Chapter 43

The two brothers went to bed angry.

Wei Xi was weak and prone to coughing at night, but tonight he fell asleep first.

On the other hand, Wei Shu, burning with anger, couldn’t sleep at all.

He was the future head of the Wei family, although he was not yet twenty. Since he was old enough to understand, the family had been grooming him as the future head.

From a young age, he knew he had a twin brother being raised elsewhere.

Although they hadn’t seen each other for ten years, when they finally reunited, the resemblance between the two brothers was striking, and the familial bond was inexplicable.

He regarded Wei Xi as his closest kin, but in comparison, Wei Xi’s attitude towards family could be considered distant.

Previously, Wei Shu thought Wei Xi was just born with this kind of temperament.

But now, after only half a month apart, Wei Xi’s changes caught him off guard.

He said the people in this academy were different from others. While Wei Shu could understand this regarding Lou Buyu and Mu Er Pang, the former was truly a literary genius, and the latter, although lacking in talent, had a pure heart that was hard not to admire.

But as for Shen Cuihua… Wei Xi actually stood up for her?!

If Wei Xi had not already fallen asleep, he would have had to carefully talk to him about Shen Cuihua’s previous malice towards Mu Yunchuan.

Turning over on the kang, Wei Shu heard a noise at the window, thinking it was a stray cat in the spring night. He put on his clothes and went to check.

To his surprise, there was no stray cat, but Shen Cuihua standing outside.

“Why is Madam Mu not sleeping and running to the student dormitory at this late hour?” People are always more relaxed before going to bed, letting go of their disguises. At this moment, Wei Shu’s tone was far less polite than during the day.

Shen Cuihua ignored him, first closing the window from the outside, then whispered, “Xiao Xi likes to open the window for fresh air before sleeping, but it’s windy lately. He has a cough, so I came to close the window for him while bringing Mu Er Pang home.”

Coming from someone else, Wei Shu would have thought they were a kind elder. But from Shen Cuihua’s mouth, it inexplicably aroused a few more suspicions in Wei Shu’s mind.

“I didn’t know about that. Such kindness to Xiao Xi. But why didn’t I see you care for Yunchuan in the past?” He sneered, “Oh, I guess, Xiao Xi pays quite a bit of silver here every month, so Madam Mu takes care of him like this.”

Shen Shi also shrugged indifferently, “In the past? I’ve only met you a few times, how can there be any ‘in the past’?”

The things from the past were all rumors spread by others, or occasionally revealed by Mu Yunchuan.

Wei Shu was stunned by her response, and she continued, “Wei Shu is not wrong. I do care for Xiao Xi, and I do take silver from him. But your master also takes silver from you, then teaches you carefully. Does that mean he only cares about money?”

“Do you dare to compare yourself to our master?”

Shen Shi shrugged again, “He has a academy, and I have one too. It’s just a difference in scale. What’s wrong with mentioning it?”

“You…” Wei Shu took a deep breath several times, but in the end, he didn’t say anything more derogatory. He was just angry and said, “Madam Mu is eloquent, no wonder she can deceive my brother and keep him away from home.”

Top of Form

Shen Cui had read the original book and knew that Wei Shu himself was not a bad person. Compared to Mu Yunchuan, he was actually a more upright figure—

He abhorred evil and had a strong sense of justice, unable to tolerate any darkness in the world. Although he lagged behind Mu Yunchuan by a few years in his career, his path in the imperial examinations went smoothly, and his official career was unimpeded.

However, his whole life seemed to be designed as a tool for Mu Yunchuan by the author of the original book, living for others. Whatever Mu Yunchuan wanted to do, he helped. Whoever Mu Yunchuan wanted to deal with, he helped to confront.

In the end, Mu Yunchuan rose to become an esteemed minister, renowned throughout the world, while Wei Shu became a public target in the court, separated from his wife and children, without family. Though he held a high position, he lived out his lonely and bleak later years.

The Wei Shu before her eyes was full of vitality and righteousness, filled with indignation for the sake of his friends and brother.

It was hard for Shen Cui not to feel a sense of regret.

She didn’t continue arguing with Wei Shu and simply said, “Xiao Xi once said something I found very good, and I’ve remembered it ever since. He said, ‘In life, rules are in the heart. What you hear and see may not be true, only ‘from the heart’ is truly living for oneself.’ I hope you can understand something from these words too.”

After saying this, Mu Er Pang came out of the hall, and Shen Cui waved to him. The mother and son held hands and went home.

Only Wei Shu was left standing there, frowning in contemplation.

On the way home, Mu Er Pang spoke up, “Mother, just now, were you arguing with Senior Brother?”

Shen Cui replied calmly, “What’s there to be afraid of? Haven’t you noticed? Xiao Xi is not the kind of person without his own opinions. If his brother could control him, he wouldn’t have let him come to our house in the first place. As for Senior Brother Wei…” Shen Cui paused, “He has some prejudices against me. I can’t win his respect by just being polite and yielding. Besides, isn’t the motto of our academy ‘from the heart’? I don’t want to say things that go against my heart or do things against my will.”

Mu Er Pang nodded thoughtfully, “I understand Senior Brother Wei. He’s just like before, still not believing that we’ve changed for the better. Mother, don’t worry. I’m studying hard. In a few years, I’ll take the imperial examinations too. Although I’m not confident that I’ll be as good as Senior Brother, I… I don’t know how to say it, but I won’t let anyone bully you.”

The grievances and anger from the incident at the tailor shop were still fresh in Mu Er Pang’s mind. It wasn’t about holding a grudge, but rather a feeling of powerlessness that made him feel very uncomfortable.

That kind of thing happening to him was already enough. He absolutely wouldn’t let that kind of thing happen to his own mother.

His own chubby son was indeed as he said, very hardworking. By now, his overall talent had already reached around 50. Although he couldn’t be called very clever, his mind was much more mature than others his age.

He started from a low point, and his talent wasn’t high either. Although the system output items created a learning environment for him as an aid, such significant growth naturally couldn’t be separated from his own efforts.

As the system had written in his previous evaluation, he had a childlike heart. Once he set his mind to something, he would go all out and not give himself a way back.

“Fool.” Shen Cui softly touched the top of his head, “Why do you think studying is for your mother?”

Mu Er Pang smiled and didn’t say anything, holding Shen Cui’s hand and taking two light steps forward.

Early the next morning, Wei Shu woke up to see a magnified chubby face.

Rubbing his eyes, Wei Shu recognized Mu Er Pang sitting on the heated brick bed, propping up his cheek.

Wei Xi called him “Senior Brother,” and he should have addressed him with the same respect, but unfortunately, this title was a bit embarrassing since Mu Er Pang was quite a bit younger.

Wei Shu just asked him what he was doing here.

Mu Er Pang lowered his voice and said, “Nothing much, it’s almost time for morning exercises. But Wei Xi, my junior brother, gets headaches when he’s woken up early, so I come over a quarter of an hour early each time and sit here watching him. He wakes up by himself.”

Wei Xi indeed had a shallow sleep. Their voices were like the buzz of mosquitoes, and he immediately woke up.

After waking up, he intentionally or unintentionally massaged his temples.

Wei Shu considered himself to be the closest person to him, but before today, he never knew that he would get a headache when he was awakened.

Later, when Shen Cui came over from home, she noticed that Wei Xi’s physical fitness had dropped by 1 point. Thinking that he might have a slight headache from getting up in the morning, she spent 10 shopping points to buy some pills for treating mild headaches from the mall.

She now has more money on hand, and taking out many things will no longer surprise people. She just said that she bought them from a pharmacy in the city. After Wei Xi took them, his physical fitness returned to 65 points.

Then came the morning exercises that Mu Er Pang mentioned.

The system had previously released daily routines for her to set the schedule and lead the morning exercises. Although the system did not require this every day, Shen Cui thought this habit was good and kept it.

Of course, the exercises are radio calisthenics. Shen Cui spent 10 shopping points to buy a set of instructional videos from the system. After watching them a few times, all the relevant memories returned to her mind, without the need to deliberately remember them again. It can be said that this is something that is ingrained in every Blue Star person.

Shen Cui stood at the forefront, facing the others in the courtyard, while Lao Buyu, Mu Er Pang, and Wei Xi stood on a horizontal line, about a meter apart.

Wei Shu stared in astonishment as Shen Cui gave the command, “Stand at ease, attention, left face.”

Lao Buyu and the others extended their right foot forward half a step, then brought it back, and together looked to the left at Lao Buyu, then took small steps to adjust their positions.

After seeing that everyone was in position, Shen Cui continued to give commands: “Today we will start with ‘The Times Are Calling’. Ready… go! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, two, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight… stretching exercises…”

So, in the eyes of the Blue Star people, this was as normal as it could be, but in Wei Shu’s eyes, it was the first time he had seen such radio calisthenics.

Whether it was Shen Cui, Lao Buyu, Mu Er Pang, or Wei Xi, they all opened their bodies to the maximum extent and did various movements that seemed strange to Wei Shu.

Of course, the first time Lao Buyu did morning exercises, he was quite resistant, saying that if the two children exercised, that would be fine, but he was already an old man and had no need to join in.

But Shen Cui didn’t allow it. The system requires everyone in the academy to do it together, and no one can escape.

That day, she forced Lao Buyu to do it reluctantly. The 50 shopping points reward she received that time, she didn’t save it, but bought 5 pills to relieve cervical spondylosis and put them in Lao Buyu’s food.

Scholars often do a lot of desk work, and there is no one without cervical spondylosis.

Lao Buyu found himself much more comfortable that day.

After taking the five pills, he also exercised for five consecutive days without the need for medication, greatly relieving the soreness and discomfort in his neck.

So he never said anything about not participating in the morning exercises again.

As for the strange movements of these exercises, which are completely different from those of the Five Animal Frolics, Lao Buyu didn’t inquire much. Anyway, it seemed that no matter how strange things were taken out by Shen Cui, they all seemed to be reasonable.

Shen Cui led Lao Buyu and the two children in doing exercises for two quarters of an hour in one go. Shen Cui also sweated lightly on her head and let everyone rest and have breakfast.

And it was time for Wei Shu to return to the academy.