Chapter 88: Hello Chang’an
.png)
"IF YOU LIKE THE TRANSLATIONS, CONSIDER SUPPORTING US ON PATREON."
**Chapter 88: The Crown Prince Has Returned**
It was none other than the recently promoted new elite in the court, the Elder Tutor Zhu—who had become a new figure of influence close to retirement age, thus becoming both old and new.
Upon Master Zhu's arrival, Scholar Qiao had to treat him with the highest courtesy.
At this moment, the two of them sat together by the riverbank of the Guangwen Pavilion in the National Academy, fishing.
With his hair and beard turning white, Master Zhu held the fishing rod and gazed wistfully at the water.
"Why do you sigh, Master Zhu, when good fortune has come your way?"
The still serving Elder Tutor Zhu’s face showed pain as he replied, "Please don’t mention it! Now that I hear the title 'Elder Tutor,' I feel a heaviness in my chest, my head is spinning, and my feet feel like they’re weighed down with a thousand pounds, as if my days are numbered…"
After pondering briefly, Scholar Qiao wondered—wasn’t this just how he acted when his wife had broken his fishing rod?
Thus, Scholar Qiao empathized deeply.
But Elder Tutor Zhu was filled with jealousy: "You and I both entered the court through the imperial examination, both teach people to read—why is your fortune so good, while my fate is so unfortunate?"
Scholar Qiao quickly tried to quell Master Zhu's resentment: "But you are my senior! I am merely a flickering candlelight, how can I compare with you, Elder Tutor?"
He continued, "You have certainly suffered, but your taking over the position of Minister of Rites is a blessing for the children of the poor and the nation. This move is of great significance… Who among the officials is better suited for this important post than you?"
He attempted to encourage him further: "As someone from the examination system, you must have long despised the prevalent cheating and corruption. Now that you have this opportunity, shouldn’t you be filled with righteous indignation and strive to open a fair path for the scholars of the world?"
Elder Tutor Zhu fell silent for a moment, looking at the river's surface, lost in thought. He sighed, "At this age, what more is there to discuss about ambition…"
After a brief pause, he couldn't help but scold, "Let them fight among themselves; what does it have to do with me? I don’t even know which ill-intentioned person pushed me out here—"
After thinking for a moment, he said, "I suspect it must be Wei Shuyi... I have had a nagging feeling that this young man has been staring at me lately, as if he has some bad intentions!"
Scholar Qiao could only comfort him, "It will be no more than three years, just endure it…"
Elder Tutor Zhu glared at him: "I need to have the strength to endure first."
They say nice things, each one giving their approval, as if him sitting in the position of Minister of Rites is the natural order of things. Oh, indeed it is the natural order... A shield to take arrows for them!
They are lofty and great; they treat the life of an old man like it’s nothing!
But Scholar Qiao smiled, "You have long been in the officialdom and possess great wisdom. Such trivial matters shouldn't trouble you!"
As he spoke, he changed the subject: "In our National Academy, there are several students who are quite outstanding and will participate in the Spring Examination next year… Among them is a student named Song Xian, whom I privately hold in high regard. Have you ever heard of him, Elder Tutor?"
"I’ve vaguely heard some of his poems circulating in the capital," Elder Tutor Zhu said sternly, "but they are nothing remarkable."
Scholar Qiao was momentarily at a loss for words.
However, Elder Tutor Zhu's criticism wasn't aimed at any individual: "In my opinion, your students in this National Academy are becoming worse with each passing year."
He went on to provide his reasoning: "None can compare to my student."
Scholar Qiao knew very well whom he referred to and sighed, "If you mean His Highness... then that is indeed incomparable."
"But he is a man of bad intentions," Elder Tutor Zhu complained angrily: "He even said he would buy a mountain by the water for me to retire in… but it was all just to deceive me!"
Just then, Chang Suining, who had just approached with the academy's attendant, happened to overhear this complaint.
On the other side, Scholar Qiao sighed as he excused her, "Given the circumstances back then, His Highness left too abruptly; otherwise, he would have surely promised."
Chang Suining felt somewhat ashamed.
She had promised many things in the past, and the matter of buying a mountain for her teacher to retire on was simply forgotten.
"Please wait a moment, General Chang."
Because Elder Tutor Zhu was present, the attendant gestured for Chang Kuo to stop, and he walked forward to greet Scholar Qiao: "General Chang and Miss Chang are here to see the minister."
Scholar Qiao hurriedly turned around and saw Chang Suining waiting not far away. He immediately broke into a warm smile and waved to her, "Come here, Sanpai!"
As for Chang Kuo, he completely ignored him.
Used to such behavior, Chang Kuo didn't care and brought his daughter forward.
"Greetings, Elder Tutor Zhu," Chang Kuo cupped his hands toward the old man by the river.
Chang Suining followed suit.
Elder Tutor Zhu appeared to be focused on fishing, but in reality, he was disheartened. He raised his hand without turning around, treating their greeting as if he were a mere piece of furniture and hoping they would do the same.
Scholar Qiao temporarily set down his fishing rod, sniffed the air, and noticed the roasted duck that Chang Kuo was holding. He remarked in surprise, "You came to visit, and yet you brought something?"
This was the first time he had seen such a thing.
Chang Kuo replied, "Oh, I bought it on the way. Want to try?"
"Just in time, I’m hungry!" Scholar Qiao was not polite at all. He washed his hands in the river and sat down on the grass mat by the riverbank.
There was a small tea table on the grass mat, and the attendant used a tea knife to cut the roasted duck into small pieces. After Scholar Qiao finished eating a duck leg, he asked, "What brought you here today?"
Chang Suining had been waiting for him to ask this question and replied straightforwardly, "Third Father, I came here to ask you to accept me as a student."
As she spoke, she formally bowed.
Seeing her serious demeanor, Scholar Qiao's face brightened immediately: "Ning Ning has finally seen the light?"
Chang Suining was momentarily confused—what did he mean?
As Scholar Qiao stood up, he could hardly contain his excitement: "Come, come, come! Father will teach you how to fish right now!"
He had mentioned before that he wanted this child to learn to fish, but every time he brought it up, his wife would say he was sick.
Chang Suining looked at him with a complicated expression.
Did he still remember what his main job was?
Chang Kuo, full of disdain, said, "Who wants to learn fishing from you? My daughter is here to ask you to teach her to read!"
"Reading?" Scholar Qiao was taken aback, looking at Chang Suining, "Isn't reading less interesting than fishing?"
Chang Suining: "…"
She had said that this man would only lead students astray.
Fortunately, she wasn’t afraid of being misled and boldly countered, "Why must it be one or the other? Why can’t I learn both?"
She admitted there was some ulterior motive in her approach.
"Well, it is possible…" Scholar Qiao hesitated for a moment, torn between his thoughts.
To be honest, he wasn’t too keen on taking on a reading student, as it was rather dull.
But he really needed a student to learn fishing with him!
Seeing his indecision, Chang Kuo began to impose his identity: "As the saying goes, once a father, always a teacher!"
Scholar Qiao frowned at him: "What kind of saying is that?"
Chang Kuo retorted confidently: "That's just the saying of our family!"
He added, "Let’s not mention that it’s my daughter wanting to read; you have already accepted your payment, and you want to back out?"
Scholar Qiao was utterly confused: "When did I take any payment from you?"
Elder Tutor Zhu, who rarely spoke, seized this opportunity: "Scholar Qiao, you just finished eating it, didn’t you?"
"…" Scholar Qiao glanced at the leftover roasted duck.
He admitted he had been careless.
But could this thing even be used as a bribe?
“Thinking a single roast duck will get me to take a student? What a daydream!” He looked at Chang Kuo, feeling quite insulted. “Even if it’s family… if you’re going to send something, at least send two!”
“We originally bought two.” Chang Suining said, glancing at Chang Kuo. When she saw Qiao Yang looking over as well, Chang Kuo glared: “Riding a horse is tiring too!”
Is it too much to eat a roast duck along the way?
Chang Suining looked up and casually said, “Father, don’t mind it. I’ll make it up.”
As she spoke, she reached out to Xi’er.
Xi’er immediately understood, first handing her the slingshot, then a small stone.
Scholar Qiao watched in confusion: “?”
Where did all this come from?
While he was puzzled, Chang Suining had already squinted her eyes and pulled back the slingshot. As she released it, a stone flew out and instantly brought down a wild goose from the sky.
The flock of geese returning from the south in spring was immediately startled.
The goose that was hit dropped beside Master Zhu, startling him.
Soon, a young girl walked over and picked up the goose: “Did I frighten you?”
Master Zhu looked at her disapprovingly.
This girl!
A perfectly fine goose, just returned in time for spring, suddenly met with such a misfortune—how similar was this experience to his own?
As if sensing his disapproval, Chang Suining leaned over to look at the fish basket beside him, exclaiming, “You’ve had quite a catch!”
Master Zhu turned to look at the few fish he had caught, suddenly left speechless.
This girl!
She was just as irritating as his brilliant but mischievous student who often provoked him!
Master Zhu was not a particularly refined or amiable person, and now he waved at the girl who was eyeing his fish basket: “Go on, go on… go pay your respects to your teacher.”
“Sure!”
Chang Suining straightened up and presented the goose to Qiao Yang with both hands: “Father, now I have enough for a pair.”
Scholar Qiao was stunned, incredulously asking, “When did Ning Ning learn this?”
“Not long ago, but who said our girl isn’t a natural talent?” Chang Kuo said, patting Scholar Qiao’s shoulder. “If it weren’t for being family, how could you get such a good student? Think about it, isn’t that the case?”
Scholar Qiao was momentarily at a loss for words.
The girl in front of him held up the goose, still waiting for his response.
Not wanting to burden the child, Scholar Qiao took it and also conceded verbally, “It’s not a big deal… If Ning Ning truly wants me to teach her, then starting tomorrow, she can study with Mianmian.”
Chang Suining bowed again: “Thank you, Father.”
“But we agreed earlier that she has to learn both,” Scholar Qiao said, settling the matter on the spot and inviting Master Zhu to bear witness: “It’s troublesome for you to help me confirm this; this girl promised to learn fishing with me and cannot go back on her word!”
Master Zhu replied: “……Alright.”
He had never done such a strange witnessing in his life.
“There’s a saying that some matters are more important than others, and teaching is the same… Come on, Ning Ning, let’s focus on the essentials today.” Scholar Qiao said as he moved a bamboo stool to the riverside.
Chang Suining had no choice but to walk over.
Once she sat down, it was already getting dark.
Just as it was about to be too late to go back, Scholar Qiao reluctantly nodded to let her go. Before leaving, he reminded Chang Suining that the essence of studying was diligence; now that she had taken a teacher, she couldn’t take it lightly—she should prepare her things overnight and move over tomorrow.
There was a dormitory for students within the Imperial Academy. Usually, doctoral scholars couldn’t stay overnight there, but Qiao Yang, as the head of the Academy, had a separate residence because he had a lot of complicated and irregular duties.
With the holy emperor’s special decree, the Qiao family of four had always lived within the Academy.
Since the Academy was not close to the General’s mansion, commuting back and forth would take half a day, so Qiao Yang and Chang Kuo decided to have Chang Suining live there, going back to the Chang residence every few days.
When the Qiao Yang’s wife and Qiao Yubai learned of this, they were all overjoyed.
That evening, Madam Qiao, Wang Shi, forgot to scold her husband for running off to fish and busily prepared a bedroom for Chang Suining, getting bedding and other daily necessities ready.
Qiao Yubai also quickly added new writing supplies in the study to prepare for Chang Suining’s arrival.
While the Qiao family was bustling with anticipation, Chang Sui’an learned about his sister moving to the Imperial Academy to study and felt as if the sky was falling.
Nightmarish memories of his childhood resurfaced—
When Chang Suining was young, her shy and gentle nature suggested she would be better off raised in the Qiao family, so after discussions, Chang Kuo and the others decided to send her there.
However, Chang Sui’an couldn’t accept it and ran to the Qiao family, crying and demanding to take his sister back.
Everyone thought the child would just cry for a few days, so Chang Kuo took his son back.
But the next day, as soon as the sky brightened, Chang Sui’an ran to the Qiao family’s door, crying loudly—“Give me back my sister!”
Chang Kuo dragged him away again and forbade him from going out.
But Chang Sui’an always managed to sneak out, coming every morning to cry, rain or shine, more punctual than a rooster.
Just crying wasn’t enough; he brought ink and wrote four large characters on the gate of the Qiao family: “Give me back Shushu.”
In the end, he turned his grievances towards Qiao Yubai, who was the same age as him—“You already have a sister, why do you want to take mine?”
Qiao Yubai retorted confidently—“Sisters look different. Who would dislike having more sisters?”
This greedy remark broke Chang Sui’an’s heart, and the two became rivals.
But the Qiao family, unable to bear the disturbance, could only return the sister to him, settling the matter.
Yet now, the sister he had fought tooth and nail to reclaim was going to the Qiao family again—
Chang Sui’an felt reluctant and worried that his sister would not adjust well to life at the Qiao family, tossing and turning all night without sleep.
That night, a light rain fell, just like his feelings as an elder brother.
The next morning, the sky cleared up, and droplets of rain hung on the banana leaves, shimmering in the golden sunlight, making the leaves look even greener.
In the residence of Princess Chongyue, Yu Xue was lost in thought while staring at a banana plant in the corner of the wall.
A breeze came, causing the banana leaves to sway, and a droplet fell.
At this moment, another maid walked out from the courtyard and came to her side: “Aunt Yu Xue, the medicine is ready. Come back and drink it.”
Yu Xue, still dazed, nodded.
She pulled her gaze away from the banana tree but suddenly changed expression when she noticed the marks on the wall.
Her expression trembled, and she quickly walked over.
“Aunt Yu Xue!” The two maids hurriedly followed her.
“It’s His Highness…” Yu Xue suddenly exclaimed, “His Highness has returned!”
(End of chapter)
►►CLICK HERE FOR ADVANCE CHAPTERS◄◄
Comments
Post a Comment