphasized the need for careful application and continuous refinement of laws. The next class was etiquette, taught by Liu Jiao, also known as Madam Liu, the Vice Minister of Rites. The lesson focused on composure.
Students were instructed to line up and practice maintaining a straight face while others tried to distract them. Liu Jiao stressed the importance of this skill for upholding the reputation of imperial men and stated success was mandatory. Nangong Yao participated, enduring various attempts from other students to make him laugh or react, ultimately passing the test of keeping his composure. Following the classes, an announcement was made regarding the entrance examination scheduled for the next day.
It was revealed that Princess An from a friendly state would also participate, coming to Jixi Kingdom for a visit and hearing about the exam. Students were urged to take it seriously, write clearly, and leave no blanks, as random answers would incur a heavy penalty. The news caused apprehension among the students, who were aware of Princess An's renowned intelligence.
Some students, including Su Ruomei and Zhuang Yangyang, approached Princess An, hoping she would help them pass and avoid punishment, especially concerned about losing to the newcomer Mei Yushan. Princess An declined, stating that relying on last-minute help wouldn't compensate for not studying diligently beforehand. The entrance examination commenced the next day, consisting of five questions, one per paper, with no restriction on the answer format, to be assessed by the Grand Tutor.
Nangong Yao finished very quickly, commenting that the questions were too simple. Mei Yushan, however, hadn't started writing for some time, prompting remarks from other students. She declared she would write immediately and that her answers would be no worse than anyone else's. The Grand Tutor reviewed the papers, praising Nangong Yao's answers for their grandeur and rigor, fitting for a future ruler. He found Princess An's paper uniquely insightful, calling it unprecedented. The other students' papers were deemed acceptable.
Finally, the Grand Tutor requested Mei Yushan's papers. As he read her answers aloud, it became clear she had not taken the exam seriously. Her answers were nonsensical and included drawings. For instance, when asked about Wang Lun in the line "The Peach Blossom Spring is a thousand feet deep, but not as deep as Wang Lun's affection for me," she speculated he must have jumped off a cliff.
When asked about the famous saying "Husband and wife are originally birds of the same forest, but when disaster strikes, they fly their separate ways," she suggested it meant neither spouse was a good person and they lacked loyalty. Her bizarre interpretations and drawings caused the other students to burst into laughter, and the Grand Tutor was so shocked he called for an imperial physician.
As punishment for disrespecting the academy and disrupting the exam, Mei Yushan was ordered to copy books every day after class for half a month, with Nangong Yao supervising her work. Mei Yushan found the task incredibly difficult. Nangong Yao was a strict supervisor, sometimes forcing her to copy even when it was past dinner time and both were hungry.
When Mei Yushan presented her work, full of typos and skipped sections, Nangong Yao meticulously pointed out the errors, citing specific lines and counts of missing or incorrect characters. Mei Yushan tried various excuses, but Nangong Yao insisted she recopy. One night, frustrated by the repeated recopying and Nangong Yao's accuracy in spotting errors, Mei Yushan challenged him.
She bet that if he could accurately state the exact number of missing words in her work, she would admit his skill and become his teacher. The stakes were high: if he was wrong, he had to return her Moon Spirit Pearl; if she lost, she would apprentice herself to him. Nangong Yao accepted the bet. When Mei Yushan checked herself, she found his count of two hundred and seventy-five missing words was precisely correct.
Despite losing the bet, she continued to make mistakes and be ordered to recopy. She even tried copying backward, thinking she could trick him, but he still caught the omissions and errors, giving exact counts. Day after day, she copied, exhausted, sometimes even complaining about the hardship in her sleep. Finally, she managed to copy a text perfectly, without a single error or omission.
Mei Yushan, acknowledging his skill and having lost the bet, began calling Nangong Yao "Little Master," accepting him as her teacher. Their interactions became more relaxed; he told her she didn't need to call him by his title when they were alone, and he even gave her food.
Mei Yushan started teasing him, using phrases from vulgar storybooks, calling him a "sanctimonious little master" and jokingly accusing him of improper behavior, revealing her knowledge came from a toothless old storyteller on Xuanwu Street.
