My Reason for Calmness Chapter 5

Gavin had handsome eyes and eyebrows, wasp waist and ape arms, and was tall. Elijah estimated that he was less than 1.9 meters, but at least 1.88 meters. Gavin was just 35 years old now. He did not have any signs of the beer belly and baldness that middle-aged men have. He was still tall and straight, which made Elijah, who was also a man, a little jealous. He thought that he would look like this when he was 17 or 18, and he was secretly happy.

Gavin had to interrupt Elijah's silly laughter, pointing to the child in lake blue clothes beside the scholar to his right and said, "Elijah, Skye has been studying with you before, and you didn't choose a companion. This is Asher, the son of Master Dominic. When you arrive in the imperial capital, he will accompany you to study, and you will have a companion." Gavin simply introduced the two father and son together, directly calling Dominic by his courtesy name, "Yanzhen will also go to the imperial capital with your elder brother."

Elijah's gaze swept across the smiling Dominic with a mustache and fell on Asher.

Asher is slightly taller than Elijah, and not too old either. There is a hint of bookishness in his every move, and he is calm and composed, without any sign of embarrassment, which shows his upbringing.

Asher bowed to Elijah, who accepted it while sitting down and extended his hand for support.

Julian smiled and said, "Fourth brother, Asher is still very young, but he has already read the Four Books and Five Classics, and is also familiar with various schools of thought. He is a famous child prodigy in Yunnan and Guizhou. You must treat him well and don't let him down."

Elijah looked at Asher and wrote, "Who do you listen to, me or your father?"

Asher was a little surprised, but quickly calmed down, "I serve the Fourth Master, so of course I listen to him." This was a very good answer, provided that he was serving the Fourth Master.

"Who do you listen to, my words or Julian's words?"

"I serve the Fourth Master and listen to him."

Julian and Mingzhan sat next to each other, but Mingzhan wrote with a pencil, and the handwriting was very small, so Julian could not see it, but he felt curious.

"My words or my father's words, who do you listen to?"

Even though Asher was mature, a layer of cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He bit his lip, not knowing how to answer. Elijah looked at him and asked again, "Who do you listen to, me or the emperor?"

Asher's face turned pale, his heart was beating like a drum, and he was filled with fear and doubt.

Elijah narrowed his eyes, pointed at Asher's heart, and then pointed at the chair beside him. Asher perked up, bowed, went over and sat down, raising his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his face.

Now not only Julian was curious, Gavin was also a little curious about what Mingzhan asked.

"Asher has always been honest, you are not allowed to bully him." It's not that Gavin was being pretentious, it's just that Asher was not in a good mood.

Elijah smiled and tore off the page from the writing board. Gavin thought Elijah was going to hand it to him, and he felt relieved. He thought Elijah was not a domineering person and should know his limits, so he took it and read it. But Elijah folded it several times, crumpled it into a ball in his palm, stuffed it directly into his mouth, smacked it twice, and swallowed it.

Suddenly, everyone was stunned.

"Fourth, fourth brother? You, you..." Julian stuttered, not knowing what to say.

Elijah slowly picked up the tea at hand, took two sips, and sent the paper ball in his esophagus into his stomach. When it came out, it was completely unrecognizable.

Asher was sitting on one side. He gritted his teeth and felt relieved. He leaned over and smoothed Elijah's chest, fearing that he would choke.

Because of Elijah's eating paper, everyone was really upset, but no one tried to find out. Elijah had already eaten paper, and looking at Asher's previous reaction, if Asher was not a fool, he would not say anything.

Elijah's methods are evident.

Dominic not only treated Mingzhan differently, he also had the same troubles as Gavin.

Dominic and Elijah were not familiar with each other, but Julian was brought up by Gavin to be taught, so Dominic had some understanding of Julian. Julian could naturally win over a few people, but in front of Gavin, he won over people so neatly and shut up everyone. Even if he was in front of Gavin, he might not be as good as Elijah.

Elijah had never shown up in public before, but now he was going to the imperial capital, which seemed like he had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Except for not being able to speak, Elijah was born better than Julian, and was no less intelligent. Gavin had always let Elijah graze, and he had thought he was a stupid sheep before, but now Elijah's sheepskin was peeled off, and he turned out to be a cannibal. All these methods made Gavin quite frightened.

After sending Julian, Elijah and Asher away, Gavin couldn't help but sigh.

Dominic felt quite sympathetic. Gavin said, "This time Julian and Mingzhan will stay in the imperial capital for a long time. If there is anything difficult, you can also ask Mingzhan for his opinion."

"Yes, the Fourth Young Master is very smart and will definitely put the overall situation first." Dominic's words were really against his will. People with ability rarely settle for their lot. Moreover, Elijah is a legitimate son, with a better family background and talent. But he has to be inferior to a c0ncubine's son just because he can't speak. Would he feel resentful or hateful?

Gavin had a headache, wondering whether he should let Elijah pretend to be sick or just send the second son Ming Yi. But his brother, the emperor, was not stupid. He stopped Elijah, fearing that Feng Jingqian would be more suspicious and would find a way to get Elijah into the capital, which would be a waste of Ming Yi.

Forget it, forget it, things have come to this, just leave it to fate.

When Dominic returned home, he had to ask a lot of questions.

Asher said, "The Fourth Master took me to pay respects to the Princess. The Princess rewarded me with a set of the finest four treasures of the study and four small gold ingots for the first place in the imperial examination. She asked me to accompany the Fourth Master to study and take care of him. She also invited me to have some snacks. The Fourth Master rewarded me with a jade pendant."

"You have also seen that the Fourth Young Master is definitely not an ordinary person. When you are with him, you must be loyal and sincere and treat him with all your heart." Dominic warned.

"My son knows."

Asher was originally steady. Today, he witnessed Elijah's methods and schemes. Although he was still frightened, he also felt that Elijah was a master he could follow. There is an old saying that "good birds choose trees to roost, and good ministers choose masters to serve". His father is the confidant of the King of Zhennan, so Asher naturally has a shortcut to Zhongnan. When the eldest son Julian entered school and selected a companion, Asher had just come out of his mother's womb, so he was naturally not included. Asher was staring at his legitimate son Elijah, but later it was proved that Elijah was a mute. Gavin treated him coldly and did not choose a companion for Elijah at all. Of course, even if he did, according to Dominic's temper, he could not ask his son to go. Asher has been studying at home.

After going through so much trouble, Asher actually became Elijah's study partner. It can only be said to be fate.

What Mingzhan asked today was nothing more than the word "loyalty".

Those words were taboo, Elijah ate the paper, and Asher had to keep his mouth shut. His father Dominic hesitated for a few times and said, "The questions asked by the fourth master today..."

Asher lowered his head and remained silent.

"Let it rot in your stomach." By adding the second half of the sentence, Dominic proved that he had a kind heart.

Asher would not tell his own father, let alone others. The four questions Elijah asked today were taboos; Asher's hesitation in the last two questions was also taboo; they shared a secret and held each other's leverage, so Elijah would use Asher, and Asher would definitely offer his loyalty.

In a short period of time, Elijah had stabilized Asher.