Chapter 56: Beat You Up

Her Jiurong wasn't like this.

She first met Jiurong when she was thirteen, wrapped in a bundle of blankets as a tiny pale infant during the harsh winter.

Compared to Princess Jiuli, who skillfully held the baby in her arms, she didn't even dare to reach out, not holding the child even once until she left home.

It wasn't that she felt particularly close; she merely knew she had a younger brother, a child who shared her blood. Thus, when she returned home again, she simply added an extra gift, nothing more than conventional human feelings.

However, when she came home and brought out the little pinwheel chosen by the store owner on the street, suitable for infants to play with, the toddling little child, who could stagger a few steps while held by a palace maid, hurled himself at her, coating her face with drool, leaving her somewhat panicked and inexplicably tender.

This was her brother.

They actually didn't spend much time together, but perhaps because he was so young, he didn't scold her like her sister did. Instead, he adored her with utmost reverence. At home, she and Jiurong could really have fun together.

Truly playing—climbing trees, scaling walls, digging bird nests, wrapping up mud from the lake with caught birds to roast and eat, all while avoiding Princess Jiuli who was chasing them.

She wasn't like an elder sister, and later when their parents were no more, having come to Prince Huai's mansion, she didn't comfort this child who was facing new circumstances and was barely aware.

She still played with him, told stories, fished together, or scolded him, even hit him because Jiurong had grown. He wasn't that staggering slow child anymore; he too could climb mountains, scale trees, and fish from the lake. Once, daringly, he nearly slipped into the lake while fishing covertly.

"Why are you hitting him? He learnt it from you," Jiuli chastised her angrily, holding the crying Jiurong.

"What's he learning this for? It's not what he needs to learn," she retorted angrily too.

"What else can he learn then?" Jiuli asked.

She didn't know either. Jiurong couldn't learn good, nor could he learn bad, she didn't know what exactly Jiurong should learn, what he should become to live well.

But she definitely didn't want Jiurong to turn out like this.

To raise his hand and curse at a lifesaver with no malice whatsoever.

Her Jiurong was definitely not like this.

Jiurong was still furiously cursing, raising the fishing rod in his hand again.

Maybe because there was no one around for a while, or perhaps he had been harboring this resentment for the past two years.

This resentful air had been concealed and indulged by Mr. Gu and Lu Yunqi.

Miss Jun reached out and grabbed the incoming fishing rod.

Jiurong tugged at it fiercely several times without retrieving it, his expression growing even more enraged.

"Let go!" he screamed.

"Why are you hitting and cursing at me?" Miss Jun asked, looking at him.

"Do I need a reason to hit and curse you?" yelled Jiurong, struggling to retrieve the fishing rod, but the seemingly frail girl just a few years older than him surprisingly had great strength.

The fishing rod didn't budge in her grip.

Jiurong became even more irate, suddenly letting go of the fishing rod to look around, and bent down to grab a small table beside him, but someone was quicker than him.

Before his hand could touch the table, someone had already grabbed his back and lifted him up.

He was already eight years old by then, and although he had lost a lot of weight due to a recent illness, being picked up by a girl like this was a first for him.

Actually, nobody had ever picked him up like this before.

No, there had been one person who had lifted him up like this.

For a moment, Jiurong was dazed, forgetting his anger.

Back then, he was bending over pulling up the net he had thrown into the lake, unsure whether the net was caught on rocks or loaded with many fish, but as it stayed motionlessly sunk into the water and he slipped towards the lake, a hand had lifted him up.

"You stinky brat! Do you want to die?" A female voice scolded by his ear.

He hadn't even managed to yell out 'second sister' before a heavy slap landed on his bottom.

He was the prince's eldest son, the emperor's grandson, future emperor, born with the noblest bloodline, and had never been hit like this by anyone as he grew up.

The slap was so fierce, the sound of flesh meeting palm vivid, the burning pain spreading wave after wave.

Jiurong shuddered, snapping back from his daze.

This wasn't a memory. This was real.

"You stinky brat! Do you want to die?" the female voice yelled again.

The voice was unfamiliar, but the action wasn't. A palm landed heavily on his buttocks, repeatedly.

Jiurong hadn't been unfamiliar with the touch of women, as all his clothing and washing had been taken care of by palace maids, whose hands were soft and delicate, their touches gentle as cotton whether dressing him or bathing him.

But now, the hand hitting his bottom, and the one grabbing his back, didn't feel like a girl's hand at all,

Just like an iron palm, just like an iron hook, it clung to his body, struggling but unable to escape, not striking his buttocks, but rather a sandbag or a wooden post.

The pain finally tore through Jiurong's stupor, and he let out a shrill scream.

"You this lowly..."

But as soon as his voice began, the hand landing on his buttocks came down with greater speed and strength, the smacking sounds drowning out his shouts.

"You this..."

"Scoundrel..."

The faster he yelled, the faster and harder the slaps fell upon his back.

Finally, the curse that reached his lips turned into a cry.

Once he started crying, he couldn't stop.

Jiurong cried loudly; for a child, crying could vent rage and alleviate pain.

After all, he was just an eight-year-old child.

The cry was loud, and the slaps on his back gradually slowed until they stopped.

He was put down on the ground.

Jiurong didn't jump up; he lay there, crying.

"Why are you cursing at people?" Miss Jun asked him.

Jiurong cried breathlessly.

"I want to curse at people, what business is it of yours?" he cried out.

At least he didn't use the words 'lowly person' again.

Not so principled after all, Miss Jun almost wanted to laugh.

"Of course, you can curse at people, but you need to discern whom you can and cannot curse," she said, "Why did you curse at me?"

Jiurong looked up, with tears all over his face, and his expression angry.

"You, you seduce people! You forced my sister!" he yelled, "You forced my sister to write a letter inviting you in."

He cried again, his cry filled with both anger and despair.

"You bully my sister, you all bully my sister."

Miss Jun was stunned, her nose tingling, and tears nearly welled up.

Was it because of this?

And then she felt angry.

They actually told Jiurong such things.

They never told him the interesting and beautiful things happening outside, isolating him here, letting him live or die like dried grass, but when this time came, they unabashedly told him these words that humiliated his only relative, making him angry, helpless, and desperate.

Miss Jun looked around; if anyone appeared in her sight now, she would undoubtedly beat and question them without hesitation.

Although Lu Yunqi had left with the Jinyiwei, and the guiding eunuch had run off somewhere, and Mr. Gu had disappeared while looking for someone.

But there were no secrets in Prince Huai's mansion; who knows how many eyes were watching in secret.

Initially, she had impulsively slapped Jiurong, but now, after hearing his words, she felt completely justified to beat someone else.

Unable to kill Lu Yunqi, hearing these humiliating rumors, given that beating someone was both normal and appropriate.

But to her disappointment, despite the commotion, no one appeared; it was as if this lakeside was isolated.

Perhaps this was also an attitude of Lu Yunqi.

Let her make a fuss, as she pleases.

Then what was her brother in his eyes? Miss Jun felt a bit angry and then gave a self-mocking laugh; of course, her brother meant nothing in the eyes of Lu Yunqi.

Jiurong was still lying on the ground crying.

Miss Jun slowly squatted down and gently patted his head.

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Thank you everyone, have a happy weekend.