Xie Yi quietly felt the dampness of the rain, listening to Su Mu's gentle tone beside his ear, as misty as water vapor: "Rain."
He suddenly understood that the woman before him was teaching him the language of the Central Plains.
The human trafficker who had abducted him before had also tried to teach him, to please potential buyers.
The scholar had also tried to teach him, to appear cultured.
Although Xie Yi didn't understand the Central Plains language, he wasn't stupid. He could sense from the women's ambiguous gazes that the vocabulary they taught carried the condescension of those in power, making him look up to them humbly, pleasing them lowly, wagging his tail like a dog begging for mercy, satisfying their sense of superiority.
And they were impatient for quick results. If he couldn't learn in a short time, he would surely suffer to learn his lesson.
But Su Mu seemed different from them.
Her teaching was aimless, sometimes pointing at the lingering fine rain, sometimes at the weeds in the corner, wildflowers in bloom, falling leaves. She didn't mention a word of those phrases to please women.
If he learned, she would smile at him gently, as if encouraging, also praising.
If he couldn't learn, she wasn't angry, but smiled even more deeply, calmly repeating it again, correcting his pronunciation until he learned.
She wouldn't scold him, nor hit him. She was just like this misty, damp drizzle, gently nourishing the earth.
Xie Yi's scarred fingers curled slightly, touching his empty palm. He suddenly wanted to eat another honey-coated sunflower seed.
"It's getting late, you should rest early." Su Mu pointed to the small room beside them, making a sleeping gesture.
Xie Yi understood her words and went into the room.
Lying on the bed, Xie Yi tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Everything that happened today felt like a dream.
His previous two owners had such bad tempers that he found it hard to adapt to suddenly meeting someone as gentle as Su Mu, making it difficult for him to fall asleep as he turned over restlessly.
Suddenly, he laughed self-mockingly and cursed: "Cheap bone."
What was there to get used to meeting a gentle owner? Did he want to meet another owner like the scholar's husband and have another scar burned on his chest?
Xie Yi's Central Plains language was halting, but thanks to the scholar's husband, he had a belly full of vulgar words to curse men, able to curse for a whole morning without repeating himself.
But he couldn't say those in front of Su Mu.
This woman was very kind to him; dirty words shouldn't be said to her, it would be too offensive.
And it was also hard for him to imagine what it would be like for such a gentle Su Mu, who spoke softly and slowly, softer than the June breeze, to curse on the streets.
Such a Su Mu probably wouldn't like him saying dirty words either. A man should be soft and gentle in front of a woman, speaking slowly and gracefully, even covering his mouth with a handkerchief when smiling.
No woman could resist a fragile man. Wasn't it because Su Mu saw him being tortured by the scholar's husband that she took pity and saved him?
Since she liked his weak, innocent, and obedient appearance, he might as well continue pretending. It wasn't difficult anyway.
Just as Xie Yi had settled on his future persona, he suddenly sat up in bed, because he realized that the light in Su Mu's room was still on.
He was a slave, how could he sleep before the master?
He had truly been blinded by Su Mu's gentle nature, almost forgetting his own status.
Xie Yi reminded himself over and over in his heart that he was now a slave bought by Su Mu. Even if she tore up the slave contract, he couldn't survive without her. He must please Su Mu to survive, then find a chance to save money and escape back to the desert.
After mentally repeating "please Su Mu" three times, Xie Yi put on his clothes and came to Su Mu's room.
When Su Mu left the Yan residence, she took the writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone with her.
These were all bought with her own money, so of course she had to take them when she left.
Before transmigrating, Su Mu had studied liberal arts. Except for mathematics, she ranked in the top ten in her grade for everything else, considered an excellent student.
The female-dominated world also had distinctions between scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, with merchants ranked at the lowest level.
In her past life, Su Mu had originally planned to save some money and take the exams. She didn't aspire to be a top scholar, even passing as a xiucai would mean escaping from the lowly status and no longer having to be a servant.
Unfortunately, later because the Yan family's finances were drained, she was forced by Yan Zhujun's leveraging of gratitude to take the path of business.
In the female-dominated world, no matter how much a merchant studied, they could not participate in the imperial examinations in the future, and the daughters of merchants also could not participate in the examinations.
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