After the court session ended, Fang Zheng headed straight for the East Palace.
I haven't seen the prince in court these past two days. I don't know what he is up to.
Now that he has helped the emperor's grandson to enroll in school, he can meet him and inform him at the same time.
After arriving at the East Palace, I followed the maid's guidance to the study.
Just as he was about to push the door, he heard a burst of scolding coming from inside.
"How come you can't even memorize this little stuff?! Your dad could memorize it when he was three years old!"
Immediately afterwards, a loud cry was heard.
Fang Zheng revealed a hint of a smile.
Well... I’m teaching my son myself, and he pretends better than I do!
"Your Highness, are you in there?"
"Lao Fang? Come in!"
When Fang Zheng pushed the door open, the first thing he saw was Li Yu, who was sitting in front of a small table and crying loudly.
Next to him was Li Yuanzhao, who had a sullen face and was holding a small stick.
Seeing that he was about to hit the child, Fang Zhengyi leaped over and shouted exaggeratedly: "Don't hit the emperor's grandson! If you want to hit someone, hit me!"
Li Yu, who was still crying, stopped for a moment, glanced at Fang Zhengyi, and then continued crying.
Li Yuanzhao slammed the stick hard and said, "Don't hold me back. This rebellious son is going to piss me off to death!"
"You can't even shoot with a gun, and you can't understand even if I teach you! Keep crying!"
“Ah~~~~~~” Li Yu continued crying.
Fang Zheng frowned, stepped forward, stretched out his hand and tapped the emperor's grandson's mouth several times.
"Ah~~~~Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow."
The crying turned into sobbing...
Seeing that he had stopped crying, Fang Zheng quickly pulled Li Yuanzhao to the corner of the room and asked, "What's the matter, Your Highness? Didn't you say that you didn't want the emperor's grandson to be like you when you were a child? Why did you hit the child?"
Li Yuanzhao sighed, "I don't know either... But I always feel uncomfortable when I see the child idle. I feel better when I beat him. Is this the case with you, Lao Fang?"
"......, a little bit. Just send it to school. Out of sight, out of mind."
"By the way, why are you here?" Li Yuanzhao asked.
"I'm here to tell His Highness the good news. Today His Majesty has agreed to let the Emperor's grandson go to Yucai."
Li Yuanzhao was overjoyed, and he took Fang Zhengyi and walked to Li Yu again and said, "Yu'er, you will follow Master Fang to learn from now on. Do you understand? He is your mentor. You will follow Master Fang to study at Yucai in the future."
Li Yu raised her head and looked at Fang Zhengyi again, a hopeful look on her face.
He hadn't met Fang Zhengyi very many times, but he was always smiling every time, especially when he helped him block the stick just now.
Now my favorable impression of him was overwhelming and I nodded excitedly.
"Hello, Master Fang!"
Fang Zheng nodded and smiled: "Your Highness, please come with me to Yucai in the future. Chenyu and the others are all there. You should study hard together in the future."
"Yes!" Li Yu nodded heavily, full of joy.
As long as I can escape from the torture of my own father, I can go anywhere!
Seeing Li Yu lowering his head to look at the book again, Fang Zhengyi looked at Li Yuanzhao and said, "Your Highness, what did you say about shooting? Why are you shooting the emperor's grandson so young? Aren't you afraid of hurting him?"
"I made a small gun specifically for him, but this kid can never shoot accurately. I just taught him some ways to govern the country, but he was talking nonsense. I asked him how to educate the people, and guess what he told me? He said to post the book on the street and let the people read it themselves!" Li Yuanzhao said angrily.
"You teach! He can't understand even if he listens, and he can't learn even if he studies. If you can teach him clearly, I will be convinced by you!"
Fang Zheng rolled his eyes at him and said, "You can't eat hot tofu in a hurry. Be patient. I'll do it."
After that, Fang Zheng bent down and said gently, "Your Highness, how do you think we should educate the people?"
Li Yu looked at Li Yuanzhao timidly, and seeing Fang Zhengyi's smiling face, he mustered up the courage to say, "I'm right, right? Morality and ethics are written in the book, and the people can understand them after reading it themselves, right?"
“What if the people are illiterate?”
"Then find someone to preach morality and ethics on the streets every day."
Fang Zhengyi encouraged him, "Your Highness, what you said is good, but a saint once said that if everyone in the world knows that beauty is beauty, then it is evil; if everyone knows that goodness is goodness, then it is not good. Do you understand what he means?"
"I understand. Once people in the world know what is good and beautiful, ugliness and evil will arise."
"The emperor's grandson is indeed smart." Fang Zhengyi encouraged, "Since you understand this principle, you should know that if the court only preaches morality and ethics, the people will soon know what is immoral and what is evil, and then they will distrust it."
"Why?" Li Yu was puzzled.
"Because the court can also make mistakes, and when the people find that their actions are inconsistent with their words, they will become suspicious. Everything in this world seems to be like this, both contradictory and interdependent."
"This is what the sages say: existence and non-existence give rise to each other, difficulty and ease complement each other, length and shortness compare, high and low lean towards each other, sounds harmonize with each other, and the past and the future follow each other."
Li Yu became more and more confused and shook his head, "I don't understand."
Fang Zhengyi said patiently, "Then I will change the way you understand. If someone wants to show off how powerful he is, but doesn't have any real skills, he will usually brag all day long about having an amazing friend or having an ancestor who was a high-ranking official. If he doesn't have any of these, he can also brag about having a powerful motherland and wise ancestors."
"But none of the things he boasted about were obtained through his hard work, so not only can't he be flattered, but people who understand can see through it at a glance. Others who can't see clearly will sooner or later discover his empty nature after a long period of contact with him, which makes him even more despised. That's the reason."
Li Yu said: "I understand this, but I still think there is nothing wrong with preaching moral ethics. What is the difference between the two?"
Fang Zheng said, "These two things are the same thing. If the court wants to rule the world with virtue, it must first be virtuous. As long as we do it ourselves, others will see it and follow its example. This is inaction, educating sentient beings in a silent way."
Li Yuanzhao stood aside and smiled.
Lao Fang’s words are as good as ever. It’s a relief to leave my son to him!
"I think I understand!" Li Yu thought.
Fang Zhengyi said softly, "It doesn't matter if you don't understand now, you will understand in the future. I am not good at other things, but your master has the most powerful weapon in the world."
"What weapon?" Li Yu's eyes were full of curiosity.
Fang Zheng opened his mouth and pointed inside, then said, "This is the weapon."
"Tongue? Tongue can be used as a weapon?"
"Yes, tongue." Fang Zheng smiled and said, "Your Highness, there are many tribes in this world, and the leaders of the tribes are called chiefs. It is very simple to become a chief. It is not about having the strongest military force, but being the one who masters the most words."
"It's the same in any country. People who have a good vocabulary and even the ability to create words always stand at the top. Just changing a sentence or a word can free you from responsibility, or even decide someone's life or death. This is the most powerful weapon! Do you want to learn it?"
"I want to learn!" Li Yu exclaimed in surprise.
Although I still don’t quite understand it, it feels very cool.
Fang Zhengyi glanced at Li Yuanzhao with pride, then laughed heartily and said, "Okay, you should study hard with me from now on. I promise that you will learn it thoroughly!"
......
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