Chapter 97 The Tenth Brother's Lazy Life After Entering University...

The Seventh Prince was aloof and didn't show much emotion at the sight. He simply glanced at Yin'e, who was fast asleep and hadn't even noticed that they had arrived, and said softly, "Let's wake up the Tenth Prince and the others. After all, this is the Qianqing Gate."

The Qianqing Gate is the main gate of the Qianqing Palace, and you are likely to encounter princes and ministers entering the palace in this area.

Yin'e and the Ninth Prince's lazy and unrestrained behavior was to be tolerated by their own family, who would at most whisper a few words about it. Even the more outspoken Third Prince might only make a few sarcastic remarks in private, but nothing more.

After all, they were all in the same boat, classmates studying in the Imperial Study, and they knew best how difficult it was to get up at the hour of Chou (1-3 AM). Every one of them, brothers, was unaccustomed to this schedule when they first entered the Imperial Study, and it took them a long time to get used to it.

The princes, being experienced individuals, were surprised but understanding of Yin'e and the Ninth Prince's behavior. However, it wouldn't be good for the ministers to see them acting this way, as it would inevitably attract criticism and generate negative rumors in the court.

The Fifth Prince nodded after being reminded, and went to the Ninth Prince's side. He stood on tiptoe and nudged the Ninth Prince's shoulder, who was fast asleep on the back of a strong eunuch: "Ninth Brother, Ninth Brother, wake up, we've arrived."

After the Seventh Prince spoke, Xiao Linzi, who was following behind the burly eunuch carrying Yin'e, cleverly stepped forward and softly called out to Yin'e, successfully waking him from his deep sleep.

Rubbing his eyes, still half-asleep, Yin'e slid off the strong eunuch's back after he half-squatted down, and his feet finally touched the ground.

Yin'e, who had just woken up, was so sleepy that he kept yawning and could barely stand. In the end, Xiao Linzi wisely stepped forward to support Yin'e, and he was able to stand up with most of his body leaning on Xiao Linzi, at least he didn't fall directly to the ground.

"Seventh Brother?" With difficulty, Yin'e opened his eyes and first saw the Seventh Prince standing closest to him. He greeted him groggily, "Seventh Brother, you're here too... huh?"

Halfway through his sentence, Yin'e, who had become a little more awake, realized what was happening. He shook his head, trying to shake off the drowsiness and confusion in his mind, and asked in a slightly surprised tone, "I'm already at the Imperial Study?"

How could it be so fast? He felt like he had only slept for five minutes after leaving West Third Street!

Just as the Seventh Prince was about to reply, a childish voice, barely concealing its annoyance, suddenly rang out from the side: "Leave me alone! Let me sleep a little longer!"

It was the Ninth Prince. Getting up so early this morning was really something he wasn't used to. He had just been sleeping soundly when the Fifth Prince woke him up, so of course he was annoyed and instinctively wanted the person "harassing" him to stay away.

Although the Ninth Prince went to bed early yesterday after being reminded by Yin'e, his sleep schedule cannot be adjusted in a day or two. The Ninth Prince was unable to fall asleep early and is now in a state of severe sleep deprivation, wanting nothing more than to sink into dreamland.

The Ninth Prince's irritable reaction when he was woken up instantly dispelled Yin'e's drowsiness. The Ninth Prince usually didn't have a bad temper when he woke up, but today was the first time he had gotten up at the hour of Chou (1-3 AM), which was really too early. No one could get used to it immediately, so it was normal for him to be so irritable.

Rubbing his face, Yin'e took a deep breath of the slightly cool autumn night air and reminded the Fifth Prince, who was still stunned after being scolded by the Ninth Prince, "Pushing him won't wake the Ninth Prince up."

As he spoke, Yin'e walked to the Ninth Prince's side. He gestured for the burly eunuch carrying the Ninth Prince to squat down, and then reached out and pulled the Ninth Prince off the eunuch's back. At the same time, he continued to say, "...Just pull him off. He'll wake up after standing for a while."

This was Yin'e's personal experience. After getting off the ground and stepping onto the stone bricks in front of the Qianqing Palace, even though Xiao Linzi was supporting him and sharing most of his weight, standing firmly on solid ground still gradually brought Yin'e back to his senses.

The Ninth Prince, pulled off by Yin'e, didn't even open his eyes. He slumped onto Yin'e, whimpering softly, "Sleepy, I want to sleep..."

With a little effort, Yin'e supported the Ninth Prince and shook his shoulder with his right hand to wake him up quickly. He calmly reassured him, "It's alright. We'll continue sleeping in the Imperial Study. There are tables and chairs there, and it will be more comfortable to sleep there."

Fifth Prince, Seventh Prince: ?

Sleeping in the Imperial Study? How dare you?!

Several princes who came to the Imperial Study from the Fifth Palace of Gandong were delayed for a while in front of the Qianqing Gate because of the trouble caused by Yin'e and the Ninth Prince.

As it was almost dawn, the brothers exchanged brief greetings and then passed through the Qianqing Gate into the Qianqing Palace.

The threshold of the Qianqing Gate was very high; Yin'e estimated it to be at least half a meter high. He strongly suspected that the craftsman who designed the threshold had ulterior motives, intending for someone to trip and fall when crossing it.

Yin'e and the Ninth Prince were of normal height; at their age, they were neither tall nor short, standing a little over 1.1 meters. A half-meter-high threshold would be a considerable challenge for them if they wanted to cross it themselves.

Although he didn't want to look too disheveled, Yin'e finally managed to climb over the threshold using both his hands and feet, and his ochre-red python robe was covered in dust.

Bending down to brush the dust off his knees, Yin'e turned to look at the Ninth Prince, only to find that he wasn't much better off than him. His posture as he "climbed" over the threshold was equally disheveled, almost indistinguishable from crawling over.

"Just this once!" The Ninth Prince patted the dust off his sleeves and whispered to Yin'e, "Let's just cross it by ourselves this time, and next time we'll have the nanny carry us."

Actually, it wasn't just Yin'e and the Ninth Prince who had a very difficult time crossing the high threshold; the Fifth Prince, who is already ten years old this year, didn't have it any easier either.

He was tall enough, but the Fifth Prince hadn't lost weight even after spending more than a year in the Imperial Study. Tall and fat, he always looked clumsy when crossing the threshold, whether it was easy or difficult.

Following behind the Fifth Prince and the Seventh Prince into the Imperial Study, Yin'e, who had taken the book box from Xiao Linzi, noticed that compared to their last visit to the Imperial Study, there were two more desks placed side by side in the classroom, next to the Fifth Prince's desk.

The newly enrolled Prince Yin'e and the Ninth Prince were assigned to study in the same group as the Fifth Prince. This is enough to show the Fifth Prince's current level - in fact, after studying in the Imperial Study for more than a year, the Fifth Prince has made great progress. After all, last year he could only speak Mongolian and Manchu and did not know a single Chinese character.

Yin'e and the Ninth Prince walked hand in hand to their desks and sat down. They placed their book boxes on one corner of the table, took out their writing implements and arranged them neatly on the flat surface, but they didn't know what to do next.

The other princes had already picked up their books and were either reading aloud or reciting them from memory. Amidst the clear and melodious reading voices, Yin'e and the Ninth Prince, who didn't know which book to read, exchanged a blank look and suddenly yawned in unison.

...Listening to the sound of students reading aloud in the classroom, what should they do when they start to feel sleepy again after just waking up a little?

But Yin'e and the Ninth Prince did not have time to turn their drowsiness into sleepiness, because as they stared blankly at each other, someone silently stood in front of their desks.

“Ninth Prince, Tenth Prince, you have completed your initial education, and you will begin studying the Four Books and Five Classics from today.” Under the cover of the princes’ loud reading voices, Gu Badai stood silently in front of Yin’e and the Ninth Prince. “Take out the book ‘The Great Learning’, and we will begin our studies from ‘The Great Learning’.”

The mornings in the Imperial Study were entirely dedicated to cultural classes, taught by both Manchu and Han instructors, whom the princes addressed as "Anda." Besides instructing the princes in Manchu culture and customs, Confucian classics, and various subjects including calligraphy, mathematics, physics, and Western studies, the Anda provided the princes with a comprehensive education.

The Four Books and Five Classics are the most basic lessons. First, learn the Four Books, reading them in the order of The Great Learning, The Analects, Mencius, and The Doctrine of the Mean; after learning the Four Books, learn the Five Classics, in the order of The Book of Poetry, The Book of Documents, The Book of Rites, The Book of Changes, and The Spring and Autumn Annals.

Completing these nine books is just the beginning, laying a solid foundation. Afterwards, the princes must explore various schools of thought, including classical texts, history, philosophy, and literature. They must study diligently every day to keep up with the pace of the Imperial Study.

The sudden appearance of Gu Badai startled Yin'e and the Ninth Prince. The Ninth Prince remembered how severely Gu Badai had examined him last time. Now, seeing Gu Badai's stern face, he reflexively sat up straight in his chair and obediently took out the "Great Learning" and placed it in the center of his desk.

Unlike the Ninth Prince, Yin'e was only frightened by Gu Badai's sudden and "silent" appearance.

After the initial shock, Yin'e looked at Gu Badai standing in front of them and suddenly felt very comforted.

Yes, they were really unfortunate, as they encountered the patriarch of the "tiger parenting" era, Emperor Kangxi, who made them sit in the Imperial Study at three in the morning to start their early reading.

But they weren't the only ones suffering. Gu Badai and the other tutors in the Imperial Study were in the same boat. They all had to appear in the Imperial Study at the beginning of the day, getting up before dawn to go to the palace.

Everyone was in the same boat, and Yin'e suddenly felt that he wasn't so bad after all, which was a great comfort to him.

Of course, it wasn't just the princes and their tutors who were tortured by the "Yin Chu" torture; the princes' companions and their children were also subjected to it.

However, Yin'e's Haha Zhuzi has not yet entered the palace to accompany him in his studies. Although the choice of Haha Zhuzi has been made, Yin'e specifically asked the Consort to inform those families to wait a month before Haha Zhuzi enters the palace to accompany him in his studies.

Yin'e planned to give the tutors in the Imperial Study a chance to understand him, to let them see that he was just as useless as the Fifth Prince, and that they shouldn't have too high hopes for him or compete with him too much.

Yin'e did not intend to let his son, Haha Zhuzi, enter the palace until the tutors in the Imperial Study realized his true colors.

Because he made a mistake, the masters dared not punish him, but they would definitely punish his study companion.

Yin'e didn't want his servants to take the blame for his own mistakes. He'd rather wait until the officials in the Imperial Study realized he was beyond redemption and started turning a blind eye to his behavior before letting his servants into the palace.

After Yin'e and the Ninth Prince took out their copies of "The Great Learning," Gu Badai nodded slightly and said in a calm tone, "Today's morning reading will begin with you reciting 'The Great Learning' one hundred and twenty times."

Yin'e: ...

It's here, it's here! It's finally here after a hundred and twenty tries!

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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 10:44:33 and 22:52:51 on April 2, 2023!

Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Heydrich·M 62 bottles; 随便说說哦, justpoor 20 bottles; turorora 10 bottles; Mini Little Castle 6 bottles; 乱步猫猫的波子酸水 5 bottles; 春风十里, 磕西皮是我快乐 1 bottle;

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