Xie Ming

Chapter 17 Dreaming of Yuzhen (Part )

With my two feet I walk on the road of the world, with the sky as my roof and the earth as my home!
East of Hujialing, on the high hill of Xiangshan, Xiao Jingchuan was extremely tired after a night of marching. He fell on a large rock in the mountains and fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes.

But as he entered the dream, he became restless!
All of a sudden, my thoughts flashed back to ten years ago!

That year, Xiao Jingchuan was twelve years old and had just been adopted as an adopted son by Chengguo Duke Zhu Chunchen and brought back to the mansion to be raised.

"Hey, Xiaochuan, why did you sneak into the main house again?"

"If Xue Zhong (the steward of the Duke's Mansion) sees this, he will definitely scold you again!"

Jiao Da, a servant in the Duke's Mansion, was dressed in shorts and had disheveled white hair. He grabbed the young Xiao Jingchuan and began to question him.

"Ah? Uncle Jiao, I..."

"Morning Xiao'e said Yuzhen wanted to see the swallowtail butterflies in the flower garden, so I went to catch a few, hoping to give them to Xiao'e when I meet her later."

Xiao Jingchuan, dressed in a servant's cloth and dirty, lowered his head and muttered a little stubbornly.

"Hey, Xiaochuan, you've been in the mansion for more than two months, how come you can't remember it?"

"Although you are the adopted son of the Duke who took you back into the family on a whim, your status is different from that of the young ladies of the main family after all."

"You keep calling me Xiao'e and Yuzhen. If others hear it, they will say you are overstepping your bounds!"

"From now on, don't talk nonsense anymore, or you'll give people a chance to talk about you. Do you hear me?"

Perhaps because he had experienced the same loneliness before, Jiao Da has been particularly fond of Xiao Jingchuan since he entered the mansion. But after all, children have pure thoughts, and he was afraid that Xiaochuan would forget himself and cross the line, thus offending the master, so he deliberately added some anger in his words as a warning.

But Xiaochuan didn't care about it. In his opinion, both Yu'e and Yuzhen were so beautiful and lovable. They were also his sisters and he had to take care of and accompany them like an older brother.

"But, Uncle Jiao, does an adopted son no longer count as a son?"

"Xiao'e and Yuzhen are so nice to me!" Xiao Jingchuan got stubborn and asked back with his eyes wide open and his head tilted.

"Oh, I'm scared of you, little ancestor, hurry up and go out with the old man."

As he said that, Jiao Da anxiously pulled Xiao Jingchuan over and dragged him out the door.

At this moment, a servant suddenly came from the gatehouse and shouted, "Jiading Earl's Mansion, Mr. Zhou San has arrived!"

Before the sound had died down, the naughty Third Young Master Zhou rushed to the inner door of the main house in a few steps. Jiao Da happened to be pulling Xiao Jingchuan out, and the two were caught off guard. The Third Young Master and Xiao Jingchuan bumped into each other, and Xiao Jingchuan staggered and was knocked back into the house again.

"Oh my, what kind of damned servant is so blind!"

Before Xiao Jingchuan, who had fallen to the ground, could say anything, Mr. Zhou San, who had contradicted him, started to curse him angrily.

"Oh, my, isn't this Young Master Zhou? What happened? Is he hurt?"

Xue Zhong, the steward of the Duke's Mansion, heard the servant outside the door report that a distinguished guest was coming, so he hurriedly ran over from the other end of the main hall to greet him in a flattering manner. Unfortunately, he was seen by the servant who saw the scene.

"Bah! Xue the bastard, I'm Mr. Zhou San, who told you to add a small word in the middle! Are you looking for a fight?"

This Zhou Sangongzi is the third son of Zhou Kui, the father-in-law of the emperor. Zhou Kui had a son in his old age and doted on his precious son so he named him Zhou Bao.

This year, he is no more than twelve or thirteen years old, and is not much different from Xiao Jingchuan in terms of age and height.

At this moment, seeing Xue Zhong rushing over to ask for a fight, he hit his head as soon as he touched him, and was already unhappy, so Master Zhou San reached out and pulled out the horsewhip from his waist and hit Xue Zhong on the butt.

Xue Zhong was in his fifties, with bulging eyes and a long neck. He was mean and snobbish, so people nicknamed him Xue Wangba. Now, he didn't know where Mr. Zhou heard this from, but verbal insults would be ok, but he even resorted to violence. He was furious.

But due to the other party's powerful background, how could he dare to say no? So he could only take the beating and smile along, grimacing and complaining.

"what!"

"Ouch!"

"Mr. Zhou, please forgive me this time!"

"I will never dare to do that again next time!" Xue Zhong begged for mercy. Master Zhou San seemed to be tired of beating him, so he chased him and whipped him a few times before stopping.

He turned around and looked at Xiao Jingchuan again.

"Hey? Boy, what's in the bag in your hand?" the Third Young Master asked curiously.

Upon seeing this, Xiao Jingchuan hurriedly lowered his head and hid the bag under his body without saying a word.

"Xiao Jingchuan! Young Master Zhou San is asking you a question!"

Xue Zhong heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that the young master of the Zhou family had turned his attention elsewhere.

But seeing that Xiao Jingchuan was not cooperating, he began to join in and shouted at him, bullying the weak and fearing the strong.

"Hey! Are you deaf or itchy, kid?!"

"Don't think that just because you claim to be the adopted son of our Duke's Mansion in front of outsiders, you will become a noble young master!"

"You stinky shit, my dear nobleman!"

"The Mr. Zhou San standing in front of you is the real noble man!"

"Mr. Zhou San asked you a question, and you dared not say anything. Do you think I am not sincere?"

As he said that, Xue Zhong pretended to come over and teach the brat Xiaochuan a lesson about the rules of the mansion.

"Okay! Butler Xue, you are too old to get angry with a child."

"They are some butterflies, toys for children to play with. Xiaochuan, let's give them to them. Your uncle Jiao will catch them for you later! Be obedient!"

In order to curry favor with Master Zhou San, Xue Zhong cursed and swore at a child in such an inappropriate way. Jiao Da couldn't stand it and didn't want Xiaochuan to stay here and be humiliated, so he tried to mediate and wanted to take Xiao Jingchuan's butterfly bag and give it to them so that they could leave immediately.

But Xiaochuan had a gloomy face at the moment, stubbornly guarding the promise he made to Xiao'e in the morning.

The butterflies in this cloth bag were caught by him for Xiao'e and Yuzhen. Yuzhen likes to see them, so how could he give the bag to someone else casually!

"Xiaochuan, let go!" Jiao Da tried to pull it away, but failed. Xiao Jingchuan held the bag tightly with both of his small hands.

"I won't!" he yelled.

"Hey, you kid."

Seeing this, Xue Zhong also wanted to grab it himself, but suddenly Young Master Zhou San got angry and swung his horsewhip suddenly, catching Xiao Jingchuan off guard and hitting him on his stubborn little face!

Immediately, a blood mark appeared on the middle of his face!
"I told you not to give it to me! I told you not to give it to me!"

The young master of the Zhou family spoke viciously word by word, and whipped Xiaochuan with the whip in his hand.

"Stop fighting!" Jiao Da wanted to protect Xiaochuan, but Xue Zhong stepped forward and blocked him.

Xiao Jingchuan subconsciously protected his head with both hands, and the butterfly bag, which had been loosened at the mouth, fell to the ground beside him.

Sui Xiaochuan felt pain and kicked his legs on the ground, splashing up a cloud of dust.

Suddenly, several blue-feathered swallowtail butterflies flew out from the mouth of the bag. They were very large, with wings that shone with a faint blue fluorescent light like brocade. They looked so beautiful under the bright sun!

They rushed out of the dust on the ground and fluttered into the air, gorgeous and beautiful.

That beauty was so incompatible and uncoordinated with Xiao Jingchuan, who was covered in dirt and had been beaten, and the domineering and vicious Mr. Zhou San.

"That's enough!"

"stop!"

It was Yuzhen, she was wearing a red dress, walking towards
(End of this chapter)