Yu Zizhen had long been aware of Wei Heng's soft-heartedness, or perhaps the burden of his reputation, so she was not surprised that Wei Heng treated his half-brothers and sisters well.
Even though she didn't agree with Wei Heng's treatment of his father's favorite concubine's children, she didn't interfere. Anyway, with the Wei family's affairs now at this point, Yu Zizhen's mission to save the cannon fodder was successfully completed. She got the points, and she received Wei Heng's gratitude, which was enough for her.
She chose a day when all the matters of the Wei family had been settled and asked Feng Yuan to go to the Wei family on her behalf.
She wrote a letter to Wei Heng, encouraging him to continue his studies so that he could support the family as soon as possible and become a solid support for his mother and sister.
Wei Heng never expected that Yu Zizhen would encourage him as a friend even though he couldn't even enter the Imperial College. Most importantly, Yu Zizhen also said in the letter that he was welcome to visit the Zhenbei Palace at any time, and if he had any difficulties in the future, he could still go to Yu Zizhen without any hesitation.
At this critical moment when the Wei family had offended the Lu family and his father and grandmother had both fallen, Yu Zizhen's move helped Wei Heng to deter many forces that were ready to divide the Wei family.
Wu Mingyu, who had been paying close attention to Yu Zizhen and Wei Heng, was the first to learn that Yu Zizhen had someone support Wei Heng. He was jealous that Wei Heng had Yu Zizhen's favor, but at the same time he couldn't help but want to find out how Wei Heng did it.
He also wanted to get protection from Yu Zizhen, and wanted to get closer to Yu Zizhen so that Yu Zizhen would recognize him as a "friend", but his activeness and initiative only earned him Yu Zizhen's indifferent attitude.
Wu Mingyu was very depressed. He urgently needed an opportunity to make a contribution and let the Lu family see his abilities, but that bastard Wei Heng quietly seized the opportunity.
Even though he was excluded from the list of companions because someone in his family was holding him back, the fact that he had won Yu Zizhen's favor before Wu Mingyu still made Wu Mingyu passive.
What Wu Mingyu didn't know was what he said about Yu Zizhen behind his back. Yu Zizhen actually knew everything. With Yu Zizhen's violent temper, the fact that she didn't roll her eyes at Wu Mingyu was already her greatest tolerance towards this ill-intentioned bastard.
During this period, Xiao Yuanjin heard Yu Zizhen mumbling and cursing Wu Mingyu a lot.
He knew that if Yu Zizhen didn't want to expose the thorn sent by the Lu family to lead them astray, so as to prevent the other party from always making tricks behind their backs, he would not have pretended to be friendly with Wu Mingyu.
For a period of time thereafter, Wu Mingyu, who was eager for quick success, would hang around Yu Zizhen whenever he had time. However, Yu Zizhen was always busy, and even if he followed Yu Zizhen all day long, his chances to talk to him were still very limited.
He was very anxious, and Xiao Lu had urged him several times, but Yu Zizhen was so busy, and he didn't dare to interrupt her with the intention of winning her favor.
Time passed quickly as he could not find any opportunity to increase communication and enhance their relationship with Yu Zizhen day after day. He did not realize that he had neglected his job for a long time as he was increasingly hanging around Yu Zizhen due to his anxiety.
When the Second Prince first entered the Southern Study, he did not show any special talents beyond ordinary people as Empress Xiao Lu had expected. No matter how reluctant Xiao Lu was to accept it, the Second Prince was actually just an ordinary child, neither smarter nor dumber than most people.
In addition, he had to devote a large part of his energy to thinking about how to make his life better under Xiao Lu's control, so his academic performance was naturally not outstanding.
After several months in the school, his grades in both study and martial arts were barely up to the passing level.
Xiao Lu was naturally dissatisfied with this result, and her dissatisfaction was like a snowball, growing bigger and bigger as time went by.
From just scolding and being forced to copy books in the beginning, to multiple corporal punishments in secret later on, the Second Prince was driven by little Lu to develop an aversion to studying at a young age.
The Second Prince himself had not yet realized the seriousness of the problem. He only knew that he was becoming more and more afraid of the arrival of daylight, and more and more afraid of seeing books, pens, ink, paper, and inkstone, as well as his classmates and teachers.
The intelligent, quick-witted and observant eldest prince was the first to notice that the second prince was injured. He knew without asking that the injury must have been caused by little Lu.
He couldn't do anything about it, not even his father the emperor could do anything about it, so he could only harden his heart and pretend not to see the purple bruises on the second prince's arm that were occasionally accidentally glimpsed by others.
But when the second prince started coming to class every day with dark circles under his eyes, and his eyes and expression clearly showed "I don't want to, I don't want to come", the eldest prince could no longer pretend not to see it.
He realized that the second prince was bored with studying because of his unsatisfactory academic performance.
If he were the eldest prince or princess, it wouldn't matter if he wasn't good at studying. After all, the eldest prince was apparently disabled, and the eldest princess had no right of inheritance.
But the second prince is different. He was raised by the Lu family and prepared to inherit the throne in the future. If he is not capable of being brought up, then other court officials except the Lu family and their followers will definitely not agree to him becoming the emperor's successor.
If he was born from little Lu's belly, then he wouldn't have to worry about anything. With the Lu family taking care of things for him, he would be guaranteed to have the throne.
But he was just a fake legitimate son raised by Xiao Lu. If Xiao Lu defined this "big brother" of his as "ruined", Xiao Lu would definitely let other women give birth to a "small brother" for her to practice again.
By then, the Second Prince, this "wasted big account", will become a stumbling block for the "small account". So what good ending will be waiting for him?
The eldest prince did not have much affection for the second prince. Firstly, the two of them had hardly ever spent time together, and secondly, there was the Lu family between them. However, the eldest prince still had some sympathy for people in the same situation, as well as some understanding and consideration for his old father.
It just so happened that Wu Mingyu, who was the second prince's study partner and currently his only study partner, was wholeheartedly following Yu Zizhen and followed Yu Zizhen almost every day. It was natural for the eldest prince to bring the second prince to his side.
The two brothers ate and slept together. The eldest prince not only secretly applied medicine to him and let him catch up on his sleep in the west wing of his bedroom under the pretext of reading, but also patiently taught him how to read and trace characters when he was more energetic.
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