Chapter 118 - Questioning Old Ten's Salty Fish Fury

After returning to the Third Institute from the Fourth Institute, Yin'e, unusually, did not immediately wash up and go to sleep. Instead, he took Xiao Linzi into the study, which had not been used much since moving to the Third Institute.

Several palace lanterns were lit in the spacious study, filled with the aroma of books, and the bright orange candlelight illuminated the room. With such bright lighting, even when studying hard at night, one would not have to worry about hurting their eyes due to dim light.

Sitting behind his desk, Yin'e opened the brand-new notebook that the Ninth Prince had given him, which only had a few pages written on it. Instead of immediately reading it carefully, he first skimmed through the contents from beginning to end to determine how much he needed to copy.

After a moment, Yin'e nodded slightly and murmured, "It's not a lot after all."

This is not much; it's compared to copying "The Great Learning" ten times.

A single copy of a university essay contains over 2,200 words. Ten copies would amount to 22,000 words, which would be a considerable challenge for six-year-old Yin'e, who has only recently started university—if the punishment of copying has certain requirements regarding handwriting.

Yin'e estimated that the Fifth Prince and the Ninth Prince had learned less than three hundred characters of lessons today, and even if they repeated them ten times, it would still be less than three thousand characters. If he stayed up all night to finish, and then used all of tomorrow morning's reading time to copy the book, it wasn't impossible for him to hand in the work tomorrow and give the ten copies to Gu Badai.

But Yin'e dismissed the idea without even thinking about it—Kangxi only punished him by making him copy books, but did not set a deadline. He must have been crazy to work so hard, rushing to hand over all the copies to Gu Badai by tomorrow.

Yin'e never intended to stay up all night copying books. He only came to the study to check how much homework he needed to copy before washing up, so he would have a general idea of ​​the amount.

After reading the Ninth Prince's notes, Yin'e casually closed them.

He got up, intending to go back to his bedroom to wash up and rest. But as soon as his bottom left the chair, he sat back down: since there wasn't much to copy, and it wouldn't take long to copy it once, he'd just copy it once and then go back to sleep—after all, the ink was already prepared.

Yin'e glanced resentfully at Xiao Linzi, who was grinding ink by the desk, and pouted, revealing an expression that was both crying and laughing. He really didn't know whether to praise Xiao Linzi for being observant and diligent, or to tell him that he didn't have to work so hard and that it was okay to slack off sometimes.

Forced to "conquer" his procrastination, Yin'e reopened the Ninth Prince's notebook, picked up a brush, dipped it in thick black ink, and began to write on the Xuan paper that Xiao Linzi had laid out for him, carefully copying down the lessons that the Fifth Prince and the Ninth Prince had studied in the Imperial Study that day.

The rustling sound of writing stopped. After copying the first sentence, Yin'e dipped his brush into the inkstone, looked up at Xiao Linzi who was standing quietly to the side, and after thinking for a moment, suddenly asked, "Xiao Linzi, do you want to learn to read?"

Xiao Linzi looked up at Yin E, paused for a moment, and then cautiously said, "Master, even if I start learning to read now, I won't be able to imitate your handwriting in a short time. I'm afraid I won't be able to copy your homework for you, and the tutors will find out immediately."

Gu Badai's strictness was no joke. If he found out that you were cheating, it would be no laughing matter. Ten copies might suddenly become a hundred copies.

Then it won't be three thousand words anymore, but thirty thousand words!

Yin'e was a little embarrassed. He really didn't intend to have Xiao Linzi copy his homework for him. He was just a little depressed about copying books late at night and wanted to drag someone down with him to suffer... Well, it didn't sound much better than having Xiao Linzi copy his books for him.

However, giving a small reprimand to Xiao Linzi for being too eager and causing him to still be copying books in his study wasn't the main reason Yin'e asked Xiao Linzi if he wanted to learn to read. He brought it up because he planned to teach Xiao Linzi to read—if Xiao Linzi was willing to learn.

But if this were told to others, no one would believe it. If Yin'e didn't speak frankly, even if Xiao Linzi was quick-witted, he wouldn't understand what he meant.

With a sigh, Yin'e put down his brush and looked at Xiao Linzi seriously, saying, "I don't want you to copy books for me. I'm just asking if you want to learn to read. If you're willing, I can find someone to teach you to read and write. You'll always need it in the future."

Xiao Linzi was his personal eunuch, and after a month of working together, Yin'e was quite satisfied with him. Barring unforeseen circumstances, he was unlikely to replace him as his personal eunuch. Therefore, Xiao Linzi's literacy would be of greater help to Yin'e.

Yin'e's question to Xiao Linzi about whether he wanted to learn to read was not a spur-of-the-moment decision. Xiao Linzi was a personal eunuch specially chosen for him by the Imperial Concubine. He was not only calm and quick-witted, but also had a clean background and no complicated relationships behind him. The Imperial Concubine herself intended to train Xiao Linzi.

However, this matter was not done by the Consort, but rather made clear by Yin'e himself. The Consort hoped that Yin'e could subdue Xiao Linzi on his own, and that he would try to acquire enough power to protect himself after leaving the Consort's protection.

Seeing that Xiao Linzi was stunned, Yin E continued, "When I am reading in the Imperial Study every day, you can only wait outside. Since you have nothing else to do, if you learn a few words in advance at night, you can make good use of the daytime and remember the new knowledge."

Xiao Linzi had been assigned to Yin'e's side for some time and had a good understanding of Yin'e's personality. He knew that Yin'e always kept his word and would not deliberately go back on his word to make fun of people. So he immediately knelt down and said, "This servant is willing to learn. Thank you, Master, for giving this servant this opportunity."

Yin'e fell silent for a moment, unable to say anything. He just sighed and told Xiao Linzi to find the person who had been arranged to teach him to read, and to go to the storeroom to get a set of writing materials. He was to learn not only to recognize characters but also to write them.

After Xiao Linzi quietly left the study, Yin E picked up his brush again and began diligently copying today's lessons.

While mechanically copying, Yin'e's thoughts inevitably wandered: in this life, as a beneficiary, he was no more noble than others.

Perhaps—and he meant perhaps—he shouldn't have only thought of himself, shouldn't have just wanted to be a lazy bum. He truly had no interest in vying for the throne, but having come all this way, he felt uneasy if he did nothing…

The next morning, no, at three o'clock in the morning, Yin'e arrived at the Imperial Study on time with the Ninth Prince. He greeted the Fifth and Seventh Princes, then took out one-tenth of the homework he had copied the day before from his book box and began copying it amidst the sound of morning reading, seemingly oblivious to everything else.

Although he was punished with copying, Kangxi did not specify a time for submitting the copy, so Yin'e did not intend to squeeze out his own rest time. Instead, he planned to make use of his morning reading and break time to complete the copying punishment as quickly as possible.

He had already copied it once yesterday and figured out how long it would take to copy it completely. Yin'e estimated that even if he only used his morning reading time and breaks between classes, he could finish copying it in three days at most, which wouldn't be too late.

While diligently copying the book, oblivious to the surrounding reading, Yin'e was suddenly patted on the left shoulder. Startled, he shuddered and jerked his right hand away from writing, almost leaving an ink stain on the Xuan paper and ruining the half-finished homework.

While diligently copying the book, Yin'e was suddenly disturbed. Coupled with the fact that his fifteen minutes of effort was almost wasted and all his previous work was in vain, he was furious. He suddenly raised his head and glared at the person who had come in, his eyes fierce as if he wanted to devour him.

After recognizing who had patted him on the shoulder, Yin'e's anger not only didn't subside, but burned even more fiercely.

Fueled by burning rage, Yin'e, brimming with anger, made no attempt to conceal his fury and displeasure. He coldly stared at the person standing before him and demanded, "Third Brother, what are you doing?"

The person who had just patted Yin'e's shoulder was none other than the Third Prince. Faced with Yin'e's unsuppressed anger and questioning, the Third Prince showed some guilt and subconsciously turned his head to avoid Yin'e's glare.

But soon, the Third Prince turned around again, puffed out his chest to enhance his imposing manner, and said righteously, "Tenth Brother, isn't this your fault? I called you for a long time and you didn't answer me. I had no choice but to remind you in this way."

"Are you blind? Can't you see I'm busy?" Furious and annoyed, Yin'e rolled his eyes at the Third Prince, not holding back at all, thinking about how he had almost ruined the homework he had just copied.

The Third Prince hadn't expected Yin'e to be so angry and speak so harshly, even more impolite than before. He was speechless for a moment, forgetting the purpose of his visit to Yin'e.

After a while, the Third Prince regained his usual rhythm. He snorted and glared at Yin'e, scolding him with dissatisfaction: "Tenth Brother, how dare you speak to your elder brother like that? Don't you know the importance of respecting elders?"

Yin'e, who didn't want to reason with anyone and just wanted the Third Prince to leave so as not to disturb him while he copied the book, sneered, his face full of arrogance. He glared back defiantly and snorted coldly, "I really don't understand you, Third Brother."

His words were immediately cut off, and the Third Prince rolled his eyes in anger.

But remembering the purpose of his visit to Yin'e, the Third Prince, who had been rebuked again, did not immediately jump up in anger. Instead, he suppressed his dissatisfaction and whispered to Yin'e, "Hey, Tenth Brother, tell me, what did Father punish you for? Was it severe?"

When faced with the Third Prince's inquiry, Yin'e's first reaction was not that the Third Prince had suddenly had a change of heart and cared about his younger brother, with whom he had never had a good relationship, but rather that the Third Prince was there to laugh at him, to gloat and kick him when he was down.

But after going through the Third Prince's question in his mind and recalling his tone and expression when he asked the question, Yin'e raised an eyebrow and suddenly understood the Third Prince's true intention: "Could it be that you, Third Brother, are also planning to skip class and violate the rules of the Imperial Study?"

This is because they came to inquire in advance, wanting to find out what the punishment is for violating the rules of the Imperial Study before committing any wrongdoing.

After realizing the Third Prince's true intentions, surprise overwhelmed his anger. Yin'e couldn't help but look the Third Prince up and down, his eyes filled with disbelief: Was the person in front of him really the Third Prince? When did he get the guts to do this?

The Third Prince's handsome and refined face flushed red under Yin'e's incredulous gaze. He lowered his voice and spoke rapidly, urgently saying, "Never mind what I'm going to do, just tell me what Father Khan punished you for. If you refuse to tell me, then forget it. Just don't pry, what I do is none of your business!"

Yin'e was no longer angry; on the contrary, he even felt like laughing—although his desire to see the Third Prince make a fool of himself made him laugh, he was indeed amused by the Third Prince.

He wanted to laugh but was afraid that if he actually laughed out loud, the Third Prince would be embarrassed and angry and give up, so that the Third Prince would not be able to watch the joke. Yin'e tried hard to suppress his laughter and said with a half-smile, "Third Brother, I'm just concerned about you. I don't want you to upset Father and be punished by him."

Before the Third Prince could erupt in anger, Yin'e quickly steered the conversation back to the main topic, focusing on the issue the Third Prince was truly concerned about: "Father has punished me by making me copy books. Look—" Yin'e pointed to the Xuan paper spread out on the desk in front of him, gesturing for the Third Prince to look over, "He's copying it right now."

Stunned, the Third Prince was now incredulous: "Just copying books? Nothing else?"

After exclaiming in surprise, the Third Prince subconsciously looked Yin'e up and down, trying to figure out if he had been beaten and had suffered any other punishment besides copying.

Hmm, the tenth brother is sitting properly, so he must not have been punished. Otherwise, how could he sit still?

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Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 20:25:18 on May 9, 2023 and 10:24:24 on May 10, 2023!

Thank you to the little angels who watered with nutrient solution: Yanwen, Ayin, and Pear (1 bottle each);

Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!