Master, remember your persona! You are a subject now, how can you tell the emperor the complete truth! What if he gets angry and orders you to be caned? I'd have to waste divine power to transfer the cane strokes onto him instead.
Emperor Mingxi: Great Artifact, is there no basic trust between man and artifact? Which of your eyes saw me daring to cane the little immortal lord?
Transferring it to him instead! He... is indeed scared now!
And you're even inciting the little immortal lord not to be honest with me. This isn't just about words! This is sowing discord in our relationship! (Bites handkerchief, fuming angrily JPG)
"Understood, understood. The emperor isn't that petty. Besides, being overly cautious and submissive is something I, your master, just can't pull off!"
Hearing her words, Emperor Mingxi didn't seem angry but instead laughed heartily, saying, "You are all still young, so naturally your minds are preoccupied with play.
But my primary purpose in having you study is that learning can help you understand principles, cultivate your character, establish virtue and become proper adults, broaden your knowledge, and comprehend worldly affairs.
If any among you can achieve these sixteen words, your studies will not have been in vain."
Yue Fuguang nodded. "Your Majesty speaks wisely."
[Master, you surely don't really think that in your heart, right?]
"You know, yet you still ask?"
[Master, aren't you planning to drop some physics, chemistry, biology, or geography to give these people a shock?]
"Toss that knowledge to them, and will they even understand it? They haven't even figured out why alchemical furnaces explode during elixir refining!"
[True, alchemical furnace explosions do fall under the category of chemistry. If that were researched and clever people applied it, why would the Danyan army still fear the cavalry of Beili and Qiang?
I heard the 'stone lacquer' tribute from Liangzhou is just gathering dust in the storerooms. These people really don't know how to use good resources.]
Lu Qi and Huo Ying exchanged a glance, seeing confusion in each other's eyes. They couldn't help but prick up their ears to listen more carefully. Unfortunately, heaven didn't grant their wish—the Great Artifact actually stopped talking again!
No, we... our ears were all prepared, and you give us this? Great Artifact, is it really good to leave your sentence half-finished like this?
How are we supposed to sleep tonight? We'll probably wake ourselves up with anxiety while lying in bed.
The two men, with tacit understanding, looked towards their Emperor again. Meeting the Emperor's equally clueless gaze, they then turned to look at Yu Chongshan.
Yu Chongshan turned his head away, refusing to look at them. These people just want to gain advantages from his granddaughter. His granddaughter will speak if she wants to; he certainly won't proactively pry.
After all, they are family!
Emperor Mingxi said, "Fuguang, if you get tired from studying, you can tell your tutors. Taking a couple days off is also permissible."
The Seventh Prince and the Ninth Princess immediately asked, "Father Emperor, can we also request time off if we get tired from studying?"
The Ninth Princess was cleverer. She added, "Father Emperor, Little Ninth only needs one day off."
The Seventh Prince quickly followed up, "Father Emperor, your son also only needs one day."
Emperor Mingxi was both amused and exasperated by these two youngsters. Little Ninth was fine; as a princess, she just needed to marry into a good family in the future to enjoy a life of luxury. How much she learned depended on the child herself.
But the Seventh Prince was already twelve and still mixed in with the younger children's class. Even he, as the father emperor, felt embarrassed!
So he reprimanded, "Old Seventh, is your skin itching? Do you need your elder brothers to 'loosen' it for you?"
The Third, Fifth, and Sixth Princes, who had already returned to the neighboring classroom to study after morning court, heard their father emperor's suggestion and felt somewhat eager, especially the Sixth Prince, who was only a year older than the Seventh Prince and had wanted a legitimate reason to hit his younger brother for a long time!
Seeing his Sixth Brother already rolling up his sleeves, the Seventh Prince shrank his neck and quickly put on an obsequious smile, fawning, "Father Emperor, your son was just joking. Studying brings me joy, knowledge helps me grow. I absolutely love studying to death; how could I possibly bear to take time off?"
His words immediately amused everyone present. After the laughter subsided, Emperor Mingxi said, "Then tell your father emperor, when will you be able to advance to the higher class and move to study with your elder brothers?"
The Seventh Prince, who had just been feeling rather pleased with his own wit, immediately wilted, stammering, "Your son... your son..."
His eyes darted to the Eighth Princess and Yue Fuguang in front of him, and he brightened up, saying, "Your son wants to advance together with Eighth Sister and the Junior Mentor. The three of us are good friends; of course, we should go together."
The Eighth Princess turned her head and glared at her Seventh Brother. He never thought of her for good things, but when it came to sharing blame, this brother didn't hesitate for a second to include her!
Yue Fuguang, however, didn't mind. She had just arrived and felt no pressure about advancing.
[The Seventh Prince is a pity, though. His future death is too tragic! The Eighth Princess is also a pity!]
"Stop with the pity. Aren't we here? Little Eighth will be fine."
Seventh Prince: Dying tragically is one thing—it hasn't happened yet anyway—but the Junior Mentor said Eighth Sister will be fine. Did you forget about me?
Won't you spare a thought for this peanut? (Feeling wronged JPG)
The Seventh Prince really wanted to say something now to assert his presence, but under the gazes of his father emperor and elder brothers, he reflexively shrank back. Fine, he wisely shut his mouth.
Crown Prince, Third, Fifth, Sixth Princes: Great, we learned about another brother meeting a bad end! It's foreseeable that as his elder brothers, our own fates probably won't be much better!
They all felt somewhat envious of the Crown Prince and the Eighth Princess. These two were explicitly stated to be protected.
Meanwhile, the Eighth Princess, deeply moved, tightly clutched the handkerchief in her hand, trying hard not to cry.
Yue Fuguang's eyes sparkled with an idea. She said, "Your Majesty, then Fuguang will really request a couple days off in a few days, okay!"
Emperor Mingxi smiled and nodded. "Alright, I grant it on behalf of the tutors. Does Fuguang have any plans for her vacation?"
"I have a small estate. Since spring is almost here, I wanted to go take an early look to see what crops are suitable to plant there."
Hearing this, Emperor Mingxi and the others instantly became interested. Although the Junior Mentor had already promised His Majesty to provide high-yield seeds, it didn't stop them from being curious about what rare things the Junior Mentor might plant on her own estate.
So Emperor Mingxi smiled and asked, "Where is Fuguang's estate located? Is the area large enough?"
"I haven't been there myself. I heard from my mother it's over a hundred mu of land with a small hill."
Having never farmed in her past life, she really had no concept of the size of this land.
"Over a hundred mu is indeed a bit small!" Emperor Mingxi slightly frowned. "How about this: I'll also go out to relax with you then. We'll see whose lands are adjacent to yours. If it's not enough for you to manage, we can just expand outwards."
Yue Fuguang thought it over and agreed. Any land bordering their family's couldn't possibly belong to ordinary commoners; it was most likely owned by some official.
She wouldn't feel the slightest pang of conscience about taking land from such people to farm.
Yue Fuguang thought for a moment and added, "Your Majesty, my two elder sisters will also take leave then. We agreed to go to my estate together."
[Master, when did you agree on that with them?]
"I'll tell them after school when I return to the manor."
Yu Ningxin and Yu Ningxuan hadn't expected their seventh sister to still think of them. Their hearts swelled with emotion, especially seeing her conversing confidently with the Emperor, which inexplicably filled them with pride.
It seemed what their father said was right. With Seventh Sister in the family, the daughters of the Yu family could also choose not to be confined to the limited world of the inner chambers anymore.
