Yu Shu stood outside Jingshi Hall, looking at the plaque hanging high on the door and the dark door on the steps. She scratched the back of her hand.
So Jingshi Hall was not a pond?
She hesitated for half a step, walked up the steps pressed by blue and white stones, and walked into Jingshi Hall.
As soon as he entered, his line of sight suddenly widened. In the center of the hall, which was nearly three hundred square meters in size, there was a huge compass placed diagonally. In the center, there was a lifelike Yin Yang Fish, and the outer rings were connected to the other. On the ceiling, which was at least five meters above the ground, there was a large skylight. Sunlight shone in at an angle, illuminating the golden circles of complicated characters on the compass. A pitch-black needle floated in the center of the compass, pointing in one direction.
There were narrow skylights in the front and back of the hall, and light shone through them, shining on the east and west walls. She didn't know what was on them, but they were densely floating like gears. Yu Shu squinted her eyes and looked carefully. She was surprised to find that they were actually countless small compasses, with dark red bottom, golden rings, and black needles pointing in all directions, dazzling her eyes.
Several middle-aged men dressed in green and gray robes, with their hair combed into buns, and white hair ribbons, were holding pen and paper, wandering among the countless compasses, muttering to themselves, as if they were calculating something.
"Who is it?"
Someone noticed Yu Shu at the door, stopped his work, and asked. The echo instantly rang in the empty hall, and the others turned to look at Yu Shu at the door.
Yu Shu recovered from the amazing picture on the wall, and stood inside the door, saying:
"Matriarch punished me to do the cleaning."
"Hmm?" The man hesitated, and whispered a few words to his companions, and then said to Yu Shu: "There is a bucket at the back of the house, go get a bucket of water first."
Yu Shu said "Oh", and went out to find a bucket.
As soon as she left, the people in the room began to chat:
"How long has it been since someone was punished to clean here? The last time was a year ago when Fourth Young Miss made a mistake and was sent here. "
"I haven't heard of any Young Master in the family making a big mistake?"
"From the looks of that little girl, she looks like a maidservant. Whenever a maidservant makes a mistake, she will be sent to us. The Matriarch must be confused."
"Who knows? Since she didn't give us any special instructions, we don't need to discipline her. Let's just give her some cleaning work."
"Ahem."
A light cough sounded from the corner of the hall. A few customers who were chatting among themselves heard it. They looked at each other and gestured for him to keep quiet. Then, they dispersed and went about their own business.
After the time it took to eat a meal, Yu Shu came back with water. The nearest well was not far from here, but she had an injury on her arm, so it was very strenuous for her to walk back with a bucket of water while swaying.
Just as he panted and put down the water in the hall, someone pointed to a corner and instructed,
"Take two pieces of cloth from that box and wipe it from the east wall. Be careful not to damage the instrument needle. Wipe the divinatory disk with a wet cloth first, and then wipe it with a dry cloth again. Be sure not to leave any water drops."
Yu Shu glanced around at the hundreds and thousands of compasses hanging on the wall of the hall and complained secretly. She couldn't help but confirm,
"Do I have to wipe all of them?"
"Of course."
She was an old lady. It was better to let her wash the pond!
After all, the beating yesterday was considered a light punishment. This was the real corporal punishment.
Yu Shu resigned to her fate and walked to the box in the corner. She opened it and was surprised again. She took out a soft cloth and touched it. It was a good cotton cloth. She couldn't even afford to wear it. How could she use it as a cleaning cloth?
Opposite Cao Zixin's Mianzhai was a silk and satin shop. Shopkeeper Wu, who used to order her around for free, would occasionally come to visit. She had asked about the price of the cloth when they chatted. Such a box of cotton cloth might cost at least twenty taels of silver. What a waste!
Why did she feel distressed? This was Ji family's money.
Thinking of this, Yu Shu suddenly felt comforted. She took out a large piece of cloth and wet it in the bucket. She wrung it out and wrapped it around her palm. She carried the bucket to the east wall of the hall and wiped the first compass in front of her.
After wiping it, the problem came again. She was still a child and was not tall enough. The top few pieces of each row were crisscrossed. She couldn't reach them even if she stretched out her hands and jumped.
She didn't stand there foolishly. She glanced around the hall and saw a short ladder under the opposite wall. She ran over and moved it over. Without anyone's guidance, she leaned the ladder against the gap of the compass and climbed up to continue wiping it.
She didn't idle while she was working. She took this opportunity to see what the compass looked like. Yu Shu had seen Mister Liu use the compass to explain Yi Li and Divinatory Diagrams in class. She didn't understand it, so she wasn't interested. Now, she saw the small compass on the wall. Each one had the same shape.
A compass had five circles. The innermost circle was painted with Yin and Yang, and the outer four circles were separated by eight Divinatory Diagrams. Each grid was written with words, such as Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, Star Positions, Qiankun Bagua, Life, Death, Rest, Injury, and so on.
After wiping more, she found that the words on the five circles of the compass were not the same. The direction of the pointer was also different. The only thing that was the same was the shape.
Yu Shu was annoyed that she didn't know enough traditional Chinese characters, and she didn't understand Yi Li at all. She couldn't understand what was written on these compasses.
Once she thought about it, she got things done quickly. She wasn't one to dawdle. She wiped the walls one by one, wetting them first and then drying them. She went out to change three buckets of water. When the black needle of the compass in the middle of the hall stopped at 'si', she finally finished wiping a wall.
She counted a total of six hundred compasses. She wiped them until she was sweating all over. The bruises on her hands were sore, and her fingers were red and swollen from soaking in the water.
She rested for a while with the help of the ladder. She took the clean bucket of water and walked to the other side. When she got closer, she found a bamboo bed in a shady corner of the hall. The bed was covered with a quilt. A person was sleeping on the bamboo bed with his back facing her. He curled up his legs and used his arms as a pillow. He was sleeping on the bamboo bed, which happened to block more than a dozen compasses in that small space.
What was going on? Was there someone living in this damn place?
Yu Shu walked over with the bucket in puzzlement. She stopped by the bed and looked back at the people who were working in the hall. She found that no one was paying attention to her, so she put down the bucket and put the rag on the side of the bucket. She wiped the water on her body and bent down to look at the person lying on the bed.
She never thought that just as she lowered her head, that person would turn around and his wrinkled old face was just a few inches away from her. A pair of bright eyes stared at her, scaring her into taking two steps back. With a 'bang' sound, she kicked over the bucket behind her.
Then, her feet slipped and she fell on her butt. She fell hard and sprawled on her back. She gritted her teeth in pain. The man on the bed just laid there, looking at her with his eyes wide open. He grinned and laughed out loud.
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