Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 620: Lessons
Discipline the Fourth Prince? Why? What does he have to do with me? I don't care!
This was Ah Liu's simple and sincere understanding. He didn't think about the expressions and feelings of the people who followed Yuquan and the Fourth Prince out of the palace when they heard what he said, nor did he care about how surprised Liu Zhiyuan was at this moment, pulling his beard, and he didn't even pay attention to Zhang Shou's expression of wanting to laugh but trying hard to hold it back.
Seeing the Fourth Prince looking up in surprise, as if he was about to say something, he said seriously: "I am a very strict person. I have taught Yang Hao, Zheng Dang and many others martial arts. Fourth Prince, ask them how much suffering they have endured?"
Yang Hao and Zheng Dang were from Rongshui Village, and they were the people who were most familiar with Ah Liu. However, Ah Liu in Rongshui Village and Ah Liu who claimed to be the housekeeper in Zhang Garden in Beijing were completely different people! If Ah Liu in Rongshui Village was a boy with no expression, didn't like to talk to people, and seemed not so sociable, then Ah Liu in Zhang Garden was even scarier than a ghost!
So, the two of them looked at each other, and out of consideration for the Fourth Prince, Yang Hao said hesitantly: "Fourth Prince, Sixth Brother is ruthless when it comes to disciplining people. Before, when we were practicing martial arts, quite a few of us were lazy and slack, and as a result... several of us were hung up and beaten..."
Zhang Shou had always been a person who didn't care about household affairs. He had so many things to do and so many students that he couldn't handle them all. The huge Zhang Garden was managed by Wu, and there was also Ah Liu, who called himself the housekeeper, and Hua Qi who came to help him train a group of children from time to time. Why did he care about so many things? As for the future, when Zhu Ying married him, would he still need to worry about the backyard?
Therefore, this was the first time he had heard of someone being hung up and beaten, and he was shocked. Especially when he saw Yuquan, a female official of Qingning Palace whom he had met several times, with a strange expression on her face, he immediately asked, "Ah Liu, even if you are teaching someone martial arts, why do you have to hang them up and beat them?"
Seeing that the Fourth Prince was so frightened that his face turned pale, and he wanted to retreat but felt it was inappropriate, so he just stood in front of him. Ah Liu muttered in a low voice: "Hanging someone up and beating him are two different things."
When Yang Hao saw Ah Liu glance at him, he shuddered and explained hurriedly, "Yes, yes, I'll hang you up and beat you! If you get up late and don't want to do morning exercises, Brother Liu will punish you by hanging you on the pole for 25 minutes. If you're lazy during morning exercises or mess up the formation, Brother Liu will practice with you alone."
At this point, even Zhang Shou was speechless. This is what is called hanging up and beating up! Hanging up is not mentioned for now, and beating up is even simpler. With the group of kids at home, let alone practicing alone, even if they rush up together, it is estimated that they are not enough to fill the gap between Ah Liu's teeth. So, this is a one-sided beating - Yang Hao hung up and beat up, and there was not a single word of falsehood!
Although the fourth prince was only a little boy, he was also a smart guy. Of course, he understood everything at this moment. His face, which was already pale, was about to cry. He only remembered that he was lying on Ah Liu's back and felt free and happy, but he forgot that when he was spanked, it was also merciless. If people were as strict as Zhu Tingfang, wouldn't he be asking for a beating?
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but say: "When the teacher teaches us students, he is always smiling and tolerant. Sixth brother, you must be scaring me! No matter how strict you are, you can't be stricter than Sister Yingying's eldest brother, right?"
Liu Zhiyuan was originally just watching the fun from behind with great interest - after all, the Queen Mother actually sent her trusted palace lady to hand over the fourth prince to the discipline of the waiter beside Zhang Shou. This was really unbelievable, and Zhang Shou actually let the waiter deal with it himself, and then the waiter suddenly revealed a lot of inside stories that Zhang Shou obviously didn't know!
However, when he saw that the Fourth Prince, in a moment of desperation, opened his mouth and revealed Zhu Tingfang, the student he had accepted out of necessity, he couldn't help but be stunned, but he soon realized what was going on.
So, he, who was praised by the emperor as an upright minister, walked forward calmly and asked directly: "From the tone of the Fourth Prince, could it be that he wants Zhu Junli to be your teacher?"
The fourth prince was slightly startled when he saw Liu Zhiyuan coming up, but Yuquan, who had recognized this late bloomer and upright minister when the empress dowager was in power, smiled and told him the whole story of how Zhu Ying had pleaded for the fourth prince in front of the empress dowager today and then recommended Zhu Tingfang to be a teacher. Compared to the fourth prince's evasiveness in his self-narration just now, she covered every detail, so that the fourth prince was ashamed and angry.
When Zhang Shou heard that the Fourth Prince was actually asking for forgiveness by carrying a thorny branch on his back in front of the Queen Mother, and that the branch was actually covered with thorns, his brows furrowed immediately. He immediately ignored the Fourth Prince's suggestive eye contact and gestures with Ah Liu and dragged the man in front of him.
Seeing that the boy was wearing a large cloak that almost covered his feet, he winked at Ah Liu. In an instant, Ah Liu, who had just turned a blind eye to the Fourth Prince's tricks, reached out and pulled off the Fourth Prince's cloak, as if he had also lifted up his white silk undergarment, but in an instant he covered the man tightly again.
So, when Ah Liu nodded to Zhang Shou, the others… from Liu Zhiyuan on down, no one saw it clearly, even Yuquan, who had practiced martial arts since childhood, only had a glimpse. If she hadn’t personally taken the Fourth Prince to change into a loose middle coat and a thick and soft cloak in the carriage, and treated his injuries again, she wouldn’t have been able to see what kind of injuries the Fourth Prince had.
"Who taught you to carry a thorny bramble on your back to ask for forgiveness? Your body and hair were given to you by your parents, and even your elders have never criticized you. Why are you so self-righteous?"
After the stern question, Zhang Shou saw the Fourth Prince lowering his head and stammering, so he couldn't help but take a deep breath. If he was wrong, he was also present when the Fourth Prince said those words yesterday, so he was also wrong for not stopping him in time.
Of course, he was curious at first yesterday, so he listened to the Fourth Prince talking about the secrets of the Imperial Household Department. It was not until he found that the Fourth Prince was talking more and more outrageous that he hurriedly spoke out to stop him. But after all, the Fourth Prince had already made a mistake, and this reckless and impulsive little guy even played a big drama of asking for forgiveness in Qingning Palace. What if the wound gets infected?
He stared at the anxious Fourth Prince for a long time, and finally looked up at Yuquan and said, "The Palace Lady has come here on the orders of the Queen Mother. Although it is difficult for Ah Liu to accept, since I have been the Fourth Prince Zheng Yan's teacher and was present when he made a big mistake yesterday, I have no choice but to discipline him as a teacher."
At this point, he said in a deep voice: "Now if I go to Zhang Garden to get the ruler given to me by the emperor, just to make the name match the reality, then there is no need . May I ask Mr. Liu, is there a ruler in this public school?"
Liu Zhiyuan was moved when he heard what Zhang Shou had just said. When Zhang Shou asked about the ruler, he said straightforwardly, "Although the public school is full of people who are eager to learn, there are inevitably some naughty people, so there is never a shortage of rulers. There are even teachers with fierce tempers, and it is common to break a ruler every half a month."
After he finished speaking, he looked at Ah Liu and said, "Just go to any classroom and you will find it."
Seeing that Ah Liu turned away without saying anything, without any excuses as he had just said that he could not discipline the Fourth Prince, Liu Zhiyuan looked at the Fourth Prince who lowered his head and said lightly: "Although Miss Zhu recommended her brother to teach the Fourth Prince, compared to Dr. Zhang's teaching without discrimination, with Zhu Junli's personality, he will not accept students randomly."
The fourth prince curled his lips and thought that it would be best if Zhu Tingfang didn't accept him - he was the most serious person, how could his lectures be as interesting as Zhang Shou's? Of course, the arithmetic that Zhang Shou taught his third brother was getting more and more difficult. These days, when he was listening to the lectures in Kunning Palace, he found it increasingly difficult to follow. Zhang Shou no longer talked about history, but he actually liked to listen to Zhang Shou telling stories from history books more.
Zhang Shou knew that Liu Zhiyuan had heard the hidden meaning of Zhu Ying's recommendation - there was no doubt that the eldest lady was just using her eldest brother to scare a naughty child, so the queen mother probably just laughed it off. As for leaving the teaching of the people to Ah Liu, he would be a fool if he took it seriously. He, a serious teacher, didn't care, so he let Ah Liu take care of it?
When Ah Liu took the ruler back in a flash, Zhang Shou did not take it in his hand, but directly ordered: "Ah Liu, since the Queen Mother has issued an imperial decree, Zheng Yan is indeed wrong, you can beat him for me."
Although the Fourth Prince was still trembling with fear from the conversation between Yang Hao and Ah Liu, he very bravely stretched out his left hand after hearing what Zhang Shou said, but he lowered his head and did not dare to look at it at all.
He and the third prince are two extreme people. He has been beaten a lot since childhood. At this moment, he just wants to grit his teeth and bear it. The pain will pass after a while. After all, it's not like he hasn't been beaten by his father before!
But the next moment, he felt something clamping his palm tightly. When he looked again, he saw Ah Liu pinching his five fingers expressionlessly, revealing his chubby palm. Before he could react, he felt a tearing pain in his palm. Even though he had made up his mind not to scream, he still couldn't help but scream.
Since he cried out the first time, he naturally couldn't hold it in any longer. He cried out in pain after three or four hits , and instinctively wanted to dodge and struggle. This showed that Ah Liu had foresight in grabbing his hand first. No matter how he twisted his body, the ruler landed firmly on his palm. After more than ten hits, his palm was swollen like a steamed bun.
Seeing that this was a real beating without mercy, Yang Hao and Zheng Dang were completely shocked. This was not one of those wild kids in Zhang Garden who had been running around in the countryside since childhood and didn't know the rules or etiquette. It didn't matter if they taught him a lesson casually. This was the prince, the son of the emperor. How could Sixth Brother dare to be so cruel?
The fourth prince was already regretting his decision at this moment. He forgot that this was the Queen Mother's order, forgot that he had made up his mind with great difficulty, and forgot that he had thought about asking for forgiveness last night when he was tossing and turning in the Qianqing Palace.
That's right. The boy originally planned to carry a whip on his back to apologize to his father. However, he didn't expect that the empress dowager summoned him when the emperor went to court. So he used the idea he had thought of long ago in front of the empress dowager of Qingning Palace.
But the pain now was getting stronger and stronger, and it was even more painful than when Zhu Ying pulled out the thorns for him - he had no idea that the emperor had specially asked someone to find the thorns, and actually only left a few thorns symbolically to scare people, otherwise how could he have been so lively and energetic after asking for forgiveness just now?
He cried again and tried to beg for mercy, but Ah Liu was so hard-hearted that he didn't stop and even swung the ruler even more frequently. When his hand was finally released, he didn't even notice the other person stopping until his face was covered by something.
"Wipe it off. A real man should shed blood and sweat but not tears!"
Hearing Zhang Shou's voice and the fact that the endless beating had ended, the Fourth Prince finally came to his senses. He raised his hand and found a handkerchief on his face. He used both hands to wipe it, but he gasped because of the redness and swelling on his left palm, and then he couldn't help but burst into tears again.
Hearing the crying sound, Zhang Shou simply stepped forward and wiped the person's face with his own hands - he changed three handkerchiefs in total, thanks to the sufficient preparations made before the trip to Yuquan. When the child, who had once cried loudly, was sobbing with red and swollen eyes, he continued, "You have been punished, but what happened yesterday cannot be blamed on you."
"After all, I was there, but I didn't stop you from talking nonsense in time. I failed to be a teacher, and I am also to blame."
The Fourth Prince was in so much pain that he suddenly heard these words. He looked up in confusion, only to see Zhang Shou actually holding out his left hand and saying to Ah Liu, "The Queen Mother has punished Zheng Yan with thirty blows. You just took twenty. As your commander, I will take the remaining ten for you."
Seeing Ah Liu's stunned expression, and then under Zhang Shou's stare, he actually raised the ruler hesitantly, the Fourth Prince felt as if his head had exploded, until the first blow of the ruler from Ah Liu suddenly fell, he suddenly came to his senses, and subconsciously rushed forward in panic, opened his arms and blocked Zhang Shou.
Seeing that Ah Liu had stopped, he heaved a sigh of relief and immediately glared at Ah Liu, “Sixth Brother, how could you listen to the teacher’s orders! I was the one who said the nonsense, what does the teacher have to do with it… Wow, it was all because I was fooled by that bastard Liu Feng that I made such a big mistake! You are not allowed to hit the teacher, if you want to hit someone, hit me!”
This scene happened so fast that Yuquan couldn't stop it. She was just wondering how many beatings the Fourth Prince had received before Zhang Shou signaled Ah Liu to stop. But now she saw tears in the Fourth Prince's eyes and his words were sonorous. She was worried that the Fourth Prince would feel resentful because of this lesson, but now she not only didn't worry at all, but also felt a little respect for him.
Sure enough, the next moment, she saw Zhang Shou holding the Fourth Prince's shoulders and saying word by word: "Yang Hao, Zheng Dang, drag Zheng Yan aside and let him watch carefully!"
When Yang Hao and Zheng Dang really dragged forward, hesitantly grabbed his arm and dragged him aside, the Fourth Prince almost went crazy. Seeing Zhang Shou nodding to Ah Liu with a normal expression, watching the ruler being raised high and falling heavily, and hearing the same sound as when he was beaten just now, he couldn't help but burst into tears again after finally stopping crying.
At that moment, he felt like he was the worst student in the world!
