Chapter 13 Farewell to the Years (Part 1) Don't go!
The Wei, Xu, and Song families are all long-time friends, and Lord Wei and Song Congzhao have known each other since childhood. Sending Wei Yuanzhan to study at the Song family would be a piece of cake.
It was drizzling that day, and morning dew was slowly about to fall from the bamboo leaves. The ground was half-wet, and there was a faint, pleasant smell of moisture everywhere.
Zhi Rou rested her hand on her chin, gazing absently at the rain outside the window.
Zhi Rou's gaze flickered slightly, a hint of emotion flickering within her, before she quickly looked away from his face.
"Peacock," she muttered, too lazy to even think about why he was there.
Lan Ye's gaze swept around the hall, then he nudged Chang Huai's shoulder and whispered, "What did Master call us here for? Look, they're both single."
Chang Huai glanced at him and said, "You still want to run away? I suffer while you enjoy yourself, what kind of logic is that?"
Lan Ye blushed and raised her eyebrows: "You're the one who wants to run away!" She then crossed her arms and stood guard beside Wei Yuanzhan like a door god.
The rain intensified, pouring in at an angle and covering the windowsill with a dense layer of water droplets.
Wei Yuanzhan was unwilling to come here, but due to his status and etiquette, he didn't show his displeasure too much.
He walked to the front and greeted Song Qiyu and the others. After looking around, he chose a seat at the back and sat down by himself.
Next to him was Song Peiyu.
Following Song Peiyu is Song Zhirou.
As if they were complete strangers, his gaze remained fixed on his stationery, his expression indifferent, not even glancing at Zhi Rou.
Zhi Rou, on her very first day at the family school, realized that the books the teacher was teaching were for her older brothers and the others. She didn't understand a single word, so she went to the library and took two interesting books to read by herself.
Song Peiyu was still thinking about the kick Zhi Rou had given him. Seeing that the teacher had not yet arrived, he took off the sachet from his waist, weighed it in his hand, and then turned around and threw it on Zhi Rou's desk.
"Hey, this is for you."
Zhi Rou looked up from between the pages of the book, glanced at him for a moment, and threw the sachet back without thinking: "I don't want it."
What good things could he possibly give me?
"No, please!" Song Peiyu put it back and said eagerly, "Open it and take a look."
His expression remained relatively normal, with his usual mischievous grin, and his curved eyes shimmered with a light that was hard to tell whether it was excitement or something else.
Zhi Rou is at an age where she is very curious about everything.
She glanced at it and saw that the sachet was uniquely made, embroidered with flowers and birds. When it was placed on the table, the embroidery seemed to come alive, moving slightly with each stroke.
"Are you scared?" Song Peiyu provoked her.
Zhi Rou pulled with both hands and opened the sachet.
There was no fragrance at all; only powdery soil was scattered out, with foreign objects wriggling among it.
Gradually, she saw the truth.
Upon seeing this, Song Peiyu clutched his stomach and burst into laughter.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could only see two centipedes swimming on Song Zhirou's desk. They seemed to have a thousand legs, which looked a little scary.
Zhi Rou had seen centipedes before, and she had also seen people bitten by centipedes. Her heart pounded, and a little sweat broke out on her back.
"Is that all the courage you have?" The annoying voice above continued to rise and fall.
They made a big fuss, and almost everyone turned to look at them.
Zhi Rou was extremely ashamed and indignant, and her fair cheeks flushed red.
Still furious, she tried to calm herself down, got up from the ground, grabbed a pen, and randomly poked at the centipede, throwing it at Song Peiyu's shoulder.
Wei Yuanzhan's seat was closest to the two of them. At first, he was puzzled when he heard Song Peiyu and Song Zhirou talking. Then he found it noisy. Finally, he frowned and endured it for a while before he was about to get up from his seat when something fell from the sky into his sleeve.
Wei Yuanzhan chuckled twice, glanced disdainfully at the dark figure beside him, and suddenly flicked his sleeve, throwing it back to Zhi Rou's feet.
Zhi Rou was furious, but with two of his attendants watching her like mother hens protecting their chicks, she dared not do anything rash. She could only hide far away and curse Song Peiyu, telling him to catch the centipede.
Having finally gotten a chance to tease her, Song Peiyu was not about to give up.
For some reason, he tilted his head and laughed for a while, then suddenly changed his mind. He took a few steps over, lured the centipede into the sachet, and then returned to his seat, his eyes curiously glancing at Wei Yuanzhan.
When school ended in the afternoon, the rain gradually stopped, leaving patches of water stains on the ground.
Seeing that Wei Yuanzhan was about to leave, Song Peiyu hurriedly followed, saying, "Young Master Wei, please wait!"
The figure in front stopped, turned around, and gave him a subtle look: "What is it?"
Song Peiyu bowed to him first and asked with a smile, "Will the young master be studying with us from now on?"
"Hard to say." Wei Yuanzhan was reluctant to say more, holding something in his hand, half of which was hidden under his sleeve, making it impossible to see clearly.
Song Peiyu lowered his eyes and stared for a while, then suddenly heard him ask, "Anything else to say?"
I looked up and saw that he had raised his long eyebrows slightly. He looked aloof and polite, but his words revealed a sense of rejection.
He didn't want to talk to him.
“…That’s all.” Song Peiyu replied awkwardly, secretly thinking: Could he have been wrong? Wei Yuanzhan was not on his side.
In the following days, Song Peiyu used different tricks to tease Song Zhirou.
They would splash her with water, add something to her food, or even shoot her with a slingshot. Zhi Rou looked through the pages at night and found bruises all over her calves.
She wasn't one to endure things passively, especially towards Song Peiyu, with whom she had long been at odds, so she no longer cared about forbearance or restraint. She would repay him the way he treated her, having already forgotten about the previous things, except for the slingshot.
At noon, the school would let the students rest. As soon as the bell rang, Zhi Rou immediately ran to the corridor, turned into the moon gate, and became a black shadow that grew smaller and smaller.
"What is she doing now? She's not even eating." Lan Ye muttered.
These past few days, he accompanied Wei Yuanzhan in and out of the Song residence, and he had been quite impressed by the behavior of the fourth young lady of the Song family. If he had to describe her in one sentence, it would be: unruly and somewhat wild.
Wei Yuanzhan watched the whirlwind-like figure, put down the wolf-hair brush in his hand, threw it into the clear water, and spoke with a hint of indifference.
Whether she eats or not is none of your business.
Lan Ye's cheekbones flushed, and he chuckled dryly, "My ears are really sharp..."
Wei Yuanzhan rose from his seat, wiped his hands, and asked, "Where is Changhuai?"
"I went to bring food for Master." Lan Ye glanced at the sky. "It's been quite a while, why hasn't he returned yet?"
As the two were talking, Chang Huai walked briskly from the other side carrying a food box. After entering the room, he put the food down and leaned down to Wei Yuanzhan's ear to say, "Young Master Sheng wishes to see you."
Wei Yuanzhan was slightly taken aback. After a moment's thought, he couldn't suppress the joy in his eyes: "Where?"
The Song family's private school was located in the southeast corner of the mansion. Outside was an empty alley, and only by walking forward could one reach the truly bustling capital city.
In the chilly winter wind, Wei Yuanzhan stood at the foot of the wall, listening to the sound of bamboo leaves and gravel, and turned to look at Chang Huai: "You said he's here?"
He chuckled, a rare occurrence for him: "That's why you're called Young Master Sheng; you're truly unique."
Wei Yuanzhan stared at the white wall and tentatively called out, "Sheng Xingyun?"
There was indeed a response, but after waiting for a while, it seemed like someone ran closer from a little distance, following the sound, and said in a low voice, "It's me! You've come! I've been waiting so long my mouth is about to shut up!"
He was breathing heavily, and Wei Yuanzhan frowned, giving him a look of disdain: "Can't you get in?"
"The Song residence! How can I get in?" Sheng Xingyun retorted, guessing he was going to say to jump over the wall, so he quickly interrupted, "I dare not, and you don't come out either."
Wei Yuanzhan felt guilty that the two of them had fallen to this state because of Lady Hou. He glanced around and instructed Lan Ye and Chang Huai to keep watch under the doorway and call out to anyone who came.
He climbed the ladder to the top of the wall, bent his knees and sat down, letting one leg dangle and swing leisurely: "Does this count as getting out?"
Sheng Xingyun looked at Wei Yuanzhan, grabbed the fox collar and wrapped it around his neck even tighter, and grinned: "That doesn't count."
His clothes were always bright and gorgeous, with the fur on the collar and cuffs gleaming softly in the sunlight, making his skin appear somewhat dark.
Wei Yuanzhan couldn't help but laugh: "Where did you go to sunbathe?"
"It's really gotten darker?" Sheng Xingyun's brows furrowed deeply. "It's all my dad's fault. He insisted on making me go fishing with him in this freezing weather, saying he wanted to toughen me up..."
"Alright," Wei Yuanzhan said with a smile, cutting him off from his rambling. "You called me here because you need something?"
Sheng Xingyun nodded: "I accompanied my elder brother to shop the other day, and I saw your things in a pawn shop in my house."
As he spoke, he pulled something out of his sleeve and tossed it to Wei Yuanzhan: "See?"
A jade pendant, the color of a spring bud, flew up and was caught by Wei Yuanzhan. He rubbed it a couple of times, and his eyes flickered slightly: "Who pawned this?"
"I asked, and they said he was dressed as a beggar and didn't know anything about the goods. Manager Xiao just gave him a few loose coins and sent him away."
Wei Yuanzhan composed himself, recalling that day on the street... there seemed to be a group of shouting boys.
"How will you thank me for returning it to its rightful owner?"
A sound suddenly came from under the wall. Before Wei Yuanzhan could respond, a swift force struck him from behind.
He winced in pain, frowned, and looked back, scanning his surroundings before finally spotting a furtive shadowy figure lurking in the foliage.
Is he trembling? Wei Yuanzhan sneered.
He dares to throw mud balls at him, but doesn't dare to show himself; he's really useless.
Ignoring Sheng Xingyun, he put away the jade pendant, nimbly jumped down from the wall, and went to catch that audacious shadow.
Unexpectedly, the shadow suddenly became alert and darted toward a low door.
Wei Yuanzhan commanded aggressively, "Don't leave!"
A note from the author:
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com