Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

In the third year that Qi Heng attended Sheng Family Academy, Gu Tingye, who was originally studying at Bai Lu Dong Academy, was called back to the capital by his father, Ning Yuan Hou. Chang Bai, because of their friendship over the years, directly invited him to study at his home. Sheng Hong thought that since he had already accepted Qi Heng, it would not be a problem to accept Gu Tingye as well, so he personally mentioned it to Master Zhuang.

Master Zhuang originally had some concerns. After all, Gu Tingye was famous. Even though Master Zhuang himself was not the kind of person who would follow the crowd, he felt that the inner quarters of the Ningyuan Marquis' Mansion were too complicated, so of course he would be a little hesitant.

However, Changbai showed the homework of Gu Tingye in Bailudong Academy to Zhuang Xuejiu. Zhuang Xuejiu just sighed and said to Changbai: "Gu Tingye has been delayed by his family. If he can't wake up, I'm afraid he will have no future."

Changbai has always had a filter through his eyes for Gu Tingye's ridiculous deeds over the years because Gu Tingye also has the ideal of recovering the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. But he also knows that elders like Zhuang Xuejiu and Sheng Hong have a more accurate view of people, so he didn't say much, but just mentioned it when he talked about this matter with Gu Tingye.

The eldest lady of the Ningyuan Marquis's mansion, Xiao Qin, was a capable person. Ningyuan Marquis Gu Yankai was still alive, and she was a loving mother in front of Gu Tingye and in public. So she quickly packed the apprenticeship gifts and thank-you gifts, and went to visit in person, just like Princess Pingning.

But compared with Princess Pingning, the wife of Marquis Ningyuan seemed less sincere. She said from beginning to end that Gu Tingye was a stubborn and somewhat mischievous child, and asked everyone in the Sheng family to be more tolerant of him, and she would naturally teach him a lesson when she returned.

Not to mention, although Old Madam Sheng didn't care much about the affairs, she felt that the Ningyuan Marquis' wife, her stepmother, had been good to Gu Tingye. And Wang Ruofu even felt that the lady of the Marquis's mansion was a pure and untainted white lotus among the wives of the nobles, and she was different from those other noble ladies who only cared about the rich and powerful.

Little did she know that people in Ningyuan Marquis' Mansion were saying behind her back that Wang Ruofu was really stupid, and could not compare with her sister Wang Ruoyu in terms of appearance and scheming. She was just lucky to marry into a family with some potential like Sheng Hong, and gave birth to an ambitious son. Even her daughter had a mother-in-law like Old Lady Sheng, who came from Yongyi Marquis' Mansion and planned her in-laws for her.

Qi Heng also welcomed Gu Tingye's arrival with open arms. On Gu Tingye's first day of school, he arrived a little earlier just to make time to introduce Gu Tingye to everyone.

Qi Heng said without hesitation: "The Ningyuan Marquisate is related to my mother's maternal family. When it comes to our generation, I happen to be one generation younger, so I should call him Second Uncle."

Minglan arrived a little earlier. She raised her eyes and carefully exchanged a glance with Qi Heng, then bowed timidly and addressed Gu Tingye as "Second Uncle Gu".

Because the competition between Gu Tingye and Chang Feng did not happen in the end, and the Sheng family was not at fault except for Wei Xiaoniang herself when Wei Xiaoniang gave birth, so Minglan had no chance to go out to find a doctor or midwife for Wei Xiaoniang, and naturally had no chance to meet Gu Tingye, who was using the alias Bai Ye. At this time, Gu Tingye looked at the timid Minglan and thought of his weak and helpless concubine Zhu Manniang.

Gu Tingye always spoke without reservation. He saw the eye-to-eye quarrel between Qi Heng and Ming Lan, so he winked at Chang Bai and said, "Brother Zecheng, you are going to be the eldest brother-in-law soon. Look at my nephew, he doesn't even blink when he looks at your sixth daughter. I'm just curious, should we call each other brothers in the future, or should you just follow Yuan Ruo and call me second uncle?"

Minglan and Qi Heng blushed immediately, and Changbai's smile disappeared immediately. He remembered that Wang Ruofu and Rulan had complained to him about Princess Pingning's overly domineering attitude.

Without waiting for Changbai to say anything, Changfeng came over with Molan and Rulan. Changfeng keenly noticed that the atmosphere was not right, so he teased Gu Tingye directly, "Brother Bai, do you still want to compete with me in pitching pots?"

Gu Tingye also realized that he had said the wrong thing before. Now that Chang Feng had spoken, he also took advantage of the situation and bowed his hands with an unconvinced look on his face: "Back then, you scolded me all over. Let alone pitching pots, I didn't even touch a hair. Today, we have time at noon and we must have a conclusion!"

Changbai introduced Molan and Rulan to Gu Tingye: "These are my fourth and fifth sisters. They live close to each other and are used to walking together. Both sisters, come and meet Brother Zhonghuai. You don't have to be polite. Just call him the second brother of the Gu family."

Chang Feng first bowed and called out "Second Brother Gu", and Molan and Rulan followed suit, stepped forward and bowed slightly to greet "Second Brother Gu", and everyone knew they had met before.

But Minglan was too delicate. She recalled how Gu Tingye had teased her and Qi Heng in front of Changbai before, and she spent the whole morning worrying that Changbai would complain. She was caught by Master Zhuang for being distracted in class and was punished to copy the Salt and Iron Theory.

In fact, Changbai didn't think much about it. After all, although Qi Heng was old enough to get married, Minglan was not even ten years old. It was too early to say anything. But to be honest, Changbai himself didn't want any of his sisters to marry his classmates. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with Gu Tingye and Qi Heng, but the families of their two families were too high, so it was really inappropriate.

Even now, when looking at Hualan's marriage, Changbai is somewhat unhappy. The inner house of the Yuan family is in chaos, and Lady Zhongqin wants to call Hualan over every day to "set rules". Changbai also knows very well that Hualan's patience now is all for the sake of her sisters at home, so he studies more seriously every day, hoping to pass the imperial examination in one go, so that Hualan's in-laws will be a little afraid and live a good life for Hualan.

Gu Tingye's arrival did not change anything in the Sheng family, but Qi Heng and Minglan, who had been teased by him, took him to heart. As they grew older, they really began to like each other. Molan once again accidentally saw Qi Heng secretly giving Minglan a pair of jade pens, but she didn't expect that Minglan gave the jade pens to herself and Ruolan respectively, and she, the person involved, got nothing.

Molan didn't care about the jade pen at all, and she didn't want to be dragged out by Minglan to take the blame. Rulan had the same idea. After the two sisters made a plan, they directly sent the jade pen to Old Madam Sheng.

Molan said respectfully to Old Lady Sheng, "Grandmother, this jade pen was sent by Minglan. Moer thinks it is rare, but I can't bear to let Sixth Sister spend so much money on it. Besides, Moer's relationship with Sixth Sister was not as close as that with Fifth Sister. Moer feels ashamed to accept it."

Rulan also said respectfully to Old Lady Sheng: "Jade pens are hard to come by, and I don't know if Sixth Sister has kept them for herself. If she doesn't have any, Ruer wouldn't dare to take them."

Minglan didn't expect that her two sisters would go directly to the old lady like this. She didn't even dare to tell the old lady that Qi Heng only gave her the gift, so she was left there.

Fortunately, Mrs. Sheng always favored Minglan. She thought about it and realized that the jade pen was given by an outsider. As for why Minglan gave them all away, it was probably to gamble with her two sisters. She immediately explained to Minglan: "It's rare for your sixth sister to give you something. Don't refuse. It's normal for sisters to give gifts to each other."

Molan didn't intend to let Minglan get away with it, so she said directly: "Since grandma said so, I will definitely not refuse. But this jade pen was originally given by a man from another family, and I saw it with my own eyes, so I dare not accept it."

Old Madam Sheng did not even look at Minglan's expression. She just sighed inwardly and became more and more annoyed with Molan. However, she still wanted to make amends for Minglan at this moment. "How dare I give you things belonging to a stranger tomorrow? These are my things. You two sisters can just accept them with peace of mind."