Go Kneel
"Ah!" Zhao Jingtai shouted as he saw Zhao Jingli climbing up to grab him, and continued climbing.
The spot where Zhao Jingtai was standing was already half a zhang high. Now, as he climbed further, the tree branches were very thin, making it difficult to stand steadily. The branches were starting to bend downwards, and it looked like they wouldn't be able to support his weight.
Seeing this, the First Madam quickly lifted her skirt and ran over, shouting, "Jingtai, come down!" She then called to Zhao Jingli, "Young Master Li, don't chase after him anymore."
But a brat is a brat, and he can't be controlled by the adults' wishes. Even when he saw his own mother arrive, Zhao Jingtai was not afraid at all, and his expression towards Zhao Jingli became even more smug.
This time, he had already tucked the book into his arms. With an empty mouth, seeing his elder brother's face flushed red, he found it amusing and continued reciting the words he had just memorized, "Her silk robe was lightly loosened, revealing her fragrant shoulders, their skin like solidified cream..."
"Jingtai, if you keep talking nonsense, I... I... I'll catch you and spank you!" Zhao Jingli was so anxious that he didn't know what to do, so he grabbed the tree branch and continued to climb up.
He was already a fourteen-year-old boy. The first wife of the Marquis's mansion was strict and did not arrange a maidservant for him. However, his friends outside the mansion, who were the same age as him or a year or two older, had already experienced such things. The boy, who was just beginning to understand these things, was both curious and ashamed to talk about them. In private, he would circulate these erotic novels.
Zhao Jingli had just borrowed this storybook from a friend and was engrossed in reading it, half-covering it, when his mischievous younger brother snatched it away.
If he had acted indifferently, it wouldn't have mattered. Ten-year-old Zhao Jingtai wouldn't understand these things. If he flipped through it a couple of times and found it uninteresting, Zhao Jingli could have coaxed him with something else, and maybe he would have given it back.
Unfortunately, this was the first time he had ever read such a storybook, and now that his younger brother had snatched it from him, he was both ashamed and annoyed, afraid that people would find out. Zhao Jingtai had never seen his older brother like this before, and on a whim, he decided to tease him, which led to this whole commotion, which was overheard by their mother and Xu Xi, who had just been brought back to the mansion.
The thought that his cousin had overheard this made Zhao Jingli wish he could disappear into the ground. He no longer cared about his brother's safety or his mother's warnings. All he wanted to do was catch his brother, snatch the storybook from his hand, and destroy the evidence.
Seeing Zhao Jingtai climbing higher and higher, and Zhao Jingli even trying to catch up, the First Madam was both anxious and angry, and shouted from below, "Stop! All of you stop!"
Xu Xi was also terrified. This brat Zhao Jingtai didn't know the meaning of the word "fear" at all. He was teasing Zhao Jingli while climbing higher and higher, and the branches under his feet were getting thinner and thinner. If he lost his footing or the branches couldn't bear the weight and broke, he would fall from about two meters.
Two meters isn't particularly tall, but it's not short either. Although the ground under the tree is muddy rather than paved, if you fall at the wrong angle and break a bone or spine, you might lose half your life.
She turned her head and saw seven or eight maids and servants standing in the courtyard, but their eyes were all fixed on the tree, and they didn't care about anything else.
She quickly called out, "Quick, everyone come over here, get under the tree!" With that, she was the first to run to the tree. Qingfeng and Caidie hesitated for a moment, then followed closely behind.
The First Madam was always kind to the servants and was very generous. The servants knew that even if they didn't end up being useful, the First Madam would definitely reward those who came to the tree to fetch the young master today. Therefore, Xu Xi called out, everyone realized what was going on and quickly ran to the tree, reaching out their hands just like Xu Xi.
Before these people could even get to the tree and stand down, a branch snapped, and Zhao Jingtai, who had been intently teasing Zhao Jingli and muttering something to himself, suddenly fell down.
Fortunately, the First Madam, Xu Xi, Qingfeng, Caidie were already standing under the tree, along with two maids who were very close by. The six of them were already below Zhao Jingtai, and when he fell, they caught him.
Zhao Jingtai was a chubby boy, weighing about 80 or 90 pounds by modern standards. Plus, he fell from a height of two meters. Even if six frail women tried to catch him, how could they possibly hold him up? They were also worried about getting hurt themselves, so they instinctively protected themselves and only managed to block him for a moment before he fell to the ground.
"How is Jingtai? Did you fall? Tell your mother where it hurts." The First Madam was terrified, her face turning deathly pale.
Zhao Jingtai grimaced and rubbed his bottom, then stood up with the help of the maids and servants. He grinned at his mother and said, "My bottom is practically split in eight pieces."
The First Madam was both angry and resentful, and couldn't help but slap Zhao Jingtai on the shoulder. "I'll teach you to be cheeky, I'll teach you to be cheeky!"
"Ouch, Mom, it hurts so much here, it hurts so much!" Seeing that his mother was angry, the naughty child quickly changed tactics and pretended to be pitiful.
The First Madam knew he was faking it, but she still couldn't help worrying and instructed a maid, "Go and fetch Physician Shi to examine the young master."
After instructing the maid, she turned to Zhao Jingli, who was climbing down from the tree, and yelled, "Zhao Jingli, are you trying to drive me crazy? You know perfectly well that your brother is naughty, yet instead of trying to reason with him, you chased him up the tree. I couldn't stop you no matter how much I called out to you. What if he falls and gets hurt? Would that be what you want?"
As she spoke, her eyes reddened, and she cried and cursed, "You still read those kinds of books, you corrupted your brother, and you made a scene in the whole mansion! I... I... all my years of teaching you have been wasted!"
As she spoke, she burst into tears. All the pressure and torment she had endured over the past few days were released at this moment. Once the tears started flowing, she couldn't stop. She hugged Xu Xi, who was trying to comfort her, and cried her heart out.
Zhao Jingli and Zhao Jingtai were both frightened.
In their memory, no matter how difficult things were, their mother always faced them with a smile; even when their maternal grandfather passed away, no matter how heartbroken their mother was, she would only find a secluded place to quietly wipe away her tears for a while, and never cried so unrestrainedly as she did now.
"You... you go kneel in the ancestral hall, and you are not allowed to get up without my permission," the First Madam said, pointing at Zhao Jingli and crying.
Zhao Jingli didn't take it seriously. As the heir apparent, his mother was stricter with him than with his other brothers. He was often punished by being forced to kneel in the ancestral hall when he was young. He was called up after only half an hour.
His mother always felt sorry for him, fearing that his knees wouldn't be able to take it, and never really punished him severely.
Seeing his mother crying like this, and his brother being punished by kneeling in the ancestral hall, Zhao Jingtai felt uneasy and said to his mother with a guilty expression, "Mother, how about... I go kneel in the ancestral hall too?"
"Where are you going? You wait here while the doctor checks if you're hurt." The First Madam glared at him. But as she glared, tears welled up again, and she hugged Xu Xi and cried once more.