"Did Dong Zhuo go to the Imperial Academy today?"
Song Le'an asked again.
"No, he asked his servant to ask for leave from the Imperial Academy, and all the students in the yellow class knew that you and Dong Zhuo were injured.
I heard them say that Dong Zhuo had harmed you, and they also said they wanted to come to your house to visit you, young master."
Song Le'an felt confused and didn't want to put on a smile to greet his classmates.
"If they do come, just tell them I'm not seeing guests for the time being."
"yes."
During the lunch break, the students from the Huangzi class indeed came to Prince Kang's mansion.
Shui Tuo told the steward of the mansion the Fifth Young Master's intention early in the morning, so the students came and left.
Song Le'an rested for the whole afternoon, but he felt a little irritated when he thought about Dong Zhuo.
He didn't understand why Dong Zhuo treated him like this. If he was shunned and isolated by his classmates, what good would it do to Dong Zhuo?!
After thinking about it for a long time and still unable to figure it out, Song Le'an decided to go to Dong's house to meet Dong Zhuo in person.
This time he must find out what Dong Zhuo's purpose is no matter what!
Just in case, Song Le'an also asked Shui Tuo to dress up as a servant and follow him.
Before leaving, Song Le'an thought about whether he should go to Qingzhuyuan to see his mother and sister, but after hesitating for a while, he decided to go to Dong's Mansion first and visit his mother and sister when he came back.
When he arrived at Dong's house, Song Le'an introduced himself and successfully brought Shuituo in.
Dong Zhuo's father was the Minister of Rites and was not in the mansion at the moment.
Song Le'an came to the house and asked to see Dong Zhuo. The servants of the Dong Mansion did not report to Mrs. Dong, but took Song Le'an directly to the courtyard where Dong Zhuo lived.
The Dong Mansion is not as big as Prince Kang’s Mansion, but it also has three courtyards.
Dong Zhuo lived in the most remote place.
As he walked along, Song Le'an couldn't help but frown as he saw the surroundings becoming more and more dilapidated and desolate.
He knew that Dong Zhuo was a bastard, and he also knew that Dong Zhuo's biological mother was originally Mrs. Dong's maid, and eventually became Minister Dong's concubine.
Mrs. Dong hated the maid who climbed onto her bed, and she also started to hate Dong Zhuo, her illegitimate son.
A few years ago, Dong Zhuo's biological mother died of illness, and Dong Zhuo's situation became increasingly worse.
But he never thought that Dong Zhuo's situation was so bad!
Mrs. Dong didn't even make an effort to pretend to be a magnanimous mistress who treated the concubine's sons and daughters as her own.
Dong Zhuo was forced to live in a remote courtyard that was in a dilapidated state, with the walls and even the tiles on the roof falling off.
Just looking at the appearance of the yard, Song Le'an couldn't imagine how bare the house would be.
"Mr. Song, the young master is inside, please come in."
The servant stopped at the gate of the yard, obviously not wanting to go in.
Song Le'an walked into the yard and saw two plots of land. He even suspected that Dong Zhuo was growing vegetables here for his own consumption.
The door was closed. Song Le'an raised his hand and knocked on the door, asking Shui Tuo to stay in the yard while he went in.
There were coughing sounds and the sound of shoes scraping on the floor, and then the door was opened.
Dong Zhuo, who was wearing an outer robe, looked confused when he saw Song Le'an standing at the door. After he came to his senses, surprise flashed in his eyes.
"Ale! Why are you here? Are you here to see me?"
The surprise in Dong Zhuo's eyes did not seem fake, which made Song Le'an more and more confused.
His expression was a little complicated. "Yes, let's go in."
Song Le'an walked into the house, and just as he thought, the place could be described as "bare and bare".
The room was empty, with only a broken table and a broken bench.
Even the outer robe Dong Zhuo wore was patched.
Song Le'an found it hard to imagine that this was Dong Zhuo's life at home.
It is hard to imagine that the illegitimate son of a third-rank Minister of Rites actually lives such a life!
Did the Minister of Rites know that his illegitimate son was being treated so harshly by his mistress?!
Perhaps noticing Song Le'an's gaze, Dong Zhuo touched his nose feeling somewhat inferior and embarrassed.
"I'm sorry, Ah Le, my room is too shabby. If you don't mind, please feel free to sit here."
Dong Zhuo pointed at the broken bench.
"If I sit on that bench, do you have another bench to sit on?"
Song Le'an looked at Dong Zhuo calmly, without any contempt or disdain.
"Yes, yes."
Dong Zhuo brought out a lame chair from the inner room and sat around the broken table with Song Le'an.
"Ale, how are you? Are you injured too? I think your injury is more serious than mine.
I was planning to visit you tomorrow, but I didn't expect you to come see me first."
Dong Zhuo smiled, looked at the kettle on the table, picked it up and shook it.
"There's no water in there, Ale. I'll go get you some water."
Dong Zhuo was about to stand up as he spoke, but was stopped by Song Le'an.
"Azhuo, don't bother. I'm not thirsty either."
"Okay, then if you're thirsty, just tell me. Don't look at how shabby this place is, there's still water to drink."
Dong Zhuo spoke very calmly, even though his embarrassing side had been exposed to Song Le'an.
But he didn't feel ashamed of it.
"By the way, Ale, we won't be the only two who got hurt when we went up the mountain this time, right?"
Dong Zhuo seemed to be speaking casually, but Song Le'an could tell that he was trying to trick him.
Song Le'an pursed his lips and looked up at Dong Zhuo steadily, "Only the two of us were injured. Do you think this is different from what you expected?
After all, you are planning to let all your classmates take that dead end road that will lead them down the hillside."
The smile on Dong Zhuo's face froze for a moment, but soon returned to normal and continued smiling.
"Ah Le, what are you talking about? What did I expect? I didn't expect anything. And what's the dead end you're talking about? Why don't I understand what you're saying?"
"Are the poems in the book you gave me really your own? Did you really not have them stolen from other classmates?
The way down the mountain that you pointed out to me is really not a dead end?
Ah Zhuo, stop pretending. I already know what you want to do to me. Otherwise, guess why only the two of us are hurt."
Song Le'an spoke word by word, and saw with his own eyes that Dong Zhuo could finally no longer pretend, and the smile on his face slowly disappeared.
"Ale, who told you what?"
"No one said anything, Azhuo. If you don't want others to know, then don't do it yourself. I have been thinking about why you did this for the past two days, but I can't figure it out.
I can feel your concern for me, and I also know that you regard me as a friend, but why do you want to use me to hurt my classmates?
If your plan succeeds, I will be the one who is doubted by my classmates and they will hate me.
Is this what you wanted to see?"
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