Chapter 38: Waiting
The emperor thought about it over and over again, and felt that this would not work.
The emperor had originally planned very well, to see how the Duke of Zhen would react and then make a choice, but now…
Even someone as thoughtful as Emperor Jingwen could no longer sit still.
He realized that if he didn’t stop her, the Imperial Concubine would really keep dragging her feet and not allow the Ninth Prince to enroll in school!
But if he just moves like this, he would always feel like he is inexplicably inferior to the Duke of Zhen.
Emperor Jingwen sat on the dragon throne with an uncertain expression.
Wang Ziquan on the side was thinking, even though the little prince has grown up, the situation has not improved, but has become more serious. At the beginning, the little prince was just simply naughty, but now… His Majesty must be worried to death.
In the end, Emperor Jingwen still felt that compared to losing to the Duke of Zhen, it was more intolerable for the royal family, especially his own son, to have an illiterate person who could not read a single word. The former only made him feel uncomfortable, but the latter was a real harm.
Emperors are generally pragmatic, so Emperor Jingwen closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and became extremely annoyed, almost yelling out word by word: “Come, prepare the carriage to the Qiuwu Palace!”
No matter what, the Ninth Prince must enroll in school this year!!!At the same time, over in the East Palace, Ye Shuo seemed to sense something and couldn’t help sneezing.
“A-choo!”
The noise startled the child next to Ye Shuo. After realizing what was happening, the child looked over at him worriedly, “Ninth Uncle, are you okay?”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. The ninth uncle is in good health.” Ye Shuo waved his hands, not caring at all. Now that he has already mastered the internal strength, ordinary minor illnesses like colds and fevers can no longer affect him.
Seeing the child in front of him so cute, Ye Shuo couldn’t help but rub his head, which naturally resulted in the child’s protest.
“Ninth Uncle!!!”
Looking at the child who couldn’t help but jump, Ye Shuo smiled and dodged, while his thoughts gradually drifted away.
From three to seven years old, there are still many changes in four years.
For example, he has successfully been listed in the imperial edict and officially obtained his own ranking.
As he grew older, the Sixth Prince felt a growing sense of urgency, especially since he would gradually begin to get involved in government affairs in two years. He was studying very hard, and except for the New Year holidays, he hardly had any time to stop.
Even though Ye Shuo lived with him in Qiuwu Palace, he often didn’t see him.
And on the prince’s side, Ye Shuo had just celebrated his third birthday. In the same year, the prince, who had just turned eighteen, got married. The woman he married was none other than the daughter of his teacher, the Grand Tutor.
Zhen is very different from her old-fashioned father. Zhen is very well-behaved and has a gentle and generous personality. Even when facing a naughty boy like Ye Shuo, she can be very patient and almost never loses her temper. Ye Shuo often comes to the East Palace and makes trouble there, but she never gets angry.
Ye Shuo observed carefully and confirmed that she was really not angry, and she was not saying one thing in front of others and another behind their backs.
According to the Crown Princess, she had never seen such a lively child before, and just watching him playing around made her feel more relaxed.
This is true. Ye Shuo is the most comfortable person in the whole palace.
Perhaps because she was too harshly disciplined since childhood, the Crown Princess was particularly envious of free children. Due to the rules, she could not run, jump or laugh, so she particularly liked to watch others run, jump and laugh, which almost pissed off the Grand Tutor.
At first Ye Shuo was still thinking that he must not act the same way as before after the Crown Prince got married. After all, disturbing the young couple would be struck by lightning. But seeing the Crown Princess’s behavior, Ye Shuo no longer had any scruples.
Not long after the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess got married, the Crown Princess became pregnant and gave birth to a child the following year. Now, four years have passed, and the child is three years old.
Look, that’s the kid next to Ye Shuo.
The little kid in front of him is the legitimate son of the crown prince. There is no one more legitimate than him.
Perhaps it was for the sake of the Grand Tutor, or perhaps it was because the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess knew each other when they were young and had a very close friendship, so there was almost no one else in the Crown Prince’s room before he married the Crown Princess, and no one was brought in for two years after he married her. Last year, he took in two new concubines.
Although Ye Shuo himself could not understand it, the world was in such a state today that the prince could not be blamed.
Ye Shuo was an outsider, so naturally he had no right to interfere in the prince’s family affairs, so he stopped paying attention to it.
Ye Shuo just has a good relationship with the little kid.
Because her husband was the crown prince, her son was destined from birth to never be able to do whatever he wanted in his life like ordinary children. The crown princess knew this clearly, so she wanted him to be happier when he was young.
In this palace, is there anyone who is more comfortable than the little prince back then, and now the ninth prince? Of course not.
So after her son was over one year old and could walk steadily, the Crown Princess began to allow the two to interact.
This method seemed to be very useful. Her son had already begun to show signs of maturity when he was one year old. he probably learned it from his father. A good child would eat and sleep according to the rules. This reminded the Crown Princess of her own childhood.
But after the Crown Princess handed her son over to the Ninth Prince, things gradually became different.
At first, the little prince was a little reserved and at a loss, but as he came into contact with more new things with his uncle, he gradually relaxed.
The little grandson of the emperor, Ye Xun, never knew before that mud could be so much fun.
There are also kites that can fly into the sky, peaches in spring, crickets in summer…even growing garlic is so interesting.
Ye Shuo gave almost all the fruits of his labor in the past few years to his adopted nephew, without any reservation.
He felt that it was pitiful for the child who was so excited even to see the hydroponic garlic sprouting.
Speaking of which, he seemed quite pitiful. How old was he now? He was only seven years old, and he was forced to help his brother take care of his children.
During this year or so, the little grandson of the emperor almost went crazy playing with him. Whenever the Grand Tutor heard about these things, he became so angry that he almost vomited blood.
If it weren’t for his status as a prince, Ye Shuo always felt that the Grand Tutor would definitely kill him personally for leading his grandson astray.
Look, in the main hall, the Grand Tutor and the Crown Princess started arguing again, and the content of the argument was nothing more than the same few sentences, that is, what the Grand Tutor thought the little emperor’s grandson looked like, and the Crown Princess, having seen a child like Ye Shuo, also wanted to make her son’s life easier when he was young.
Ye Shuo still clearly remembered the look of disbelief on the Grand Tutor’s face when the Crown Princess argued with her father for the first time in her life.
At first, the Crown Princess was a little nervous and afraid. After all, talking back to her father was considered a heinous crime. But after doing it many times, she gradually got used to it.
Anyway, no matter what, the period before her son arrives at the study is the Crown Princess’ bottom line.
“Nonsense, absolutely nonsense! I think you have lost your mind!” The Grand Tutor really couldn’t understand what kind of magic potion the Ninth Prince had fed his daughter. It had only been a short time, and the once gentle and quiet daughter dared to argue with her father.
Also, why hasn’t that damn Ninth Prince gone to school yet?!
The Grand Tutor has been looking forward to this for four years, and has been disappointed every year. Now he has become numb.
The key point is that because of his daughter, the Taifu can often see the Ninth Prince in the East Palace. He can’t avoid him even if he wants to. Every time he sees him, the Taifu can’t help but feel hurt internally.
How can there be such a kid in the world? !
Anyone who becomes this child’s teacher will be in dire straits for the rest of his life.
If one day the Ninth Prince finally leaves the Eastern Palace and goes to school in the study, the Grand Tutor will certainly ask the servants to go to the market to buy a set of 2,000-bang firecrackers and set them off to celebrate.
“The Crown Princess, can you please sober up a little?” The Taifu tried hard to suppress his rage and spoke earnestly.
The Crown Princess didn’t buy it, and just said calmly: “Father, don’t worry. I know what to do.”
Bullshit sense of propriety!
If she really had some sense, would she let his grandson hang out with the Ninth Prince? !
The Taifu was so angry that his head hurt. Seeing that he could not persuade him, he left in anger countless times.
As a result… as soon as he went out, he ran into the Ninth Prince who was bringing his grandson.
There were traces of mud on the little prince’s body, and his hands were not clean either. It was easy to guess what the two had just done.
The Grand Tutor was already extremely angry, and his eyes went dark when he saw this scene.
Ye Shuo touched his nose, pretending nothing happened, and took the initiative to greet him: “Hello, Master.”
“Ninth Prince, you must not do this. I am unworthy of this honor.” The Grand Tutor was so angry that he couldn’t vent his anger, and his tone was so depressed.
Ye Shuo was not angry, for fear of upsetting his cheap brother’s teacher, so he hurriedly pulled his cheap nephew away.
“Taifu, you are busy. I have something else to do, so I will leave first. Goodbye!”
The little grandson was still waiting to show his mother the fruits of his work this afternoon. Besides, he was always afraid of his grandfather, so he hurriedly left after saying “Hello, Grandpa. I’m going to see my mother first” and ran away quickly.
The figure of the Taifu was left behind, so desolate and miserable.
Because he heard the words “study in the upper study” from the quarrel between the Crown Princess and the Grand Tutor, Ye Xun’s mood inexplicably became low on the way, “Ninth Uncle, I heard from my mother that Xun’er will go to the upper study this year, and will not be able to play with you in the future.”
Ye Xun thought that the Ninth Uncle was really interesting, and he couldn’t bear to part with him.
“Don’t be sentimental yet. We don’t know how things will turn out. Maybe the Ninth Uncle will have to accompany you to the study this year.” Ye Shuo had a clear mind. He had been in this business for so many years. No matter what happened this year, he would not be able to get away with it.
“Ah? Really?” Ye Xun was stunned.
Ye Shuo was distracted: “Nine out of ten.”
It is not difficult to guess what my cheap dad is thinking. It is probably something like “I bet you will make a move, and when you make a move, I will be able to catch you.”
He has remained silent in the past few years, probably waiting for news from his grandfather.
It was because of this that Ye Shuo was able to waste four whole years.
After all, if his stepfather didn’t interfere, his mother’s side would be easy to deal with. Every time he went to school, Ye Shuo would be extremely anxious and unable to sleep all night long. He would lose a lot of weight in just a few days, and soon his mother would not be able to bear it anymore.
In this way, Ye Shuo relied on this method to drag it on year after year.
And now, four years have passed, and the stepfather must have figured out what’s going on. As an emperor who values his reputation so much, how could he allow his son to be uneducated?
School would start in a few days. By then, his cheap father might already be waiting for him in Qiuwu Palace.
But…so what?
As long as no one was sent to urge him, he would pretend not to know.
Thinking of this, Ye Shuo felt relieved. With the idea of being happy every day, Ye Shuo couldn’t help but pat his nephew on the head and said, “Let’s go. I’ll take you to see something good this afternoon.”
When Ye Xun heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up.
On the other hand, upon learning that his son had gone to the Eastern Palace to play again today, Emperor Jingwen just said “hmm” lightly and had no other expression.
It doesn’t matter, he has nothing to do today, just sit here and wait.
He wanted to see how crazy that little bastard could get and when he would come back!
Thus, the whole afternoon passed like this, and then it was dark, and finally Emperor Jingwen had finished his dinner and had almost digested it.
This wait lasted nearly four hours.
Emperor Jingwen: “…………”