Chapter 59
Going to School?
Li Zhiwei was also taken aback by the news. She and her father had only recently arrived in the capital, and even her mother was still back in Li'an County.
"Excuse me, but who is going to school...?" Li Zhiwei asked somewhat confusedly, turning to the servant beside her.
"Isn't it Young Master Xu Qingshi from your household?" The servant gave her a look as if she were an idiot.
He thought to himself, This girl is pretty, no doubt, but how can she not even know where her own son is studying? Is there something wrong with her head?
With that in mind, the servant took another step back.
"No way, sister! Prince An actually sent his son to Rushan Academy?" Lin Ziyi swallowed hard, thinking, They say a stepmother brings a stepfather, but the stepmother hasn’t even entered the picture yet, and the father is already sending his own son to Rushan Academy?
This...
"Sister Lin, I’ll go take a look." Li Zhiwei apologized to Lin Ziyi before hurrying off after the servant, not bothering with anything else. She rushed straight to Rushan Academy.
Her heart was filled with worry—Xu Qingshi must not come to harm.
Cuiguo quickly followed her young mistress, concerned that something might go wrong. To be safe, she even called upon a servant from the household who knew some martial arts to accompany them.
Worried that if something serious did happen, her young mistress might not be able to handle it alone, she also sent someone to inform Prince An's residence.
Lin Ziyi didn’t blame Li Zhiwei for her abrupt departure at all. Instead, she eagerly went to share the juicy gossip with her good friend Madam Qu.
When Li Zhiwei arrived at Rushan Academy in a fluster, she saw several children looking disheveled, hanging around outside the gate.
"Stepmother!" Xu Qingshi, who had been acting indifferent just moments before, suddenly looked utterly aggrieved when he saw Li Zhiwei rushing toward him.
"What happened? How did you get hurt?" Li Zhiwei’s heart skipped a beat when she saw the injuries on Xu Qingshi’s face. Without caring what others might think, she dashed forward and immediately checked him over from head to toe. Only when she confirmed that his injuries were minor scrapes did she finally relax.
She then turned to Xie Yanzhi and Jiang Yu. Though she had never met Jiang Yu before, she had seen Xie Yanzhi before and quickly examined him as well.
After checking Xie Yanzhi, she also inspected Jiang Yu. Seeing that none of the three children were seriously hurt, she let out a small sigh of relief.
"Why did you come here to study?" This was something Li Zhiwei couldn’t understand at all. Even though no one had told her about the backgrounds of these two boys, she knew they must come from wealthy or noble families.
Otherwise, Prince An wouldn’t have allowed Xu Qingshi to play with them.
"Stepmother, Father said he wanted us to learn some hardship, so he sent us here to study." Xu Qingshi pouted, looking utterly miserable.
What he didn’t dare tell Li Zhiwei was that they had been punished like this because of their mischief—hiding inside a black box, which had angered Xu Heming.
"Your father... Couldn’t he have found a better academy if he wanted you to study?" Even though Li Zhiwei was new to the capital, she could tell from Lin Ziyi’s earlier words that Rushan Academy wasn’t exactly reputable.
Just then, Teacher Feng emerged and overheard Li Zhiwei’s remark about finding a "better academy." Instantly, his temper flared.
How dare she? Rushan Academy might not be the best in the capital, but it’s certainly not some place just any riffraff can attend!
And these unruly brats had the nerve to complain?
Teacher Feng had no idea about the noble status of these three boys. He assumed they were from ordinary families—and worse, they had the audacity to offend Young Master Luo Jing'an!
"Madam, you have quite the bold tongue. Rushan Academy isn’t a place just anyone can enter," Teacher Feng said coldly.
"Greetings, Teacher." Li Zhiwei was momentarily taken aback but still nodded politely.
"Hmph!" Teacher Feng eyed Li Zhiwei’s simple attire and became even more convinced that she came from a modest background.
Li Zhiwei: How am I dressed simply?
In truth, the fabric of Li Zhiwei’s dress today was the finest Yunluo brocade. The jade hairpin in her hair might have looked plain, but it was actually made from top-quality material.
Having grown up in the wealthy Li family, Li Zhiwei had seen all manner of luxuries. Anything that caught her eye was bound to be of exceptional quality.
"Teacher, may I ask how our children ended up injured like this?" Li Zhiwei took a deep breath before addressing Teacher Feng.
This Rushan Academy really is terrible. The children are hurt like this, yet they’re made to stand outside the classroom. And now that I’m here, this teacher is glaring at me like I’m the problem.
What was Xu Heming thinking, sending his son to a place like this?
Looking at this teacher, who was clearly biased and unreasonable, Li Zhiwei couldn’t imagine him producing any decent students.
The Prince An residence isn’t lacking in resources—couldn’t they have vetted the place properly?
If there really aren’t any good schools, we might as well build one ourselves. At least then, no one would dare look down on us.
With that thought, Li Zhiwei straightened her posture and glared back at Teacher Feng with displeasure.
"How did they get hurt? These little troublemakers got into a fight! Their injuries are nothing—hah!" Teacher Feng grew even angrier when he thought of Luo Jing'an, who had also been injured in the scuffle.
"Your children are beyond my ability to teach. Take them away at once!" He waved his hand dismissively, eager to be rid of them.
"They started it! Why are only we being punished? Why not that fatso?" Xu Qingshi had never been treated so unfairly before.
"That’s right! We were just sitting there when that fatso came over and demanded we put his shoes on for him!" Xie Yanzhi added indignantly.
"He even spat on us! Why aren’t you punishing him instead of us?" Jiang Yu glared furiously at the teacher.
"Teacher, if you say they were fighting, where are the others? It takes two to tango, doesn’t it?" Li Zhiwei’s patience was wearing thin.
This teacher is clearly favoring the other side. And from what I saw earlier, those kids were much bigger than Xu Qingshi and the others.
How can he only blame the smaller children?
This is blatant unfairness.
"Nonsense! It was clearly you who started the fight! My students have never gotten into fights before—why is it that as soon as you arrived, they started brawling?" Teacher Feng was incensed that these children would dare contradict him in front of an adult.
He was so angry he almost raised his hand to strike them.
"Teacher, I’m standing right here. Even if my child is at fault, we’ll discipline him at home. You have no right to lay a hand on him." Li Zhiwei’s face darkened.
If he dares to hit them while I’m here, who knows what he’d do when I’m not around?
At that moment, Li Zhiwei decided: This worthless academy? We’re never coming back.
"Ahhh, my son! Which wretched scoundrel dared to lay a hand on you?"
Before Teacher Feng could respond, a plump woman burst in, wailing loudly.
