Chapter 6: Questioning Hu Hai, Understanding Hu Hai, Becoming…
After leaving Rouyi Palace, Fusu turned around and headed straight for Kunning Palace.
In principle, Song Dynasty princes and princesses were supposed to live separately from their birth mothers in their own courtyards. However, given that very few princes and princesses survived to the time of the emperor's succession, the princes' courtyards were often empty. Empress Cao was reluctant to let her young son live alone in a separate courtyard, so this rule became virtually obsolete.
His Highness Prince Cheng's residence is currently still in Kunning Palace.
However, the vermilion caisson ceiling that Fusu glimpsed when he was born is gone. This was the result of him crying whenever he saw the caisson ceiling when he was just a few months old.
The Emperor and Empress were extremely worried and couldn't sleep all night, fearing that he would follow the same path as the previous princes who died young, being weak and sickly from birth. However, the Imperial Medical Academy couldn't find anything wrong with him, and everyone said that the prince was perfectly healthy.
Desperate, the couple almost turned to the gods for help. However, after Fusu's hint, they realized the problem lay in the decoration of the Kunning Palace. They immediately dismantled it overnight and replaced it with a simpler style.
The prince's crying disorder visibly improved.
Fusu felt a little guilty for deliberately deceiving his birth parents and causing them worry. But the disappearance of the caisson ceiling truly relieved him.
Ancient coloring techniques were limited, so vermilion caissons were made with a large amount of cinnabar, which is a highly toxic substance containing mercury.
One theory suggests that Song Dynasty emperors generally had few offspring because the palace buildings contained heavy metals, making it difficult for children to survive after exposure. Whether it was psychological or not, ever since the caisson ceiling was removed, Fusu felt he could breathe more easily, especially today when he even caught a faint fruity scent.
"Your Majesty!" Fusu composed himself, walked to Empress Cao's knees, and respectfully bowed.
Fusu held Empress Cao, his birth mother in this life, in high esteem. His first birth mother was from Chu and was caught up in a political upheaval, dying young. Fusu was too young to remember her when she passed away. As for his second life, Fusu lived in an orphanage from the time he could remember, and no one adopted him, making him an orphan.
Therefore, Empress Cao was the first mother he had ever truly lived with in the past three generations.
Empress Cao pulled Fusu to her side and reached out to touch his face and back: "It's April, how come you're sweating after just one trip to Rouyi Palace?" She then took out a silk handkerchief from her bosom and gently wiped away the fine sweat from his forehead.
Fusu squinted his eyes, enduring the itch as the handkerchief rubbed against his face: "Children have a lot of energy, it's normal for them to sweat a little."
What child would call himself a child? It's like he's talking about someone else! Empress Cao couldn't help but smile, and then told Fusu to go to the inner room to change his clothes before coming out for lunch.
A moment later, Fusu came out, his gaze fixed on the small flower hall where they were dining, and he twitched his nose. The fruity aroma from earlier... it didn't seem like an illusion, did it?
"You can smell it?" Empress Cao asked with a smile.
A faint, delicate scent of orange peel lingered in the air, but Fusu blushed instantly upon hearing Empress Cao's teasing. "How old are you? And you've been caught craving food!"
But Fusu still nodded obediently, a hint of excitement in his voice: "I can smell it!"
It's his favorite dish: crab stuffed orange.
During the reign of Emperor Fusu II, this dish was a famous dish served at state banquets. When he saw it again in the Song Dynasty, he was quite surprised.
Well, as expected of a palace dish passed down for thousands of years, the crab meat was delicate and tender with no fishy smell at all, and it combined perfectly with the fragrance of oranges. Seasoned with a special cooking wine, several complex flavors exploded on the tongue, yet they did not blend together. Fusu fell in love with it after just one bite.
It's a pity that crabs are considered "cold" in traditional Chinese medicine, and cooking wine isn't suitable for children. The Emperor and Empress both restrict Fusu's intake, so he only has one chance a year to enjoy them. I wonder how they ended up on the dining table in Kunning Palace today.
Could it be that...
"Is it because I'm about to go to Zishan Hall to study, and the Empress is feeling sorry for me, so she specially treated me to crab-stuffed orange?"
Empress Cao said, "You really can hide anything from me."
Fusu immediately flashed a sweet smile, and the crab meat in the jade bowl seemed to taste even sweeter. But his smile vanished as he turned away. The thought of studying gave him a headache; it was completely contrary to his initial plans.
"What, don't you want to go to school?"
"Um……"
"You're quite something," Empress Cao said with a smile. "When your mother was little, she was so excited that she couldn't sleep all night when she found out she could study with her brothers."
Recalling her past in her youth, a faint look of nostalgia appeared on her face.
"That's different," Fusu said with a pained expression. Not only was he being taught only what he already knew, but if he accidentally revealed his true abilities, he'd be labeled a child prodigy. Especially since the Zishan Hall held extraordinary significance, connecting to the previous dynasty; if his master found out, it would be equivalent to the entire previous dynasty knowing.
Oh, right, Master!
Fusu suddenly looked up: "Your Majesty, do you know who my teacher was when I first started learning to read and write?"
"Song Qi, Vice Minister Song."
"Oh dear." Fusu looked surprised.
He couldn't help but marvel at the quality of the ministers during Emperor Renzong's reign. Every single one of them was someone he'd heard of, someone he could even recite a few lines from their works. However, Fusu made a decision: he would erase Song Qi's poems and anecdotes from his mind overnight, making sure they acted as if they were meeting for the first time, to avoid future misunderstandings.
Furthermore, how should one study? Should one follow the prescribed methods, or should one be more unlearned and mischievous? We should also devise a plan to keep him far away from the Crown Prince.
Having something on his mind didn't affect Fusu's eating at all. In the blink of an eye, the crab soup in an orange was gone, but Fusu still carefully poured the remaining juice from the orange peel onto the millet rice, dipped it in some sauce, and began to slurp and wolf it down.
"Eat slowly, don't choke."
As soon as Empress Cao finished speaking, she saw that the jade bowl that Fusu had put down was empty.
"You really love eating that much?"
"Of course," Fusu nodded solemnly. This was one of the few advantages of traveling to the Song Dynasty. Wild hairy crabs from Yangcheng Lake, completely free from industrial pollution, were something he couldn't even get his hands on before.
"I knew you liked it, but I didn't expect you to like it this much. Could it be that Su'er is going to become a gourmand in the future?" Empress Cao joked, and then had a maid lead the person out of the flower hall.
Ever since His Highness Prince Cheng was able to eat independently, he has always taken a walk after meals to aid digestion, claiming that this will allow him to live to ninety-nine. This has become a well-known custom in Kunning Palace.
Fusu bid farewell to his mother after a week's journey. Just before leaving, he heard Empress Cao's voice behind him: "Su'er, even if you study, you must take care of your health and not overwork yourself."
After going out for a walk to digest his food for a while, Fusu realized that something was amiss with Empress Cao's words.
Even in ordinary families, when a son goes to school, wouldn't a mother place high hopes on him and simply tell him to take care of his health? Especially since they are a family with a real throne to inherit.
Was she afraid I was under too much pressure? Or did she know that she was just one of many people willing to offer encouragement, so she only said things that would reassure him?
Regardless of the reason, Fusu felt a warm glow in his heart, as if he were immersed in hot spring water, an indescribable comfort.
but……
Through an open window, Empress Cao's gaze followed the tiny little bean as it wandered among the clusters of flowering trees.
What if you told a child who has no interest in studying that you must study hard? Su'er would probably force herself to study because of those words.
Even if Empress Cao didn't know that reading was the result of Fusu forcing himself to understand, who says that similar things hadn't happened before?
For a mother, understanding her child's thoughts is not difficult.
The Emperor has only one healthy son, Su'er. He had previously considered having an heir, but since Su'er's birth, no one has mentioned it, as if everyone in the palace had collectively lost their memory at the same time.
It was an open secret that the Emperor's expectations for Su'er extended far beyond Prince Cheng. But for Empress Cao, Su'er was, and only was, her son. From the moment she gave birth, she made a grand vow to ensure that the child in her swaddling clothes would live a peaceful and joyful life.
Judging from Su'er's tone, he was probably unwilling but had no choice in going to study at Zishan Hall. Fortunately, at least he chose his own study companion, so he wouldn't be too lonely with her by his side.
Therefore, even though the Li family and Empress Cao held opposing positions, she didn't utter a single word. Because that was the person Su'er had chosen.
However, what if one day, Su'er's ambitions and the Emperor's expectations clash head-on...
Empress Cao slowly and heavily gripped her sleeves.
———
After pondering Empress Cao's words, Fusu was faced with a crucial question: how should he study?
First of all, studying hard is definitely out of the question. Just as he said, Zishantang has extremely close ties with the previous dynasty, and he can't afford to spread his reputation to the previous dynasty.
In the Song Dynasty, the emperor and the scholar-officials jointly ruled the country. When the time came, if the emperor favored him as the crown prince and the scholar-official class also favored him as the crown prince, he would have no room to refuse.
So, should I be a poor student? A struggling student?
However, Fusu sadly discovered that he had been a model student in both his lives. He had absolutely no concept of what it meant to be a poor student.
In his first life, he was Prince Fusu, with high expectations placed upon him by his father, relatives, and disciples. He had no choice but to be outstanding.
In his second life, Fusu was reincarnated as an orphan. He started in an orphanage and had to desperately try to understand linear algebra and Marxism with a brain from two thousand years ago in order to earn enough scholarships and grants to support himself.
Fusu rubbed his head awkwardly.
"Oh dear, Your Highness, what are you doing all of a sudden? Stop rubbing your hair, it's going to fall out!" The palace maid beside him was startled and exclaimed in surprise.
Fusu, relying on his thick hair, turned a deaf ear.
Amidst the rustling of his fingers and hair, a brilliant idea suddenly struck him. Even if he himself couldn't be a struggling student, couldn't he just imitate the struggling students he knew?!
Great idea!
Fusu's eyes lit up, and he immediately started counting on his little finger the people he knew who he could emulate.
First of all, being just an average underachiever is clearly not enough. After all, he is a noble prince, and if he were even slightly slow or dull, someone would cover for him. Therefore, he has to be extremely outrageous.
If we're talking about the most thorough advancement in the two generations...
Hmm... does Hu Hai count?
A note from the author:
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