"Oh?" Fourth Master raised an eyebrow and looked at Hongxuan. He hadn't expected Hongxuan to offer a different opinion, and he immediately became interested.
The three advisors also knew that this Fourth Prince was very intelligent and had many unique insights, so they immediately became interested. They put down their tea and all three pairs of eyes looked at Hongxuan.
Seeing his fourth brother Hongxuan receiving so much attention and expectation, Hongshi felt very jealous and resentful.
But with his cold and serious father there, the moment he caught a glimpse of his father's figure and sensed his chilling aura, he dared not show the jealousy and resentment in his heart.
He kept his head down and his neck hunched, looking quite dejected.
Hongxuan, of course, noticed it too, but he didn't care and continued to talk on and on: "Since the master is so wise, he should be able to see through this scheme of using someone else to do his dirty work! Since he has seen through it, then this plan is useless. It only makes the person who used this method seem even more despicable."
Upon hearing this, the Fourth Prince was taken aback. Then he thought that, given his father's abilities, if the Eighth Prince did this, even if his own side would be feared by his father, the Eighth Prince would be the one most feared by his father.
After all, it was the eighth brother who could command so many officials. Thinking this, the fourth prince looked at Hongxuan with an appreciative smile in his eyes.
Hongshi, having caught a glimpse of his father's expression, felt his eyes blaze with jealousy.
The admiring glances and words from the three masters beside him only fueled the fire, and Hongshi glared fiercely at Hongxuan.
Noticing this, Hongxuan glanced at Hongshi indifferently, his expression calm and indifferent. Under such a gaze, Hongshi seemed to see his father, and suddenly felt a chill, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him, extinguishing the fire of jealousy.
Fourth Master naturally noticed the subtle tension between his two sons, which further reinforced his belief that Hongshi was a coward.
In the forty-eighth year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, still in the first month of the year, the emperor summoned his court officials to interrogate who had first proposed establishing Yinzhi as heir apparent. The officials were terrified. The somewhat cheerful New Year atmosphere was once again frozen under the emperor's anger and suppression.
Naturally, with the stricter access control at the Prince's mansion, Jiaming could no longer easily inquire about gossip and entertainment.
But when she thought about the boring days she had spent recently, she decided to find something to do to pass the time.
While he was thinking, Hongjing hugged his calf, and then the little guy used his own strength to easily climb onto his knee and sit up on his thigh.
Before sitting down, the little guy stood up, stretched out his short arms and chubby little hands, took two pieces of cheese, then sat down and offered one piece to Jiaming. Jiaming thanked him, kissed him, and then took it and ate it.
Little Hongjing touched the spot where he had been kissed with one chubby little hand, his eyes crinkling with laughter, and then held a piece of cheese to his mouth and began to eat.
Jiaming continued to ponder as she ate the cheese her youngest son had given her.
Suddenly, looking at little Hongjing, she had a flash of inspiration. That's right, the little guy is three years old (by Chinese reckoning), and he's smarter than most kids. Hmm, it seems that Hongxuan was also taught to read and count quite early back then. Hongjing is just as smart, so it should be fine.
Upon realizing this, Jiaming immediately took action.
She first instructed Hongtao to bring out the picture books, literacy books, and literacy toys that Fourth Prince Hongxuan used to learn to read when he was a child.
After hearing the instructions, Red Peach went to find it.
All these things are stored here with Jiaming, and they are all stored in a sandalwood box, which is very well stored.
Soon, Red Peach led two people carrying boxes in.
Jiaming asked in surprise, "So many?"
Red Peach opened the box and gestured, "Master, this is all."
Jiaming thought about it and realized that she should have a box of things like the ones she had asked to buy, the ones that Fourth Master had bought, and the ones she had made herself.
Little Hongjing's attention was immediately drawn to the box as soon as it was brought in. Seeing the box opened and filled with toys—toys he'd never seen before, with pictures—he exclaimed excitedly, "Mother, let's play!"
Jiaming nodded with a smile and said, "Okay, Mother will play with you."
When Xiao Hongjing heard that his mother would play with him, he was overjoyed and gave Jiaming a quick kiss.
Jiaming chuckled and picked up the little one from her lap, stood up, and walked towards the kang table, instructing Hongtao as she went, "Move that box over here to the kang table."
Upon arriving at the kang bed, Jiaming first placed the little one on it, then turned and walked towards the sandalwood chest, personally selecting a picture book—the one she had first used to teach Hongxuan. She then turned and walked to Hongxuan's side, placed the picture book on the kang table, and then got onto the kang.
The little one climbed up to Jiaming on his own initiative. Jiaming was behind the little one, holding his sweet little body with one arm and flipping through a picture book with the other.
Then, the teaching process of teaching characters by looking at pictures began.
The pictures are easy to understand, and the little one is smart, so the words are naturally easy to learn as well.
But the child is still young, active, and loves to play; his attention isn't always focused on this. Jiaming can't force him to learn, otherwise even the most interesting teaching methods would probably bore the little guy.
Therefore, there isn't much time to kill or pass the time each day, and there's still a lot of boring time every day.
And so, taking advantage of this boring and dull time, Jiaming propped her chin up and started thinking about how to kill the time.
Planting things... well, it's winter, not a good time to plant.
I want to read, but all my books are worn out from being read so many times that the edges are frayed. They're not interesting anymore, so I'll give up.
Embroidering clothes... well, she doesn't want to become a full-time embroiderer. It's okay occasionally, but she gets tired of it after a while.
"Sigh!" Jiaming sighed in frustration, then asked in a low voice, "I'm bored. Do you guys have any good ideas for killing time?"
Hearts blinked and tentatively suggested, "How about we play leaf cards?"
When Jiaming thought about her previous experiences playing this game with the others in Taoyuan when Hongxuan wasn't around, she shook her head. "I won more than I lost, it was no fun."
Green Willow suggested, "Why don't you paint this scene of heavy snowfall, Master? Hmm, you could paint that too!"
Jiaming glanced at the green willows, still unable to muster any enthusiasm, and said, "I'm not in the mood, I have no inspiration, and I don't want to paint."
Hearts glanced at the cheese on the table, then suggested, "The kitchen?"
Jiaming shook her head.
Green Willow pondered for a moment and said, "How about we go to sleep?"
Jiaming glanced at Green Willow speechlessly, inwardly rolling her eyes.
After Green Willow finished speaking, she realized that her suggestion was unreliable, and smiled embarrassedly at Red Peach next to her.
Then, Red Peach and Green Willow looked at Xiao Hezi with perfect understanding, as if to say, "It's up to you."
Xiao He frowned and thought for a while, but couldn't think of anything to help his master pass the time.
Suddenly, his gaze swept over the sandalwood box placed next to the kang table, and a brilliant idea flashed into his mind.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
