Chapter 88 His Highness is back
It was none other than the recently promoted Grand Tutor Chu who became a new noble in the court. He became a new noble in his recent retirement years, thus becoming both old and new.
Qiao Jijiu did not dare to neglect the arrival of Master Chu and showed the highest etiquette to the guest.
So, the two of them sat by the river behind the Guangwenguan of the Imperial College and fished together.
Master Chu, with gray hair and beard, held a fishing rod and sighed as he looked at the water.
"Minister Chu has recently had a happy event, why are you sighing?"
Master Chu, who was still serving as the Grand Tutor, looked distressed when he heard this: "Stop reading! Whenever I hear the word Shangshu, my chest feels stuffy and my head feels dizzy. My feet feel heavy and I feel like I'm going to die soon..."
Qiao Jijiu thought for a moment - wasn't this really him acting out the scene when his wife broke his fishing rod? So Qiao Jijiu felt deeply sympathetic.
But Master Chu was extremely jealous: "...You and I both entered the court as Jinshi, and we both teach people to read. Why do you have such a good life, while I have such a bad fate?"
Qiao Jijiu quickly spoke up to suppress the other party's jealousy: "You are my predecessor! I am just a firefly, how can I be compared with you, old master?"
He added: "You have certainly been burdened, but this time you have taken over the post of Minister of Rites, which is a blessing for the children of poor families and the people of the country. This move is of far-reaching significance... Among all the officials, who else can take on this important task but you?"
He tried to encourage her by saying, "You are also a member of the imperial examination system, and you must have long hated the phenomenon of fraud. Now that you have this opportunity, shouldn't you be motivated and open up a fair path for the scholars of the world?"
Master Chu was silent for a moment, looking at the river. He seemed to be thinking of something, and there was a hint of sigh in his voice: "At this age, what's the point of talking about fighting spirit..."
After a moment of silence, he could not help cursing, "What does it have to do with me if they fight? I don't know which evil person pushed an old man like me out here—"
After thinking for a while, he said, "I think it's probably Wei Shuyi... I felt a few days ago that this young man always liked to stare at me, as if he was up to something bad!"
Qiao Jijiu could only comfort him, "It will only be three years at most, just hold on..."
Master Chu glared and said, "You have to survive."
Those people spoke nicely and agreed with both hands, as if his appointment as the Minister of Rites was popular choice. Oh, it was indeed popular choice... It was a shield for popular choice!
They are noble and great, they don't take the old man's life seriously!
Qiao Jijiu smiled and said, "You have been in the officialdom for a long time, and you have great wisdom. How can such a small matter be difficult for you?"
As he said that, he changed the subject: "In my Imperial College, there are several very good students who will take the Spring Examination next year... Among them is a candidate named Song Xian, who I personally think is very promising. I wonder if the Master has ever heard of this person?"
"I vaguely heard of a few poems that were circulated in the capital." Master Chu, who was in a bad mood, was very strict: "Nothing special."
Qiao Jijiu choked.
However, the old tutor's attack was not directed at any particular person: "In my opinion, the students in your Imperial College are getting worse and worse."
Then, he gave the basis for saying this: "No one is as good as my student."
Qiao Jijiu knew exactly who "his student" was referring to, and he said with a smile, "You are talking about His Highness... that person is incomparable."
"But that was also a bad idea." Master Chu was dissatisfied: "He also said that he would buy me a mountain forest near the water to live in in the future... but it turned out to be all lies!"
Chang Suining, who had just approached this place with the book boy from the Imperial College, happened to hear such a complaint.
Qiao Jijiu was sighing and making excuses for her: "Your Highness left too suddenly under the circumstances back then, otherwise he would have agreed..."
Chang Suining felt a little ashamed after hearing this.
She had promised too many things in the past, and she simply forgot about buying a mountain forest for her teacher to live in during his retirement.
"Please wait for a moment, General Chang."
Because Master Chu was present, the book boy signaled Chang Kuo to stop, and he stepped forward to salute and told Qiao Yang: "General Chang and Madam Chang are here to look for the chief wine."
Qiao Jijiu looked back and saw Chang Suining waiting not far away. He smiled kindly and waved at her: "Come here, Third Father!"
As for Chang Kuo standing aside, he wasn't watching at all.
Chang Kuo, who was used to it, didn't care and walked forward with his daughter.
"Master Chu--" Chang Kuo bowed to the old man by the river.
Chang Suining also followed suit and saluted.
Mr. Chu seemed to be concentrating on fishing, but in fact he had no desire to live. He raised his hand without even turning his head, as if he was just accepting a gift. He acted as if he treated others as air and hoped that they would treat him as air as well.
Qiao Jijiu temporarily put down his fishing rod, sniffed, and saw the roast duck in Chang Kuo's hand. He asked curiously, "You are here, why are you bringing anything?"
This is the first time in history.
Chang Kuo said, "Oh," and said, "I bought this on the way. Want to try it?"
"I'm just hungry!" Qiao Jijiu didn't hesitate to wash his hands with river water and sat down on the straw mat spread by the river.
There was a small tea table on the straw mat, and the servant borrowed a tea knife to cut the roast duck into small pieces. Qiao Jijiu picked up a duck leg and ate it before asking, "Why did you think of looking for me today?"
Chang Suining had only been waiting for him to ask this question, and now he got straight to the point: "Third Father, I came here because I wanted to - I came here today to ask you to accept me as your student."
As he said this, he raised his hand and bowed solemnly.
When Qiao Jijiu saw this, he was immediately overjoyed: "Ningning, have you finally figured it out?"
Chang Sui Ning is at a loss for a moment - why do you say that?
Qiao Jijiu stood up as he spoke, and said impatiently, "Come on, come on, Third Father will teach you how to fish right now!"
He had said a long time ago that he would let the child learn fishing from him, but every time he mentioned it, his wife said he was sick.
Chang Suining looked at him with complicated eyes.
Does he still remember what his main job is?
Chang Kuo said with disgust on his face: "Who wants to learn fishing from you? My daughter came here to ask you to teach her how to read!"
"Reading?" Qiao Jijiu was stunned and looked at Chang Suining: "How can reading be as interesting as fishing?"
Chang Suining: “…”
She said that this person would only mislead young people.
Fortunately, she was not afraid of being misled and boldly asked, "Why can't I learn both?"
She admitted that this was partly to please the other party.
"Of course I can..." Qiao Jijiu was struggling and weighing the pros and cons for a moment.
To be honest, he didn't really want to accept a student to study alone, after all, it was really boring.
But he really needs a student to learn fishing from him! Seeing his hesitation, Chang Kuo started to kidnap him: "As the saying goes, once a father, always a teacher!"
Qiao Jijiu frowned and looked at him: "What kind of common saying is this?"
Chang Kuo said confidently: "What I said is just what I said!"
He then said, "Not to mention that it is my daughter's education, now that you have already accepted the tuition, do you still want to deny it?"
Qiao Jijiu was puzzled: "When did I ever accept any gift from you?"
Master Chu, who was standing by the river, had a rare desire to speak: "Qiao Jijiu has eaten all of it."
"..."Qiao Jijiu looked at the leftover roast duck.
He admitted that he was careless.
But this thing can also be used as a gift?
"You want me to accept a student just for a roast duck? What are you daydreaming about?" He looked at Chang Kuo, feeling insulted: "Even if they are family members...but even if you want to give them away, at least give them two!"
"I originally bought two." Chang Suining looked at Chang Kuo while speaking.
Seeing Qiao Yang looking over, Chang Kuo glared: "Riding a horse is also tiring!"
It's not too much to eat a roast duck in the middle of the meal! Chang Suining looked up and said casually, "Don't blame me, Third Father. I'll make up for it right away."
As she spoke, she stretched out her hands towards Xier.
Xier immediately understood and handed over the slingshot first, and then handed over a stone.
Qiao Jijiu looked puzzled: "?"
Where did you get all this from?
While he was wondering, Chang Suining raised his head with his eyes slightly narrowed and had already pulled the slingshot. As he released his hand, a stone flew out, and immediately a wild goose fluttered down from the sky.
The flock of geese returning from the south in spring were suddenly frightened and scattered.
The goose that was hit fell next to Master Chu, scaring him.
Soon a young girl came over and picked up the goose: "I guess I frightened you."
Master Chu looked at her disapprovingly.
This little girl!
It was just a healthy wild goose, which had finally waited for the spring, and just flew back when it suddenly encountered this disaster - how similar was this experience to his?
As if sensing his disapproval, Chang Suining stretched his head to look at the fish basket beside him and exclaimed, "You have a good catch."
Master Chu turned around and looked at the fish he had caught, and was suddenly choked with speech.
This little girl!
As annoying as that student of his who is excellent but always makes him angry and pulls his beard!
Master Chu was not a gentleman or kind person to begin with. He waved his hand at the girl who was staring at his fish basket and said, "Go away... Go and pay your respects to your master."
"Okay."
Chang Suining stood up, holding the goose and came to Qiao Yang, offering it with both hands: "Third father, this is enough for a pair."
Qiao Jijiu was stunned and asked in astonishment: "...When did Ningning learn this?"
"She hasn't studied for long, but who can blame her for being a genius?" Chang Kuo said, patting Qiao Jijiu on the shoulder, "It's because of my daughter that I let you get the upper hand because you are close to her. Otherwise, how could you have the chance to be such a rare student? Think about it, isn't that the truth?"
Qiao Jijiu was speechless for a moment.
The girl in front of him was holding the goose, still waiting for his response.
Qiao Jijiu didn't want to tire the child, so he took it and compromised, "It's not a big deal anyway... If Ningning really wants me to teach her, then she can study with Mianmian starting tomorrow."
Chang Suining bowed again: "Thank you, Third Father."
"But we just agreed that both of us must learn..." Qiao Jijiu finalized the matter on the spot and invited Master Chu to be a witness: "Master, please help me be a witness. This girl has promised to learn fishing from me. She can't go back on her word!"
Master Chu: "...OK."
I have never witnessed such a bizarre thing in my life.
"As the saying goes, things have their priorities, and the same applies to teaching... Come, Ningning, learn the important things today." While Qiao Jijiu was speaking, he moved another bamboo stool to the riverside.
Chang Suining had no choice but to walk over.
I sat there until it got dark.
Seeing that they were about to miss the time to return, Qiao Jijiu reluctantly nodded and let them go. Before leaving, he told Chang Suining that the key to studying is diligence, and since he had become a disciple, he should not take things lightly - it would be best if he packed his luggage overnight and moved in tomorrow.
The Imperial College has accommodations and food facilities for students. Ordinary doctoral students are not allowed to stay in the Imperial College, but Qiao Yang is the chief academic officer of the Imperial College. He has a lot of complicated affairs to handle and his schedule is irregular, so he has a separate residence in the Imperial College.
With the special permission of the Holy Emperor, the four members of the Qiao family have been living in the Imperial Academy.
As the Imperial College was not close to the General's Mansion, it would take half a day to travel back and forth, so Qiao Yang and Chang Kuo agreed to let Chang Suining come and stay, and return to Chang's Mansion every three to five days.
When the wife of the chief priest and Qiao Yubai and his sister learned about this, they were all very happy.
That night, Mrs. Wang, the wife of the chief priest, had no time to scold her husband for going fishing again. She was busy tidying up Chang Suining's bedroom and preparing bedding and other daily necessities.
Qiao Yubai also quickly added new pens and ink to the study, preparing for Chang Suining's arrival.
The Qiao family was busy with great anticipation. At the Chang family's side, Chang Sui'an felt like the sky was falling when he learned that his sister was going to move to the Imperial College to study.
The nightmare of childhood reappeared——
Chang Suining was introverted and weak in character when he was young, so it would have been more appropriate for him to be raised in the Qiao family. After discussion with Chang Kuo and others, they sent the child to the Qiao family.
But Chang Sui'an couldn't accept it, and ran to Qiao's house crying and demanding to get his sister back.
Everyone thought that the child would just cry for a few days and it would be fine, so Chang Kuo dragged his son back.
But the next day, just after dawn, Chang Sui'an ran to the door of Qiao's house again and cried out - give me back my sister.
Chang Kuo dragged the person away again and did not allow him to go out again.
But Chang Sui'an always managed to sneak out and come to cry on time every morning, rain or shine, more punctual than a rooster crowing.
Crying was not enough, so he fetched pen and ink and wrote four big words on the gate of Qiao's house. However, as he had only learned calligraphy for two years, his words were crooked and messy - Give me Shushu back.
Later on, the criticism gradually turned to Qiao Yubai, who was the same age as him - you already have a sister, why do you want to steal my sister?
Qiao Yubai asked him confidently: "The two sisters look different, so who would complain about having too many sisters?" This greedy remark broke Chang Sui'an's heart, and the two became enemies.
But the Qiao family could not bear it anymore and could only return the sister to the family to keep the peace.
But the sister he had fought so hard to get back was now going to the Qiao family again——
Chang Sui'an was reluctant to leave and was worried that his sister would not be able to get used to the food and accommodation in the Qiao family. He tossed and turned all night and could not sleep.
It drizzled that night, just like his mood as an elder brother.
The next morning the sky cleared up. A few raindrops were hanging on the banana leaves. The golden sunlight shone through them, making the leaves look even greener and fatter.
In Princess Chongyue's mansion, Yuxie was staring at the banana tree in the corner in a daze.
A wind blew, the banana leaves swayed slightly, and a drop of water slid down.
At this time, another maid came out from the yard and came to her side: "Aunt Yuxie, the medicine is ready, go back and drink it."
Yuxie nodded in a daze.
She withdrew her gaze from the banana tree, but when she saw the marks on the courtyard wall, her expression suddenly changed.
Her expression trembled and she walked over quickly.
"Aunt Yuxie!" Two maids hurriedly followed.
"It's His Highness..." Yu Xie suddenly exclaimed, "It's His Highness who's back!"
Thank you all for your monthly tickets and rewards. I am exhausted today. Since returning to my hometown, I have been eating at a big table every day... I will sort out the list tomorrow. Thank you all for your love~ Good night!
(End of this chapter)
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