TATSD Chapter 77

“It’s not ideal for Lao Chu to be here like this. I plan to borrow a couple of books. Are you interested in coming along?”

“Sure, I’ll go too.”

“Then I’ll join you.”

Lin Tai walked into the Green Bamboo room, and they all noticed him. Zhao Mian Guang followed behind and, as he passed them, threw a glance over his shoulder. A few of them felt it wasn’t nice to gossip behind someone’s back, feeling a bit uneasy.

Aside from the four people who planned to go to the library to borrow books, the others returned to their rooms or continued their chess games or studies, returning to the calm that had existed before Ji Wei and the others arrived.

“Peizhi, could you lend me your ‘Four Nations Theory’ for a bit?” This ‘Four Nations Theory’ was a political essay assigned by the teacher two days ago, due the day after tomorrow. Liu Chengyin was uncertain about writing policy papers and wanted to borrow Chen Peizhi’s essay for reference.

Not to mention, Chen Peizhi was indeed talented.

“Chengyin hasn’t started writing yet?” Chen Peizhi asked, surprised.

There were all kinds of students in the academy, including those from poor backgrounds, but Liu Chengyin was among the best—determined and hardworking despite his circumstances. He had only recently entered the county school, but he had already made a name for himself in the eyes of several teachers.

“I’ve written twelve pages, but I’m not confident about it,” Liu Chengyin sighed. “Peizhi, your political essays are excellent; I still need to learn from you.”

Chen Peizhi beamed with pride. “Of course! Even Mr. Huang often praises my work for being on-topic and insightful. You can’t go wrong by learning from me.”

“Peizhi is right,” Liu Chengyin agreed.

Feeling quite pleased, Chen Peizhi readily accepted Liu Chengyin’s request to accompany him to the schoolhouse to observe his ‘Four Nations Theory.’

On their way, they happened to brush past the four who were coming out of the schoolhouse. Liu Chengyin caught snippets of their conversation and stopped in his tracks.

“What’s wrong?” Chen Peizhi continued a few steps ahead and then turned back to urge him to follow.

“Peizhi, wait! I have a few questions I want to ask them,” Liu Chengyin called out to the departing four.

Since he had only arrived a fortnight ago, he didn’t recognize many of the students, except for a few who were well-off and famous for their academic prowess.

However, Liu Chengyin often walked with Chen Peizhi and was familiar to others because of it.

When the four saw Liu Chengyin, they assumed it was Chen Peizhi behind him who had called them, and they naturally stopped.

“Is there something you need?”

“I want to ask about the young master you mentioned and the person who brought him,” Liu Chengyin said, not catching the full name. He vaguely heard the character ‘Ji’ but wasn’t sure if he had misheard.

“I don’t know the name of the young master who came to study, but I’m sure everyone has heard of the person who came with him.”

“It’s Ji Wei!”

“The Ji Wei who sells mooncakes, do you know him?”

Chen Peizhi, who had grown impatient waiting, approached them and just happened to catch the latter part of the conversation.

“I know him; I’ve tried his mooncakes before. The yolk flavor is quite good,” Chen Peizhi said, sounding a bit unfinished in his thought.

“If you want to see him, he’s over at the Green Bamboo room,” one of them said. “That’s where he’s staying.”

“We’re heading to the library; we’ll be on our way.”

Chen Peizhi watched as the four walked away, his gaze landing on Liu Chengyin, who looked unusually pensive. “What’s wrong? Do you want to eat mooncakes too?”

Liu Chengyin’s gaze sharpened as he realized who the newcomer was. Since Ji Wei was there and he was a young master, it must be his adorable little brother.

“Peizhi, don’t you want to eat mooncakes? Come on, I’ll take you to have some,” Liu Chengyin said, showing a warm smile and beckoning for Chen Peizhi to follow.

“Where would we find mooncakes in the academy?”

Outside the Green Bamboo room, the onlookers had long since dispersed. Chen Peizhi’s schoolhouse was on the second floor, but Liu Chengyin didn’t seem inclined to go with him; instead, he headed toward the Green Bamboo room.

Chen Peizhi frowned at him, unsure of Liu Chengyin’s intentions.

“Peizhi, I have a deep connection with the new classmate, so I need to go greet him,” Liu Chengyin said. Upon hearing this, Chen Peizhi followed closely behind him, standing outside the Green Bamboo room together.

Ji Wei was sitting beside Liu Yimian on the bed, carefully advising him, “… Lin Tai and Ji Baoshan are trustworthy. If there’s anything you don’t understand, make sure to ask them. As for the others, just maintain a superficial relationship; there’s no need to put in extra effort…”

Liu Yimian listened attentively, nodding repeatedly. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of someone at the door and turned to look, completely stunned.

Standing outside was someone he thought he would never see again.

What was his older brother doing here?

Ji Wei noticed Liu Yimian’s distraction and, following his gaze, spotted Liu Chengyin and Chen Peizhi at the entrance.

Though he had never seen them before, Ji Wei could recognize Liu Chengyin’s familiar features, and without Liu Yimian even saying a word, he could guess Liu Chengyin’s identity with a fair degree of accuracy.

“Do you two need something?” Ji Wei held onto Liu Yimian’s slightly damp hand, discreetly observing Liu Chengyin, showing no intention of getting up, clearly signaling that he wasn’t welcoming the two at the door.

Liu Chengyin naturally picked up on this.

“Second brother, I didn’t expect you to be studying at the county school as well. Now we can look out for each other,” Liu Chengyin said.

Chen Peizhi, taken aback, struggled to find words and wore a somewhat dumbfounded expression. After a moment, he lowered his voice and said to Liu Chengyin, “Where did this second brother come from?”

“He’s always been here, but he entered another household long ago, so there wasn’t much to mention,” Liu Chengyin quickly explained in a hushed tone.

Chen Peizhi scoffed, clearly dissatisfied.

Liu Yimian looked at Liu Chengyin, the joy of reuniting with his older brother fading away as memories of that previous disdainful gaze flashed through his mind.

Indifferent and dismissive.

Liu Yimian blinked, and the excitement inside him quickly dissipated, leaving him calm once more.

“Second brother, may I come in?” Liu Chengyin asked.

“No, you can’t.”

Liu Chengyin had merely asked out of courtesy and was already stepping inside without expecting an answer.

So when he heard Liu Yimian’s two words, his first reaction was to think he had misheard.

Chen Peizhi nudged him, “Isn’t that your brother? What’s going on here?”

Liu Chengyin didn’t respond. His gaze didn’t even land on Liu Yimian; he glanced at Ji Wei a couple of times before revealing a warm smile like spring sunshine as he walked toward Liu Yimian.

“I mentioned you to Father during the Mid-Autumn Festival. When you and our little sister went out, the house became much quieter,” he said, and the mention of Liu Piaoxu caused Liu Yimian’s expression to cool.

Speaking of which, he hadn’t seen his little sister in nearly a year and wondered how she was doing.

“If it’s convenient, could you come out and talk to me?” Liu Chengyin took a few steps closer.

This meeting was truly unexpected, but Liu Chengyin had not considered that Liu Yimian, who usually missed home, would be so silent upon seeing his older brother in this unfamiliar place, even refusing to look at him, a stark contrast to before.

This left Liu Chengyin feeling uneasy.

“I have nothing to say to you,” Liu Yimian stood up to grab the cloth from the table, turning his back to Liu Chengyin. “I need to continue cleaning; you two please don’t come inside.”

Liu Chengyin frowned and stepped forward to pull Liu Yimian back. “Second brother, I’m truly happy that you could come to the county school. If you don’t want to talk to me, are you still angry about what happened last time?”

It would have been better not to mention it; bringing it up didn’t strike a chord with Liu Yimian, but it did with Ji Wei.

Ji Wei’s expression darkened as he pulled Liu Chengyin’s hand away, positioning Liu Yimian behind him, and coldly said, “A person who studies should understand the nuances of words better than most. Surely, you can grasp the implications of his words?”

Liu Chengyin was taken aback.