Chapter 699 - Chapter 699: Bullying
Chapter 699: Bullying
Editor: Atlas Studios
Li Jinghua was shocked. She had just boasted to Mu Yangling that the kids would be fine in the palace.
She stood up and asked, “Are the Eldest Prince and the Little Prince injured?”
Mu Yangling also looked at the palace maid anxiously.
The palace maid said with a strange expression, “Mm, they suffered small injuries.”
“Then how old is Young Master Lu?” Mu Yangling hurriedly asked.
“He’s six years old.” The palace maid hurriedly said, “He’s the Eldest Prince’s study companion, Grand Tutor Lu’s grandson…”
However, Mu Yangling could not hold still anymore. To think a six-year-old child actually bullied a four-year-old and a three-year-old child? It was simply too much.
Mu Yangling grabbed the hem of her dress and rushed towards Upper Wood Park without caring about etiquette. The Empress hurriedly pulled her back. “How can you run over like this? Hurry up and summon the sedan chair.”
The last sentence was directed at Wen Cui.
As soon as the two of them entered Upper Wood Park, they heard the wailing of a group of children. The first to barge in, Mu Yangling saw Little Treasure standing upright with Little Bear in hand. Meanwhile, the other children were either sitting or lying on the ground. Their eyes were closed as they wailed, and there were more or less some minor injuries on their faces.
Mu Yangling’s mouth fell open. This scene did not seem like her son was being bullied, but her son was bullying someone else.
She hurriedly ran over to Little Treasure and Little Bear to check if they were injured. Other than Little Treasure’s clothes being splashed with ink, the two of them were not injured at all.
When Little Bear saw his mother, he felt aggrieved for a moment. The tears that he had been holding back burst out with a wail. As he hugged his mother’s thigh, he cried uncontrollably.
Clearly displeased, Little Treasure pursed his lips and looked at Young Master Lu, who was lying on the ground.
Mu Yangling quickly coaxed him in a low voice. “Why are you crying? I’m here. Tell me if anyone bullied you.”
The teacher, who was waiting at the side, suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. Who could bully the little prince? All the children in this room had been beaten up by him, okay?
The Empress looked calmly at everyone present and asked, “Is this how you serve people? Can’t you see that the young masters are crying? Hurry up and help them up.”
Only then did the people who hadn’t dared to help up the young masters because of Little Treasure, step forward to check the kids’ injuries or coax them patiently.
Upon glancing at Young Master Lu, Mu Yangling saw that his face was bruised. She secretly compared the bruise to the size of her son’s fist and confirmed that it was indeed her son’s doing.
Mu Yangling glanced at the palace maid who informed her and now understood why her expression was strange. Judging by the situation at the scene, the Eldest Prince and the Little Prince had fought with Young Master Lu and the others, but they were not bullying the younger ones. Instead, the younger ones were suppressing the older ones.
With no intention of biasedly siding with her son, Mu Yangling stroked his head and asked, “Did you beat up Young Master Lu and the others?”
Little Bear looked at Mu Yangling with his round eyes and nodded slightly.
“Fighting is wrong. Hurry up and say ‘sorry’ to your brothers.”
Little Bear pursed his lips and looked at Mu Yangling stubbornly. Not only did he refuse to apologize, but he even glared fiercely at Young Master Lu while holding back the urge to rush up and beat him up again.
Seeing that someone was backing him up, Young Master Lu let go of his hand that was covering his stomach. He pointed at Little Bear and shouted, “You despicable person, you lost in a verbal argument and you resorted to physical beatings. If you have the ability, debate with me. To think that you came to Upper Wood Park. Haven’t you even heard of the most basic saying ‘A gentleman uses his tongue but not his fists’? Or are you a mute who doesn’t know how to speak at all?”
Mu Yangling flew into a rage. She grabbed Little Bear, who had rushed out, and embraced him tightly in her arms. As she looked down at Young Master Lu, she said coldly, “You call yourself a gentleman? This is the first time I’ve heard a gentleman who shoots his mouth off like you. You’re a child, so I won’t argue with you. I do, however, really want to talk to your grandmother about slandering others.”
After saying that, Mu Yangling turned around and glared at her son. “You’re also stupid. Do you have to respond to him when he scolds you? When a dog barks at you when you’re walking, don’t tell me you have to stop and reply?”
The expressions of everyone present immediately became interesting. A mature six-year-old, Young Master Lu naturally knew that Mu Yangling was scolding him. However, he could not retort under Mu Yangling’s frosty gaze.
Without even sparing a look at him, Mu Yangling carried Little Bear and turned to leave. Only then did Young Master Lu, who was suppressed by her aura and couldn’t breathe, realize that his back was drenched. He immediately felt aggrieved and burst into tears.
As soon as he cried, the other children also started crying again.
After glancing at everyone, the Empress took Little Treasure’s hand and turned to leave. She instructed the servants to send the young masters back, now that class in the afternoon had been canceled.
Mu Yangling left with a dark expression. She’d originally thought that her son had bullied someone, so she wanted him to apologize. If it was an ordinary dispute, even if her son was in the right, Mu Yangling would make him apologize even if she had to smack him to get him to do it. After all, he had hit someone.
However, from what Young Master Lu had said just now, it was obvious that he was deliberately provoking Little Bear. Little Bear was learning to speak later than other kids, so she and Qi Haoran had been carefully protecting him, afraid that he would feel inferior and worsen his condition. However, they did not expect such a thing to happen after only a day in Upper Wood Park.
When Mu Yangling said that she wanted to talk to Young Master Lu’s grandmother, she wasn’t joking. She really planned to do so.
She wanted to tell the entire capital that even if Little Bear couldn’t speak, it wasn’t something that they could gossip about, much less bully him with.
Seeing Mu Yangling return to the Palace of Earthly Tranquility with a dark expression, Li Jinghua patted her hand and said, “Young Master Lu is Grand Tutor Lu’s eldest grandson, and is also somewhat a child prodigy. That’s why His Majesty chose him to be the Crown Prince’s study companion. However, from the looks of it, his character is very problematic.”
Six years old was not considered young. Li Jinghua was also from an aristocratic family and knew that children from an aristocratic family matured early. By the time she was six years old, she could already sit in the reception hall with her mother and listen to the servants report on residential matters.
Considering the Lu family was even more powerful than the Li family, they must have stricter rules. Young Master Lu was also the eldest grandson and born from the first wife, so he was definitely not ignorant of the world. This led the Empress to suspect that someone was behind this.
However, Mu Yangling did not think too much about it and simply felt that the problem lay with the Lu family’s upbringing. She pulled Little Treasure over to ask about what had happened in detail.
Little Bear had always been the king of children. When he was in the capital, Little Treasure always gave in to him and let him choose the good things first. His mother and aunt also doted on him. When he arrived in Qiannan, he was the only child with the most noble status in the huge Ju Prefecture. Not to mention in the residence, even when he was outside, everyone would bow respectfully to him.
Although Little Bear did not develop a domineering personality, he had always held his head high and puffed out his chest. In fact, the way he raised his chin slightly was like a miniature version of Qi Haoran, confident and ostentatious.
Even though he still couldn’t speak at the age of three, his parents had always told him that it was because he had another great talent. His parents had always appeared to be very happy, and the servants in the residence had never shown any abnormality. They were always respectful to him and fawning on him. Therefore, he had never been ashamed of not knowing how to speak. Instead, he felt that the later he spoke, the stronger his talent would be. He was very proud of that.
But which of those who attended school at Upper Wood Park wasn’t a proud son of heaven?
Little Treasure’s status was the most noble. In addition, although he was only four years old, he had always been calm and serious. He treated everyone the same way and wasn’t particularly close to anyone. However, when Little Bear suddenly appeared, not only did Little Treasure accompany him with a beam the entire time, but he also taught him how to practice calligraphy with a brush. Also, he would gently use a handkerchief to wipe off the ink on his face, and even pour him water to drink and pull him along to play…