When He Yan was young, she was not as smart as she is now. If she were asked to look at her past self with her current perspective, she would think she was too dull.

At that time, she was not very good at either literature or martial arts, similar to Cheng Lisu today, and could be considered a "useless young man". However, unlike Cheng Lisu, she did not have a powerful uncle to protect her, and the He family's family background was nothing in Xianchang Hall. Therefore, she was not as likable as Cheng Lisu.

Moreover, when she was young, she always wore a mask, which made her look out of place. Because she had something to hide, she never dared to interact with the young people to avoid exposing her true identity. As a result, she was rejected by other students in Xianchang Hall.

The boys' rejection came directly. At first, they just refused to play with her and didn't call her when they played Cuju. Later, it became more serious. The reason was not a big deal, but because she worked too hard.

When He Yan was young, he was a stubborn person. He followed the principle of "the early bird catches the worm" and started from scratch. The worse he was at the civil and military subjects, the more he wanted to learn them, and he studied harder than anyone else. Although the teachers at Xianchang Hall thought that this child was not a good student or martial artist, they were often moved by He Yan's perseverance in learning. So they often praised He Yan in class.

"Diligent learning is like a seedling that sprouts up in spring. It grows day by day without being noticed. Look at He Rufei and learn from him!"

We were all fourteen or fifteen years old, and we always loved to compete. It would be fine if we learned from others, but what should we learn from He Yan? Were we supposed to learn from him to study hard every day, but we were always ranked last? Were we afraid that we had lost our brains?

But a few gentlemen seemed to like He Yan particularly.

The young men were filled with anger, jealousy and disdain, and they became more and more annoyed with the masked boy, and they would make trouble for He Yan every now and then.

Today, they deliberately tore He Yan's clothes during the swordfighting competition. Tomorrow, they fed her horse sneeze grass during horse training. Sometimes, they deliberately poked a hole in her boots, so that when she accidentally fell to the ground, they would let the stones scratch her soles. When He Yan climbed up from the ground in a clumsy manner, the boys hid together and pointed at her and laughed at her for fun.

When he was young, He Yan was not smart or talkative. He could not complain to the teacher, and the teacher did not know about the students' private actions. He Yan had a very difficult time.

One day, it was winter and the weather was very cold. When the boys were practicing swordplay in the academy, someone poured a basin of water on the ground. The water froze quickly on the ground. They urged He Yan from outside: "He Rufei, hurry up, hurry up, the teacher is calling you!"

He Yan ran out in a hurry, slipped, and fell flat on his face.

The fall was so severe that she felt stars in her head and could not get up for a long time. The boys hid in the corner and laughed loudly, saying, "He was fooled!"

He Yan sat there for a long time before standing up, pursing her lips and saying nothing. Xianchang Hall students go home once a month, and she doesn't have a single clean piece of clothing left this month. She keeps teasing people every now and then, even gods don't have so many clothes. In this weather, the sun hasn't been out for a long time, so it's hard to dry them.

He Yan spent the whole day in half-wet clothes. At night, she got up from the bed and ran to the hall of the academy instead of practicing swordplay.

Even a clay figure has its own temperament, not to mention that she is the eldest daughter of the He family, so she has some temper. However, she still knows how to judge the situation. Those young men are tall and strong, and their skills are much better than hers. She can't beat them in a fight. Is she just going to let it go? No way.

How can I vent this anger?

Fourteen-year-old He Yan thought about it for a long time and finally came up with a solution.

It snowed at night. She wore wet clothes and braved the snow to fetch a bucket of water from the well in the backyard. She then ran to the hall carrying the bucket of water.

She remembered the seats of each of the teenagers during the day, and found their calligraphy copybooks under their tables. This month's homework was to copy the "Xingli Zi Xun" five times, and tomorrow was the month to hand in the homework.

He Yan poured all the water from the bucket onto the water.

The water instantly soaked the writing, turning it into a blurry mass. He Yan let out a breath, feeling happy. But after the happiness, a little nervousness emerged.

She hastily stuffed the copybook back to its original place, picked up the empty bucket and ran out in a hurry. However, it was her first time doing such a thing, so she was inevitably nervous. She didn't dare to turn on the light in the dark. When she reached the door, she didn't pay attention to the threshold under her feet, and fell heavily with a "bang".

She gasped in pain. She fell twice in one day, and this time was even worse. Her elbow hit the wooden splinter on the door sill, leaving a cut and blood flowing out. He Yan sat up with great effort, holding up her arm, thinking, is this what it means to commit suicide for doing too much evil?

She only did it once, okay? God must be too harsh on her!

No matter what, she had to return the bucket as soon as possible. The bucket, oh, where was her bucket? She just remembered that she had fallen so hard just now, the bucket should have made a loud noise when it hit the ground, waking everyone up. Why was it still so quiet now?

He Yan looked up in bewilderment, stood up and took two steps forward, only then did he see a man standing outside the door. He was lazily leaning against the wooden door, with his back to He Yan, and holding an iron bucket in his hand.

It turned out to be Xiao Jue.

For a moment, He Yan was so nervous that he didn't dare to say anything.

Did he see it? Did he not see it? Impossible, he must have seen it, he was still holding the bucket. But if he didn't see it, how should I explain it? Watering the flowers here in the middle of the night?

He Yan was thinking wildly. The young man saw her standing there blankly and raised his eyebrows and asked, "Aren't you in pain?"

He Yan: "Ah?"

His eyes fell on He Yan's elbow. Because she was going to fetch water, she rolled up her sleeves. Between her white and tender elbows, a streak of blood was like an ugly embroidery, which was particularly conspicuous under the dim lantern light.

He Yan subconsciously wanted to hide his hands behind his back.

The boy glanced at her impatiently and said coldly, "Follow me."

He Yan herself didn't know why she listened to him. She was probably frightened and followed him in a daze.

Xiao Jue first put the iron bucket back to the well, then turned around and saw her still standing there with her arms raised in a daze. He sneered and said meaningfully, "You are so timid and yet you are imitating others to do bad things."

He Yan clenched her fists and said nothing. She was very nervous. Xiao Jue usually only hung out with his good friends and was not very close to other boys in the school. He Yan didn't know what he was thinking. If he reported her...

A cold jug was thrown into his arms.

He Yan looked down and saw that it seemed to be a dove pot, with an exquisite body and intricate patterns carved on it.

She heard her own voice, as small as a mosquito: "What is this?"

"You don't know how to use it?" The boy turned around, looking lazy, "Medicine."