The inn's courtyards were all connected one after another. While one courtyard was noisy, people in the next courtyard were standing on stools and leaning over the wall to look this way.

A boy of about ten years old, dressed in brocade, looked on with envy at the children playing and running around in the courtyard. Xu Bai saw him and went to the wall to ask, "Young master, would you like to come and play with us?"

The boy looked interested, but a servant beside him disagreed, saying, "Young master, the old lady is still waiting for you in the room. Please come down first, and let's go and pay our respects to her."

The boy could only walk into the house with a gloomy face, helped down from the stool by the servants, head down, arms hanging limply.

Seeing that Xu Bai was still looking at the wall, Zhang Yuyuan said, "Xiao Bai, let me play with you."

Xu Bai looked at the very understanding little child, but thought to himself, "I heard that this is the future emperor. They say you can tell what a person will be like at three and what they will be like at seven. This child is so cute and understanding. Will he be torn apart and eaten alive when he becomes emperor?"

Xu Bai held Zhang Yuyuan's hand and said, "Cousin, you must remember that no matter what, you must think of yourself first and not worry too much about what others think. There are so many people around you, and it would be very difficult to consider everyone's thoughts."

Zhang Yuyuan looked at Xu Bai with some doubt. Xu Bai sighed when he saw Zhang Yuyuan's expression and said, "Forget it, you wouldn't understand even if I told you. Let's go and chase after the three older brothers again. I don't believe that I can't catch up with one of them in this small courtyard after all this time of training."

Five children were playing a game of "eagle catching chicks," but Zhang Yuyuan and Xu Bai were "it," while the other three, who were slightly older, ran away. The five had agreed that two would be "it" and three would be "hiding," and that they didn't need to catch each other; as long as they could grab the hem of one of the older children's clothes, they would win.

The three from the Zhang family were older, and their physical agility, running speed, endurance, and most importantly, their mental strength were all superior to Zhang Yuyuan's. Although Xu Bai was more mature, unfortunately, his physical abilities couldn't keep up, and he could only follow behind Zhang Yuyuan, yelling all the way.

Granny Lu cooked sweet soup for the children in a small red clay stove. The three older children didn't seem to like it much, but the two older children were sweating profusely from chasing after the children. Granny Lu quickly said, "Children, let's rest for a bit. Granny Lu has cooked you some sweet soup. Drink the sweet soup before you continue chasing, okay?"

Xu Bai ran over and grabbed Granny Lu's leg, saying, "Granny, my three older brothers are so mean! They used all their strength to prevent me and Brother Yuyuan from catching up."

Zhang Yukang said with a grin, "You little dumpling, you're slow and can't catch up, yet you blame us for being fast. You're really unreasonable."

Xu Bai said, "Who's being unreasonable? We're not on equal footing right now. If you want to play with the two of us, how can we play with you if you don't go easy on us?"

Zhang Yukang said, "Look, look, this is what it means to be unable to accept defeat."

Xu Bai said, "How can I not be able to lose? When I grow up to be your age, let's see if I can catch up with you."

Seeing Xu Bai and Zhang Yukang arguing heatedly, Xu Di sneered and said, "You're not good enough yourself, yet you blame others for doing too well. You're really shameless."

Xu Bai's eyes reddened from Xu Di's words. When Granny Lu saw this, she unusually stood up for Xu Bai, saying, "Young Master, our Seventh Young Master has already done enough. You always make sarcastic remarks like this. People who know you want to motivate our Seventh Young Master to improve, but people who don't know you might think you have a problem with your own brother."

After being rebuked by Granny Lu's words, Xu Di finally understood that he knew Xu Bai's background and his parents also knew Xu Bai's origins, but others did not. What others saw of Xu Bai was just a little child who was a little over five years old and not yet six years old. Moreover, this little child had to leave his parents' arms every day to study and practice martial arts.

Xu Di quickly said, "Granny, it's my fault. I shouldn't have said that to my brother."

Upon hearing Xu Di's words, Xu Bai hugged Granny Lu's leg and burst into tears. Granny Lu, feeling sorry for him, quickly picked him up and comforted him, saying, "Oh dear, Seventh Young Master, Granny Lu knows you're suffering. Other children your age are usually being pampered by their parents, but you, at such a young age, were sent to study literature and martial arts with older boys. Granny Lu knows you're wronged. If you want to cry, just cry. We're still children."

Xu Bai was too embarrassed to cry anymore. He wiped away his tears and said, "Granny, I'm not wronged. I'm not wronged at all. Really, my teacher said that if I study hard, I will definitely be able to become the top scholar in the imperial examination."

Upon hearing this, Granny Lu smiled and said, "I knew our Seventh Young Master was an ambitious child. He should study hard with his teacher. Granny Lu is waiting for our Seventh Young Master to pass the imperial examination with top honors and ride a horse through the streets of the capital with flowers in his hair."

Xu Bai nodded with red eyes and said, "Granny, don't worry, I can definitely do it."