Chapter 101: The King’s Youngest Disciple
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation.
“No, I don’t want it! I don’t want to be enlightened!” Lu Chao Chao’s tiny face was flushed with anger as she slammed her hands on the table in defiance of the king. “Repay… what repay?!” she lamented, her failing memory making her question why she had to study.
The king pressed his lips tightly together. “Look at yourself, you’re so angry you can’t even use the right words. If you don’t study, you’ll end up illiterate! It’s called repaying kindness with ingratitude.”
“I’m illiterate, and I’m proud of it!” Lu Chao Chao puffed out her cheeks. “I’m so angry! I won’t go to school!”
The king remained calm. “I never said you had to go to school now. Enlightenment means you should at least know how to speak properly.” Princes usually began their education at three years old. Starting at two for Chao Chao wasn’t excessive, was it?
“Ingratitude!” she shouted, spittle flying in her rage.
It was then that Prime Minister Yuan, with his white beard, remarked, “You little rascal, you don’t know what’s good for you. If it weren’t for you saving my grandson, I wouldn’t be teaching you.”
He and Royal Tutor Xu were political rivals, and despite Xu’s retirement, their factions remained at odds.
Lu Chao Chao kept waving her tiny hands, retreating. “I don’t want to learn, I don’t want to learn.”
Surprise and pure fright mixed with ingratitude fueled her anger. She was so upset that she started toddling out of the royal study on her short legs, tears streaming down her face. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became until she burst into tears.
The fifth and sixth princes, who had been building a snowman in the royal garden, heard her cries and ran over. They found her sitting on the ground, her face covered in tears and snot, crying miserably and muttering incoherently.
“Waah waah waah… I don’t want to study… Waah, I studied in my past life, why must I study in this one too? I’m illiterate, I’m happy. Waah… I don’t want to go to the royal academy to study! I don’t want to study, don’t want to write, waah.”
“You’re only one year old, and Father wants you to study?” The sixth prince looked sympathetic, recalling how his hands had been beaten red when he started his education at three.
The fifth prince glared at him, signaling not to exacerbate the situation.
“Chao Chao, don’t cry. If you go to the Royal Academy, you can study with us,” the fifth prince offered, trying to comfort her. “The ground is cold, don’t cry anymore.”
Yuqin and Yuhua both gratefully thanked the two princes, but the little girl was too upset to listen.
“Studying can make you wise, it can enlighten you, and you won’t be deceived by bad people. Don’t cry anymore,” the fifth prince reassured her. “Besides, the meals in the study room are extremely delicious.”
The mention of delicious meals caught Lu Chao Chao’s attention, her eyes red but shining. “Delicious? Weally dewishus?”
The fifth prince, taken aback, awkwardly replied, “Yes, and there are many little princes in the study room, so the food is mostly what children love.”
Tears still hanging from her eyes, Lu Chao Chao swallowed hard, considering that studying might not be so bad after all.
“It is a great honor to enter the Royal Academy, and the Prime Minister occasionally gives lectures there. My mother said if I could be accepted as the Prime Minister’s last disciple, it would be a great fortune for my ancestors.”
“Don’t even think about it. Even our eldest brother was rejected by the Prime Minister,” the sixth prince said with a cheerful smile.
Royal Tutor Xu was the king’s teacher, representing a different significance, but the Prime Minister had countless students all over the world. Being under his name would earn the respect of scholars everywhere.
Lu Chao Chao pouted. “I don’t want him as my teacher.”
The fifth prince widened his eyes. “The Prime Minister wants to be your teacher? To enlighten you?!!” His voice cracked with surprise.
Lu Chao Chao muttered reluctantly, “Yes. Inwatitude. I saved his only grandson, and he wants to teach me to wead!”
The fifth prince was almost crying with envy. The Prime Minister personally teaching! He looked at Lu Chao Chao, a one-year-old child, wondering how many scholars would go mad if they learned of this news. Even Lu Jing Huai, who once wanted to study under the Prime Minister, wasn’t even looked at by him and ended up under the principal of Tianhong Academy, who was also a student of the Prime Minister.
Lu Chao Chao had no idea her opportunity would make Lu Yuan Ze and Lu Jing Huai furious. The fifth prince, seeing Chao Chao’s mood stabilizing, finally took her for a stroll in the garden.
“What a beautiful lady…” Lu Chao Chao said, staring at the woman in the plum garden. A beautiful woman in palace attire was praying under the plum tree, faintly visible and very beautiful.
“That is Consort Qin, the most beautiful woman in the harem in her youth. She is the mother of the second prince. This is called ‘concealed beauty behind the pipa.’” The fifth prince, having read books, explained seriously.
“Deep-fried woquats? Mixed with noodles? Can it be dewishus?” Lu Chao Chao was very doubtful.
The fifth prince helplessly held his forehead. “You… should start your education soon.” But, won’t she drive her teacher mad?
Lu Chao Chao was puzzled. Yuqin and Yuhua exchanged glances and saw the little miss smiling, finally letting out a sigh of relief.
“My first birfday celebwashun, will you come?” Lu Chao Chao invited her little friends.
“Definitely,” the fifth prince responded obediently, looking very much like an elder brother.
“Of course, attending your first birthday celebration means we can have a day off,” the sixth prince added, not fond of school.
The three stood in front of the long corridor, watching the palace servants clear a beehive from the roof’s corners. With the cold winter, the bees had already left, leaving only the hive.
“Your Highness, the dowager is calling you back,” a servant reported, and the fifth prince said goodbye to the two. At that moment, the beehive was knocked down, and honey flowed all over the ground, sticking to the pillars. The crystal-clear honey shone temptingly in the spring sunlight.
The sixth prince and Lu Chao Chao both swallowed hard, their eyes fixed on the honey. They looked at their attendants, who were three meters away from them.
“Do you think it’s sweet?” the sixth prince asked, eyes fixated.
“Definitely sweet,” Lu Chao Chao replied confidently.
Unconsciously, the two moved closer to the pillar, with the palace servants still cleaning the beehive on the ground. They leaned on the pillar and secretly licked it.
Swoosh… their eyes lit up.
A moment later, the palace was filled with the wolf-like cries of Lu Chao Chao again. “Waah waah waah!!”
“Waah waah waah…” Another voice joined in the crying.
Prime Minister Yuan emerged from the royal study, with the king’s words echoing in his mind. Chao Chao, although only one year old, is very talented. She managed to return safely from Fufeng Mountain, bringing everyone back safely. She must be very wise. Being smart with principles is indeed very rare.
Prime Minister Yuan thought he had found a rare good student, even in his old age. But as he stepped out of the hall, he saw his last disciple, his good student, sticking her tongue out to lick the honey on the pillar. Because it was too cold, her tongue got stuck to the pillar!
At that moment, she was hugging the pillar, crying loudly.
Prime Minister Yuan thought: Which would kill me faster, defying the king or teaching her?
He wanted a last disciple, not one to send him to his grave!
Which would kill me faster, defying the king or teaching her?
This sentence spark me with a long laughter…. defying king is speed poison, teaching her is slow poison, at the end of the day it’s all poison….
I totally agree??
I totally agree, lol
I also agree