Chapter 148.2: A Family of Three
Chapter 148.2: A Family of Three
There was a red birthmark on the girl’s left face, but she wasn’t bothered about it as she calmly shuttled through people’s strange gazes.
The young girl came to the little guy and the Imperial Academy teenager, pinching the little guy’s face.
Only then did the Crown Princess notice that the little guy was also incredibly cute.
However, she didn’t associate him with the little bean who offended Qin Chuyu at the moment.
“JiaoJiao, JiaoJiao!” Little Jing Kong was extremely happy to see Gu Jiao.
Gu Jiao rubbed his little head.
It snowed on her way here, and although it had stopped now, the top of her hair was covered with snowflakes.
Xiao Liulang hesitated for a moment but ultimately extended his slender jade-like fingers and gently brushed away the snowflakes from her hair.
Gu Jiao didn’t dodge and just obediently let him do it.
Her appearance looked somewhat cute.
The picture of the family of three was a bit warm.
The Crown Princess pinched her fingertips together. She saw the girl take out a bag of hot sugar-fried chestnuts from her back basket, and handed one to the teenager.
The teenager ate it without hesitation.
“Is it delicious?” Gu Jiao asked.
“En, it’s sweet.” Xiao Liulang answered.
It was unknown what this sweet was referring to.
Gu Jiao gave the rest of the sugar-fried chestnuts to Little Jing Kong.
Little Jing Kong chewed them up like a squirrel looking for food for days.
The family of three left with a happy and harmonious atmosphere.
The Crown Princess lowered the curtain.
He was dead.
He also didn’t eat chestnuts.
It would never be him no matter how similar they looked.
“Crown Princess, what’s wrong?” The court lady saw her pale face and asked.
With her usual expression, she said, “It’s too cold. Hurry back to the palace.”
……
The following day, after Xiao Liulang contradicted Director Zheng in the private elementary school, he completely offended Director Zheng.
Director Zheng was able to climb to such a high position due to real talent and knowledge. His articles were all excellent, and even His Majesty, who didn’t like eight-part essays, occasionally gave him a compliment or two. However, talent and knowledge was one thing, and virtue sometimes was another.
Director Zheng resented Xiao Liulang for making him lose face in front of His Highness the Seventh Prince and his entourage, and began to secretly make things difficult for Xiao Liulang.
First, Xiao Liulang got the last place in the Shuaixing Hall in the monthly exam. The Imperial Academy had rules that anyone who failed the exam twice would be demoted to a lower class.
In other words, if Xiao Liulang ended up at the bottom of the list again next exam, he would have to be kicked out of Shuaixing Hall at once.
Although the teachers wondered why Xiao Liulang did so badly in the exam, the results could not be wrong since the Acting Chief personally marked the papers.
The exam was just the beginning. Soon, when he had his meal at the Imperial Academy, Xiao Liulang found that his food was inexplicably less than others.
Feng Lin found it odd and asked, “Huh, why do you have so little food?”
It was just a single vegetable leaf in a big bowl of soup!
After that, someone always bumped into Xiao Liulang for no reason.
When passing through the corridor, an Imperial Academy student bumped into Xiao Liulang, and the ink in the student’s hand spilled all over Xiao Liulang.
“How do you walk?” Feng Lin shouted at the student.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” The student apologized repeatedly.
This was already the third time today.
The student had obviously been coerced, his body trembling.
Xiao Liulang glanced at him faintly, said nothing, and went to Feng Lin and Lin Chengye’s dorm room with an expressionless face to change into clean clothes.
By the time he came out again, someone had already taken his crutch.
The path from the dorm room to the Shuaxing Hall was slippery, and without any crutches, he fell several times in just a hundred paces.
Laughter could be heard all around him.
Perhaps a heavy snow was brewing. The sky was very gray, and the Imperial Academy was also shrouded in gray, revealing its gloom.
Xiao Liulang got up from the snow and his appearance could only be described as a mess, but his back remained straight.
He looked up at Minghui Hall on the third floor of the Imperial Academy.
On the aisle in front of the hall, Director Zheng held the railing and looked at Xiao Liulang, calm and unruffled.
Feel like begging for mercy?
Boy.
Maybe kneel down and kowtow.
If you beg, this Lord would let you off.
Xiao Liulang looked at him quietly, his face without the indignation, grief and fear that he had imagined. His eyes simply had no emotion in them, just like a lake that had been still for ten thousand years.
Somehow, Director Zheng suddenly felt guilty.
But soon, he shook his head.
It was just some peasant from the countryside. Bullying him was just bullying him.
Who told him to be so short-sighted and humiliate him in public?
In this Imperial Academy, he was the sky.
No one could offend his authority!
Steward Liu had been keeping an eye on Xiao Liulang’s activities in the Imperial Academy, and soon a servant boy reported the latest situation to him.
After listening to the report, Steward Liu, who sat in the carriage, revealed a faint smile, saying, “I told you before, it’s not easy to get by in the imperial capital. Come on, let’s go and meet this young master.”
Little Jing Kong had no class today.
Xiao Liulang came home from the Imperial Academy alone.
When he walked out of the Imperial Academy, Steward Liu had been waiting in the carriage on the side for a long time.
“Steward Liu, the young master is here.” The servant boy reminded.
Steward Liu got off the carriage and walked over to Xiao Liulang. He smiled faintly and said in greeting, “Young master, we meet again.”
Xiao Liulang glanced at him and replied, “What do you want this time?”
Steward Liu chuckled and answered, “I heard about your situation in the Imperial Academy. Young master truly has suffered.”
Xiao Liulang: “There’s no need to watch someone make a fool of himself.”
Steward Liu: “Just a small Director of Studies, Lord Marquis only has to move his fingers and he can pinch him to death anytime. In fact, as long as the young master is willing to return to the estate, I promise the young master that the Imperial Academy will never have this person again from tomorrow.”
Xiao Liulang ignored him and walked toward the direction of home.
Steward Liu smilingly said, “Is it really worth the trouble, young master? Yes, in the past, it was Lord Marquis who did you, mother and sons, wrong for not taking you back to the estate in time, but it wasn’t entirely Lord Marquis’ fault. With what happened four years ago, you can’t blame Lord Marquis even more. He also learned the fact later. After he found out, he began to ask around about your whereabouts. Lord Marquis was very sorry about your mother’s death, and he also heard about your eldest brother. It’s a good thing you’re all right.”
Xiao Liulang clenched his fists.
Steward Liu exhorted, “The capital is far more complicated than you think. Without a strong backer, even if you want to get ahead of others, you will only find yourself stuck in the same place. This is just the beginning. If you go on like this, you will be gnawed to the bone. That’s why, young master, why don’t you go back to the estate with me and be recognized as Marquis Xuanping’s son? Why must you make yourself suffer outside?”