Fields of Gold (Web Novel)

The imperial family’s academy was located on the east side of the imperial city and was a school for the ‘rich and nobility’. It started off from ‘kindergarten’ all the way to the ‘class for people taking the metropolitan civil exam’. The academy only allowed members of the imperial family as well as the children of fourth-ranked officials and above to attend.

The teachers in the academy were all extremely qualified as they were all well-known scholars who had gotten either first, second, or third place in the imperial exams. The current prime minister was also an instructor there and the martial arts instructors were all experienced generals. Imperial Prince Xu had also been invited over to teach the students martial arts and equestrian skills…

It was now a known fact that the crown prince was going to become the next emperor and that the imperial academy was established for the crown prince to find talented folks. In order to enter the imperial family’s eyes, many people in the capital racked their brains to find a way to get their children in. This was because the academy had strict entry requirements. One not only had to have the right status, but the school also cared about the morality and behavior of the prospective students. Those who didn’t meet these standards were asked to leave.

Currently, a little issue had occurred at the imperial family’s academy. The wife of the imperial tutor was leading along a pale and fat…‘panda’, and she was currently vehemently arguing with Yu Fan, who was unfortunately on duty that day, “Just look ah! My grandson has been beat up into a pulp. Isn’t the academy a safe place for learning ah? Isn’t it important that all of the students behave properly and correctly ah? As teachers, how could you indulge the members of the imperial family and allow them to bully other students ah?”

The little fatty that she was holding onto had two black eyes and a split lip. It was obvious at a glance that he had been pummeled by someone.

“Paternal Grandmother, Paternal Grandmother, please don’t say anymore! I already told you that I had gotten accidentally injured when I was sparring with one of my classmates. It was truly an accident. Don’t make a fuss anymore!” The little fatty pulled anxiously on the older woman’s hand. Sweat poured down his face.

The wife of the imperial tutor felt even worse now. Her eyes turned red, “Just look, just look! The child is this scared now! He doesn’t even dare to speak up after being pushed around! Teacher Yu, just look at his injuries. It’s obvious that he had been beaten heavily by someone. He not only has wounds on his face but also his body. Who would believe that it was a mere accident ah? Today, if you don’t resolve this in a satisfactory manner, I will change into court dress and ask the emperor to take charge of this!! We absolutely cannot allow some relative of the imperial family to use his power and background to bully the weak!”

“That’s right! The imperial family’s academy absolutely would not allow anyone to bully other students. Beloved Official Yu, I assign this task to you and you must investigate it thoroughly!” The crown prince, Zhu Hanwen, walked into the room. He was eighteen years old and had a tall and handsome figure. His body gave off a kind of aura that awed people instantly.

Yu Fan bowed in greeting and murmured in agreement. He first asked the wife of the imperial tutor to sit down and had the servants serve up a cup of flower tea. Then, he pulled on the little fatty’s hand and gently asked, “Liang Guodong, please tell me exactly what happened to you.”

“It’s just like I said. I was practicing martial arts and accidentally got injured…” Liang Guodong stiffened his neck but he refused to look Yu Fan in the eye. He had an unconfident expression on his face.

The wife of the imperial tutor became incensed and exclaimed, “Dong’er, my good grandson! With me as your support and His Highness, the crown prince, on your side, there’s no need for you to feel afraid. Tell us the perpetrator’s name. Actions always have consequences. By shielding the other person, you’re actually hurting them!”

Liang Guodong was so anxious about this that beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. He looked at his paternal grandmother with a begging look and quietly said, “Paternal Grandmother, I already said that it wasn’t an issue. Can you not make a fuss about this anymore?”

When the crown prince saw this, he felt that there was more to this situation that met the eye. He asked, “It’s Liang Guodong, right? Let me ask you, were the injuries on your face caused by someone in the academy?”

Liang Guodong didn’t dare to lie to the crown prince, so he obediently said, “Yes...that’s right!”

“Was it someone in your same class who did this?” Zhu Hanwen continued his line of questioning.

“No...no, it wasn’t!” Zhu Hanwen noticed that an awkward expression had appeared on Liang Guodong’s face and that the boy looked even more uncomfortable.

“Your Highness, you must take our Dong’er’s side ah! It must be someone in a higher grade who bullied our young fatty here by taking advantage of their superior height and weight. Bullying the weak isn’t the type of behavior that should be allowed at the academy!!” The wife of the imperial tutor was so furious that her chest was heaving up and down. The hand holding her cup of tea trembled violently and tea spilled all over.

“It’s not that, Paternal Grandmother...you don’t understand the situation. Please don’t say anymore!!” Liang Guodong was about to cry at this point. If the truth came out, he was certain that the one being expelled from the academy would be him.

“Younger Maternal Uncle! Liang Guodong was beat up by me!” A clear and melodious voice could be heard from outside the room. Following that, a young girl who was wearing a bright yellow dress with her hair combed into two buns came in. Behind her was a young boy who was about the same size of her and he was dressed in white scholarly attire.

When the wife of the imperial tutor heard this, she slapped the table and stood up to see just who had hurt her grandson. What she saw astonished her. It was a sweet and adorable little girl who was shorter than her grandson by a head. The scathing words that were about to tumble out of her mouth choked in her throat.

Yu Fan felt a headache appearing. The last time he had gone to his second sister’s home, he had persuaded his second sister and brother-in-law to send their children into the imperial family’s academy. He had encountered his younger nephew teaching some chicks to go swimming. He had originally thought that only his young nephew was naughty and didn’t expect that, out of his second sister’s three children, the one that caused the most trouble was actually her youngest child, her only daughter.

This was because——her lord father had brainwashed her into believing that fists did all the talking. If someone said something that she didn’t like, she needed to beat them up. Furthermore, she was also incredibly talented at martial arts. This was probably the so-called one in a million talent that his second sister had talked about that she had seen in wuxia books.

They had only been at the academy for a short period of time but there had already been a slew of complaints from other parents. They all claimed that Zhu Yunxin had held onto the collars of their children, threatening them until they cried. Zhu Yunxin, on the other hand, wasn’t the least bit remorseful. In fact, she even mumbled quietly on the side, “If it weren’t for the fact that my lady mother told me I can’t just hit anyone I pleased, then I would have long beat them into a pulp!”

When he asked her why he frightened the other children, she merely said, “They just didn’t look right to me,” and even glared ferociously at the victims while their parents were there. She had a pair of phoenix eyes similar to Imperial Prince Xu and was quite imposing when she used them to stare down other people. As for the parents of these unfortunate children, they decided to let it slide since her parents were Imperial Prince Xu and Princess Consort Xu. Later on, these parents had all warned their children to stay far away from Zhu Yunxin, so none of them dared to provoke her in the future.

However, in the past, she had only scared the other kids in the same year as her and had never touched a single hair on their heads. He really wasn’t sure how the little fatty had offended her to make her beat him so hard that it wasn’t even funny.

Liang Guodong covered his face and cried out loudly, “No, no! It wasn’t her ah…”

The fact that he had gotten beaten up by someone who was younger than him by two years and was a girl to boot was the most disgraceful thing that had ever happened to him. He was trying to do his best to conceal this had ever happened, so how could he possibly tell the teachers about this? However, he would have never expected that his grandmother, who spoiled him, didn’t believe the excuse he had painstakingly come up with. Furthermore, she had even caused a ruckus at school. He truly had no face left anymore!!

Little Guozi marched forward to him and used her little fist to gesture at his eyes, “Why do you say it wasn't me? Just look at these bruises. Compare them to my fist and you can tell that I did it. Also, I had kicked you in the thighs. How about you drop your pants and compare them to my feet to see if they match?”

Yu Fan really wanted to cover his face——‘My dear niece, as a girl, is it really proper for you to say ‘drop your pants’? I thought you were a gentle and exquisite young maiden ah? How did you suddenly become a vicious T-rex that blows flames out of your mouth?’ He felt his head hurt for his second sister.

Liang Guodong held onto his pants tightly with an alarmed look on his face. He shook his head vigorously, “No need to compare. I admit that you beat me up, alright?”

Zhu Hanwen was almost about to explode from holding in his laughter. Oh ho ho! His younger female cousin from Imperial Prince Xu’s Household was truly too funny. Such a bad temper was akin to how his uncle had acted when he was young. When he got back and told his story to his imperial father, he was sure his father would find it hilarious as well.

The wife of the imperial tutor really didn’t know what to say or think at this point. She looked at the young maiden in front of her, who looked to be around four to five years old and was as pretty and delicate as a sprig of winter jasmine. How could her grandson, who was already seven years old, not be able to win over a kid who was only around four to five? Furthermore, this child was also a sweet and adorable young maiden. No wonder her grandson begged her not to come to the academy to make a fuss. This was truly too embarrassing!

“Uh...Young Miss, can you tell Grandmother just how Liang Guodong offended you ah?” The wife of the imperial tutor had a bad premonition about all of this. Was her own grandson the person who was actually bullying others but he had unluckily come across a little flower who had vicious thorns? Was that the reason why he insisted that he had merely gotten injured during a practice session and refused to admit that he had gotten beaten up instead?

Little Guozi slanted a look at Liang Guodong and coldly huffed, “If the person he had offended was me, then he wouldn't be able to walk anymore. They’d have to carry him out instead!”

The wife of the imperial tutor was so shocked by this that she couldn’t reply for a long time. Was she supposed to be grateful that the girl had been lenient? Princess Consort Xu seemed to have a polite and amiable temperament, so how did she have a daughter that was a hot chili pepper?

“Little Guozi, come here to me ah,” Zhu Hanwen was afraid that the wife of the imperial tutor might explode from fury and hurriedly called his younger cousin over, “Tell me, why did you beat up Liang Guodong? Don’t give me the excuse that he just didn’t look right to you. I believe that you wouldn’t beat up a person for no reason ah!”

The little lass, Zhu Yunxin, bounced towards Zhu Hanwen and pulled on his hand. She stuffed a chocolate drop in his hand and smiled sweetly. Although her eyebrows completely resembled her father’s, she had inherited her mother’s dimples. When she wasn’t smiling, she looked very imposing but as soon as she smiled, she became a cute and adorable young girl.

“Older Brother, this is a new form of candy that my lady mother made, it’s called ‘malted chocolate drops’. The outside has a coating of chocolate and the inside is fragrant and crispy. It’s super delicious! Try some.” The cute and adorable girl had a very sweet smile on her face, which caused everyone in the room to feel their hearts soften.

Zhu Hanwen also couldn’t defend against this attack and grinned as he nodded, “Okay okay! I’ll try the taste of these ‘malted chocolate drops’ so I can see whether if Little Guozi was right about how fragrant and tasty they are.”

Liang Guodong watched this enviously and couldn’t help but nod in agreement, “These ‘malted chocolate drops’ are very delicious and they taste better than regular chocolates and cake. If they could be sold at the Yu’s Dessert Shop, I will definitely line up to buy them!”

“My family’s dessert shop is no longer called ‘The Yu’s’. It’s now called Jinan Dessert Shop, so make sure you remember that!” Little Mantou who had been silent this entire time finally opened his mouth.

Liang Guodong replied, “Isn’t that the same ah? Although the name has changed, many people in the capital still call it by ‘The Yu’s’. In any case, it’s still owned by your family!”