“It was Xu Wan who exposed it!” Zong Jincheng couldn’t understand how Xu Wan had found out so quickly and so clearly!
Shunzi panicked and immediately started checking him over, asking, “Did you get hit? Why are there no marks? Were you hit somewhere not visible? Or maybe she used needles? I’ve heard that’s both cruel and hard to detect!”
“Get out of my way,” Zong Jincheng brushed him off irritably, holding his head high as he marched toward Zong Wenxiu’s courtyard.
But he arrived to find it empty.
Upon hearing that Zong Wenxiu was kneeling in the ancestral hall, Zong Jincheng stormed off in a rage, shouting as he ran, “Xu Wan! You’re blaming the wrong person!!”
His shouts echoed through the Marquis Manor, causing the maids and servants to turn their heads, some even covering their mouths to stifle their laughter. It seemed Young Master Cheng had been disciplined by the Madam again.
The manor was certainly lively these days.
In the ancestral hall, Zong Wenxiu knelt inside. Hearing the commotion at the door, he turned his head and saw his younger brother’s furious expression. His own emotions were complicated.
Nevertheless, he defended the Madam, saying, “The Madam didn’t punish me. I came here on my own. When you do something wrong, you must take responsibility.”
Zong Jincheng was stunned. “What did you do wrong? I was the one who prepared those bad lychees to trick Xu Wan. Besides, you didn’t even serve them to her yet. Why are you taking all the blame?”
Zong Wenxiu shook his head solemnly. “It’s only because the Madam is wise and noticed something was wrong in time that she stopped what could have happened. If she hadn’t arrived when she did, I would have already taken that plate of lychees to her and made her sick. Even if you were the mastermind, I was still an accomplice—a executioner.”
“An executioner…?” Zong Jincheng’s head was spinning. Wasn’t that someone who carried out executions?
Such a metaphor was too difficult for a pampered young master like him to grasp.
Zong Wenxiu didn’t explain further and continued kneeling, his posture straight and unwavering.
Zong Jincheng frowned and asked, “How long are you going to kneel?”
“A full day and night.”
Zong Jincheng was shocked. “What about sleep? Can you even sleep while kneeling?”
Zong Wenxiu replied calmly, “If this is about atonement, how can I think about my own comfort? I won’t sleep.”
“You…” Zong Jincheng was speechless. “I’ve never seen anyone so eager to torture themselves!”
The little troublemaker turned and left. If Zong Wenxiu wanted to kneel, let him kneel! He certainly wasn’t going to join him!
And staying up all night? He wouldn’t even kneel for a full day!
He stormed out of the ancestral hall, even angrier than when he had arrived. Shunzi hurried after him and asked, “Young Master, did Master Wenxiu refuse to come out with you?”
Zong Jincheng snapped, “Of course he didn’t! That pedantic bookworm has lost his mind from reading too much. Even Jing Zhe is smarter than him!”
Shunzi was at a loss. “Then… what should we do?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t care!” The little troublemaker was still fuming.
Shunzi tried to reason with him. “But Master Wenxiu is punishing himself because of you. Are you really just going to leave him like this?”
Zong Jincheng retorted, “What else am I supposed to do? Kneel in the ancestral hall for a day and night like that bookworm? I’d have to be kicked in the head by a donkey to do that!”
Shunzi: “…” Well, that’s more like the heartless young master we know.
Zong Jincheng turned and strode out of the courtyard, but his steps grew smaller and slower until he finally came to a halt.
Shunzi, following closely behind, almost bumped into him and quickly veered to the side, only to lose his balance and fall flat on the ground with a thud.
“Ow…” Shunzi’s cry of pain went unnoticed.
Zong Jincheng turned and ran back.
He ran faster and faster, his strides growing larger until he burst into the ancestral hall, sweating and panting, and dropped to his knees on the cushion with a loud thud.
“Thump—”
The sound was so startling that Shunzi forgot about the pain in his backside.
From the doorway, he stared in disbelief at the blur that had just rushed past and the little troublemaker now kneeling inside. His mind was in turmoil!
Didn’t he just say he’d have to be kicked in the head by a donkey to kneel?
Was he really kicked by a donkey…?
Zong Wenxiu was also startled and turned to look. “You… why are you here?”
Zong Jincheng, still angry, knelt with his arms crossed, exuding an air of superiority. “If my accomplice and executioner are kneeling, shouldn’t I, the mastermind, save face too?”
Zong Wenxiu: “…”
Well, that made sense, but…
“You can go back to sleep after kneeling until evening. The ancestral hall gets too cold at night.”
Zong Jincheng snorted. “I’ll leave when you leave.”
Zong Wenxiu couldn’t leave. He said, “Then have Shunzi bring you a blanket.”
Zong Jincheng: “!”
That pedantic bookworm!
Couldn’t he just take the opportunity to leave with me at night?
Zong Jincheng was both angry and frustrated. He snorted and turned his face away.
But Zong Wenxiu didn’t say anything more. The ancestral hall was filled with the tablets of ancestors, so quiet that they could hear the birds chirping outside and the occasional gasps of the maids passing by.
After kneeling for just half an hour, Zong Jincheng was already fidgeting, scratching his hands and playing with his hair. He had already memorized the names of all hundred-plus ancestors of the Zong family, and there was nothing interesting to look at or play with in the ancestral hall. It was so boring.
“Hey, are you bored?” Zong Jincheng asked.
Zong Wenxiu, hearing the term “hey,” felt a pang of sadness. He asked, “Were you only calling me ‘brother’ these past few days to get me to deliver the lychees today?”
“I…” Zong Jincheng blinked.
He hadn’t thought about that.
When he used to sweet-talk his grandmother, he would call her “dearest grandmother” or “the best grandmother in the world,” but he couldn’t do that every day—it was too sappy.
Calling Zong Wenxiu “brother” was… well, it was for the lychees. After all, strictly speaking, he was only his cousin. It wasn’t like they were that close.
But looking at Zong Wenxiu’s expression, it seemed like he was even more hurt than when Xu Wan had exposed their scheme.
Why was he hurt?
Because I stopped calling him “brother”?
Before the little troublemaker could figure it out, Zong Wenxiu stopped asking. It seemed he had already assumed the answer.
But he also stopped engaging with Zong Jincheng.
Zong Jincheng started to feel uneasy.
What’s going on? Is he mad at me? But I even came to kneel with him in the ancestral hall. Why is he still mad at me? Is there no justice in this world??
Zong Jincheng tilted his head, thinking for a while but still couldn’t understand why. In the end, his body reacted before his mind could.
In the silence of the ancestral hall, he heard himself tentatively call out, “Brother?”
