Chapter 66

Weiyang Palace.

The residence of the third prince's mother, Concubine Wen.

"If my eldest brother passes the assessment this time and leaves the palace to build a mansion, he will definitely win the support of the people in the court." The third prince was worried, "I am two years younger than him, and I have to wait two years before I can attend court. Two years is like an insurmountable chasm..."

At this point he heard a sob or two.

The Third Prince raised his head and looked towards the window: "Mother, there is no need to worry so much."

Concubine Wen raised her head from the storybook, her eyes misty with tears, "What did you just say?"

The Third Prince: “…”

Concubine Wen: "I got a book of stories from Concubine Xuan. Although it is a story about the streets and rivers, it is very touching to read. It is so sad."

The Third Prince had no choice but to say it again: "Mother, please take my son's matter seriously."

Concubine Wen put down the book and poured him a cup of tea.

"Whether you can pass the review depends entirely on your majesty. It will take at least three or four days to consider the results of this exam and your past performance. Today, Master Fang just submitted the exam to your majesty, and you came to find me. You are so anxious, you still lack experience."

The Third Prince: "Whether to allow the prince to leave the palace and build a residence is beyond the control of the court officials. It all depends on the father. Grandfather and his family can't help."

"Yes, I know that," said Concubine Wen. "As for those who can get close to His Majesty and have a say, there is no need to consider the concubines. Other than that, there are Eunuch Yu and Eunuch Bao who serve in front of His Majesty."

"It's not easy to get close to them." The third prince said, "If I do something, my father will definitely notice it."

Concubine Wen: "You forgot one person, the Seventh Prince."

"Seventh brother?"

The third prince was in deep thought.

Concubine Wen: "The Seventh Prince is often ill. Perhaps his foundation has been damaged in Ju'an Palace. Your Majesty has been very accommodating to him. There are bowls and chopsticks in Zichen Palace that he often uses. Didn't you get jealous before?"

The third prince smiled awkwardly.

Can it be the same three years ago and three years later?

The older he got and the more he came into contact with them, the more he understood that his seventh brother was the youngest, had been in poor health since childhood, and his academic performance was average, so he could not have much influence on them at all.

When he left the palace and built his own residence, he could not even stand steadily when attending court again.

On the contrary, if they become friends, the two forces behind him, Marquis Zhijian and the Xie family, will both become their helpers.

Xiaoqi is good-natured, lively and cheerful. He can be naughty sometimes and that just makes his father angry. He doesn't communicate much with his brothers, but most of the time he is very friendly.

"I will go look for him tomorrow," the Third Prince said, "Mother, you should also go to Shunning Palace for a walk."

Concubine Wen: "I know. You don't have to worry about what happens in the harem."

The third prince had a plan in mind and bowed to say goodbye.

"Then mother, I will leave first."

Not long after the third prince left, the person Concubine Wen sent out to inquire about the seventh prince came back.

"Just left the Cining Palace? Hmm... The Seventh Prince does often go there to visit the old concubines." After a moment's silence, she ordered, "Take some things and follow me to the Cining Palace."

"Visiting the old concubine, and by the way... forget it, let's do it tomorrow. I'll go talk to Concubine Xuan tomorrow. The Jianghu storybook she gave me last time is very good. It's just right, we can discuss it."

Concubine Wen took a few gifts and walked slowly towards the Cining Palace.

However, as soon as she arrived at the gate of the Cining Palace, she heard a strange music of dong dong dong qiang.

There was also a familiar-looking palace servant at the gate of the Cining Palace, he was Eunuch Liu, the chief eunuch of Concubine De.

Concubine De is the mother of the eldest prince. Now that she appears in the Cining Palace, she must have her sights set on the seventh prince.

Concubine Wen chuckled and said, "Is Concubine De in there?"

Eunuch Liu: "Madam Concubine Wen, you are here."

Concubine Wen: "I can't come?"

"Look at this servant's broken mouth, of course it's here, the Empress Defei is inside."

"It sounds quite lively in there. What are you doing?"

Eunuch Liu hesitated and said, "Uh...it was the Seventh Prince who did it. It's hard to say. Why don't you go and see it with your own eyes?"

When Concubine Wen entered the Cining Palace, the music inside suddenly became clearer. After seeing the scene inside clearly, she was stunned.

Everyone in the palace - including the four concubines, palace maids, and eunuchs, were all dancing a strange dance.

Not only did he twist and turn, but he also clapped his hands and raised his arms and legs. Was this caused by the Seventh Prince?

Simply, simply...

After looking around, she didn't see Concubine De and felt a little relieved. Fortunately, if Concubine De didn't dance, she wouldn't have to follow the concubines in the Cining Palace.

As a result, when she looked up, she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure on the stage.

Looking closely, Concubine De was leading the dance on the stage.

Concubine Wen: "..."

No way, sister, you are working too hard.

-

The next day.

School.

As the eldest prince and the third prince came in, their eyes fell on the second to last position in the left row.

Qu Dubian had no idea that Concubine Wen and Concubine De went to the Cining Palace yesterday.

He was catching up on his sleep, and there were still black marks on his hands.

The first dance I taught to the concubines in the Cining Palace received a good response, so I continued to perform a few more.

Last night, he was studying the differences between the music scores of the Great Zhou Dynasty and modern music scores in the small study room of his bedroom. He was so sleepy that he accidentally spilled the ink and spent a long time washing his hands.

It must be said that the ink stick he got from the Purple Palace was of high quality. He tried to wash it for a long time but couldn't get it clean, so he finally gave up and lay down.

Zhiyi sat behind him, took the blanket from Ye Xiaoyuan, and covered him with it skillfully.

This morning is Master Xi's class. Three years ago, the Fourth Prince and others used this class to sleep. Now, three years have passed and they can't sleep anymore. The only one who can still sleep is Qu Watanabe.

The fourth prince sighed, "I really envy my seventh brother..."

Zhiyi: "Shh, Fourth Brother, don't wake him up. Xiaoqi is still growing."

The fourth, fifth and sixth princes all choked; they were also growing up.

Zhiyi took out the book and hummed softly in her heart: "Even when Xiaoqi is sleeping, she knows a lot." When she was in class, the teacher talked about things that she didn't understand, and Xiaoqi repeated them to her after returning to the palace.

But my brother said this was a secret between them.

She opened the book and waited for Master Xi to come, but unexpectedly it was Master Fang who came to teach.

Fang Taifu: "Master Xi was called away by His Majesty when he was leaving the court. His Majesty has something to ask him. Today I will give you a lesson."

The eldest prince's scalp tightened.

The fact that Master Xi was called away at this time might be related to the answer sheet he submitted yesterday.

Master Fang walked to Qu Du's side table, glanced at the ink mark on his hand, a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he tapped the table with his ruler, "Seventh Prince, Seventh Prince?"

Qu Dubian said sleepily, "Hmm?"

He blinked and regained consciousness. "Hey, Master Fang, isn't it Master Xi's class today?"

Master Fang's tone was so kind that water could drip out of it. He said, "Wake up, I'm here today. Get up quickly. Don't sleep any more. Be careful not to get sick again."

Qu Watanabe: “…”

Others: “…”

They all looked like they had seen a ghost.

So it's not you who usually asks questions coldly and mercilessly and slaps people on the hands mercilessly, right?

What's wrong with Master Fang? !

Qu Dubian was no longer sleepy. He scratched the red marks on his face from sleeping and asked, "Master, um, is there any happy event in your family?"

Master Fang thought of the seventh prince's answer sheet yesterday and said with a smile, "Oh, not really. I just wanted to show my concern for you."

After saying that, he started to give the lecture.

Zhiyi whispered, "Xiaoqi, is the Master okay?"

Qu Duan rubbed his arms and said, "I don't know."

Until the end of the morning lecture, Qu Dubian subconsciously felt that something was wrong with Master Fang's expression, so he pulled his sister and called Ye Xiaoyuan, and prepared to leave.

Unexpectedly, before he could take two steps, the eldest prince and the third prince blocked him together.

"Xiao Qi, in a hurry to leave?"

Qu Watanabe: "Yeah, yes, Empress Xuan asked me to go home for dinner. Dahei is hungry too." Dahei cooperated and called out twice.

The Third Prince stepped forward and invited him elegantly, "Xiao Qi, Third Prince has bought a lot of delicious food from outside, would you like to try some—"

The eldest prince bumped into him, jerked his waist hard to the left, and knocked him flying with his butt.

The third prince fell into the flowers and plants beside him, and his defense was instantly broken: "Brother, you!"

Qu Dubian was caught in the arms of the eldest prince in the blink of an eye. The latter said disdainfully:

"Third brother, I'm not saying anything bad to you, but you're as thin as a chopstick. I feel like you'll break if you use a little more force. You should practice more in the future. I heard that your mother is choosing a prince's wife for you. With your current physique, how can you take care of your younger brothers and sisters?"

Sometimes robbing people is just that simple and crude.

The Third Prince looked at his rubbed palms, which were bleeding slightly. He lowered his eyes and said, "Yes, I will remember my elder brother's teachings."

The eldest prince was satisfied, "Come on, Xiaoqi, go with big brother."

Qu Dubian saw their dispute and couldn't help but sigh for his elder brother's slowness. If he was the third prince, he would definitely go to Emperor Chongzhao with his wounds in his hands and cry loudly, crying until the earth collapsed, the mountains were destroyed, and the heroes died.

Once the label of being unfriendly to his brother is put on, the possibility of the eldest prince leaving the palace to build his own residence will instantly be reduced by 30%.

He didn't want to get involved: "Brother, let me go, I have something else to do."

The eldest prince: "What's the matter?"

Master Fang watched the excitement for a long time, and finally came over from behind, with his hands behind his back, and said, "It's me who wants to see him."

"Why, do you want to snatch someone from me?"

The eldest prince waved his hands quickly, "Student dare not."

He put Qu Duanbian down, tidied up his brother's clothes, and gently pushed him forward, "As you please."

Qu Watanabe: “…”

He said to Zhiyi, "Sister, you go back first and tell Empress Xuan. I might be back a little late."

Zhiyi held Dahei's dog leash and said, "Well, go back early. We have things to do in the afternoon."

Qu Watanabe: “Yeah.”

Between being fought over by his two royal brothers and being taken away by Master Fang, he chose the latter.

Fang Taifu took him to the side hall, where the teachers usually corrected homework, occasionally rested, and changed clothes. They came back from the court to teach the princes, and changed their official uniforms and casual clothes here.

This is Qu Watanabe's first time here.

He looked around and could see signs of life.

For example, the bamboo tube cup hanging on the wall.

Master Fang seemed to like sweet milk tea very much, the extremely sweet kind. He had secretly seen Master Fang add a lot of honey into the bamboo cup.

"sit."

They sat opposite each other on either side of the table.

There is an empty chessboard on it, and the chess pieces are placed in the chess box.

Qu Watanabe: "Master, what do you want to talk to me about? I'm in a hurry to go back and eat."

Master Fang took out a folded piece of paper.

He pushed his finger in front of Qu Watanabe and said, "This is your answer sheet from yesterday."

Qu Watanabe: "What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

"Open it to the sunlight."

Qu Dubian felt strange and did as he was told. However, when the sunlight passed through the surface of the paper, he stopped.

Master Fang: "The answer sheet is made of gold-coated Xuan paper. The ink retention time is different. When the ink is exposed to the sun, the back will show the handwriting when it was first written."

He laughed and said, "Little guy, you crossed out the correct answer and re-wrote the wrong answer. Won't you give me an explanation?"

Qu Dubian put down the paper, glanced at the old man's smiling face, and three words popped up in his mind.

Old fox!