Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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After dinner, they watched TV together for a while, and the seating arrangement on the sofa changed noticeably. In the past, when Huo Jingchuan came to the Su family, he would sit with Su Xi and Mother Su on the long sofa in the center, directly facing the TV, while Father Su, who had the least status in the family, would sit alone on a two-seater sofa far away from them.
But for some reason, this year Lu Huan and Su Xi were sitting on the long sofa, while Huo Jingchuan was relegated to sit with Su Xi’s father. Watching the Spring Festival Gala from this spot required turning your head, and his neck ached terribly.
He and Father Su looked at each other, tears welling up in their eyes.
Lu Huan was quite flattered, probably because he had never felt such family warmth before. As a result, Mother Su kept pouring him tea and urging him to eat oranges. He was a little at a loss and glanced at Su Xi several times. Only after Su Xi told him to eat quickly did he peel an orange and hand it to Su Xi.
Su Xi: …
Mother Su: …
Huo Jingchuan: …Holy crap, this kid is too good at sucking up. No wonder he squeezed him out of the Su family!
Before he could come into this world and could only watch from behind a screen, Lu Huan felt that Su Xi’s family was harmonious and joyful. Perhaps only a family where parents love each other and overcome difficulties together no matter what happens can raise a character like Su Xi.
At that time, Su Xi’s parents might not have known him yet, but he already knew them very well, so he felt very close to them upon their first meeting. Now, finally able to sit in Su Xi’s house… Lu Huan looked at the steam slowly rising above the hot tea and felt a sense of satisfaction.
After paying New Year’s visits on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, Mother Su urged Lu Huan to come over and play more often. She was very enthusiastic and had no idea that while Su Xi was doing her homework with her door closed these past few days, Lu Huan was doing his homework on the other side of the desk.
After several more snowfalls, Lu Huan, Su Xi, Huo Jingchuan, and Gu Qin built a snowman and had a snowball fight in the park.
It started as a game of snowball throwing and shoving, but for some reason it turned into Lu Huan throwing snowballs at whoever threw one at Su Xi. And Lu Huan’s snowballs were incredibly accurate, with a 100% hit rate. Huo Jingchuan and Gu Qin were both covered in snow, their heads and necks filled with it, and they couldn’t help but yell angrily, “Hey! Lu Huan, are you cheating? Are you using cheat codes? I’m not playing anymore!”
Completely excluded from the battle, Su Xi felt both amused and frustrated, and said to Lu Huan, “Are you even letting me participate?!”
Lu Huan had no choice but to withdraw. Once he withdrew, the battle went back in balance, and the three of them started playing wildly again.
But the boy was squatting on the flower bed, his head covered by the hood of his down jacket, his dark and beautiful eyes staring at her with a pitiful look. Su Xi couldn’t bear it anymore and took the initiative to withdraw: “I’m not playing anymore either. What’s the point of fighting back and forth? Our clothes are all soaked. Let’s just build a snowman instead.”
“She just knows how to protect him.” Huo Jingchuan was speechless. He turned to Gu Qin and complained, “Why don’t we become a couple too? That way, when they get married, our family will only have to give one wedding gift.”
Gu Qin was a bit slow to react, paused for a moment, then blushed furiously and kicked him, saying, “Get lost!”
In the park, there were four snowmen side by side, two close together and the other two far apart.
Because after they were piled up, Lu Huan insisted on squeezing his pile between Su Xi’s and Huo Jingchuan’s, pushing and shoving, until finally his pile and Su Xi’s pile were far away from the other two.
Snowflakes fell all around, and amidst the playful banter, the New Year came to an end.
This was also Lu Huan’s first New Year in the true sense of the word. Before, when he was in the Ning Wang Mansion and looked at the streets and alleys decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, he never thought that he would have someone he loved, friends, and elders who cared about him. Although things like having snowball fights and building snowmen were ordinary, they had a different meaning for Lu Huan, who had never had them before.
The situation in the capital of Yan remained deadlocked, and the matter of the crown prince had not yet been completely resolved.
Lu Huan continued to wait while he and Su Xi went to school on the seventh day of the new year.
After the start of spring, Lu Huan made progress on the proposal by the Minister of War to establish a foreign trade supervision agency. Although a major incident had occurred to the Crown Prince, the Emperor still wanted to protect him. Therefore, from the Lantern Festival to the start of spring, he tried every means to shift the blame for the previous embezzlement and profiteering during the national crisis onto the merchants from the Western Regions. As a result, trade conflicts between Yan and other countries became more prominent. The Minister of War persisted in submitting this proposal, and the Emperor readily agreed.
Similar to the previous curfew, the foreign trade monitoring agency would first select a few prefectures and counties to pilot the measure. It would take at least six months to extend it to the entire Yan state.
However, as soon as the imperial edict was issued, Lu Huan’s system popped up a message that Task 18 was completed. So, very smoothly, the total points accumulated to 233 points. There was still a long way to go before reaching 300 points. However, no matter how quickly Task 16, which was about reducing taxes and corvée labor, progressed, it would still take at least three years to complete. Therefore, Lu Huan and Su Xi were not in a hurry about reaching 300 points, since there was no point in being anxious.
Previously, Lu Huan’s measures were all carried out through the Minister of War. Over the past year, the Minister of War had accumulated a lot of prestige in the court and the capital. Previously, the Ministry of War was just one of the six ministries, but now it had become the head of the six ministries.
Lu Huan maintained his daily routine of obtaining news from the capital through his informants and continued to study for his senior year of high school.
Last semester, he only needed to go back to the Taishan Palace every few days, but this semester, due to the unpredictable situation in the capital, he had to go back every night.
The workload had obviously increased this semester. The pile of test papers on her desk every day was so heavy that it weighed several kilograms. Su Xi was finding it hard to keep up and often fell asleep during morning self-study due to lack of sleep.
Lu Huan, however, benefited from his excellent physical condition and had more energy than others to catch up with the work.
Su Xi’s desk was filled with books and various snacks. There were also blankets and pillows in his desk. When Su Xi couldn’t stay awake and felt sleepy, he would quietly cover Su Xi with a blanket and then hurriedly wake Su Xi up when the patrolling teacher came.
It rained all spring long. Lu Huan’s grades finally stabilized at this time, gradually catching up from the top 100 in the grade, and by the third to last unified exam in April, he had already rose to rank in the top 20 in the grade.
When Huo Jingchuan asked him to go out and play basketball, he refused. In order to get into the same university as Su Xi, he focused all his attention on studying.
Su Xi also reinforced her own knowledge by practicing a lot of questions, while helping him review everything from beginning to end.
Su Xi felt a little smug. Although her son was smart and very capable in many things, the knowledge he learned in a year was still far less than what she had acquired through twelve years of hard work. But then she thought, what was there to be proud of? He could get into the twenties of her grade in just one year, while she had worked hard for twelve years, and her best ranking was only second in the grade!
Su Xi felt a sense of urgency and worked even harder.
At the end of May, the same year as the Gengzi year of the Great Yan, the Crown Prince faced more and more impeachments. On April 29, the Crown Prince was deposed, moved out of the Eastern Palace, and was confined to his Prince’s Residence.
Public resentment subsided considerably, but the situation in the imperial palace became even more turbulent.
With the Crown Prince’s abdication, the position of Crown Prince became vacant, and the next Crown Prince would likely have to officially oversee the country. Officials were forced to choose sides between the Second and Fifth Princes. Everyone remembered the Ninth Prince, who guarded the imperial tombs at the Taishan Palace, but he hadn’t been heard from for over ten months. The power struggle between the Second and Fifth Princes thus intensified.
News kept coming from the capital, and Lu Huan hadn’t slept for several nights, all of which were spent in Yan State making arrangements. This resulted in him having a heavy workload despite the upcoming college entrance examination.
Su Xi was actually quite worried, but for now, he could only hold on and get through this period. Only after the college entrance examination and the overall situation in Beijing stabilized could he truly breathe a sigh of relief. This process was indeed difficult, but as long as he and she worked together, it would be alright.
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