Grand Tutor Gao glanced at Wang Zhong, raised his fisted hands, and called out loudly toward the tightly closed door of the Wenyuan Pavilion, "I am here naturally to request an audience with His Majesty!"
Wang Zhong bowed with a smile and said, "Yes, this servant will go inform His Majesty at once."
With that, Wang Zhong hurriedly pushed open the door and stepped into the Wenyuan Pavilion. He whispered to the Emperor, who was reviewing memorials, "Your Majesty, Grand Tutor Gao is here to seek an audience."
Dantai Ji paused his brush, and ink soaked through the paper. He looked up at Wang Zhong, "The Grand Tutor?"
Wang Zhong said, "It is indeed the Grand Tutor."
Dantai Ji set down his brush, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "What has brought the Grand Tutor here?"
Wang Zhong lowered his voice, "This servant does not know."
Dantai Ji glanced at the closed door and said, "Invite the Grand Tutor in."
Wang Zhong said, "Yes."
He hurried out to lead the Grand Tutor inside.
Grand Tutor Gao stepped into the Wenyuan Pavilion unhurriedly, raised his arms and bowed to the Emperor in salute, "This old subject greets Your Majesty."
Dantai Ji got up to help him up, "Grand Tutor, please rise."
"May I ask what important matter brings you here today?"
The Grand Tutor glanced at the Emperor and said, "This old subject has come precisely for the matters of the Wenchang Academy."
Dantai Ji said, "As the Emperor's Tutor, you work tirelessly to teach the children. Have any of those naughty little ones caused you displeasure?"
The Grand Tutor said, "Not at all."
Dantai Ji secretly let out a breath of relief, his tensed shoulders relaxing a little. He asked, "Fuxi has just started attending the Wenchang Academy, and I fear her foundational knowledge is not solid enough. I will have to trouble the Grand Tutor to put extra effort into guiding her."
The Grand Tutor gave Dantai Ji a strange look and said, "Your Majesty, as Fuxi's father, have you never examined Princess Fuxi's studies?"
Dantai Ji was taken aback, coughed lightly, and said, "Princess Fuxi has only just returned to my side. I was afraid that if I were to assess her schoolwork, it would harm the affection between father and daughter."
The Grand Tutor bowed respectfully to Dantai Ji and said, "Congratulations, Your Majesty. Princess Fuxi is a child prodigy."
Dantai Ji hesitated for a moment and asked, "Fuxi? A child prodigy?"
Even Eunuch Wang Zhong, who had been standing with his head bowed, jerked his head up, thinking he had misheard. Had the Grand Tutor just been praising Princess Fuxi?
The Grand Tutor said, "That is correct. Yesterday after class, I told Princess Fuxi to memorize the first chapter of *Youxue Qionglin* after lessons. But the Princess ended up memorizing the entire first volume of *Youxue Qionglin*!"
Dantai Ji leaned sharply forward, "The entire first volume!"
The Grand Tutor said, "Yes, the entire first volume, which contains seven essays. I asked the Princess, and she told me she finished memorizing the whole book the night before, before going to bed. Even though she spent less than half a day on it, she can recite the text perfectly without a single mistake. She is the most bright and intelligent person I have ever seen in my life. You must know, Your Majesty, that even you, who was such a sharp-witted child, took a full five days to memorize the first volume of *Youxue Qionglin* when you were young."
"Is my child truly that intelligent? She managed to memorize the entire first volume of *Youxue Qionglin* in just half a day?" Dantai Ji asked urgently.
He knew *Youxue Qionglin* very well. When he was a child, he had studied day and night for five full days before barely managing to memorize it. Yaoyao was so brilliant that she had committed the whole text to memory thoroughly in just half a day!
The Grand Tutor said, "This subject would never dare to exaggerate and mislead the young generation."
Dantai Ji's face lit up with unbridled joy. Earlier, when he saw the Grand Tutor, he had feared the old man had come to complain, worried that Yaoyao might have been scolded at the Wenchang Academy. But he never expected Yaoyao to be this intelligent. She was truly the child of him and Huaiyin!
Yaoyao must have inherited all the intelligence from both him and Huaiyin.
Seeing that the Emperor had not spoken for a long time, the Grand Tutor added, "If Your Majesty does not believe me, you may test Princess Fuxi yourself."
Dantai Ji came back to his senses and said, "I naturally trust what the Grand Tutor says. But I would like to ask, in your view, who has greater aptitude for learning, Princess Fuxi or Princess Shengping?"
The Grand Tutor was silent for a long moment before he replied, "Princess Fuxi is superior. That said, Princess Shengping is also one of the most outstanding students I have ever taught."
Dantai Ji could not suppress the smile spreading across his face. "Grand Tutor, do not praise the two sisters too highly in public. I am afraid they will become too proud and complacent."
The Grand Tutor closed his eyes, choosing to ignore the Emperor's visibly proud look. He coughed lightly and said, "This old subject knows my limits. But both of the two Imperial Highnesses have areas where they could improve."
"Areas for improvement?" Dantai Ji perked up with interest. He glanced outside at the sky and said, "It is still early. Why does the Grand Tutor not sit down and discuss this with me in detail? Wang Zhong, bring a seat!"
The Grand Tutor did not refuse. He thanked the Emperor for his grace, sat down on the grand master's chair, and had a sip of tea before he began to speak.
"Let us start with the Eldest Princess, Princess Fuxi. Princess Fuxi is intelligent and diligent, but her calligraphy is unreadable. I hope Your Majesty will supervise her more closely on this."
Dantai Ji said, "Fuxi is still young. I will check on her calligraphy practice more often from now on, and she will definitely improve it. I wonder what Princess Shengping's area for improvement is?"
The Grand Tutor took another sip of tea before he said, "Princess Shengping... it is hard to say if this is truly a flaw. It is more her overbearing desire to excel. Today..."
The Grand Tutor told the Emperor the whole story of how Princess Shengping had made exaggerated claims in class that day, only to be exposed later.
"Having a competitive spirit is not wrong, but she should not have lied to her teacher. Moreover, I have noticed that Princess Shengping and Princess Fuxi do not seem to get along."
Dantai Ji knitted his brows, resting his fingers lightly on the tabletop as he tapped it a few times.
"Thank you, Grand Tutor, for telling me the truth today. I understand now. Is there anything else of importance you wish to mention?"
The Grand Tutor stood up, raised his arms in salute, and said, "Princess Fuxi is extremely intelligent. This subject believes that in just a few months, Princess Fuxi will have mastered all the books that a princess is supposed to study. By then, I fear there will be no more books left for me to teach her."
Dantai Ji's eyes deepened. He looked at the Grand Tutor for a long moment before he said, "Once she has finished the books for princesses, she can study other books."
The Grand Tutor looked up at Dantai Ji in astonishment. "Your Majesty means... you allow Princess Fuxi to study the political texts, commentaries on governance, and other statecraft books that are meant for princes?"
Dantai Ji said, "Reading more books can never be wrong."
The Grand Tutor said, "But what if after Princess Fuxi reads those books, she harbors ambitions that..."
Before the Grand Tutor could finish his sentence, Dantai Ji cut in, "The Princess is well-behaved and will never do anything improper. Since she has such extraordinary talent, how can we let it go to waste, trapping her within the rigid bounds of old rules?
"I believe the Grand Tutor came here today precisely out of a desire to cherish this exceptional talent."
The Grand Tutor gave the Emperor on the high throne a long, meaningful look, then bowed deeply again. "This old subject accepts your order! I will teach the Princess to the very best of my ability."
...
Rongyao finished her tour of the Changle Palace, settled her mind, and recited a few more passages of books. When the time came, she started practicing her calligraphy.
She had just finished writing three sheets of paper when she heard movement outside.
She was about to stand up to check when the study door was pushed open.
It was her father, the Emperor.
Rongyao quickly hopped down from her chair and ran over to him. "Father, you're here!"
Dantai Ji smiled, squatted down, and lifted Rongyao into his arms. "Grand Tutor Gao came to see me today, and he praised you highly for your intelligence."
Rongyao's eyes lit up. "Really?"
Dantai Ji said, "Of course it's true. My Yaoyao has done so well. Is there any reward you would like?"
Rongyao tilted her little head and thought for a long while. Finally, she looked at her father with her big, watery eyes and said, "Yaoyao can't think of any reward right now. I'll ask Father for it later when I come up with something!"
Dantai Ji burst into laughter. "Alright. You can tell me whenever you think of it."
Then Dantai Ji glanced at the table, his gaze falling on the sheets of calligraphy paper.
"Were you practicing calligraphy just now, Yaoyao?"
Rongyao glanced at the characters on the desk, a flicker of panic flashing across her eyes. "Yes, they still don't look very good right now, but if Yaoyao practices a few more days, I'm sure I'll get much better!"
Dantai Ji set his daughter down, walked over and picked up those sheets of paper. After seeing the characters on them, the corner of his eye couldn't help twitching.
These characters really weren't anything to write home about — it wouldn't even be an exaggeration to call them ugly.
Rongyao tugged at the hem of her father's imperial robe, looked up at him and asked in a soft, glutinous voice, "Are they very ugly?"
Dantai Ji looked down at his well-behaved daughter, and he could not make up his mind whether to tell her the truth so that she would keep working hard, or to tell a little white lie to make her happy.
"Actually, they are not that... bad," Dantai Ji pointed at the paper and said through gritted teeth. "It's Father's fault that you haven't practiced your calligraphy well. When you first started learning to write, Father did not supervise and teach you. It's not your mistake."
After saying that, Dantai Ji called for Wang Zhong who was standing behind him.
Wang Zhong hurriedly placed the stack of books he was holding on Rongyao's desk.
"When Father was learning calligraphy back then, I practiced the characters of this great master. Rongyao can do as Father did, and copy this master's works."
As Dantai Ji spoke, he lifted his daughter to sit on the chair, picked up a brush, and handed it to Rongyao.
"Come, Father will teach you personally."
"Okay!"
And so, the father and daughter leaned over the desk and practiced their calligraphy earnestly. Whenever Rongyao made a mistake, Dantai Ji would patiently hold her small hand and guide her stroke by stroke.
Cui Huaiyin walked in carrying a plate of pastries, and this was the scene that greeted her.
Her eyes instantly turned red.
When their daughter was three years old, she could memorize a whole poem completely just after listening to Cui Huaiyin read it once. When she shared this wonderful news with Zhu Wangbei, even his smile was forced, let alone him ever being this patient to teach their daughter how to write.
This is so nice...
Rongyao looked at the neat, pretty character "Zhou" she had just written on the paper, and looked up at her father with bright, sparkling eyes.
Dantai Ji said, "Not bad. My daughter is indeed so clever. Once this character is a bit more refined, it will have the elegant bearing of a great calligrapher."
Seeing the character, Cui Huaiyin could not help but giggle, but said in all earnestness, "That's right, Yaoyao, you write so beautifully. But practicing calligraphy does not need to be rushed. It's time for dinner."
Right after Cui Huaiyin finished her sentence, Rongyao's stomach let out a loud growl.
Dantai Ji froze for a moment, then burst into laughter once he realized what the sound was. He lifted his daughter off the chair and said, "Let's go for dinner. You must eat a bit more today."
Rongyao said, "Okay!"
Then Rongyao walked out, holding her mother's hand in one of hers, and her father's hand in the other.
But the dishes had barely been set on the table when someone rushed over in a panic to report, "Your Majesty! It's terrible! Princess Shengping has come down with a high fever, and she just fainted!"
