C22

Therefore, Du Fa pulled Xie Wanqing's hand and chatted for a while. Xie Wanyun and Xie Huaixing also listened seriously, asking him a few questions from time to time. Sometimes Shen Yuan would patiently answer them, and sometimes Du Fa would give vague responses.

Unknowingly, it was already close to noon.

Shen Yuan called for people to bring the dishes over. Because Du Fa was around, they were all vegetarian.

Xie Wanqing had not eaten anything delicious in the house of the Marquis recently and was feeling a little fed up. As such, she ate in a relaxed manner.

Xie Wanyun, however, could not bear it. Although she was just a Daughter of Concubine, she was born in Marquis Anyang's Mansion, was raised in luxurious clothing, and lived a life of pampered food.

However, she was not a person who liked to show her anger. Thus, she maintained a proper and indifferent expression on her face as she slowly ate some food.

Xie Wanyun was initially growing stronger, but she had only taken two bites from it. Xie Wanqing knew that she was unsatisfied with the meal.

After eating, Shen Yuan allowed Xie Huaixing to bring Xie Wanqing and the others to walk around Shouxi School. Since they were already here, they naturally could not stay in the house forever. After all, there were quite a few people around the same age who had come to participate in the event. Most of them were descendants of officials.

Every year, there would be many young miss from rich families who would come to the Clear Discernment Assembly just to get to know the sons and daughters of the families who were studying in Shouxi School. Shouxi School was also known to them, they just turned a blind eye and turned a blind eye, that's all.

Xie Huaixing received Shen Yuan's order and took his leave.

The students of Shouxi School would not return to their residences at noon each day. The academy would assign everyone a room to rest in, which was why there were so many rooms. This time, there were no more than two people in each of the rooms due to the opening ceremony. It could be seen that there were a lot of people participating in the conference.

Xie Huaixing led the two people to walk through the corridors outside the rooms. There were also a few people standing on the streets, with three people in a group of five.

However, Xie Huaixing's group was already children, so no one talked to them.

Until Xie Huaixing brought them to a courtyard door and stood there, and from the morning, he followed their grey clothed servant to knock on the door. After exchanging a few words with a grey clothed person inside, he probably was explaining their identities before bowing and inviting them in.

Inside was a large courtyard. In the courtyard, there was a large banyan tree that only a few people could hug, and beneath the tree, there was a stone table. The two youths were sitting there playing chess. A few youths and young girls were watching from the side.

Behind the courtyard was the students' usual place to attend classes. It was large, spacious, and bright. A few children around Xie Huaixing's age were gathered together and chatting in groups of two or three.

The older students in the Shouxi School were all discussing with the people in the front courtyard, while the younger students were all gathered here. This was also the academy's protection for them. The front yard was a mix of fish and dragons, it was hard to say if there were people deceiving them. These children were young, so the academy naturally had to protect them. But if they wanted to go out and see him, they could, and the servants would follow.

However, as a child, he was not very interested in what the adults were discussing. He would go out in the morning to have a look, then return in the afternoon. This was the reason why there were so many people in the courtyard.

Xie Huaixing and the rest took off their masks when they came in, with their usual childishness, there were immediately many who greeted him, which Xie Huaixing smiled and greeted with a wave of his hand. But because Xie Wanqing and Yue Yang were at her side, he could not leave, and those people did not come up.

A young master sitting at a stone table playing chess called out to him, "Huai, come and help."

When Xie Huaixing and the rest walked over, they realised that the other chess player was actually Xie Huaijin. Only because his back was to the door, they didn't recognize him when they first entered.

"Brother Huaijin." Xie Wanqing bowed. This was the first time she had seen Xie Huaijin since her rebirth. Even in her previous life, the two of them had not interacted much. But Xie Huaijin's face looked somewhat similar to Xie Kai's, which was why she recognized him.

Xie Wanyun was older than Xie Huaijin, so she only nodded at him in greeting.

Xie Huaijin raised his head and glanced at them, and then, his gaze was still fixated on the chess board, as he nodded slightly in response. Xie Wanqing and Xie Wanyun were fine, Xie Huaixing was the first one to be unhappy, it was fine if they did not fight with him previously, but now that he dumped the three of them this morning, he had a cold face that seemed to be ignoring him, as if they were eyeing him closely.

Therefore, Xie Huaixing said with a cold expression: "Why didn't you wait for us this morning?"

Everyone in the academy knew that the two of them were not familiar with each other, but they had never seen the two of them blush before. Now that they saw this, they couldn't help but look at each other in surprise.

Xie Huaijin frowned when he heard it, he did not think Xie Huaixing would bother about this. Although it was common for the two of them to go out to the school from Marquis Anyang's Mansion, the two of them had never gone out together. This time, he naturally took the lead.

But now that he thought about it again, the rest of the palaces were all siblings, making Xie Huaixing and the others feel as if they had been abandoned. Anger was unavoidable, so they stood up and said: "I was indeed careless this morning, sorry."

As he spoke, he clasped his hands towards the three of them. He did not give any reasons, but directly admitted his wrongs, directly and honestly.

Xie Huaijin was the legitimate son of the concubine, so he had to apologize in front of the crowd. The surrounding people saw that, and could not help but feel that he was very upright and magnanimous, if Xie Huaixing got angry again, he would seem to be a little petty, not understanding at all.

Originally, Xie Huaixing was full of anger, but Xie Huaijin's bow caused him to be unable to vent it out even if he wanted to. Since his elder brother had already apologized, he could not say anything else, so he turned to the side with a puffed up face.

Xie Wanyun smiled as she tried to smooth things over: "We are all siblings, of course we won't fuss over it. Brother Huaixing is joking with you, Huai Jin probably had some urgent matters this morning, so he left first."

She passed the steps over, but Xie Huaijin did not reply. Seeing that Xie Huaixing did not continue interacting with him, he sat down and continued to study the board.

Xie Wanyun never thought that Xie Huaijin would be so heartless, sshe only thought that he was her concubine's child. Now that she had changed her identity with Xie Wanqing, he could finally assume the identity of a legitimate son, which was truly laughable.

No one answered her words, if it was anyone else, they would have felt awkward, but Xie Wanyun was able to hold onto his words, her smile was shallow, her gaze was calm, as though nothing had happened.

Xie Wanqing lowered her eyes and quietly watched from the side, not interrupting at all. Although Xie Wanyun looked normal on the surface, she knew that she was definitely holding a grudge against Xie Huaijin in her heart.