Chapter 473 Asking the Minister to Take the Blame

Tuanzi ran for a while and stopped when he saw that no one noticed him.

Then she cleverly counted until she reached the fourth room, moved closer, pushed the door open little by little, and peeked inside. Sure enough, there were two young men inside.

But because it was only the first day, the teacher was still checking their progress, so he was not memorizing or giving lectures. When she pushed the door open and just leaned over, three people and six eyes immediately looked over at her.

When their eyes met, Tuanzi was startled and slammed the door shut.

The teacher and the students exchanged glances, and the fifth brother stood up, imitating the second brother, and said with a bow, "My sister is naughty, please don't blame me, sir."

Lu Wendao hurriedly returned the greeting: "No, no, nothing."

These words showed great respect for the teacher, and Lu Wendao felt relieved. Although these two little grandsons were not very knowledgeable, they were good in general. As long as they knew how to obey their teacher, they would be easy to teach.

After Tuanzi ran out, he remembered: "Xinbao forgot to see what the master looked like. Xinbao hasn't seen anything yet!"

Yu Ru comforted her: "Master, the emperor must have carefully selected her. Master, don't worry. You can look at her again when you have the chance."

Xinbao thought the same thing: "Then let's go to the Qianqing Palace!"

Now, Xinbao herself had her own schoolwork. She had just taken off her cloak and drank half a cup of tea when Fang Wuyou ushered Gan Baibi in and bowed to her: "Your Highness, the Emperor said that he would let Lord Gan watch you write this morning and then tell you a story."

Xinbao nodded: "Oh!"

Gan Baibi bowed to her, and Xinbao waved her hand in style: "Master Gan, please sit down. Yeye said that Xinbao needs to practice calligraphy for 25 minutes. You can play by yourself for a while, and you can also eat Xinbao's snacks. By the way, think about what story to tell Xinbao later."

Gan Baibi thanked him repeatedly and asked with a smile, "What story does Your Highness want to hear?"

Xinbao said, "It should be someone who is knowledgeable, very sophisticated, and can apply what he has learned. Not the kind that can coax children."

Gan Baibi: “…”

So noble and impressive... He still smiled and said, "Yes, I respect your order."

Xinbao was still sitting there, rocking his little feet, drinking tea and eating snacks leisurely, and comforting him: "Don't be afraid, Lord Gan, just tell me what you know, anything is fine. If you can't remember, you can look through the books here. This bookshelf belongs to Xinbao, you can read any book you want."

Gan Baibi didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Thank you, Your Highness. I understand."

Xinbao ate two snacks before washing his hands and starting to write.

Gan Baibi looked over.

You know, the emperor asked him to come here because he must have wanted him to teach Tuanzi how to write, so his posture and other things had to be corrected.

Unexpectedly, Tuanzi stood in front of the table, with his head held high and his chest puffed out, looking very confident. His pen-holding posture was also very standard, his little chubby face looked very serious, and his eyes looked very earnest...

It looked like he was about to write a masterpiece that would be passed down through the ages... But in fact, the ink was all black and you couldn't tell what he had written.

Gan Baibi: “…”

Then Tuanzi finished writing a whole sheet of paper with such confidence.

Gan Baibi had a narrow-minded idea.

Tuanzi had obviously learned this before, so he was wondering, could it be that the emperor had taught him but failed to teach him well, so he asked his ministers to take the blame?

But he soon found out that he was wrong.

Because on the bookshelf was a small stack of Xinbao's calligraphy, which was covered with red pen circles, almost full of circles, every word was circled, and there were even two that barely looked like words, with comments next to them saying: "Great progress!"

The emperor obviously thought that what his granddaughter wrote was good, wonderful and excellent.

Okay then.

Gan Baibi just watched silently.

Xinbao wrote seriously for two quarters of an hour. When the time came, Chunhua said, "Master, it's time."

Xinbao put down his pen on the spot, leaving half of the paper empty.

Gan Baibi: “…”

Xinbao felt a little embarrassed, so he tried to make amends: "Xinbao was afraid you would get impatient waiting."

Gan Baibi laughed hastily and said, "Thank you for your understanding, Your Highness!"

Chunhua fed Tuanzi a few sips of tea and stuffed a piece of candy into his mouth. Qiushi squatted down and rubbed Tuanzi's little arm. Xinbao chatted with him: "Master Gan, do you still remember that you gave Xinbao a medical book?"

Gan Baibi said: "Remember."

There is no wrong version in the 1619 book forum!

Xinbao said, "The space you left in that book is too small. Xinbao has a lot of things he wants to write but can't fill them out."

He only wrote half of each page of that book.

However, when he looked at the paper Tuanzi used for practicing calligraphy, he found that it was indeed small and only a few words could be written on the entire page.

Tuanzi continued, "Then Xinbao found another piece of paper to write on. He wanted to give it to you, but Yeye wouldn't let him. He said he had to practice his handwriting well. Don't worry. When Xinbao has practiced well, he will be the first to write for you."

Of course Gan Baibi couldn't say that it was okay for you to give it to me now, so she could only thank him repeatedly.

Then Xinbao finished the candy, rinsed his mouth, sat opposite him, and put his hands on his knees: "Okay, let's start."

This little one is so well-behaved and so worry-free.

Gan Baibi said, "I will tell you the story of 'Fan Chi Asking About Farming', which comes from 'The Analects of Confucius', 'Zilu', 'Fan Chi asked to learn farming. Confucius said: 'I am not as good as an old farmer.' Fan Chi asked to learn gardening. Confucius said: 'I am not as good as an old gardener.'..."

Fan Chi's given name was Xu, and his courtesy name was Zichi. He was a disciple of Confucius.

This story says that he asked Confucius how to grow crops, and Confucius said, "I am not as good as an old farmer." He then asked Confucius how to grow vegetables, and Confucius said, "I am not as good as an old vegetable farmer."

Then, when Fan Chi left, Confucius said: Fan Chi is really a mean man. As long as the superior attaches importance to courtesy, the people will not dare to be in awe; as long as the superior attaches importance to righteousness, the people will not dare to disobey; as long as the superior attaches importance to trust, the people will not dare to treat you with anything but sincerity. As long as this can be achieved, the people from all directions will come to you with their children on their backs, so why would they need to grow crops themselves?

What Confucius meant was that what needs to be learned to govern a country are propriety, righteousness, and trustworthiness, and that farming is not enough to educate the people. In fact, it also means that everyone has their own duties. The scholars need to take on the moral responsibilities and stabilize the country, while farming is something that will be done by the old farmers who are good at it.

Gan Baibi told this story mainly because they came from the countryside and might find it interesting. After all, it was very high-sounding. If she explained it in a superficial way, she was afraid Tuanzi would dislike it, and if she explained it in a detailed way, she was afraid that she would not understand... Sure enough, Tuanzi listened with great interest.

But while Gan Baibi was talking, he felt that his choice of this allusion was not appropriate. If Xinbao went back to tell the adults, would they think that he was mocking them, old farmers, for not knowing how to govern the country? After all, this allusion literally meant this! Even if Yan Shirong was there, he would not understand it so superficially. He might think that he was trying to advise the emperor. Wouldn't that make him look frivolous? And so many things? After telling a story, sweat was all over his fair face.

Then Tuanzi comforted him: "Don't be afraid, you explained it very well, Xinbao understood it."

She stood up and patted his head gently with her chubby little hand.

Gan Baibi was really warmed by her.

(End of this chapter)