052, Master, please have dinner
052, Master, please have dinner
“Ouch—”
About a quarter of an hour later, the carriage stopped in front of Xianglai Pavilion.
Xianglai Pavilion is also on South Street, but it's farther from the city gate and closer to the Imperial City. So if you're walking, it's a bit far, but taking a carriage would be much faster.
Feeling the carriage stop, Lu Mingfei reached out and pulled open the curtain, then bent down and went out. After stepping on the footstool to get out of the carriage, he did not forget to take the food box out of the carriage.
"Young master, come in." The servant Qingzhu led the way.
Lu Mingfei followed the servant into Xianglai Pavilion, walked through one side of the lobby, went up the stairs, and went up to the private room on the west side of the third floor.
There were two guards standing on either side of the door.
He smiled and waved to the two guards, who nodded slightly in greeting.
Because Zhao Lang occasionally sent people to visit him, he was no stranger to the guards and servants around him. Perhaps these people also knew that their master often asked him to entertain him, so their attitude towards him was relatively good.
“Knock knock—”
Qingzhu reached out and knocked on the door, then said to the master inside, "Master, the thing you requested has been delivered."
"Come in." A cold voice replied from inside.
Hearing this, Qingzhu reached out and pushed the door open, then stepped aside and invited the person outside in.
Lu Mingfei stepped into the box and the door closed behind him.
As soon as he entered the room, he saw a young man sitting inside. The boy was about fifteen or sixteen years old, with a fair complexion, a full face, a pair of naturally noble eyes, a high nose bridge, and a smooth jawline. It was a face of unparalleled handsomeness, but his lips were always pursed, making him look a little unpleasant.
Today, Zhao Lang wore a round-necked, narrow-waisted, wide-flange black robe with a circle of white fox fur on the collar and cold plum blossoms embroidered with red thread on the lapels. This black robe made his handsome face seem even more stern.
This prince was born with a cold, aloof and noble air. When he looked at people with slightly raised eyebrows, there was always a sense of arrogance in his eyes that looked down on the world.
In the first year since he and his parents settled in Kyoto, Lu Mingfei had learned that the emperor had ordered the legitimate sons of princes from various regions to "study" in Beijing. He learned the truth about these princes' "study" in Beijing from the diners who often discussed the goings-on in Kyoto in hushed tones at their stall.
After learning about Zhao Lang's identity, he understood why Zhao Lang came to Beijing alone to study.
However, he did not see any sense of being a hostage or submissiveness from this young master. Instead, he seemed to have come to Kyoto Prefecture to conquer everyone.
Because in recent years, there have been many rumors in Kyoto about Prince Ding fighting with many princes.
The people of Kyoto Prefecture had a wide range of opinions on this matter, with a wide range of opinions. The vast majority were negative towards Prince Ding and tended to defend the other princes. After all, this was Kyoto Prefecture, where imperial power was sacred and inviolable, and the princes represented the face of the imperial family. If a prince was beaten, wouldn't that be a blow to the face of the imperial family? It's no wonder that the people of Kyoto Prefecture defended their princes and had a problem with Prince Ding.
But it is obvious that Zhao Lang does not care what people outside think of him. The young master only cares about whether he wins the fight.
There were times when the young master was in a good mood and couldn't help but brag to him about the fights he won in the palace.
The young master had been in a good mood quite a few times in the past few years. It was obvious that he was invincible in the palace fighting.
Therefore, there were more rumors about Prince Ding and the princes fighting in the early years, but they have gradually become less in recent years.
But from Lu Mingfei's perspective, he felt that it was too shameless for the princes in the palace to unite and beat up Zhao Lang alone! However, so many people united and still couldn't beat their young master. Those princes were too weak!
Their young master is really awesome!
He suspected the emperor had kicked his nephew, Zhao Lang, out of the palace to study at the Imperial Academy because he was constantly beating up other people's children. While the emperor was the Son of Heaven and the master of the world, he was also someone's father, wasn't he? If the emperor couldn't openly beat, scold, or punish his nephew, couldn't he just send this bully to study outside the palace? Lu Mingfei began to suspect the truth.
Of course, he only dared to speculate this in his heart, and he absolutely dared not say it out loud, let alone say it in front of the young master, otherwise the young master would definitely be angry.
Meeting the gaze of the prince, Lu Mingfei instantly showed a professional smile on his face. He raised the food box in his hand and said, "Young Master, the braised meat you ordered is here." Privately, he always jokingly called Zhao Lang "Young Master" and rarely called him Prince.
Because once he is called the prince, it represents the difference in status and class between the two of them.
In fact, Zhao Lang didn't like him calling him "Prince" at first, because every time he called him "Prince", the young master would frown, look unhappy, glare at him coldly, and remain silent. After he changed his tone to "Young Master", the young master's frown finally relaxed.
So from then on, he sometimes jokingly called Zhao Lang "Young Master".
In fact, he was not wrong. Isn’t this the real young master?
"Faking death." Zhao Lang said with a look of disgust.
"...If I smile, you say I'm fake. If I don't smile, you say I'm putting on a facade. Why are you so hard to please?" The smile on Lu Mingfei's face froze, and he put away all the smiles in an instant. He took the food box in his hand and put it on the table.
"Do I need your service?" Zhao Lang glanced at Lu Mingfei and asked.
"Okay, you don't need it. I just insisted on coming to serve you, okay?" Seeing that the young master was unhappy again because of his words, Lu Mingfei hurriedly put on a sincere smile to coax the young master with a bad temper, and asked the young master: "Young master, how come you are free today? Is your Imperial College also on holiday?" He knew that Zhao Lang had not studied in the palace a few years ago and went to study in the Imperial College.
"What do you think?" Zhao Lang raised his eyebrows slightly and asked Lu Mingfei.
"..." Lu Mingfei thought that this young master had always been unrestrained and was afraid that a mere Imperial College would not be able to contain him. Seeing the young master raise his eyebrows, he knew that he was unhappy again, and hurriedly put on a flattering smile and said, "I think that no matter what you do, it's right!"
"Hmph." Zhao Lang snorted coldly, but the space between his brows was much smoother, and the corners of his mouth were slightly raised. It was obvious that he was happy because of being coaxed.
The Imperial College was one of the highest institutions of learning in Kyoto Prefecture. It was a place where only the children of high-ranking officials and aristocratic families could go. It was difficult for children from ordinary families to study there.
Therefore, Lu Mingfei didn't dare to think about going to such a place to study. Because of the social class difference, even if he did go there, he would be bullied. It would be better to find a place where common people could study. At least everyone would be in the same class and no one would look down on anyone else. And most importantly, he could spend less on tuition and other expenses!
After all, the cost of education is quite high these days. For an ordinary family, it almost takes all the family's resources to support a child's education.
A few years ago, his family moved from Tongshu Street to their current residence on Chunxi Street. The environment there was much better than their original home on Tongshu Street. Of course, the rent was also much higher. There happened to be a private school on Chunxi Street, and at the age of eight, he was sent there to study, where he stayed for four or five years.
His current teacher is an old scholar, and it is enough for him to enlighten the child.
Moreover, Lu Mingfei knew that what he needed was not a teacher to teach him how to take exams, but rather someone who could teach him some knowledge and rules about exams in this world. His current teacher's knowledge and rules were enough for him to handle the first few exams. Once he passed the provincial exam and obtained the status of a scholar, it wouldn't be too late to consider changing teachers.
The private school he is studying at now is close to his home, the teacher has a good temper and treats him well as a student, so he has no plans to change teachers for the time being.
Kyoto Prefecture had no shortage of bookstores, so he'd go there whenever he had free time to browse. Of course, he'd also buy one or two books every month to take home as treasures. Otherwise, if he kept reading free books, the shopkeepers would get a little upset.
In addition, the young master would often give him some rare books that were not available outside. Although the young master never said anything about asking him to study hard, he knew that the young master's gift of books was a clear sign of his willingness to study hard.
This year was already his fifth year of study, and Lu Mingfei planned to take the Tongsheng exam next year. He didn't take it too soon because he wanted to solidify his foundation first. If his first exam went well, he could continue taking the next few, and within a few years, he would be able to take the Palace Examination.
Of course, the prerequisite is that every exam goes smoothly, so that he can hope to complete several rounds of major exams before the age of 20 and obtain the status of a civil servant.
***
“Knock knock—”
Just as they were talking in the box, there was another gentle knock on the door.
The servant Qingzhu outside the door asked his master through the door: "Master, do you want the kitchen to send up some food?"
Zhao Lang raised his chin slightly towards Lu Mingfei.
Lu Mingfei knew that this meant for him to handle it, so he went over to open the door and said to the person outside, "Have someone send it over." He knew that every time Qingzhu asked this, it must be because their master was not at home for dinner, so he asked this question specifically.
"Okay." Qingzhu outside heard this and happily called someone to notify the kitchen downstairs to send up the dishes.
The dishes from the kitchen had been ordered long ago, so the people upstairs went down to notify everyone, and soon the manager personally brought people upstairs to deliver the dishes.
After the dishes arrived, Lu Mingfei naturally sat down and had a meal with the young master.
While eating, he would also tell some anecdotes from Kyoto Prefecture, or borrow some funny jokes he saw on the Internet in later generations, and tell them to make the young master happy, and the young master would eat a few more mouthfuls of rice.
To him, Zhao Lang was his good friend in Kyoto Prefecture for many years. So it was not difficult for him to occasionally treat his friend who was in a bad mood to a meal.
However, every time Zhao Lang ordered a table full of dishes, they were prepared for him. The young master often ate the braised food he brought with his rice, and most of the dishes on the table went into his stomach. So this was equivalent to saying that the dishes on the table were ordered by the young master for him, and the braised food he brought was what the young master wanted to eat.
Sometimes, he could understand Zhao Lang. He had been sent to Kyoto as a hostage at such a young age, and in those eight years, he hadn't been able to return home once to see his parents and relatives. The princes from various regions couldn't come to the capital without reason. So, Zhao Lang couldn't go home, and his parents couldn't come to Kyoto to visit him.
Imagine an eight-year-old child leaving home, leaving his parents, living alone in another place, and being monitored and controlled by the court. It would be a good thing if this doesn't drive the child crazy.
So, their young master is just a little cold-tempered and overbearing. What's wrong with that?
There is definitely nothing wrong with that!
If anyone is wrong, it must be someone else, not their young master!
Small Theater:
Lu Mingfei asked in a fawning manner: Young Master, am I right?
Zhao Lang turned to Qingzhu, the servant beside him, and said: Take out all the silver in my purse and give it to him.
Qingzhu: ...this book
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
