Chapter 3 Drinking Tea +
“Your master?”
“It’s Master Shan Chengfeng. He recently found a rare potted plant in the capital. When it arrived in Lian Town, he instructed it to be delivered to you quickly.”
“Oh, then you can deliver it to the Gu family!”
“Okay, I just came to ask when you want it delivered, so that no one is home.”
“You can deliver it now.”
Later, after knowing it was someone from Shan Chengfeng, before Gu Yu could ask Shan Chengfeng what he wanted to give him, the servant immediately stated it.
And upon hearing it was a potted plant, Gu Yu immediately lost interest.
It was probably another precious orchid, hard to come by.
The orchid that Shan Chengfeng sent last time had already been planted in the courtyard, and it seemed like ‘Xiaobai’ had also nibbled on quite a few leaves.
Gu Yu couldn’t see any value in such potted plants… Fortunately however, his little wife really liked flowers, so Gu Yu always accepted these potted plants without refusal. He even bought beautiful flowers from town to please his wife.
After the servant bid farewell to Gu Yu, he hurriedly prepared the carriage, wanting to deliver the rare potted plant to the Gu family as soon as possible.
As for Gu Yu, after hearing the word “potted plant”, he thought that since there was no rush to go home, he could go around the market and maybe buy some beautiful flowers!
Gu Yu didn’t have much research on flowers. As long as they looked good, he would directly open his wallet and buy them.
Fortunately, Gu Mengyao’s face would always light up when he brought flowers home, making Gu Yu couldn’t help but smile at the corner of his mouth.
His little wife was even more beautiful than flowers, and when she smiled, she outshone all the flowers in the entire courtyard.
“Gu Yu, please stop.”
Just as Gu Yu was about to go to the market, someone called out to him again, and not only that, they called him by his full name, making Gu Yu turn his head in confusion.
As a result, Gu Yu saw the director of Qingshan Academy, who was walking towards them.
Director Qingshan was Gu Qingheng’s teacher. At this moment, he called out to Gu Yu, and Gu Yu naturally couldn’t pretend he hadn’t heard him and walked away. Instead, he stood there waiting for the director’s arrival, wondering what he wanted to say?
“Director? Is something wrong?”
“It’s nothing major, I just wanted to invite you to the teahouse in town for a drink to discuss Gu Qingheng’s performance at the academy.”
After hearing the first half of what the director said, Gu Yu was about to refuse, but then he heard Gu Qingheng’s name, which made Gu Yu have to go even if he couldn’t.
After all, Gu Yu was very curious about his brother-in-law’s life at the academy. Now that Director Qingshan had taken the initiative to speak, Gu Yu could directly hear about the specific situation.
Just at breakfast this morning, Gu Qingheng had looked so shifty. Fortunately, all the students at the academy were male, otherwise Gu Yu would definitely suspect his brother-in-law of having an early romance.
However, in ancient times, it seemed that men also had relationships with men…
The more he thought about it, the more astray his thoughts went. Gu Yu quickly drove these messy thoughts out of his mind, then followed behind Director Qingshan to a private room in the teahouse.
The interior of the teahouse was elegantly and refreshingly decorated, and the tea was also good, so many scholars and talents liked to come here to drink tea and recite poetry to cultivate their sentiment.
Gu Yu sat here without any discomfort, as relaxed as if he were at home. He picked up the teacup in front of him and slowly drank the tea, without the awkwardness and nervousness of his first visit.
His calm and composed demeanor further impressed Director Qingshan, who was observing him secretly.
Gu Yu, this young man, the more he looked at him, the more he seemed like a promising talent!
Although Gu Yu was from the village, his demeanor now didn’t show it at all. Not to mention… when Gu Qingheng enrolled, Gu Yu directly handed over ten thousand taels of silver notes.
Not to mention people from the village, even in town, there was no one so generous as to give ten thousand taels at once.
These all indirectly proved that Gu Yu was not simple, so Director Qingshan was considering whether to bring him over as an ally.
However, just seeing that Gu Yu was only thirteen years old this year, Director Qingshan felt that he was thinking too much.
No matter how capable Gu Yu was, facing those people would be like a mantis trying to stop a chariot, or an ant trying to shake a tree, completely unable to cope.
Even last time, they were targeted because of a sudden imperial decree, which allowed the Gu family to escape disaster.
Gu Yu’s intelligence and talent made Director Qingshan, who had been teaching for so many years, unable to bear to see him go to his death. Moreover, he was not confident that he could persuade Gu Yu.
From Gu Yu’s previous refusal to enter Qingshan Academy, it could be seen that he was a person with his own ideas and would not easily change his mind. Moreover, he was also afraid of getting into trouble.
“Director, if you have anything to say, just say it now! There’s no one around, so you don’t have to worry about being overheard.”
While Director Qingshan was hesitating, Gu Yu put down his teacup and took the initiative to speak, wanting Director Qingshan to reveal his true intentions.
Gu Yu didn’t even need to guess to know that Director Qingshan had something to find him for, and it definitely wasn’t because of Gu Qingheng.
After all, someone like Director Qingshan, who was usually busy teaching students, would only actively seek out Gu Yu to have a good talk if Gu Qingheng made a big mistake at the academy.
But with Gu Qingheng’s personality, at most he would show off at the academy, and wouldn’t deliberately cause trouble.
If someone actively sought trouble, Gu Qingheng wouldn’t sit idly by.
If he could deal with it, he would deal with it. If he couldn’t, he would go home and ask for help…
So, what exactly did Director Qingshan want to say?
“I have a very thorny matter here, involving years of grudges…”
“Sorry, my life is very happy now, and I don’t want to get involved in troublesome matters. You don’t need to say anything further. If you need my help in the future, for Qingheng’s sake, I will naturally help, but it also depends on what it is.”
Seeing that Gu Yu had seen through it, the director did not continue to hide it. However, just as he was about to reveal something, Gu Yu directly interrupted him, not letting Director Qingshan finish his words.
It wasn’t that Gu Yu didn’t want to help others, but the grudges that Director Qingshan bore were definitely not at the same level as fighting with shrewish women in the village. And he was now just a small villager from Yang Family Village, without the kind of extraordinary ability to help the director avenge them.
So, it was better not to say anything.
He only came for tea this time and didn’t hear anything else.
“I was presumptuous. Let’s not talk about this. Let’s drink tea, drink tea.”
After hearing Gu Yu’s words, Director Qingshan knew that he didn’t want to cause trouble, so he didn’t mention the matter again and prepared to just drink tea.
Since Gu Yu had refused, he didn’t need to hold onto the idea of pulling him in as an ally anymore.
Anyway, he regretted it a bit beforehand for speaking too quickly and calling out to Gu Yu. It was good that Gu Yu refused now, which allowed him to wholeheartedly teach the good seedlings in the academy, who would be of practical use in the future.
Even if the person who killed his entire family had immense power behind him, Ruan Qingshan truly didn’t believe that he couldn’t bring down the Wang Clan in this lifetime!
When the imperial court is all people from Qingshan’s faction, let’s see how the Wang Clan will deal with it… Just relying on the Empress Dowager is not something that can be relied on for a lifetime.
Sooner or later, the tree will fall.
“Director, how is Gu Qingheng doing at the academy? Every time he comes home, he only reports good news and not bad news, which really worries me.”
“Qingheng is very good at studying, and he gets along well with others at the academy. Except that he always pulls others to discuss academic issues, making them dejected, making me hesitate whether to stop him from continuing.”
“…”
Afterward, upon learning about Gu Qingheng’s recent situation from Director Qingshan, Gu Yu was speechless and didn’t know what to say.
Gu Qingheng had also been pretentious at home for a long time, but after being disciplined by Gu Mengyao, he honestly returned to normal… Gu Yu had been wondering why Gu Qingheng’s period of arrogance ended so quickly. It turned out that he went to the academy to hone the confidence of other students.
After all, Gu Qingheng was young and relied on his photographic memory, which easily made his fellow students doubt their lives.
Gu Yu was not worried about what the director would do later.
Director Qingshan had been teaching students for so many years, so he naturally had his own experience. Gu Yu didn’t want to offer any advice from the sidelines.
It was better to leave it to the professionals.
“Gu Qingheng is quite naughty at home. Now that he’s studying at Qingshan Academy, I hope the director will discipline him more.”
“Naturally. Qingheng has a very strong learning ability. Given time, he will surely become a pillar of society.”
After talking about Gu Qingheng’s matters with the director for a while, Gu Yu didn’t continue to drink a few more cups of tea. When the conversation was almost over, he parted ways with Director Qingshan and left the teahouse.
Gu Yu, leaving the teahouse and heading towards the market, thought that Director Qingshan’s secret was probably not small!
However, Gu Yu was very afraid of trouble.
So, he wouldn’t listen to the director continue speaking… Even if the director truly revealed everything, Gu Yu wouldn’t risk his life for Director Qingshan.
As for his brother-in-law, under the director’s tutelage, he would probably be indignant and ready to help.
However, this was Gu Qingheng’s own business.
He was still young, so Gu Yu would protect him. But when Gu Qingheng grew up, Gu Yu couldn’t follow him around like a mother.
Gu Qingheng needed to solve problems himself.
Of course, if he was really in danger, Gu Yu would naturally not stand by and do nothing.
“Gu Yu, what a coincidence! You’re here too?”
“It’s Uncle Yan! I came to pick out flowers for Mengyao. I’ll buy a pot if I find a pretty one.”
“Not bad, you’re such a caring husband! You pick them, I’ll continue my patrol. It’s been really chaotic lately. Yesterday, we caught several deserters in town.”
“Deserters?”
“Not long ago, the neighboring country provoked us again and attacked Black Jade City on the border… Although we held it in the end, our side suffered heavy losses, leading to the escape of some cowards in the army.”
After meeting Min Yan, Gu Yu listened to him and wondered if there was a war going on now.
