Chapter 58: Praise

Inside the East Palace, the Grand Tutor was already on high alert.

Although the Grand Tutor had no intention of teaching the Ninth Prince real skills, he couldn’t go too far on the surface.

The tutor had already made plans last night. He would teach him, but only the basics, just enough to ensure that his knowledge was above the passing line. He wouldn’t say a word more than that.

But in fact, according to the standards of the Taifu, even just the passing line is enough for most people to benefit from for a lifetime, it’s just that it is not so conspicuous among the princes.

Although the Grand Tutor had selfish motives, he would not go so far as to kill them all. In his opinion, this was enough to ruin a prince.

Wouldn’t the prince who had no ambition be deposed?

Unlike the Crown Prince, who had to learn how to be a monarch, he wanted to teach the Ninth Prince how to be a minister. This two-pronged approach was like double insurance.

Although this is unfair to a child, the crown prince is the legitimate son, and the other princes are only born to concubines after all.

A son born to a concubine should abide by his duties and not covet things that he should not covet. It is only natural for him to learn how to be a minister.

The reason why Emperor Jingwen chose the Taifu as the prince’s teacher was precisely because of this point. The Taifu was a staunch defender of the system of primogeniture. In his eyes, only the children born to the former queen were the only legitimate heirs to the throne. Even the children born to the successor queen had to take a back seat.

This is especially true for the Taifu himself. His wife only gave birth to two children in her life, both girls. In today’s world, the Taifu has no intention of taking a concubine.

Therefore, in his eyes, maintaining the status of the crown prince was a matter of course, and he did not feel that he had done anything wrong in teaching the Ninth Prince in this way.

The Grand Tutor sipped the tea in the cup intermittently, appearing a little nonchalant.

Ye Shuo arrived under this circumstance.

“The Ninth Prince has arrived—”

Hearing the eunuch’s message, the Grand Tutor’s already upright sitting posture became even straighter. He had witnessed Ye Shuo’s power before, and now he subconsciously became alert.

The Grand Tutor had even thought about what he would do if the Ninth Prince disobeyed him.

Anyway, no matter what, the idea that the crown prince is the chosen one must be instilled into his mind.

After all, the old man in front of him is the father of the Crown Princess, the grandfather of the little emperor’s grandson, and the in-law of his stepfather. For the sake of these three people, Ye Shuo will not do anything to him.

After Ye Shuo bowed, he knelt obediently below the Grand Tutor, staring at him without blinking, quietly waiting for the other party’s next words.

After all, it doesn’t look like the Grand Tutor has nothing to say.

…Hmm? Something is wrong. Why is the Ninth Prince so obedient today?

Thinking this in their hearts, the teacher and the student stared at each other, looking a little awkward.

When it comes to keeping calm, Emperor Jingwen is no match for Ye Shuo, let alone the Prince’s tutor.

Just as Ye Shuo was about to eat the second piece of dessert, the Grand Tutor finally spoke, and the first thing he said was: “Let me ask you, do you know what the relationship between the ruler and his subjects is, and do you know what the relationship between the subjects is?”

The Master did not keep anyone in suspense and spoke directly to the point right away.

Upon seeing this, Ye Shuo quickly wiped the snack crumbs from the corner of his lips with his hand. As expected, he immediately received the forbearing look from the Master.

Ye Shuo pretended not to see it.

“Replying to the Grand Master, I believe that the king is superior, and the ministers are inferior.”

As for the way to be a minister, there are many different ways to say it, but it all comes down to one sentence:

“Ministers should obey the monarch.”

Ye Shuo’s words were so matter-of-fact that the Grand Tutor was stunned for a moment before he said, “What if the monarch is wrong?”

“How could that be?” As long as the compensation is sufficient, how can the boss be wrong? Everything the boss says is right.

For someone like me, no matter who he works for in the future, even if that person says his fart is not smelly but fragrant, Ye Shuo will accept it.

The other party works so hard, getting up early and going to bed late every day to support himself, and it would be fine if he didn’t enjoy anything, but in the end, he enjoyed it all. In this case, it’s not shameful to just lower your head and be obedient.

“How can a monarch make mistakes? The ones who make mistakes are the ministers. It is the ministers who fail to share the monarch’s worries in time. It is the ministers’ incompetence that troubles the monarch.”

This Taifu’s ideological awareness is not good enough.

Ye Shuo even looked at his current teacher with disapproval on his face: “So in your mind, the emperor can also make mistakes? Have you ever heard of the saying, ‘Thunderbolts, rain and dew are all grace from the emperor’? Whether the emperor is happy or angry, it is a favor to others.”

Ye Shuo spoke so seriously that the tutor was successfully choked.

The Taifu tried to find any trace of lying on his face, but there was none. The Taifu couldn’t find any at all.

That’s really what he thought!

The student was too obedient, so the remarks prepared by the tutor in advance were suddenly useless.

“you……”

The Grand Tutor opened his mouth, but he really didn’t know what to say. In the end, he could only wave his hands helplessly, “…Forget it, let’s stop here for today.”

The Grand Tutor originally wanted to teach Ye Shuo “The Way of a Minister” from Xunzi, to teach him how to be a good minister and what kind of minister he should be.

But now it seems obviously useless.

The Grand Tutor finally changed his mind temporarily: “I see that you are usually restless and playful, so you should first copy Zhuangzi’s “Xiao Yao You” ten times. When you are calm, I will teach you other things.”

Zhuangzi was a Taoist who advocated that sages should do nothing and taught people to let nature take its course and not to force anything in order to be truly free.

This would naturally be no problem if it happened somewhere else, but the Ninth Prince is a prince after all. Isn’t this telling him not to fight?

Fortunately, Xing Yucheng has been reading a lot of books recently, not only limited to the mainstream books of the time, but also some niche books, otherwise he really wouldn’t understand what it meant.

Although “Xiao Yao You” is a classic that has been passed down to this day, it is really not suitable for the Ninth Prince at all.

Therefore, Xing Yucheng subconsciously opened his mouth to argue, but before he could say anything, Ye Shuo next to him had already agreed.

“Please rest assured, Master. In five days, I will bring these ten pieces of “Xiao Yao You” to you for your review!”

As expected, one-on-one teaching is more flexible than large classes. As long as you answer the questions and receive the homework, there is nothing else to do. You don’t have to stay there all the time like in a large class.

As long as the answer satisfies the teacher, it’s fine.

Without giving the tutor any chance to regret, Ye Shuo grabbed his study partner, winked at Xiao Luzi, and was about to leave.

The Grand Tutor always felt that something was wrong. After all, it was just ten chapters of “Xiao Yao You”. It shouldn’t take five days to copy them all, right?

But before the tutor could raise his doubts, Ye Shuo had already disappeared.

From the time he arrived here to the time he left, it took less than an incense stick of time.

Gazing from afar, the Taifu was thinking at the moment, in fact, it was just as good this way, he didn’t want to learn, and I didn’t want to teach either, what a good thing.

The reason why His Majesty was unwilling to let go was because the Ninth Prince was his son, but it was different for him. He had no relationship with the Ninth Prince, so even though he knew that he was playful by nature, he would just turn a blind eye.

At this time, the Taifu was still able to keep his composure.

On the other hand, because he needed to copy books, Ye Shuo took Xing Yucheng directly to the library in the palace.

“Yes, this is my token. With this token, you can come and go here as you please.”

The Great Zhou Dynasty has lasted for over a hundred years, and its heritage is extremely profound. The library has three floors in total, with carved beams and painted buildings, and an ancient charm.

Ye Shuo heard that this library was built a hundred years ago and had to be renovated every few years to maintain its current appearance, but he didn’t know if it was true.

After walking in, Xing Yucheng was immediately shocked by the rows of bookshelves.

His family was a scholarly family, and there had been scholars in the family since his great-grandfather’s generation. Year after year, the family had accumulated quite a large collection of books, but compared with the library in front of him, it was dwarfed.

Ye Shuo ordered the guarding official to find Zhuangzi’s “Xiao Yao You”, and asked Xiao Luzi for the rice paper that had been prepared in advance. He placed the writing brush, ink, paper and ink stone for Xing Yucheng, and skillfully took out five taels of silver. Xing Yucheng immediately understood what he meant.

“Don’t be too picky. Just copy five pages at the front and five pages at the back, and leave the middle blank.” Anyway, the tutor won’t check each page, so even if he says it’s enough ten times, he won’t know it anyway.

Xing Yucheng had never known there was such a method before.

“This, this is not good…”

“Well, what’s wrong with that?” Ye Shuo didn’t care.

“You copy first. I’m going to sleep first. Remember to call me when you’re done, and then we’ll go back together.”

Not sure if it was to conceal his identity, but Ye Shuo took out a pile of books from the bookshelf behind him and used them to block his side. From a distance, one could not tell for a moment whether it was Xing Yucheng, who was sitting next to him, who was writing, or whether he was the one writing.

Xing Yucheng had no choice but to grind the ink and start writing.

Ye Shuo picked up a few books at first and read them. By the time Xing Yucheng finished writing the first page, he had already fallen asleep.

Xiao Luzi, who was standing next to him, skillfully put the cloak he had carried along the way gently over Ye Shuo’s body. After making sure that he would not be cold, Xiao Luzi dipped his hand in tea and secretly began to practice calligraphy.

Xing Yucheng: “…”

I always feel that there is something wrong with this scene.

Xing Yucheng could see clearly in his mind that the Grand Tutor really had no intention of teaching the Ninth Prince well, and the Ninth Prince had no ability to distinguish right from wrong and only wanted to play. He started to learn too late, and now he didn’t understand anything.

Now and even for a long time in the future, you can only rely on yourself.

Xing Yucheng felt that the burden on him was particularly heavy.

After copying the first five pages and the last five pages as requested by the Ninth Prince, Xing Yucheng wanted to take a break, but when he saw the Ninth Prince’s unconscious face, he was startled and sat up straight quickly, then subconsciously picked up the book next to Ye Shuo and started reading.

This is really a coincidence. I didn’t expect that these things that the Ninth Prince picked up would come in handy.

At noon, Ye Shuo woke up slowly and took the two of them to Shu Lan Zhai for a delicious barbecue. The barbecue was done in the yard of Shu Lan Zhai, and the meat was marinated in advance, so it smelled delicious.

Behind closed doors, he secretly played a few rounds of Mahjong with Empress Zhao and the others. In the afternoon, Ye Shuo continued to repeat his behavior in the morning.

However, he couldn’t fall asleep this time, so he closed his eyes and started practicing.

However, in Xing Yucheng’s eyes, this scene was still sleeping, just the movements were different, there was no difference at all.

Xing Yucheng’s awareness of the Ninth Prince’s incompetence became more and more profound.

When he returned home in the evening, Emperor Jingwen was so shocked when he learned that his son had been in the library the whole day.

As expected of a Grand Tutor, he is really good at teaching students.

“It seems that you have adapted to it today.”

Ye Shuo heard this and nodded seriously: “Yes, the tutor’s teaching method is excellent and very suitable for this son.”

Emperor Jingwen was immediately delighted, and the next day after court he began to praise the Grand Tutor profusely, almost making the Prince’s Grand Tutor dumbfounded.