Chapter 7 Xiao Yanran sent the Fourth Prince away and returned to her own courtyard...
After seeing off the Fourth Prince, Xiao Wangshu returned to his own courtyard and heard clear laughter from inside the courtyard as soon as he reached the door.
Looking up, I saw a young girl standing under the pear tree in the yard.
A light breeze blew and ruffled the ends of her hair, and two silver butterflies danced in the wind among her black hair. Pearls hung from her peach-pink shoulders, and there were two jade belts with bells tied at the ends, which rang with every step.
The girl's name is Yanran. She is the legitimate daughter of the Xiao family, Xiao Huaian's biological sister, and the sister that Xiao Wangshu values and loves the most.
Looking back, her face was as graceful as a peach blossom with a smile, and there seemed to be rippling water in Xiao Yanran's almond-shaped eyes.
"elder brother!"
As sweet as a silver bell, she was at the age of a flower, smart and flamboyant. She was like a fairy hidden in a secret valley, or a butterfly among flowers, landing lightly beside him.
Her sleeves were pulled up, and Xiao Yanran's eyes were filled with pure joy.
"Brother, you're back~ I haven't seen you for half a year. Brother, do you miss your sister?"
This smile even made spring lose its color.
"Yanran,"
He called softly, Yanran tilted her head and looked at him with her watery eyes.
"Brother, I brought you some snacks, Guiyi!"
The girl's mind was always full of thoughts. She was pulled by her sleeve and brought to the maid who was carrying a food box.
"This is made of yam, this is Longjing tea cake, and this..."
She pointed out all the cakes to him one by one, and then picked up a peach petal-shaped cake and tiptoed to his mouth.
Xiao Wangshu opened his mouth and took a bite. It was filled with mung bean paste, sweet but not greasy. He liked it very much.
"Yanran,"
After swallowing the pastry in his mouth, he pinched the remaining half and avoided Xiao Yanran's sight.
"What's wrong, brother?"
She looked at him doubtfully, and then showed an expression of listening attentively, looking cute and lovely.
"I have been adopted by my third uncle, so please don't come to my yard in the future."
Three seconds later, there was no trace of smile on Xiao Yanran's face anymore. Confusion, confusion, sadness, grievance, anger, these emotions alternated on her face.
"Brother? What do you mean?"
For Xiao Wangshu, he was burdened with the experiences of more than twenty years in his previous life.
He died because of Xiao Jingshan's ruthlessness, Xiao Huaian's instigation, and Wang's joy at seeing it happen.
The "faith" he had held on to throughout his life abandoned him without hesitation.
The only prince who "avenged" him was accused and abused by Xiao Yanran in his name.
So facing Xiao Yanran's confusion and grievance, Xiao Wangshu remained silent, and this silence hurt Xiao Yanran's heart.
"Brother, say something! Don't you recognize me as your sister?!"
Her voice was choked with sobs. Xiao Yanran, who was sixteen years old at the time, didn't understand why Xiao Wangshu treated her like this. She only knew that her brother, who hadn't been home for half a year, didn't recognize her when he came back.
"well,"
The accumulated grievances prompted Yanran to wave away the food box of the maid Guiyi. She bit her lips, her eyes red, and the tears that she tried hard not to let fall rolled into the mud along with the snacks.
In order to hide her vulnerability, she raised her head stubbornly and shouted:
"Don't eat my snacks! I don't like you anymore! I hate you the most!"
The louder the noise, the faster she would lift her skirt and flee the yard.
In the reflection of the sunlight, the tears looked like pearls, falling one by one into the soil.
The maid Guiyi frowned and accused Xiao Wangshu of disapproval before catching up.
"Young Master, why do you have to do this?!"
She turned her head and looked at the snacks on the ground and sighed.
"This is a dessert made by the young lady herself. I brought it to you right after it was made. You are really wrong."
After saying that, he didn't give Xiao Wangshu a chance to speak and ran away to chase his girl.
Xiao Wangshu was left standing alone under the pear tree. After the people walked away, Xiao Wangshu picked up the half of the peach blossom cake that Xiao Yanran had knocked off. He brushed off the dust on it with his hand and put it in his mouth.
Mo Shu, who had been watching behind him for who knows how long, was startled and trotted forward to stop him, but he was still a step too late.
He heard the young master say.
“What a pity.”
So Mo Shu squatted down, intending to pick up the food boxes scattered on the ground and put the snacks together again, when he heard his young master say again.
"No need, feed the dog."
Then he turned around and went into the house without looking back.
Mo Shu felt that the young master had done nothing wrong. If the second young lady really cared about the eldest young master, why would the young master have fallen into such a situation?
However, the young master has always loved his younger sister. Mo Shu stood up and held the food box, not knowing what to do.
The young master's words came out through the curtain.
"I will be moving to the Imperial College in a few days. Your indenture has been returned, so you don't need to do these things for me anymore."
Mo Shu naturally didn't care about the snacks and hurried into the house to express his feelings.
Several months passed after this.
The weather is getting colder, the leaves are turning yellow, and the wind blows them down sparsely all over the ground, leaving only a bare tree. Everything is bleak and desolate, except for the red plum blossoms blooming in the corner of the wall.
Lifting aside the heavy door curtain, Xiao Wangshu came to the restaurant to attend the poetry reading as usual.
The closer it got to the end of the year, the more students from all over the country came to the capital to take the imperial examinations. In Bianjing City, not only were there various restaurants, teahouses where people could stay, Taoist temples, but even in ordinary farmers' homes, you could see students wearing long robes.
The Lou Family Restaurant, which often holds poetry gatherings, will only attract more students, not fewer.
The poetry reading he attended this time was hosted by the Lou family.
The process of today's poetry meeting is that the host randomly draws a topic, and the students write a poem within half an incense stick, but the poem does not contain any words from the topic.
After the genre is decided, the host will read them out in turn, and finally the audience will vote to select the best three poems, who will be invited to the stage to compete again.
The top three will receive drinks, study treasures, scrolls, books and other prizes.
Those who participate in the poetry meeting, even if they are not in the top three, can make friends with students, exchange learning, or spread their talent. The restaurant will also have good business. The most important thing is that there will be dignitaries and nobles who will hide among these talents. This is killing three birds with one stone.
As soon as I entered the room, my cloak was taken away by the waiter waiting at the door, and then a waiter led me to the second floor to sit down.
This place was specially reserved for him by Lou Guanshan.
Facing the platform in the center of the restaurant, the view is very good. There are screens on the left and right to separate it into a small private room. There are gauze hanging on the front pillars and tied curtains, which can be opened and closed freely to let in light while ensuring privacy.
He came early on purpose. There were only a few people sitting scattered around in the restaurant hall, all speaking in low voices.
As soon as Xiao Wangshu sat down, he heard a familiar voice coming from the next box.
"Are you telling the truth? So, is that young man with white hair and white clothes a human or a ghost?"
"Whether he is a man or a ghost, I don't know, but the people say he is a god."
"How could this be?"
"It's just that the one who died was a tyrant over there. He often bullied the people and had no idea how many lives he had on his hands.
Now that he has been eliminated, the people are naturally grateful. In addition, with his extraordinary methods, he comes and goes without a trace.
Even the officials did not know his origins and were so scared that they hid in their houses. It was no surprise that the people said he was a god.
After all, we are still far away. I also heard that it is true or not, but putting that aside, are you sure that the Xiao family member is here today?"
"Of course I'm confident. I've heard you all say how great he is these past few days, but I actually think it's exaggerated. After all, I'm also a top scholar, so how can I be worse than him?"
"Brother Yao is no worse than him!"
The owner of one of the voices was named Yao Ce, the top scholar in the imperial examination at Tongji University who had ridden a horse with him in a parade for 20 years, and also his sworn enemy who had fought with him for almost half his life.
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