8
Yu Xiaoxiu was absent-minded the whole morning. When the Headmaster was explaining the scriptures, he stared at the textbook in a daze. Bai Ran looked at him and shook her head secretly. She secretly took a pen and notes on a piece of white paper. She would let him copy it into the book when he got home.
Finally, the class was over at noon. The Headmaster of the Academy collected the homework from the previous two days and left. The silence in the classroom was swept away, and it became noisy. Bai Ran helped Yu Xiaoxiu put the books, brush and ink into the book box. She pushed his shoulder and said, "
"Young master, let's go."
"Oh." Yu Xiaoxiu came back to his senses. He looked around blankly, stood up and walked out.
Hu Tianer was playing with a student in front of him. Seeing that the master and servant were about to leave, she quickly grabbed Yu Xiaoxiu and asked curiously,
"Why are you leaving so soon? Are you playing truant?"
Baichuan Academy's tuition fee of 50 taels of silver a month was not paid for nothing. There were two classes in the morning and afternoon, and lunch was provided in the middle. There was rice and meat. Although it was not a sumptuous meal, it was enough to make you full. Most students stayed for lunch and continued to attend classes in the afternoon.
"I, I have something to do at home. I have to go back first." Yu Xiaoxiu was a little hesitant. In fact, Yu Shu said that she would take him to visit the Supreme Court in the afternoon.
"What's the matter?" Hu Tianer was a tactless person. She grabbed Yu Xiaoxiu and did not let go. She pestered him and said, "I brought new crickets today and want to play with you."
Yu Xiaoxiu could not fool her, and he did not want to tell others that his mother was in prison. Bai Ran saw that he was in a difficult situation and interrupted, "Master Hu, my daughter is on a break today. She will take you to meet a guest in the afternoon. Tomorrow, she will play with you again."
Yu Xiaoxiu nodded hurriedly. Hu Tianer had to let him go. As soon as they left, someone came to Hu Tianer and whispered in his ear —
"Don't get too close to Yu Xiu in the future. My mother said that his mother used to be a servant and eloped with someone. How shameless."
When Hu Tian 'er heard that, she slapped him across the face and scolded him in a low voice, "You're the shameless one. Do you believe that I'll beat you up if you keep talking nonsense?"
He covered his face and shouted, "I'm not talking nonsense. If you don't believe me, go back and ask your father and mother if Yu Xiu's mother was a servant at the assistant minister's fu. If she eloped with someone, if she wasn't, I'll twist my head off!"
Everyone in the classroom heard the shout and turned to look at the two of them. Hu Tian'er was so angry that her face turned red. She didn't care about the consequences and pounced on the man, pressing him to the ground and punching him.
"If you keep farting, I'll beat you to death!"
How could he not know about Yu Xiaoxiu's mother? His grandfather was the Chancellor of the Supreme Court, Guo Huai 'an. He even knew about the trial yesterday. But so what? He just loved to play with Xiaoxiu and no one could stop him!
The two of them wrestled together and knocked over the tables and chairs. Two girls in the classroom screamed, but no one dared to step forward to stop them for fear of being hurt by them.
A clever boy squeezed out of the crowd and wanted to find the Headmaster. When he turned his head, he saw Yu Xiaoxiu standing at the back door. In the blink of an eye, he was gone. He rubbed his eyes and thought that he was seeing things.
.....
Yu Xiaoxiu walked quickly down the corridor. When he saw the main gate of the academy, he almost started running. Bai Ran followed closely behind him with the book case in her arms, not daring to call out to him. Fortunately, he stopped when he reached the main gate of the academy.
"Young Master." Bai Ran ran to his side and saw him biting his cheek with red eyes. He looked like he was about to cry. She couldn't help but comfort him.
"That person was talking nonsense. Don't take it to heart. Didn't Young Master Hu teach him a lesson? Calm down and don't cry. When the girl comes to pick you up and sees you like this, she will definitely ask. If she knows that someone bullied you in the Academy, she will be furious. "
Yu Xiaoxiu sniffled and said in a muffled voice, "Don't worry. I won't cry. I'm not a girl." He lowered his head to look at his toes and said, "I didn't run away on purpose just now. I was just afraid that Hu Tian 'er would look down on me if he knew about my mother." Hu Tian' er was the first friend he had made in his life, and he didn't want to lose this friendship.
Bai Ran couldn't persuade him anymore. A person's heart could only be seen after a long journey.
***
Yu Shu went to the Celestial Commissioner's office in the morning and left. She first went to Wang Ji Lou to pack two dishes. One was for Xue Rui and the other was for Aunt Cui. She changed to a carriage and went to Baichuan Academy to pick up Yu Xiaoxiu to visit the Supreme Court.
Xue Rui put aside the case at hand and personally took the siblings to the prison. Aunt Cui didn't commit a serious crime, so she was locked up in the women's prison. From the head of the prison to the jailer, everyone was a female servant.
It was worth mentioning that Aunt Cui and Madame Yin Deng lived in the next room. The former madam and the maidservant were separated by a mud wall today. They were both covered in dirt. It was hard to tell who was nobler than who. Madame Yin Deng, who had been tortured, was lying lifelessly on the wooden bed. She looked more miserable than Aunt Cui.
Xue Rui called the head of the prison to lead the way for Yu Shu. He waited outside and didn't follow them in.
As soon as Concubine Cui saw Yu Xiaoxiu behind Yu Shu, she crawled up from the corner of the wall. She was still wrapped in a quilt, and her eyes were full of tears. She grabbed onto the cell door and stammered, "My son, why are you here?"
Yu Xiaoxiu stretched out his hand for her to hold and said bitterly, "Mother, are you okay?"
Aunt Cui cried and laughed at the same time. "I'm okay. What can happen to me? With your sister's face, no one dares to bully me in prison."
These words were pleasing to the ear. Yu Shu raised her eyebrows. Looking at Aunt Cui with disheveled hair and dirty face, she felt a little different from before. She didn't dwell on it. She asked the head of the prison to open the door and took the food and wine in. When Aunt Cui and Yu Xiaoxiu finished talking, she also set the food and wine and asked them to sit down.
There was a lot of hay in the prison, but Yu Shu didn't mind it being dirty. She pulled Yu Xiaoxiu to sit on the floor and poured a glass of spicy wine for Aunt Cui.
"Drink it. It will warm your body and sleep well at night."
It was a simple sentence, but it touched Aunt Cui's nerves. She burst into tears again. While crying, she said, "I thought about it all night. I let him down."
Yu Shu crossed her legs and didn't answer. She just listened to her talking to herself, "Your father was a good man. He didn't mistreat me when he was alive. Even after he died, he didn't forget to bless me. I'm a muddle-headed person who can't tell good from bad. I've been holding a grudge against him all these years. When he died, I couldn't be a widow for him, and I didn't take care of his son and daughter. Fortunately, you two worked hard. Otherwise, when I die, I won't have the face to meet him in the underworld."
After saying that, she held the glass of wine and drank it in one breath.
Yu Xiaoxiu didn't know what to say, so he kept putting food for her. Yu Shu just poured wine and drank it. Thinking of Yu Xiaoxiu's father, she was also full of emotions, but she didn't have the mood to talk to Aunt Cui.
After eating and drinking to their heart's content, Yu Shu left with Yu Xiaoxiu. When they passed by Madam Yin Deng's cell, they looked inside. She was lying on the simple wooden bed, motionless, as if she was asleep.
Yu Shu sneered and walked out of the cell without looking back.
.....
Xue Rui couldn't leave the Supreme Court due to his official duties, so he sent the siblings to the main gate. Yu Shu had Yu Xiaoxiu wait for her in the carriage. She and Xue Rui walked a few steps away and stood on the side of the street to talk:
"This morning, Censor Wang came to apologize and was scolded by me."
Xue Rui smiled and asked her, "Did you vent your anger?"
He was satisfied when he saw Yu Shu nod with a smile. Originally, he forced Wang Jiao to apologize to Yu Shu so that she could vent her anger. He didn't think that she would forgive him.
"This morning, I saw Jing Chen at the Kun Ling Bureau." She covered her mouth with one hand, afraid that others would hear. She leaned close to him and whispered, "From his tone, His Majesty didn't want to deal with the Xue family because he wants to deal with Prince of Dongjing first. Didn't Jiang Miya beg you to send them out of the capital? Did you agree to it? "
Xue Rui's expression didn't change. He nodded and said, "I have agreed."
Yu Shu sighed and thought that if Xue Rui didn't agree, it would be fine. If it didn't work, she could refuse. But she knew that he was a man of his word and never went back on it. This time, she had to take the risk.
"Then, have you arranged everything? When are you leaving? Do you need my help?" She couldn't help but ask. Counting the days, Prince of Dongjing should have received the imperial edict to send troops. Whether he would obey or not depended on whether the Jiang mother and daughter could escape.
Xue Rui met her eager eyes and laughed, "It's not a good thing. You don't need to get involved."
Yu Shu curled her lips and said, "If you don't want to say it, then forget it. I don't want to hear it. I'm leaving."
She didn't say anything else and turned to leave. It wasn't that she was unhappy. Xue Rui hid it from her not because he didn't trust her, but because he didn't want her to get involved.
Xue Rui watched her leave in the carriage, and only then did he put on a solemn expression before turning around and entering the Supreme Court. When he encountered his acquainted colleagues, he didn't engage in small talk and laughter like he did in the past, and he only nodded in a reserved manner before brushing past them.
.....
Back at the mansion, Yu Shu saw that Yu Xiaoxiu had something on his mind. She asked him a few questions. Seeing that he refused to say, she let him go to the clinic to find He Fangzhi as an apprentice.
It was still early, so Yu Shu asked someone to boil a large bucket of hot water to take a bath. After the bath, the sun hadn't gone down yet. She was a little sleepy, so she hastily dried her hair and lay on the bed to take a nap. When she was in a daze, she felt that someone was covering her with a quilt. When she opened her eyes, she saw An Beikui who was gently pulling the two corners of the quilt.
"Kuizi," she yawned, leaned on one arm, and looked at the dusk outside the window with her head pillowed. She asked her, "Didn't you go to Bai Ran today to learn how to read?"
An Beikui replied softly, "I went and just came back. Don't you want to sleep for a while? " Ever since Yu Shu sent her to learn how to read and read with Bai Ran, her Chinese became more and more accurate. Even Erhuayin could be heard.
Yu Shu smiled and said, "I'm not going to sleep. I'll have dinner later. You accompany me to talk. What did you learn today? "
An Beikui bent her knees and sat on the foot of the bed. She raised her blushing face and said, "I learned several festivals. There's the Dragon Boat Festival, the Double Ninth Festival, the Laba Festival, and the Lantern Festival."
"Doesn't your country also have such festivals?" As far as she knew, the calendar of Japan was passed down from the mainland. The festivals that Da 'an should have were also copied in Japan.
"There is, but it's not the same," An Beikui said, "Brother Bai said that we should eat Zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival, drink realgar wine on the Double Ninth Festival, make Laba Porridge on the Laba Festival, and boil glutinous rice balls on the Lantern Festival. Kuizi hasn't eaten these snacks before."
Yu Shu laughed, "So you're the one who's greedy."
An Beikui said shyly, "Miss, the day after tomorrow is the Laba Festival. Brother Bai also told Kuizi that the rich often give porridge to the poor. Does our residence also give porridge outside?"
Yu Shu was stumped by her question. No one had mentioned this in front of her before. She didn't even think about it. This kind of good deed of accumulating virtue could be done.
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