Chapter 114 - The Shameless Tenth Brother's Salted Fish Interruption
The imperial brush, dipped in vermilion, paused lightly on the memorial, leaving a bright red ink dot.
Raising his eyes, Kangxi glanced at Yin'e standing below him with an ambiguous look. His gaze lingered on Yin'e's silly smile for a moment before he finally commented, in a tone that was neither praise nor sarcasm, "You are indeed 'honest'."
Ignoring Kangxi's ambiguous words, which sounded rather sarcastic, Yin'e deliberately gave a sheepish smile and feigned embarrassment: "As long as I'm thick-skinned enough, your attacks are ineffective!"
Scratching his head, Yin'e chuckled and said in an even more "honest" and "direct" manner, "Father, you flatter me. It's not that I'm being honest, but I just don't dare to lie to you."
Emperor Kangxi, who wasn't really praising Yin'e, was taken aback by his reaction. He glanced down at Yin'e, who was so stupid that he couldn't even understand the implied meaning. Kangxi was speechless for a moment, feeling like he had just been talking to a brick wall.
He originally thought that only the Fifth Prince was raised by the Empress Dowager to be too honest and simple, only able to understand the surface meaning of what people said and unable to grasp the implied meaning. But he did not expect that there was another one here - the Consort was one of the smartest people in the palace. How could she have raised her son to be like this?
Emperor Kangxi was so impressed by Yin'e's stupidity that he couldn't even muster the anger to continue arguing with him. He instinctively felt that continuing the conversation would be a waste of time and wouldn't yield any results.
Setting down the imperial memorial in his hand, Kangxi looked down at Yin'e and asked directly, without beating around the bush, "Why did you skip class? Who gave you the audacity to disobey the rules of the Imperial Study?"
Blinking his eyes, Yin'e raised his head to look at Kangxi with bright, clear, and sparkling almond-shaped eyes.
Under Yin'e's gaze, Kangxi subconsciously frowned slightly, vaguely feeling a sense of unfamiliarity and strangeness. But for a moment, Kangxi couldn't pinpoint what was strange or what made him feel so unfamiliar.
Looking up at Kangxi, who sat high above him, Yin'e's handsome face showed no trace of fear or apprehension, only an open and fearless expression.
He answered earnestly, yet frankly and frankly, "Because today is the Winter Solstice, I wanted to spend the Winter Solstice Festival with my mother, so I didn't go to the Imperial Study and ran back to Yongshou Palace."
After answering Kangxi's earlier questions, Yin'e paused and then responded to Kangxi's subsequent questions.
He pursed his pink lips, and Yin'e unconsciously rubbed his feet on the floor of the Qianqing Palace. He lowered his head and said in a low voice with a hint of shame but not much regret, "No one gave me the courage. I was prepared to be punished when I skipped class."
Kangxi, sitting high above, frowned, feeling something was amiss: Yin'e did not try to argue, but honestly admitted his mistake; he did not evade or shirk responsibility, but bravely took it upon himself, sincerely willing to accept punishment for his wrongdoing.
His attitude of admitting his mistake and accepting punishment seemed to be without fault, but why did Kangxi feel that something was amiss?
After a moment of contemplation, Kangxi finally realized what was wrong: Yin'e's attitude was correct, and he admitted his mistake and accepted the punishment, but from beginning to end, he never said a word about correcting himself, nor did he promise never to do it again.
In other words, Yin'e knew that he was making a mistake by violating the rules of the Imperial Study, that he was wrong, and he readily admitted his mistake, but he never thought about correcting it. His attitude was completely "I was wrong, but I will do it again next time".
Emperor Kangxi, now thirty-six years old, has more than ten sons under his wing.
Excluding Yin'e and the Ninth Prince, who had just entered the academy, and Yin'an, Yin'tao, Yin'xiang, and Yin'zhen, who were not yet of school age, all the other older princes who entered the Imperial Study early were exceptionally obedient and sensible, and most of them were model students in the Imperial Study.
Among the eldest princes of Emperor Kangxi, apart from the sixth prince Yinzhuo who died at the age of six, the remaining seven princes did not cause Kangxi much trouble in their studies. In particular, the crown prince, whom he personally educated, was an all-rounder and Kangxi's greatest pride.
Since his sons reached the age to study in the Imperial Study, the one who gave Emperor Kangxi the biggest headache was the Fifth Prince, who was raised by the Empress Dowager and still only spoke Mongolian at the age of nine.
But Kangxi also knew in his heart that this was not the Fifth Prince's fault.
He himself chose to send the Fifth Prince to the Cining Palace to be raised by the Empress Dowager, so he had to bear the corresponding consequences. He placed the Fifth Prince in a position close to the Mongols, and he also had to accept the result that the Fifth Prince, raised by the Mongol-born Empress Dowager, was illiterate.
Because his early education was inadequate, the Fifth Prince's academic foundation was extremely weak when he entered the Imperial Study. It took him more than two years to complete his early education and catch up with the newly enrolled Yin'e and Ninth Princes, at least preventing him from falling further behind.
Although the Fifth Prince's academic performance was not very good, he was a good boy. Kangxi was more annoyed by his studies than by letting the Empress Dowager raise the Fifth Prince in a laissez-faire manner in the early stages of his life.
Clearly, Yin'e and the Fifth Prince were completely different. The Fifth Prince was an honest child. Although he was not good at studying, Kangxi was not angry about it. He was just worried about how to improve the Fifth Prince's academic level.
Yin'e was genuinely foolish, clearly causing trouble and making a mess of things even though he knew he was wrong.
This was more than just a headache for Kangxi—every single one of the older princes standing in front of him was a well-behaved child, a good child who made Kangxi proud and gratified. Facing these unruly children for the first time, Kangxi's blood pressure soared, and he almost had a stroke.
Unaware that Kangxi had already seen through his attitude of "being willing to admit mistakes but never correcting them," Yin'e raised his little head and looked up at the head of the table, grinning at Kangxi, who was sitting high on the throne: "Father, we eat dumplings on the Winter Solstice. Have you eaten dumplings today?"
The bright and cheerful smile on the handsome little face made Emperor Kangxi, whose blood pressure was soaring from the sight of the mischievous child, momentarily lose his senses.
The anger that had risen in his heart slowly dissipated. Kangxi lowered his eyes and stared at Yin'e, the little brat. He was surprised but not at all astonished to find that Yin'e was not afraid of him. He was never timid in front of him. On the contrary, he dared to express his thoughts boldly. He would even try to please him and act coquettishly in order to reduce his punishment.
Yes, in Kangxi's eyes, what Yin'e just said and what he just did was just trying to please him. It was just a son acting cute and trying to get away with it by being adorable, hoping to escape a harsh punishment.
Although Yin'e only wanted to break the silence and change the subject so that Kangxi wouldn't stare at him so intently, such contact and interaction were rare for Kangxi, who had never had a heart-to-heart talk or been close to his sons and had always acted as a father figure in front of his princes.
Perhaps only ten years ago, when the crown prince was still very young, did Emperor Kangxi have such an intimate experience with his son.
However, the Crown Prince was exceptionally intelligent and well-mannered from a young age, and his early establishment as the Crown Prince made him overly reserved. Although Emperor Kangxi had a heart full of paternal love, most of the time, apart from providing the Crown Prince with the best standard of living, he had no way to express it.
As for the other princes besides the crown prince, it wasn't that Kangxi didn't love them; it's just that compared to the crown prince, even his eldest son, the First Prince, whom he valued, he had less contact with and didn't spend much time with. The princes always kept in mind the roles of emperor and subject, father and son in front of Kangxi, which made their relationship distant, and they were never truly close.
Even Liang Jiugong, who was quietly standing aside pretending to be a statue, couldn't help but admire the Tenth Prince's courage: the Tenth Prince was the first prince to be so bold in front of the Emperor.
Liang Jiugong served Emperor Kangxi closely for nearly twenty years. The Tenth Prince was the most daring prince he had ever seen in front of Kangxi. He was even more uninhibited in front of Kangxi than the Crown Prince, who had been personally raised and educated by Kangxi since childhood.
Before the Tenth Prince came to the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Kangxi was very angry because his tutor in the Imperial Study complained to him. He was determined to severely punish the Tenth Prince, who was the first to dare to violate the rules of the Imperial Study and skip class.
But judging from Liang Jiugong's opinion now, Kangxi's anger has subsided considerably. He might still punish him, but not severely; he'll probably let it go lightly. It's not that Kangxi doesn't value Yin'e's studies anymore; it's just that after discovering that Yin'e was a troublesome child, Kangxi unconsciously lowered his expectations and relaxed his restrictions on him.
Just like the Fifth Prince, Kangxi knew that he had not laid a good foundation because he was raised by the Empress Dowager. Although he was worried about his studies, he never forced him to study hard or got angry about it. He did not order the Fifth Prince to study day and night to catch up with his brothers.
However, Emperor Kangxi was no ordinary man. Although he first discovered the truth that Yin'e was a brat, and then was unusually relied on and spoiled by his son, he still managed to stay calm and did not let Yin'e steer the conversation astray, nor was he completely fooled.
With a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, Kangxi did not directly answer Yin'e's question about the winter solstice customs. He simply gave a light hum in a flat tone, revealing no emotion, and said, "You spend all day studying in the Imperial Study, and this is all you're thinking about?"
Kangxi finally spoke, instead of staring at him with an unclear gaze. Yin'e breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the pressure on his shoulders ease. He subconsciously muttered, "Food is the first necessity of the people."
After saying this, Yin'e realized that he had been a bit too presumptuous in his relaxation, and quickly added, "Father, don't worry, I won't fall behind in my studies. I will definitely keep up with my teacher's teaching progress."
Yin'e didn't think he would fall behind just because he skipped half a day of class. Even if the tutors in the Imperial Study wanted to speed up the teaching process, there was always the Fifth Prince as a safety net.
Considering the Fifth Prince, even if the tutors in the Imperial Study wanted to deliberately make things difficult for Yin'e, they couldn't. If they did, the first one to be troubled would not be Yin'e, but the Fifth Prince, who had a weak foundation and the slowest learning progress.
Kangxi glanced at Yin'e and recalled Yin'e's remarks half a year ago when he came to the Qianqing Palace to ask him to postpone his studies in the Imperial Study. Yin'e said, "I am not as good as the best, but not as good as the worst." He couldn't help but scoff: "I have no doubt that you will not be able to keep up with the teaching progress of the Imperial Study."
Yin'e let out a soft "hmm" in his heart, opened his almond-shaped eyes wide and looked up: Does Kangxi have that much confidence in him? Should he be happy about it?
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Author's Note: Finally updating after a long period of inactivity QAQ Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants between 2023-04-26 23:43:18 and 2023-05-08 11:44:08!
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Ah Dai 20 bottles; Sweet Party Doesn't Eat Coriander, Ghost Butterfly 10 bottles; Chi Yu Mo Li Shang 2 bottles; Tian Wai Fei Xian, Little Friend, Pear, Snow Chrysanthemum Tears, Yan Wen, Little Olive 1 bottle;
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