His head buzzed, followed by a piercing pain. His forehead was wet, and something seemed to be dripping down. He wiped it with his hand, and the sticky sensation made his heart tighten.
He raised his chubby little hand before his eyes. All he could see was crimson.
"Blood... blood... am I going to die? Waaah..." Shiyan's face turned deathly pale with fright. He clutched his head and burst into tears. The children who had picked the fight with him looked at one another, frozen in place and at a loss.
Meng Anci gave him a cool glance and walked out of the Enlightenment Academy. Zhao Zhiyuan followed behind him and offered a helpful reminder. "Aren't you going to find a teacher?"
"I wasn't the one who pushed him."
Zhao Zhiyuan studied him curiously. The child was only four, a year younger than him, so why did he seem like such a freak, impossible to figure out?
They had gone less than a hundred meters when Master Zhao hurried over and called them to a stop. He said to Zhao Zhiyuan, "You go home first. I have something to say to Meng Anci."
Zhao Zhiyuan obediently bowed, glanced at Meng Anci, and turned to leave.
Meng Anci was not as calm as he appeared. According to the Illustrated Guide to the Hunting of a Hundred Beasts, running was useless when you encountered a ferocious animal.
You had to face it, look it in the eye, and summon all your courage to fight it. That way, you could die with dignity.
Meng Anci feigned calm. "Did you need something, Master?"
Master Zhao stared at him meaningfully. Only that morning, he had told the other teachers that the child was bright and quick-witted, and that with proper guidance, he had the makings of a top scholar.
But what had happened just now had left him deeply disappointed in Meng Anci.
No matter how clever a student was, once his character went astray, all his gifts and abilities would ultimately be empty talk.
Master Zhao let out a long sigh. The young children at the Enlightenment Academy had been too frightened to run around after Shiyan cracked his head open, yet Meng Anci had gone home with his satchel as though nothing had happened.
"Shiyan said you cracked his head open?"
"No. He ran into the wall himself." Meng Anci looked Master Zhao in the eyes as he stated the facts. After a moment's thought, he added, "I didn't even touch the hem of his clothes."
Master Zhao was silent for a long time before he slowly spoke, his voice heavy with weariness and disappointment. "Meng Anci, you and he are classmates. When you saw him injured, didn't you feel the slightest ripple in your heart?"
Meng Anci nodded earnestly. "I did. I still can't figure out why he ran into the wall. Do you know why, Master?"
The question left Master Zhao speechless. Meng Anci had neither tattled nor said that Shiyan had bullied him, but had instead asked him why.
For a moment, he could not tell whether Meng Anci was playing dumb or was simply an innocent child.
"That's all. Go home."
Meng Anci copied Zhao Zhiyuan's movements and gave Master Zhao an awkward, mismatched bow before turning toward the academy gate.
Master Zhao stared for a moment, then laughed. He had been overthinking it. What schemes could a four-year-old child possibly have?
Jin Shanyao was waiting outside the academy, with Black Grand Marshal tethered behind the ox cart. When he saw his little master come out, he excitedly tossed his head at Meng Anci again and again.
Unfortunately, Meng Anci did not ride him. Instead, he walked up to Jin Shanyao and spread his arms. She promptly slipped her hands under his arms and lifted him onto the cart.
Meng Anzhi handed him the tanghulu in her hand. "How was the academy today?"
Meng Anci took a crunchy bite of tanghulu. "Pretty good," he said indistinctly.
As he spoke, he took a test paper from his satchel and casually held it out to Jin Shanyao. "It was the academy's year-end examination. I came first."
"Heavens, my precious, you actually came first!" Jin Shanyao's understanding of social niceties had progressed by leaps and bounds lately. The moment Meng Anci took out the test paper, she knew why he had not ridden the horse.
The tips of Meng Anci's ears reddened slightly. He deliberately turned his head away from Jin Shanyao and said coolly, "Oh, the questions were too easy. Anyone with hands could have done it. There's nothing worth praising."
After speaking, he stole a glance at Jin Shanyao. Seeing her happily holding the test paper, he could not help the corners of his lips curling up.
"All right, what's there to look at?" He reached out, pulled the paper back, and stuffed it into his satchel as though it were nothing, then held up his tanghulu and nibbled at it.
Meng Anzhi looked at her little brother's expression and could not help rolling her eyes.
That evening, Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci sat reading on the warm kang. Dahuang and Xiaoli were curled up sound asleep at the far end, while Jin Shanyao sewed winter clothes.
"Hiss..." The needle pricked Jin Shanyao's finger by accident. She secretly pinched her fingertip, finished the last stitch, and shook out the garment.
"Anzhi, come over and try it on."
Meng Anzhi put down her book and stood up in front of Jin Shanyao. She had eaten and slept well these past six months, and had grown half a head taller than when they first met. Jin Shanyao slipped the garment onto her.
She examined her from both sides. "Very nice. My Anzhi looks beautiful in anything."
Meng Anzhi was a little embarrassed. She felt the yellow padded jacket. "Auntie, yellow gets dirty easily, and washing clothes in winter makes your hands freeze and is tiring. You should have bought me gray."
She often went up the mountain and came back covered in dirt, with holes snagged all over her clothes. There was no need to wear something so nice.
Jin Shanyao reached out and straightened her collar. "Who wants to wear those dreary gray clothes? My Anzhi is beautiful, so she should wear bright colors. Besides, how much cloth is there in your clothes? Auntie can manage to wash them."
Meng Anzhi got off the kang and went to the bronze mirror, turning this way and that as she looked. The yellow clothes were like ginkgo leaves. They were so pretty.
Jin Shanyao picked up another blue garment and began sewing. The winter clothes from the ready-made clothing shop had less cotton and were not as thick and warm as the ones she made herself. She gave a great yawn.
Trees went dormant in winter, and Jin Shanyao could barely muster her spirits. Holding the needle, she felt sleepy. Her hair had all fallen out half a month ago; if she were not maintaining the illusion with Spiritual Power, she would be bald now.
"Tomorrow, let's go to the county town and buy a shop. It's getting colder and colder, and sitting outside to treat people isn't suitable."
Meng Anzhi took off the padded jacket and folded it carefully. "How much does a shop cost? Is it expensive?" They had earned 1,700 taels selling medicinal herbs at the start, but had sold nothing else since.
Auntie's prices for divination went up and down, and in a month she did not earn more than a few taels of silver.
She also treated people and gave them medicine for free. They spent more money than they earned.
Jin Shanyao smiled. "This place of ours isn't the capital. How expensive could a shop possibly be? If we don't have enough money, the two of us can go up the mountain to gather herbs."
Meng Anzhi nodded gently. She was not thinking of going up the mountain to dig up herbs. Instead, she thought they could no longer give medicine away for free. Auntie spent money with a lavish hand, so she had to save it.
Meng Anci had been unusually quiet today. He had not turned a page of the book in his hands for a long time. Shiyan had bled so much... Would he die? Probably not. Judging by Master Zhao's expression, Shiyan should be all right.
That little tattletale Shiyan-what if his family comes looking for me? Will Auntie scold me when she finds out I fought at the academy? If Shiyan's family comes, how should I deal with them?
His little head was crammed with jumbled thoughts.
The next day, Madam Shi and her household servants blocked the academy entrance. When she saw the ox cart approaching from a distance, she asked Shiyan,
"Is that them?"
A strip of white cloth was wrapped around Shiyan's head. He pointed at Meng Anci and said viciously, "That's him. He's the one who made me crack my head open."
Madam Shi's temper flared at once. This bumpkin, who had crawled out of who knew what backwater, dared to bully her precious son? He had a death wish.
She charged up to the ox cart and pointed at Meng Anci, launching into a tirade. "Well, well! I've finally caught you! You little bastard with a mother who gave birth to you but never raised you! How dare you hit my son!"
The old ox let out a startled moo and backed away several steps. Jin Shanyao tightened her grip on the reins and cursed it as useless. Had she known, she would have brought Dahuang and Xiaoli.