Chapter 121: Etiquette

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Indeed, it is impossible for a family to have no one who can read, right?

“But if that’s the case, won’t Jianjian be too tired?” The other princesses didn’t have to do so many things. When they reached a certain age, they could read, but there were no strict requirements. It was up to the individual whether to read or not.

If you want to study, there will be special female officials to teach you. If you don’t want to study, you won’t be forced.

As a princess, it’s fine for her to get married when she reaches a certain age.

In the past, princesses basically all lived this way.

The imperial concubine had never experienced the modern era, so naturally she didn’t know that women could receive the same education as men, so she could only see the hardships her daughter was going through.

If you study, you will naturally suffer, and studying itself is an extremely hard thing.

But if it is not bitter now, it will be very bitter in the future.

Dying consciously or living in confusion, Ye Shuo didn’t know which option was better for Jianjian. Jianjian couldn’t make a choice now, so Ye Shuo could only act according to his own ideas.

This book is definitely a must read.

However, Ye Shuo did not say it directly, but smiled and said: “You have to learn to read after all. Jianjian is young and has a good memory. It is not easy to forget if you learn it early.”

Concubine Rong thought about it and agreed. Jianjian needed to be enlightened no matter what.

But there’s no need to go to the study room, right?

“When the time comes, mother can just find a female official to teach her.”

“Mother, there’s no need to be so troublesome.” Due to the rules of the palace, no matter how talented the female official was, she had to teach the princess “Female Training”, “Female Rules” and “Female Admonitions”. Ye Shuo didn’t want Jianjian to be exposed to these things too early.

Although the original intention of these books has not been distorted so much nowadays, they only teach women how to behave, and the methods seem gentle, but think about it carefully, why there are no corresponding “Men’s Training”, “Men’s Rules”, and “Men’s Admonitions”. When the corresponding books are published, Ye Shuo will admit that this is a good thing.

Everyone in the world advises women to be kind, gentle and obedient. It is indeed not a bad thing to have compassion for the weak, but sometimes women can live better by being a little cruel.

Thinking of this, Ye Shuo said, “Isn’t there a ready-made teacher right now?”

Don’t forget that he is now giving one-on-one private lessons, so it doesn’t matter if there is one more or one less person.

The imperial concubine was stunned: “You mean——”

“Don’t we still have the tutor? Third brother is already this old and has already graduated. It would be such a waste for the tutor to only take me with him. I don’t want to learn, so when the time comes, I can just take Jianjian with me.”

With a new student, the tutor must be very happy.

Since the tutor was assigned by his adoptive father to be the prince’s teacher, there must be no problem with his professional level. He is also an acquaintance, so Ye Shuo is relieved.

The most important thing is that you can use the tip to block gunshots, what a great thing!

At the same time, at the Taifu’s house, the Taifu suddenly felt a chill on his back and couldn’t help sneezing.

It was the first time that the imperial concubine had seen someone speak so confidently about not liking to study. However, when she thought about herself, she felt that she was not much better, so she could not bring herself to curse.

Forget it, since Shuo’er is like me, there is probably nothing I can do. I should think more about Jianjian. Jianjian is still young and she still has hope.

The imperial concubine also knew that the Grand Tutor was indeed a good person.

But……

“Will the Master agree?”

That’s the prince’s teacher, a top official of the dynasty! Would this… anger him?

Ye Shuo wasn’t worried at all: “Mom, don’t worry, I have a way to get the old man, the tutor, to agree.”

Well, Shuo’er has even found a teacher for Jianjian, and the teacher is so respected and virtuous, now all he has to do is wait for Jianjian to go to class.

It is so difficult to find a good teacher. Even a royal concubine would not be willing to miss such an opportunity.

So without further thought, the imperial concubine nodded decisively: “Okay.”

The imperial concubine made the final decision, thus determining Jianjian’s “fate”.

Poor Jianjian is still sleeping soundly, and has no idea that her mother would sell her out so easily.

The two maids next to them didn’t even say a word. After all, it wasn’t the first time.

Since the decision had been made, Ye Shuo had already started making preparations.

The Sixth Prince, who was also in Qiuwu Palace, soon learned about this matter. He was also very confused at first, wondering why the usually lazy Xiaojiu would be so persistent in the little princess’s studies.

Doesn’t he understand the principle of not doing to others what you don’t want others to do to you?

However, Ye Shuo stopped the Sixth Prince with one sentence: “It’s okay for me not to count on her, but my mother and I will count on you.”

“In such a large Qiuwu Palace, there must be someone we can rely on, right?”

If the Sixth Prince could use the power of the Imperial Concubine and the Duke of Zhen, he would definitely be happy to do so, but this is obviously not the case at the moment. Xiaojiu’s intention is to find someone to support him.

He felt that he was not capable enough and was ready to rely on his sister.

The Sixth Prince was almost exhausted from studying seriously every day, so how could he have the leisure to follow his brother to fight in the arena?

The Sixth Prince couldn’t help but twitch his lips slightly: “I think you are much more reliable to rely on yourself than on Jianjian.”

It should be said that as expected of someone who has read so many books, he hit the point in one sentence.

Indeed, instead of placing your hopes on children, it is better to do it yourself.

But, Ye Shuo is obviously not interested in this now.

“But I just want to see what others can do if they try hard.” Ye Shuo’s expression now was as if he couldn’t even fly to the sky, and he was looking for an egg in his parents’ nest, hoping that the egg would fly.

Even though the Sixth Prince didn’t know this routine so clearly, he was still very angry.

“Not striving for progress, not striving for advancement, and willing to degenerate!”

After saying these twelve harsh words, the Sixth Prince was once again driven away in anger.

Ye Shuo touched his chin, wondering if it was really that serious, and didn’t notice that Xing Yucheng next to him was reading even faster.

Not taking the Sixth Prince’s words to heart at all, Ye Shuo looked like a hopeless case and continued to act as he always did.

In this way, Jianjian soon noticed that for several months, her brother came home sighing every day.

Jianjian took a lot of effort to figure out that it was her brother who was reading and was scolded by the teacher.

So, what is reading and why does it make my brother so sad?

Jianjian now still cannot understand what reading means, so she can only piece together a little bit of truth from Ye Shuo’s words.

Ye Shuo didn’t care about that. He just hugged his sister and cried, “Wuwuwuwuwu Jianjian, brother is so stupid. Why can’t brother learn?”

Indeed, her brother was really stupid. He was the dumbest person she had ever met.

At first Jian Jian even nodded in agreement, but when Ye Shuo started crying, she immediately panicked and didn’t care about anything else: “Don’t cry, don’t cry… Brother, don’t cry…”

Ye Shuo seemed not to hear and cried even louder: “If only brother could be as smart as Jianjian, if brother could be as smart as Jianjian, he would definitely be able to learn it right away.”

No matter how ignorant Jianjian was, she knew what the word “smart” meant.

The imperial concubine often praised her, saying that she could speak when she was less than one year old, could walk when she was one year and three months old, could eat by herself when she was over two years old, and could wash her face by herself when she was three years old. After listening to her for a long time, Jianjian gradually came to realise that she was very smart.

What Jianjian didn’t know was that her imperial concubine thought her brother was well-behaved, sensible and obedient…

“Then, then Jianjian… share her intelligence with… my brother…” Jianjian used her sleeves to wipe the tears of her stupid brother.

Alas, although these words sound nice, they are not what Ye Shuo wants.

Seeing that the foreshadowing was almost complete, Ye Shuo gradually began to show his true colors: “Brother, isn’t so clever. Brother wants Jianjian to help me get revenge, okay?”

“But…but…the person that my brother can’t beat, Jianjian can’t beat either…” The little princess was finally not completely confused and still knew her own weight.

But how could such a simple girl escape the trap set by her brother?

“There is no need for Jianjian to help her brother fight. Jianjian only needs to use her smart brain.”

The little princess couldn’t resist her brother’s deception and agreed without thinking.

For a period of time afterwards, Ye Shuo would remind her every day for fear that she would forget. Later on, Jian Jian herself became more anxious.

“There are still ten days left, Jianjian, are you ready?”

“There are still seven days left, Jianjian. I believe you can do it.”

“Five more days…”

“Three days…”

“Jianjian, you will be able to see the master tomorrow morning. I’ll leave my brother’s affairs to you then.”

[1]Using ‘my’ for himself or oneself

“No problem!”

At that time, Jianjian answered in the affirmative, but when the thing really happened, as a child, she could not help but back down.

Children change their expressions very quickly, and it’s hard to deal with them when they start crying.

So Ye Shuo decided not to give her any chance to regret.

The next morning, Ye Shuo knocked on his mother’s door and carried his sleeping sister on his back.

Although it is already May, the weather is still quite cold in the morning, so Ye Shuo specially found a cloak for Jianjian to put on.

Ye Shuo’s steps were extremely steady as he moved forward step by step.

After the Grand Tutor left the court, Ye Shuo had almost arrived at the Eastern Palace.

Although it was true that Emperor Jingwen had a special seat set up for Ye Shuo, he did not have to report there every day. Ye Shuo had specifically asked about it yesterday, and the Grand Tutor said that he would meet the Crown Prince today and teach him to read in the East Palace.

To be honest, more than three years have passed, and the Grand Tutor had given up on the Ninth Prince a long time ago. Now, apart from the Emperor’s orders, the only thing that supports him is his sense of responsibility as a teacher.

Nowadays, the Grand Tutor at least scolds him, but it won’t be long before the Grand Tutor doesn’t even bother to scold him.

When the Grand Tutor and the Crown Prince came together, they happened to run into Ye Shuo.

Why did he come so early today?

The same thought came to their minds at the same time.

Soon, the prince discovered something was wrong. Why did Xiaojiu have such a big bump on his back?

As if sensing the prince’s doubts, Ye Shuo turned sideways, revealing Jianjian’s sleeping face.

Didn’t the Ninth Prince come to class today? Why did he bring the princess with him?

After seeing the little princess, for some reason, the Grand Tutor suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart.

Soon, the preceptor’s premonition came true.

“Teacher, Jianjian is already over three years old. It’s time for her to start learning. Could you take the trouble to teach her how to read and write?”

What on earth did the Ninth Prince think of him?!

How could it be possible to ask him to teach a princess?

The master did not hesitate and blurted out, “No!”

Ye Shuo seemed a little helpless when he heard this: “Okay, then I’ll go find the Master’s wife to teach her.”

After all, the teacher’s wife is well-read, so there is no problem for her to help Jianjian with his education.

“I’m really sorry, Third Brother, Teacher, I won’t bother you anymore.”

Without waiting for the two to react, Ye Shuo turned around and left without any reluctance.

Because of her granddaughter’s marriage, Mrs. Zhen had been unkind to her husband in recent years. When the Grand Tutor thought of what happened the last time he visited her house, he shuddered.

References

↑1Using ‘my’ for himself or oneself