On the first night of staying in the Inspector’s Residence, Su Rong only felt satisfied after she snatched food from Fen Ling, played chess with him and rubbed his face against the chessboard until his eyes turned red from losing. She then contentedly went to bed.
She slept soundly that night, without any dreams.
The next day when she woke up, still barely opening her eyes, she received many concerns from her aunts and sisters. One by one, they were all moved to see her so frail and weak after her severe illness, to the point of having red eyes.
Su Rong was puzzled, in the past when she got injured, they all had blank faces, yet after a few days of absence, everyone had changed? Since when had she and her aunts and sisters shared such deep feelings?
Su Rong was confused, she turned to look at wet nurse Zhao for answers, but Zhao shook her head, indicating she didn’t understand either. She then looked at Yuewan, who also seemed puzzled.
Without getting any concrete hints, Su Rong straightforwardly asked: "Dear aunts and sisters, what’s wrong with you? What did I do to make you feel sorry for me?"
As soon as she started speaking, everyone’s pity suddenly disappeared, and they all directed their blank faces at her.
Su Rong exhaled, "That’s right, these expressions are correct. Please continue to maintain them, otherwise I will feel uncomfortable."
Upon hearing this, the eldest Miss raised her voice, "Su Rong!"
Su Rong smiled, "Yes, eldest sister, I’m here."
The eldest Miss choked back her words, and kept her blank face on.
Second Miss couldn’t hold back and said irritably, "How can you be so heartless."
"Is it really that bad?" Su Rong genuinely felt that for the past month or so, she was quite sociable, at least during this time, her attention was distracted by Zhou Gu and she hadn’t bullied them.
Third Aunt sighed, "How long does it take for your wound to heal? It’s been over ten days now, why are you still so weak? Haven’t you been taking care of your wound properly?"
Sixth Aunt spoke up, "As a young lady, you need to pay more attention to your health. Don’t torture yourself when you are young and end up suffering when you get old. When I was young, I loved to look pretty in winter without wearing cotton pants, but now, whenever it gets cold, my old cold legs act up. It’s so unbearable."
Fifth Miss snorted, "Is fighting so much fun? Why do you always like to fight others? As soon as young master Zhou left, you started fighting and ended up bedridden. Does young master Zhou know that you enjoy fighting like this? If you marry into the Duke Residence in the future, will you still fight with others?"
Su Rong blinked her eyes, unsure of who to respond to first. She thought to herself that she was indeed not as capable as the main wife. In the future, if her husband also takes in so many women and has many children, who gather around her all the time chattering non-stop, wouldn’t she be exhausted?
She preferred a once and for all solution, so she coughed lightly, and re-assessed, "Dear aunts and sisters, it’s better if you all stay silent."
Everyone suddenly had a blank face again.
Su Rong immediately said, "Yes, yes, just like that."
Everyone glared at her all at once.
Su Rong showed a smile, just about to say something, when everyone suddenly stood up, no longer paying attention to her. Without uttering a word, they marched out of the room in an orderly fashion, displaying a high degree of tacitness.
They’re gone!
Su Rong was taken aback, she had never seen them so in-sync before.
Wet nurse Zhao chuckled and cast a blaming look at Su Rong, "I finally understand why the aunts and young misses in the residence always stay far away from you."
She never saw someone who could irritate others so much!
Yuewan was not surprised, "It’s alright, wet nurse, get used to it!"
The only time her young lady behaved nicely and stopped bullying people was when she was sleeping.
Su Rong rubbed her nose, feeling a bit regretful, "I haven’t seen them so lively in a long time. I should have been more measured." She grumbled, "But I’ve been bullying people since I was a child, right? Whenever I see them chattering, I can’t help but make them shut up..."
Wet nurse Zhao: "..."
"Ah." Su Rong sighed, "Even if I chase after them now, they won’t pay any attention to me. I still need to recover, it’s so boring...how could I forget..."
Yuewan whispered, "You deserved it!"
Su Rong turned to glare at Yuewan.
Yuewan immediately straighten up her chest, "Miss, you can also play with Cuiyu. That little bird does nothing but eat and sleep all day. It has been raised for so long but never exercises. It’s grown fat."
Seeing Su Rong remained silent, Yuewan added, "I suspect that it is learning from Ahua and Dahuang. It eats until it is full, drinks until it’s had enough, and then basks in the sun. It must be the happiest bird in the world."
Su Rong rubbed her temple, "Why is it still in the Residence?"
"Huh? If it’s not at the house, where else would it be? Young master Zhou didn’t bring it when he left, so we have no choice but to keep raising it." Yuewan was confused.
"We should send it back to Phoenix Mountain." Su Rong said.
The day when Zhou Gu left, she got hurt, and until she arrived at Jiangzhou, she forgot that she was keeping a bird.
"Why do we have to send it back to Phoenix Mountain?" Yuewan was reluctant to part, "Can’t we always keep it? It doesn’t eat as much as Ahua and Dahuang, we can afford to keep them, so we can certainly afford to keep it. Isn’t it just a few pastries?"
Su Rong pointed at her, "Yuewan, you’re getting arrogant, even speaking about a few pastries. What gave you the confidence? Has your monthly allowance increased?"
Yuewan blushed and stamped her foot, "Miss!"
Su Rong put down her hand, "Alright alright, keep it if it makes you happy!"
Su Rong lost the interest to tease, and lay back down on her bed to take a nap again.
When she slept all day yesterday, she was not sleepy at night, Fen Ling came by to share her food, she couldn’t let him eat for free, so she made him play chess with her until midnight after a terrible defeat, with him screaming out in defeat.
Even if she slept more during the day, but sleeping too late at night would still make her feel lacked of sleep. Therefore, she had nothing better to do and took this as an opportunity to get more sleep.
The consequence of oversleeping during the day was being unable to sleep at night. After Fen Ling tried to share her food again, she made him play chess with her.
Fen Ling bemoaned his fate. It was not about the game of chess that he was losing, but his manly pride.
In that way, for several days in a row, she slept during the day and amused herself by playing chess with Fen Ling at night. Fen Ling felt terribly worn out, but his chess skills improved greatly.
Jiangzhou was tranquil, but the Capital City was enveloped in the intense atmosphere of the Imperial Examination countdown.
After Zhou Gu moved into Xie Residence in the Capital City, he followed Su Xingze’s rhythm, seriously devoted himself to studying. Su Xingze didn’t plan to go out and engage with the scholars, nor did he plan to establish connections with anyone. He even didn’t go to meet Minister of Personnel Shen Xian, whom Xie Yuan recommended in his letter of introduction.
He only went to Duke Residence once, stayed overnight, and didn’t leave for anywhere except when he brought back Zhou Gu. Zhou Gu also joined him, and they diligently studied in silence.
It wasn’t until this day when Xie Lin visited, mentioning the interesting debate at Juxian Building and suggesting they take a break from their intense studies, that Su Xingze was persuaded to go and join the lively discussion at Juxian Building with Zhou Gu. The three of them departed for Juxian Building.
Juxian Building was indeed lively today, gathering scholars from all over Daliang to participate in the open debate.
Xie Lin had already booked a private room in Juxian Building, and he led Zhou Gu and Su Xingze to enter through the back door.
Zhou Gu cast a glance at him, "Why are we taking the back door?"
"Didn’t Brother Su mention that he dislikes being ostentatious? With our good looks, people would be watching us the second we show up. So, we obviously have to use the back door." Xie Lin justified confidently.
Zhou Gu thought it made sense, so he held his tongue.
Xie Lin led the two of them discreetly into the private room, then ordered food and wine, opened the window, and listened to the scholars below arguing heatedly.
There were conservatives, there were radicals, and the debate was chaotic.
"Isn’t it interesting? I said it would be lively, didn’t I?" Xie Lin asked.
"It’s indeed lively." Zhou Gu was noncommittal.
Su Xingze was silent, his eyes gazing through the window at the crowded scholars below. There were two individuals standing out among them.
Xie Lin elaborated, "The one wearing blue clothes is Zhao Li’an, a scholarly genius from Jibei; and the one wearing white is Lu Fengyan, a prodigy from Chuānxī." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎
After saying that, he turned to Su Xingze, "Both of these young men are extraordinarily talented and are widely recognized as your equals, Brother Su. All the major betting houses in the city have started making bets on who will top the Imperial Examination, and you’re already holding a third of the odds."
Zhou Gu raised an eyebrow, "What about me?"
"You?" Xie Lin was straightforward, "Don’t you know your own reputation? Even though you’re a disciple of Grand Tutor Qin, no one dares to bet on you."
Zhou Gu muttered, "They don’t know the good stuff when they see it!"
Xie Lin rolled his eyes.
The debate downstairs was reaching its zenith, both sides persisted in their respective arguments with neither able to determine a victor.
Xie Lin curiously turned back to ask Su Xingze, "Brother Su, what is your take on ’resting in peace is dangerous, thinking about danger is wise, the monarch’s governance is the minister’s virtue’?"
Just as Su Xingze was about to speak, a voice sounded outside the door, "That’s correct, this prince is also eager to hear the thoughts of Jiangzhou’s famous scholar, Master Su, on this?"
Su Xingze was taken aback.
Upon hearing the words, Zhou Gu frowned. Lowering his voice, he warned, "That’s Crown Prince Yan Li. He is not here with good intentions." After he said these words, he glared at Xie Lin with a look of accusation.
Xie Lin seemed wronged and whispered defensively, "It wasn’t me! How was I supposed to know the Crown Prince would show up? If I was planning on using Brother Su as a target, why would I have led him in through the back door?"
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