The town where Zheng Xiu lived was in the north of the Yangtze River. It took more than half a month to travel from there to the capital.
Xue Qin rode as fast as he could and did not take any rest along the way. But when he returned to the capital, he had to pay attention to the fragile-looking Zheng Xiu and the young Xue Shao.
When Xue Shao first left the Zheng family, he was in a very low mood, especially for the past six months, he and Zheng Yu had been inseparable and slept in the same room at night. They were as good as one person, but suddenly they separated, as if he was torn in two.
Zheng Xiu naturally felt even worse, because that was the place where she had lived for many years, and she had a family who had always been with her. But she was an adult after all, and could adjust her mood by herself. When she came across a beautiful place along the way, she would pull Xue Shao to look at it and talk to him.
Xue Qin saw all this and thought that if he didn't know that his second uncle's child was born by someone else, he would really treat them as his own mother and son.
Zheng Xiu was not stupid either. She knew that this prince had a say in the Duke of Qing's mansion, so she wanted the two children to have a good relationship, and she took the initiative to ask Xue Shao if he could ride a horse.
Xue Shao thought for a moment and said, "When I was in the south, I lived with many uncles and brothers. There were many horses there, and they taught me to ride. But my father said that I was still young and could not ride a horse by myself now."
In the past, Zheng Xiu would not have thought much about this, but now, after a little thought, she guessed that Xue Shao was probably talking about life in the barracks.
"Does A'shao want to ride a horse now?"
Xue Shao looked through the curtain at Xue Qin, who was riding a horse beside the carriage, and nodded expectantly.
Zheng Xiu then opened the curtain.
Xue Qin turned his head and looked at him inquiringly.
Zheng Xiu smiled at him, "A'shao is clamoring to ride a horse, I wonder if the prince would be convenient to take him for a ride?"
Xue Shao:...
It was obviously you who suggested it, right? !
Princess Guihe gave birth to two children, the younger son Xue Mian was about the same age as Xue Shao. Xue Qin was often bullied by his younger brother, and he thought he had some skills in taking care of children, so he pulled the reins of his horse and said, "A Shao, just come over."
Zheng Xiu stopped the driver, and Xue Qin rode to the side of the carriage. When Xue Shao got out of the carriage, he carried him over.
After sitting firmly on the horse, Xue Shao's face also showed some excitement.
Xue Qin smiled and asked him, "A Shao, are you afraid? Big brother has to speed up."
Xue Shao cheered softly, "Big brother, ride faster!"
Xue Qin turned around and whipped the horse's butt, and the horse under his crotch immediately accelerated and ran ahead.
Soon the two of them passed the team and rode their horses to the front to play. From time to time, Xue Shao's "chuckle" could be heard.
The two rode their horses for a few laps, and Xue Qin sent Xue Shao back to the carriage.
Xue Shao's hair, which was tied into a small bun, was blown away, and the hair stood on his face, with an unstoppable smile on his face.
Zheng Xiu lifted the curtain and looked at them with a smile.
After playing enough, Xue Qin asked someone to come and carry Xue Shao off the horse.
Xue Shao said, "I can do it myself."
As he said that, he retracted his left foot first, then grabbed the horse's mane and reached down to the stirrup. When he reached, he jumped down... Who knew that as soon as one foot landed on the ground, the other foot got stuck in the stirrup, and the whole person fell forward and fell to the ground.
Xue Qin quickly got off the horse from the other side, stepped forward and released one of Xue Shao's feet from the stirrup, "Are you okay? Shao." If it was his younger brother, he would have burst into tears after falling like this. He would have been scolded by his mother.
But Xue Shao got up from the ground by himself, smiling, "It's okay, big brother, I was not paying attention."
Xue Qin looked at Zheng Xiu again. Seeing that Xue Shao was fine, Zheng Xiu's frown had been relaxed, and she complained to Xue Shao, "You are a child who does things carelessly. You scared your big brother and me."
Xue Shao scratched his head embarrassedly.
Xue Qin said, "Aunt, please stop talking about him. It was my carelessness that caused A Shao to fall."
"What's the big deal? This kid is very tough and courageous." Zheng Xiu smiled and glanced at Xue Shao, "You don't know, he also followed a group of beggars and hooligans who robbed his money."
Xue Qin carried Xue Shao to the carriage and simply sat on the front.
"Beggars and hooligans? A Shao has done such a thing?" Xue Qin became interested as soon as he heard it.
Zheng Xiu slowly told him about what happened when she just met Xue Shao.
Xue Qin's eyes widened in disbelief after hearing it. He knew that his second uncle had not had a good life outside these years, but he didn't expect that Xue Shao, at such a young age, had also experienced those things. At his age, if everyone around him only gave him that little money, he wouldn't know how he would make a living.
Xue Shao pulled Zheng Xiu's sleeve embarrassedly, "Okay, stop talking." His elder brother looked at him strangely, which made him blush.
Zheng Xiu then embraced him and helped him comb his hair again.
Xue Qin was obviously very concerned about the past of Xue Zhi and Xue Shao, so Zheng Xiu picked up some funny things that happened in the family and told him about them.
When talking about the funny things, Zheng Xiu and Xue Shao both smiled and looked at each other in tacit understanding. Xue Qin was also happy to listen, and told some funny things that happened when his younger brother was naughty.
From him, Zheng Xiu had her first direct understanding of the Duke of Qing's Mansion. Xue Qin was trained as the eldest son of the Duke of Qing, and he usually read and wrote in the front yard, and practiced boxing. Xue Mian was raised by Princess Guihe, and he was a naughty and playful child. Princess Guihe was both a father and a mother, and she was a rather strict parent.
Just like this, chatting about family matters from time to time, on the way to the capital, Zheng Xiu also had a preliminary understanding of the Duke of Qing's Mansion.
The last leg of the journey to the capital was to take a boat. A group of people got on the boat from land.
Zheng Xiu could swim, so she didn't get seasick very often. It was the first time Xue Shao took a boat since he was a child, and after the initial excitement, he began to get seasick.
The boat Xue Qin prepared was not small, and the cabin was not cramped or stuffy.
After Xue Shao vomited several times, he collapsed on the bed.
Zheng Xiu took care of her in the cabin almost every day, and occasionally went to the deck to get some fresh air.
It was impossible to make a fire and cook on the boat, except for occasionally stopping at the shore to buy some food, the main food was dry grain. The dry grain Xue Qin brought from the Duke of Qing’s Mansion was already very fine, but after eating it for several days in a row, no one had a good appetite.
Fortunately, Zheng Xiu brought some homemade pork jerky from home. In the past, she was afraid that her father would be hungry, so she brought it to the academy for her father to eat. Now that she was going on a long journey, she brought some with her.
Pork jerky is spicy, fresh and refreshing. It makes the dry food easier to swallow.
Xue Shao relied on this to eat something.
Zheng Xiu later sent some more to Xue Qin.
Xue Qin might not take such things seriously at ordinary times. But the people in his Xue family are not good at swimming and are prone to seasickness. He just had no appetite at that time, but he had a rare good appetite for the pork jerky given by Zheng Xiu. When they stopped at the shore, they asked the servants to order a few bowls of noodles, and ate two bowls of meat jerky. After more
than ten days of boat ride, the capital city was finally in sight.
Before going ashore, Zheng Xiu asked Xue Qin if there were any taboos in the Duke of Qing's Mansion and if there were any special precautions when getting along with the elders.
The two of them had been getting along well with each other for a long time, so they could talk to each other. She asked openly.
Xue Qin thought for a moment and said, "There are not many people in our family. Grandmother never leaves the temple. Second aunt can just take A Shao to the temple to kowtow to her. As for mother... she doesn't like to be in the presence of many people and she seems noisy. Except for A Mian, no one in the family dares to make trouble in front of her. The others are all servants. Some of them have been staying in the Duke's Mansion for generations. These people are called servants, but they don't do much anymore. They just stay in the mansion to live out their days. Second aunt just needs to pay a little attention."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
