Enchantress | December 23, 2021

    Zhang Heling found it strange these few days, when suddenly the family feels comfortable at home.

    It all seems to have started from the sudden change in her sister’s attitude towards her the night before.

    The little girl was very surprised by this subtle change that she could not tell. She repeatedly assured her elder sister that she would never spend money indiscriminately and would definitely keep it within the amount she gave her.

    She originally wanted to go back to her room to unpack the new game console. However, the pocket money fell from the sky all of a sudden, so she threw away the thought of unpacking the game console.

    Seeing Zhang Yansheng carrying a pile of bags to the cloakroom, she put down the game console first and followed over to help.

    “Sister, did you buy new clothes?”

    Zhang Yansheng replied with “umm” indifferently as she cut the tags on them. Zhang Heling handed her the hangers and also helped her hang the clothes.

    Zhang Heling was careful and she quickly discovered: “Sister, the new clothes you bought are not the same style as your old clothes.”

    Hearing this, Zhang Yansheng raised her eyes and scanned the clothes hanging in the cloakroom. It is indeed a very different style.

    At this time, Zhang Yansheng was still a good girl, so the clothes in the wardrobe were very fresh, pure, and youthful. But later on, Zhang Yansheng became a ‘bad girl’ with multiple tattoos on her body. Even if she didn’t want to go the old way anymore, her aesthetics were completely different from this time.

    Today, she specially bought some clothes that match her aesthetic.

    The new clothes are all brightly colored, publicity-seeking, and mature in design. It is completely different from the fresh style of the past.

    Zhang Yansheng picked up a set of clothes, put them in front of her, looked in the mirror, and asked Zhang Heling, “Does it look good?”

    “It looks good!“ Zhang Heling propped her elbows on the jewelry storage table in the middle of the cloakroom, held her chin and said, “Sister, I think you seem to be very different from before.”

    Zhang Yansheng looked at herself in the mirror and smiled faintly.

    She didn’t want to ask Zhang Heling what she was like in the past, nor did she want to think about what she would be like in the future. Since she had returned to this time, she wanted to overturn everything and start over and be a brand-new self.

    “Hey, sister, what is this?” Zhang Heling suddenly bent over and pulled the bag, and took out a long flat bamboo product from the inside. “Is this… a ruler?”

    But there is no scale on it, instead, it is engraved with dense small characters. If you look closely, it’s the ‘Three Character Classic’.1

    “What is this for?”

    Zhang Yansheng hung up her clothes, stretched out her hand to take that thing from Zhang Heling’s hand, and said to her, “Stretch out your hand.”

    Zhang Heling: “?”

    She stretched out a hand obediently.

    Zhang Yansheng turned her hand over to show the palm of her hand, and patted that thing lightly on her palm: “To do this.”

    Zhang Heling suddenly realized: “I see! This is… what is it called again? I’ve seen it on the TV!”

    “Ferule.”2 Zhang Yansheng lightly patted it on her hand twice and tried the feeling, “It’s especially use in punishing disobedient children.”

    When she went to that sports club today to find her own sparring partner, she saw this thing in the commissary downstairs. She felt that she could take advantage of it, so she bought one.

    Zhang Heling took a breath and hurriedly said, “I do my homework on time every day.”

    Zhang Yansheng was reborn for three days now, and finally showed a smile that was not a sneer: “Don’t worry, the rule of this family is not to beat girls.”

    Zhang Heling said, “Does our family still have this rule? Who made it? That’s great.”

    Zhang Yansheng held the ferule and raised her eyelids: “I did.”

    From now on, the rules of this family will be set by her.

    Zhang Yansheng patted the ferule twice on the palm of her hand and asked in a deep voice, “Is Zhang Shuocheng asleep now?”

    Zhang Heling said without thinking: “He must have not slept yet. I’m sure that he’s still playing at this time.”

    That’s just right. Zhang Yansheng said, “Come, follow me upstairs.”

    Zhang Heling’s eyelids twitched, and she had an ominous premonition — Zhang Shuocheng, the unlucky child, would he have to suffer twice in a day?

    But Zhang Yansheng walked out with the ferule, and Zhang Heling didn’t dare to disobey, so she went upstairs with her.

    Zhang Shuocheng was only two years old when he first came to this house and still needed the care of his nanny. His room is a suite and Aunt Wang lives with him.

    Aunt Wang happened to go to the bathroom. When Zhang Yansheng opened the door, she saw Zhang Shuocheng sitting on the ground playing alone, with toys all over the carpet.

    Zhang Shuocheng’s whole body was tensed when he saw Zhang Yansheng. When he got up from the ground, he wanted to jump into the suite inside, but he was grabbed by Zhang Yansheng.

    “What are you running for?” Zhang Yansheng asked.

    Zhang Shuocheng shouted, “Help! I have finished my homework! I finished writing!”

    “Then why are you running? You know what your guilty conscience is.” Zhang Yansheng grabbed him and said to Zhang Heling, “Close the door.”

    Zhang Heling hurriedly closed the door.

    Zhang Yansheng: “Lock it.”

    Zhang Heling locked it as well.

    Zhang Yansheng said to Zhang Shuocheng: “I will let you go now, but you will not be able to run out of this room. Even if you shout, your mother won’t be able to get in. In my hands, no one can save you, understand?”

    Zhang Shuocheng remembered that this morning, when his mother was at home, he was still beaten up, so he nodded.

    Zhang Yansheng then let him go and asked him, “What did I tell you this morning?”

    Zhang Shuocheng said, “I have finished my homework!”

    Zhang Yansheng snorted and said, “I asked you to finish writing before noon. When did you finish it?”

    Zhang Shuo was speechless.

    Zhang Yansheng turned her head and asked Zhang Heling, “When did he finish writing?”

    Zhang Heling replied honestly: “It’s past one o’clock in the afternoon.”

    Zhang Yansheng turned her head back and told him: “I asked you to finish writing before twelve o’clock noon. You drag it until the afternoon? Put your hands out.”

    Zhang Shuocheng immediately hid his hands behind his back, and asked vigilantly, “What are you going to do?”

    The ferule waved twice in Zhang Yansheng’s hand, making a sound of breaking through the air.

    Zhang Yansheng said: “This is a ferule which is specially bought for you. I will teach you how to use it then. I asked you to finish writing at noon, but you finished it at one o’clock. You dragged it for an hour, so you’ll need to be hit at the palm of your hand. Stretch out your hands!”

    Zhang Shuocheng was nervous and shouted, “Mom–! Mom–!”

    Coincidentally, because Zhang Huan promised to buy her a Ferrari sports car, Liang Yingying was holding Zhang Huan greedily upstairs, wanting to make out. As soon as they arrived on the third floor, they heard Zhang Shuocheng’s cry.

    In normal times, Liang Yingying would be very impatient if Zhang Shuocheng screamed like this. There is an aunt, so why does he keep on calling her!

    But in the past two days, Liang Yingying was also a little nervous and sensitive. When she heard Zhang Shuocheng’s call, she suddenly felt frightened. It gives her an intuition that Zhang Shuocheng would only yell like this because he couldn’t get rid of Zhang Yansheng.

    Liang Yingying let go of Zhang Huan’s arm and walked quickly to push Zhang Shuocheng’s door, only to find out that the door was locked.

    “Shuoshuo! Shuoshuo!” She knocked on the door, “What’s wrong with you? Why is the door locked!”

    “Mom! My sister is going to hit me again!” Zhang Shuocheng shouted inside.

    He reflexively wanted to rush to the door. But Zhang Yansheng’s ferule was placed before him and blocked his chest. Zhang Shuocheng had suffered a few times, so he didn’t dare to rush forward and just stood still.

    “Zhang Yansheng! What are you doing? Shuoshuo has finished his homework! Are you going to beat him again for no reason? Zhang Yansheng, open this door!” Liang Yingying shouted outside.

    Aunt Wang also hurriedly came out of the bathroom with her pants on at this time: “What happened, what happened?”

    Honestly, she doesn’t know what was going on with the eldest lady in the past two days, she’s beginning to get worry!

    Zhang Yansheng ignored these people and only spoke to Zhang Shuocheng: “If you stretch out your hands now, I will only hit you once. On the count of three, if you don’t stretch it out, I will hit you three times. If you make trouble and your mother comes in, I will hit you thirty times.”

    She stared at Zhang Shuocheng: “One, two… three!”

    Zhang Shuocheng stretched out his hands nervously!

    Very good.

    Zhang Yansheng didn’t want to spend a lot of time and waste her energy with a little brat every day. She wanted to clean up Zhang Shuocheng as soon as possible, she wants him to know how to be afraid, so he can be obedient.

    It’s starting to have an effect now.

    Zhang Yansheng held Zhang Shuocheng’s hands and raised the ferule.

    Zhang Shuocheng was so scared that his mouth was so deflated, but he was unable to cry.

    Aunt Wang had a handle in Zhang Yansheng’s hands, but she didn’t dare to stop her.

    Only Zhang Heling couldn’t bear it and begged for Zhang Shuocheng’s favor: “Sister… be gentle…”

    Zhang Yansheng originally wanted to give Zhang Shuocheng a hard time, but when she heard Zhang Heling’s plea, her heart suddenly moved.

    She raised the ferule high, with the wind, but paused before it fell, and gently patted Zhang Shuocheng’s palm.

    Aunt Wang and Zhang Heling both breathed a sigh of relief.

    Zhang Shuocheng: “…” Huh?

    “It doesn’t hurt, right?” Zhang Yansheng let go of Zhang Shuocheng’s hands, “Because I didn’t exert more strength, do you know why?”

    Zhang Shuocheng shook his head.

    “Because your sister pleaded for you.” Zhang Yansheng said, “I will forgive you this time for the sake of your sister’s face. But in the future, I will put your sister in charge of checking your homework every day, and you have to listen to her. If you make a mistake, she’ll tell you, so you have to listen to her. Do you understand? If you don’t listen to what I say, then it’s not easy for anyone to plead for you again, do you understand?”

    Outside the room, Liang Yingying couldn’t hear Zhang Shuocheng’s shouting, so slammed the door even more anxiously: “Open the door! You open the door for me! Zhang Huan, tell your daughter to open the door!”

    In the room, Zhang Shuocheng nodded. Zhang Yansheng said, “Repeat it to me, who will you listen to in the future?”

    Zhang Shuocheng; “Listen to my sister.”

    “Which sister of yours?”

    “Sister Hehe.”

    Zhang Yansheng slapped a big plush toy on the ground with the ferule and made a loud noise.

    Zhang Shuocheng trembled with fright.

    “Which sister will you listen to?”

    “You.”

    She slapped the toy with the ferule again, and it made a loud noise.

    “Which sister will you listen to?”

    Aunt Wang hurriedly reminded Zhang Shuocheng: “Both, both!”

    Zhang Shuocheng suddenly realized: “Listen to both sisters!”

    “Remember what you said.” Zhang Yansheng was finally satisfied and said to Zhang Heling, “Open the door.”

    Zhang Heling had been standing at the door, and she was so nervous when she heard her own mother yelling and knocking on the door. Finally, Zhang Yansheng gave her an order, so she quickly opened the door.

    When the door opened, Liang Yingying pushed Zhang Heling away and rushed in, hugging Zhang Shuocheng in her arms, like a protective hen.

    “Zhang Huan, Zhang Huan! You still don’t want to control your daughter?! Shuoshuo is so good today! He wrote his homework all morning! Why did your daughter hit him?” Liang Yingying screamed.

    Zhang Huan was there in front of them, so he couldn’t leave it alone. He glanced at Zhang Yansheng, walked over and asked his son, “Have you been beaten again? Does it hurt?”

    Zhang Shuocheng replied calmly: “It doesn’t hurt!”

    Liang Yingying was taking a deep breath and preparing to perform a wail, but was choked directly on her trachea!

    “Ahem, ahem, ahem, ahem, ahem!”

    The Three Character Classic (Chinese: 三字经, 三字經), commonly known as San Zi Jing, also translated as Trimetric Classic, is one of the Chinese classic texts. This work is not one of the traditional six Confucian classics, but rather the embodiment of Confucianism suitable for teaching young children.

    戒尺 jiè chǐ – teacher’s ruler for beating pupils.

    Ferule – a flat ruler with a widened end, formerly used for punishing children.

    TN: I can’t find any other equivalent term in English, so I will just use ferule to not confuse it with a ruler.