48 - Chapter 43

After the lesson Sa Bina had spent the evening relaxing. She had taken her time over dinner and then retired to her room. Things would get busy very soon. Her books would arrive. The starter would be ready and allow her to create a batch testing schedule to improve and perfect her rolls. She would start to see more progress from her team and they would require more input.

Her desire for a quiet and carefree life was little more than a delusion at this point, and for the near future. At best, she could plan to create her little business empire, get it stable, then train others to run it day to day. That was only if she did not go around taking on even more responsibilities.

At this point her books were somewhat balanced. Her guild should bring in enough revenue to cover all her expenses and leave enough for her to build up an investment fund. She could take the easy route and just buy into successful businesses. At that point she could just leave things to manage themselves, keeping an eye on her investments, and enjoy life.

A part of her would love to do just that. Yet another part of her saw the changes she could bring to this kingdom, and potentially this world. There was a lot of inequality here, and she was someone who could potentially nudge things in a more equitable direction. That had been part of her motivation to get involved and create the guild in the first place. Granted her primary motivation had been selfish, but there was no rule that an action should be directed by only a single goal. If she could do something to help, and benefit at the same time, why would she not take advantage.

As she was lost in her thoughts, she entered a semi meditative state. Recognising that state from her past practices, she pushed herself to see if she could let go of all her thoughts and worries and reach deep meditation. She started by examining her thoughts. She acknowledged and set aside her desires, worries and concerns. She did not try to force the state. Next she examined and set aside her emotions, and then finally her physiological sensations.

She lost all track of time. Once she had reached the state of deep meditation she had felt warm and comfortable, like snuggling under a duvet on a cold night. She had lost herself in the sensation, her only focus on her breathing. With each inhale she felt the feeling of comfort. The sensation slowly morphed and changed, the sensation of comfort increased from that of a warm duvet and moved towards the comfort of the womb.

Before she knew it she was being brought out of her deep meditation by Dian Fu coming to wake her. She had accidentally spent the whole night in meditation. How was that even possible? She took the time to examine herself and was surprised by what she found. Though she had not slept, she was not nearly as tired as she should have been. It was more the tiredness of the afternoon rather than one of missing a whole night's sleep. She felt more aware and alert than she expected. Was it because of the age of her body? Had she simply forgotten what it was like to skip sleep when she had been a teenager? Another mystery she would have to spend some time investigating.

Dian Fu was surprised to see her lady already awake and meditating. She had not wanted to disturb her. Normally it was considered the height of impropriety to disturb anyone while they were cultivating. If disturbed at the wrong time, the effects could be serious, or at least that was what she had heard. Yet, Lady Sa Bina was too young to start cultivating. That was the only reason she had been bold enough to disturb her. Perhaps she was practicing to train herself before she started cultivating. Dian Fu could see how that would be of great help. Learning meditation and cultivation at the same time was hard. This was probably another one of those advantages that nobles had over the commoners. It never occurred to Dian Fu that there was nothing stopping anyone from learning to meditate early.

Dian Fu was soon joined by Lou Sie and they went through what had quickly become their standard morning routine. While Sa BIna bathed, they would lay out her cheongsam for the day, then pick out the hair ornaments and nail lacquers. Then Dian Fu would bring up Lady Sa Bina’s breakfast.

The two would then get Sa Bina ready while she ate breakfast. This had streamlined Sa Bina’s morning routine somewhat, yet still took the better part of two hours from the time she awoke to the time she boarded her carriage to leave for the academy.

As this was her fourth day of school, it would be the classes she actually needed to pay some attention in. She arrived just in time to reach her first classroom before the bell. Sa Bina appreciated how much Dian Fu and Lou Sie did to ensure she was presentable and still arrived on time. She would have to remember to do something nice for them as a thank you for them working so diligently.

Sa Bina greeted the professor upon entering the class. Profession Li Dandan returned her greeting and asked her if her books had arrived yet. When Sa Bina indicated that she was still waiting, Li Dandan gave her a copy of one of the literature texts. Sa Bina spent the rest of the class reading.

The same thing happened in her law class with professor Hu Ru handing her a law text book to start reading. Sa Bina found the law text to be no more difficult than her literature book. The level of legalese in this world was far less advanced. She noted with a wry smile that a lot of the tricks she had seen in her business days on Earth could work just as well here. Still she spent the time learning about the legal structure and duties and rights of nobles.

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If she could summarise her understanding of the introduction text, then it would be that as long as the nobles prepared for beast tides, partook in the defence and paid their taxes, then the law would allow them to get away with anything else. Obviously there was the caveat that if their actions were considered egregious or caused too much discontent amongst the commoners, then they would effectively be sanctioned by their peers and superiors, however that would be an exception not the rule.

Finally she made it to lunch and met her new friends at their usual table. Sa Bina had taken to ordering random dishes from the menu. It was a simple way for her to learn about the cooking traditions of this country.

“I see you have finally managed to let your maid dress you,” said Lady Jia Yun.

“You can’t say that Jia Yun,” said Qin Ai. “What if she goes back to dressing herself!”

“The horror,” said Cheng Jiang, “Do you want to spoil my appetite?”

“How would we do that?” askd Qin Ai.

“By putting that horrid picture in my mind,” replied Cheng Jiang.

“So I take it you heard all about my state of dress on my first day,” said Sa Bina, rolling her eyes while stifling laughter. “You do know that I will get my own back for this?”

“Oh, getting your own back,” said Jia Yun, sounding innocent. “Is that how you ended up like that?”

She spent the lunch break enjoying another local delicacy and being teased by her friends. It had not gone unnoticed that Sa Bina was finally attired as the rest of the nobles. Her new friends went to great lengths to tease her about that fact. Teasing your friends, and being teased in turn was a quintessentially British tradition, and it made Sa Bina feel more at home than any other interaction in this new and strange world.

After lunch it was off to history class. She sat through more details about the local kingdom. While the actual lesson was interesting for her, she was missing far too much context to fully understand the impact of the events being covered. She would need to read ahead, as even four years spent solely in history classes would not be enough for her to get a good understanding. She realised just how much children learn from context, and how lacking that context, made it so much harder for her to catch up. Of course since no one was aware that she was not local, no accommodations were made for her deficiency. Of course there was no guarantee that such accommodations would have been made even if her teachers were to be made aware, but she could not blame them in its absence.

As she entered her last class of the day, and of this five day cycle, she was greeted by an over enthusiastic professor Deng Qing.

“Greetings Lady Sa Bina,” said the professor. “Just the student I have been waiting for.”

“Greetings Professor Deng Qing,” replied Sa Bina, stifling her laughter at the greeting. “What news made you so excited?”

“Your suggestion from our last meeting,” said the professor. “I had words with my colleagues, and your idea of combining a practice law class, and turning into a performance has been received well.”

“Oh, so what is the plan?” asked Sa Bina.

“We are looking into the details,” said the professor, “But the idea is that we will create a mock court, and law students will take it in turns to be the magistrate and representatives. Arts students would take the place of the accused and accuser. It would be treated as a demonstration of skills. The other students would get to watch, and then provide feedback at the conclusion of the case.”

“That sounds like it would be fun,” said Sa Bina. “You could also add an element of having someone explain the wider political context, if there is any, to the students to teach that aspect as well. When do you anticipate starting these sessions?”

“Not for some time,” replied the professor. “We would need to create the scenarios and make sure they are suitable for the abilities of the students. Also yes it would be good to add political context.”

Sa Bina spent the rest of the class butchering another watercolor. She felt, and her fellow students seemed to agree, that her art skills seemed to be deteriorating. Sa Bina chuckled when she realised that the only way her art would be recognised as such would be if she started a post impressionist art movement. She was glad when the class ended and she could leave the torture behind.

She made her way to her carriage and the waiting Lou Sie. She instructed them to take her to the Sect inn. Hopefully some suitable candidates had decided to come for the interviews.

They arrived at the inn and Sa Bina was pleased to see Sun Li waiting for her at her usual table.

“Sun Li,” said Sa Bina. “It is so good to see you, how have you been?”

“Lady Sa Bina,” replied Sun Li. “It has only been a few days, don’t tell me you missed me already.”

“Of course you were missed,” said Sa Bina. “How could I not miss you.”

“Well, I shall have to remember to drop in for visits more often,” said Sun Li. “Now, I take it you are here to interview healers today?”

“Yes,” said Sa Bina. “Since the number of retainers I am responsible for has increased substantially, it feels wrong not to have someone skilled in the healing arts available.”

“Well,” said Sun Li. “Let us see if we can remedy that.”