A Family Dinner

Zhao Changge immediately brushed his hand away; the spot he pinched was smarting with pain.

"I made some face wash myself. Do you want to try it?"

Zhao Changxing, having been swatted by her, pulled his hand back. Looking at Zhao Changge's fair face, which had turned slightly red from his pinch, he coughed lightly, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"No need, that's for girls."

After staying a bit longer, he left. Zhao Changge continued preparing her things for tomorrow's trip.

Dinner time.

As was the custom, this was the time for the family to gather.

When Zhao Changge arrived at the main courtyard, everyone was already there.

Seeing her father and eldest brother, a wave of emotion surged in her heart. This was the first time she had seen them since her rebirth.

She quickly lowered her head, suppressing the tears that threatened to spill, forcing herself to calm down. By the time she looked up, there was no trace of excess emotion in her eyes.

"Father, Mother, Second Brother," she called out one by one. Each time she spoke, her heart softened a bit more.

"Come sit next to Mother," Lady Xu said gently, waving her hand with affection.

Zhao Zhu, sitting nearby, saw this, and his gaze softened as well.

Once Zhao Changge sat down, Lady Xu looked at her bright complexion and felt extremely happy.

"I heard that after you returned this morning, you stayed cooped up in your room? Didn't you use to stroll around the courtyard often? Are you bored? Would you like Mother to take you to the temple for a walk?"

"Sure! When Mother is free, I will go with you to offer incense. Besides, isn't Eldest Brother about to take the Metropolitan Exam? We should go pray for his blessings, hoping he can win Jieyuan this time, then proceed to the Palace Exam and win Zhuangyuan, achieving a consecutive triple first!" Zhao Changge said with a smile, her heart filled with admiration for her genius eldest brother.

In her past life, he indeed won the consecutive triple first, his fame shaking the land.

It was only later that he caught the eye of a princess who wanted to marry him. In the end, she didn't know what method he used to escape it, forcing the princess to marry the Tanhua instead. Therefore, she had nothing to worry about regarding her eldest brother.

The one she was truly concerned about was her second brother. In her past life, his marriage had been dragged down by her, leading him to marry a woman of treacherous intent. In this life, she would absolutely not let that happen.

"You make it sound so easy, but we don't even know how your eldest brother is doing in the capital. None of us are by his side." Mentioning her eldest son, Lady Xu's eyes couldn't help but flash with worry.

"Mother, why worry about Eldest Brother? He's the one who cons others; who could possibly con him!" Zhao Changxing curled his lip from the side, speaking bluntly.

"What nonsense are you talking again?" Hearing this, Lady Xu looked at him helplessly, her worries dissipating.

Zhao Changxing blinked and said naturally, "Eldest Brother is as smart as Father. He'll definitely be fine!"

Hearing this, Zhao Changge secretly glanced at her father. Seeing his calm and serene demeanor, she couldn't help but sigh inwardly for her second brother. Wasn't this sentence insulting Father along with him?

After all, Eldest Brother was taught by Father. Since he was so deep and calculating, didn't that make Father the master of being deep and calculating?

Sure enough, right after Zhao Changxing finished speaking, Zhao Zhu glanced at him and said calmly:

"I heard from your teacher that your arithmetic score was ranked at the bottom this time."

Hearing this, Zhao Changxing instantly wilted and said gloomily:

"I didn't write down the steps. I did mental math and explained it directly to the teacher, but he didn't believe me."

Originally planning to settle accounts with him, Zhao Zhu couldn't help but frown upon hearing this: "He didn't know how to do it, so he didn't believe you knew how?"