"Maybe I'm overthinking it," Ding Yunwen said while slowly shaking his head and taking a sip of tea. Suddenly, as if he remembered something, he looked at Zhong Mingwei with a smile and said, "Mingwei, I want to accept a junior brother for you, do you mind?"
"Is it Chen Qingxuan?" Zhong Mingwei was startled. Then he smiled. "Just because he always comes to play chess with you from time to time, and allows you to regret your moves and cheat to make you happy, you are so eager to be his master?"
"Hey! How can you talk to the teacher like that?" Ding Yunwen looked unhappy. He put down his teacup and said seriously, "I think that boy is not a pretentious person. He is not a one-track-minded person who only focuses on eight-part essays. He is a rare talent. I really want to give him some advice. The Zhou Dynasty has never lacked people who study hard or rely on their old capital. But it lacks young people like him who want to do practical things and have the ability to do things."
Zhong Mingwei closed the lid of his teacup. After a long while, he spoke again: "Master, even in such a bad situation, you still care about the people of the world. Mingwei is really ashamed."
"Mingwei, you have nothing to be ashamed of," Ding Yunwen patted Zhong Mingwei's hand and said in a deep voice. "It is said that if you are rich, you should help the world, and if you are poor, you should take care of yourself. Now you are in such an environment and stand in such a position. You have your own difficulties, so you don't have to feel ashamed, understand?"
"Master, is it really okay for you to protect someone like this?" Zhong Mingwei laughed.
"Protecting someone?" Ding Yunwen said in a threatening tone, "I will never protect someone. I always speak the truth."
"Come, reward our old man who tells the truth!" Mei Ya pulled out a piece of roasted sweet potato from the side of the brazier, broke it into two halves, handed one half to Ding Yunwen, and kept the other half in her own hand.
"Thank you, our girl." Ding Yunwen smiled from ear to ear. He took the half piece of roasted sweet potato with one hand and couldn't help but touch Mei Ya's soft hair. He really liked this girl. When his daughter passed away, he felt that his heart was cold. But since he met this girl, he felt that his heart began to emit heat again. That warm feeling was really good.
Zhong Mingwei looked eagerly at the steaming hot roasted sweet potato in Ding Yunwen's hand, and then at the sweet potato that Mei Ya was peeling. He couldn't help swallowing his saliva. Seeing Ding Yunwen eating with big mouthfuls, he couldn't help it anymore and approached Mei Ya: "Why is there no reward for me?"
"Then tell me, what have you done today that deserves a reward?" Mei Ya asked him with a tilted face and squinted eyes, taking a bite of the fragrant sweet potato.
"I...I listened to you," Zhong Mingwei said seriously, "I let you go as soon as you rolled your eyes. I definitely didn't do it on purpose... Ugh!"
The next second, half a sweet potato was stuffed directly into Zhong Mingwei's mouth.
"Shut up! Go eat your reward!" Mei Ya glared at him with a red face.
…
The second day of the twelfth month of the thirty-third year of Jiasheng
Beijing
At 3:30 am on this day, Huipin gave birth to a little prince. His Majesty was very pleased and named the little prince Mingjun. He also conferred the title of Huipin as Huifei and the conferring ceremony was held together with the little prince's full moon ceremony.
…
Cining Palace.
Qin Lu dragged his tired body into the Cining Palace. Since the downfall of the Xu family, the Cining Palace has become much quieter than before. The number of slaves and palace servants inside has not decreased, but they all hang their heads and do their work silently, like wooden stakes. Only when Qin Lu came to check the empress dowager's pulse every day, there would be some movement in the Cining Palace.
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