Chapter 829 Five Years Later (18) Dewdrop
Dressed in casual clothes, Li San Niang, who was sitting at her desk reading, put down the book that Dr. Liang had given her. She stretched her neck, stood up and stretched, walked to the door, looked at the sky, and turned to go to the main hall.
"Qiu Xiang, shouldn't Dewdrop be coming back soon?"
It looks like it's going to snow again today.
I told her to take a cloak with her when she left, but she wouldn't listen. She's grown up; she's definitely not as obedient as she was when she was little.
Faced with Li San Niang's complaints, Qiu Xiang gestured for Li San Niang to sit down. After Li San Niang sat down, Qiu Xiang pushed the plate of walnut meat that she had peeled into her hands towards Li San Niang.
"Isn't that because Third Sister spoils her?"
Dewdrop said she found the cloak too heavy, and you allowed her not to wear it.
Despite being exposed, Li San Niang was not embarrassed. She picked up the teapot on the table, poured a cup for Qiu Xiang, and then poured one for herself. Only then did she reach out and pick up a piece of walnut kernel to eat. "Dewdrop is my darling. How could I bear to say anything to her?"
Even with Qiu Xiang, it's the same; I wouldn't bear to ask you to come.
Meanwhile, Lu Zhu'er, whom Li San Niang and Qiu Xiang were thinking of, was waiting at the back gate of an academy.
Just three steps away from the dewdrop was Li San Niang's carriage, and standing next to the carriage was Lao Shi.
Dewdrop, carrying a bundle, waited a little longer before hearing hurried footsteps coming from the back gate of the academy.
"Sister!"
Tian Duoyu, who was seven years old by the traditional Chinese age reckoning (nominally the child of Prince Heng, the biological father of Luzhu'er, and his widowed cousin whom he married later, but actually the child of the cousin and a spy from Silla disguised as a merchant), was sweating profusely from running around in ill-fitting and thin clothes. He saw Luzhu'er standing at the door and, still out of breath, quickly called out to her.
"Hey, come here quickly."
Look how sweaty you are! Here, wipe yourself off.
She picked up her handkerchief and wiped the sweat from Tian Duoyu's forehead.
"Are you alright in here?"
Did those students bully you because you're small and thin?
You're still young, you haven't grown big enough yet, don't go and do those strenuous jobs for others..."
Dewdrop chattered on and on to Tian Duoyu, and finally handed over the large bundle in her hand to Tian Duoyu, who kept nodding.
Looking down at Tian Duoyu, who only reached her chest, Lu Zhu'er smiled and instructed, "It's almost the end of the year, so you can't go back to the Wang family. I bought you this new outfit outside, but I don't know if it will fit. Try it on when you get back."
If it's not suitable, take a few copper coins and ask Granny Pear Blossom at the academy to help you change it.
The oil paper package contains Xiang Gui Ji peach shortbread and sesame candy. These two are easy to store. You can make a peach shortbread to eat in the morning and eat the sesame candy whenever you want. However, after eating all the candy, you'll need to clean your teeth.
There are several dozen copper coins and a tael of silver in your purse. Take it and spend it. People in this academy take good care of you. It's only right that you spend a little money to treat them to some snacks. Don't be stingy with your money.
"Next Dragon Boat Festival, your older sister will come to see you again."
With her head down and eyes full of tears, Tian Duoyu responded to Lu Zhu'er's words in a muffled voice, "Raise your head." Lu Zhu'er's words had an effect, and Tian Duoyu raised her head to look at Lu Zhu'er, who had a solemn face.
Facing Tian Duoyu's distinctly different blue-gray eyes and his hair, which had gradually turned dark brown with age but was still curly, Dewdrop raised her hand and wiped away the tears on Tian Duoyu's face.
She stared into Tian Duoyu's eyes and said earnestly, word by word, "Your surname is Tian, the same as your mother's. You don't look like us, but since your surname is Tian and you were born in the Tang Dynasty, you are a Tang person."
Sister knows you're suffering, but that's just how you are. It's their business if they look down on you, but you must never look down on yourself!
Listen to your older sister, you should study hard at the academy with your teacher. Even if you can't concentrate on your studies, it's good if you can at least learn a few more characters.
My mother said that the fault is not yours, and you must not blame yourself.
You must live well, live a brilliant life.
Dewdrop patted Tian Duoyu on the shoulder one last time, then boarded the carriage under Tian Duoyu's watchful gaze and left the alley behind the academy.
After Wang Ziheng was released by the Dali Temple (Chapter 799), he returned to the Wang family and went berserk and beat people as soon as he saw Tian Duoyu, who looked like a Western Region person. The Wang family members, from Granny Wang to Wang Dalang, dared not let Tian Duoyu appear in front of Wang Erlang again. They had no choice but to give Tian Duoyu an old woman to raise him in the side courtyard of the Wang family.
After the Dali Temple came to inform Tian Duoyu that her mother had caught a cold and died of a high fever at the Dali Temple, Tian Duoyu's life in the Wang family became increasingly difficult.
In the end, it was only because Wang Pozi remembered that Tian Duoyu was her niece's only child, even though the child was born from her indiscretion and the illicit affair with a merchant disguised as a spy. Wang Pozi still thought of their kinship and begged Wang Dalang to send the less than five-year-old Tian Duoyu to a temple to become a novice monk, so that he could at least survive for now.
However, Wang Dalang thought that instead of sending it to a temple, it would be better to send it to an academy and keep it under his watchful eye, as it might come in handy in the future.
Thus, taking her mother's surname and being named Duoyu by Wang Dalang, Tian Duoyu was taken with a bundle to the academy that Luzhu had just visited.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year that year, Li San Niang brought Lu Zhu'er to the Wang family. When Lu Zhu'er asked to see her younger brother, Li San Niang and the others learned that Tian Duo Yu had been sent away.
Afterwards, Li San Niang explained Tian Duoyu's background to Lu Zhu'er in the simplest language. Lu Zhu'er thought for a moment and then asked Li San Niang a question: "Mother, what did my brother do wrong?"
If he had a choice, I'm sure my younger brother wouldn't want to be born like this either.
The fault does not lie with the child, but rather with the child bearing the consequences of the adults' mistakes.
Whether it was because she recognized Tian Duoyu as her younger brother the first time she saw his deep blue eyes, or because Wang Ziheng's attitude towards Tian Duoyu touched her (Wang Ziheng had abandoned Tian Duoyu, and Wang Ziheng had abandoned Lu Zhuer before), she later asked Li San Niang to take her to the academy to visit Tian Duoyu.
As for the name Tian Duoyu, it was changed for Tian Duoyu by Luzhu after she entered the academy.
Over the years, Lu Zhu'er would always visit Tian Duoyu at the back gate of the academy during festivals. Even though they weren't closely related by blood, the siblings eventually developed some connection through these visits.
If Tian Duoyu were to say that the dewdrops were the light in his life, guiding him to continue living.
"If it weren't for my older sister, I probably would have starved to death long ago."
If my older sister hadn't told me I should live well, I probably would have burned all these sins to the ground long ago.
These were the words spoken by Tian Duoyu, who had been in the academy for nearly a year, as he secretly returned to the street where the Wang family lived and looked at the Wang family's house from afar.
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