Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 693: Admit your mistake and seek emergency help?
It was a cold day, but Zhang Shou had taken the Fourth Prince out for a long time and hadn't come back. The Third Prince couldn't help but feel very nervous... or more accurately, very confused. However, he couldn't ignore his father who was emitting endless anger and coldness, so he could only rack his brains to think of how to appease his father while paying attention to what was going on outside.
After waiting anxiously for a long time, he finally saw someone walking into the East Warm Pavilion with his head lowered. But there was only one person, the Fourth Prince. Seeing him walk forward silently and then kneel on the ground, he thought his fourth brother was still prepared to hold on, and was very anxious for a moment. But the next moment, he heard the person speak.
"Father, I know I was wrong. I lied before."
The emperor, who was originally filled with anger, heard the fourth prince actually confess his faults, even admitted to lying, and revealed all the " conspiracy that it was horrible. Rather than being furious, he felt it was ridiculous. Pointing at the nose of the little guy in front of him, he almost blurted out, "You go outside and kneel down to reflect on yourself." But when the words came to his lips, he was slightly stunned.
I remember that it was also a cold day like this. When he was young, he was punished by the Empress Dowager to kneel before the throne in the main hall of the Palace of Heavenly Purity because he treated a cabinet elder roughly. Even though he was known as the supreme emperor, the words revealed by the Empress Dowager when she was heartbroken made him shudder at that time. Throughout the dynasties, are there not many examples of orphans and widows who lost the throne and even the country?
And the trick he used to deal with the elder seemed to be similar to that used by the Fourth Prince...
The emperor took a deep breath and then asked fiercely, "Where is Zhang Shou? Could it be that he left on his own after I persuaded you to come back and confess your crime? If I remember correctly, when I sent Chen Yongshou to deliver the message, I said that he should be summoned as well, right?"
The Third Prince had just heard what the Fourth Prince said, and was filled with anger at someone acting on his own initiative and being smart. He suddenly woke up and realized that Zhang Shou, who had just taken the Fourth Prince away, had not followed him in. He quickly looked at his fourth brother. The Fourth Prince raised his head and said with a face full of shame, "The teacher is waiting outside the Qianqing Palace, and he said not to disturb the three of us, father and son."
The emperor felt that Zhang Shou's move was more of an attempt to avoid suspicion than to avoid disaster, but he felt relieved. After all, as a father, he couldn't call his son back to the palace, and had to step in as a teacher. He felt uncomfortable no matter how he thought about it. But the next moment, Chen Yongshou's cautious voice came from outside: "Your Majesty, someone from Qingning Palace has asked Zhang Xueshi to leave."
Upon learning that it was the Queen Mother who had taken Zhang Shou away, the Emperor was stunned at first, but then the Fourth Prince jumped up and asked, "Will the Grandmother blame the teacher because of me?"
When these words came out, even the Third Prince was shocked. This was very possible. After all, the Queen Mother also sent Yuquan to send the Fourth Prince to be taught a lesson by Zhang Shou last time! And that time, Zhang Shou not only punished the Fourth Prince with twenty strokes of the ruler, but also received ten strokes himself!
When the fourth prince thought about how he was so proud of himself when he was making an emergency plan this morning and never thought about the problem of causing trouble for others, he immediately ran out. As a result, the emperor, who was shocked, shouted angrily: "Where are you going? If you go to Qingning Palace now, you will harm him! Kneel down here and reflect on yourself, Sanlang, you watch him!"
The Third Prince quickly ran forward, pulled the Fourth Prince back, and forced him to kneel on the ground. Seeing his father walk out without saying a word, although he wanted to follow him, the younger brother biting his lip in front of him made him more worried. Therefore, when the footsteps of his father gradually disappeared outside, he stepped forward and squatted in front of the Fourth Prince.
"Fourth brother, what I want to say has probably already been taught by the teacher. I just want to tell you that I also hate my eldest and second brothers, and I am also worried that others want to take advantage of this incident to make them return to the capital, and even think that one of them is more suitable to be the crown prince. However, there are some things that you can think about in your heart, but you can't do them."
"Don't worry about me. I'm not the Zheng Rong who almost died before! I'm the crown prince now. You should at least believe that I have the ability to protect myself and you."
The fourth prince looked up in shock, but then he saw the third prince kneeling down in front of him. This time, his eyes widened immediately, and then he heard some words that made him regret and hate.
"Father punished you to kneel here and wait for him to come back. I am here with you now! I was wrong for not stopping you in advance. It is also my fault that both Father and Teacher were both angry and worried about you! If you make mistakes in the future, I will accompany you to the same extent as Father punishes you. If Father doesn't want to, I can at least punish myself in private! If you don't want this, put away those little thoughts!"
"Third brother, I was wrong!" The naughty kid was really panicked this time. He rushed forward and tried to pull the third prince up, but he was also kneeling on the ground. How could he do that? He pulled like a carrot for a long time, but he was just exhausted. But when he was about to call for help, he suddenly remembered the third prince's words that he would punish him in private, and he was completely discouraged.
Third brother was like this before, seemingly weak, but actually very opinionated. He can do it!
The emperor didn't know that his naughty child had met his second nemesis today. He completely forgot that it was dinner time and that he was hungry. When he left the Qianqing Palace, he didn't ask for a sedan chair, but walked out quickly. But when he walked out of the Qianqing Gate, he caught a glimpse of Hua Qi standing by his side, as if waiting for him.
He gestured to the others to follow him, and when they were some distance away from the Qianqing Gate, he looked back at the attendants behind him, making sure that they were all more than ten steps away. Then he asked in a low voice, "Why, did you eavesdrop on Zhang Shou and Si Lang's conversation again?"
"I wasn't eavesdropping, I was listening openly." Hua Qi said seriously, "I was standing in front of the Qianqing Gate at that time. I could listen openly only because my hearing was much better than others."
The emperor had long been accustomed to people's nonsense, but he just laughed. When Hua Qi relayed what Zhang Shou said to the Fourth Prince, his teasing expression disappeared without a trace. Zhang Shou's teachings to the Fourth Prince certainly touched his heart, but what moved him most were the lyrics hummed by the tone-deaf Hua Qi.
When I grow up, I will become you... If he in childhood saw him now, would he also feel disgust and resentment? However, this is probably the price of growing up, just like his only two remaining sons are brothers and sisters, but what about the future?
With such a heavy heart, when he entered Qingning Gate and saw Qingning Palace in sight, he saw a familiar female official hurriedly approaching and said that the Queen Mother was having dinner. He was slightly stunned: "The Queen Mother is having dinner? Where is Mr. Zhang?"
The young female official who came forward was really puzzled by the emperor's question. After a while, she said cautiously: "Master Zhang is of course accompanying the Empress Dowager for dinner with Miss Zhu."
The emperor originally thought that he was here to help in an emergency, but now he didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and realized that he had completely misunderstood.
Today is different from the last time. If you don't know the little guy's calculations, that little mistake is completely incomparable to the time when people said in public that the students of the Imperial College were not as good as the eunuchs of the Imperial Household Department. After all, Hong Shan drove away the accompanying guards himself, and it was indeed his own fault. Of course, if the Queen Mother knew the "conspiracy" of the Fourth Prince, the result would be different.
Just as he was thinking this, the emperor felt his stomach growl. He finally realized that he was hungry and said with a smile: "It's better to come at the right time than to come early. Go in and tell them that I'm here to have a meal with the Queen Mother."
Even though she knew the emperor was acting on impulse, the young female official still went inside to report. As expected, the empress dowager knew what was going on. She glanced at Zhang Shou, who was eating politely, and Zhu Ying, who was watching people more than eating, and finally ordered someone to invite the emperor in.
After some greetings and formalities, she did not mention the Fourth Prince at all. She only asked for another set of bowls and chopsticks, moved the two almost untouched dishes in front of her to the Emperor, and asked the kitchen to add two more desserts.
Zhang Shou, who was left in Qingning Palace to eat with the emperor, was already feeling uncomfortable. With the emperor as a big Buddha , he felt that this meal was going to give him a stomachache. He only thought about what kind of midnight snack he would have to make up for his injured stomach and his mood. Sure enough, before he was even half full, someone brought him tea. The meal was over!
After rinsing his mouth, he heard the Queen Mother say, "It's getting late, Jiuzhang, you should send Yingying back."
Zhang Shou quickly stood up and agreed, but Zhu Ying yawned and then said with a smile: "The Queen Mother finally called me by my courtesy name Ah Shou? Grandpa Ge was very unhappy before, saying that he gave me such a nice courtesy name but no one called me by it... Well, I have been getting up early these days and I am really exhausted. I will take my leave now!"
Seeing Zhu Ying approaching without hesitation and pulling Zhang Shou over, smiling and bowing to him and the empress dowager, and then turning around and leaving immediately as if she was afraid that he would ask more questions, the emperor had a lot of questions in his mind, and finally he could only laugh and scold: "Yingying, there must be a limit to a female foreign minister! Ask Zhang Shou to copy down the lyrics of that song. Although it is vulgar, I want to listen to it carefully!"
Before Zhang Shou could even open his mouth, Zhu Ying had already spoken for him and agreed. He followed her out of Qingning Palace involuntarily, and when he walked down the stairs, he took the cloak that Ah Liu handed over and wrapped it around himself. Seeing Zhu Ying hurriedly putting it on while walking, he couldn't help but walk a few steps faster to catch up with her and asked, "Yingying, why are you running away like this?"
"Isn't it because of you? When I heard that the Fourth Prince had caused such a disaster today, I hurried into the palace and waited in Qingning Palace, fearing that the Queen Mother would ask you to discipline that brat again!"
Zhu Ying glared at Zhang Shou as she spoke, her face full of reproach: "I was hoping you would leave that kid alone, but you actually went to the Jiangdu Palace and personally sent him back to the palace. I was afraid you would take the initiative to take responsibility and say that a teacher is lazy if he doesn't teach strictly... Anyway, I will never watch you torment yourself for that naughty kid again, so of course I have to take you away!"
Zhang Shou smiled immediately. Of course, he would not disappoint the young lady's kindness, so he pretended to be surprised and said, "So, I was not beaten by mistake? Oh, I really have to thank you for your kindness!"
When Zhu Ying heard the first half of his words, she wanted to scold him for being boastful, but when she heard the second half, "Madam," her cheeks immediately flushed. She wanted to angrily complain that Zhang Shou was talking nonsense, but she felt reluctant to do so. She couldn't help but hold his hand again and said, "Stop talking nonsense, or the emperor will be upset and chase us! Go, go, I'm waiting to go home for a midnight snack!"
"Don't run, slow down! You can't do strenuous exercise after a meal, otherwise you will get colic!"
Zhang Shou's words frightened Zhu Ying, who was about to run, and she stopped immediately. But when she came to her senses, she was about to complain that Zhang Shou was treating her like a child, but she saw Zhang Shou's expression change to a very serious one: "I'm really not lying to you. I don't believe that the Madam and Auntie Nine didn't say it before."
Thinking of what her grandmother and mother had said about not exercising after meals, but not describing something as scary as colic, Zhu Ying could only glare at Zhang Shou again, but her pace really slowed down. When she entered the palace, she took a sedan chair directly from Xuanwu Gate. Now that Zhang Shou was accompanying her, she was naturally very happy to walk back.
Thinking of the lyrics of the emperor's words, she couldn't help but ask curiously. Although Zhang Shou expected that his conversation with the fourth prince might not be hidden from someone, he was still a little depressed when the emperor told him that he knew it. At this time, after being persuaded by Zhu Ying, he simply hummed softly.
"When I was little, I thought you were beautiful..."
That song that had left a deep impression on him as a child, but later on, the title was used in various completely opposite occasions, including its use in front of the Fourth Prince today. Thinking about it now, Zhang Shou felt a little sorry for the lyricist's sincerity.
After listening to it, Zhu Ying's eyes widened. "Although the tune is weird, the lyrics sound good. It doesn't seem to mean what you said... And, if I heard correctly, the blackboard and chalk seemed to be there after you used them. This song is about the teacher, right? How could the emperor be so concerned about this song that he even asked you to write it for him?"
Proper terms like blackboard are indeed unique in this day and age. Zhang Shou didn't want to say that he had only taken out one paragraph when he used it to fool the Fourth Prince, so he simply smiled back, hoping that the guy who was eavesdropping was still there at this time, and then went to report to the emperor, so that he wouldn't have to copy the lyrics again.
As a result, Zhu Ying was still asking questions when a faint voice came from the side: "Master Zhang, you are really good at changing things. You can misinterpret the lyrics that sound extremely positive. No wonder the Fourth Prince is so convinced by you."
Hua Qi appeared and said with a smile before Zhu Ying could even exclaim, "In the case of Principal Hong, Duke Qin and Master Zhu wrote letters to plead guilty one after another, and the culprit was paraded through the streets. Principal Hong had no choice but to admit that he was unlucky. The Fourth Prince will give him a small fine, and the matter will be over. As for those things that happened behind the scenes, you and Miss Zhang can rest assured."
"It's a hard-and-fast case that can't be overturned, otherwise there wouldn't be people howling in the middle of the night!" As if to prove his words, a shrill cry suddenly came from the night sky, and then it was as if the person who screamed was blocked, and there was silence again. At this time, Hua Qi continued: "It's never possible to recover what has been lost!"
