After studying the chinese characters, Murong Xiude began reading poems. As an eight-year-old child, to be able to read poems and come up with his own opinions was indeed a talent.
Most importantly, his opinions could move He Deping. Shen Xiangwan was very pleased with this. Murong Xiude seemed to be more and more teachable.
Staring at Murong Xiude, who was still reading, from outside the window, Shen Xiangwan's gaze was gentle. She could not tear her eyes away from him.
Sensing Shen Xinagwan’s gentle gaze, Murong Xiude's reading voice became much quieter. Suddenly, he raised his head, and his eyes met with Shen Xiangwan's bright eyes. His lips curled into a smile. "Wanwan..."
"Well, good progress. Looks like you are able to understand the poems."
"Reading makes me happy, and encourages me to become more sensible. Besides, I learned a lot of things that cannot be learned in real life." When it comes to learning literature, his eyes grew brighter.
Looking at Murong Xiude’s flushed face, Shen Xiangwan couldn’t help but stretch out her hand to pinch him gently.
"Well, you have improved a lot more recently."
"Wanwan, do you like me studying like this?"
After Shen Xiangwan pinched him, he leaned forward and gently tugged on her hand.
In fact, most of the time, she was as gentle as she was now. However, once she became serious, people did not dare to approach her.
"With your identity, you are destined to rise up on your own. I only hope that you can see the situation clearly."
Murong Xiude nodded. "I know." He understood that she was asking him to be tough, otherwise, he couldn’t fathom what would happen to him in the future.
"By the way, you still have family from your maternal side... Actually, it’s not that they don’t care about you. I’m sure if they know that your current life situation is so bad, they would come to visit you, and if they come to see you, the Ladies from the mansion might come here... to take care of you..." Shen Xiangwan spoke slowly and vaguely. She wanted to let him understand her meaning by himself.
Fortunately, after Murong Xiude heard her words, his smile slowly disappeared, and he nodded calmly.
"I see. I should let my family from my maternal side take care of me, and all this is up to me. But to meet them, I will have to go outside the mansion. As for this, I believe I will have to talk to the gatekeeper."
Although his identity was a master, his life was no better than a slave.
But he was not a slave either. He still held the title of the Duke’s son.
"I think you can manage it." Shen Xiangwan smiled, and Murong Xiude straightened his back.
"It will be done. Recently, I have been associating myself with the group of people in the backyard."
"Set aside your identity. What you have to do now is to make people see your weakness as much as possible. People are so strange. They like to sympathize with the weak. No matter if you are rich or humble, if they know that you are not living as well as them, they will always show some sympathy. You can survive better if you show that you are weak in front of others. However, this weakness must also be grasped..."
Noticing the serious look on Murong Xiude’s face, Shen Xiangwan trailed off.
In fact, she couldn’t bear to let him do all this by himself. Since she had already chosen to support him, she should help him.
Who knew one day, he would rise up in the Duke’s mansion, and he might even become the official heir of the throne. She would be able to get rid of her slave status easily by then.
She could not think of a candidate more suitable than him for her to support.
After weighing the situation, she became more determined to help Murong Xiude. Of course, she was not helping him only for her benefit. She was helping him out of familial affection too. Instead of using him as a tool, after getting along with him for quite some time, she naturally developed a familial affection for him. She couldn’t put up a sullen face every day when she was interacting with him, after all.
After pointing Murong Xiude towards the direction of his maternal family, General Youwei, Shen Xiangwan waited to watch Murong Xiude act.
Firstly, Xiaoqi went to play in front of the gatekeepers. Occasionally, he would bring a snack, and sometimes, some knick-knacks. Although he was young, he was talkative and had a sweet mouth. He would even bring something to the gatekeepers to eat.
The three gatekeepers were all in their thirties, and they had their own family with wives and children. So, of course, they were not so cold-hearted, after all.
They slowly grew close with Xiaoqi due to his adorable personality, and Xiaoqi began talking to them about how his master was bullied and how clever his master was, but he had to take lessons from him, a slave.
They were slaves too. So when they heard this, they began seeing Murong Xiude differently.
They thought that he was a capable boy but treated unfairly. They could not help but sympathize with his fate, which was even worse than that of the slaves.
Ever since Xiaoqi went to the gatekeepers, Murong Xiude had been standing stiffly in a distance waiting for him. One of the gatekeepers, Ye Zi, noticed him.
"Ninth Young Master, please come and sit in our house. It's cold today. If you don’t mind, come in and keep yourself warm."
Ye Zi was from downtown, and he was a simple and honest man. Throughout his job in the mansion, he had never received any bribery.
At this moment, when he saw Murong Xiude waiting for Xiaoqi alone in the cold, his sympathy for him grew stronger.
Murong Xiude blushed. He didn't answer Ye Zi, but he followed him to the gatekeeper's courtyard.
Although it was only a tiny house, as long as they stayed in here quietly, the outsiders would not know who was in the house.
When Murong Xiude entered the house, Ye Zi and the other gatekeeper, Uncle Chen, were worried at first. They feared that if someone passed by and heard the Ninth Young Master, they would be punished. However, to their surprise, Murong Xiude sat here holding the book quietly as he kept reading all the time.
The two men, who were fathers themselves, admired such a studious child like Murong Xiude.
Uncle Chen was talkative, and he was an empath. He began talking to Murong Xiude when there was no one else in the room.
Throughout their conversation, Uncle Chen found that although Murong Xiude was young, his thinking was mature, and his speech was organized. He found himself enjoying talking to him.
More importantly, Murong Xiude could always find topics that interest him, and if someone came in from outside, Murong Xiude would automatically shut up again.
Because of that, Uncle Chen and Ye Zi were very glad to have Murong Xiude and Xiaoqi come to their house to play.
They had nothing but these two boys to help their time pass a little faster.
After all, time always passed extremely slowly when they watched the door!
As the two boys grew close with the gatekeepers, it would be easy for them to leave the mansion.
Usually, the servants who wanted to go out of or enter the mansion would have to register themselves at the door, and the Young Masters were usually chaperoned by adults. However, Murong Xiude was an exception. No adults would want to take him out.
On this day, when Chen Dongzi talked about all the excitement in the street market outside, Murong Xiude pretended to be curious.
"Ah! Are there a lot of items on sale out there? Are there all kinds of food too?"