Pei Yanzhi had just returned from the yamen and hadn't even entered the house yet when the young man, dressed in a sky-blue official robe, stood calmly under the eaves.
His left hand injury had mostly healed, and he no longer needed to wrap it in bandages. He put his left hand down, stood tall and elegant, and had a calm expression.
Hearing Jiang Shuwan call him, he raised his eyes and half-closed his eyelids to go over. "Madam sent someone to call me over. She must want to talk about this. It's cold and snowy. You go in first. Tell the old lady that I will go see her as soon as I get back from Lotus Manor."
After he finished speaking, he got into the carriage and left. There was a servant next to the carriage, who was a trusted confidant who was going to Lotus Manor with Wen.
Jiang Shuwan nodded and stepped inside, while Qingxing tugged at her, trying to turn her head back.
"Miss, aren't you going with the young master? I have a feeling he'll get a scolding this time."
"Being scolded is the least of your worries; you might even get beaten up."
"..."
Upon entering Lotus Manor, Pei Yanzhi smelled a sandalwood fragrance, along with the sound of Wen Shi chanting sutras coming from inside the house.
"Your Highness, the Madam says you are to kneel here and wait."
In the courtyard, the head maid pointed to the wooden floor that was soaked by snowmelt.
"Um."
Pei Yanzhi gave a faint "hmm," then lifted his robe and knelt down.
The young man knelt upright. It was late and the snow was cold. The cold wind made people shiver. Even thick cotton robes could not withstand the cold wind of the freezing winter month. Yet he was only wearing a thin official robe and did not even have a cloak.
Moreover, his left hand and left shoulder were still not fully healed. Although he no longer wrapped them in bandages, how could he withstand such cold?
The head maid watched with trepidation.
However, he just knelt there, his lips turning blue, without begging for mercy.
The head maid was terrified.
It was one thing before, when the lady of the house was in charge of managing the household affairs. Now that she has been banished to the estate, she is still so arrogant. What should we do?
And the Crown Prince is the same; he never utters a single kind word.
They are complete enemies!
Biting her lip, the head maid felt she had to persuade him for the sake of her own future.
"How has the young master been lately? Since moving to Lotus Manor, the lady has often missed him..."
With a "pfft," someone couldn't help but laugh. The head maid turned her head and saw that it was an old woman guarding the door.
Noticing that the head maid was looking over, the old woman quickly lowered her head.
The head maid was so angry she almost bit her teeth off, but when she looked back at Pei Yanzhi, he remained unmoved, indifferent and ruthless.
Yes.
The wife will miss the prince—even a pig wouldn't believe that.
Thinking of this, the head maid abandoned her ulterior motives and obediently stood aside.
Inside and outside the house, Wen Shi and Pei Yanzhi seemed to be competing to see who had more patience. The moon rose in the sky, and neither mother nor son uttered a word.
Finally, Wen couldn't help but speak up, "Do you know why I called you?"
"I know."
Pei Yanzhi kept his head down, and no one knew what he was thinking.
"Since you knew, why didn't you stop him? Yunzhou is your own brother!"
The door finally opened, and Wen's head maid came out and stood respectfully beside Pei Yanzhi. "Young Master, Madam invites you in."
Pei Yanzhi stood up and moved his frozen hands and feet before going inside.
Once inside, no one offered me a cup of hot tea; I just stood there all alone in the middle.
"I'm asking you, why didn't you stop him? Do you really want him to learn martial arts? Are you afraid that if he goes for the civil service exam, he'll steal your future?"
Hearing Wen Shi's gritted teeth, Pei Yanzhi simply pulled a test paper out of his pocket.
"This is the examination paper for the Yunzhou Autumn Examination. Poor handwriting is not a big deal. The knowledge of the Four Books and Five Classics is superficial, the policy essay is completely off-topic and irrelevant, and the knowledge of economics and people's livelihood is also completely ignorant..."
"What do you mean!"
Wen interrupted him directly, annoyed, "He's your brother, how dare you say he's ignorant and incompetent?"
"In terms of academic achievement, he was indeed far inferior to other students."
"You're talking nonsense! If he were so incompetent, how could he have passed the imperial examination?"
"Wasn't this what the wife did? She took someone else's exam paper, stole someone else's future, and forced someone to give up literature and martial arts."
"How dare you!"
Enraged, Wen grabbed a teacup and smashed it over Pei Yanzhi's head. Pei Yanzhi's forehead immediately turned red, and a trickle of blood flowed down his face. Tea also spilled all over him.
He casually shook the tea off his sleeve.
"Don't think you can threaten me just because you cleaned up my mess."
"Even if you tell your father about something that happened six years ago, without concrete evidence, he can't do anything to me."
"Furthermore, I am your mother, and I am your teacher, so you must do whatever I tell you to do!"
He stood there, without saying a word.
"Speak! I said, speak!"
Seeing that he didn't speak, Madam Wen was furious and wanted to smash things again. The head maid quickly pulled her away, saying, "Madam, you mustn't. The young master has been kneeling for most of the night. If he gets hurt, it will be even harder for him to return to the Marquis's mansion in the future."
Lady Wen had no choice but to suppress her impulse. "I heard that you've been making waves in the court lately and are His Majesty's favorite. Bring your brother back from the martial arts academy. If he can't pass the exam, so be it. You can buy him an official position. With your support, he won't be too bad off."
“I don’t have the final say in the court. Besides, he doesn’t like being an official in the capital, nor is he good at it. He only wants to practice martial arts and serve his country. He has a talent for martial arts. There’s Lu Shaogan before him, so he might not be much worse.”
"Shut up! Do you think I don't know how many people died in the Northern War? He's my son, why should he suffer like this!"
Pei Yanzhi closed his eyes and remained silent.
"You've really grown up... No... You've always been like this... Heh, everyone says I, as your mother, have wronged you, but have you ever respected me? You didn't even care about your brother. You're mean-spirited, ungrateful, cold-blooded, and ruthless. You're just afraid he'll drag you down, afraid he'll steal your title..."
Pei Yanzhi turned and left, and Wen Shi broke down in tears behind him.
"You beast! Why did I give birth to you?!"
"I shouldn't have given birth to you in the first place; I should have strangled you back then!"
As soon as Pei Yanzhi left Lotus Manor, he saw a troop of cavalry waiting for him.
Why are you here?
"I heard your younger brother is going to the martial arts school. I thought your mother would make things difficult for you again, so I came to check on you."
Riding on horseback, the leader had a knife at his waist. He spoke with a hearty laugh, glancing at Pei Yanzhi's knee as he spoke.
He joked, "You must have been kneeling quite a bit, right? By the way, why didn't your wife come to your rescue? I heard that she saved you from dire straits many times at home before. She's quite an oddball. Parents teaching their children is a matter of course, and even if the parents are wrong, they are right. Even the old lady doesn't dare to interfere too much. But she always has to get involved. What's wrong with her now? Knowing that you're going to get scolded, she didn't come to help you."
"You didn't offend them, did you?"
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