章 5: Take Over The Role: Day Four
Okay that plan of just running away with Lai Huang didn't sound too dumb anymore. If she did that then she'd never be subjected to this man's form of teaching ever again.
She understood why she had to learn political history as the sect heir but dear god this man was dreadfully boring. She'd read about people who would just 'drone' on for hours but she had never understood it until now.
This was what it meant to drone on about something.
She was trying so hard not to just slump over in her seat and take a nap. In fact the only thing stopping her was the Systems reminders.
[A-Mei!! Meng Xiāng paid attention to all of her classes!!]
'Well she's a better girl than me then,' Meng Mei thought humorlessly.
Yesterday had been her first real taste of being the Libaogong heir. She'd had an etiquette class, calligraphy class, and finance class.
Unrelated but who teaches an eight year old finance?
She'd mistakenly thought that she'd met all of her teachers. Until this morning when she was introduced to her dancing instructor, her speech teacher, and now her political history teacher. Who she wishes would just wrap up the lesson already.
For the first hour she thought she could endure it. Then hour three hit and she'd completely mentally checked out. She just couldn't listen to him.
"—all for today. I want you to write a short paper about how the jade resource scare brought everyone together. I'll expect it to be done by our next lesson."
Meng Mei perked up and hurriedly said her goodbyes to the teacher. He left her alone in the 'classroom'. She knew from the last classes that it'll take at least five minutes for someone to retrieve her so she sank fully onto the floor.
She was sprawled out in the most unladylike manner but she couldn't bring herself to care.
"System, can you show me like a percentage bar for everyone I have to convince. Does that even exist?"
[It does now!! (◠‿◕)]
[ Madam Meirong – 87%
Amah – 92%
Meng Yong – 91%
Meng Weiyuan – 100%
Avg of household servants – 99%
Avg of teachers/instructors – 90% ]
[70% is considered a passing grade so keep it up A-Mei!! If you manage to convince everyone 100% to where they don't have even a gut feeling of a doubt then you'll unlock a special future scenario!!]
"And how do I convince them completely?"
[Just keep up what you've been doing, by the time the timer runs out you should be able to achieve that 100% completion]
[Should I notify you when the percentages hit 100%?]
"Yeah, go ahead."
She sighed and covered her face with her sleeve. She hadn't really been doing much since she got here. Just imitating the glimpses of how Meng Xiāng treated her family from Seasons of Sorrow.
She'd acted like the withdrawn sect heir that everyone expected her to be.
They'd probably all subconsciously seen the differences though since only Meng Weiyuan was at 100%. And she'd really just been pretending that he hadn't existed every time she saw him.
At breakfast and dinner the family made it a point to eat together. So she'd just never looked in his direction and never responded to him. She desperately wanted to know what he'd done to get his position of sect heir revoked though.
Why had he decided that whatever happened was more important than his little sister?
A knock brought her out of her thoughts.
"Little Miss, it's time to go get ready for dinner." Amah announced, making her way into the room. She saw Meng Mei still sprawled out and burst into laughter.
"Oh dear, is he still that bad?" She asked as she bent down to help Meng Mei up. Seeing her opportunity to complain she did so readily.
"He's so boring Amah! He talks so slow." she dragged out the last bit in imitation. Amah let out another hearty laugh and pinched her on the cheek.
"Oh stop, Little Miss shouldn't speak of her esteemed laoshi in that way."
"But it's true! Esteemed or not he's a bore."
Amah shushed her as they rounded the corner. They walked the rest of the way to her room in companionable silence.
Getting cleaned up for dinner wasn't anything special, she just had to wash her face and hands before dressing in something a little less casual. Since she was still a young child she just had to change her everyday wear for a slightly more embroidered hanfu. Amah also rebraided her hair and tied a ribbon with a silk red camellia around the end of it.
Washing off the night to have breakfast with family and then washing off the day to have dinner with family was one of the customs in this world. Lunch wasn't as important to get ready for since it was in the middle of the two so it was rare to gather for it.
"Amah, will my brothers be at dinner?" She asked, tugging on the woman's sleeve. Amah's face tightened.
"The second young master will be there but the first young master had some issues to take care of so he left at around lunch time today."
"Oh. Will Er-ge have his hair down again? He looked funny at breakfast." She snickered, not even replying to the news of Weiyuan having left without saying anything.
"I don't know, why don't we hurry down to see?"
The dining hall was on the second floor so it was a bit of a hike down for the two of them. Meng Mei was slowly getting used to all the stairs and all the walking though.
Entering the dining hall was a whole other experience. The sheer grandness of it had been astounding the first time she had walked in.
Silk tapestries hung from the rafters, a mural of the founding of Libaogong stretched across one of the walls. Sitting cushions were stacked carefully in the corners. Incense made the air slightly smoky. It was beautiful.
At every breakfast and dinner the Meng family sat around a large circular table covered in all kinds of dishes. The table itself was big enough to sit twenty people comfortably so they all just spread out around it.
Madam Meirong always sat with her back to the tapestry that depicted a dragon fighting a tiger. Meng Yong would sit pretty far to her left and Meng Weiyuan would usually sit pretty close to him.
Somehow Meng Xiāng had decided that sitting across from her Er-ge was a great idea so Meng Mei was the most isolated at the table.
When she and Amah walked in Madam Meirong was already seated and Meng Yong was piddling around, apparently looking for a new seating cushion.
His hair was indeed still down and it was so curly and out of control he looked feral. The hair plus his excited grin that had way too many teeth was truly amusing.
"Child stop laughing at your brother and come sit down." Madam Meirong ordered without so much as a glance in her direction. Feeling caught Meng Mei clapped her hand over her mouth to cover her snicker at seeing Meng Yong.
Amah snorted but quickly smoothed out her face.
"Go on Little Miss, I'll wait for you outside."
[Congratulations!! Congratulations!! Congratulations!! Happy things must be said thrice!! Character: 'Amah' is 100% convinced]
...Huh?
She stared at Amah dumbly for a second. She'd been the exact opposite of refined and that's what had convinced her? Could it be that she was used to seeing Meng Xiāng's more mischievous side? The girl clearly had one if Meng Mei's first day here was any indication.
"Did you not hear me? Come sit down, food will be served soon." Madam Meirong's voice startled her.
"Ah! Coming A-niang!" She hurried over to her seating cushion and sat down.
She peaked at Amah out of the corner of her eye as she left the dining hall however. Was Meng Xiāng truly able to let her walls down around Amah? The Meng Xiāng from Seasons of Sorrow didn't even trust her fiance as far as she could throw him.
But it wasn't just around Amah was it? It was also around Meng Yong. He expected her to be a little silly, and easily poked fun at her. That spoke of an easy relationship between the two.
She'd been staring at Meng Yong as she thought. He'd finally found a suitable cushion and settled down. When he noticed her staring he patted his face.
"What? Do I have something on my face?"
"No Er-ge. You don't have anything on your face." She giggled in response, hiding her expression behind her sleeve.
Things would never be too bad as long as she had Meng Yong and Amah in her corner.
[New Tutorial Quest: Take Over The Role
• Description: Meng Mei must successfully convince Meng Xiāng's family that nothing has changed.
• Duration: 4 day(s) 11 hour(s) 5 minute(s)
• Upon completion Meng Mei will be able to find out the whereabouts of Lai Huang
• Failure to convince Meng Xiāng's family will result in Meng Mei's death and the passing on of her role.]
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