Chapter 148 Pei Yuan and Shen Chu in their childhood, it's good this way.

Clang!

Pei Yuan chopped the potato right in the middle with his cleaver, splitting the round potato in two and sending it rolling to the ground.

Jinbao shrank back and blurted out his thoughts in one breath, "Your Highness can speak the Northern Rong language, why not teach Lord Shen?"

Pei Yuan snorted, picked up a potato, and cut it in half. "Just because he wants to learn, does that mean I, the prince, have to teach him? Ha, what relationship does he have with me? Why should I, the prince, teach him?"

What does it matter? Don't you have any idea?

Jinbao inwardly scoffed, but outwardly advised, "Young Master Shen is a pillar of the nation. If he wants to learn the Northern Rong language, it must be for the sake of the court."

"Your Highness has gone to great lengths to personally instruct Lord Shen, which can be considered as cultivating talent for the Great Wei and relieving His Majesty's burdens, can't it?"

"Not interested." Pei Yuan buried his head and continued cutting potato shreds.

Jinbao's eyes darted around. "Look, Lord Shen personally prepared a calming sachet for you. We can't just accept his sachet without giving him a return gift, can we?"

"If Your Highness is unwilling to teach personally, you can send two books on the Northern Rong language so that Lord Shen can learn on his own."

Pei Yuan paused. There were indeed two books in the Northern Rong language in his study. Where were they?

Seeing that there was hope, Jinbao quickly said, "Your Highness, let's go to the study and look for it. If we find it, I will personally deliver it to Lord Shen."

Even if you and Lord Shen are colleagues, you still need to consider face and relationships, right?

Pei Yuan put down the kitchen knife, put his hands behind his back, and walked out. "What you said makes sense. It's just two books."

"Okay." Jinbao followed with a smile.

The kitchen manager and all the servants gave Jinbao a thumbs up and happily saw the master and servant off.

Pei Yuan found two books in the Northern Rong language in the study and handed them to Jin Bao, saying, "Tell him that this is a return gift from the prince."

"This servant will certainly convey the message."

When Jinbao arrived in front of Shen Chu, his words changed to: "Oh, Lord Shen, you don't know, His Highness knew that you hadn't found the language book of Bei Rong, so he searched through the study for a long time after returning to the manor."

Chen Chu stroked the book in her hand, her feelings somewhat complicated.

She hadn't expected that Pei Yuan would remember Li Anning's casual remark and even send her a book.

"Your Highness went through a lot of trouble to finally find these two books. These two books were brought back by Your Highness when you went to Liangzhou when you were a child, and Your Highness studied them seriously for a long time."

Shen Chu was slightly taken aback. "Your Highness visited Liangzhou when you were a child?"

Jinbao was also stunned. Was Master Shen focusing on something wrong?

He was implying to Lord Shen that his prince was very proficient in the Northern Rong language.

"Yes, when His Highness was about seven years old, he accompanied Consort Yu to visit his family at the Duke of Liangzhou's residence and stayed there for about two months."

These two books were bought by His Highness and Young Master Lu Zhan, the heir of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, when they went shopping.

Shen Chu rubbed her fingers together, and some distant memories surfaced in her mind.

Liangzhou was massacred in July. In the late spring of that year, Consort Yu did indeed stay in Liangzhou for a period of time.

She went to the Lu family every day, so she must have met Pei Yuan.

I do remember a chubby little boy who came to play with Lu Zhan.

Brother Zhan said that was his cousin, Xiao Liu. Xiao Liu had bright eyes and a憨憨 (simple and honest) smile.

Xiao Liu looks about six or seven points like Zhan Gege. She even teased him, saying that although they look alike, Xiao Liu is not as good-looking as Zhan Gege.

Looking back now, that little boy was Pei Yuan when he was a child.

Shen Chu was somewhat stunned. She never expected that someone she had met a few times when she was a child would reunite with her in a different way ten years later, and that she was even pregnant with Pei Yuan's child.

Because Pei Yuan had been to Liangzhou and they had known each other since childhood, she felt a strange sense of closeness towards him.

Therefore, she needed to keep her distance from Pei Yuan even more, because things would be bad once Pei Yuan recognized her.

"What is Lord Shen thinking about?"

Hearing Jinbao's question, Chen Chu snapped out of her reverie and smiled apologetically, "Sorry, I was lost in thought for a moment. What did you say, Father-in-law?"

"My lord said that Lord Shen can start by learning on his own, and if he doesn't understand something, he can ask him for help at any time."

Jinbao was lying through his teeth. Based on his understanding of his prince, as long as Lord Shen came to ask for advice, his prince would be stubborn on the surface, but he would definitely be happy inside.

Shen Chu concealed the complex emotions in her eyes and bowed slightly. "Then I will trouble Your Highness. Please convey my gratitude to you on my behalf."

After Jinbao left, Hongxiu asked curiously, "Will the young master go to the Sixth Prince to learn the Northern Rong language?"

Shen Chu did not answer, his expression somewhat complicated. He lowered his head and flipped through the books. One of them was about the basic pronunciation and rules of the Northern Rong language, and the other was a comparative translation between the Northern Rong language and the official language of the Great Wei.

With these two books, and with Li Anning's assistance, she should be able to translate the secret letters in her father's files very soon.

As for Pei Yuan, since she has already decided to keep her distance, she will not change her mind.

Jinbao returned to the Sixth Prince's residence and reported to Pei Yuan, "...Lord Shen was very pleased to see the book and asked me to convey his gratitude."

Lord Shen also said that if he encountered any problems in his studies, he could come and ask His Highness for guidance in person.

Pei Yuan dismissed Jin Bao with a blank expression, thinking to himself: If Shen Chu really comes to ask for my guidance, I will reluctantly teach him.

He waited for two days but Shen Chu did not come to ask him for advice. However, when he was patrolling the streets, he passed by Rongbaozhai and happened to see Shen Chu holding the two books he had given him. Li Anning was sitting next to him, correcting his pronunciation.

No wonder they didn't come looking for him; they found another teacher.

Pei Yuan stared silently for a moment, then clenched his fist and turned to leave.

Jinbao stamped his foot in frustration and hurriedly chased after him.

Inside Rongbaozhai, Shen Chu quietly looked up and saw Pei Yuan's figure flash past outside Rongbaozhai. The tips of her fingers, which were gripping the book tightly, turned slightly white.

That's fine too.

Pei Yuan and she remained parallel figures, and it was best for them to have a relationship like that of the Sixth Prince and the Imperial Censor Shen Chu, that of ruler and subject.

The road she was to walk was destined to be full of thorns and obstacles; a slight misstep could lead to the loss of all her efforts and her own death.

She cannot, and will not allow, too many accidents to happen to her.

At night, Shen Chu couldn't sleep, and the image of Pei Yuan's lonely departing figure kept appearing before her eyes.

She tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep, and got up and went to the Inspectorate at the crack of dawn.

She found the secret letter attached to her father's file and began translating it bit by bit, referring to a translation book comparing the Northern Rong and Great Wei languages.

As dawn broke, she finally deciphered a secret letter.

The letter was written by Hatu, the Left General of the Northern Rong, to her father, Shen Zhixing. He promised that if her father could provide him with a map of Liangzhou's defenses, he could bring the Shen family to the Northern Rong and appoint her father as a king of a different surname in the Northern Rong.

Hatu, Chen Chu had a deep memory of this name.

It was Hatu who led the Northern Rong cavalry south ten years ago and massacred Liangzhou.

Father has always deeply despised this person and would never communicate with him or betray the Great Wei.

Shen Chu stroked the secret letter written in the Northern Rong language, then suddenly brought it close to the lantern, examining it closely for a long time before his expression changed slightly.