Chapter 92 Gu Tingye's Night Talk with Qi Heng

The next day, Minglan came to the school with two big dark circles under her eyes. Mr. Zhuang could tell at a glance that Minglan had stayed up late to make up for her studies.

"The path to the mountain of books is through diligence, the boat to the boundless sea of ​​learning is through hard work; do not wait until you are at the bottom of the abyss and feel jealous of the fish before you regret not taking small steps in your daily life. Sixth Miss is always cramming. If I add more homework one day, you will probably have to study hard all night!"

Mr. Zhuang's words came slowly, and Minglan was scared to death. Seeing the teacher sitting there pretending to be asleep, she wanted to sneak in, but she was caught by the teacher. Minglan quickly straightened her body and bowed to Mr. Zhuang, "Good morning, Mr. Zhuang! How are you!"

"Before meeting Sixth Miss, I was fine!" As soon as

Mr. Zhuang finished speaking, laughter rang out in the hall. Minglan was silent and did not dare to say a word.

"Sixth Miss, please go back to your seat. I will keep a close eye on you with my ruler today. If you dare to fall asleep, I will not show mercy to you with my ruler!" Minglan responded and walked back to her seat with a numb face. She screamed in her heart: It's over!

Another burst of short laughter came. Minglan felt something was wrong. The sound was unfamiliar. Minglan looked over and saw that there was indeed an extra seat behind her second brother's seat. Minglan turned around and asked Zhenzhen, "Zhenzhen, who is that person?"

Zhenzhen was furious, "I've told Sixth Sister so many times that you have to call me "Chang Zhang" in school!"

"Okay, Chang Zhang! Who is that person?" Seeing that her younger brother was furious, Minglan changed her words.

Chang Zhang first pointed at the incense burner beside him before answering her, "That big brother is the friend that I told you about yesterday, the friend that the second brother was going to meet. His surname is Gu. He said he had been to our house. Sixth sister should know him."

Minglan moved the incense burner to her seat. There were refreshing spices in it. It was probably prepared by her grandmother and asked Chang Zhang to bring it to her. After placing the incense burner, Minglan looked at the person who had just laughed and remembered who he was. It was the big brother of the Gu family who had played the pot with her. She hadn't seen him for many years and almost forgot what he looked like.

It's no wonder that Minglan has a vague memory of Gu Tingye's appearance. Since the last time they met before boarding the ship in Yangzhou, the two have not seen each other again. Although Gu Tingye would come to Sheng Mansion to see Changbai on his days off, he was an outsider and would not come to the inner courtyard. Also, because Mr. Zhuang's days off were not consistent with the White Deer Grotto Academy, even if they were in Bianjing, there was no chance for them to meet. Minglan was still young when they first met, so naturally her memory was vague.

"Is it the big brother from the Gu family? Didn't he go to the White Deer Grotto Academy to study? Why did he come to our house to attend classes?" Minglan asked Changzhang.

"I heard from my second brother that this second brother Gu had passed the provincial examination and stopped studying at the White Deer Cave Academy. My second brother asked Mr. Zhuang to add a desk for him to come to our house to prepare for the Spring Examination with my second, third and Yuan Ruo brothers." Chang Zhang is the gossip-teller in the mansion. He is smart, well-behaved, sweet and likable. He can get around freely in the mansion and no one talks behind his back.

"So you came here for a famous teacher!"

In class, Mr. Zhuang specifically tested Gu Tingye, and Gu Tingye answered all the questions fluently. Mr. Zhuang stroked his beard and was very satisfied with this new disciple.

"Uncle, when did you come back to the capital? You came back this time to take part in the imperial examination, right? Just now in class, I saw Mr. Zhuang asking you questions. Your answers were incisive and profound, and I benefited a lot from them." After class, Qi Heng exchanged greetings with Gu Tingye.

"I haven't seen you for a long time. Yuan Ruo has become more eloquent. In terms of knowledge, Yuan Ruo has been taught by Mr. Zhuang for many years. I should be able to catch up with him. However, he is a few years older than you and has seen more things in the world. I just arrived in Beijing and he brought me to his home. I wanted to spend more time there, but he said that studying was not allowed. So I came here. I came back for the Spring Examination. It is my honor to be a classmate with Yuan Ruo." Gu Tingye first praised Qi Heng, and then pointed at Changbai to explain his reasons.

"It is my honor to be a classmate with my second uncle. I hope my second uncle will give me more guidance in the future!" Qi Heng bowed to Gu Tingye.

Gu Tingye quickly bowed in return, “Yuanruo, you’re too polite. Since we’ve all been taught by Mr. Zhuang, we’re classmates. Since we’re from the same school, we should support each other, be each other’s teachers and friends, and study together.”

“Okay, Yuanruo, Second Brother Gu, we’ll study together every day in the future, and there will be plenty of opportunities to discuss academic matters. Now we should go have dinner first.” Chang Feng came over and pulled the two of them.

Qi Heng walked out of the school and looked towards Minglan reluctantly, but was stopped by Chang Feng again, "Yuanruo, don't go to grandmother's house for dinner today. Eat with us and you can reminisce about the past with Uncle Gu."

Chang Feng thought Qi Heng was looking at Chang Zhang, but Gu Tingye saw through Qi Heng's thoughts and whispered to Qi Heng quietly, "Young man, Mu Ai!" As he spoke, he winked at Qi Heng, and Qi Heng's face turned red instantly.

After class in the evening, Qi Heng and Gu Tingye left the Sheng Mansion together. Gu Tingye suddenly asked, "Is Yuan Ruo in love with the Sixth Miss Sheng?"

Gu Tingye asked directly. Qi Heng did not react for a while. After a while, his face turned red again, and he stammered, "Second... How did Second Uncle know that?"

Gu Tingye smiled ambiguously, "You see her whenever you have nothing to do. Among the three girls of the Sheng family in the school, you only call her the Sixth Sister, and the other two you call the Fourth Miss and the Fifth Miss. Who can't see this?"

Qi Heng was stunned, turned around and asked Buwei, "Have I seen her many times?" Buwei

didn't say anything, but just nodded wildly. Qi Heng was stunned again.

"When a young man first falls in love, he always wants to stare at his beloved. It's normal! Normal! Yuanruo, don't mind it!" Gu Tingye comforted, "But does the princess know about your worries? I know that the princess is more concerned about family background. I'm afraid she won't like a concubine's daughter of a fifth-rank official. You should be mentally prepared!"

Qi Heng was puzzled, "She is so good, it's me who is not worthy of her. Why would mother only consider family background?"

Gu Tingye didn't expect Qi Heng to be such a stubborn person in matters of love. If it was simply because they were classmates, he had to explain it to him, "You can naturally see the good qualities of the Sixth Miss of the Sheng family since you are with her every day, but no one else would break into the mansion to see how good she is. People respect Luo Shang before they respect others, so families interact with each other based on family background. Think about it yourself, besides the Sheng family, which other fifth-rank official has your family interacted with?"

Qi Heng was struck by lightning, he always felt that he was not good enough, and had never thought that his mother would disagree.

Gu Tingye saw Qi Heng was dumbfounded, and felt that he had said too much and had gone too far. "Yuan Ruo, I am just guessing, and what I say cannot be counted. The princess values ​​you the most, and she will not ignore the girl you like."

Qi Heng ignored Gu Tingye's later words. He grabbed Gu Tingye and said, "Second uncle, what should I do? I don't know his feelings yet. I just want to wait until I pass the spring exam to be worthy of her. Then I will express my feelings to her. Even if she doesn't like me, I can try my best to let her see me. But my family is something I have never considered!"