The eldest prince glanced at Yu Zizhen. He always felt that Yu Zizhen's "reasoning" was probably not the same as the reasoning in his impression.
He lowered his brows and placed his hands on his legs, which had been numb and itchy for the past two years but had recently begun to feel numb. "Then you try it first. If it doesn't work, I'll do it."
His legs gradually began to regain sensation after Yu Zizhen fed him for a long time under various pretexts. He didn't know that Yu Zizhen used the "rejuvenation technique" on him almost every day. He only guessed that Yu Zizhen must have mixed detoxifying and body-regulating drugs into the food for him to eat.
This kindness came suddenly and strongly, just like when Yu Zizhen told him "I like you" when he first met him.
He didn't understand where this love and kindness came from. After all, he was just a disabled prince tortured by illness, and his father was just a mascot emperor in name only.
Not to mention those powerful officials and nobles, even the slightly more respectable palace maids and eunuchs in the palace did not take them father and son seriously.
In other words, he was of no value to Yu Zizhen, the prince of Zhenbei Palace.
Because it was worthless, he was not afraid that Yu Zizhen had other intentions, but since he owed the other party such a big favor, the eldest prince felt that he should not remain silent.
Apart from tutoring Yu Zizhen, this was the first time Yu Zizhen asked him for help, so he certainly couldn't let Yu Zizhen go back disappointed.
As for Yang Shixian and others, Yang Shixian had always protected him. Fan Zhongming, Fang Huaiying, and Chen Hushan were all his study companions, just like Yu Zizhen and Yang Shixian, and they had never offended him. On the surface, he couldn't be too partial to one over the other.
Since they wanted to go, he simply took them along.
***
When Yu Zizhen and his companions arrived at the library, they happened to come face to face with an old eunuch who came out yawning.
"Oh, it's His Highness." The old eunuch squinted his eyes and glanced at them quickly. Then, pinching his throat, he bowed perfunctorily to the eldest prince and said, "Your servant greets His Highness. What is this?"
This old eunuch was one of the eunuchs in charge of managing the library. He was assigned here because he made a minor mistake when the late emperor was still alive.
Originally, he could not be considered a member of the Lu family, but after the death of the previous emperor, he dug a hole in the door and found a godfather for himself. His godfather was younger than him, but he was the second most useful eunuch beside the Empress Dowager Lu.
Relying on the influence of his godfather, he lived a very comfortable life in this library.
Not only did his companions dare not offend him, even the eunuchs in charge of managing the library would usually give him some respect.
After meeting him, it would not be easy for the eldest prince to bring Yu Zizhen and others into the library.
Look, this guy actually blocked them at the door of the library so brazenly.
"Who is this?" Without waiting for the young eunuch beside the eldest prince to explain, Yu Zizhen approached the old eunuch with a curious look on his face.
"When you met the Crown Prince, you only bowed without kneeling. You even stood up straight before the Crown Prince said you didn't need to. You must be the head of the library, right? Then why are you dressed like this?"
Circling the old eunuch, Yu Zizhen reached out and tugged at his clothes. "Isn't it against the rules to dress like this while on duty? According to palace rules, you deserve at least twenty strokes of the cane, right?"
"Also, how dare you stand in front of the Crown Prince? Is this palace yours? Or is the name of this library not Xiao, but...what's your last name?"
"Forget it. Your last name isn't important. What's important is that this library bears your last name. Does that mean the palace also bears your last name? Then, do I have to kneel three times and kowtow nine times before you, performing the solemn ceremony of meeting your majesty?"
"Does His Majesty know that you are so powerful? Does the Queen Mother know? How about I help you spread the word?"
Everyone: ...Wow, this is really bullshit.
The old eunuch tried to speak several times but couldn't get a word in. He watched as Yu Zizhen's words became more and more outrageous. In the end, he even brought up the emperor and the empress dowager, making it clear that he wanted to accuse him of something bad. The old eunuch's face turned pale with fright.
He dared to show his displeasure to the eldest prince. To put it bluntly, it was because he was sure that the eldest prince was concerned about his own situation and would not make a fuss in front of the emperor and the empress dowager because of such a small matter.
But Yu Zizhen was obviously not the eldest prince who was used to swallowing his anger. If he offended Yu Zizhen too much and Yu Zizhen insisted on punishing him, he believed that his godfather would not offend Yu Zizhen, who was obviously from a prominent family and full of confidence, just to protect him, his useless godson.
The old eunuch knelt before the eldest prince with a plop. "Please forgive me, eldest prince! I was blinded and my heart was blinded by greed. I apologize to you."
As he spoke, the old eunuch kowtowed loudly. His ability to adapt to the situation was truly eye-opening.
The eldest prince said nothing. He had always been tolerant of these palace servants, but he would not undermine Yu Zizhen when Yu Zizhen was helping him establish his authority.
The other noblemen who followed him did not say anything, so the only sound at the scene was the old eunuch's kowtowing and begging for mercy.
The manager of the library came in a hurry upon hearing the noise. Unlike the old eunuch who only relied on his godfather's power to bully others in the library, the manager of the library knew Yu Zizhen and other noblemen who were nominally study companions but were actually hostages.
He greeted everyone respectfully, "I greet your Highness and all the gentlemen."
With the rank of the library manager, he did not have to kneel and kowtow to the eldest prince. In fact, according to the etiquette of this dynasty, he did not have to salute Chen Hushan, Yang Shixian and Fan Zhongming.
After all, although these three people came from extraordinary backgrounds, they were just commoners without any rank, which made them somewhat different from Yu Zizhen, the prince of Zhenbei Palace, and Fang Huaiying, the prince of Weiguo Palace.
But the manager of the library did not leave anyone out and did not dare to treat anyone lightly.
After all, although those three were commoners, their grandfathers were all very famous. He, a small manager who managed the library, could not afford to offend these people.
Even the eunuchs who served the emperor and the empress dowager did not dare to offend these people easily.
The manager of the library was very self-aware and tactful, so he did not plead for his subordinate.
He pretended not to notice the old eunuch who was kowtowing to the eldest prince, and respectfully led the eldest prince and others to the main entrance of the library.
As he walked, he humbly explained the rules of the imperial library to everyone.
The rules were set by the late emperor, and can be roughly categorized into the following points:
First of all, there is no restriction on the frequency with which direct descendants of the royal family, such as the emperor, princes, and princes, can enter the library.
In addition to them, officials of the third rank and above in the court, if they could obtain special permission from the emperor, could also enter and exit the library at any time with a token before the palace gates were locked.
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