The Cloud Feather of the Red Chamber: A Marriage Arranged with Gong Yuanzheng at the Start

Once Jin Fan was sure Gong Ziyu was alright, he breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Gong Yuanzheng somewhat awkwardly.

Gong Yuanzheng ignored the master and servant and looked directly at Young Master Xue.

"let's start."

Young Master Xue nodded. "Come with me."

Since Gong Ziyu was alright, Young Master Xue didn't bother staying here.

Seeing that Gong Ziyu was not going to wake up anytime soon, there was no need for him to waste his time here.

The three of them soon arrived at the place where Xue Zhongzi was practicing.

Upon seeing Gong Yuanzheng, Xue Zhongzi sheathed her sword and smiled with satisfaction.

But since he still looks like a child, his smile seems rather cute.

"Just as I expected, you are faster than Young Master Jiao."

Gong Yuanzheng said frankly, "My brother told me about the things I should pay attention to during the trials, and I'm not as good as him at that."

When Gong Shangjiao participated in the trial, no one guided him; he had to figure it out on his own.

Xue Zhongzi appreciated his frankness and handed the two secret manuals to Gong Yuanzheng.

"You have already developed the antidote for the Half-Moon Fly. I will also give you the secret manuals for the Three Forms of Moon Slaying."

"Xiaoxue and I will demonstrate the Three Styles of Snow Sweeping to you, but the Three Styles of Moon Slashing can only be demonstrated to you by Young Master Jiao."

Gong Yuanzheng nodded. "Thank you."

After watching Xue Gongzi and Xue Chongzi demonstrate the Three Styles of Snowfall, Gong Yuanzheng rushed to the Flower Palace without stopping.

Right now, all he wants is to finish all the trials as soon as possible and return to the Horn Palace with the manual.

Once he arrived at the Corner Palace, he could not only practice for Yue'er to see, but also ask his brother any questions he didn't understand, achieving multiple goals at once.

Young Master Xue looked at Gong Yuanzheng's retreating figure with some envy. He also wanted to go down the mountain, but Gong Ziyu was still participating in the trial, so he couldn't leave Snow Palace for the time being.

In the past, after finishing his business at the palace gate in the morning, he could go to the front mountain in the afternoon to play with his younger siblings, build snowmen for them, and accompany them to stroll through the Old Dust Valley.

Now, when Gong Ziyu goes diving, he has to stay by the pool.

Gong Ziyu went ashore to rest, as he needed to make the most of his time to handle some matters.

The whole day was spent in this kind of busyness.

I wish I could go back to the way things were.

More importantly, he hadn't seen his younger siblings for so many days. Everyone says that children have bad memories, so what if Yu'er and Qingyu had already forgotten him?

Young Master Xue is so melancholy.

Young Master Hua spends his mornings at the Flower Palace handling official business.

He squinted and ate his wontons listlessly.

He had stayed up all night refining the new design of the longsword, and now he was so sleepy that he could barely keep his eyes open.

Never mind, I'll take a nap after I finish eating the wontons. I'll go to the Shang Palace this afternoon and deal with these matters tonight!

Just as the last wonton was brought to his mouth, a servant rushed into the Flower Palace.

"Young Master Hua! Young Master Zheng has come to the Flower Palace to participate in the trials!"

"Snap!" The wonton he was about to eat fell to the ground. Young Master Hua stared wide-eyed at his servant, wondering if he was hallucinating.

"What? What did you say? Say it again?"

"Young Master Hua, Young Master Zheng has passed the trials of the Snow Palace and the Moon Palace, and is now here to participate in the trial of the Flower Palace."

The young master's drowsiness was completely dispelled. He was stunned. So fast?

He could understand why the Moon Palace Trial was passed so quickly; pharmacology certainly wouldn't be difficult for Young Master Zheng. And why was the Snow Palace Trial passed so easily as well?

Without time to think further, Young Master Hua finished the remaining wonton soup in one gulp and hurried to the main hall.

“Come with me. You know the trial of the Flower Palace. It is to forge a sharp blade. You will pass if you can cut the weapon my father forged.”

Hua Gongzi led Gong Yuanzheng to the weapon-refining room, explained some basic matters about weapon refining to Gong Yuanzheng, and then stepped aside.

"You can start crafting it. If you encounter any problems, you can consult the manual. According to the rules, I will not provide you with any assistance."

After deciding to participate in the trial, Gong Yuanzheng read many books on weapon crafting.

Although it was his first time forging iron, the contents of the book came to mind the moment he grasped the hammer.

Based on the records in the book and what the young master Hua had said, Gong Yuanzheng gripped the iron hammer and began earnestly to smelt the impurities in the iron.

It seems I won't be able to go to the Shang Palace for the next few days. Young Master Hua raised his hand and beckoned a servant.

"Go to the Shang Palace and inform Zhi Ren that Zheng Gong is currently participating in the trial at the Hua Palace. I will not be going to the Shang Palace for the next few days."

When the servants arrived at the Shang Palace, Lin Qingyue was showing Daiyu and Qingyu around the weapon-refining room of the Gongzi Shang.

Gong Zishang was not surprised to hear that Gong Yuanzheng had passed the Snow Palace trial so quickly.

Gong Shangjiao dotes on his younger brother so much, how could he not tell Gong Yuanzheng what to pay attention to during the trial?

Miyazaki hopes that the two from Yukimiya will increase the difficulty of the trial to test his younger brother.

But they would never stand idly by and watch Gong Yuanzheng get injured because of the trial.

Gong Shangjiao will definitely tell Gong Yuanzheng everything that can be said, without missing a single word.

At this moment, Daiyu carefully and attentively held the specially made iron hammer, tapping the red-hot iron piece one tap at a time.

"Chong"

"Chong"

"Chong"

The moment the hammer touched the iron sheet, brilliant sparks burst forth, illuminating Daiyu's delicate face.

Qingyu stopped hammering after a while. He couldn't do it because he was too weak to work with iron for too long.

Moreover, he wasn't particularly interested in blacksmithing; he preferred flying through the air with his brother on expeditions rather than working here.

Daiyu, however, became more and more interested and got more and more excited as she fought.

Lin Qingyue was afraid that she would get tired, so she only let her strike the hammer for the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea before taking it back.

"Yu'er, let's stop here for a while today and continue tomorrow."

Daiyu was a little unhappy, but she still listened to Lin Qingyue. However, she kept her eyes fixed on Tiechui.

Gong Zishang couldn't bear to see children suffer, so she immediately took Qingyu and Daiyu to the inner room.

"Let's not forge iron today, how about we look at the blueprints and assemble weapons instead?"

Daiyu's intelligence far exceeded Gong Zishang's expectations. She only explained it once, and Qingyu still needed Qi Yan'an's help to barely assemble it.

Daiyu was able to assemble the hidden weapon perfectly, although she was a little slow, but Daiyu is only five years old!

Gong Zishang was overjoyed and exclaimed that he wanted to take Daiyu as his disciple.

Qi Yan'an hesitated for a moment, "Sister, Yu'er is the daughter of Salt Inspector Lin. Whether she can learn this depends on Lord Lin's approval."

Qi Yan'an emphasized the words "Salt Inspector," and Gong Zishang's smile slowly disappeared.

Yes, Yu'er was born into a scholarly family and is a well-bred lady, not a rough and uncouth person like her.

She studied music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, and prose. These kinds of strange and frivolous skills are not something a girl like her should learn.

Seeing the disappointment on Gong Zishang's face, Qi Yan'an felt somewhat guilty for speaking too harshly.

He shouldn't have brought it up. What good would it do to learn it? Anyway, Lin Ruhai wouldn't know at the palace gate.

Lin Qingyue squatted down and looked at Daiyu, "Yu'er, did you like what you did today? Would you like to learn?"

Daiyu glanced at Gong Zishang, then at the blueprints on the table. Being naturally intelligent, she understood that Gong Zishang genuinely wanted to take her as his apprentice, but...

"Sister Zishang." Daiyu shook Gong Zishang's hand, and Gong Zishang immediately smiled again and squatted down in front of Daiyu as well.

"What's wrong, Yu'er?"

"Sister Zishang, can you really teach me blacksmithing and weapon assembly? Doesn't this involve the secrets of the Shang Palace?"

Gong Zishang forced a smile, "What secrets does the Shang Palace have? I figured out all these blacksmithing techniques myself, and I also taught myself the blueprints."

"If we're talking about secrets, those are my secrets, not the Shang Palace's."

That is true. After Gong Liushang became paralyzed, fearing that his eldest daughter would not relinquish power to her younger brother in the future, he did not tell Gong Zishang any of the core secrets of the Shang Palace.

Completely disregarding the immense pressure their daughter, who was not yet of marriageable age, was under to support the entire Shang Palace.

Gong Zishang's current status is all thanks to her tireless study day and night and her innate talent.

Daiyu nodded and looked at Lin Qingyue. "Sister, I like blacksmithing, I also like drawing, and I like assembling weapons. I want to learn."

“Okay, then we’ll learn from Sister Zishang.” Lin Qingyue readily agreed. “Don’t worry about our parents, I’ll go and persuade them.”

Gong Zishang burst into tears of joy and hugged Daiyu tightly. "Yu'er, don't worry, I will teach you everything I know!"

As evening approached, Gong Yuanzheng put down his hammer after the sharp blade had only produced one model.

Hua Gongzi was still studying the blueprints when he saw Gong Yuanzheng start packing his things, which didn't surprise him.

Gong Yuanzheng was like this when he was undergoing trials in the Snow Palace; he would return immediately when the appointed time arrived and would never linger.

He ate his evening meal at the Corner Palace every day.

Tonight, only Lin Qingyue, Gong Yuanzheng, and Gong Shangjiao will have dinner at Jiao Palace.