Chapter 306: Pain That Ordinary People Couldn’t Bear

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

When Su Ying brought the three children back to the manor, Aunt Zhao was very surprised.

“Why did Your Highness come back so early?” Madam Zhao was even more surprised when she caught sight of Fu Zheng. “Isn’t this the eldest grandson of Duke Zhenguo’s Residence?”

“Do you know him, Aunt Zhao?”

Aunt Zhao nodded. She had seen the child twice in the capital before. This was because the child’s looks were too similar to his biological mother, Madam Zhou, and that was why she remembered him.

“This child is at least seven or eight years old, right?”

“Granny, I’m already eight years old this year,” Fu Zheng replied.

Aunt Zhao looked at his sallow and emaciated appearance and couldn’t help but feel some heartache. “You must be hungry. Old Hea said that Your Highness wouldn’t be back by noon. 1 don’t know if he has prepared any food. I will send someone to ask.”

Su Ying sat down on a chair and beckoned to Fu Zheng to come to her. She reached out and touched his body.

Fu Zheng shrunk his neck back in embarrassment. He did not know what Su Ying was going to do.

“Just now, 1 felt that your bone structure was not bad. You are more suitable to learn martial arts than Ling and Ji. It’s just that your foundation is too poor.” Fu Zheng’s blood vitality was not mobilized due to prolonged malnutrition, causing his true energy to be very scattered.

“Your Highness, I will definitely work hard to learn.”

Su Ying nodded and reached out to tap on his acupuncture points. In just a few seconds, Fu Zheng felt his entire body heat up.

After his acupuncture points were activated and his blood vitality in his body was mobilized, Fu Zheng’s complexion looked much better.

Soon, Aunt Zhao personally brought some food in.

“Eat first, then have a good sleep. You can’t rush your martial arts training.”

Fu Zheng looked at the dishes on the table and stood at the side with some reservation. “Your Highness, I can just eat in the servants’ quarters.”

“Little Brother, come and sit with me.” Ling pulled Fu Zheng’s hand and sat on the stool eagerly.

When Xiao Jin entered the hall, he saw an extra child at the dining table. He looked at Su Ying questioningly, and Su Ying said, “The eldest grandson of Duke Zhenguo’s Residence, Fu Zheng.”

When Fu Zheng saw Xiao Jin enter the hall, he quickly stood up. “Greetings, Your Highness.”

Xiao Jin frowned. Duke Zhenguo was one of the rare few valiant generals in the Chu State. Xiao Jin had even drunk together with him before. He remembered that he was a little drunk at that time and blurted out that Duke Zhenguo’s eldest grandson was pitiful since he lost his mother when he was born.

It had been seven or eight years since that encounter, but the child in front of him was only about the same size as Ling. He wasn’t even as tall as Ji.

“Please rise. Sit down.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.” After Xiao Jin showed up, Fu Zheng became even more reserved.

After playing outside for half a day, the children were hungry. When they saw Su Ying and Xiao Jin pick up their chopsticks, they also picked up their chopsticks and started eating.

“Little Brother, help yourself. This braised pork is really delicious.” Ling wished she could become a little expert at picking up food instantly. In the blink of an eye, Fu Zheng’s bowl was heaped high with food.

“Thank you, Young Princess. Please eat, Young Princess. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Alright.” Ling turned to look at the chicken drumstick in front of Ji. “Big Brother, 1 want to eat chicken drumstick.”

Ji picked up his chopsticks and picked up the chicken drumstick. Just as Ling was extending her bowl outward happily, Ji picked up the chicken drumstick and placed it in his bowl before taking a bite.

Ling widened her eyes. “Big Brother, you are too detestable!”

Ji took another bite of the chicken drumstick as if nothing had happened. “The chicken drumstick is really delicious.”

Ling puffed up her little face angrily. She picked up a piece of pork rib and took a bite viciously. “I don’t want to give you any pork ribs, Big Brother.”

The atmosphere at this meal was very lively.

After they were full, Su Ying allowed the children to go to the courtyard to play to help with their digestion.

Xiao Jin blew on the tea in his hand before offering it to Su Ying. “Why did you bring Fu Zheng back?”

Su Ying accepted the teacup and took a sip. Initially, she didn’t want to be a busybody, but when she looked at the child’s thin and desolate figure, she seemed to see her past self in the same helpless situation.

She had always been soft-hearted toward children.

“Have you ever heard the saying, “Once there’s a stepmother, there will be a stepfather”? Look at him. In what way does he resemble an eight-year-old child?”

Xiao Jin frowned and reminded Su Ying, “He’s another family’s child after all.” If Duke Zhenguo’s Residence came to ask for the child, it would be very difficult for them to forcibly keep the child.

“Seven days. I just need seven days. See if you can try to bluff and hold them off.”

“It’s useless for you to protect him like this.” The child would have to go back sooner or later.

“That’s why I am giving him seven days to learn how to protect himself. The opportunity has been given to him, but whether he can grab it or not depends on himself.” After all, Su Ying wasn’t a true Good Samaritan. Teaching someone to fish was better than giving him a fish.

“Your Highness, the Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs has arrived and requests to see Your Highness.”

Su Ying gave Xiao Jin a look that told him to settle this matter himself. Then she got up and went to the courtyard.

Xiao Jin resigned himself to his fate and stood up. Since Su Ying wanted to keep the child, then so be it.

The three children were playing in the courtyard when Su Ying beckoned to them to follow her to the training hall.

Su Ying asked Ji and Ling to continue practicing their concentration ability while she brought Fu Zheng to the other side.

“Do you see the vines on that big tree?”

Fu Zheng nodded. He did not know where the vines under the tree came from, but they clung tightly to the tree, almost covering the trunk of the tree.

“This vine started out as a negligible presence, but it can usurp the tree host’s place without people realizing it. This is because its body is strong. You are now like the seedling of a vine. At first, you can only cling to a big tree to live, but whether you can usurp the tree host’s place depends on whether you have the ability. If you just want to scrape by in a pathetic existence, pretend that I didn’t say anything. I can send you back now.”

“No, 1 don’t want to scrape by in a pathetic existence.”

Su Ying looked at the determination in his eyes and nodded. “If you want to be self-reliant, then you have to be able to suffer hardships that ordinary people can’t.”

Fu Zheng clenched his fists. “Your Highness, I can endure any kind of hardship!”

“Good. Go and stand next to that pillar.”

Fu Zheng obediently walked to the pillar and leaned against it.

Su Ying walked up to him and pulled out a stick for him to bite.

Fu Zheng didn’t know what was going on. Just as he bit down on the rod, he felt a sharp pain on his body.

The pain felt as if a bullying servant was using a wooden bucket to roll over his body viciously. It almost crushed every bone in his body.

“Argh!”

Fu Zheng made muffled whimpers as he leaned closely against the wooden pillar behind him. The pain in his body became more and more intense until he collapsed to the ground where his body lay as it kept twitching.

However, Su Ying’s hands showed no signs of stopping.

In other words, she was unblocking all the meridians in his body. What she did not state explicitly was that she realized this kid was a martial arts genius, but his meridians were blocked. If he wanted to learn martial arts, he needed to have all his meridians unblocked. However, this process was extremely painful and not something that ordinary people could endure.

Back then, the training in the training camp also included ancient martial arts. It took Su Ying a long time to understand it.

“Oof!”

“Pfft!”

Perhaps it was because it was too painful. Fu Zheng started vomiting violently. His eye whites began showing and his body became stiff.

Suddenly, his two eyes rolled back and he fainted..

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