mtl008 Chapter 404 Proton
Chapter 404 Proton
Southern Wei.
In the spring of the twelfth year of Yaozhu.
The chill had not yet dissipated when the eunuch came again. This time he did not bring any rice or coarse cloth, but only a roll of bright yellow silk.
The gate of the courtyard was pushed open with a creak.
Ji Lian was bending over to weed in the vegetable garden. When she heard the sound, she straightened her back, subconsciously wiped her hands on her coarse skirt, and hid Ji Shan behind her.
I don’t know whether it is a blessing or a curse.
"Father-in-law..."
The eunuch glanced across the courtyard, his eyes settling on Ji Xian, and he shouted in a shrill voice, "Your Majesty has decreed—"
Ji Lian pulled her daughter to kneel down and bowed her head deeply.
"Considering the prestige of Longhua and its benefits to the people, we have gathered hostages from various states and established a special hostage station to educate them."
"All registered hostages can attend the school and attend lectures, as a token of God's grace."
After the eunuch finished reading, he handed the silk to her. Ji Lian took it in a daze.
Hostage?
Enrollment?
She suddenly looked up, a faint light flashing in her eyes, "Father-in-law is saying that Shan'er... can go to school?" Her voice trembled with disbelief.
The eunuch curled his lips in response.
Ji Xian's eyes lit up, but then sadness filled her heart, and her throat ached.
At first.
Jiang Kui also promised to give Shan'er a status and hire a teacher.
The words are still fresh in my mind.
People have become strangers.
Promises are light and airy, like the catkins in the yard, which will be blown away by the wind.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace..."
She bent down, her forehead touching the cold, wet soil.
The eunuch continued, "To enroll, one must pay a tuition fee." He added slowly, "Ten taels of silver."
Ji Lian's body stiffened.
Ten taels.
For her, it was an astronomical figure.
Ji Xian had been kneeling quietly behind her mother. Upon hearing this, she quietly clenched the corner of her mother's clothes with her little hands.
She opened her dark eyes and saw her mother's profile dimming.
"mother."
She said in a low voice, "I'm not going."
Ji Lian turned around.
"go with!"
Ji Lian held her daughter's hand firmly, and said in a remarkably firm tone, "Shan'er wants to go."
*
From then on, the lights in the courtyard were turned off later.
Ji Lian seemed to know no fatigue.
She would get up before dawn to tend to the few acres of land she had. When the vegetables grew juicy, she would take them to the market and exchange them for a few copper coins.
There is endless farm work to do during the day.
At night, I weave cloth by the light of a dim oil lamp.
"Squeak...squeak..."
The sound of the loom is particularly clear in the silent night, like a mother's silent sigh.
Ji Xian lay on the small bed, looking at her mother's silhouette reflected on the wall.
So thin.
But his back was straight.
Sometimes, Ji Lian was so tired that she fell asleep on the loom. Ji Xian would quietly get up, take her coat, and tiptoe to put it on her mother.
"Shan'er?"
Ji Lian woke up with a start, holding up her heavy eyelids and asked, "Why aren't you sleeping yet?"
"Mom, I'm going to sleep now."
She no longer said she didn't want to go to school, but became more silent and helped her mother with work within her ability, such as watering the plants, feeding the chickens, and collecting firewood.
*
The night before school starts.
Ji Lian poured a small bag of silver and copper coins onto the table, counted them again and again, and found it was just right.
She let out a long sigh and a smile appeared on her face that she hadn't seen in a long time.
"Xian'er, look!"
She called her daughter over, her voice full of joy, "The tuition has been collected."
Ji Xian walked over and touched the silver and money that carried her mother's body temperature with her small hands.
"Ah."
She nodded, but her heart felt heavy.
Heavier than a bag of silver.
*
The Procuratorate is next to the Imperial College, but it is shorter.
What came from the vermilion gate was not the sound of reading, but admonitions and reprimands.
Ji Xian walked in wearing her most respectable clothes, but she soon realized that this was not a place to study.
It's a cage.
The teacher paced between the desks, ruler in hand, his eyes sharp. "You, the children of a barbarian nation, are blessed by heaven to be here to listen to the teachings of the sages!"
"We must be grateful and remember Longhua's teachings!"
If there is any mistake in homework, the ruler will hit you mercilessly.
The palms are red and swollen.
But what hurts even more is the insult.
"Southern Wei?"
"Hmph, a tiny country where people eat raw meat and drink blood!"
The master's gaze swept over Ji Xian with undisguised contempt, "Your fathers and brothers were all defeated by me, Long Hua! Being able to study here is a blessing you have earned through several lifetimes!"
They were required to recite articles praising the merits of Emperor Longhua and were indoctrinated with the idea that Longhua was supreme and the motherland was inferior.
It was even hinted that... if you could provide information about your home country, you would receive preferential treatment.
Ji Xian pursed her lips, her dark eyes filled with silence.
She said nothing.
The ruler hits the palm of your hand, but you don't dodge or evade.
He listened to the insults but said nothing.
*
this day.
Ji Lian finished selling the vegetables. The sun was still high in the sky. Thinking that her daughter would soon be home from school, she carried her empty basket and walked towards the hostage prison.
She wanted to take her daughter home.
My steps were a little unsteady, because I was tired and hungry.
When Shan'er was growing up, she gave her daughter all the best things and lived a life of hunger and thirst.
"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!——"
At the entrance of the proton prison.
A gorgeous carriage came galloping, and the coachman shouted and whipped to drive away passers-by.
Ji Lian wanted to dodge, but the carriage was going too fast and knocked her down. The basket rolled a long distance and she fell in the dust.
The carriage stopped.
The curtain was opened, revealing a delicate little face with two buns and surrounded by pearls and jade. It was the third princess, Li Chanle.
She frowned and looked at Ji Lian lying on the ground, "Where did this lowly person come from? You disturbed my carriage!"
Ji Lian endured the pain and struggled to get up.
"grown ups……"
"I didn't mean it..."
The butler beside Li Chanle shouted sternly, "You offended the phoenix carriage! Why don't you kneel down and apologize?"
Ji Lian's face turned pale.
All kinds of looks were cast at me from all around, and the humiliation was like cold water pouring over my body.
She slowly bent her knees and knelt on the cold stone road.
"I know my crime."
Li Chanle snorted, as if she felt that this was not enough.
"She offended me, and all you have to do is admit your guilt?" She raised her little face, "Butler, drag her to the side of the road and beat her! Let her remember this lesson!"
The butler responded and called the accompanying guards.
Ji Lian closed her eyes and her body trembled slightly.
"Chanle."
A slightly calm child's voice came from the carriage, and the curtain was lifted again. It was Crown Prince Li Chonglin.
“When you can forgive, forgive.”
He glanced at Ji Lian who was kneeling on the ground, his eyes calm, "She didn't mean it, forget it."
Li Chanle curled her lips, seeming a little unwilling, but ultimately said nothing more.
"Hmph, you're lucky!"
The carriage restarted and sped away.
Ji Lian was left alone, kneeling in the dust, not getting up for a long time.
Just at this moment, the gate of the hostage prison opened.
Ji Xian was pulled out and made to stand at the door as punishment for talking back to the teacher.
She saw it.
Saw how my mother was knocked down by the carriage.
See how the arrogant princess scolded.
See how the mother kneels down humbly.
I also saw my mother abandoned on the roadside with no one to help her.
The gentleman stood beside her, grabbing her neck.
"see it?"
The gentleman's voice was devoid of warmth. "This is the consequence of disrespecting the princess! Princess Chanle is so noble, how can a mere commoner contradict her?"