Chapter 201: Zhou Huang

Marquis of Wei Ting discovered that the three people who claimed they would go hunting for a day had all returned before noon.

"It's not even dark yet; you turned back halfway?"

Wei Shen waved his hand, poured himself a cup of tea, and began to gulp, saying, "Don't mention it… …they all arrived, your great-grandson saw both mountain pythons and pig-woman dragons in the woods and refused to go in no matter what!"

"Pig-woman dragons? You must be hoping to run into one—what nice things are you dreaming of?"

Wei Ke came in to explain the riddle to his grandfather: "Zhetian finished our work in a moment, catching eight pig-woman dragons and one mountain python on its own—let's add a dish for lunch."

As soon as Marquis of Wei Ting went out, he saw the eldest's meritorious official in his mouth being held upside down by the Great King by its claw, being wiped with a wet cloth, while the huge fluffy creature named Bai Ze watched on…

The Great King asked his maternal grandfather's guards for a wet cloth, holding Zhetian's claw and rubbing it, muttering: "I still don't feel at ease; whenever I think of you grabbing the mountain python's claw and perching on my shoulder, my shoulder itches… …Rest assured, once you wipe it clean, you can still have it…"

Zhetian retracted its wings, head down, being held by the Great King in his hand, frantically rubbing its claw…

After finishing his water and coming out, Wei Shen added, "You see I wasn't wrong, right? The Great King is fiercer than any fierce beast."

Marquis of Wei Ting: ……

The Great King absolutely refuses to eat mountain python, but when a plate of peeled, tender pig-woman dragon meat was served at lunch, he himself ate half a bowl of meat. All the meat served here at Marquis of Wei Ting's place is good meat, with no trace of its former ugly appearance.

"It's really fragrant! Grandfather, if you had chili and potato chunks to stew, it would be even more fragrant~"

Wei Shen: "Exactly, add some chili! I really miss the food from Youzhou."

Great King: "Right, right~"

Wei Ke: ……Who was it that everyone disliked at first glance?

In the afternoon, the Great King turned into a well-behaved child, accompanying his maternal grandfather at work, plus the three uncles staying in one room chatting about family matters, and they also discussed their white sugar workshop.

Wei Peng had already sent people to cut sugarcane and prepare tools; the Wei family has a sugarcane grove, and once preparations are ready in a few days they will open for business—if the process goes smoothly and quickly, the Great King will be able to eat the Wei family's white sugar by the New Year.

The Great King thought about it, feeling satisfied. Sugar, his maternal clan makes it themselves; salt, he has decided to go to the Liaodong Peninsula to evaporate it himself, self-sufficient~

After feeling satisfied with beauty, they discussed logistics and then dispersed.

The next day, upon waking, the Great King thought of the newly acquainted Zhou Huang. Following the principle of making one acquaintance lead to another, he had Wei Ke send someone to the Zhou household to summon him out to play.

A servant of the Wei family delivered a note, saying that the young master and Zhou Huang hit it off at first sight, inviting him to go out and play together.

Zhou Huang's mother is Zhou Jing's third aunt; upon receiving the note, she immediately worried. Offending the Wei family would be bad, but Ah Huang needs to study—what's there to play?

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jing's mother immediately sent someone to summon Zhou Huang back, and also called for Wei Yi to ask her about Wei Taiping's preferences, fearing Zhou Huang might offend them again if he returned.

"The younger cousin is easygoing and magnanimous; as long as we interact sincerely, there will be no matter of offending or not offending. How the fourth brother got along with him that day, we'll continue to do so." She thought that just one meeting earning the prince's favor meant Zhou Huang had performed well that day, so they should keep it up.

Hearing this, Wei Shen surely jumped up to object—those little brats can hold grudges, after all!

Zhou Huang recalled, wondering how they had interacted that day—patting his shoulder and calling him a kid?

But forget it; if you didn't know, it's fine, but now that you know and still do that… …it probably won't work.

What an interesting kid—how did he become a feudal lord? So gloomy.

After leaving the main house, his mother, still full of theatrical worries, said: "Playing with the Prince You, does our family count as taking sides? Does it count as being on good terms with the Prince You?" What hidden dangers could there be?

Zhou Huang laughed upon hearing: "Mother, wake up. We are in Chanzhou, originally within the Marquis of Wei Ting's territory, naturally seen as part of the Marquis of Wei Ting's forces. Moreover, my second brother married the daughter of the Marquis of Wei Ting's heir, already aligning with the Prince You's faction, right?"

That's true.

Upon arriving at the Marquis of Wei Ting's manor, the servant led him to Wei Taiping's courtyard.

As soon as he entered, he saw Prince You sitting on the stone table in the courtyard, swinging his legs…

Though there were stools, he didn't sit, instead perching on the table with an eagle, closely examining whatever was bulging in his mouth…

He hurriedly took two steps forward, performed a deep bow—privately everyone knew it would be bad to be rude.

"Greetings, young master!"

Great King: "Huh? Get up… don't be so polite…"

Upon hearing the movement inside, Wei Shen came out and looked at his mouth: "Wei Taiping! You're eating sugar again, and so much of it? Where are you hiding this sugar?"

The Great King covered his mouth, then quickly opened a gap: "If you're capable, make me spit it out!" After shouting, he quickly covered it again.

Zhou Huang: ……

Not quite as imagined.

But soon he overturned his previous idea.

Prince You is not just a simple brat; the Great King wants to recruit Chanzhou's students to the Northern Border Academy, and in his presence he doesn't dare show off lightly.

The knowledge he gained from Meng Meng and Bai Yang makes it still easy to fool a pure-hearted native of the Great Jin.

Zhou Huang quickly realized the Great King was not merely erudite; he seemed to know everything.

Moreover, the concepts in the Great King's mind are beyond what someone who has studied the classics and histories in Chanzhou for a few years can access; he opened the door to a new world for him.

As it turns out, the president of the Northern Border Academy is Xie Yuan, and the Northern Border Academy's curriculum is so rich and interesting. Prince You, at his young age, is said to often skip class, yet he understands so much!

The Great King spent one afternoon dismantling Zhou Huang's top choice of sacred learning place, the Qingyang Academy.

"Our Northern Border Academy's textbooks are unrivaled in depth worldwide; Ah Huang, you're so smart you can definitely give it a try—don't bury your talent in Chanzhou! How's my brother-in-law? Is he smart? I had originally planned to invite him to study at the Northern Border Academy, but worried he couldn't keep up. Do you have any smart classmates? You could invite them to study together in Youzhou. We'll protect the academy well—rest assured on safety, our Youzhou city walls are taller than Chang'an's……"

Wei Shen coughed at the right moment, and the Great King gave Zhou Huang a knowing look.

Zhou Huang: ……Taller than Chang'an? Does your father know?

The Great King's meaning is that if Zhou Jing isn't top-tier smart, he's not really suited for the Northern Border Academy, but you'll do fine.

He thought the Wei family would be reluctant to let Wei Yi leave Chanzhou, so the Great King only coaxed Zhou Huang.

One afternoon wasn't enough; after Wei Yi returned home, the Great King also invited Zhou Huang to come along.

Anyway, Zhou Huang played with the Great King for three days; before the Great King set off, Zhou Huang had already formally proposed to his family that he wanted to study at the Northern Border Academy in Youzhou.