Hongzhou continued to shout, "I want to go to school. Why won't Mother let me go?"

Madam Geng said, "What's wrong with not going for a few days? Your mother noticed that you've been restless these past few days, so I'm letting you take some time to rest."

Hongzhou shook his head and said, "Mother, I'm not feeling unwell. I want to go to school."

The more Hongzhou acted this way, the more suspicious she became that Nanxiaoyuan must be secretly having dealings with Hongzhou, and the more uneasy she felt.

"Hongzhou, tell your mother, did you go to the South Courtyard again?" Geng asked, ignoring the longing in Hongzhou's eyes.

Hongzhou couldn't understand why the South Courtyard was being mentioned at this time, and shook his head like a rattle drum, but he was still determined to go to the primary school.

In the end, Madam Geng still did not allow Hongzhou to go to school, and sent Lülan to the front yard to ask for leave.

Hongzhou hid in his room, sitting sullenly without saying a word. Seeing this, Gengshi told Chunying to keep a close eye on Hongzhou, and then went back to her room.

Now, Hongli had not seen Hongzhou come to school for several days. One day, he returned and told Lanqin about it.

"Mother, Hongzhou hasn't been to school for several days," Hongli said, picking up his favorite cream cake and eating it.

Lanqin had been busy with several branch stores these days. When she saw that Hongzhou had indeed stopped coming with Hongli, she knew that it was because Gengshi had forbidden it, and she didn't have time to care.

"Is he sick?" Lanqin felt guilty when she thought of Hongzhou. Judging from Hongzhou's visit to the South Courtyard that day, Madam Geng was disciplining him extremely strictly. Between the two children, Hongli was clearly more lively and cheerful, while Hongzhou appeared reserved and shy.

"Ah, then I want to go see Hongzhou. Mother, may I go see Hongzhou?" Hongli asked upon hearing this.

"Of course! How about Mother lets Lanqi accompany you to see Hongzhou?" Lanqin wanted to say she would go with Hongli, but then she thought that Gengshi might not like seeing her, so she suppressed the idea. It wasn't that she was afraid of Gengshi, but rather that the adults' thoughts might hurt the child. Since Hongzhou was destined to be Gengshi's son, then let him be her son peacefully, and she shouldn't interfere anymore. Lanqin reassured herself like this, but in reality, she was afraid that Hongzhou would be hurt if he knew his true parentage.

"Yes! I'm going to take the cake to see Hongzhou!" Hongli jumped up and said.

Lanqin then instructed Lanqi to take some snacks and cakes to visit Hongzhou. So, Hongli and Lanqi left the South Courtyard and headed to the courtyard where Gengshi lived.

When they arrived at the gate of the Geng family's courtyard and knocked on the beast-head ring lock, the people inside came to open the door.

Hongli heard the sound of the latch being pulled, and then someone pushed the door open from the inside. Upon seeing Hongli and Lanqi, a clear look of surprise flashed in their eyes.

“Our Fourth Prince has come to see the Fifth Prince. Go and inform your princess quickly,” Lan Qi said.

The man nodded hastily, not daring to invite Hongli in, and turned to run towards the courtyard. Hongli and Lanqi entered the gate together, and the entire layout of Geng's courtyard came into view.

"Why is their courtyard still locked? It's so remote here," Hongli couldn't help but ask. It turned out that the courtyard where Geng Shi lived was located at the northernmost part of the Fourth Prince's inner residence, far from other places, and few people usually came to this area.

"This servant does not know," Lan Qi said.

A moment later, Lady Geng came out to greet them. From afar, they saw Hongli with Lan Qi standing beside him, but Lan Qin was nowhere to be seen.

"Why is the Fourth Prince here?" Geng asked, forcing a smile.

“Hongzhou hasn’t been to school for several days. I was worried he might be sick, so I came to check on him,” Hongli said directly.

Geng was taken aback, then chuckled awkwardly, "Hongzhou is feeling a little unwell. But it's nothing serious."

Hongli was taken aback and said, "Since you're alright, why aren't you going to school?"

Now Lady Geng was even more embarrassed, not knowing how to answer Hongli's question, so she could only say, "Fourth Prince, go and see Hongzhou."

It turned out that Hongzhou had been angry for the past few days and refused to leave his room. Madam Geng was just thinking of sending Hongzhou back to school when Hongli arrived, giving her a way to back down.

Hongli and Lanqi followed Gengshi to Hongzhou's house. The door was closed, and there was no sound.

"Hongzhou!" Hongli couldn't help but call out.

Hongzhou was writing in the room. He hadn't left the room for the past few days and was so bored that he asked Chunying to bring him paper and pen so he could practice calligraphy.

Hongli!

Upon hearing the sound, Hongzhou immediately dropped his pen, climbed off the chair, and rushed towards the door.

"Hongzhou, are you alright? Why didn't you go to school?" Seeing that Hongzhou didn't seem sick, Hong glanced at Gengshi and asked.

“I’m not sick, it’s just…” Hongzhou glanced at Geng’s expression and swallowed the rest of his words.

"Hongzhou, I brought you a cake!" Hongli said.

"Mother, I want to eat cake with Hongli," Hongzhou asked Gengshi.

"Then come inside and eat together. I'll have someone bring some more snacks," said Madam Geng.

"No need, I brought some snacks," Hongli said.