Chapter 23 A Little Trouble
He Zheng seemed to be in a good mood these past few days. During breaks between classes, Yu Mingshu could always hear a faint humming sound coming from behind him.
After listening to him hum "The Song of the Prince of Langya" for three days, Yu Mingshu finally couldn't help but turn around and ask, "What's making you so happy?"
He Zheng didn't answer, but instead gestured with his chin toward the front row of the classroom, indicating that she should look over there.
Yu Mingshu frowned and glanced at them, seemingly pointing in the direction of Xie Ansheng and Zhang Jun. "What happened to them?"
He Zheng said, "Haven't you noticed that the students at the school have been avoiding Xie Ansheng these past two days?"
Upon hearing this, Yu Mingshu's gaze settled between Xie Ansheng and Zhang Jun. The distance between them hadn't changed much, but the two of them didn't seem to have said much.
"What happened to the Xie family?" Yu Dan turned his head and asked curiously.
Yu Mingshu also looked at him, waiting for an answer.
He Zheng opened his mouth, about to say something, when Du Zhiya, who loved to join in the fun in Wuzi Hall, ran over. He tightened his throat and subconsciously stopped speaking.
The three of them looked at Du Zhiya. Yu Mingshu felt that the man's gaze was on him, so he took the initiative to ask, "Little Du, is something the matter?"
Du Zhiya glanced at He Zheng, then looked at her and said, "Yu Erlang, Mr. Yuan is looking for you!"
"I understand, I'm coming right now." Yu Mingshu said and got up to leave, leaving He Zheng standing there with his hand outstretched, seemingly wanting to say something but unable to.
Yu Dan's curiosity was piqued, and he couldn't help but grab his wrist and shake it from side to side. "Brother He, tell me quickly, what exactly happened to the Xie family?"
He Zheng turned his gaze back and was about to speak when Du Zhiya interrupted him.
"Doesn't Yu Sanlang know yet? The Xie family has been impeached!"
Why does that tone sound a bit gloating?
He Zheng rolled his eyes at him. "Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. Aren't you afraid of Xie Ansheng's revenge?"
Du Zhiya froze for a moment, hurriedly covered his mouth, waved his right hand quickly, and turned around to run back to his seat.
The general idea is to pretend he never said it.
Inside the Confucian Academy at the back of the academy, Yu Mingshu arrived at the door of Zhishan Hall. As he knocked on the door, he saw a familiar figure outside another room not far away.
Although she didn't know who he was, she knew he was a regular in the teachers' office. She had been to Zhishantang ten times and wished she could see him eleven times.
"Come in."
Inside the door, Yuan Yi's deep voice brought her back to her senses, temporarily clearing her mind of the jumbled thoughts.
"Sir, you were looking for me?"
Yuan Yi remained silent, glanced at her, and pushed a stack of manuscript papers to the side of the table, gesturing for her to take a look.
Yu Mingshu, puzzled, lightly pressed his right palm on the pile of manuscript papers and casually flipped through a couple of pages. "What does this mean?"
Yuan Yi put down his pen after writing the last few words, looked up at her, and asked, "What about your homework?"
Yu Mingshu was slightly taken aback; she had clearly handed in her homework on the teacher's desk that morning. Her gaze lingered on Yuan Yi's solemn face for a moment before she quickly lowered her head and began rummaging through the pile of manuscript papers on the desk.
Skipping over the familiar names, she even saw He Zheng's article among them, but couldn't find hers.
Yu Mingshu had absolute confidence in her memory, simply because she had her own habits. When she arrived at the academy, she would hand in her homework first and then return to her seat. This was a fixed routine that she repeated every morning, and there was absolutely no way she would make a mistake.
If her article didn't reach Yuan Yi, it could only have been lost en route.
Whether it was an accident or intentional remains to be seen.
She didn't want to waste time on such childish tricks, so she calmly put down her paper and asked, "Do you have any paper and pen?"
Yuan Yi glanced at the pen he had just put down and asked hesitantly, "What are you going to do?"
Yu Mingshu calmly said, "I've done my homework and handed it in. If the article hasn't reached the teacher, then it's lost. Rather than wasting time and effort trying to figure out where a piece of paper went, it's better to rewrite it."
Yuan Yi knew very well that Yu Mingshu was an extremely self-disciplined and ambitious student. Even when she wasn't allowed to enroll, she would still try to cram her own essays into Yu Dan's assignments. It was impossible for such a student to have any thoughts of slacking off. He was just somewhat surprised by Yu Mingshu's reaction.
So, you just throw away the homework you did so carefully?
Yu Mingshu had no idea what he was thinking. Seeing that he didn't react for a long time, she assumed that he was annoyed that rewriting would waste time and delay the next class.
"I remember all the content of the articles I have written, and it won't take long to rewrite them."
Yuan Yi moved the pen and ink further away, retrieved the manuscript paper, and placed it on the pile of books. "No need. Let it go this time. Just be more careful in the future."
Yu Mingshu was slightly taken aback, then cupped his hands and said, "Thank you for your trust, sir. If there's nothing else, I'll be going back now."
"Something's up."
Yuan Yi stopped her, singled out Yu Dan's articles, and said, "You can't just focus on your own learning. You should also keep an eye on Yu Dan. If he writes this kind of eye-searing stuff again, there's no need to submit it."
"..." Yu Mingshu was embarrassed and had no choice but to agree.
She wasn't entirely indifferent to the fact that her homework had vanished into thin air.
When she returned to the Wuzi Hall, she deliberately wore a long face and walked dejectedly back to her seat.
Yu Dan looked her up and down, swallowed hard, and asked cautiously, "Ah... Second Brother, what's wrong?"
Yu Mingshu forced a smile and said, "It's nothing."
He Zheng's voice came from behind: "You don't look like you're alright. Who bullied you? I'll fight back for you."
"It's nothing, don't ask." Yu Mingshu replied casually, while slightly narrowing his eyes and looking around the entire classroom.
Xie Ansheng frequently turned around to look at her, a hint of smugness in his eyes.
She had found the answer in her heart.
To Yu Mingshu's surprise, even after she left the academy after school, He Zheng kept asking her what was wrong, like a broken record.
Why is this person so gossipy?
She confessed helplessly, "I already told you it's nothing serious, someone just stole my homework."
"Who would steal that thing?" He Zheng asked incredulously, but seeing that she didn't seem to be faking it, he gradually frowned.
After thinking for a while, he suddenly smiled brightly, patted her shoulder and said, "How about this, the three of us become sworn brothers, I'll be the eldest brother, and I'll protect you from now on. I doubt Xie Wu will dare to cause you any more trouble."
Yu Mingshu was speechless and said, "Watch less opera."
…
Starting the next day, Yu Mingshu made a small adjustment to her daily routine. She changed the first thing she did after arriving at the academy to personally delivering the homework to Yuan Yi's desk.
Yuan Yi hadn't expected that her caution would be so extreme.
He glanced at the two full pages of the article, his brow furrowed slightly, and he hesitated to speak.
Yu Mingshu asked, "Is there something wrong with my article?"
Yuan Yi waved his hand, "It's nothing, you can go back."
The article itself is fine, but the handwriting is not satisfactory.
Two days of peace had passed when Yu Mingshu returned to the classroom from Zhishan Hall in the morning sunlight. As soon as she stepped across the threshold, she saw that everyone was giving way to her seat, and the two children in the front row even moved their stools to hide by the door.
Her eyelids twitched; she had a gut feeling that something was up again.
Anger surged within him, and he was about to speak when He Zheng's nonchalant voice rang out from behind him.
"What's wrong now?"
Damn it, she stole her lines!
Yu Mingshu took two steps forward in frustration, pulled aside Yu Dan who was blocking the way, and his gaze was unconsciously drawn to his own seat.
Now she didn't need anyone else to explain; she knew why everyone reacted that way.
On her stool was a small, green, cold-looking snake with round eyes, its tongue flicking at everyone.
Rat snake, non-venomous.
Although she knew it was non-toxic, Yu Mingshu still froze the moment their eyes met. Her palms went numb, as if a chill had crept up from her feet to her heart.
Suddenly everything went black, and she seemed to be dizzy for a few seconds. She could only vaguely hear screams erupting around her, as if someone was grabbing her arm and pulling her away.
When her gaze returned to her, she had already been led outdoors by Yu Dan.
He Zheng stood in front of them, while Xie Ansheng, her face pale, screamed and ran out of the school. As soon as she came out, she pointed at He Zheng and started cursing.
"He Zheng, are you out of your mind?! How dare you throw that thing at me! If I get bitten, every single member of your He family will be executed!"
"You got this stuff yourself, don't you know whether it's poisonous or not?" He Zheng sneered. "So what if it bites? It won't kill anyone."
Xie An jumped up and down in anger: "Stop spouting nonsense! Which eye of yours saw that I captured this thing?"
He Zheng grabbed his collar and sneered, "If you didn't get this, why do you smell of realgar? How could you be so prescient as to know there would be snakes at the academy today?"
Xie Ansheng was speechless, and soon burst into loud sobs.
He Zheng couldn't help but sneer: "All you do is cry, cry, cry. No matter how loud you are, you're still in the wrong."
Seeing that things were not going well, the students around them ran towards the Teachers' College.
Still shaken, Yu Mingshu lowered his voice and asked Yu Dan, "What just happened?"
Suppressing his excitement, Yu Dan said in a deep voice, "Didn't you see? He Erlang grabbed the snake by the neck, gave it a couple of gentle shakes, and the snake was as if it were dead! Then, then He Erlang threw the snake at Xie Wu!"
No kidding, at this moment, He Zheng was like a god in Yu Mingshu's eyes.
Unfortunately, her god was too busy arguing with Xie Ansheng to spare a glance for her.
The matter ended with both He Zheng and Xie Ansheng having their parents called in. Of course, neither of them was punished.
After one night, all was calm, as if nothing had happened yesterday.
The only change might be that there was a poor clerk in the academy who was forced to work overtime for half an hour every day, twice a day, to put snake repellent in the campus.
Yu Mingshu was very depressed and felt a little frustrated.
She was never one to take things lying down; if she was angry, she would vent it, and that was her guiding principle.
Two days later, at dusk, a scream suddenly rang out from the bustling streets of the East Market, the young master of the Xie family.
This young master, who had invited his friends over, didn't go home after school. Instead, he made a big splash at the gambling table in Shancaifang. In front of everyone, he tore open his money bag, intending to show off his "immense wealth." What he pulled out was indeed a small, round, dark thing.
The pampered young master, lacking worldly experience, noticed something amiss with the feel of the hand; his palm felt uneasy, and he stood there dumbfounded for a long while.
The servant standing nearby recognized the creature, his face turned pale, and he shouted at the top of his lungs, "A ground beetle! It's a ground beetle!"
After realizing what had happened, Xie Ansheng was so terrified that he seemed to leap from the gambling table, frantically waving his arms and wailing as he ran out. Judging by his posture, he looked like he wanted to chop his entire hand off.
Even more devastated than him was the manager of Shancaifang, whose earthworms were scattered all over the ground, some even landing on other customers.
On such an ordinary evening, the streets of Dongshi were in complete chaos.
A note from the author:
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