Chapter 71: The Lost Princess Bai Yueguang 2: Go to school together

After the audience, Ji Hanlin was led by his attendants to a quiet courtyard.

The courtyard wasn't spacious, and the grey tiles and white walls showed some signs of wear, but it didn't look shabby at all and was immaculately kept. The furnishings inside were simple, with only a few artifacts, making the room seem a bit cold and empty.

Although not luxurious, it is quite quiet.

"Master Ji, this is your residence." The eunuch in charge smiled respectfully, but Ji Hanlin could see a hint of perfunctoriness in his eyes. "If you have any instructions, just tell the palace servants outside the door."

After saying this, he turned and retreated with his men, leaving behind only two attendants. Even so, Ji Hanlin was satisfied. After all, his treatment in Dayan hadn't been particularly good. In Dayan, he had been neglected by his father, bullied by his brother, and financially strapped.

Ji Hanlin quietly surveyed the room, his gaze indifferent. At this moment, he was alone in a foreign country, relying only on himself.

He silently lit an oil lamp. The faint flame flickered, stretching the shadow cast on the corner of the wall.

At this moment, Ji Hanlin thought of the delicate and beautiful Princess Zhaohua. She should be sleeping in a warm and soft bed at this moment...

The next day, the palace servants came to take him to school.

Although Emperor Xuanping did not think much of Dayan, he still had to put in enough effort on the surface. So at the emperor's instruction, Ji Hanlin was arranged to go to school with the princes and nobles of Xuanping and study in the same class.

On the way to school, he happened to meet the arrogant and domineering eldest prince Wen Yuanxun.

The eldest prince was dressed in gorgeous clothes, with a flowing brocade robe, and his words and actions showed an undeniable superiority.

Ji Hanlin paused for a moment, and Wen Yuanxun also saw him. It was too late to avoid him now, so he wanted to perform the courtesy between peers and greet him.

But before he could say anything, Wen Yuanxun sneered, "Is this the hostage sent by Dayan? It seems Dayan is nothing special."

His words were full of contempt.

The Third Prince Wen Xingzhi, standing beside him, chuckled and said loudly, "Brother, why bother giving others such glances? Some people come to the academy just to make up the numbers."

Several people burst into laughter.

Ji Hanlin's expression remained unchanged, his eyes lowered and his posture remained calm as he saluted. He simply replied, "Greetings, gentlemen."

These people were just as he had imagined, rude and arrogant. Even if they were ridiculed and mocked, Ji Hanlin had already warned himself in his heart not to compete with them, let alone cause trouble.

You have to endure everything.

A clear bell sound came from behind. It was the decorative bell unique to the sedan chairs ridden by the palace ladies, swaying in the wind.

A carved sedan chair came slowly from the other end of the corridor, surrounded by palace maids and servants, looking very imposing.

Several princes stopped in their tracks. Wen Yuanxun frowned, his expression showing a hint of disgust.

The gauze curtain swayed slightly, revealing half of a figure.

The girl in the sedan held an ivory fan in her hand, half covering her face, with the corners of her mouth slightly raised.

As the sedan chair approached, her bright eyes swept through the crowd through the gap in the curtains, and when they met the people in her path, Wen Qianning sneered softly.

"Tsk." She spoke slowly, her voice sweet and clear as a silver bell, but the words she uttered were not very beautiful. "Why are there a few dogs blocking my way?"

The tone was frivolous and presumptuous, and he didn't take anyone seriously, as if he was just saying the most ordinary gossip.

Wen Yuanxun's face immediately turned pale.

He was proud by nature and hated being looked down upon the most. Yet, these words came from the mouth of his only imperial sister, and he humiliated her in public in front of the servants and the Dayan hostage.

But the one that my father loves the most is this youngest daughter. Emperor Xuanping's preference for her is well known, and no one in the palace dares to offend Princess Zhaohua.

The veins on the back of Wen Yuanxun's hands bulged, and his eyes were wide open with anger, but he had to suppress his anger and dared not say anything.

In the sedan chair, Wen Qianning no longer looked at these people. He just raised his round fan and tapped the armrest with it, smiling contemptuously and with great pride.

"Let's go." She ordered the palace maid beside her.

The sedan slowly passed by, and on the corridor, only the humiliated Wen Yuanxun and a few of his brothers were left. They looked grim, but no one dared to speak out in rebuttal from beginning to end.

Ji Hanlin watched quietly, hiding the thoughtful look in his eyes.

He could see that the Xuanping heirs were all somewhat arrogant and defiant, looking down on everyone. But if one were to ask who was the most formidable person in the Xuanping court, it wouldn't be the princes, but this spoiled and unruly little princess. Even with his royal status, the Xuanping princes were still somewhat constrained by Princess Zhaohua.

After being interrupted by Wen Qianning, Wen Yuanxun no longer had the heart to make fun of Ji Hanlin. He snorted coldly and turned away.

The school is located in the eastern corner of the palace. When you push the door and walk in, a faint scent of ink hits you in the face.

Several students were already in the school, bent over their desks, copying scriptures. In the middle of the lecture hall, a teacher with white hair and beard was flipping through a book. Seeing that everyone had arrived, he raised his eyes calmly and said impartially:

"Since you are all here to study, you are all classmates. As the sages said, there is no distinction between high and low in learning. Please remember this."

The teacher before him was the Grand Tutor specially invited by Emperor Xuanping to teach the princes and nobles. As a young man, he was renowned for his erudition. After entering officialdom, he spoke frankly and made numerous admonitions to the emperor. Far from punishing him, Emperor Xuanping respected his integrity and repeatedly treated him with favors.

Therefore, even the princes did not dare to be negligent in front of this teacher. If anyone dared to contradict him or say something disrespectful and was known by Emperor Xuanping, he would be confined to copy books at the very least, or even deprived of the right to study in the school at the worst... This was a great humiliation among the princes.

Because of this, no matter how arrogant Wen Yuanxun was, he had to restrain himself and behave properly when he entered the school.

"Sit down." The teacher waved his hand, indicating that they should return to their seats.

Ji Hanlin sat down in the last row, spread out a rough yellow paper roll, straightened his pen and ink, and listened attentively.

The Master was explaining the Spring and Autumn Annals in class, and Ji Hanlin wrote down every word without distraction.

But he soon noticed that the girl in the last row was holding a pen in her delicate hand and writing something randomly... In any case, that person was definitely not paying attention to the class.

It is almost unheard of in Dayan for a princess of this age to attend school with princes and sons.

Dayan had always been strict about the distinction between men and women. Even the women of the imperial family only learned some female arts and poetry in the palace. But during the Xuanping era, Princess Zhaohua was able to sit at the desk with the princes and listen to the teacher's lectures on classics and history.

This is enough to show that Wen Qianning is indeed loved and pampered.

The carefree little princess, who had been resting her head on her desk, dropped her pen and began yawning. After a while, she dozed off, her dark eyelashes fluttering, and her head drooped heavily, finally hitting the desk.

The brush fell over, and the ink splashed everywhere, splashing a few drops onto her face, making her look like a little cat that had gotten into trouble.

"Hmm..." The girl was startled and looked up slightly. Fortunately, the teacher was too engrossed in the class and did not notice the small movement under the desk.

Seeing this, Ji Hanlin couldn't help but slightly curl the corners of his lips.

Obviously, Wen Qianning noticed that Ji Hanlin was laughing at her, so she glared at him fiercely and whispered, "What are you laughing at?"

Ji Hanlin immediately put away his smile, only to hear the hot-tempered girl continue to command in a domineering manner: "Why don't you quickly bring your handkerchief over and wipe this princess's face?!"

The young man paused and sighed silently in his heart.

He grew up in the palace and had seen all kinds of people. He knew that if he offended such a spoiled and unreasonable girl, he would be in trouble in the future.

So, Ji Hanlin was silent for a moment, still reaching out to take out the plain handkerchief from his arms, and quietly handed it to Wen Qianning.

The girl snorted, snatched the handkerchief away, and wiped her face a few times casually.

Handkerchiefs have always been a very intimate item in Dayan, and are often only given between close relatives and close friends. He has never handed it to others easily, but now he is forced to hand it to the little princess in front of him.

After wiping her face, Wen Qianning tossed the handkerchief back into his arms and raised her eyebrows nonchalantly, "Okay, I'll give it back to you. It's dirty, so you can figure out what to do."

She spoke with confidence, without any sense of guilt at all. Instead, she pushed back the trouble she had used up as if doing a favor.

Ji Hanlin took the handkerchief, feeling somewhat helpless, with a complex emotion that was hard to explain rising in his heart, but he did not show it.

At this time, the teacher began his inspection. When he walked over to Ji Hanlin, he saw that his handwriting was neat and orderly. His expression eased slightly. He did not seem to be bothered by the fact that he was a hostage of Dayan. He even nodded in approval: "The handwriting is neat and steady. Not bad."

Hearing the teacher praising him, Wen Qianning curled his lips in dissatisfaction, while Ji Hanlin just found it funny.

When the teacher finished assigning the lessons, he waved his sleeves and said, "That's all for today. Go back and copy the scriptures twice. I'll check your lessons tomorrow."

As soon as the words were spoken, everyone agreed in unison.

The second prince was not in a hurry to leave. His eyes turned slightly, and he suddenly stopped and stared at Ji Hanlin coldly.

"Hey, Dayan hostage." The second prince drew out his voice, with a sneer on his lips.

The action of packing up was stopped, and Ji Hanlin slowly raised his eyes and looked at the second prince.

The Second Prince narrowed his eyes, slammed the scroll in his hand onto his desk, and sneered, "I'm too lazy to copy this homework. Since you like to sit at your desk, why don't you write it for me? If it's not good... I'll have someone punish you."

His tone was arrogant and his expression was haughty.

Ji Hanlin looked at the book, a cold light flashing in his eyes.

A crisp sneer came from the side.

"Second brother, you are so shameless." Wen Qianning looked at the two of them without any courtesy, her eyes were sharp and her arrogant demeanor was fully revealed.

Her words were full of deliberate provocation, silencing the others present.

The Second Prince's face immediately darkened, his eyes barely concealing the irritation he could barely suppress. He sneered, trying to maintain composure. "My dear sister, your words are truly unpleasant to hear. I was only joking with him. What does this have to do with you, my sister? Aren't you... going to publicly protect a middleman? If word gets out, wouldn't that be a disgrace to your own dignity?"

The words were spoken in a sarcastic tone, clearly intending to force Wen Qianning into a dilemma.

But Wen Qianning wasn't intimidated at all. Instead, she retorted arrogantly, "That's because... I want him to copy books for me! He naturally has to listen to me and be at my disposal. How can it be your turn to order him around? If Second Brother wants him to copy books for you, he should ask me first."

"Good, very good. I didn't expect the Imperial Sister to argue for this." The Second Prince's face turned livid with anger. He was already gritting his teeth with hatred, but because of what others might say, he didn't dare to really break up with Wen Qianning. He could only force a stiff smile. "Well, now that the Imperial Sister has spoken, it's naturally not good to argue with the hostage. Humph."

After saying that, the second prince turned around and left with a dark face.

Wen Qianning withdrew her gaze, but she caught a glimpse of the cold eyes of the person at the center of the topic still fixed on her.

Her heart skipped a beat when he looked at her. Wen Qianning coughed, then straightened her face and said in a very arrogant tone, "What are you still looking at? Do you hear me? You have to copy today's homework for me! If you dare to slack off, you will suffer the consequences."

"Yes, Princess." Ji Hanlin nodded, surprisingly easy to talk to.

Wen Qianning was stunned by such a submissive answer. She originally wanted to say a few more harsh words, but it turned out that Ji Hanlin agreed without any use.

She looked away and waved her hand in mock impatience: "You're smart."