Chapter Twenty: A Small Interlude

  To avoid drawing attention, the Prince of Guangping wore a merchant's cloak, and the large boat he hired was not as luxurious as the Hou Mansion's boats. The cabin was also not as spacious as the one Zhao had sat in before, but she followed Gao Zhen to live with him, sticking close to the Prince and Princess of Guangping, and all aspects of her food, clothing, and accommodation were treated with the best hospitality, without any dissatisfaction.

  Smoke and rain even every day holding her to Zhang's and Zhao Wei's place, let her see her grandmother and little brother. Zhang gradually became spirited, although his body was still a bit weak, but he had sat and lain down as usual, and loved his granddaughter as before. Because she knew that her grandson was early wisdom, with a very mysterious origin, far exceeding children of the same age, and did not treat Zhao as a one-year-old child, specially borrowed pen and ink from Guangping Wangfei, began to teach her three-character scripture, including the allusions inside also said in detail. Guangping Wangfei listened once, was greatly surprised, thought it was better than his own teaching, let his son go every day to listen beside, review a lesson of childhood.

  Zhaowei's illness was originally caused by catching a cold after falling into the water. As the child of a wealthy family, he had always been physically weak, so it took a long time for him to show any signs of improvement. However, Jiang Taisheng's medical skills were exceptional, and under his care, Zhaowei slowly began to recover, although his physical constitution remained somewhat fragile, and even a slight breeze would make him cough.

  Zhaoyi is very worried about his body, as a child who has fallen into the water, suffered from cold, and had a serious illness, he will often be weaker than usual when he grows up, and more prone to illness than ordinary boys. Zhaowei is now the only male in their small second house, if he fails to achieve anything due to his weak body in the future, the entire small second house will decline, which is unacceptable to Grandmother Zhangshi, so she has great expectations for her only grandson, hoping that he can take over his father's legacy, study hard, pass the imperial examination and become an official, and revive their family's reputation.

  As for the Viscount of Jianan, Zhang had long since cast it aside. Zhao Jiong committed the heinous crime of fratricide and was exposed to the Emperor by his own son; being able to keep his life was already thanks to his father's influence, so how could he still hope to retain his title? That was just a pipe dream!

  So Zhang also instructed his grandson to review his lessons during his convalescence, one hour a day. When he recovered, this time should be doubled at least.

  One time is two hours, for the five-year-old Zhao Wei who has not yet recovered from his illness, the burden is indeed heavy. Now he is still young and naive, and cannot fully understand what it means for his parents to pass away, thinking that they have just gone to a very far place and will come back later. When he grows up a few more years and knows how much weight is on his shoulders, will he be crushed? If at that time he is still this small body, the future situation will be bad to what extent, Zhao can fully imagine.

  So she began to worry about it.

  She advised Zhang that she was afraid that her younger brother's excessive diligence would hurt his spirit and affect his body, but Zhang didn't think so: "It's just one hour a day, and he spends the rest of the time lying down to nourish his spirit. Where is the harm? Besides, I haven't asked him to recite books, just review them. Grandma has already asked Dr. Jiang, and Dr. Jiang said it's okay. Elder sister doesn't need to worry, your grandfather only knows how to spoil children, but he doesn't know that spoiling children too much will make them lazy!"

  Zhang still thought Zhao was worried about his brother, but was influenced by the thinking of his grandfather who had "opened her eyes". Zhao was speechless and could only retreat in defeat.

  Gao Zhen saw her worrying, so he smiled and said: "Zhao sister, don't worry, your brother will be fine. When I was a kid, I often got sick too, but now I'm as strong as an ox! Let your brother learn from me, Father Emperor had me learn martial arts with the royal guards, I'm really good at it!"

  Fist fight?

  Zhao's eyes lit up. If Zhao Wei had learned martial arts from a young age, exercised moderately, and taken good care of himself in his daily life, wouldn't his body have become stronger? However, their family now only has one adult left, Zhang Shi, and there are hardly any servants left either. Even if they wanted to learn martial arts, it's not clear where they would go to learn it. If they were to ask Zhang Shi, she had always emphasized the importance of literature over martial arts, so she might not agree with it.

  Zhao asked Gao Zhen: "Do you know where there is a suitable place for children to learn boxing?"

  Gao Zhen thought for a moment: "Let your brother learn from me, I know three sets of fist techniques! The guard uncles all say that I fight very well, and I should be able to teach your brother too."

  The idea is good, but Zhao? isn't sure if Gao Zhen really mastered those few sets of fist techniques, maybe it was just the guards flattering him. However, the guards from the Guangping Wangfu are on the ship and are very friendly and easy to talk to, so asking them for a few moves during the day when there's nothing else to do shouldn't be a problem. She just wants a way to exercise her body, not learn someone else's ultimate move, something ordinary would work too. But the problem is that Zhao Wei is still ill now, and both Zhang Shi and Guangping Wangfei strictly forbade him from leaving his cabin and getting wind. And by the time he recovers, who knows when it will be? The two families may not even be together anymore.

  Gao Zhen was still quite clever at a young age, after learning about Zhao's troubles, he thought of a compromise - he first taught Zhao, and when Zhao recovered from his illness, he would let Zhao teach him.

  Fa Zi is a good Fa Zi, unfortunately Zhao? This small body board, even wanting to walk steadily is enough to choke, let alone learn boxing. She can only sit on the side and watch Gao Zhuang demonstrate the fist method in the cabin, practicing over and over again, she tries her best to remember with her brain, occasionally even comparing a few times. Not to mention, although the lower plate movement is not good for actual practice, the hand route she can learn is eight or nine out of ten, finished punching one time, even Gao Zhuang was surprised and praised her for being clever and having good memory.

  Zhao thought to himself, this was probably because this body was young enough and had an excellent memory. If in the future he grew up with such a good memory and his hands and feet could still coordinate like this, then that would truly be a rare golden finger.

  Seeing the two children getting along happily, Wang and his wife Zhang were delighted. At their age, there was no need to worry about boys and girls being different. In the cabin, there was a large bed three or four feet wide, with one at the head and the other at the foot, almost sleeping together. During the day, they played and studied together, and at night, they chatted and slept together, truly inseparable.

  Yanxia was always smiling and watching the two of them get close. She was originally a second-class little maid, but because she was clever and nimble, she was more favored than some of the older maids, which is why she got to follow them out on trips. Usually, she did miscellaneous chores, but now that she had been assigned to Zhao's side, she didn't complain and treated Zhao with the same care and attention as she did the young master Gao Zhan.

  But the big girl beside Gao Zhen had a different idea. Seeing Gao Zhen and Zhao being intimate, she was unhappy. When she saw Yunxia's careless appearance, she got angry. She found an opportunity to pull Yunxia to a corner where no one noticed and scolded her: "The princess said that Mrs. Zhao's illness has improved greatly, and Miss Zhao can accompany her more. Why didn't you let Miss Zhao stay in Mrs. Zhao's room for a while? You brought her back after just a short while, and she's been with the young master all day, what does it look like?"

  Yanxia was shocked: "Sister Yunyin, what do you mean by this? Mrs. Zhao is not in good spirits and can only teach Miss Zhao for an hour every day before she can't hold on anymore. Miss Zhao even stayed with her for a while longer before returning. The princess also advised her to relax and play with the young master, so as not to disturb Mrs. Zhao's rest. What's wrong with that?"

  Yan Yun pursed her lips, seeing that she didn't understand, and had to explain clearly: "Do you know what? Earlier in the capital, the princess asked the young master to spend more time with Zhong's family cousin, but the young master was reluctant. Only after getting familiar did he get a little better. Now that the young master is traveling outside with the king and queen, he still mentioned Zhong's family cousin a few days ago, missing his little companion. But now he has already forgotten about her. When they return to the capital in the future, Zhong's family cousin will see him being cold and will definitely get angry, and the princess will also get angry along with her. Who will be punished at that time? Won't it still be us?"

  Yanxia finally understood her meaning and smiled: "Sister is also worrying too much, Zhao Niang is just playing with the young master for a few days, when we arrive in Shanghai, the two families will separate, and naturally everyone will do what they should do. As for Biao Niang, she has always had a bit of a temper, once the young master gets to know her better after a few more interactions, what is there to be angry about? You and I are now just serving the young master under the orders of the princess, how would the princess punish us?"

  Yan Yun glared at her: "It's clear that you're a heartless girl. You didn't take less of the silver given by Eldest Miss back then, and your words were as sweet as honey. Now it seems like you've forgotten everything."

  "Who can forget? Such a generous master, it's really rare." Yanxia smiled, "But no matter how generous she is, she's not our master. Why would we ignore the master's orders for just a little reward? Yunyun sister, you and I are different. You were brought to the palace with the princess by your parents, and Taitai is your former master. It's natural that you're close to her. But I was assigned to work in the palace by the Imperial Household Department, unless Taitai marries into the palace in the future, she's just a relative from the maternal family."

  Smoke and cloud suddenly choked, her face immediately had some fiery redness. Her parents were all the queen's consorts from the natal family, considered to be the queen's direct line, usually superior in status, thinking they were one level higher than the servants, but forgetting that Yanxia, a member of the royal family, had an inherent pride, serving the golden branches and jade leaves, where would they put the daughters of ordinary official families in their eyes? Usually respectful to the Zhong family, it was just because of the queen's face.

  Yan Yun never mentioned this topic in front of Yan Xia, but privately, she had sounded out Gao Zhen's intentions. For example, after Gao Zhen enthusiastically taught Zhao to box, she brought up the fact that Zhong's cousin was also frail since childhood. After returning to Beijing, why not teach her as well? Since his cousin was older, she should be able to learn better than Zhao.

  It turned out that Gao Zhen gave her an unpleasant answer: "She wouldn't learn it! Every time I practice boxing and sweat a bit, she teases me for being smelly and says learning martial arts is useless, telling me to read more poetry books. Haven't I read books? It's just that I get tired of reading and practice boxing to relax my mind. How can learning martial arts be useless? If Grandfather didn't know martial arts, how could he have driven the Qing soldiers out of the pass? At that time, she wouldn't have had such a good life now." He also praised Zhao Mei along the way: "Zhao Mei would never say such things, and she learns very diligently. Although she can't even stand steadily, she insists on practicing every day, afraid of forgetting by accident. Teaching her is much easier than teaching my cousin."

  Yan Yun was somewhat embarrassed, feeling very depressed, but rarely mentioned this matter again. She soon realized that Zhao was still young, four years younger than Shizhong, and even if they were close at the moment, when they parted ways, children's memories are short-lived, and it wouldn't take long for them to forget each other. But Biao Gu Niang was different, often coming and going in the capital, with Wang Fei around, she would likely become the Crown Prince's consort in the future, so there was no need for her, a mere maid, to worry so much about it.

  This was just a small episode that happened on the boat, and only Gaozhen and two girls knew about it. The parents were unaware of it. They were more concerned about Suzhou, which they would arrive at soon, and from there, they would take a land route to Shanghai.