Chapter 1195: Unexpected

As the saying goes, ‘Virtue is one foot tall, the devil ten foot1’. Moreover, Tiger Head’s cultivation was not high. Thus, after a few words, he was tricked into talking by Qi Xiuyuan.

Qi Xiuyuan looked helplessly at his nephew, who bore great resemblance to Qi Haoran, and tried his best to recall what he was like back when he was ten years old. At that time, Haoran was not so childish.

The ten-year-old Haoran was like a hedgehog, beating up whoever Zijin instructed him to. His favorite thing to do every day was to skip class and piss off his father.

However, these kids grew up in different environments, so their thoughts and actions naturally differed from Qi Haoran, too.

Qi Xiuyuan stroked Tiger Head’s head and thought that although the children’s actions were a little childish, there was nothing bad about it. It was better than them acting like profligate sons, right?

Qi Xiuyuan would never admit that he had bad intentions.

Little An and Little Lion each carried tea and books back. When they saw Tiger Head sitting on the chair dejectedly, they knew that he had given them away.

They looked at Tiger Head resentfully as they handed the tea and books to the Emperor.

Beaming, Qi Xiuyuan said, “Alright, go out and play. It’s rare for you to take a break, so you should take the chance to walk around.”

Little An and Little Lion pulled Tiger Head and turned to leave, snorting coldly in their hearts. ‘Since you know that it’s rare for us to take a break, why did you ask us to enter the palace? Don’t you know that it takes a long time to enter the palace? Half a day passed just like that. What a waste of an entire day.’

On the way out of the palace, Tiger Head was very apologetic. “I wanted to shut my mouth and not speak, but Royal Uncle said that if I didn’t speak, he would punish me by not allowing me to speak for a month. Therefore, I could only talk nonsense with him. But in the end, I still ended up getting confused by him.”

“It’s not your fault. Adults are all so annoying.” Little Lion comforted his brother but changed the topic. “But you have to learn how to deal with it.”

“That’s right. Keeping your mouth shut will work on the teachers, but it won’t work on Royal Uncle.” Little An thought hard. “But it doesn’t matter. We can always think of a good solution.”

“Then do you think Royal Uncle will do something bad to us behind our backs?” Tiger Head said worriedly, “Judging from Uncle’s reaction, it doesn’t seem like a good thing to seek to become Teacher Lin Weide’s disciple. Is Royal Uncle going to let us off just like that?”

Seeing his entire face scrunch up, Little An and Little Lion couldn’t bear to reprimand him anymore. They comforted him one after another. “It’s fine. We’ll deal with whatever comes our way.”

When they returned to the Royal School to study, the three guarded children found themselves facing beaming teachers.

The teacher, who was teaching them Chinese studies, pointed at the sky outside with a smile and said, “Since the weather is good today, how about we have our lesson at the garden?”

The children froze, then cheered.

Tiger Head said excitedly to Little An and Little Lion, “So Royal Uncle didn’t scold us and asked the teachers to make adjustments instead. Royal Uncle is so good to us.”

Little An and Little Lion still had doubts, but after thinking about it carefully, they felt that this could not be faked, so they were relieved.

If one wanted to go to the garden for class, they had to first have a grassland upon which they could place desks and seats. There was not much else in the palace, but there were plenty of empty spaces like this. Moreover, the scenery was not bad.

Secondly, they had to move the seats and desks to the grass.

Mu Yangling had long suggested that the children should behave like students when they went to school in the Royal School. Therefore, although there were eunuchs serving them in the Royal School, there were very few of them. They were so few that they were only responsible for cleaning the house and providing tea between classes.

None of the manservants and eunuchs who usually served the children were allowed into the Royal School, and the same went for the Crown Prince.

Therefore, even if it was the Crown Prince, he would have to grind ink and spread paper himself since there was no one to do it for him.

Since they had to move the things to the grassland, they naturally had to do it themselves without servants. Therefore, as the oldest, not only did Little An, Tiger Head, Little Lion, and Second Prince have to move their own things, but they also had to help the weak and young Third and Fourth Princes.

However, this was simple. Little An and Qi Wensu weren’t strong, but Tiger Head and Little Lion were. After two trips, not only had they finished moving the Third Prince and Fourth Prince’s things over, but they had also helped Little An and Qi Wensu.

Hence, after everyone arranged their seats, the problem came. The teacher’s desk, books, brushes, ink, ruler, and other things had yet to arrive.

Tiger Head looked around and asked, “Why isn’t the teacher here yet?”

Little Lion and Qi Wensu were equally confused, let alone the Third and Fourth Princes who had just started learning.

The group of children sat on the grass and looked at each other.

Little An lowered his head and pondered for a moment. In the end, he sighed and said, “So that’s what Royal Uncle meant.”

He stood up helplessly and said to the children, “A teacher is akin to one’s father, and the student has to serve him as such. Since the teacher hasn’t even sat down properly, how would we dare to sit down? Come with me to invite the teacher over.”

Then, he said to Tiger Head and Little Lion, “I’ll leave you two to bring over the teacher’s things.”

Little An led the group of young kids back to the Royal School. The teacher, who was sitting on the chair nervously, heaved a sigh of relief when he saw this. If they didn’t come, he’d be embarrassed.

Although a smart disciple would always cause trouble for the teacher and make him helpless, there were still benefits. For instance, he could always guess the teacher’s thoughts, right?

Little An led the group of children and respectfully invited the teacher to move. The teacher coughed reservedly, stood up, and walked away.

Little An looked at Tiger Head and Little Lion. The two of them immediately went to carry the teacher’s desk and seat. Little An and the rest followed behind and carried books, pens, ink, and other things.

The other teachers who were waiting for their lesson in the side hall stood by the window to watch. When they saw this, they stroked their beards in satisfaction and sighed. “Although they’re naughty, they still respect their teachers.”

It was indeed rare for a child of the royal family to be able to do this.

Thus, the Chinese studies lesson was taught outside, and it ended after the sun became scorching.

Tiger Head, Little Lion, and the others worked hard to carry the items back.

The teachers seemed to have been enlightened. From now on, they liked to hold their lessons outdoors whenever the weather was good.

Too sunny?

It’s fine. We’ll find a big tree and teach under the shade.

No tea when one got thirsty?

That didn’t matter either. After all, there were so many disciples to order around.

Of course, it was to serve the teacher. From Little An to the youngest Fourth Prince, everyone had served tea to the teachers. In the past, this was something that the Royal School could not even dream of.

Even the Crown Prince, who was the most polite, had never served them tea. When the teacups emptied, either the eunuchs would refill it or the teachers would do it themselves. The children were only focused on being mischievous, and the teachers were so focused on preventing accidents in class that they did not care about these etiquettes.

Therefore, this was really an unprecedented first.

The Hanlin scholars who had come to teach no longer had a straight face every day. Instead, they wore a smile whenever they came to teach. It was not a loss for them to be served by the princes as teachers. With that, they could even accept the children being mischievous.

The teachers were gentle. Although the children were more lively, they were also more sensible. At least Tiger Head would no longer secretly throw insects into the teachers’ shoes with the Third Prince and Fourth Prince.

Qi Xiuyuan, who had intended to use this to torture the children, did not expect such an effect. His mouth was agape as he asked Eunuch Wan, “How did this effect come about?”

Eunuch Wan bowed and smiled. “Your Majesty, it’s only because you’ve taken the appropriate measures that young masters and the children learn to respect their teachers more and more.”