Chapter 26: Truancy

Jiang Shu held his chin up and was thinking about what conditions to put forward when Huo Chong came in in a hurry.

"My Lord, the young master is missing."

Shen Changze suddenly stood up and walked out with Huo Chong.

Jiang Shu came back to his senses in shock and followed him.

The gray-clothed servant who served Yan Yang stood in the courtyard, looking flustered and anxious. When he saw Shen Changze coming downstairs, he knelt down in fear.

"What's going on? Isn't Yan Yang in school? Why is he missing?" Shen Changze asked.

The servant said in panic, "I don't know. Every morning after the young master entered the school, I waited for him in the outer courtyard, and it was the same today."

"But during the lunch break, Master Meng said to me angrily that if the young master didn't go to class again, he wouldn't have to go in the future."

"Yan Yang skipped school." Shen Changze frowned, his face showing anger.

The servant nodded.

"Where is he?"

The servant trembled and said, "Young master... Young master is missing."

"Explain clearly!" Shen Changze shouted coldly.

The servant was so frightened that he trembled all over and said, "Master Meng said he hadn't seen the young master for three days, but I saw the young master go into the school every day and I have been waiting in the outer courtyard and never saw him come out."

"After finding out that the young master was missing, Master Meng ordered people to search the school, but they couldn't find any trace of the young master."

"Are you sure Yan Yang didn't leave the school?" Shen Changze asked with a frown.

The servant nodded affirmatively: "Except when he went to school and left school, the school door was always locked, and the young master couldn't go out."

Not in the school, and not out, where did Yan Yang go?

"Don't make this public in advance, especially don't let the lady know." Shen Changze gave instructions and left quickly with Huo Chong.

Jiang Shu returned to the house, fanning himself with confusion.

She couldn't figure out where Yan Yang had gone.

The clan school of the Shen family was set up in a courtyard of a branch of the Shen family. This courtyard was quiet and peaceful, with green mountains behind it. It was a good place to study.

Shen Changze walked around the courtyard and confirmed that the courtyard wall was too high for Yan Yang to climb out. There was only one entrance and exit, the main gate.

"My Lord, this wall is loose." Huo Chong suddenly said.

Shen Changze heard the sound and went over. He saw that there were a few loose bricks on the wall behind the flowers. They fell off with a light push.

The one-foot square hole was big enough for a five-year-old child to get out.

Shen Changze used light skills to climb over the wall, and Huo Chong followed him.

There was dust under the wall, and there were also traces of crawling.

After checking, Huo Chong said, "Young Master is very smart. He filled the hole with bricks after coming out, so it is hard to find."

Unfortunately, his intelligence was used in the wrong place.

Shen Changze looked sullenly, looked around, and guessed where Yan Yang would go.

This is the intersection of several alleys, two leading to the main street, and one leading to the back mountain.

Shen Changze walked towards the alley leading to the back mountain.

"Come on, come on, chase me."

"I caught a fish..."

In the slowly flowing stream at the foot of the mountain, a group of children were playing in the water.

Shen Changze glanced around and saw Yan Yang under the shade of a tree.

He could not swim, so he did not dare to go to the deep water. He sat in the shallow water area and looked at the children swimming and catching fish with envy.

"Young Master." Huo Chong called out.

Yan Yang turned around, and when he saw Shen Changze, his face was full of panic, and he subconsciously ran to the river.

"Yan Yang." Shen Changze shouted while running to the river.

However, Yan Yang was like a frightened little beast at this time, swimming hard into the river and soon reached the deep water area.

But he couldn't swim, and after a few splashes, he sank.

"Young Master!" Huo Chong was frightened and broke into a cold sweat. He jumped into the river as fast as he could and picked up Yan Yang.

"Cough cough..." Yan Yang swallowed the water, and his face turned red from coughing.

Shen Changze's face was ashen, and he squeezed out two words from his teeth: "Go back home."

Yan Yang turned around and looked at the children who were still playing freely in the river, and shed tears of despair.

Shen Changze took Yan Yang back home, and wanted to teach him a lesson so as not to scare Cheng Jinchu, but no matter how he scolded him, Yan Yang refused to go to school.

Shen Changze was furious and used family rules to beat Yan Yang's buttocks.

"Do you want to study?" Shen Changze asked after each spanking.

Yan Yang's buttocks had been beaten to the point of bleeding, but he still held on to the wooden stool tightly, and gritted his teeth stubbornly: "No." "

Pa!" Shen Changze raised his hand and hit him again.

The two-finger-wide bamboo board hit the bare buttocks, and the person shivered in pain.

Yan Yang's face was red from the pain, and he cried until he was hoarse.

"Stop, stop!"

Old Madam Shen and Shen's mother, who had rushed over after hearing the news, saw Shen Changze raising his hand again outside the hall and hurriedly stopped him.

"Grandmother, mother, why are you here?" Shen Changze's handsome face was tense, and he was furious.

The two ignored him and checked Yan Yang's injuries as soon as possible.

When they saw that Yan Yang's buttocks were beaten and he was shaking with pain and sweating, Old Madam Shen's eyes were red with distress, and she pointed at Shen Changze and cursed angrily: "Are you going to beat him to death? He is your eldest son!"

The eldest son is the future of the Marquis's Mansion!

"It is precisely because he is the eldest son that I have to discipline him strictly and not let him grow up to be a mediocre person." Shen Changze spoke angrily and refused to give in.

Shen's mother hugged Yan Yang and wiped her tears and said, "He should be disciplined for being disobedient, but you can't be too impatient. If you really beat him to death, it will be too late to regret it."

"Yan Yang, admit your mistakes to your father and tell him that you will study hard." Shen's mother coaxed Yan Yang.

Yan Yang's teeth trembled with pain, but he was very stubborn: "No, I don't want to study, grandma, I don't want to study."

Hearing this, Shen's mother and Old Lady Shen were choked and speechless. It's true that

they feel sorry for their grandson, but how can the eldest son of a marquis not study?

"Grandmother, mother, you heard it too. He knows nothing about his mistakes. He should be disciplined." Shen Changze tightened his grip on the family law, his chest heaving with anger.

Old Madam Shen sighed helplessly and compromised, "He has already been injured by you. If you want to punish him, you should find a way that won't hurt him."

"What do you think, grandma?" Shen Changze handed the family law to Huo Chong.

Old Madam Shen thought, "Let him kneel down first, and call Jinchu and Shu'er to discuss it together."

"Jinchu is emotionally unstable. If she knows, she might get upset." Shen's mother was a little worried.

Old Madam Shen glared at her and said, "You think you can keep it a secret after such a mess?"

Shen's mother stopped talking.

Yan Yang knelt in the hall, while Shen Changze and others sat, waiting for Jiang Shu and Cheng Jinchu.

"Yan Yang, Yan Yang." After a while, Cheng Jinchu hurried over.

"Madam, go slowly, be careful of the threshold." The maid who supported Cheng Jinchu whispered.

Cheng Jinchu entered the room and saw Yan Yang kneeling on the ground, and rushed over directly.

"Let me see your injuries."

She heard from the servants that Yan Yang was punished by the family law for skipping school, and his buttocks were bruised.

"Madam." Huo Chong saluted Jiang Shu.

Jiang Shu stepped slowly into the hall, and Mrs. Shen took the opportunity to say, "Jinchu, sit down first, Yan Yang's injury is not serious."

She was afraid that Cheng Jinchu would see Yan Yang's injuries and get excited and have a miscarriage.

Cheng Jinchu, who was originally out of control, calmed down when she saw Jiang Shu and was helped to sit down by the maid.

She couldn't let Jiang Shu see the joke.