Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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The old lady never asked about Lu Huan before, but ever since Lu Huan entered the Imperial Academy and became the fifth prince’s companion, and was promoted to a ninth rank official, the old lady had been eager to ask Lu Huan to come over and pay his respects every evening.
Naturally, all the questions were about Lu Huan’s relationships with the various princes.
The Ning Wang Mansion had long been in decline. In recent years, it had been deserted by the imperial court, becoming a residence that officials in the capital simply didn’t want to associate with. For years, it had been deserted, with few visitors.
This was naturally something that the old lady, who had come from a glorious family, could not tolerate at all!
Now that she finally saw some hope in Lu Huan, she began to pretend to be a good elder who cared about her grandson’s studies.
She even specially opened up a garden in Ning Wang Mansion, named Jingyuan, and gave it to Lu Huan as his study.
Lady Ning and the two Lu brothers saw the old lady’s thoughts. They were secretly furious and jealous, but they could do nothing about Lu Huan.
However, he was valued by the old lady in Ning Wang Mansion, but not outside of it.
That day, Lady Ning, noticing rain starting to fall beneath the eaves— it was the season of continuous spring rain after all — asked Nanny A beside her, “Father was ordered to go to Yunzhou to oversee the construction of the imperial palace a while ago. Has he returned in the past few days?”
“Madam, Shangguan Xueshi just returned yesterday. Because he arrived late, he didn’t send anyone to notify you. He went to the court to see the emperor early this morning. I think he should have gone to the Imperial Academy to conduct classes now.”
Lady Ning Wang was thinking of something, and a look of smugness appeared on her face. She dug her nails into her palms and said coldly, “Get the carriage ready for me. I want to go back to my father’s house tonight.”
Su Xi accompanied the cub in his studies at the Imperial Academy. Besides sharpening inkstones and erecting archery targets for the Fifth Prince, the cub’s role as a ninth-rank companion was relatively easy.
In this way, more than ten days of peace passed.
The cub was incredibly diligent. Besides practicing and reading late into the night, he also made good use of his free time to study. At five in the morning, before daybreak, he would get up and continue reading the book he hadn’t finished the previous night.
It was not until the morning sun rose that he hurriedly washed up, took a few steamed buns from the servants outside the yard, ate them while walking, and rushed to Imperial Academy to continue his studies.
For the past ten days or so, Su Xi didn’t know that he got up before the rooster crowed every morning.
But every time she went online, she saw that his book had been worn out a little more, and there were many more dense annotations, which she found very strange.
He had only read one-third of the book last night, how come he suddenly finished it tonight!
Did he finish reading this while sleepwalking?!
And the cub seemed to be afraid that she would worry, so he never told her. It was not until the weekend when Su Xi made a surprise attack in the early morning in the game, that she realized how diligent the cub really was!
It really made her, the old mother feel ashamed!
Su Xi didn’t know why the cub was working so hard, but she could feel that in the past ten days or so, the cub had become much thinner and had turned into a skinny milk dumpling.
That night, she couldn’t help but ask the cub to stop studying and relax and go horseback riding outside the city.
Lu Huan felt the breeze lingering between his eyebrows, as if she wanted to press his Jingming acupoint[1]. Feeling this, he couldn’t help but put down the book while his ears blushed.
Previously, Lu Huan was eager to gain more knowledge, simply to get out of his predicament in Ning Wang Mansion as soon as possible.
But now he was working day and night, forgetting to eat and sleep, more because he wanted to become stronger as soon as possible. He wanted to have the ability and the means to find a suitable body for her, so that one day she wouldn’t have to drift around like this.
In addition, the capital city was a dangerous place with many hidden dangers. He needed to have enough self-protection ability to protect her in the future.
The reason why he hid the books he read in the early morning from her was that they were all books about how ghosts and gods could possess people.
Before he found a solution, Lu Huan didn’t want to tell her and then give her a surprise after he found the solution.
Of course, Su Xi didn’t know that the little man in the game had thought so far ahead. In between doing her homework, she was still thinking about how to complete Task 7, which was to gain the appreciation and support of General Zhenyuan.
While her son was practicing, she went to the streets outside the palace to see if she could find any breakthrough.
At this moment, she suddenly saw a group of cartoon characters gathered near the notice board on the long street, discussing the words posted on the notice board.
Taking advantage of playing games, Su Xi enlarged the notice board and could see clearly what was posted.
It turned out that recently, due to frost and drought, there had been unrest in the northern border, and neighboring countries were eyeing the situation covetously. Yan State was short of troops, and the Zhenyuan General’s Office was ordered to recruit soldiers. Recruiting soldiers was both a warning to the neighboring countries and a preparation for suppressing the rebellion.
Once the soldiers were recruited into the army, they would obviously be just small fry and could not have any contact with General Zhenyuan at all.
The cub was no longer the illegitimate son of Ning Wang Mansion. Now he was at least a ninth-rank companion of the Fifth Prince. There was definitely no need for him to enter the military camp through this channel.
But Su Xi took advantage of the fact that the little cartoon characters gathered there were not paying attention, tore off a piece of notice paper, switched the scene to the cub’s house, and hurriedly slapped the notice on his desk for him to see.
The cub paused his brush strokes, glanced at the note, and said, “Yesterday, when I was leaving school, I also heard that the Zhenyuan General’s Mansion was recruiting soldiers. Trouble has been brewing in the northern border recently. If I want to make a name for myself, I should definitely go there. It’s the fastest way to gain a foothold in the court. However, recruiting soldiers to join the barracks is not a good idea; it’s too long a circuitous route.”
Su Xi thought the same as he did.
Su Xi was having a headache because she had no idea where to start with Task 7.
Then she heard the cub say, “However, a few days ago I heard there was a vacancy for the position of Deputy Director of the Ministry of War. This position is of the fifth rank and is very suitable. However, General Zhenyuan and the Minister of War do not have a good impression of the Ning Wang Palace. Without a recommendation, it will be very difficult to enter the Ministry of War.”
Su Xi didn’t expect that the cub had been very busy during the ten days since he entered the Imperial Academy. He had even already roughly figured out the relationships between court officials through the princes in the Imperial Academy.
She couldn’t help but admire him. He was so worry-free. Why would he need her help?
“Don’t worry, I have a solution.” Lu Huan looked at the nothingness in the sky, with a faint smile in his eyes, “You just need to accompany-“
As if realizing that the word “accompany” was too affectionate, the boy’s ears suddenly turned red and his voice stopped abruptly.
He changed his words and said, “Just stay with me.”
Although Su Xi didn’t know what method he had, she still knew that she was just assisting in the Yong’an Temple incident, and the main work was done by the cub himself.
So Su Xi trusted the cub very much.
When she saw how confident her son was, she felt a surge of pride as an old mother, and a drum of war suddenly ignited in her heart.
Son, hurry up and do your business!
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