WK Chapter 14

 

“…Alright.”

 

Master Fang vaguely agreed, lowering his hand from stroking his beard. He composed himself and began to ask questions.

 

“Who are the four classes of people referred to as the ‘good of the nation’?”

 

“Scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants.”

 

“Of the six domestic animals that people can raise, which one is illegal to kill and eat?”

 

“The ox used for plowing.”

 

Without hesitation, very smoothly.

 

Master Fang paused, a glint flashing in his eyes, and unhurriedly asked the third question: “What story does ‘fireflies in a bag, snow reflection’ tell?”

 

This allusion, which had become an idiom in later generations and had been used countless times in essay writing, was familiar to Qu Dubian. However, he wasn’t sure if Che Yin of the Jin Dynasty was still the protagonist of this story in this world, so he blurred the details of the dynasty and names.

 

He answered: “A poor student couldn’t afford to buy lamps. In summer, he caught fireflies to use as light, just to read at night. The diligence of the ancients inspires later generations to study hard.”

 

Master Fang clapped his hands and returned the book to him.

 

“All correct. Don’t worry, I’ll naturally keep my promise. I won’t expose you.”

 

Master Fang thought for a moment, “Come to the study hall every other day from now on. My teaching times are different from the other tutors. I’ve let you off, but the other masters may not be as lenient as I am.”

 

Was he offering to cover for him?

 

But they had just met, and this old master thought he was illegitimate, a child born from a secret affair between a palace maid and a guard—wouldn’t this identity be a capital offense in any dynasty?

 

Was this old man really comfortable letting an unknown child attend classes with the princes?

 

Perhaps his suspicious expression was too obvious, as Master Fang stroked his beard and added, “As I said, I don’t involve myself in palace affairs. As long as you’re in the study hall, you’re my student.”

 

In every dynasty, there were always teachers who dedicated their lives to education and had noble character. Qu Dubian felt more respect for the old master before him, but still harbored doubts in his heart, at most appearing obedient on the surface.

 

“You’re a good teacher,” Qu Dubian said sincerely as he packed up his small bundle and slung it over his shoulder. “Thank you. But I can’t let you get in trouble. After I leave, you should still report me.”

 

Otherwise, if he concealed this on his own, even if he wasn’t punished, he would be reprimanded. Yi Shi’er was here, so his presence couldn’t be hidden. He couldn’t let others get in trouble because of this.

 

Master Fang raised an eyebrow, not directly agreeing, but said: “Alright, this old man is leaving. However you came, that’s how you should leave. Remember, don’t tell anyone that this old man knows you, understand?”

 

Qu Dubian nodded.

 

After the old man left the study hall, he crouched by the window. Less than three minutes later, a cricket-like sound came from outside the window. Qu Dubian happily called out: “Xiaochun~”

 

Wen Xiaochun then leaned in, vigilantly looking around without saying much, and hurriedly left the study hall carrying the child.

 

Not long after they left, Master Fang reappeared, stroking his beard and squinting as he looked out the window.

 

“Unexpected, the little prince that no one cared about turns out to be such an intelligent child.”

 

The incident of palace maids and guards secretly having children was true, but since then, the entire palace had been thoroughly searched several times. Such a thing absolutely couldn’t happen again.

 

Having lived for over fifty years, experiencing the ups and downs of court life through two reigns, Master Fang understood who the child was the moment he lifted him up and saw his features clearly—

 

The young prince of Ju’an Hall.

 

Consort Yun’s son.

 

The rumored reincarnated sinner who caused his mother’s death.

 

When Consort Yun passed away, His Majesty suspended court for three full days. They, as ministers, had a three-day holiday. No one could forget her, nor the prince she gave birth to.

 

That child seemed to be not yet three years old.

 

Moreover… although the young prince said he had learned some before, and only learned the Three Character Classic up to where he had just taught, the allusion of “fireflies in a bag, snow reflection” that he had just tested was almost at the end of the Three Character Classic.

 

Probably not trusting him, so he didn’t tell the truth. The questions he asked were very simple, but for such a young child to answer them, it was far beyond what could be called intelligent.

 

Master Fang’s thoughts drifted for a while, but he couldn’t help marveling.

 

A child living in the shadows of the palace should have been self-deprecating, introverted, and sensitive. But looking at that child’s eyes, they were clear and clean, without a trace of gloom.

 

He even dared to joke about the ancestors of previous emperors.

 

Look, if the previous emperor and empress heard those words, they’d enter His Majesty’s dreams at night to spank his… royal bottom, asking how he was raising children.

 

This bet that could lead to the execution of nine generations made the old man tremble with fear.

 

But thinking of the current emperor.

 

Master Fang sighed softly.

 

Although His Majesty was furious recently about palace people mistreating Ju’an Hall, no one could truly understand his real thoughts. No one dared to touch on the subject of Consort Yun and the young prince.

 

The young prince was eager to learn. With the friendship of the former Sword-Holding Marquis in mind, this old, dim-eyed tutor would pretend not to know about the person hiding under the desk.

 

Such a small child, let’s just keep an eye on him for now.

 

Yi Shi’er stayed for a while, only leaving after Master Fang had gone.

 

–

 

“Is Your Highness hungry?”

 

On the way back to Ju’an Hall carrying Qu Dubian, the usually quiet Wen Xiaochun asked several questions in a row.

 

Qu Dubian watched Yi Shi’er getting further away, thinking he was probably going to report to his master. “I’m fine.”

 

Wen Xiaochun squeezed his palm, “Your hands are so cold, quickly tuck them in, don’t leave them exposed.”

 

Qu Dubian: “My hands are stained with charcoal, it will dirty the clothes.” In such cold weather, clothes were hard to wash and dry, a little cold wasn’t a problem.

 

Wen Xiaochun suddenly fell silent.

 

Although life in Ju’an Hall had improved, and everything was now according to normal prince standards, without comparison, there’s no sense of harm.

 

He had stood guard around the East Six Palaces and seen the princes, noble and precious, wearing thick furs, going to study.

 

They had the emperor’s care, their mothers’ love, could openly receive a prince’s education, and had no worries about food or drink. But the young prince even had to scavenge for paper, books, and writing materials.

 

Because of that damned prophecy, even learning had to be done hiding in corners.

 

“Xiaochun, I learned a lot in the study hall today. That tutor is a good person, he teaches very well…” Qu Dubian didn’t tell him about Master Fang discovering him, after all, telling them would only make them worry more, and he might not be able to go to the study hall anymore.

 

Actually, if that tutor wanted to catch him, there was no need to let him go, he could have acted on the spot.

 

He didn’t sense any malice, so he decided to view this matter optimistically for now.

 

As Qu Dubian spoke, Wen Xiaochun responded softly, again looking at the young prince who seemed oblivious, happily rubbing the black powder off his fingers.

 

So happy just from secretly listening to one lesson.

 

Everyone fears comparison.

 

If he had never seen the other princes, it would have been fine, but he had seen them clearly today.

 

The contrast between the other princes and the young prince was so stark, the two images alternating in his mind. With such a huge disparity, he felt increasingly uneasy.

 

Wen Xiaochun slightly adjusted his posture, grasping the child’s tiny hand.

 

“Don’t worry, Your Highness. One day, you will have everything you should have.”

 

“Hm?” Qu Dubian paused, sensing something different in Wen Xiaochun’s tone. He turned his head to look closely.

 

Wen Xiaochun was carefully wiping the charcoal ash from his fingers.

 

This appearance inexplicably reminded Qu Dubian of one of his assistants who had helped manage his fan club in his previous life.

 

That assistant was very obedient and docile, a hardcore career fan of his.

 

Later he found out that this docile career fan assistant was also the vice-leader of another extreme fan club, with a full “poor little thing” filter for him, shouting “Ge only has us now,” almost single-handedly inciting the later fan siege of the company event—he was almost traumatized by the word “Ge.”

 

He considered himself to be very lively, cheerful, kind, and enthusiastic by nature. The rest were just defensive counterattack skills to make those targeting him jump in anger.

 

In his previous life, because of the talent show, fans had a filter for him, directly related to his actions on the show. But since transmigrating until now, he had only been acting cute. Except for the commotion at the Imperial Kitchen that time, he hadn’t done anything else!

 

Qu Dubian suddenly cupped Wen Xiaochun’s face, pinching his cheeks and looking at him very seriously from left to right.

 

Wen Xiaochun came to his senses, his still somewhat childish face comically stretched. The earlier gloomy aura had completely disappeared. He widened his eyes, making muffled sounds.

 

“Your Highness, don’t tease this servant! Be careful not to fall!”

 

Qu Dubian felt relieved.

 

It must have been his imagination after all.

 

He let go and laughed at the black marks left on Wen Xiaochun’s face: “You look like a big spotted cat.”

 

If Ye Xiaoyuan would still control Qu Dubian for the sake of his health, Wen Xiaochun’s attitude towards him could increasingly be described as indulgent.

 

He just put his hand on Qu Dubian’s back to support him, a bit helplessly.

 

“Yes, this servant is a big spotted cat. Your Highness, be careful not to fall backwards from laughing.”

 

[Character: Wen Xiaochun

Favorability: 41]

 

Qu Dubian became even happier, patting Wen Xiaochun’s shoulder, “Alright, let’s go back and eat!”

 

When the two returned to Ju’an Hall, Ye Xiaoyuan greeted them with another round of questions. Qu Dubian naturally concealed the matter of the old tutor from him as well, only saying: “From now on, I’ll go once every other day.”

 

Ye Xiaoyuan: “That’s better, it saves you from getting cold every day.”

 

After eating, Qu Dubian took a nap at noon, and in the afternoon, he began practicing writing.

 

The charcoal pens of Great Zhou were exposed, without wooden coverings, and wore out quickly.

 

Ye Xiaoyuan thought the charcoal pens were harsh on the skin, so he wrapped them in fine cloth. Qu Dubian found it a bit awkward at first but gradually adapted.

 

[Seriously, can’t I use pinyin for the characters I don’t know? You should understand, we have a host-simulator relationship, don’t be so rigid, okay?] Qu Dubian asked.

 

Simulator: [Reflections only accept characters from the host’s current dynasty.]

 

[But you’re still displaying 21st-century simplified characters on the simulator!]

 

Completely disregarding whether he could understand if the simulator displayed Great Zhou characters.

 

Simulator: […]

 

The simulator responded mechanically: [Submissions in other fonts will result in invalid reflections.]

 

Fine.

 

Qu Dubian gritted his teeth and honestly started practicing writing.

 

The strokes on the paper were crooked and very clumsy. He deliberately used his right hand to write. His left-hand writing had already formed in his previous life, with a distinct personal style in both hard and soft pen, which could easily give him away if used.

 

In private, or when making annotations in pinyin or simplified characters in books, using his left hand was fine since others couldn’t understand it anyway, but not for other occasions.

 

Qu Dubian planned to develop his right-hand writing, treating it as learning anew.

 

He wrote out the Three Character Classic content he had learned today from memory. Halfway through, his hand got tired, so he relaxed his grip, letting the charcoal pen leave light marks on the paper.

 

After finishing this round, he checked the book for the few characters he had forgotten, silently reviewing them twice until he remembered them completely. Then he filtered out the commonly used characters and listed them on a separate sheet of paper.

 

He shook the paper, feeling a sense of achievement at the dog-scratch-like ugly writing on it.

 

However, the last question about “fireflies in a bag, snow reflection” that the old man had asked today didn’t seem to be in the content he had just reviewed.

 

…Wait a minute!

 

Qu Dubian suddenly widened his eyes.

 

That was content from later in the Three Character Classic, well beyond what he had heard in class! His early education in his previous life had been too good, and this phrase was so familiar that he hadn’t realized it at the time.

 

That cunning old man, looking so kind and gentle, had actually set a trap for him! If he had chosen a less commonly used phrase from later times, wouldn’t he have failed to answer?

 

This won’t do.

 

Qu Dubian crossed his legs, sitting on the chair, thinking more and more that this was a huge trap.

 

Now this advanced learning situation could still be attributed to someone teaching him or to his intelligence, but that was the lie he had told the tutor. There was actually no literate person around him who could teach him. He absolutely couldn’t let that tutor know he had learned for less than a day.

 

Otherwise, with the title of “reincarnated sinner,” a little genius might turn into a big monster in their eyes.

 

It wasn’t just a huge trap, it was a loophole that could hinder him from living happily and for a long time!

 

He needed to fill this gap in advance.

 

With this in mind, Qu Dubian grabbed the paper with the listed characters and rushed out of the hall, shouting.

 

“Ye Banban, Xiaochun, come here, I’ll teach you the characters I learned in the study hall today!”

 

It wasn’t just to fill his own loophole. For people living in the palace, being able to recognize more characters was always good.

 

Everyone, start learning!

 

 

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