Chapter 228: Coaxing
Academy. Zhong Chushan ran back from outside to the classroom and said to Zhou Wangshu, who was sitting by the window emitting a gloomy aura all over: “Your older sister has come.”
Zhou Wangshu turned his head, his gaze icy cold.
“Fine, fine, fine, it’s your wife, your wife has come, she’s standing outside right now. If you don’t want to see her, I’ll chase her away right now and make sure she doesn’t come again.”
As Zhong Chushan spoke, he turned to leave, but Zhou Wangshu grabbed his wrist.
Zhou Wangshu stood up and strode out.
In the courtyard, a young girl dressed in a light green cloud-pattern brocade long skirt stood with her back to him. She had her hair in the currently most fashionable startled heron bun, with a pearl hairpin slanted in it. Passing scholars looked her over, and she faced them openly and squarely, neither pretentious nor evasive.
“Young lady, who are you looking for?” A refined scholar stepped forward to chat her up.
Su Yaoguang wanted to say “looking for younger brother,” but thinking of Zhou Wangshu’s awkward temperament, she could only say: “Is Zhou Wangshu here?”
“So you’re family of Scholar Zhou, no wonder I haven’t seen you before. Are you Scholar Zhou’s younger sister?”
Su Yaoguang was bright and flamboyant, while Zhou Wangshu was old-mannered despite his young age, so they indeed looked more like siblings.
“No, he is my…” Su Yaoguang saw Zhou Wangshu, her smile radiant, “husband.”
Zhou Wangshu’s originally cold face instantly stiffened, then his complexion heated up, and he touched his uncomfortable cheek.
Zhong Chushan burst out laughing.
Chen Buyu clicked his tongue twice: “Husband, oh…”
Zhou Wangshu glared at the two, then strode toward Su Yaoguang and said awkwardly: “Why did you come?”
“You left without eating anything this morning, Mother and I were both very worried, so I came to bring you food.” Su Yaoguang lifted the basket in her hand.
Zhou Wangshu let out an “oh” and took the basket: “I’ve received the things, you can go now.”
“When do you get out of class? Shall I come pick you up?” Su Yaoguang asked.
Zhou Wangshu pursed his lips: “I’m staying at the academy recently.”
“You can discuss studies with your classmates; it’s indeed more convenient at the academy, then I…”
“Since you want to come pick me up, I’ll just go back with you later.”
He said he was staying at the academy, and she really let him stay at the academy. Was she the foolish one, or did she simply not want to coax him at all?
Su Yaoguang smiled and said: “Good, then I’ll come pick you up later.”
“Mm.”
“Then I’m off?” Su Yaoguang pointed at the doorway.
“Good.”
After Su Yaoguang left, Zhong Chushan slung an arm around his shoulders and said: “Brothers, you two are acting a bit strange today, something’s off. Did you have a fight?”
“If we had a fight, would she come pick me up after class?”
“That’s true.”
“Sister Yaoguang has such a good temper, how could she possibly fight with him? If there’s any sulking, it’s his problem.” Chen Buyu said from the side.
“Are you all very familiar with that madam from Wangshu’s family?” A new classmate nearby asked curiously.
“Her mother is our godmother, so she’s essentially our sworn sister. Speaking of which, Wangshu is our brother-in-law, right?” Zhong Chushan grinned mischievously.
Zhou Wangshu elbowed Zhong Chushan.
“Teacher is coming, let’s go!”
When class ended, Zhou Wangshu had just stepped out the door and saw Su Yaoguang standing at the doorway waiting for him. Before he could walk over, he saw a scholar go up to chat her up.
“Young lady, I am surnamed Cheng, still unmarried. May I ask which classmate’s family member the young lady is?”
Zhou Wangshu walked over, looked at Student Cheng, smile not reaching his eyes: “This is my wife. Do you have business with her?”
“Ah…” Student Cheng was stunned. “I saw this young lady without bound hair, so I thought…”
Su Yaoguang touched her hair and said: “It was my negligence.”
“Let’s go!” Zhou Wangshu pulled Su Yaoguang away.
Zhong Chushan pointed at Zhou Wangshu’s hand and said, “This boy is not being honest. He’s even holding hands.”
“They are husband and wife. Not only holding hands, even being intimate is no problem,” Chen Buyu said. “They are paired up. What should we do?”
“We have no acquaintances here, and we’ve played around before. There’s nothing fun. Let’s go. We’ll go to Godmother’s to mooch food and drink.”
Su Yaoguang and Zhou Wangshu strolled idly on the street.
Today, Su Yaoguang had come out on an errand for Zhang Zhaodi.
In the morning, Zhou Wangshu had cried like a young wife who had suffered grievance. Zhang Zhaodi felt so sorry for him and said that if he wasn’t coaxed well, she would directly drive her out to sleep on the street today.
Although she knew her mother wouldn’t be so ruthless, the nagging in her ear was inevitable.
Of course, more importantly, Zhou Wangshu’s aggrieved little appearance really made her feel guilty, as if she were a heartless woman who bullied people.
Several people came galloping on horseback.
The people around quickly dodged upon seeing those few people.
Su Yaoguang turned back and saw the horses charging from opposite. Her expression changed slightly.
Zhou Wangshu hugged her slender waist, carrying her as they leaped away, directly leaving the danger zone.
However, the person in the lead startled his horse because of Su Yaoguang and Zhou Wangshu’s pause, and he fell off the horse entirely.
“Young Master…” The attendants following behind hurriedly dismounted and hastily helped up that young master.
Su Yaoguang looked at this person and recognized his identity from her previous life’s memory, feeling a sense of foreboding.
“Wangshu, trouble has come knocking. This is the Heir Apparent of Marquis Cheng’an’s Mansion.”
A fierce glint flashed in Zhou Wangshu’s eyes.
He sized up the person before him and saw that the other was about twelve years old, with a good-looking appearance, but his eyes were vicious as if he wanted to kill someone.
“Who? Who dared to startle this Heir Apparent’s horse? Come out!”
The people around quickly scattered, making Su Yaoguang and Zhou Wangshu particularly conspicuous.
Xia Zhen walked over, his gaze icy cold. “It was you two who startled this Heir Apparent’s horse, causing this Heir Apparent to fall off the horseback? Men, take them away for me.”
“Heir Apparent, our dynasty’s law states that one cannot gallop horses in the market. This is the market, with people coming and going. A slight carelessness could collide with someone,” Su Yaoguang said. “We merely failed to dodge in time and did nothing else. I wonder what charge you will use to arrest us? Or does the Heir Apparent’s preference override the law?”
“Sharp-tongued.” Xia Zhen sneered. “Once I pull out all your teeth and cut out your tongue, let’s see how you offend this Heir Apparent.”
Zhou Wangshu pulled Su Yaoguang behind him.
He sensed Su Yaoguang’s fear.
This person looked good but was ruthless and cruel at such a young age. As expected, he was the beast raised by that person. The old beast bred a little beast; they all deserved to die.
“The reason the Heir Apparent’s horse was startled is that the horse was sick,” Zhou Wangshu said. “I have a better horse that I can gift to the Heir Apparent. Please, considering that we are new to the capital city and ignorant of the rules, forgive us this time.”
Today on the street, everyone had seen their dispute. If he made a move here, Yaoguang would be implicated, so he could only swallow this insult for now.
“You have a better horse? This Heir Apparent’s horse was brought back from the Western Regions and is worth ten thousand gold.”
“Heir Apparent, rest assured. Since I dared to make this offer, I won’t disappoint you,” Zhou Wangshu said. “My horse is a Blood-Sweating Horse.”
“Oh?” Xia Zhen was indeed interested.
Blood-Sweating Horses were priceless and hard to come by; one couldn’t buy them just because they wanted to. Even imperial relatives had to exhaust manpower and resources to obtain one. It was said that only three Blood-Sweating Horses had appeared so far: one in the Imperial Palace, one in the Eastern Palace, and the last in the Prime Minister’s Mansion.
Su Yaoguang tugged at Zhou Wangshu’s sleeve, silently questioning him, her eyes full of worry.
“Let’s go. Take this Heir Apparent there right now,” Xia Zhen said.
“Heir Apparent, my wife is timid. May she go back first?”
Xia Zhen waved his hand, signaling to let Su Yaoguang go.
Su Yaoguang grabbed Zhou Wangshu’s arm. “I’ll go with you.”
“Don’t worry, I really have one there,” Zhou Wangshu said. “Yesterday, I met an old man selling horses and luckily obtained this one. I don’t know how to raise them myself, so I placed it in a horse ranch that specializes in raising horses, planning to pick it up in a few days. Once I resolve this matter, I’ll come back soon to have dinner with you.”
Su Yaoguang didn’t know horses and had no idea how precious that horse was. Zhou Wangshu spoke so confidently, so he probably really had one!
“No…” Su Yaoguang said. “I have to go with you to see.”
Su Yaoguang wanted to follow, but those few people rode their horses away very quickly. Even Zhou Wangshu shared a horse with his attendant and disappeared from in front of her.
Peach Blossom Workshop. Zhang Zhaodi saw Su Yaoguang return alone, glanced behind her, and didn’t see Zhou Wangshu.
“You didn’t really let Wangshu stay and live at the academy, did you? Wangshu has such a hard life, can’t you be nicer to him?”
“Wangshu went out to buy me some food,” Su Yaoguang said. “He’ll be back in a bit.”
“If you wanted to eat something, couldn’t you buy it yourself? You always order Wangshu around, just bullying him because he’s good-tempered.” Zhang Zhaodi said, “Luckily you met Wangshu. If it were anyone else, how could they indulge your temper like this?”
“Mom, I didn’t do anything to Wangshu, did I?”
“You not doing anything to him is the most infuriating thing. You’re husband and wife. As the wife, you don’t think about how to take care of your husband or respect him. You get along like brothers all day. People who don’t know would think I gave birth to a pair of son and daughter.”
Su Yaoguang: “……”
So her mom knew everything.
All these years, she had never mentioned their way of getting along, thinking she didn’t know. Turns out her heart was like a mirror, she just saw through it but didn’t say anything.
“Mom, I get it,” Su Yaoguang said. “I will definitely be good to Wangshu.”
“I made plans with your second aunt to go to the night market, so I won’t chat with you.” Zhang Zhaodi left.
Su Yaoguang sat in the courtyard waiting for Zhou Wangshu to return. Jiang Jing and Jia Chunni also went out with Zhang Zhaodi and Zhang Pandi. The other shop assistants and servants were each busy with their own tasks.
Such a big courtyard house with so many people living in it, yet she felt it was empty and desolate.
Su Yaoguang fell asleep sprawled on the stone table.
When she was woken by the noise, she found herself being held in Zhou Wangshu’s arms.
Zhou Wangshu saw her awake, carried her through the door, and placed her on the bed.
“How did you fall asleep sprawled in the courtyard?”
“I was waiting for you!” Su Yaoguang got back up, touched his arm, then looked him up and down. “That Marquis’s Heir Apparent didn’t do anything to you, did he?”
In her previous life, that Marquis’s Heir Apparent was notoriously difficult to deal with. Offending him even slightly meant half your life was gone. No one knew how many people died by his hand.
Just now she wanted to follow, but they ran too fast. Even if she found a horse, she couldn’t catch up. She could only wait at home for him to return.
“Don’t worry, I said I’d compensate him with a better horse. Once I give him the horse, this matter ends here.” A strange glint flashed in Zhou Wangshu’s eyes.
Today’s incident was an unexpected boon. He found that family without much effort. Now it was time for them to pay their debts. But before that, he had to thoroughly disrupt their household and make sure they never had peace.
Zhou Wangshu saw Su Yaoguang staring at him and felt a flash of discomfort in his eyes.
She wouldn’t have seen through something, would she?
Zhou Wangshu had previously thought of staying away from the Su family people precisely so he wouldn’t implicate them when he was covered in blood. But now, he didn’t want to stay away anymore.
Having slept in the icy pool for too long, suddenly arriving in a warm nest, he began to crave the warmth there and was unwilling to return to the icy pool.
“You haven’t eaten yet,” Su Yaoguang said. “I’ll go make you something to eat.”
“I’ll just eat some leftovers.”
“That won’t do.” Su Yaoguang thought today had been a close call and insisted on making him something good to calm his nerves. “Wangshu, we were lucky today. In the future, if you see that Heir Apparent, stay far away from him. He may look good, but he’s the type who eats people without spitting out the bones. His aunt is an imperial consort who’s extremely favored.”
“He looks good?” Zhou Wangshu was dissatisfied with this statement. “How does a snot-nosed kid who still smells of milk look good?”
“Don’t underestimate this snot-nosed kid. He knows more than you do. I heard the maidservants in his inner chambers are always replaced batch after batch, and quite a few have died.”
A mocking look flashed in Zhou Wangshu’s eyes.
This wasn’t surprising.
“But this guy looks somewhat similar to you.”
“You’re actually comparing me to this kind of person?” Zhou Wangshu crossed his arms over his chest, his face full of anger.
“I said the wrong thing.” Su Yaoguang pulled out the ingredients and said to Zhou Wangshu, “That beast in fine clothes isn’t even fit to carry your shoes. I’ll make you scallion pork wontons, how about that?”
“Mm.” Zhou Wangshu rolled up his sleeves. “I’ll cut the meat.”
Su Yaoguang had been observing Zhou Wangshu and saw that he truly wasn’t affected, so she finally believed he hadn’t been bullied.
It wasn’t strange for her to worry; that Heir Apparent’s reputation was truly terrible. Plus, with Wangshu being so good-looking, this face was also a temptation to those nobles who played around extravagantly.
“Is there still that horse you sent away for sale? You were willing to buy it, so you must like it a lot. Now it’s been snatched by someone else, you must feel bad. If there’s another similar horse, tell me, I’ll buy it for you.”
“I don’t like that horse that much either. At the time I bought it, it was because the old man selling the horse couldn’t even feed himself, and it would have starved to death following him, so that’s why I bought it. Now it’s following the Heir Apparent, eating the best food and drinking the finest drinks, which is better than following me.” Zhou Wangshu said.
Su Yaoguang did not mention this matter again.
However, she had a plan in mind.
Zhou Wangshu watched Su Yaoguang busy at the stove.
When Su Yaoguang dressed up, there were always many butterflies around her. At that time, Su Yaoguang was glamorous, bright and dazzling; they liked her beautiful and lovely appearance. But to Zhou Wangshu, her best look was cooking at the stove, blending spices in the workshop, greeting customers in the front hall…
Her serious look while working was the best.
