Chapter 18

Chapter 18: School Bullying?

Gu Nan Xi’s laid-back days were under serious threat.

If she didn’t get to the bottom of this, she couldn’t eat well, couldn’t sleep well.

And of course, the Kind Mother System picked this moment to become useless—ask once, it knew nothing; ask again, it shut down entirely.

“Go call your brother over,” Gu Nan Xi said.

After thinking, she decided to ask Su Yun Ting.

Su Yun Yan nodded like it was the most natural thing in the world. “Brother said there’s an old mountain ginseng for sale outside the city. He went to see if he could get a bargain.”

Gu Nan Xi sprang up. “Then we’ll go find him!”

The coachman hurried to the main gate with the carriage.

The carriage was simple and neat, without flashy ornamentation. Only beneath the shafts, in a spot easy to miss, fine patterns and the crest of Marquis Yong Chang Manor were carved into the wood.

Su Yun Yan frowned the moment she saw it. “Why this one? Where’s Hong Mei – Treading Snow?”

The coachman carefully set down the step stool. “Old Madam took that carriage early this morning. She said she’s going to Da Xiang Guo Temple to pray for the Marquis.”

Gu Nan Xi stepped up and leapt into the carriage in one quick motion. “Yun Yan, stay home. If your brother comes back, stop him. Don’t let him run out again.”

“Don’t worry,” Su Yun Yan said fiercely. “Even if I have to tie him up, I’ll keep Brother in the house.”

The coachman gave a soft call and snapped the whip. The carriage rolled forward.

Gu Nan Xi had gone out at the worst possible time. The road was packed, people shouldering bundles and crowding the street, and the carriage crawled so slowly it was barely faster than walking.

“Madam,” the coachman asked, “should we take another route? It’s farther, but there’ll be fewer people.”

Gu Nan Xi lifted the curtain and glanced out. The whole street was a sea of bodies.

“Fine.”

They switched to a quieter lane, and the world thinned out. But just as the road grew desolate, a richly dressed youth blocked their path.

“They’re handling business ahead,” he said, chin lifted. “Go around.”

The coachman smiled apologetically. “Young Master, we have urgent business and must go to Nan Shan Mountain. This is the only road. Please make an exception.”

The youth’s eyes flashed. He yanked the whip from his waist and pointed it at the coachman. “Are you leaving on your own, or do you want me to personally ‘invite’ you to leave?”

The coachman turned toward the curtain. “Madam?”

Gu Nan Xi had been ready to detour. There was no need to clash with some reckless boy.

But then, faintly, she heard a man’s cry of pain—thin and strangled, and horribly familiar.

It sounded like Su Xuan Ming.

Yet Su Xuan Ming should have been at school.

Why would he be out here, in the countryside?

Remembering how abnormal he’d been lately, Gu Nan Xi’s gut tightened. She decided to watch first.

She held her breath and listened.

Amid the dull thuds of fists hitting flesh came the harsh, cracking curses of teenage boys.

“Su Xuan Ming! Did we give you too much face? We told you to bring two hundred taels, and you only brought back fifty!”

“Are you paying beggars?”

A storm of kicking and punching followed.

Gu Nan Xi’s heart clenched.

Was that Su Xuan Ming truly her useless eldest son?

Or just someone with the same name?

“Heh. You clearly had one hundred and fifty, but you returned one hundred to the teahouse. What—are we not as important as a merchant?”

“Yeah. You love that merchant girl so much, you probably love her father too.”

“But we’re not your useless mother! You actually let a merchant girl climb over her head!”

Su Xuan Ming was curled on the ground, arms locked over his head, taking the beating without a sound.

Then his attackers dragged his mother into it.

He flinched—and roared, voice raw, “Don’t talk about my mother!”

The boys laughed like they’d been given a joke.

“Now you remember to defend Mother? Back then you defended that merchant girl and ground your own mother’s face into the mud. Where was your heart then?”

“And you think if you don’t say why you stopped going to school, nobody knows? That merchant girl was sent by her father to be your concubine, and she wants to ruin you. Everyone in Capital City is laughing at you, and you’re still lying to yourself.”

“Oh, and with your grades? You’ll never even become an exam candidate. Might as well go home and keep a woman company.”

After their laughter, the beating resumed—harder.

Su Xuan Ming bit his lip until he tasted blood. Every inch of him hurt.

His nose filled with the sharp, metallic stink of dirt.

Tears fell, one after another, thudding into the ground. The mud swallowed them without mercy, leaving only faint marks behind.

Just like him.

Plain. Ordinary.

In Song Shan Academy, where geniuses swarmed, he was nothing more than a drop of water.

No one cared. Even if he became mud, no one would spare him a glance.

It’s fine, he told himself. Just endure a little longer. When they’re done, they’ll stop.

He closed his eyes, arms tight over his head, and held the same defensive posture like it was the only thing he knew.

The coachman finally saw clearly and went pale. “Madam—it really is the Eldest Young Master!”

Gu Nan Xi lifted the curtain and stepped onto the carriage, her gaze settling on the scene below.

The youth who had blocked the road glanced at her, then sneered. “Why aren’t you leaving? Keep your mouth shut. If I hear a single word of this, I won’t spare you!”

Gu Nan Xi hadn’t even bothered to dress up before rushing out. She wore a simple linen skirt and a pale gray cloak, her thick black hair tied back with a silver hairpin.

She looked like a beautiful woman from an ordinary home.

No wonder the youth didn’t take her seriously.

Gu Nan Xi didn’t leave.

She also didn’t rush forward to stop the bullying.

She simply stood there, straight as a pine, letting the autumn wind tug at her cloak while her tall son was beaten in a circle.

Like Su Xuan Ming, she said not a word.

Time stretched.

Then, as if something in him sensed her, Su Xuan Ming opened his eyes—and met her gaze.

“Mother,” he whispered.

He had never seen her like this.

Before, Mother had been strict: rigid, unsmiling, and quick to scold him.

Later, Mother had become loose and casual, as if she’d tossed away every rule carved into her bones.

But now, Mother stood alone, expressionless.

In her eyes he saw no disappointment, no contempt, no pity.

It was as if she were an outsider, waiting for him to decide what kind of person he would be.

But what could he do?

Su Xuan Ming’s throat tightened. His vision blurred until even Gu Nan Xi’s outline wavered.

Mother must be disappointed.

As the future heir of Marquis Yong Chang Manor, he’d been beaten into a drowned dog—and he cried at the slightest thing.

A heavy, crushing failure wrapped around him.

Maybe… he really shouldn’t be alive.

Then Gu Nan Xi’s voice cut through the wind, cold and clear.

“Su Xuan Ming—if you’re my son, pick up that whip and hit back!”