Roselle Peony

Yang Yuanzhen was dragged into the sedan chair reluctantly.

His father, Yang Chengwu, was a descendant of a military general in the previous dynasty, and he had extraordinary skills. Unfortunately, after the establishment of the New Tang Dynasty, the Yang family fell into ruin, and Yang's father had nowhere to display his martial arts skills.In order to save money, Yang's father walked the most when he went out, and only rented horses when he traveled far away. Yang Yuanzheng's mother usually did not go out, and only took the rented carriage when she took her son back to the hometown to visit relatives.Yang's father had a long career, hated the officialdom, and even taught his son not to be in the same rank as the official sons; but secretly hoped that his son would become famous in the future and revitalize the Yang family.Yang Yuanzhen, like his father, loves to practice martial arts. He has loved to practice boxing and kicking kung fu since he was a child, and he went out to play and fight like crazy.Fortunately, the Yang family was related by marriage to Mrs. Sun's wife's family, so Yang's father was able to put Yang Yuanzhen in a private school at a young age and be disciplined by his master.The other children in the private school were the sons of dignitaries, only Yang Yuanzhen was the son of a commoner, and Mr. Sun knew that he knew some kung fu, so he was ordered not to fight back if he was beaten for fear of hurting others, so it was inevitable that he would not be bullied by his classmates.

After all, he was a child. It was very fresh for Yang Yuanzhen to sit on a sedan chair carried by someone for the first time. At the same time, he felt that Lu Shangqiu's friendliness was different from other classmates.

"Look, it's the clay figurine Zhang."

Lu Shangqiu followed Yang Yuanzhen's direction and saw a large group of children surrounding an old man's small car. There were colorful clay figurines on the small car, including a white horse, an arhat, an old gentleman, and a little boy. He Xiangu and Lu Dongbin made out of colored clay are even more lifelike.

Yang Yuanzhen went on to say: "Clay figurine Zhang is very skilled. I like the Lu Dongbin he made the most. It's a pity that my father won't buy it for me."

Lu Shangqiu saw so many beautiful shapes of Taoist mythological figures, envious in his heart, but said: "Father won't let me play with clay figurines, the mud is dirty."

Yang Yuanzhen said in surprise: "Haven't you ever played with clay figurines? I grew up playing with clay figurines."

Lu Shangqiu nodded embarrassedly.

"Then I'll take you there next time, and we'll go to Clay Figurine Zhang to play together."

"No, if there are servants watching, they will tell my father."

"Then what should we do?" Yang Yuanzhen scratched his head, "Well, if you don't mind, I'll make an old gentleman boy and bring it to you in the school tomorrow. You just need to hide it well."

"Really? Can you make clay figurines?" Young Master Lu's eyes sparkled.

"I lied to you that you are a puppy. I can make a boy." Yang Yuanzheng paused, and asked his doubts: "Why don't you bully me like other classmates, and let me sit in the sedan chair with you?"

Lu Shangqiu proudly pretended to be a little adult and said: "Why should I bully you? Just because my father is an official and your father is a commoner? Emperor Taizong said: People are water, officials are boats, water can carry a boat, and it can also overturn it. Since you are a classmate with me, I should treat each other as classmates. Besides, I know who is my friend because of my father. You are the first person to avoid me, and I just want to be with you You are friends. The Master said: Only the benevolent can be good. If I want you to be my friend, I must treat you well. Just now, other students bullied you because of me, and I haven’t apologized to you yet.”

A long passage made Yang Yuanzhen dizzy, and said enviously: "You know a lot! I am too bad at reciting, and the master always punishes me and hits my palm. Look, this is the mark left by the master's ruler yesterday." Yang Yuanzhen stretched out Out of the right hand, there are still a few long red marks on the small hand.

Lu Shangqiu couldn't help trembling when he saw it, thinking that he must never offend Mrs. Sun in the future.

Yang Yuanzhen had time to observe this young man who said he wanted to be friends with him.This young man looks different from other children: a pair of big eyes, long eyelashes flickering, a small red face, and a small pouty mouth like a ruddy cherry.

"Has anyone ever told you that you look good?"

"Ah?" Lu Shangqiu was taken aback by his sudden change of subject.

"I mean, you look like my brother, but you're much prettier than him."

Lu Shangqiu didn't have a big reaction: "I have been praised by my parents and sisters since I was a child."

"That's it~" Yang Yuanzheng tried to praise others for this kind of answer for the first time, but he really failed and was very frustrated.

What he didn't know was that Lu Shangqiu didn't tell him that when his aunt was alone with him, his aunt would scold him as a "dead goblin, ugly monster", grab his ears and lift them up vigorously, or lift him up. Lift him upside down with one foot.The ear was pulled and there was no visible injury. He told his mother that she had no choice but to cry with him. Gradually, he stopped telling her about her beating him, so as not to worry her.He didn't understand why he was ugly in the eyes of his aunt.He thought maybe he was really ugly and people were just flattering him?

Seeing Lu Shangqiu falling silent, Yang Yuanzhen scratched his head and tried to open the topic: "You just said that you want to be friends with me, is that true?"

"Well, it's true." Lu Shangqiu nodded.

"I have no friends in Master Sun's school. You are the first."

Lu Shangqiu swallowed the "very honor" that just came to his lips, and said, "So you have friends outside the school?"

"Yes, yes, he was a friend who played mud with me, but since my father sent me to school, I had to go home to endorse every day, and I couldn't play like crazy, so I broke up." Yang Yuanzhen said, "Then we are friends. How old are you? I was born in June of the third year of Xianheng. You can call me Brother Yuan."

"I am February of the second year of Xianheng. I am one year older than you. You want to call me elder brother." Lu Shangqiu thought for a while, "You want to call me Brother Qiu."

Yang Yuanzhen refused: "No, you are obviously shorter than me, so I will call you Xiaoqiu."

"When it's just you and me, I allow you to call me Xiaoqiu. But in front of people, you have to respectfully call me brother Qiu and brother Yuan." Lu Shangqiu laughed loudly.He was the youngest in Lu's family, and he was crushed and flattened by his older sisters, but now he finally recognized a younger brother, and he was naturally very proud of being an older brother.

"It's my house." Yang Yuanzhen interrupted his laughter.In a remote corner in the north of Bingzhou City, there is a courtyard with low walls, two red doors that are mottled due to peeling paint, and a small plaque "Yang's Mansion" is hung on it.There was not even a house slave guarding the gate.In fact, Yang's Mansion is not far from Lu's Mansion, but because it is too close to the north of the city, it is very inconvenient to be away from the shops in the south, so it looks deserted.Coupled with the years of disrepair, it looks dilapidated on the outside.

Lu Shangqiu said to Yang Yuanzhen: "Brother Yuan, your house is not far from mine. Tomorrow morning, you will wait for me at the gate of Lu's residence, and we will go to school together."

"Yes." Yang Yuanzheng happily gave Lu Shangqiu a big hug. "Xiaoqiu, I am very happy today, thank you!"

"You're welcome. Since I recognize you as my younger brother, it's only natural for you to go to school with me from now on."

Yang Yuanzhen reluctantly left the sedan chair.He didn't dare to go to the front door. He was bullied by his classmates today, and the time to go home has passed the strict father Yang's regulations, and he was afraid of being scolded by his father again.Yang Yuanzhen walked around to a low wall with ease, threw the book bag into the low wall, and climbed over the low wall into the courtyard.Lu Shangqiu looked at his leaving back and shook his head amusingly.

***

On the second day, as soon as Lu Suyuan went out, he saw a little boy looking around outside the gate of Lu's house. After asking, he found out that it was his son's classmate. Sure enough, Yang Yuanzhen couldn't resist the temptation to sit in a sedan chair.Father Lu was very satisfied with his son's ability to make friends in the private school so quickly, patted Yang Yuanzhen's little head, and told him: "You and my son Qiulang are book companions, you must protect him well, and don't let him be bullied."

Yang Yuanzhen thought to himself: "Xiao Qiu is the eldest son, how could anyone dare to bully him." But he remembered Father Lu's words, and since then he has worked hard to practice martial arts and vowed to be Xiao Qiu's qualified bodyguard.

When Lu Shangqiu went out and asked him to get on the sedan chair, Yang Yuanzhen took out a black object from his schoolbag mysteriously: "Xiaoqiu, this is the clay figurine of the alchemy boy I made for you, take it."

Lu Shangqiu took over the clay figurine.On the front, you can vaguely see the image of a boy with double buns, and the round one next to it is probably an alchemy furnace.

"Last night, my dad found out that I was secretly making a clay figurine, and confiscated all my colored clay and tools. Fortunately, I hid this clay embryo under the bed. Without the wooden stick, I can only use a spoon as a handle."

Seeing Lu Shangqiu's gradually disappointed expression, Yang Yuanzhen hurriedly snatched the clay figurine back, "This one doesn't look like it, give it to me and I'll make another one for you."

Lu Shangqiu lifted the clay figure out of his reach. "Thank you, Brother Yuan, this is your gift to my brother, and it is also my first clay figurine. I want to keep it." After finishing speaking, he put the boy away carefully.

Yang Yuanzhen blushed: "Xiaoqiu, you are so kind to me."

Lu Shangqiu smiled: "Your brother, of course I want to be nice to my younger brother. My father asked you to be my book companion, and you will follow me from now on to see if Zhao Liuyi dares to bully you."

Yang Yuanzhen also smiled happily: "That's natural, who dares to bully my brother."

Zhao Liuyi and the others were surprised to see Lu Shangqiu and Yang Yuanzhen coming out of the same sedan chair.Although he was young, he also realized that he had offended someone, so he left class to apologize to Yang Yuanzhen and Lu Shangqiu for the first time.

Yang Yuanzhen was about to shake hands and make peace, but was stopped by Lu Shangqiu.

"It's fine to accept your apology, but there is one condition - you let Brother Yuan beat you up." Unexpectedly, Lu Shangqiu had a black belly at a young age.

Just like that, Zhao Liuyi was beaten up by Yang Yuanzhen's small fist for the first time.

After the beating, Yang Yuanzhen did not forget to repeat: "Brother Qiu, you are so kind to me!"

From then on, the two brothers Lu and Yang went to school together every day and studied together.Yang Yuanzhen feels that Lu Shangqiu, the "noble son", does not like to bully others like other sons and brothers. Compared with him, who has a false name, "the companion and bodyguard of the son of Bingzhou's parents and officials", Lu Shangqiu takes more care of Yang Yuanzhen and protects him from others. bullying, and often helped Yang Yuanzhen review his homework.His "beautiful, kind, and upright" Xiaoqiu completely overturned the wretched image of "the son and brother" in his mind.

But Zhao Liuyi and Yang Yuanzheng became buddies because they didn't know each other. They often practice boxing and kicking in the backyard south of the school without their master behind their backs.

The Zhao family was a martial artist, and invited a master to teach his son boxing skills, so Zhao Liuyi had solid basic skills and blunt fists.Yang Yuanzhen followed his father to learn the Yang family's boxing and saber techniques. He learned a lot of tricks, but after all, he didn't study them systematically, and his basic skills were not as good as Zhao Liuyi's.Fortunately, Yang Yuanzhen was born with a high understanding of martial arts, he quickly learned Zhao Liuyi's moves, and used them vividly, retaliating with fire.Soon, Yang Yuanzhen's basic skills became better and better, and when the two of them competed in martial arts, they were often tied.

Although Lu Shangqiu has never practiced martial arts, following Yang Yuanzhen, he also learned a few three-legged cat moves, which are more than enough to deal with someone who doesn't know martial arts at all.He was also very pleased to see Yang Yuanzhen's progress in martial arts.