When Cui Yanjin arrived at the Imperial Palace, Su Rong was off to confront the Nanchu King, leaving only Zhou Gu by himself in Feng Hall.
Cui Yanjin, carrying a pile of items, arrived at Feng Hall and peeked around, calling softly, "Brother Ziye?"
Ziye, hearing the voice, also peeked out, looking at Cui Yanjin with a hint of confusion, then approached and whispered, "Little Yanjin, are you here for the princess? You dare to come here now? The princess isn’t here, you should hurry and leave. Only the young master is here, be careful or he might and punish you."
The child has such a tender age after all, Ziye might recall the soreness in his wrist caused by repeatedly grinding ink every time he saw him, but he wouldn’t take revenge in the dark for such trivial matters, or literally get the young master to punish him.
Cui Yanjin shook his head, "I came to see my cousin."
"Huh? You’re here to see our young master?" Ziye eyed him skeptically, "Are you out of your mind? Handing yourself in?"
Cui Yanjin shook his head vigorously, "No, no, I came to present my cousin with his birthday gift."
"What?" Ziye expressed with total surprise.
"Can I come in?" asked Cui Yanjin softly, "What is my cousin doing now?"
"He is reading." Ziye looked at him, "Do you really want to see the young master? Aren’t you afraid of getting punished? Let me tell you, because of the birthday gift you sent the princess last time, the young master couldn’t send his gift, a weapon. He spent half a unit of time painting, left exhausted and completely drained. He remembers this."
"Such a petty person," thought Cui Yanjin silently but didn’t voice his thoughts as usual. He quietly replied, "I just realized my mistake, so I hurried here to make amends for my cousin."
"What?" Ziye was surprised again and moved aside from the entrance, flabbergasted, "Are you really here to compensate?"
"Yes, real." Cui Yanjin pointed to the pile of items in his arms. "These are all for my cousin."
Ziye stared at him, puzzled, "How in the world did you have a change of heart?"
Cui Yanjin let out a sigh, "My great-uncle scolded me."
"Ah, I see." Ziye finally understood and laughed as he invited him inside. Meanwhile, he announced to the one inside: "Young master, Mr. Cui has arrived."
Cui Yanjin took a deep breath and told himself that he must not run. No matter if his cousin wanted to beat him up, he must not run. He did not want to live under the rule of the Ministry of Housing.
When Zhou Gu heard Cui Yanjin had come, he put down his book and turned to look at him.
Cui Yanjin, carrying items walked in, grinned upon seeing Zhou Gu and tried to ingratiate himself, "Cousin, I came to give you your birthday gift. I understand my mistake deeply. After all, you’re my cousin. How could I be so insensitive? I was so thoughtless. Cousin, I have admitted my mistake, please forgive me..."
He spewed out a bunch of words in one breath, then plopped down the birthday gifts in front of Zhou Gu, "All of these are for you, cousin."
After finishing, he emphasized, "They are not for the princess."
Zhou Gu raised an eyebrow, looked at the cousin whose disposition had taken a complete 360 and squinted suspiciously, "What are you scheming now? What misdeed have you done?"
Cui Yanjin: "..."
He had done nothing!
He immediately stood straight, "Cousin, honestly, I haven’t. I just recognized my mistakes. I shouldn’t have been so disrespectful and offended you several times. I truly realize my mistake now."
Zhou Gu stared at him in surprise, then reached out to tug his ear, "Tell me, what did you do?"
Cui Yanjin immediately screamed in pain, "Ah, cousin, it hurts, let go, let go!"
Zhou Gu let him go, "Speak."
Cui Yanjin pouted at him while rubbing his ear and complained, "I came here to apologize to you after listening to my great-uncle’s advice. Is this how you treat me? Even if I made mistakes and disrespected you, offended you, it’s not entirely my fault; you are also in the wrong."
Zhou Gu stared at him, "Are you genuinely here to apologize?"
"What do you think? Isn’t it evident?" Cui Yanjin was upset, "Cousin, you twisted my ear."
Zhou Gu was irritated, "You should be thankful I didn’t draw my sword at you."
Cui Yanjin stopped talking all at once.
Zhou Gu pointed at the items in front of him, "So what are these gifts?"
"They are all treasures from the private collection of my father as well as a sword from the collection of my mother." explained Cui Yanjin.
Upon hearing that, Zhou Gu waved him off. "Take them away."
Cui Yanjin’s eyes widened, "Won’t you forgive me? I sincerely came here to apologize to you. I truly understand my mistakes. Cousin, you are so talented. When your proficiency in dual swordsmanship was spreading all around, I enormously admired you. During those times, I wished to become a person like you."
He whispered, "It’s just that when I met you in person later, you always had a stern look that scared me off."
Zhou Gu laughed out of exasperation, "Alright, I accept your apology. But, take these things back. It’s not like they are yours. How can you just give things away that belong to your parents."
Cui Yanjin immediately retorted: "These things will all be mine someday."
"That’s not necessarily the case. What if you have younger siblings one day? What if your fourth uncle and fourth aunt decide to have another child? They are relatively young after all." Zhou Gu pointed out.
Cui Yanjin considered this, then smartly replied, "In case my parents run out of money before any younger siblings grow up, by then, these items may no longer be there. So, I guess it doesn’t really matter if I give them to you, right?"
Zhou Gu: "..."
Now he had nothing to say in reply.
After all, his words made sense. He had also heard that this couple, his fourth aunt and uncle, knew how to spend money lavishly, including renting out entire boats just for merry-making. Not only did they throw huge feasts but they also were frequent visitors at the gambling house. Recently, he heard that the fourth aunt had lost over ten thousand taels of silver. It’s a wonder how they still hadn’t gone bankrupt after all these years.
"Cousin, please just accept them," Cui Yanjin implored. "Even if I have younger brothers or sisters in the future, won’t I, as the big brother, have to worry about them anyway? I’m already stressed out right now, so why not spend a little bit of their money."
Zhou Gu looked at his cousin who wasn’t as repulsive as before now that he had apologized. Considering his young age, having such parents was quite unfortunate. Moreover, his reasoning did seem valid.
He nodded in silence, agreeing to accept, "Fine! I accept and I forgive you."
Cui Yanjin was stunned, staring, wide-eyed at Zhou Gu. He hadn’t expected his cousin to be so accommodating. He thought, even if he had apologized today, he might not receive a friendly reception and might still get punished.
None of that happened.
Just some exchange of words and his cousin claimed he had forgiven him.
He looked at Zhou Gu in astonishment, then all of a sudden remembered what Fen Ling had once told him. He sighed with emotion, "Cousin, no wonder Fen told me what the princess once said, that you are the most kind-hearted and gentle. It really is the case."
Zhou Gu glared at him, if that sentence hadn’t been uttered by Su Rong, he would have flipped out in rage by now.
By now, Cui Yanjin was no longer afraid of him. He sat right next to him and laughingly said, "Cousin, quick take a look. I chose good things for you. Although the items from my father’s warehouse are mostly fancy toys, but he knows how to enjoy them. You can use them to pass the time when you’re free."
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