Chapter 257

"Mother, the carriage is still waiting over there. I really have to go," Xiao Liangchen said.

Liu Shi, however, grabbed the bundle in his hands and refused to let go, no matter what: "No, Mother must go with you, otherwise I won't be at ease."

Her son was going to be on the same boat as that little vixen A'Man for several days; if something were to happen, that would be a disaster.

She would absolutely not allow anyone to ruin her son's future!

Xiao Liangchen looked helplessly at his father beside him.

Father Xiao's face darkened as he pulled his wife over with force, his eyes filled with rage: "Have you made enough of a scene? Wasn't today's embarrassment enough? Because of you, Chen'er has been scolded by his teacher, mocked by his peers, and ridiculed by others—he has lost all face!"

"If you follow him now, you aren't helping Chen'er, you're harming him, do you understand?"

Liu Shi didn't understand; she only knew that everything she did was for her son's own good.

"I don't care, I must go!"

Father Xiao's back teeth were almost ground to dust, and he could no longer hold back: "Fine! If you dare to go today, I dare to divorce you!"

Divorce her?

Liu Shi stared at him in disbelief: "His father, are you serious?"

Father Xiao sneered: "Don't believe me? Try it."

Liu Shi was completely stunned.

If she were truly divorced, wouldn't she become like Zheng Huilan next door, a cast-off woman spat upon by everyone?

And if her son became the top scholar and an official in the future, wouldn't she lose the chance to enjoy the good life with him?

That would never do.

Liu Shi had no choice but to compromise, saying huffily: "If I'm not going, I'm not going. I'd rather have some peace and quiet anyway."

Xiao Liangchen breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly turned to climb into the last carriage.

Liu Shi still felt uneasy, so she chased after it, shouting instructions: "Chen'er, remember, you must do well on the exam. You must come back as the Prefectural Top Scholar to see your mother!"

Inside the carriage, Xiao Liangchen's hand tightened around his bundle; it felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.

He lowered his eyes and did not respond.

The two classmates in the same carriage laughed and teased: "Brother Xiao, your mother has high expectations for you."

"That's for sure. With Brother Xiao's talent, even if you don't take the Prefectural Top Scholar spot, you're guaranteed to be in the top ten."

Xiao Liangchen pulled the corner of his mouth into a forced smile: "Not at all. The Prefectural Examination is full of talent; what am I compared to them?"

Not to mention others, he didn't even have the confidence to beat Jiang Zhan.

But no matter what, he would give it his all. He hoped he wouldn't let his mother down...

Liu Shi chased for a while, but seeing she couldn't keep up, she stopped, panting. She called for her husband, and the couple headed toward the town entrance.

Even from far away, one could still hear Liu Shi's cursing and complaining.

Saying that the master was a piece of trash and the servant wasn't any better.

Saying it was a good thing she didn't let her son marry her back then, otherwise there would be no peace in the house, and her son's life would have been ruined...

"Pah, what a piece of work!" Shang Tianyou stood with his hands on his hips, spitting at the backs of the two as they left: "If it weren't for Xiao Liangchen's sake, just for the fact that she dared to badmouth A'Zhan's sister-in-law behind her back, I would have made her pay!"

Beside him, Doctor Chen's eyes flickered: "Tianyou seems to have a good relationship with that Young Master Jiang Zhan?"

Shang Tianyou glanced at him: "What are you trying to say?"

"Nothing, nothing, what could I say? I am merely a doctor retained by the Shang family; there are some things I shouldn't be saying."

Doctor Chen smiled inscrutably: "I am only responsible for the Young Master's health; I don't concern myself with anything else."

Shang Tianyou huffed: "You know your place."

"Yes, yes, I have always known my place. Otherwise, your father wouldn't have let me take care of you for so many years, right?"

As he spoke, Doctor Chen's expression turned serious: "However, Young Master, I must remind you: recently, you should try to eat fewer cold foods."

Shang Tianyou raised an eyebrow: "Why?"

Doctor Chen: "Your period is coming."

*Whoosh! * Shang Tianyou jumped up and hurriedly covered his mouth: "You're going to be the death of me! Why are you saying it so loudly!"

He looked around, and seeing no one nearby, he let out a breath like a thief and let go of Doctor Chen.

"Let it come then, it's going to come sooner or later anyway." Shang Tianyou shrugged indifferently.

"In my opinion, Young Master, it would be best if you didn't live at the academy in the future, so as not to give the game away," Doctor Chen suggested.

Shang Tianyou waved his hand dismissively: "It's fine. A'Zhan is very simple-minded; he won't be able to tell."

Doctor Chen disagreed: "Young Master Jiang was able to become the County Top Scholar; he must be extremely intelligent. He hasn't thought in that direction before, but as you are about to come of age, your body will become increasingly different. Even if Young Master Jiang is simple-minded, he will eventually notice something is amiss. How will you wrap things up then?"

If it were known that Shang Tianyou was a woman, the Shang family would be turned upside down.

Those relatives who coveted the Shang family's wealth would tear off their hypocritical masks one by one and devour the Shang family whole.

Even the three Shang sisters would become victims of the struggle.

Therefore, to protect the Shang family, Shang Tianyou was destined to be a man for the rest of his life.

And destined to have no romantic future with Jiang Zhan.

Shang Tianyou knew this all too well.

His expression dimmed, like a rich, colorful portrait that had suddenly lost all its color, turning into a lifeless puppet.

After a long silence, Shang Tianyou finally returned to his usual devil-may-care self: "Fine, I'll listen to you. I'll go in and pack my things now, and I'll move out today."

With that, he walked toward the academy gate with the arrogant stride of a second-generation heir.

Soon, his figure disappeared.

Doctor Chen shook his head and sighed: "Poor child, to have to shoulder so much at such a young age. What a sin..."

Du Ruo also felt that she was quite miserable at this moment.

She had thought that a large ship costing ten taels of silver per person would at least be decent, even if it wasn't a super cruise ship like the Titanic—which couldn't be built with ancient technology anyway.

But when she got off the carriage and trudged to the pier with her bundle, what she saw was a broken ship!

Yes, a broken ship.

It was quite long, about twenty meters; the deck and cabins looked quite large.

Two white sails stood at the bow, making a rustling sound in the river breeze.

The most suffocating part was that the hull was riddled with holes and covered in patches, looking as if it had just been recycled from a junkyard.

Du Ruo's mouth twitched.

What happened to the safety? What happened to the comfort?

Ten taels of silver for a ticket, and this is it?

Du Ruo didn't really want to get on. She had drowned in her past life, and having finally made it this far in this life, she didn't want to drown again.

"Sister-in-law, let's go too." Seeing Du Ruo standing there in a daze, Jiang Zhan reminded her.

Du Ruo said "Oh."

Forget it, since she was already here, she might as well make the best of it. She'd go up and take a look first.

She lifted her feet to follow the group, stepping onto the deck reluctantly.

The captain probably knew they were all scholars, so his attitude was good. He respectfully explained the ship's rules and then began assigning rooms.

There were nine students from Xiushan Academy participating in the Prefectural Examination this time, plus Master Jiang, for a total of ten people.

In addition, there was the team leader, Master Yan, two guarantors, and three guards to protect them along the way.

Besides that, there were the people accompanying the examinees.

As mentioned before, those who could afford to study were mostly from families with some means, so they naturally didn't lack servants. Therefore, except for a few, everyone had two or three people accompanying them.

In this way, the number of people surged to nearly forty.

The captain was naturally very happy; more people meant more money for him.

Du Ruo, however, was not very happy.

She was assigned to the cabin at the very edge, sharing it with two other people.

One was a maid from the wealthy Bian family named Jin Que, who was accompanying her young master to Fengyang Prefecture for the exam.

The other was an old woman in her sixties, not there to accompany an examinee, but the cook responsible for preparing meals on this broken ship.

Her surname was Long.

She seemed to be deaf and mute.