Chapter 117 (Catching Bugs)

While Mrs. Cui was consulting with Shen Cui, Cui Fei was taken by Mu Er Pang to visit the classroom.

Growing up in a wealthy household like the Cui family, even the classroom in the new house was nothing special to him.

But he didn’t show any impatience. After entering the classroom, he observed carefully.

Finally, Mu Er Pang took him to his own desk and said that there was nothing special about it; he attended classes here every day.

Cui Fei finally struck up a conversation with him, asking, “I just heard your mother call you ‘Er Pang’ (Second Fatty). Can you tell me how you lost weight? Did you take medicine?”

“I never took any medicine.” Mu Er Pang thought for a moment. “I guess I didn’t eat anything special. The most ‘special’ thing was probably eating the food my mother made. And also doing some exercises like playing pitch-pot and archery.”

Despite being his own mother, earlier on, Shen Cui’s cooking skills were not up to par, to put it mildly.

Mu Er Pang always ate a lot out of politeness, but the taste wasn’t great. Although the aftertaste wasn’t as terrible as before, taste memory lasts, so he wouldn’t feel like eating anything else for at least half a day.

Gradually, he got used to it and didn’t feel like snacking anymore, only having afternoon tea.

Coupled with his habit of morning exercise, he completely lost weight in three years.

“Is that all?” Cui Fei was slightly disappointed.

He came over today for the banquet, helping Mu Yunchuan celebrate, but another reason was for Mu Er Pang. Otherwise, he was usually too lazy to move.

If Shen Cui hadn’t told them to come out, he wouldn’t have gotten up immediately.

The reason behind this goes back to when he first met Mu Yunchuan.

At first, Cui Fei didn’t attend the prefectural school, so he had no interaction with Mu Yunchuan.

One year, he went to the prefectural school to participate in the annual exam, and it happened to rain heavily.

Servants couldn’t enter the prefectural school, and Cui Fei, lacking life experience, hadn’t thought to bring an umbrella.

The classroom was quite a distance from the main gate of the prefectural school, passing through several courtyards.

He couldn’t walk quickly, or he would surely attract ridicule.

And getting drenched in winter rain meant facing his sister’s endless scolding when he got back.

He thought of waiting until everyone else had left or until the rain stopped before going out.

Then he met Mu Yunchuan. He was from a rural family and could read the weather better than a young noble like Cui Fei.

He came to the exam with an umbrella.

Seeing Cui Fei standing in the corridor, staring blankly at the rain, Mu Yunchuan asked if he wanted to share the umbrella.

He didn’t recognize Cui Fei, but Cui Fei knew him, the top scholar who always ranked first in the prefectural school.

Cui Fei was pleasantly surprised and said, “That would be inconvenient.”

Mu Yunchuan said, “You must be heading to the prefectural school? I happen to have some errands to run, so it’s on my way.”

Actually, what Cui Fei found inconvenient wasn’t that, but his own figure…

But before he could say more, Mu Yunchuan had already opened the oiled paper umbrella and stood outside, saying, “Let’s go.”

Feeling strangely compelled, Cui Fei felt it was very wrong to make him wait and followed him.

The consequence was that the ordinary oiled paper umbrella couldn’t accommodate both of them. By the time they reached the gate, Mu Yunchuan’s shoulder was half wet.

Cui Fei felt extremely guilty, so he invited him into the carriage to dry off with a handkerchief and then offered to take him where he needed to go.

Naturally, Mu Yunchuan declined.

But Cui Fei, who had been discriminated against due to his figure since childhood and didn’t often interact with others, was actually quite childish in nature.

In modern terms, he was straightforward.

He didn’t say any polite words to Mu Yunchuan. After saying his piece, he just pulled him into the carriage.

As the rain intensified, walking became inconvenient. Once Cui Fei had pulled him in, Mu Yunchuan didn’t refuse further.

Later on, Cui Fei asked and learned that Mu Yunchuan was heading to the Cui family’s bookstore.

That was a familiar place to him. Opening up, he asked Mu Yunchuan what books he wanted to buy.

Although the Cui family’s bookstore claimed to have all sorts of rare books, it was actually a marketing strategy devised by his sister after she took over the household.

If it was truly a hard-to-find book, they would indeed try to find it, but sometimes it could take a year or more.

If Mu Yunchuan, who helped him with the umbrella, wanted to find a book, it was another matter.

He could ask his sister to prioritize Mu Yunchuan’s request.

But Mu Yunchuan said it wasn’t the case. “I’m just there to deliver some copied books. I’m finishing up today.”

With that said, Cui Fei felt a bit embarrassed.

He belatedly noticed that Mu Yunchuan was dressed plainly, not the type to spend money on rare books.

After dropping Mu Yunchuan off, he headed back home.

They met again during the announcement of the prefectural exam results.

Inside the prefectural school, they posted the results on the bulletin board, visible only to the students of the prefectural school.

As expected, Mu Yunchuan appeared in the first position, while Cui Fei ended up barely passing at the bottom. As for those who failed the exam or ranked fifth or sixth, they were to be advised to leave and deprived of the title of scholar.

When his classmates saw him, they joked, “Cui Fei, you’re really lucky. You’re at the bottom again this year. But it’s convenient too; you can just go straight to the end to find your name without squeezing through us, right?”

Cui Fei blushed with embarrassment and hurriedly left.

Then he accidentally bumped into Mu Yunchuan—within the entire prefectural school, he was the only one who could confidently come late to check the results.

This collision was quite severe. Mu Yunchuan lay on the ground for a while before he could recover.

Cui Fei was clumsy and tried several times to help him up, but he couldn’t succeed. In the end, others came to help and lifted him up.

Mu Yunchuan’s palm was scraped, and he hit his head, which made Cui Fei feel extremely guilty. He insisted on taking him to the medical clinic.

Finally, even the professors and instructors were alarmed and insisted that Mu Yunchuan see a doctor.

After all, a scrape was a minor issue, but hitting the head could be serious, especially for someone as brilliant as Mu Yunchuan!

Later, Mu Yunchuan went to the clinic with Cui Fei.

The doctor also said the scrape was a minor issue, but hitting the head was uncertain.

They needed to observe if he felt dizzy or nauseous, or if any other symptoms appeared.

Mu Yunchuan seemed unfazed, while Cui Fei was nearly in tears from worry.

He wanted Mu Yunchuan to stay at his house, where there was a doctor who could take care of him daily.

This way, if there were any problems, they could monitor him conveniently.

Mu Yunchuan refused, but the possibility mentioned by the doctor also made him pay attention.

After all, his only reliance was his brilliant mind.

So, although he didn’t stay at the Cui household, he promised Cui Fei that after school every day, he would be treated by the doctor at the Cui household.

After half a month of treatment, he indeed didn’t encounter any problems, and Cui Fei finally relaxed.

During this half-month period, Cui Fei also unprecedentedly reported to the prefectural school every day on time—after all, if Mu Yunchuan had problems during the day, shouldn’t he be there too?

With more interactions, the two gradually became closer than others.

Cui Fei was not one to hide his thoughts. Later on, he asked Mu Yunchuan why he didn’t despise him and was willing to be friends with him.

Mu Yunchuan didn’t directly answer, only saying, “My younger brother at home also has a bit of a round figure.”

So it was just about being fat, nothing rare or worthy of special treatment.

Cui Fei misunderstood. He thought it must be because he resembled Mu Yunchuan’s younger brother, so Mu Yunchuan accepted him without disdain!

From that moment on, although he didn’t know Mu Er Pang’s name, he already felt curious and admired him.

Although he became close to Mu Yunchuan, sensitive Cui Fei knew that they weren’t truly intimate friends.

Many times when they were together, Mu Yunchuan would read his books, and Cui Fei would quietly sit aside.

But since Mu Yunchuan didn’t treat him like an outcast, Cui Fei was grateful, not expecting more.

But if it was Mu’s younger brother, who was just as chubby and had a powerful brother and sister, they should be the same kind, right? They would have plenty to talk about, wouldn’t they?

So, even though his classmates mocked him behind his back, getting close to Mu Yunchuan was definitely a climb, but he didn’t care.

After the rural exam, Cui Fei felt low for a few days because of his failure, but when he received a letter from his sister, mentioning that Mu Yunchuan’s mother and brother were renting a house from them, he immediately forgot about his disappointment.

But today he saw Mu Er Pang—Mu Er Pang wasn’t fat at all, looking just like a younger version of Mu Yunchuan, very handsome.

Even at twelve or thirteen, he was already preparing for the exam. His personality was cheerful and sunny.

Of course, Cui Fei’s thoughts weren’t so dark as to wish others to suffer the physical discomfort he had experienced, or to endure the rejection and coldness from others.

But he couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed. If Mu Yunchuan wasn’t like him, perhaps he wouldn’t have wanted to be friends with him?

Then he thought that although Mu Yunchuan was usually quiet, there was no need for him to lie.

Mu Er Pang should have been really fat before. Perhaps he had some kind of adventure?

But Mu Er Pang said there wasn’t.

Mu Er Pang noticed the fleeting disappointment in Cui Fei’s eyes and glanced at Mu Yunchuan.

Mu Yunchuan was genuinely unable to help. He and Cui Fei weren’t as close as outsiders thought.

Mu Er Pang tentatively asked, “Should I have my mother make some food for you to try?”

“Huh?” Cui Fei was stunned. Considering that Mu Yunchuan would soon leave Qingzhou Prefecture for the capital city, and he wasn’t well-liked, he shouldn’t have the chance to interact with Mu Er Pang.

He hesitated and asked, “Can I still come over?”

Mu Er Pang said, “Of course you can. But unlike Brother Cui, I haven’t achieved the title of scholar, so I still need to work hard. I might not have much leisure time. But I heard from my brothers at home that the prefectural school finishes school quite early. Could you come over after school with them?”

Cui Fei nodded vigorously.

The classroom wasn’t big, and soon Mu Er Pang finished showing Cui Fei around.

Seeing him pant after walking a few steps, Mu Er Pang asked if he wanted to rest for a while.

Cui Fei quickly shook his head and said, “I’m not tired.” He deliberately held his breath, suppressing his heavy breathing.

As Mu Er Pang had said before, he took him to the courtyard to play archery.

He was still using the small bow that Wei Shu had given him, but he had already changed the bowstring several times, requiring more strength to draw.

Cui Fei hadn’t played this before, but thinking about Mu Er Pang saying that he slimmed down because of practicing archery, he wanted to give it a try.

Mu Er Pang let him try, and Cui Fei wanted to perform well in front of him.

He had already grown up, and his strength was not small. With one exertion, there was a crisp ‘snap’, and he directly broke the bowstring.

Cui Fei was shocked, not because the breaking of the bowstring was terrifying—he didn’t have a particularly severe heart condition, otherwise he wouldn’t have grown up like this.

It’s just that he seemed to have caused trouble.

Looking at the smoothness of the bow, it was obviously well cared for and cherished by Mu Er Pang.

He stood there dumbfounded, unsure how to react. Mu Er Pang carefully looked at his hand, confirmed that he wasn’t injured, and smiled, saying, “Brother Cui has such great strength!”

There was no hint of blame in his demeanor.

“S-sorry,” Cui Fei apologized hurriedly.

“It’s okay, just a bowstring, it needs replacing from time to time anyway,” Mu Er Pang said, “But this is the only toy I have. I don’t know what else I can play with you.”

After thinking for a while, he suggested, “How about we play a game of 24 points?”

This game of 24 points was concocted by Shen Cui under the identity of ‘Master Zhang’. Although ‘Master Zhang’ hadn’t appeared for a long time, Lao Buyu and Mu Er Pang hadn’t forgotten him.

They kept in touch, and even Lao Buyu, like Lao Shan Zhang, was concerned about whether he had given up studying mathematics.

Shen Cui claimed under the identity of ‘Master Zhang’ that he was studying a kind of card game, using a deck of fifty-two cards, plus two jokers.

It was essentially like playing poker, with many different variations. Shen Cui would occasionally introduce one, indicating that he was still persisting in dealing with numbers, to reassure them.

The boys quickly learned the game. They didn’t have much leisure time, and if they played a serious card game, it would consume a lot of time and they could easily get carried away.

But playing 24 points was different. After removing the jokers, they would randomly draw four cards and use addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to calculate the numbers on the cards to make 24.

It was a way to exercise their brains in their spare time without wasting too much time.

This game naturally piqued their curiosity. Even Mu Yunchuan showed a rare interest.

Mu Er Pang took out the homemade cards from the academy and taught them how to play.

Mu Yunchuan, needless to say, and Cui Fei, who usually didn’t go to the prefectural school and barely passed the exam, quickly learned after Mu Er Pang taught them once.

After learning, most of the time it was they who calculated the solutions first. Mu Yunchuan could even list many solutions in one breath.

After winning a few times, Mu Yunchuan slowed down his own calculation speed, mainly letting the two of them participate more.

The three of them played enthusiastically until it was time for dinner.

Mu Er Pang even offered to give the deck of cards to Cui Fei since it was just made of paper and wasn’t worth much.

But Cui Fei declined. He whispered, “I… I’ll come to play again next time. With you.”