Chapter 565 Warmth in the Late Night (Second Update)
Prince An regretted it after taking a stroll.
It's so cold and the road is so dark; he should have brought some money and warm clothes before leaving home.
Now things are really messed up. They're penniless, have no carriage, and even their trusted bodyguard, Wu Yang, has been detained by their grandfather.
Wu Yang was the person who went to Chen with him. He was seven years older than him and served as both his bodyguard and his playmate.
He had always believed that Wu Yang was completely loyal to him after going through so many hardships, but reality dealt him a cruel blow.
Before he knew it, he had been wandering around the capital for several hours, falling down several times. The number of pedestrians on the street was still as high as ever, but for the first time in his life, he felt that this liveliness had nothing to do with him.
He walked through the bustling streets and arrived at a small courtyard where he used to live.
But just as he was about to go in, he was stopped by the servant inside.
The servant said awkwardly, "Your Highness, I just received orders from the estate owner that you are not allowed to enter the house."
very good.
It's really good.
We can't even stay in the villa anymore.
If we can't stay here, there are other places.
Prince An visited three residences under the Zhuang family's name, but was turned away at each one without exception.
Prince An could no longer even enter the restaurants and inns he had once frequented and been treated as an honored guest. One reason was that he had no money, but that wasn't the main point. In the past, even without money, he could walk around the capital with impunity, and many people would rush to pay for him.
The important point is the second one: Grand Tutor Zhuang ordered someone to send messages to the restaurants and inns he had visited.
How did Grand Tutor Zhuang know so much about his past?
Many thanks, Wu Yang.
After being rejected countless times, Prince An looked up at the tranquil sky and laughed until his shoulders trembled.
Grandfather was right. Without the status of the eldest grandson of the Zhuang family, he was nothing.
Grand Tutor Zhuang probably wanted to use this method to force Prince An to return. Prince An had always been a sensible and obedient child. He had suffered and endured hardship, but he had not faced it all alone.
He had Wu Yang by his side, and many other masters. Behind him were the Empress Dowager and the Grand Tutor, and the entire Zhuang clan.
Now he has nothing left.
He couldn't even find a place to stay.
It's both pathetic and laughable.
But there was one thing he was very grateful for: Gu Jiao cured his eyes, and he was no longer night blind. Otherwise, he would not even be able to walk on the street right now.
The biting wind cut like a knife across his face. At first, he could feel the pain, but gradually he became numb.
After walking for a while, his mind went numb, and he had no idea where he was. When he finally realized where he was, his brow twitched, and he turned around and left!
Unfortunately, it was too late.
A small mushroom-shaped head peeked out from under the door: "Are you... looking for someone?"
“I…” Prince An opened his mouth.
The little boy pushed the courtyard gate open forcefully, and candlelight shone through the courtyard. He recognized the boy's face and exclaimed, "You're the older brother who came to my house before! We met in the countryside. Do you remember me, brother?"
Prince An was speechless.
He had visited Gu Jiao's family when they were still in the countryside, and he had gone there more than once in order to reunite with the Empress Dowager.
But... how long has it been? How come the little guy still remembers him?
Then, before Prince An could say he was just passing by and wouldn't disturb them, the little boy shouted into the courtyard, "Brother-in-law! We have guests!"
Prince An was startled: "I... um... oh..."
Xiao Heng walked over and said to Xiao Jingkong, "Are you trying to sneak out to play again?"
Xiao Jingkong blinked guiltily, "Where did I get that!"
After saying that, they ran away in a flash.
Xiao Heng looked at Prince An outside the door, who was trying to remain calm but was actually at a loss, and his eyes were filled with a complicated expression.
Prince An was also feeling guilty.
Although he has not yet reached adulthood and is not considered an adult male according to the customs of Zhao, he is getting married soon, so the coming-of-age ceremony will be held earlier than planned.
Soon he will be a real man.
Men are all concerned about their image, especially in front of rivals and opponents, they must not show weakness.
Prince An was determined not to let Xiao Heng see that he was a stray dog. He straightened his back and said with a powerful aura, "I'm just passing by, not here to visit. I'll be leaving now."
Xiao Heng gave him a deep look and said, "Come in and sit down."
Prince An was taken aback.
Are they close?
He was just passing by, but Xiao Liulang actually invited him to come in and sit down.
Sit down, please!
Who's afraid of who!
Prince An gave a curt "hmm" without changing his expression, and entered the house with Xiao Heng with a cold face.
At this hour, the young men in the family were running around the yard. The front and back doors of the main room were open, and no fire was lit.
Xiao Heng invited Prince An to sit down in a chair at the table and poured him a cup of hot tea.
Prince An had been wandering the streets all afternoon and half the night. He was cold and thirsty. He took the teacup and slowly took a sip. His stomach warmed up instantly.
Xiao Heng sat down opposite him: "Haven't eaten yet, have you?"
“I’ve already eaten,” said Prince An, who was obsessed with saving face.
Glug~
His stomach growled.
Prince An's face turned red.
Xiao Heng called Yu Ya'er over and asked her to cook a bowl of noodles in the kitchen.
Yu Ya'er turned around and glanced at Prince An several times.
Prince An thought to himself, "Even if I'm handsome, does she have to stare at me like that? Xiao Liulang, your maid doesn't know any manners..."
My great-aunt went to Aunt Liu's house to play cards, and the old priest went to serve tea and his private stash of money; neither of them were home.
Yao took Gu Xiaobao to watch her aunt play cards. Gu Xiaobao got excited watching the cards, and Yao didn't know why.
Prince An drank his tea and looked around.
“Jiaojiao isn’t here,” Xiao Heng said, cutting to the chase.
Gu Jiao went to the clinic; she was indeed not there.
Prince An drank tea to cover his embarrassment.
Yu Ya'er cooked a bowl of smoked bamboo shoot and cured pork noodles, served with a small dish of pickles.
Prince An, being the eldest grandson of the Zhuang family, usually ate delicacies from land and sea. However, for some reason, he felt that this was the best noodles he had ever eaten.
After finishing a bowl of noodles, Prince An felt completely refreshed, even his frozen toes warmed up.
He didn't leave a single drop of soup, and he ate all the pickles clean.
Having drunk tea and eaten noodles, Prince An felt embarrassed to stay any longer.
Just as he was about to leave, Xiao Jingkong's frantic little cries of "Ahhh!" came from inside the room.
This sound usually only occurs when Gu Jiao is out; he's very well-behaved when Gu Jiao is home.
"Sit down for a while, I'll go take a look." Xiao Heng got up and went to the west room.
Xiao Jingkong couldn't find anything again. He turned his little treasure chest upside down and scattered his toys all over the floor.
"What are you looking for?" Xiao Heng asked.
Xiao Jingkong, hands on hips and stamping his feet, cried out, "Xiao Jin! My Xiao Jin is gone! It's being naughty again!"
Xiao Heng crawled down and found the golden abacus under the bed. Then, he pulled Xiao Jingkong along to tidy up the things on the floor one by one.
Prince An didn't mean to peek; it was just that he was facing the west wing, so it was hard not to see him.
He never expected that a high-ranking official of the imperial court would do things that only servants would do at home.
Don't you have maids?
"It's getting late, you should take a bath."
"I don't want to take a bath!"
Sure enough, without Gu Jiao around, he wasn't the obedient boy who loved taking baths.
Xiao Heng wouldn't tolerate him.
Xiao Heng came out to fetch water and pointed towards the study to Prince An, saying, "I'll give Jingkong a bath first. Why don't you go sit in the study? It's warm there."
"Ah...this..."
Well, he couldn't refuse such hospitality, so he decided to stay a little longer. He would formally bid farewell to Xiao Liulang once he was finished with his work.
With that thought in mind, Prince An entered Xiao Heng's study.
Before Prince An came to the house, Xiao Heng had been staying in the study, so a brazier was lit, which was now burning brightly.
Xiao Heng went to the kitchen to fetch hot water, making several trips back and forth, and also chopped some firewood and threw it into the stove.
The Prince of An's actions were utterly incomprehensible.
They work at two government offices during the day and still have to do chores when they get home. Why don't they hire more servants?
Wasn't he quite good at making money? When he was at the Imperial Academy, he helped people compose poems and essays, charging exorbitant prices.
Soon, Prince An discovered that Xiao Heng had done far more than that.
There were several homework books on the desk, most of which belonged to Xiao Jingkong, and the other half belonged to Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun.
So Xiao Liulang also had to tutor his three brothers-in-law?
Next to this pile of homework was a thick stack of papers, the ink on the top few pages still wet, clearly written tonight.
Prince An glanced at it casually and was surprised to find that he did not recognize the words on it.
He wouldn't say he was fluent in all six languages, but he had a basic understanding of them; these were neither the languages of the lower three kingdoms nor the upper three kingdoms.
"Could it be Sanskrit?" Prince An did not understand Sanskrit, but he had seen Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures, and they did not look like this.
Amidst a deafening roar of thunder without a single drop of rain, Xiao Heng forcefully finished bathing the little bean curdling boy, dressed him, and tossed him into bed.
Xiao Heng took the bathwater out, tidied up, and returned to his study.
Prince An glanced at the paper in his hand and said sheepishly, "I just glanced at it."
"It's alright, you can see for yourself." Xiao Heng entered the house.
Prince An pointed to the next room: "Does he... do this every day?"
Xiao Heng hummed in agreement: "He's like this when Jiaojiao isn't around." Taking a shower is like going to war.
Prince An thought about how he was driven crazy by the noise next door, and he could hardly imagine how Xiao Liulang got through each day.
Thinking about it this way, Xiao Liulang has had it pretty tough too.
"By the way, what are all these?" Prince An asked, looking at the stack of papers on the table.
“The equation,” Xiao Heng said.
“An equation?” Prince An frowned in surprise.
Xiao Heng glanced at the paper in his hand: "The one you're looking at is for calculating the ancestral rate."
Prince An's expression became even stranger: "Isn't the method of exhaustion used to calculate the ancestral ratio?"
He recognized the method of exhaustion, but this was clearly not it.
Xiao Heng explained, "This is another way."
Prince An was still completely bewildered: "Use these strange patterns?"
Xiao Heng thought about it seriously for a moment: "Strictly speaking, they should be considered another kind of writing system."
Prince An: "Another kind? From outside the six kingdoms? Turkic script?"
Xiao Heng: "No, the Turks used the script of the Jin state. There are some differences, but they are roughly the same."
The origin of this story dates back to the ancestors of the Turks and the Jin state. At that time, it was not the Jin state, but the previous dynasty of the Jin state. It is said that it was originally part of the Turks, but the tribe later became independent.
However, some say that the Turks were part of the former Jin dynasty, a claim that is recorded in history. But history belongs to the victors, and who can say that the former Jin dynasty did not have historians revise the historical records?
Prince An immediately became interested and humbled himself to ask Xiao Heng for advice.
In the past, he would never have been willing to swallow his pride like that.
Tonight...who knows what's wrong with him tonight.
Xiao Heng has always been open-minded and generous. Whenever someone sincerely asks for his advice, he will share everything he knows without reservation, willing to impart all his knowledge.
He started by teaching simple numbers and gradually moved on to basic formulas.
Prince An had never known that arithmetic could be so fascinating; it was as if he had opened the door to a new world and was completely captivated.
Furthermore, he seemed to understand why the students of the Imperial Academy and the Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) were all willing to seek instruction from Xiao Liulang. When Xiao Liulang taught, he never showed off his literary talent; his knowledge was always genuine and easy for people to understand.
It wasn't until he reached Xiao Liulang that he finally realized that Xiao Liulang hadn't gotten to where he was today through connections; everything he had was earned through his own abilities.
"What are you laughing at?" Xiao Heng asked.
Prince An smiled and said, "Even when you became the top scholar in the imperial examination, I was not truly convinced of your abilities."
Xiao Heng looked at him: "Are you completely convinced of my worth now?"
Prince An opened his mouth, then nodded: "You could say that."
Xiao Heng put down the paper in his hand, looked beyond the surface, and said incisively, "Staying overnight is fine, one tael of silver per night."
Prince An choked: "Ahem, talking about money hurts feelings."
Xiao Heng said calmly, "Borrowing on credit, we'll take three percent interest."
There's interest?
Wait, how did you know I wanted to buy on credit?!
Prince An coughed lightly: "Which room...which room should I stay in?"
Xiao Heng pointed a finger: "Next door."
Prince An's face darkened.
He couldn't afford to lose face in front of Xiao Liulang.
"Let me make this clear first, I'm not homeless, it's just that you're so kind as to invite me, so I'll reluctantly stay for one night."
As he spoke, he went to the old priest like a proud peacock.
All the big houses were occupied, leaving only one small house.
Even as he crossed the threshold, he maintained the arrogance and nobility befitting a prince.
After Xiao Heng left, he closed the door behind him and subconsciously looked at himself in the bronze mirror.
A series of pig-like screams erupted in the dead of night—
Ahhh!
This beggar with messy hair, a straw stuck in his hair, a blood-stained face, ripped clothes, and three tears in his sleeves is not him!
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
