1. Chapter 1
"It's time to go to school."
It was early spring in the 24th year of the Kangxi reign. A spring snow had fallen the previous night, and Qi You was wrapped up like a bear, staggering as he walked.
As soon as he stepped out of the house, the oncoming cold wind made him stumble. The young eunuch Degao hurriedly supported him and said repeatedly, "Seventh Prince, be careful. Let me carry you to the Shangshufang."
"No need." Qi You waved his hand and said seriously, "Walk more to loosen up your muscles and bones, otherwise they will rust."
How could he know that because of the chubby little face from eating too much during the winter, the more serious he looked, the more funny his little adult look would be.
Degao followed his words and said, "Brother, this is the time to exercise more. It's just that the roads are slippery in the snow, and it's a long way from here. Be careful not to fall."
Qi You moved his left foot slightly.
It was only a few steps, but Degao was so nervous. Qi You knew the reason very well, it was nothing more than this lame leg.
Qi You didn't care. The Kangxi Dynasty and the horrific script of the Nine Dragons fighting for the throne were not lame at all. It was his guarantee that he would stay out of it and would not arouse suspicion.
My original body was born with a disability in my left leg. When I walked faster, my shoulders would shake more severely. When I walked slower or with a cane, it was less noticeable.
Qi You doesn't want a cane.
In his previous life, Qi You was a child with cerebral palsy and had never been able to walk. Just ten days after he came here, he experienced the feeling of being able to walk freely for the first time, and he almost cried out in pain.
Even though his legs were inconvenient, Qi You still wanted to walk by himself.
"Seventh Prince, you have to be extremely careful. If you are too tired to walk, Guihe and I will take turns carrying you." Degao stepped aside, Qi You wrapped his hat tightly around his neck, and walked out steadily.
Degao picked up Qiyou's school box, and Guihe held a lantern. The two of them protected Qiyou as they walked towards the Qianqing Palace.
The Forbidden City had long since awakened in the darkness. Sura, the housekeeper, had already swept the snow from the alleys clean. Occasionally, there were bits of ice on the ground, which rustled when stepped on.
Qi You liked this sound, it was full of vitality, and he deliberately stepped heavily all the way.
The courtyard of the prince's residence was brightly lit, and people were coming out from the gate one after another. It was hard to see clearly in the dark, so Qi You guessed that they were the brothers going to school.
All the princes started their education at the age of six, from Qiyou onwards, and the eighth prince Yinsi was only two years old.
Now the only ones attending school are the eldest prince Yinzhi, the crown prince Yinreng, the third prince Yinzhi, the fourth prince Yinzhen and the seventh prince Qiyou.
The fifth prince, Yinqi, was raised by the Empress Dowager and never attended formal school. The sixth prince, Yinzuo, was seriously ill and was unable to attend school with Qiyou this year.
Qi You heard Gao and Guihe whispering in private that the Sixth Prince was deeply favored by Emperor Kangxi, and in order to ensure his schooling, he started selecting teachers and study companions last year.
The Sixth Prince and Qi You were less than half a year apart in age, and thanks to the Sixth Prince, Qi You was able to enroll this year. Otherwise, he would have had to wait until the Eighth Prince and the others grew up, and then just shove him in as a bonus.
Qi You was ignored, but he didn't feel sad at all. Luck is also a kind of strength. The result in front of him was that the Sixth Prince was lying in bed, and he went to school happily.
The Shangshufang was on the left side of the Qianqing Palace. When Qi You walked over there, he looked in through the window and saw that several classrooms were already filled with people.
Someone ran past Qi You quickly, creating a gust of wind that almost knocked him down.
The man turned around and stared at Qi You for a while. He cried out, turned around and ran back, frowning and scolding him: "It turned out to be Lao Qi. Why are you walking in the middle of the road? You should stay away. Everyone is rushing to school. Be careful not to bump into you."
Qi You, drawing on his limited memories of his original self, recognized the man before him as the eldest prince. He was already attended by palace maids who knew the world well, and would marry and leave the palace to start his own family in two years. Even now, he still had to go to school every day, just like the rest of them.
"Big brother." Qi You called out and greeted him with a smile.
The eldest prince stretched his neck to look around the classroom, and slapped Qi You on the shoulder. The eldest prince was tall and strong, and Qi You almost fell over.
"Hey, why are you like paper, falling down with a push? With your small body, you are so weak. If anyone dares to laugh at your legs in the future, come find me." The eldest prince spoke with full energy, and his words were as loud as pouring beans.
After saying that, he hurried to the classroom without waiting for Qi You to answer.
Qi You looked at the figure of the eldest prince running over, smiled and shook his head. Thinking that he was about to be late, he hurried to find his classroom.
The servants were not allowed to follow in, so Degao handed the book box to Qi You and carried it into the house himself.
Qi You's learning progress was different from that of the other princes, so naturally, he didn't study together. The ones who started school with him were a few members of the imperial family hand-picked by Emperor Kangxi. They had already arrived, and when they saw Qi You enter the room, they all looked at him.
After all, he was young, and even though his family had warned him not to, and he tried his best to restrain himself, his eyes still looked at Qi You's left leg.
Qi You didn't care about their opinions at all. He walked forward without looking around and respectfully greeted Nei An Da De Ge Lei who was sitting in front of the desk.
Degelei pointed to the seat in the front and said, "Seventh Prince, please sit here."
Qi You thanked him, took his package and walked to his seat. Degelei cleared his throat and began to emphasize the rules of school.
The rules that the brothers followed in school were similar to those in later generations, both in class and outside of class. They were not allowed to fight or quarrel, etc.
There were very few breaks, no weekends, winter or summer vacations, and only three days off a year: New Year's Eve, the Emperor's Birthday, and my birthday. During the day, I only had one or two breaks, except for lunch.
The brothers started school around the hour of Yin every day. They first learned Manchu and Mongolian, and then learned Chinese. In the afternoon, they also learned riding and archery. Basically, they studied for six hours a day.
The teachers who taught Manchu and Mongolian were called Neian Da, and the teachers who taught horse riding and archery were called Waian Da. Except for the horse riding and archery teachers, all other teachers came from the Hanlin Academy.
All the teachers were Jinshi graduates with extensive knowledge. They were carefully selected by Emperor Kangxi to teach the princes.
Qi You thought to himself that his Chinese was perfectly fine, but he needed to learn Manchu and Mongolian from scratch like everyone else.
If you are starting from the same starting line, if you want to get ahead of others, you have to be extremely smart or study hard.
Enduring hardship is Qi You's forte. Thinking of this, he quickly put aside his worries and listened attentively.
After Degelei finished explaining the rules, he began teaching. Qi You took out the textbook and opened it. Degelei pointed to the characters and read them out loud, then the students followed him. After repeating this several times, Degelei had them read the characters themselves hundreds of times.
Qi You had porridge and a bowl of milk in the morning. After reading it a hundred times, his mouth was still dry and his throat felt like it was on a hot wheel, and smoke began to come out.
The others did the same, their voices gradually becoming lower and more uneven. Seeing this, Degelei didn't reprimand them, but simply tapped the table with his ruler.
Everyone was shocked and their voices got louder. Qi You blended in with the others, his voice neither too loud nor too low, secretly thinking that he would have to bring a can of clean water to school tomorrow.
Just as he was thinking this, Degelei raised his hand to stop them and stood up to walk out of the classroom. A moment later, the servants who were waiting on them came into the room, carrying teapots and teacups.
Qi You was delighted to see this. It turned out that rules are fixed, but people are alive. He took the warm tea that De Gao brought in, gulped it down in one gulp, and immediately felt refreshed.
After drinking tea, someone asked for leave to go out. Qi You followed the crowd and went out after asking for leave.
The toilet was located at the back of the classroom, separated into several small rooms with toilets inside. When someone needed to use the toilet, the servant Sula would carry in a clean toilet and replace the dirty one.
There were not many people coming to the toilet. Qi You found that even though the rooms on the left were empty, the classmates who came to the toilet together still did not go in, but lined up for the two rooms on the right.
Qi You slowed down his pace and looked carefully at the rooms. At this moment, the door of the compartment on the far left opened and the eldest brother strode out.
The eldest prince wiped the water off his hands with a handkerchief, waved at Qi You, and said with a strange smile: "Seventh Brother, what are you doing standing there? Go inside and pee. It's cold outside. Don't let the little bird get frozen."
"Big brother." Qi You's eyes twitched, he called out with a smile, and walked towards the eldest brother.
The eldest prince stared at Qi You's walking movements. Seeing that he was short and fat, staggering like a duck, he couldn't help but burst out laughing.
After laughing twice, the eldest prince suddenly turned his head and looked at the people next to him. Those people turned their heads back in a hurry, not daring to look any further.
The eldest prince's smile faded, he glared at a few people, and said to Qi You: "Go pee quickly, don't wet your pants later."
The eldest prince said this without caring about Qi You's reaction and just laughed to himself. Qi You followed suit with a silly smile and went to push the door next to the one the eldest prince had used.
"Don't go there." The eldest prince hesitated, reached out and pulled Qi You, with a flash of unwillingness in his eyes, "That's the prince's place."
Qi You quickly stopped and the eldest brother helped him choose the room closest to the right, "You can use this one."
"Okay, thank you, big brother." Qi You responded obediently, and at the same time, he suddenly realized that even when going to the toilet, hierarchy is everywhere.
The children of the royal family cannot be compared with the princes, and there are also differences among the princes. The prince is undoubtedly the most noble and enjoys his own compartment.
After Qi You finished his work, he walked back to the classroom. Recalling the look in the eldest prince's eyes before, he couldn't help but smile.
interesting.
After all the students returned, the Degelei continued the lesson. After teaching several times and reading hundreds of times, the Degelei began to test their recognition of words.
Degelei swept his eyes over everyone. Qi You was sitting at the front row. When he heard the rustling sound behind him, he instantly understood what was going on.
When faced with questions from the teacher, it is always the same: students will try to avoid them if possible.
After selecting a circle, Degelei stopped and called out, "Yangdan, you go first!"
Qi You heard it clearly, and several people breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but laugh.
"Yes." Yang Danying stood up. He was the second son of Prince Jian. He had probably been speaking Manchu at home since he was a child. Although he could only recognize characters haltingly, his voice was quite loud.
Degelei stroked his beard and commented mercilessly, "You've only learned a few characters, and you can't recognize them all. You must review them carefully. I'll check again tomorrow. If you still haven't improved, I'll have to punish you."
Yang Dan's voice dropped noticeably, and he replied reluctantly, "Yes."
"Sit down, next." Degelei asked Yang Dan to sit down and scanned the room again.
Qi You discovered that in addition to looking at them, Degelei also glanced outside from time to time.
"Seventh Prince, you are the first to recognize him." Degelei suddenly straightened up and nodded at Qi You with a serious expression.
Qi You caught a glimpse of someone standing outside the window, and his heart moved slightly.
Last night, after Qi You went to bed, De Gao and Gui He were on duty. They thought he was asleep and whispered to each other beside him.
De Gao said, "The other princes are all good at studying. Alas, if the Seventh Prince fails in his studies, I'm afraid he will be even more disliked by the Emperor."
Gui He was equally worried: "That's right. If I had been adopted by Prince Chun, even if I had lowered my rank, I would have been a prince."
De Gao said, "It's because the Empress Dowager couldn't bear to see her own grandson suffer any injustice. Even if she adopted him, she wanted him to be a complete and intact successor to Prince Chun. After all, it was that leg that was the problem."
Gui He turned over irritably, "The Emperor has to check on the princes almost every day to see how they are doing in their studies. If the Seventh Prince doesn't learn well, there will be no hope for us in the future. I won't say any more. It makes me annoyed. Let's go to sleep."
Qi You suddenly held his breath and concentrated.
Kangxi is coming.
The author has something to say:
The ranking of the princes follows the familiar ranking system of later generations. Their names are too difficult to pronounce, so they were copied out for the first time, and the ranking will be used directly to save trouble later.
This is not a canonical story, just watch it for fun. If you like it, please bookmark it, thank you.
The next book is in pre-collection: "The Poor Student is Forced to Take the Imperial Examination". The text is as follows. Click on the author's column to see it. Please collect it.
Cheng Zian came back after spending a few years abroad. He was happily eating, drinking and having fun, waiting to inherit the family mine, when he traveled to Daxia and became a seven-year-old kid who had to study hard to take exams.
The poor student Cheng Zian has gone crazy. Not to mention taking the imperial examination, he can't even recognize all the words in the book!
The original body's father happened to be a teacher in a college, and he was surrounded by spies. He had no way to skip school and could only bite the bullet and study.
Who would have thought that this reading would eventually turn him into a role model for scholars, an imperial tutor for two dynasties, assisting the emperor for thirty years, and becoming a famous prime minister whose name would go down in history.
The young prince asked Cheng Zian, "Sir, have you loved reading since you were a child?"
Cheng Zian smiled but said nothing.
Oh, don't say it anymore, it brings tears to my eyes...
This is just a fiction, please do not verify it.
There is basically no emotional line.
A lighthearted, coming-of-age story with no cheat codes or plot twists.
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