Not On Purpose

When Jiang Danhe received the letter, he had just finished his work. It was a rare day off. Coincidentally, the letter arrived.

He couldn’t wait to run back into the house. Looking at the especially thick envelope, his heart was filled with joy. After such a long period of correspondence, he could easily tell who had written it without opening the envelope.

Xiaoguo’s letter was folded into a square, while Zhuang Zhuang’s letter was folded into a rectangle. It was easy to tell after all this while.

The first thing he did was to take out Zhuang Zhuang’s letter and put it aside.

Immediately after, he opened Xiaoguo’s letter happily and read it carefully from beginning to end. He went through every word and sentence very carefully.

Holding a stack of letters, he smiled and yearned for Xiaoguo and Zhuang Zhuang. He felt so happy.

After putting down the letter, he thought about Mr. Kong. He had heard Shao Zhan mention that Mr. Kong would retire soon, but at that time, he did not take it to heart. It turned out that Mr. Kong’s hometown was in Yonghai County.

He had to go and find out now.

Jiang Danhe put away the letter and was about to leave when he took two steps back. He sat down and picked up the letter he had put aside. He had almost forgotten to read Zhuang Zhuang’s letter.

Jiang Danhe, who only had eyes for Xiaoguo, had to put his son in second place.

He carefully put away the letter, closed the door, and prepared the horse to go straight to the palace.

As Mr. Kong was already old and his health was failing, he was prepared to bring his wife back to his hometown to retire in peace.

Jiang Danhe found Shao Zhan and spoke to him about the matter. Then, he found out where Mr. Kong was and went to look for him.

In consideration for Teacher Kong’s health and convenience, Shao Zhan had specially built a room for him in the prince’s study so that he could take a short break after his lesson with the crown prince.

Jiang Danhe arrived at the study just in time to see Xiaoyi running out.

The first thing the little guy did after running out was to stretch himself. He yawned loudly and shook his head. Coincidentally, he made eye contact with Jiang Danhe.

“…”

Their eyes met. One was emotionless, and the other was filled with vigilance.

Xiaoyi grabbed the pouch on his waist warily and secretly shifted it behind his back. “Don’t even think about snatching my things again.”

If he had not moved, Jiang Danhe might not have noticed it. However, when he shifted the thing on his waist, it was apparent that he was hiding something.

“What’s that?”

When Wen Xiaoyi heard this, he looked horrified and secretly swallowed a mouthful of saliva. “How did he see it when I had hidden it so well?”

“Nothing.”

With that, he tried to walk around him and leave calmly. In any case, he had just finished his lesson. He didn’t know why Aunt Zhixia wasn’t here yet. It seemed that he should leave first.

To his surprise, Jiang Danhe did not stop him, he even deliberately moved aside to let him pass.

Xiaoyi looked at him suspiciously and slowly moved his feet. When he tried to walk past Jiang Danhe, he felt very tense. His small hands gripped the pouch tightly. After walking past him, he relaxed a little and subconsciously loosened his grip on the pouch.

Jiang Danhe watched him and chuckled silently. He took the opportunity to quickly snatch the pouch from him.

By the time Xiaoyi realized that something was amiss, the pouch was already in Jiang Danhe’s hand. At this moment, he was playing with it and scrutinizing it.

“Give it back. Give it back.”

Xiaoyi jumped anxiously and tried to snatch it back. As he did so, he punched Jiang Danhe’s thigh.

He had thought of Jiang Danhe as a good person back then. It was truly unexpected that he was someone who preyed on the weak. He was always robbing him of his things. It was one thing for him to steal his snacks, but now even the pouch had caught his fancy. How unlucky could he get?

Feeling helpless, Xiaoyi tried to punch his stomach, but he couldn’t reach it. He could only retreat and punch at his thigh.

Jiang Danhe did not take his little strength seriously at all. His strength was not much stronger than Xiaoguo. It felt more like tickles instead.

Looking at the design, although he didn’t know much about embroidery, he was sure that this was made by Xiaoguo.

With such a novel design and design, who else could sew it besides Xiaoguo? Jiang Danhe held it in his hand and admired it for a while. He had no choice. As long as it was made by Xiaoguo, he had to possess it.

Xiaoyi was getting tired from throwing punches. He was bending over and panting heavily. He was mourning for the pouch in his heart. From the looks of it, it was unlikely that he could get it back. But it didn’t make sense. At the thought of this, Xiaoyi’s eyes turned red. This was a gift for him. Why did Jiang Danhe have to confiscate it? The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He clenched his small hands tightly.

Jiang Danhe had taken a good look at the pouch. Although he would like to take it away, it was still a gift from Xiaoguo to Xiaoyi. It would be unreasonable If he were to take this from him. Forget it, he should return it to him.

Jiang Danhe handed the pouch to the dejected boy. Trying to be friendly, he deliberately bent down. “Here…”

“Ah! I didn’t do it on purpose…”

Xiaoyi, with his clenched fists, stood rooted to the ground. He looked at the man who was in pain and felt extremely remorseful. He really didn’t expect Jiang Danhe to suddenly bend down. If he had known, he wouldn’t have punched him. If he hadn’t punched him, he wouldn’t have hit him there…

Jiang Danhe squatted down in pain and grabbed at a certain part of his body with his hands. His face had turned so dark that it looked like ink. The veins on his forehead were bulging and cold sweat trickled down his temples.

Knowing that he had done something wrong, Xiaoyi snatched the pouch from his frozen hand and said, “I’m leaving.” Then he fled.

Jiang Danhe really couldn’t describe his pain. He could only try his best to take in deep breaths to ease the intense pain. He was wrong. Xiaoyi’s little strength when exerted on the right spot could still cause substantial pain.

Xiaoyi ran as he looked back. He grabbed a passing eunuch in fear.

“Greetings to Your Highness.”

“Okay, okay. Let me ask you something. If I accidentally hit you there, would it hurt?”

As he spoke, Xiaoyi pointed at his crotch.

“This…” The eunuch looked like he was at a loss for words. “I’ve been in the palace since I was young, and I don’t have that…”

Xiaoyi was stunned when he heard that. “He didn’t have that?” He glanced down and waved his hand to dismiss the eunuch.

“It shouldn’t hurt. After all, I don’t have much strength, and it should be no different from hitting flesh. I’ve been punching his leg for so long, but I didn’t see any reaction from him. Besides, General Jiang is so brave and strong. He must be quite resistant to beatings.”

Xiaoyi, who was comforting himself, had subconsciously missed out on Jiang Danhe’s painful expression.

Jiang Danhe, who was left alone, took a long time to recover from the pain.

He was about to get up when he heard someone calling him from behind.

Jiang Danhe was stunned. He slowly turned around and tried to greet him in a calm tone. “Teacher Kong.”

An old man with gray hair and a beard gently cupped his fists in greeting. Seeing this, Jiang Danhe couldn’t care less about his pain and quickly returned the greeting. After all, he was a teacher personally invited by the emperor to teach the crown prince. Even when he saw the emperor, he did not have to bow.

Teacher Kong’s original name was Kong Bang. He was already in his seventies and should have retired. It was the emperor, Shao Zhan, who invited him out of retirement to be the tutor of the crown prince. Now, due to health reasons, he had no choice but to retire.

Shao Zhan had no choice but to agree to him going back to his hometown.

However, Kong Ni, the son of Mr. Kong, was also a legend. In the future, the crown prince, Xiaoyi, would be handed over to him.

This was also the reason why Shao Zhan agreed so readily to Teacher Kong’s request.

“General, why are you looking for me?”

Teacher Kong was old, but he had a keen eye. Someone whom he had no dealings with, was now waiting here for him. The general must have something in mind.

However, due to his old age, he was walking with a stagger.

“Grand Tutor, you are so observant.” Jiang Danhe came to his side quietly and held his arm to support him.

Mr. Kong said nothing and waited for the man to speak. They walked quietly towards the sedan chair.