The little guy's eyes darted around, and he said in a childish voice, "It took a long time for my son to get it."
After saying that, his bright eyes continued to stare at Jiaming.
"Oh, I see. If you study more and learn quickly, Mommy will reward you soon, and you'll be able to get it." Jiaming blinked, her innocent expression fooling the little guy.
Hongjing puffed out his cheeks. "Mother, really! With so many reasons, why can't you just give in to his wishes and let him have it first?"
Seeing this, Jiaming secretly felt smug.
Tsk, little guy, your little schemes are no match for your mother. Wait until you're older and about the same age as your brother Hongxuan before you try to outsmart your mother!
Tsk, experience counts, little guy, just wait and see what your mother has to teach you!
"Oh, look at those chubby cheeks," Jiaming said with a smile. "You're not worried that you won't be able to learn what your mother is teaching you, or that it will take you a long time to learn it, and that you won't get your mother's reward, so you're unhappy, are you?"
Upon hearing this, the little guy blurted out, "No, that's not true. I'm smart and learn quickly. If you teach me more, I'll learn it very quickly too."
After saying that, he nodded emphatically to himself.
Jiaming was delighted; her provocation had worked perfectly!
She looked at the little one, her eyes darting around, and then smiled sweetly, saying, "Good, the more and faster you learn, the better things your mother will reward you with. Like the good things your father, your stepmother, sent today. So, starting today—no, starting tomorrow—I'll teach you a lot more."
Red Peach and Green Willow, who were watching from the sidelines, were speechless. Originally, they couldn't bear to do it after seeing their young master fall for the provocation.
Under the threat of their master's gaze, the two could only watch helplessly as the Fifth Prince jumped into his master's trap for the second time.
"No, starting today!" the little guy exclaimed eagerly.
Jiaming was even happier and nodded with a smile, "Okay, whatever you say."
Then, Jiaming began to teach, showing the child how to recognize characters from pictures. She didn't expect the little one to be able to write with a brush, but he had to write correctly on the sand tray. He also had to be able to recite what he was taught yesterday and recognize and write what he was taught today.
Because there were valuable and precious things hanging in front of him, Hongjing studied the characters with unprecedented seriousness.
Mingming asked her to learn ten more characters than yesterday, but the little guy seemed to have memorized them in less time than yesterday.
Jiaming squinted. So, the little guy had been fooling her all along?
They haven't tried hard enough to study seriously!
However, seeing the little guy gazing at her expectantly, she smiled and praised Hongjing.
That's it?
Hongjing blinked, and asked somewhat unwillingly, "Mother, what about the promised reward?"
Jiaming smiled and said, "That reward is too precious. You only learned ten more characters, and I feel it's a bit unfair to reward you with such a good thing. So, I've decided that I'll give it to you after you've learned math very well."
Hongjing was initially disappointed, but then he rallied his spirits and said with high morale, "Let's begin."
Jiaming hesitated and said, "Don't you need to rest for a while?" But she put the picture-reading textbook aside and picked up the math textbook instead.
“No need!” Hongjing answered loudly.
"Alright then!" he said reluctantly, but his hands deftly flipped to the places he had taught him yesterday.
Similar to picture-based literacy, Jiaming first tested Hongjing with the knowledge she had taught him before. After seeing that Hongjing had grasped the concepts, she began today's lesson.
Hongjing learned quickly and well as usual, and Jiaming praised him, "Very good!"
"What about the reward?" the money-grubbing little guy was still thinking about.
Jiaming turned to Hongtao and instructed, "Go and bring the lotus pond scenery brush from the storeroom."
Hongtao was taken aback, glanced at the Fifth Prince Hongjing, pursed her lips, and still asked, "Master, are you really going to take that? That..."
“It was given to me by Xuan’er.” Jiaming glared at Hongtao, then looked away and said to Hongjing, “Your mother thought that since you like your fourth brother so much, it’s not bad to give you the gift that your fourth brother gave me as a reward. You should be happy. Of course, Jing’er, you can also use the gift that was brought today as a reward.”
Hongjing shook his head quickly, beaming, and said, "I'll take the one Fourth Brother sends."
“Alright then.” Jiaming’s eyes narrowed with delight. Then, she turned her head and saw that Hongtao, who had almost ruined her plans, was still there. She hurriedly urged, “Didn’t you hear what the Fifth Prince said? He wants that one. Hurry up and go.”
Hongtao gave the Fifth Prince a sympathetic look, then turned and left.
A moment later, she returned with the tray in both hands, carrying the beautiful lotus pond scene in a brush.
Upon seeing the beautiful lotus pond, Hongjing couldn't help but stretch his neck.
It's absolutely gorgeous!
The little guy had never seen such an ornament before, and couldn't help but stand up, walk over, and want to get a closer look.
He walked closer and asked, "What kind of jade is this?"
Jiaming calmly smiled and replied, "This is jade."
"Jade?" The little guy was a bit confused. "Never heard of it?"
Jiaming casually retorted, "You're still young, it's normal that you haven't heard of it."
The little guy actually believed it.
Jiaming continued, "This lotus pond scenery brush was a gift from your fourth brother to your mother. It's very charming and beautiful, isn't it?"
"Mmm." The little guy nodded.
Jiaming generously said, "This is a reward for you."
"Okay!" The little guy happily took the lotus pond scenery pen holder, then walked to the cool mat, sat down, and started playing with it by himself.
Hongtao stared in disbelief, and in her daze, she looked at her smiling master as if she had seen a cunning merchant.
The next day, Hongjing, full of fighting spirit, studied diligently and earnestly. His previous restlessness seemed like an illusion.
After finishing the lesson quickly and well, Jing stretched out her chubby little hand in front of Jiaming, palm up, "Mother, this is today's reward."
Jiaming smiled and nodded, "Wait a moment, Mother will have Hongtao give it to you."
After saying that, he turned to look at Hearts.
When Hongtao thought about yesterday, she suddenly had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, she heard her master instruct her, "Go and bring that blue-glazed jade vase."
Red Peach was taken aback and blurted out, "That bottle...it's not yours, sir..."
"It's that blue-glazed jade pot vase that Master sent." Jiaming glared at Hongtao, thinking to herself why she always let her down, but then she felt a surge of relief, thankful that she had reacted quickly.
Hongtao was glared at like that and immediately realized she had said the wrong thing. She quickly tried to make amends, saying, "This servant is mistaken. There is only one blue-glazed jade pot spring vase. This servant will go and get it right away."
Now, Jiaming was satisfied.
Then, her gaze shifted to Hongjing, and seeing him frown, she quickly explained, "Mother knows you like gold, silver, and jade, and think they are valuable, but there are many other valuable things besides them."
The little guy had little exposure to such things, and no one had specifically explained it to him, so he didn't quite understand. But now that his mother was talking about it, the money-grubber was immediately intrigued.
"what else?"
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