Chapter 126

Among those who harbored resentment towards Cui Fei, Li Rufeng, the one who gave him the nickname, was at the forefront.

There had always been a feud between the Cui and Li families, so Li Rufeng’s bullying of Cui Fei was intentional.

Even if Cui Fei’s physique were normal, Li Rufeng would always find something else to criticize.

Earlier, when he received criticism from the instructor, Li Rufeng couldn’t figure out what he did wrong.

After asking around at the Prefectural Academy, only Mei Ruochu could identify his mistake.

Mei Ruochu refused to give him direct advice and demanded that he apologize to Cui Fei first.

Li Rufeng, unwilling to lose face, had his father invite several knowledgeable tutors to consult on the matter.

Only then did they discover the truth.

The assignment Li Rufeng had performed poorly on was meant to praise the current virtuous ruler.

However, he always liked to use obscure vocabulary to showcase his knowledge, as was his habit.

This time, he accidentally used two obscure words together, which happened to be the posthumous title of a minor king in history.

In the chaotic history of regional conflict and division, there were dozens of such minor kingdoms.

Moreover, the king corresponding to this title only reigned for less than twenty days, and there were only a few brief mentions of him in historical records.

It’s no wonder Li Rufeng was at a loss to figure out where he went wrong.

If it weren’t for the intervention of a tutor who was passionate about history and well-versed in historical texts, Li Rufeng, at his wit’s end, would have had no choice but to apologize to Cui Fei as Mei Ruochu had suggested.

Since the incident had caused a stir at home, Li Rufeng’s family also learned about it.

With few heirs in the Li family, Li Rufeng was highly valued by his grandfather. Due to this matter, his grandfather had been nagging him since November until now, December.

The strict punishment from the instructor was also meant to help him break the habit of careless mistakes and dropping books.

This time, he used the posthumous title of a minor king to praise the current ruler. Who knows what taboo he might break next time?

Mei Ruochu had no obligation to point out his mistake.

This whole debacle was entirely his own doing, but Li Rufeng didn’t reflect on his actions. He only blamed Cui Fei.

If it weren’t for Cui Fei, Mei Ruochu, who was usually kind-hearted, wouldn’t have intentionally withheld advice.

He also wouldn’t have caused trouble that led to family intervention and elder reprimand.

With the year-end examination approaching, Li Rufeng assured his family that he wouldn’t make any more mistakes at the Prefectural Academy and busied himself with studying.

He didn’t find an opportunity to retaliate against Cui Fei.

________

Coincidentally, that afternoon, Cui Fei’s sister, Cui Wuniang, came to visit him during the lunch break.

The siblings haven’t seen each other for almost a month, relying only on Ah Yao to deliver messages to Cui Wuniang.

Cui Wuniang felt guilty, but Cui Fei understood her sister well.

Merchant families are busy with year-end accounting, assessing the performance of shopkeepers and assistants in each store to determine year-end bonuses, next year’s wages, promotions, and so on.

The Cui family started with a bookstore, but over the years they’ve acquired many other shops.

Cui Wuniang has to review the accounts of these shops, and the pile of account books in her study is higher than a person.

Not to mention visiting him, Cui Wuniang’s time for eating and sleeping is almost entirely swallowed up by work, her eyes tinged with fatigue.

“I’m fine at Cuiwei. Headmaster Shen said I can come home soon. I specifically asked Ah Yao to tell my sister. I’ll come home after the year-end assessment is over. Why did my sister come all this way?”

Ah Yao never hides good news or bad news, so Cui Wuniang knows he’s doing fine at Cuiwei.

But she still needs to see him with her own eyes to feel at ease.

Cui Wuniang doesn’t answer his question but looks him up and down, saying, “Why do I feel like you’ve lost weight?”

If someone else said this, Cui Fei would think they were joking, but his sister wouldn’t.

He skeptically touches his face, asking with surprise, “Really? Lately, I have indeed felt that my clothes are looser, but I didn’t dare to think about it.”

Cui Wuniang nodded with a smile. “Looks like Cuiwei really has some secret recipe for keeping healthy. Not only have you lost weight, but your complexion has also improved a lot. And we’ve been standing for quite a while, but I haven’t heard you panting.”

Cui Fei nodded. “Recently, I haven’t felt any chest pain, and my breathing has become much smoother.”

Since Cui Fei could return home soon, Cui Wuniang planned to have the house doctor check his pulse and the tailor measure him for new clothes.

Then they could directly feel whether his health had improved and whether he had lost weight.

There wasn’t much time left for lunch break after subtracting eating time, and Cui Wuniang still had to go back to work. So the siblings didn’t talk much.

Cui Wuniang handed him some silver coins and had someone bring down a food box from the carriage.

“Just some snacks. Take them to share with everyone,” Cui Wuniang said, pausing. “I didn’t know you had lost weight, so I didn’t prepare anything for you. Next time, when you come home, sister will make sure to have something for you.”

“I’m not a kid anymore. Skipping a meal or some snacks won’t hurt me,” Cui Fei replied with a smile as he took the food box.

He watched as Cui Wuniang got on the carriage and then entered the gate of the mansion school.

Wei Shu and the others were still having lunch in the cafeteria, so Cui Fei took the snacks into the classroom, planning to share them during break time.

Of course, he would also save some for Mu Er Pang.

Coincidentally, there was only Li Rufeng in the classroom.

“Hey, Cui…Brother Cui, where did you find these delicious snacks? I was just busy studying and haven’t gone to the cafeteria yet. Can you share some with me?”

Although these were just some snacks, Cui Fei didn’t usually pay much attention to them.

Normally, even if it was Li Rufeng, who he didn’t get along with, asking, he wouldn’t hesitate to share.

But this time, he shook his head. “There’s still plenty of lunch break left. You can go to the cafeteria yourself. These snacks were specially brought by my sister for my friends.”

Li Rufeng wasn’t actually interested in eating his snacks.

In his view, Cui Fei had been eating too much greasy and heavy food, which was very unhealthy for the body.

Upon hearing the word “friend,” he chuckled scornfully, “You were ‘friends’ with Mu Yunchuan before, and now that he’s gone, you have a new ‘friend’ again? Is this what you call fickleness? You’re even worse than the girls in the brothel.”

His words were extremely offensive, even more so than the nicknames he used to give people before, making Cui Fei feel disgusted.

Li Rufeng laughed after saying this, crossing his arms.

According to his expectations, Cui Fei would blush red, feeling both angry and embarrassed, then stutter his lips not knowing how to retaliate.

However, Cui Fei just frowned, placed the food box on the table, and said, “Who are you calling a girl from the brothel?”

Li Rufeng was used to bullying him and wasn’t afraid.

He continued to smile and said, “I’m just saying what comes to mind. Oh, how will Brother Cui react? Are you going to call your ‘friends’ to stand up for you? But there are only the two of us in this classroom. Who can prove that I insulted you? I’ll make it clear now; I won’t admit it later.”

Cui Fei lowered his eyes for a moment, then suddenly looked up and said, “Right, there are only the two of us in this classroom.”

…

With the year-end assessment approaching, all the students were rushing to finish their meals.

So everyone finished eating at about the same time. As Wei Shu and the others were about to reach the classroom, they heard a scream.

Their expressions changed instantly, and they hurried to the classroom together.

In the classroom, Li Rufeng was covered in crumbs, pointing at Cui Fei and cursing loudly.

He was also looking around, as if trying to find something to use against Cui Fei.

Meanwhile, the large-bodied Cui Fei was struggling to pick up the scattered pastries from the floor.

Wei Shu quickly stepped forward to stand in front of Cui Fei. Mei Ruochu and Wei Xi first helped Cui Fei up, then helped him clean up the mess on the floor.

“Li Rufeng, you’ve bullied Cui Fei several times and still refuse to apologize. Isn’t that going too far?” Wei Xi, who usually spoke the least among them, finally spoke up, showing that he couldn’t tolerate it anymore.

While Wei Shu and Mei Ruochu didn’t say anything, their faces were cold enough to freeze.

And it wasn’t just them who felt this way. Zhang Shuo and others, who were friends with Li Rufeng, also arrived and couldn’t help but advise him, “Li, we can joke around, but why resort to violence? The rules in this school are strict. If you really start a fight, you might get expelled. You should calm down!”

Li Rufeng angrily retorted, “Stop spouting nonsense. I didn’t start it; he did.”

Cui Fei admitted frankly, “I did start it… My sister brought some snacks for me to share with Wei and the others. Li Rufeng saw them and asked me to share with him. When I refused, he cursed at me… I was afraid he would say even worse things, so I gave him the snacks. Maybe he didn’t like my attitude, so he got even angrier.”

Li Rufeng was on the verge of exploding. How could Cui Fei’s attitude be considered bad just because he offered him snacks? Li Rufeng didn’t just refuse; he slapped the snacks onto Cui Fei’s face and then pressed them with his palm until they turned into mush!

Although Cui Fei was physically weak, he had been exercising every day after recovering from his illness.

Anyone who has had a big palm slap on their face knows how painful it can be!

Everyone could see Li Rufeng’s face turning red, but they thought it was from anger.

In fact, it was from the pressure applied by Cui Fei.

“Don’t listen to his nonsense! It’s not that he had a bad attitude; he actually pressed the snacks onto my face! Look at me, covered in pastry crumbs!”

Even Zhang Shuo was puzzled. “Brother Zhang, Cui Fei has always been easy-going. We… he didn’t do anything to us. Anyway, I even doubt he would dare to fight with you.”

Even those close to him didn’t believe Li Rufeng’s words. This made him even more furious, and he blurted out without thinking, “I was the one who said he was fickle, acting like a girl from the brothel… Even a rabbit bites when it’s angry, and he just lost his temper and hit me!”

As soon as these words came out, Li Rufeng realized his mistake and bit his tongue hard.

The disdain in everyone’s eyes towards him was palpable. Even Zhang Shuo and others immediately took a step back from him.

Giving Cui Fei nicknames, teasing him about his weight, might be explainable as jokes. But using such vulgar language, not even common among ordinary folks, let alone scholars like them, was utterly disgraceful!

Even if Cui Fei did get physical with him, they all felt Li Rufeng deserved it! Who asked him to be so foul-mouthed?

Not to mention, if this matter were reported to the professors or instructors, Li Rufeng would definitely be in big trouble!

“Cui Fei!” Li Rufeng still didn’t think he was wrong at this point. He still believed that Cui Fei had wronged him.

He gritted his teeth as he looked at Cui Fei and said, “You did this on purpose… You’ve harmed me several times. If you’re in school, I won’t be, and if I’m there, you won’t be! As a man, do you dare to gamble with me? Let’s bet on the results of today’s assessment. The one who performs worse automatically drops out. Do you dare or not?”