Chapter 1321: Side Story: Little Fu (1)

When the short and chubby Little Fu ran into the Royal School as he dragged his school bag, all the princes and study companions were already seated. He quickly wiped his sweat and stuffed his bag into the desk. Then, he climbed onto a stool and was about to retrieve his books, pens, and ink from his bag when he fell to the ground with a thud.

The classroom immediately roared with laughter. The mean Fourth Prince even kicked his butt lightly and mocked, “Cousin, you weren’t fully awake when you left the house today, were you? To think you can even fall off a stool!”

The entire stool shattered, and Little Fu had hurt his chin. Holding his chin, he looked at them pitifully and complained, “This stool is broken. Someone is messing with me.”

The Fourth Prince snorted and asked, “Then who do you think is messing with you? The twins who loved to cause trouble in our Royal School are no longer around.”

Little Fu immediately refuted angrily, “Brother Tiger Head and Brother Little Lion won’t bully me. It must be you guys who did it. You guys are jealous that I’m better at studying than you!”

Little Fu, who had grown up with Tiger Head and his brothers, didn’t know that sometimes the truth was the most hurtful. This time, not only was the Fourth Prince angry, but even the Third Prince, who was older than them, also got mad. He snapped angrily, “So what if you’re good at studying?”

A study companion immediately shouted from outside, “The teacher is here!”

The children in the classroom immediately shut up and stood up with their hands behind their backs.

This was not like the Qing Dynasty where the princes could beat up their teachers. Here, even the Emperor had to stand up and do a half bow in the presence of a teacher.

Therefore, the princes did not dare to act rashly. Even the aggrieved Little Fu did not dare to shout. He only stood up angrily and stood at the side.

The moment Zhang Xianhuai, the editor of the Hanlin Academy, entered, he sensed that the atmosphere in the classroom was not quite right. Upon looking more closely, he realized that his proudest student was standing beside a broken stool with tears in his eyes.

His expression immediately darkened. Anyone who had attended a clan school knew what was going on, but this was the first time for the Royal School.

He had a headache. In the past, when Qi Wenjin and the Crown Prince were attending the Royal School, the teachers here had to face students who kept asking questions. Occasionally, they would find one or two insects in the books. It was obvious at a glance that it was the doing of King Rong’s eldest son, Qi Wenjin.

Later on, King Rong’s boy-girl twins and Prince An also entered the Royal School. That was when things really started getting lively. Every teacher who came to class was exceptionally careful when they left, afraid that something would appear on their bodies and books. Even when they walked, they had to pay attention to their surroundings, afraid that they would encounter something strange.

He’d thought that he could be at ease after these brats left, but who knew that he would be even more troubled?

In the past, the students were united to fight against the teachers. Now, there was chaos among the students.

However, as a teacher, he was not happy about it at all.

If that were the case, he’d rather the students target him instead. What kind of good student would bully the weak?

Fuming a little, Zhang Xianhuai walked to the podium with a straight face. After glancing at the princes and study companions, then at Little Fu, he said in a low voice, “Find another stool and sit down.”

Since Little Fu also had two study companions of his own, naturally, he didn’t have to do such a thing himself. Soon, a study companion brought him a stool.

Little Fu rubbed his arms and climbed onto the stool to sit down. His teary eyes made Zhang Xianhuai’s heart soften.

Therefore, after the class ended, Zhang Xianhuai sternly warned everyone in the classroom that regardless of their status, he would never allow such an incident to happen in the Royal School again. Otherwise, he would have to report it to the Emperor so that he could rectify the situation in the Royal School.

In the end, although Zhang Xianhuai did not complain to the emperor, he vaguely mentioned this in the memorial he submitted to report the students’ learning progress. He even specially reminded Fan Zijin after a court meeting.

However, this was useless. Because the Emperor had always felt that his children were getting along amiably, he only let Eunuch Wan supervise them for two days. After discovering that there was nothing abnormal, he dismissed this matter.

On the other hand, Fan Zijin was even more direct. After the court meeting ended, he swayed outside the Royal School and glanced at Little Fu. He saw that his son was sitting perfectly straight and listening attentively to the teacher, even raising his small hand to actively answer the teacher’s question. One look and one could tell that he was a healthy and good student. There were no signs of him being bullied at all.

Therefore, he waved his hand and threw this matter to the back of his mind.

He could tell at a glance if a child was being bullied. Back then, when he and Haoran were bullied in the academy, they were like hedgehogs and certainly weren’t in the mood to answer the teacher’s question.

Not to mention that Little An took the initiative to answer.

However, Little Fu was taught by Mu Yangling, who had always encouraged the children to think when they had questions. She taught them to answer a question if they knew the answer, and to work hard to find the answer if they were clueless. Failing which, they were encouraged to ask their teachers.

Therefore, even though Little Fu’s eyes were red and swollen from being bullied before class, he still raised his small hand to answer the questions he knew the answers to after class commenced.

This induced so much heartache in the teachers who were giving lectures above. How could there be such an obedient and understanding child in this world?

The reason why Eunuch Wan did not notice anything amiss was because those few days were the wait-and-see period for the few young princes.

After all, this was the first time they had bullied someone in the Royal School, and a teacher had noticed it. Naturally, they observed in fear for the time being.

Then, they realized that no one was giving them grief for it, so the children became even bolder. Though they didn’t dare to fight in the classroom again, there were plenty of opportunities outside of class.

The system adopted by the Royal School was proposed by Mu Yangling and had very strict requirements for the children. They could not bring servants in to serve them, and the study companions were only responsible for studying with them. The royal children still had to do things on their own. If they were punished, they had to bear the punishment themselves and could not let their study companions take their place.

This was different from previous dynasties. That was why Little Fu had to carry his school bag himself.

Therefore, he naturally also had to settle his lunch himself.

The palace servants of the Royal School placed the food box in the side hall, and the students went to retrieve it themselves. After eating, they packed it up and put it back.

Hence, every time Little Fu went out of school, he would always be pushed to the back. By the time he got his food box, most of the food in the food box had already been distributed.

Never mind that he didn’t have enough to eat at noon, but he would also be pranked during lunch break.

In less than two days, Little Fu was unwilling to go to school. Coincidentally, Fan Zijin was extremely busy with the reform of the official system at the time. It was also his first time being an auxiliary minister of the Cabinet, so he had to learn from Rong Xuan in many matters. Therefore, he sometimes only returned at midnight and would directly sleep in the study room. When he went out, his wife and children were still sleeping.

Little Madam Xia couldn’t deal with her youngest son who was making a fuss and crying. She had no choice but to help him apply for sick leave from the palace for two days. However, she couldn’t continue doing this indefinitely because Mu Yangling had long foreseen that some kids would feign illness after they got tired of school. Hence, she had long set the rule that applying for sick leave for more than a day required the medical report of an imperial physician and the parents’ signature.

Because of this rule, Little Bear, Tiger Head, and Little Lion gave up on the idea of skipping school.

Little Madam Xia had pleaded with Imperial Physician Wang to write a fake diagnosis this time, and it would be difficult for her to ask for leave again.

Little Madam Xia could only ask her son why he was unwilling to go to school.

Little Fu complained tearfully, “They joined forces to bully me!”

Little Madam Xia looked at her pitiful son and grabbed his hand. “I’ll enter the palace to beg the empress to take care of you more. Little Fu, they’re princes and have higher status than you. Do bear with it for now, okay?”