Chapter 95: Recruiting a Disciple
After everyone dispersed, Sima Jun left with the prince.
Sun Wei walked out of the palace gate and saw Aju coming towards her quickly.
"Why did you stay in there for so long, Princess? Did the Queen Mother give you a hard time?" she asked.
Sun Wei patted her hand and wanted to say something comforting, but it felt really forced.
The princess's attack was so swift and brutal that it caught her off guard. She had never expected that her interactions with the crown prince would be seen by the princess's people.
The prince obviously didn't expect this either.
The eunuchs around him came to deliver a message, saying that upon returning to the Eastern Palace, the Crown Prince would thoroughly investigate the matter and give Sun Wei an explanation. As for the Queen Mother's threat to expel her from the palace, the Crown Prince told Sun Wei not to worry too much. The Queen Mother was furious, and he would go and persuade her once she calmed down.
Sun Wei agreed.
"Master, are you tired? Come quickly, help him onto the carriage..."
As I was walking, I suddenly heard a voice behind me.
Sun Wei looked over and saw two servants from the Princess's Mansion coming forward to support Zhou Chang.
Zhou Chang waved his hand and drove them away.
"I'm not disabled, why should I be supported?" He looked relaxed, sighing as he walked. "I'm actually the most relaxed person in this palace today. Unlike the Prince of Yuzhang, who was so anxious that his forehead was covered in sweat, and could only watch helplessly as the princess was expelled from the Yuzhang Palace. He had no place to use his strength. I feel bad for him just watching."
Sun Wei paused.
"Didn't the Grand Tutor return home earlier? Why is he in the palace again?"
Zhou Chang glanced at her and said, "If I return home, your stubborn bull will rush straight to the palace."
Sun Wei's heart skipped a beat.
Sima Jun really refused to listen to her.
"I see." Sun Wei asked, "But why did the prince still appear in the palace?"
"I've talked my mouth off, explained everything clearly, but he still insisted on entering the palace. I thought maybe only the Crown Prince could persuade him, so I asked him to ask the Crown Prince to be my lobbyist. Unexpectedly, the Crown Prince is also impulsive, and he took the Crown Prince straight to the Queen Mother's palace. I was worried that they would get into trouble, so I kept reminding them what to say and what not to say, and eventually followed them into the Queen Mother's palace."
Sun Wei's mind already showed Sima Jun's stubborn look.
Although helpless, I couldn't help but feel warm.
She had always known that Sima Jun was only cold on the outside, but in reality he was a man of affection and loyalty. He was never stingy with his own people.
Our own people...
I felt relieved. All my kindness to him these days was not in vain.
Of course, it is gratifying, but when it comes to power struggles, being emotional is the most unacceptable thing.
Fortunately, Sima Jun listened to Zhou Chang's advice and went to the Crown Prince. This was a fortuitous outcome. The Queen Mother was furious with her precisely because the Crown Prince was involved. Only the Crown Prince could clear Sun Wei's name. The Princess understood this and had tried to stop them from the beginning, but the Crown Prince unexpectedly showed up on his own.
"Thank you, Master, for helping me today." Sun Wei said, "I will come to thank you another day."
Zhou Chang said, "That's not necessary. It's only natural for a master to help his disciple."
Sun Wei was stunned: "Disciple?"
Zhou Chang asked, "Why, I can't be the master of the prince?"
Sun Wei: “…”
"So, the Crown Prince has already accepted the Grand Tutor as his teacher?"
"Exactly."
"when?"
"When he asked me for advice."
Sun Wei ignored the cunning old man and just looked at Deng Lian.
Deng Lian gave a dry laugh and had to tell Sun Wei what had happened before.
"The Grand Tutor left half of his words unsaid, and the Crown Prince had no choice but to agree," he said.
Sun Wei's expression turned cold, and he looked at Zhou Chang: "Taifu, this plan is full of evil intentions. This matter cannot be counted. Taifu, please forget it."
Zhou Chang's face also turned cold: "Have evil intentions? How many people have wanted to become my disciples, but I have rejected them. The prince got me as his mentor for nothing, it's his good fortune."
Sun Wei asked, "Then may I ask, Grand Tutor, will you accept the Crown Prince as your disciple?"
Zhou Chang snorted: "Why do I need so many disciples?"
"That's it. You, the Prince's tutor, didn't accept the Crown Prince as a student, but accepted the Prince of Yuzhang as a student. If others knew, what would they say about the Prince? If that's not harboring evil intentions, what could it be? The tutor is a man of pure heart and doesn't care about fame or fortune. But the Prince is a member of the royal family and a court official, and he still cares about his reputation. Please, tutor, show some mercy!"
"You woman!" Zhou Chang said impatiently, "Are you the reincarnation of the Crown Prince's biological mother? How dare you be so bossy? The Crown Prince is three years older than you. Does that mean everything still requires your approval? This position of Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince was held before I left. Now that the former Crown Prince is gone and I've been away from court for years, someone else has already taken the position. Others calling me Grand Tutor is just an empty title. If you say you can't teach anyone other than the Crown Prince, then Ruan Hui has already broken the rule. What does the Crown Prince have to do with it?"
Sun Wei disagreed: "Mr. Ruan is Mr. Ruan, and the Crown Prince is the Crown Prince. People wouldn't criticize a commoner, but they would criticize the Crown Prince. Grand Tutor is kind to the Crown Prince, and I am naturally grateful. But Grand Tutor, ask yourself, with your many years of experience in the court, is it really a good idea for the Crown Prince to accept you as his master?"
"I think it's great!"
"You're deceiving yourself."
The two were staring at each other, and Ruan Hui couldn't help but step forward and say, "Your Highness, you have indeed misunderstood Master's intentions. Master was able to find a safe place in Mount Lushan thanks to Prince Yuzhang's early protection. Master was grateful, so he wanted to assist the Crown Prince in Master's name. Master's original intention was indeed for the Crown Prince's own good."
Sun Wei was stunned and looked at Zhou Chang in surprise.
Zhou Chang snorted and said, "Why explain to her?"
Sun Wei quickly calmed down and bowed to Zhou Chang: "In that case, I have wronged you, Master. I apologize to you."
Zhou Chang looked at her respectful expression and said in surprise, "You are quite a flexible woman."
Sun Wei remained serious, "But having said that, even though Taifu is doing this for the Crown Prince's own good, you still need to think twice about becoming his disciple."
Zhou Chang glared again, said "stubborn", and walked away angrily.
"This old man is quite strange." A'ru looked at his back and said, "Where in the world would someone come forward and ask to be someone's master?"
Sun Wei stared at it for a moment and said, "Forget it, let's go back home first."
In the carriage, Sun Wei pondered for a while and said to A'ru, "When we get back later, ask Cao Song to prepare a generous gift. I will personally visit the princess's residence tomorrow."
A'ru asked, "Princess, would you like to thank me for what happened today?"
Sun Wei said: "After all, the princess and Master Zhou helped me, so I should thank them."
A'ru said, "I did help, but the Queen Mother has already issued an oral order to expel the princess. Could it be that the princess has forgotten this?"
"That's why I have to go. When I'm not around, someone needs to look after the Crown Prince. After some thought, I think Grand Tutor Zhou is indeed an excellent choice."
Ah Ru found it even more ridiculous: "The princess is about to be driven away, why is she still worrying about the prince? Could it be that she really treats him as her own son?"
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