Chapter 556 Imperial Decree Granting Marriage
A gentle autumn breeze blows, and the weather is cool.
Gu Jingxi held a book in his hands and sat in front of Wanwan's small bed, reading slowly and steadily. The more he read, the more energetic he became. Wanwan on the bed was already drowsy and fell asleep with a yawn.
As soon as Meng Jinyao entered, she saw this scene and couldn't help but say, "Husband, please stop reading. Your son is asleep. If you keep reading, you'll wake him up."
Upon hearing this, Gu Jingxi stopped reading aloud, glanced at her son lying on the small bed with his eyes closed and already asleep, and frowned: "This brat, he'll be taking the imperial examination in more than ten years, how can he sleep like this?"
Meng Jinyao froze, her eyes widening in disbelief. "Gu Jingxi, don't tell me you did this specifically to get your son to study and learn."
"What's wrong with that?" Gu Jingxi said dismissively. "Learning should start from a young age. If you are exposed to it from childhood, you will love learning when you grow up. Now he falls asleep listening to poetry. Listening to it a lot will help develop his sense of language."
Meng Jinyao glanced at her son, who was fast asleep, and fell silent. How could she develop any sense of language from a baby who couldn't even speak?
The wet nurse, standing to the side, felt a pang of sympathy for the young prince. She realized once again how difficult it was to be a child of a wealthy family. The prince was only a few months old, too young to even speak, yet the Marquis was already making him learn. One could only imagine how high the Marquis's expectations would be when the prince reached the age of formal education. But thinking about it, it made sense; the Marquis had been exceptional from a young age, and he certainly hoped the young prince would surpass him.
Meng Jinyao laughed and said, "Husband, aren't you overestimating Wanwan? He's still so young, even if he hears it, he won't understand what you're saying."
Gu Jingxi gently shook his head: "Whether he can understand it or not is not important. What is important is that he will be influenced by listening to it more. My mother said that when I was a child, my father was like this, studying by my side."
Upon hearing this, Meng Jinyao was taken aback again, and then asked, "Does it really work?" As she spoke, she answered herself, "It should work. My husband became the top scholar when he was just over ten years old."
Gu Jingxi replied, "Actually, I don't know if it will work or not, but studying is not a difficult thing for me."
Meng Jinyao rolled her eyes at him and said, "Just say it's related to the brain."
Gu Jingxi laughed and said, "It has something to do with brains, but more importantly, it depends on whether you are willing to learn. If you are not willing to learn, no matter how smart you are, it is useless. Isn't Xiuwen from my sister-in-law's family an example? Xiuwen used to be lazy and unwilling to study, and I often couldn't answer his questions when I tested him. Now that he is willing to learn, he has made great progress."
Meng Jinyao did not object to his approach, and simply said, "Fine, I don't care about you two, father and son. If you want to teach him, then teach him in your spare time and nurture him properly. Whether it's effective or not, you'll be able to see the results when he starts his formal education in a few years."
Gu Jingxi nodded slightly and said, "Speaking of enlightenment, we should take advantage of these years to find a good teacher. The teacher doesn't have to be very famous, but he must be suitable for Wanwan. If we find the right teacher, we can achieve twice the result with half the effort."
Hearing this, Meng Jinyao smiled helplessly: "Husband, you're thinking a bit too far ahead. Hiring a tutor is something for several years from now. Wanwan won't start her tutoring until she's four years old. We'll talk about the future later. Wanwan is asleep now, so come and play a couple of games of chess with me."
Gu Jingxi replied, "Okay."
-
At the court assembly that day, Emperor Jingwen issued an imperial edict, bestowing marriage upon the Third Prince and the Seventh Princess of Anguo, with a wedding date to be chosen.
After the court session ended, everyone congratulated the Third Prince on winning the heart of his beloved.
Surrounded by the crowd, the Third Prince smiled and thanked them, exchanging pleasantries with them before leaving, regardless of whether their intentions were genuine or not.
Seeing this, the Second Prince followed in his footsteps and said with a smile, "The Seventh Princess of Anguo is a rare beauty with stunning looks. Congratulations, Third Brother."
The Third Prince replied, "Thank you, Second Brother."
The second prince continued, "Father said earlier that you, your third sister, and your fourth brother would accompany the third prince and the seventh princess on their outing. My two brothers are so outstanding, I thought that perhaps one of you would be chosen by the seventh princess, and I was right."
At this moment, the fourth prince also caught up.
When the Second Prince saw him coming, he said half-seriously and half-jokingly, "Seventh Princess is such a good girl. I wonder if Fourth Brother regrets missing the opportunity to compete fairly because he was unwell and couldn't accompany her on her trip."
He spoke skillfully, subtly telling the Third Prince that the Fourth Prince did not want to marry Princess Anguo, and was deliberately feigning illness to avoid accompanying the Seventh Princess on her travels, thus making him a sucker to marry the Seventh Princess.
When the Third Prince and the Fourth Prince were summoned to the Imperial Study together, it was already decided that the Third Prince would marry the Seventh Princess before they even went on an outing together. The Second Prince's words failed to sow discord.
The fourth prince said gently, "Second brother, I said before that I had no intention of marriage, so why would I regret it? With my health, it's hard to say whether I can live to be twenty, so I won't delay the young lady."
Upon hearing this, the Second Prince paused, looking at his sickly appearance. He was weak and sickly, taking medicine like food. When the autumn wind blew, the smell of medicine on him would hit the nose. He had been taking medicine since he was a child and had been sick so many times, but he had never died. He was quite resilient.
The second prince said, "Fourth brother, you must not say such nonsense again. You will live to be a hundred years old."
The fourth prince covered his mouth with a handkerchief and coughed lightly twice, then sighed softly, "My life is only being kept alive by expensive medicines. It's fortunate that I was born into the royal family. If I were an ordinary family, how could they afford to provide me with medicine? I would probably have died at the age of two or three."
The second prince comforted him, saying, "Fourth brother, don't think too much or be too pessimistic. Follow the doctor's advice, and your body will gradually recover."
"It's been so many years. If it could have been properly treated, it would have been cured long ago." After saying that, the Fourth Prince sighed softly. "Never mind, let's not talk about this. My third brother is engaged. I haven't congratulated him yet, so I'll congratulate him here."
The third prince smiled and thanked him, saying, "Thank you, fourth brother."
Meanwhile, Qi Yunwen saw several princes not far away and whispered to his friend beside him, "Yaoling, you've shaved your beard again. Is it because you heard that the Seventh Princess and the Third Prince are getting married soon?"
Gu Jingxi glared at him: "Mo Bai, are you just bored and have nothing better to do? You're always thinking about these trivial things. You'd be better off solving a few more cases with this time."
Qi Yunwen shrugged dismissively and laughed, "I will definitely take care of the case, but after dinner, I always need to find some gossip to pass the time. I am quite interested in your gossip, but I may not be interested in other people's."
Gu Jingxi paused, then said with a forced smile, "It's alright, I'll soon make sure you don't have time to gossip."
Qi Yunwen was speechless for a moment, then said, "Gu Yaoling, I'm warning you, don't take revenge for personal reasons."
"How could that be?" Gu Jingxi's smile deepened. "The capable should be given more work. Qi Shaoqing is exceptionally capable, so he should be given more work. What do you think?"
Qi Yunwen's face froze as he watched Gu Jingxi's figure disappear quickly. He patted his mouth lightly, filled with regret. He shouldn't have said anything; now he'd be busy again.
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