Chapter 8 I am Nangong Sui
Unlike the children of the Prince's Mansion who had to go to the Imperial Academy every day, Gu Gan could go whenever he didn't want to, and no one could stop him.
He was away from the capital for a while, taking a long trip with Nangong Ming.
Yu Sui replied, "Brother Gu, you're not in the capital, so I can't find you even if I want to."
Gu Gan seemed to realize he had said something he shouldn't have, and walked away with a cold snort.
Yu Sui didn't know what the child was angry about, but she felt it was okay to ignore it and focused on dismantling the communication array.
On this day, Yu Sui left three Five Elements Light Cores at the Communication Institute to monitor their operation.
After returning to the palace, she put on protective gear and went to the archery range to begin learning horsemanship.
Her older brother, Han Bing, chose a gentle pony for her. Yu Sui talked to the little white horse for a long time before she dared to climb on it. Su Feng and Sheng Fei, who were standing nearby, were ready to catch Yu Sui if she was thrown off the horse, but they didn't expect that the two of them would get along so well.
As the eldest brother, Han Bing taught Yu Sui and also taught his two younger brothers. While he was still explaining, Yu Sui saw the point and waved goodbye.
The eldest brother was stunned, having never encountered anything like this before.
Sheng Fei grinned from ear to ear; finally, someone could experience what he had felt before.
Yu Sui originally intended to go back and tinker with the communication array. Today, she wanted to try to crack the three number mountains and obtain the specific information sent out by the Wind Listening Ruler.
Halfway there, he was called to Madam Su's place.
Back at the mansion, Madam Su had nothing much to do, so she just kept an eye on Yu Sui reciting and writing.
Unfortunately, Yu Sui hadn't heard what lessons the teachers had taught that day, so he could only kneel at the door and watch while reciting.
When Nangong Ming came over that evening, he saw Yu Sui kneeling at the door reciting her lessons and smiled: "I heard you've been learning riding and archery with your brothers lately, how's it going?"
“I already know how to do it,” Yu Sui said.
Nangong Ming gave an "oh," and said with a half-smile, "You've been learning for almost two months?"
Yu Sui looked up at him and said, "Although it was slow, I learned it."
Over the years, Nangong Ming's expectations of Yu Sui have been repeatedly lowered by her. Yu Sui is certainly not intelligent, but she has managed to keep Nangong Ming from giving up on her by saying, "Although it's slow, I will definitely learn it."
However, the children around him were all too outstanding. Nangong Ming and Madam Su were also extremely outstanding and highly talented people, so they naturally looked down on Yu Sui's ability to "learn slowly".
That evening, Nangong Ming seemed to be in a good mood. He sat beside Yu Sui and listened to her recite her lessons. Only after she finished reciting them did he take her to dinner.
After dinner, Yu Sui was finally free. She returned to her room, closed the door, sat under the Liudan jade stone, and held paper and pen in her hand, observing the changes in the mountains through the strange fire.
The circular clock and ribbons on the mountain of numbers spun rapidly, the changes in numbers dazzling you. She selected the latest message in front of her, wrote down all the numbers and symbols, and began to decipher it.
Tianyuan represents positioning.
Aurora is responsible for transmission.
Changsheng is encrypted.
Other smaller mountains are undergoing different power transformations and fusions around the larger mountain. As far as Yu Sui can see, everything is changing rapidly and undergoing different conversions.
The consciousness she had detached from now seemed like another version of herself; the two consciousnesses were working on the same goal in different ways.
Whenever Yu Sui sees the rotating numerical symbols on the mountain, she feels a strange power coursing through her body, drawing her in with numbers while also allowing her to find what she needs in the world created by those numbers.
From word puzzles to celestial positioning, Yu Sui seemed to be surrounded by a giant net. After she removed the unnecessary elements from the net, she saw the message sent out by the National Academy's communication array:
"The girls of the Zhongli family are not allowed to learn riding and archery. They can just watch from the sidelines."
As dawn broke through the doors and windows, Yu Sui gazed at the information he had painstakingly pieced together throughout the night and fell into deep thought.
So far, the National Academy has mainly taught book knowledge, so Yu Sui didn't feel that anything was wrong.
Yu Sui and Zhong Li Que have been sitting at the same desk for almost three or four months, but they haven't exchanged a single word.
Among the noisy, truant children, Zhong Lique was undoubtedly the one who studied the most diligently.
She listened attentively in class every day, did whatever the teacher said, and copied everything down, unlike Yu Sui who slept all day.
Zhong Lique was the most popular student among the teachers at the National Academy, second only to Gu Gan.
She was the kind of "other people's child" that parents often talked about—well-behaved and diligent.
However, the children around them were all mischievous or withdrawn and eccentric, and they didn't like to play with well-behaved children.
Yu Sui only saw Zhong Lique playing with her brothers and sisters from her family.
Her sisters in the same clan were in a similar situation, only the boys were in a better position.
Su Feng, the second son of the Prince's Mansion, has a good relationship with Zhong Lishan, the young master of the Zhong Li family.
Both were disciples of military strategists, so they had a lot to talk about.
There was a written test today. Zhong Lique held her pen and wrote diligently. The classroom was very quiet. In this quiet, she noticed that Yu Sui next to her was not sleeping. Instead, he was propping his head up with one hand and looking at her expectantly.
Zhong Lique remained unmoved at first, pretending not to see anything, but later, as if she couldn't stand Yu Sui's stare, she hesitated for a moment and moved the test paper on the table towards Yu Sui.
Um?
Now it was Yu Sui's turn to be confused.
Zhong Lique thought she couldn't see, so she moved closer to Yu Sui.
She overheard the second son of the Prince's mansion talking to his elder brother, saying that because the little princess was lazy and slept all day at the Imperial Academy and didn't study, she had to kneel down and recite her lessons when she got home. If she didn't do well on the written test, she would be scolded by the madam and the prince.
She saw me today; does she want my help?
Zhong Lique thought this way. After a fierce internal struggle, she still chose to help the pitiful little princess of the royal palace.
Yu Sui finally realized what was happening after Zhong Lique showed him half of the exam paper.
She told me not to waste my time and to study hard if I hadn't gone to sleep.
So that's what it means.
The two children blinked at each other, and Yu Sui picked up her pen and began to write, copying Zhong Lique's words.
It was clearly the first time the well-behaved child had done something like this. In Zhong Lique's eyes, helping someone cheat was something only "bad kids" did and was not allowed to do. He felt a great sense of burden, his heart was pounding, and he forced himself to help Yu Sui.
Yu Sui said that Zhong Lique breathed a sigh of relief after he finished copying.
The National Academy's equestrian archery class is in the fall.
In the fall, the children spend their mornings in the classroom and their afternoons at the archery range.
Yu Sui was drowsy at the archery range. Standing in the ranks, she saw Zhong Lique sitting in the rest area in the distance. She was sitting on a small stool with snacks and tea on a small table next to her.
Zhong Lique cupped her face in her hands, gazing enviously at the children who could draw bows and shoot arrows.
Princess Shangyang hit the bullseye with an arrow, drawing cheers from the others. She proudly raised her head and accepted the victory. Holding the long arrow in her hand, she waved it at Zhongli Que, who was resting, deliberately teasing her.
Zhong Lique looked away, refusing to look at her.
When it was Yu Sui's turn to shoot arrows, no one thought she could shoot very well. But when they saw that she, like Princess Shangyang, hit the bullseye on her first try, they couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
"Could Nangong Sui be a genius at archery and horsemanship?" someone said.
Princess Shangyang scoffed, "What genius? He just secretly practiced in private."
Yu Sui, who happened to be passing by, nodded after hearing this, indicating that you were right.
Princess Shangyang glared at her, put her hands on her hips, and said, "I learned horsemanship and archery with Gu Gan, so what?"
Aside from being a little surprised, Yu Sui didn't really do anything. However, Gu Gan came over and pulled Yu Sui away, saying as they walked, "I was waiting for you at the National Academy's archery range, but you didn't come. Instead, Princess Shangyang came."
Yu Sui was completely bewildered; "Brother Gu, when did you ask me to go to the archery range?"
Gu Gan said with a stern face, "Last month, I went to the Prince's Mansion to look for you, but Su Feng said you weren't there, so I told him to come to the National Academy's archery range."
The boy had a strange competitive spirit.
When Su Feng asked him what was wrong, he could have said so first and then relayed it to Yu Sui. Gu Gan didn't need to tell him, but he did because he was certain that Yu Sui would go.
Knowing that Su Feng and the others were teaching Yu Sui, they still tried to "steal" her right in front of Su Feng.
So Su Feng's reaction was to not tell Yu Sui at all, and to ignore Gu Gan's words, letting them go in one ear and out the other.
Upon hearing this, Yu Sui innocently replied, "Second brother didn't tell me. If I had known, I would definitely have gone. Why didn't you just tell me? I thought you had done something wrong by ignoring me these past few days."
Let the boys handle their own affairs; Yu Sui has no interest in them.
After hearing this, Gu Gan had a "I knew it" look on his face and took the opportunity to make up with Yu Sui.
Yu Sui was chatting with Gu Gan, but her eyes kept glancing at Zhong Lique behind her.
She stood alone, gazing at the shooting range, her eyes filled with regret.
Gu Gan was called away by the other children, so Yu Sui walked towards Zhong Li Que.
When Zhong Li saw someone coming, he lowered his head and looked away. When he realized it was Yu Sui, he picked up the teacup and pretended to drink it to hide his unease.
"I'm so sleepy." Yu Sui sat down next to her and slumped onto the table. "Can I borrow your table to sleep for a while?"
Zhong Lique stared at her with wide eyes, thinking to herself, "You're already asleep."
She was a strange child too.
Every time Yu Sui does something that Zhong Lique can't understand, he always adds a question like "Can I do this or that?" which makes Zhong Lique think that Yu Sui is very "polite".
She couldn't refuse a polite person, so she replied softly, "Okay."
Yu Sui's exceptional performance in the archery class reached the ears of her older brothers, who all remarked on how their sister had suddenly become so amazing.
The older brothers would say: "Oh, it's all because I taught them well."
Then he asked: How long did you teach?
Brothers: It'll only be a few months.
Yu Sui was hailed as a horsemanship and archery genius in the afternoon, but the claim was debunked that evening.
She didn't care, and would practice at her own archery range after returning home.
I definitely need to work on my physical fitness.
It just so happened that her second brother, Su Feng, was also there, so Yu Sui asked him about Zhong Li Que.
"What happened to her?" Su Feng, who was drawing the bowstring, turned his head with a mixture of sensitivity and surprise. "You didn't get hit by her and couldn't beat her, did you?!"
Yu Sui: "..."
It's unclear what kind of image she holds in Su Feng's heart.
“She doesn’t have to take riding and archery lessons. When we shoot arrows, she just watches from the side,” Yu Sui said. “I’m very envious.”
Su Feng breathed a sigh of relief, shot out the long arrow in his hand, and explained: "No woman from the Zhongli family is allowed to practice the Nine Schools of Arts; they can only practice the 'Ordinary Arts.' Even the 'Ordinary Arts' cannot involve any military strategy other than literature and philosophy."
Yu Sui turned her head to look.
"This is the oath between the Zhongli family and the Qingyang Kingdom. Their family's power is too great, and it needs to be restrained to put the Qingyang Emperor at ease. The women who have no ability to protect themselves are the Zhongli family's weakness."
Su Feng explained logically: "Look at Zhongli Que's father, he is one of the three war gods of the entire continent, and also the only military expert in Qingyang. He is stronger than all the previous Zhongli generals."
“I heard my mother say that when he was young, not only Qingyang, but also all the beautiful young women from the six kingdoms wanted to marry him. They were all princesses and noble ladies, each one more impressive than the last.”
"But the higher the status and position of the woman, the less he can marry her, otherwise he will be violating the oath between the Zhongli family and the Qingyang Kingdom, and his entire family will be wiped out."
"In the end, he married a peasant girl with no social status or background. Even so, the children of the Zhongli family were all highly talented."
Su Feng thought Yu Sui was listening attentively, but after he finished speaking, Yu Sui asked, "Why does everyone want to marry General Zhongli? Aren't there two other war gods?"
"Huh?" Su Feng was stunned for a moment, scratching his head. "Maybe the other two war gods aren't as good-looking as our Great General."
That's true.
The current Grand General Zhongli Ci is too powerful, even stronger than his ancestors, which makes Emperor Qingyang even more wary of him.
The children of the Zhongli family are in a period where danger could strike at any moment.
As the children of Zhongli Ci, Zhongli Shan and Zhongli Que's every move is closely watched.
If Zhong Lique knew the Nine Schools of Arts, then she would have lived to a ripe old age.
When her father taught her elder brother the family's swordsmanship, Zhongli Que could only watch from the sidelines. She was not even allowed to touch the wooden sword used for practice, nor was she allowed to hold the small knife used for peeling fruit.
She could only be seen as a docile and weak woman by everyone else.
Living as the most obvious weakness of the Zhongli family.
After the riding and archery lessons began, Yu Sui could only take a break at the table next to Zhong Lique.
The two still spoke very little, but they no longer remained completely silent as before.
When Yu Sui comes to rest, she will tell Zhong Lique. When the instructor comes over, Zhong Lique will wake her up in advance.
Autumn has passed, and winter is coming.
Since Yu Sui no longer needs to go to the National Academy, he can no longer obtain information from the communication array.
As in previous years, winter was spent frequently attending banquets, and I met Zhongli Que several times at different palace banquets.
When spring arrived, the little princess was nine years old.
When classes started at the National Academy, Yu Sui did not see Zhong Lique.
Zhong Lique was confined to his quarters for two months for picking up a long arrow at the archery range.
Yu Sui heard about this from a casual conversation between Nangong Ming and Madam Su. The children in the Imperial Academy heard that Zhongli Que was sick and would have to stay home to recuperate for two months.
As they chatted, the topic turned to Yu Sui's birthday.
Nangong Ming asked Yu Sui what she wanted.
He's been in a good mood lately, and it seems like his plans are going smoothly without any worries. Even his daughter, whom he considers silly, has been behaving quite well lately.
Yu Sui said she wanted a wind-listening ruler.
Nangong Ming was somewhat surprised, "That's it?"
The Wind-Listening Ruler is a luxury and a rare find for ordinary people, but it's just a trinket for the royal palace.
Yu Sui nodded, using Gu Gan as an excuse: "Brother Gu is often not in the capital, so I can't chat with him. I have already learned the word-filling technique and star positioning, and I can use the wind-listening ruler. Dad, please give me one."
Nangong Ming was even more surprised that she had learned the crossword puzzle and star positioning. Seeing that she could actually use them, he generously gave her a wind-listening ruler. On her birthday, he gave her another gift that was a hundred times more valuable than the wind-listening ruler.
Upon obtaining the Wind Listening Ruler, Yu Sui immediately altered its operating characters that very night, preventing the Communications Academy from retrieving information and bypassing the Prince's Mansion's communications array to connect to the National Academy's communications array.
Over the course of the past year, Yu Sui had thoroughly studied the National Academy's super-large communication array. Previously, he could only retrieve information from it by using the Five Elements Light Core to monitor the communication array.
Nowadays, connections are established and data is retrieved directly using a wind-sensing ruler.
Every message she sent was fleeting, disappearing as soon as it was sent, and could not be detected by the people in the Communications Institute.
Yu Sui played with his Wind Listening Ruler late at night. All the people he could test were already asleep. If he sent it to his elder brother or Gu Gan, they would know that he was still awake in the middle of the night.
After thinking for a long time, Yu Sui picked up the Wind Listening Ruler and sent a message to a certain unlucky classmate who was confined to his home to recuperate from an illness.
Zhong Lique was very upset about being confined to his home.
She desperately tried to explain and apologize to her father, not even daring to look up at his expression.
The imperial censor in the palace gently advised her, saying that she was just young and didn't know any better, and that there was no need to be too harsh on her, etc.
The authoritative father finally gave the order, confining her to her quarters for two months to reflect on her actions.
She threw herself into her mother's arms and cried. Her mother gently wiped away her tears and comforted her softly, but her eyes were full of worry.
"You must remember that you must never let anyone else find out, not even your father."
Zhong Lique kept her mother's reminder firmly in mind, but she had already made a mistake once.
Unable to sleep, Zhong Lique leaned against the window, watching the rain fall outside. The light rain in the middle of the night only intensified her melancholy.
The wind-listening ruler placed to the side lit up.
Zhong Lique didn't look at it. These days, she had received a lot of care and comfort from the sisters in her clan through the Listening Wind Ruler, and she was in no mood to reply at the moment.
The light of the Wind Listening Ruler dimmed and brightened several times. After that, Zhongli Que went over to check it out, puzzled.
Which older sister stayed up late and posted a message to comfort her?
It's an anonymous message.
Zhong Lique looked surprised. Logically speaking, the Listening Wind Rulers should not be able to send messages to each other without exchanging inscriptions.
She reached out and tapped the screen.
Yu Sui sent Zhong Lique the texts that the teacher had taught that day.
"The National Assembly just opened and they're already having a written exam. It's too difficult."
"Without you here, I got the worst score on the written test, and I'll get scolded when I get home."
"These are the science and humanities lessons the teacher taught today. I didn't sleep, so I wrote them down for you. Once you've learned them, I can just copy the answers directly."
"I am Nangong Sui."
Zhong Lique read through the entries one by one, and couldn't help but chuckle, the melancholy in her eyes dissipating.
[Author's Note]
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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