Chapter 35
Yinzuo was still thinking about learning martial arts. He said to the prince with great interest, "How do I practice martial arts? Brother Prince, can you teach me?"
The prince wanted to let him practice the basics of martial arts first, but when he looked at his sixth brother's small body, he suddenly thought of something wrong, so he said to Yinzuo, "You'd better not learn those for now."
"Your little body can't handle it."
"I remember reading about some physical training methods suitable for the weak in the medical books. I'll ask someone to go to the Imperial Hospital to see if there is any suitable training for you."
After saying this, the prince continued, "Although the emperor has allowed you to go to the study room in the spring, don't just think about playing now. You can start learning to read."
"Have you started learning to read?" When the prince asked this, he thought in his heart that Yinzuo should have learned a little. Both the Third Prince and the Fourth Prince had learned it privately before entering the study.
Yinzuo's eyes were clear, and he said calmly, "No."
Prince: "...Not a single word?"
Yinzuo was so ashamed by the gaze of his brother, the prince, who was a top student, that he lowered his head and said, "Well, not a single word."
The prince didn't speak for a long time. Compared with the concubines and princes who were rolled together, Yinzuo was highlighted as being old and illiterate.
To be honest, the eldest prince is pressing forward step by step, while the third prince is making more and more progress. The fourth prince has performed well from the beginning and is extremely hardworking. Now the fifth prince and the seventh prince have both entered school, and there are the eighth prince, the ninth prince, and the tenth prince behind them. It is also very stressful for the crown prince to always be the best.
The outstanding and ambitious younger brothers put him under pressure, but the prince was also dissatisfied with the illiterate 'older man' in front of him.
Yinzuo faced his brother the Crown Prince and said, "Then the Crown Prince will teach me how to read. Yinzuo is very smart and will learn it quickly."
The prince was amused by what he heard and said to Yinzuo, "How can anyone boast of his own intelligence? He has never been ashamed since he was a child."
Then he stood up and said, "Come here, let me see if you are really smart. If you are too stupid, I don't want to teach you."
Yinzuo refuted him: "Yinzuo is not stupid." Yinzuo said confidently: "Brother Crown Prince is so smart, how can a younger brother be stupid?"
He has been a flatterer since he was a child. The prince walking in front had a smile in his eyes. Now that he is older, he has begun to train his own subordinates. Those grown-up haha beads and the sons of ministers who come over often say some flattering words. Which one is not more literary than Yinzuo's? But when those people flatter him, the prince is either indifferent or wary. He can only listen to Yinzuo's words and laugh it off.
Perhaps it was because of this ease and happiness that no matter how many more princes there were in the palace, or that the prince spent more time with the princes in the upper study than with Yinzuo, to this day, the prince still came first to his younger brother Yinzuo.
Even the Fourth Prince, who is close to the Crown Prince, does not seem to be as close to the Crown Prince as the Sixth Prince.
Anyway, everyone serving in the Eastern Palace knew that when the Sixth Prince came, they had to be treated with utmost courtesy. They all knew the Sixth Prince's habits and preferences.
Yinzuo was not opposed to learning to read. Instead, he was very happy. When he saw that a lower table and chair had been vacated for him, as well as a pen, ink, paper and inkstone, he happily sat down and took the pen to dip it in ink and said, "I have wanted to play with it for a long time, but you guys wouldn't let me touch it."
Before he could finish his words, the prince tapped him on the forehead with a finger: "Studying is not playing."
"I know." Yinzuo looked up and smiled at the prince, still looking like the good kid he used to be. Well, although he was spoiled by Concubine De in recent years, he didn't develop the bad habits of a spoiled child, which made the prince and Kangxi happy.
The prince brought the "Three Character Classic" to introduce Yinzuo to education, and said to Yinzuo: "Some of the stories I told you before are from this book." The boy has been clinging since he was young, and the prince is not very good at playing with children. As for the games such as archery and throwing pots that the eldest brother took the boy to play, the prince was not interested in repeating what others had said. So later, when he saw Yinzuo sitting in the East Palace bored, the prince would pick up some short stories to tell the child.
Yinzuo nodded and said to the prince, "Brother Prince, if that's the case, doesn't that mean Yinzuo has read a lot of books?"
The prince glanced at him. How could this boy, with his fair and tender face, be so shameless?
The prince started by teaching Yinzuo a simple lesson, telling him that it would be good if he could remember the character “人” today. He corrected his pen-holding posture several times. As for the ink blob that was finally drawn on the snow-white paper, which was so crooked and shapeless, the prince did not say anything to complain about it.
Yinzuo held the brush and drew another ink ball, saying, "Brother Crown Prince, since you teach Yinzuo to write, does that mean you are Yinzuo's teacher?"
Yinzuo shook his head and said, "Once a teacher, always a father."
?
Kangxi should really come and listen.
I don't know where he heard this, he just said it when he thought of it. The prince laughed and said to the boy who deserved a beating: "You are about to enter the upper study room. After entering the upper study room, you can't keep your mouth shut. I will see when the emperor will beat you."
"I won't beg for mercy for you then."
These words made Yinzuo less and less willing to go to the study room. He sighed and said, "Alas, Yinzuo has grown up and is not likable anymore." He always felt that both his father and his brothers were waiting to beat him up.
The prince opened his book and said mercilessly, "Isn't that the case?"
The prince continued to read his book, while Yinzuo familiarized himself with the ink ball and drew several pictures. The character "人" he finally wrote was still difficult to recognize, which was quite a waste of paper and ink.
His elder brother, the crown prince, was not the one who was good at praising children, and he would not encourage the Mo Tuanzi against his will. Fortunately, little Yinzuo was not a fragile person, and he was quite happy about it, and wanted to take his Mo Tuantuan back to show his mother.
Yinzuo was finally leaving, and the people in the Eastern Palace hurried to get him a hat, a cloak, gloves, and a hand warmer, and even took away the work of Ah Fu who was beside Yinzuo.
Yinzuo tied his cloak carefully and complained, "Winter is so troublesome, summer is better."
The prince said calmly: "I remember someone said something different in the summer."
The prince didn't see Yinzuo off, he didn't even stand up, but when Yinzuo was about to leave, he said, "Don't stay outside, go back as soon as you leave."
"I know." Yinzuo whispered, "Brother Crown Prince is so long-winded."
But His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was obviously sharp-eyed and sharp-eared: "What did you say?"
Yinzuo laughed and ran away.
In fact, Yinzuo is much bolder now than when he was a child. When he was a child, he had so many relatives like his father, brothers and sisters. They were clingy and well-behaved, and subconsciously he was afraid of losing them. But now, he has taken root here, and these are his relatives. He has enough sense of security in his heart.
So it's fun to play with my brother's beard and stuff like that.
There was no wind today, otherwise Concubine De would not have let Yinzuo go out. In the winter withered branches and thin snow, Yinzuo saw the figure and hurriedly called out, "Fourth Brother!"
The young man was dressed more simply than the Sixth Prince. He walked within the palace wall. Despite his young age, he seemed to have a strong character like a stone. The Fourth Prince saw Yinzuo, who had a circle of white hair around his collar and whose face blended into the collar and hood.
Even though he was surrounded so tightly, the smile on the child's face was still there, and I had no idea what happy thing had happened to him just now.
When the child saw him, his smile deepened. He walked quickly towards him and happily called him "Fourth Brother".
This child was always happy, unlike the others in the palace. He loved to laugh when he was young, and grew up in the palace until now. All the princes in the palace matured precociously, but this one seemed to have not grown at all.
Fourth Prince: "Sixth brother."
Yin Zuo: "Are you going to visit the Crown Prince, Brother? It would be better if you go earlier. I can talk to you for a while. I just came back from the Crown Prince."
He is still as friendly as when he was a child, even though his personality is not as likable as it was when he was a child.
The fourth prince didn't know how to respond to Yinzuo's words, and his eyes fell on the paper in Yinzuo's hand that looked like a ghostly scribble. Yinzuo noticed his gaze and showed his first masterpiece to his fourth brother: "Yinzuo wrote it himself."
It couldn't have been written by someone else. The Fourth Prince also wouldn't encourage anyone blindly, and could only say, "Practice more."
Yinzuo nodded: "Yes, yes." His fourth brother became more and more cold and serious as he grew older. He still remembered that when they were young, this brother played with lotus leaves together, but that was only that time. They never played together again after that. Yinzuo was even more afraid of this fourth brother than he was of his brother the Crown Prince.
The fourth prince said, "It's cold outside, you should go back early."
Yinzuo said dissatisfiedly: "I haven't spoken a few words to my fourth brother. I don't usually see him, and this is not easy to see." Although this brother is not as familiar as the other brothers, he is still Yinzuo's brother.
Fourth Prince: “…”
Even if this sixth brother wanted to distance himself from me, it would not be easy.
The Fourth Prince thought for a while and said, "The ice in the lake is all thin. The fish at the bottom of the lake are not frozen to death and are still alive and well. You should not always go near the lake." After the lake began to freeze in the winter, Yinzuo did always circle around the lake, feeling itchy, but how would the Fourth Prince know?
The Fourth Prince also wanted to say that he could have someone make an ice lantern for Yinzuo. Based on his understanding of Yinzuo, he would definitely like it. However, he thought about it and did not say it. He did not want to cause trouble because of an ice lantern.
Yinzuo said to the Fourth Prince: "I know. I'm not a two-year-old child anymore. I know where the danger is." But it seemed that as a five-year-old child he had too much idleness every day, and everyone was always worried about him.
The Fourth Prince nodded: "That's good to know."
Yinzuo asked the fourth prince, "Do you like puppies? I heard from my third brother that the fourth prince has a puppy, a pen washer. Do you want to keep a puppy? I can ask my fourth sister to go with me to choose. My fourth sister has a puppy, so she knows a lot."
The third brother is quite talkative. Thinking of this, the fourth prince said to Yinzuo, "I don't want to keep a dog."
Yinzuo nodded: "Okay, when you want to raise one, tell me."
Yinzuo wanted to chat with his fourth brother for a while longer, and wanted to tell him that cats are actually not bad, but he looked at his fourth brother who was not wearing thick clothes, and said, "I won't talk to you today, you should wear more clothes, and you can take the hand warmer first. I'm going back."
But the Fourth Prince had no intention of taking Yinzuo's hand warmer: "I'm not cold, be careful not to get sick, take it yourself and go back quickly."
However, Yinzuo would not allow him to refuse, "I'm wearing gloves." After saying this, he stuffed the hand warmer directly into the Fourth Prince's arms and ran away.
The Fourth Prince frowned and looked at his jogging figure for a while, then walked towards the East Palace.
He knew that this younger brother was different from his other brothers. He was his brother from the same mother. He knew that.
Two years ago, my mother was pregnant. The servant at the time accidentally let it slip, and he heard it. As he grew older, the more people he came into contact with, the more he knew.
After he found out, he pretended not to know. It was just that his mother was pregnant at the time, and both his mother and the people who served him were more negligent towards him than before. He felt panic in his heart. Although he knew that his mother was not his biological mother, the Empress Defei, who was said to be his biological mother, was just a stranger to him.
In his heart, the Imperial Noble Consort was his only mother and she treated him well. Compared to the mother of the eldest prince and the mother of the third prince, they both treated him well.
Later, his mother did not give birth to a prince, but a princess, who died soon after. Yinzhen could not explain how he felt. He no longer had to worry about what would happen to his position after his mother gave birth to a prince. Everything was the same as before, but he did not seem very happy.
He couldn't help but pay more attention to Concubine De and the Sixth Prince, knowing that Concubine De was famous for pampering the Sixth Prince. Otherwise, the Sixth Brother would not have been raised without a single worry until now, and would not have seemed like he had not grown up or developed any wisdom.
However, spoiling a child is not a good thing. If you love your son, you will have long-term plans for him. The Imperial Noble Consort is strict with him and encourages him to make progress, which is also loving your son and is no worse than spoiling the child. Moreover, both Concubine Hui and Concubine Rong treat the eldest prince and the third prince in this way.
Yinzhen touched the hand warmer, and the warmth passed through his fingertips into his body.
He now understood why his mother didn't want him to meet Concubine De, and he also understood why his mother didn't want him to get close to the Sixth Prince, so he did the same.
It’s just that the Sixth Prince’s temperament is different from others.
Yinzhen knew that the Sixth Prince was close to him not because he knew that they were born of the same mother. He probably didn't know that yet, but he just treated all the brothers and sisters in the palace close to him.
The royal family is so cold-hearted, but the Sixth Prince doesn't seem like a royal family member.
When Yinzhen arrived at the East Palace, the Crown Prince took one look at the hand warmer he was holding, recognized him, and said, "Did you run into Sixth Brother?"
Yinzhen hummed and said, "He has started to learn to read?"
The prince said: "He doesn't even know a single word. His seventh brother has already entered school, and he, as an older brother, can't compare to his younger brother. But that kid is not shameless."
Having said that, one can hear from the prince's tone that he is close to the Sixth Prince.
The Sixth Prince is so capable that he can get along well with both princesses and princes.
(End of this chapter)
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