As Shen Qingzhuo spoke, his eyes were fixed on the little wolf cub. As soon as he finished speaking, he noticed that his straight back suddenly relaxed a little.
This reaction was completely within Young Master Shen’s expectations.
As expected, Xiao Shen quickly raised his head and looked at him directly with his beautiful obsidian eyes. “What does Master wants in return from me?”
Shen Qingzhuo clasped his hands together, supported his chin lazily, and asked, “What can you give me?”
Xiao Shen pursed his lips.
What can he, who has nothing today, give to his master?
Shen Qingzhuo patiently waited for what was to come.
“Since Master is willing to teach me, Master must have your reasons.” After a brief silence, Xiao Shen said with a burning gaze, “Whatever Master wants, even if I can’t give it to you today, I will definitely be able to give it to you tomorrow.”
Shen Qingzhuo carefully looked at the young tyrant, and after a moment, he suddenly laughed: “Good, very good.”
His smile melted the ice and snow instantly, but Xiao Shen didn’t understand whether his reaction was satisfaction or dissatisfaction, and he couldn’t help but frown.
“Don’t be so sad all the time, you are still young.” Shen Qingzhuo stood up and called out in a raised voice, “Xiao Dezi.”
Xiao Dezi quickly rushed in from the door: “What does Young Master needs?”
Shen Qingzhuo: “Tell people to remove all the food.”
Xiao Dezi: “Yes, Young Master.”
Several young eunuchs walked in with their heads and eyes lowered. They quickly took the lunch away, not daring to look at their young master from beginning to end.
In a blink of an eye, only the master and the disciple were left in the small study.
Shen Qingzhuo walked to the desk, rolled up his sleeves, picked up the brush, and wrote two lines of poetry.
He finished the last stroke steadily and glanced at the dumpling, who was standing uncomfortably in the corner. “What are you doing standing there?”
“I…” Xiao Shen put his clenched fists behind his back and couldn’t help but ask in a low voice, “Can I still continue to study?”
“Otherwise?” Shen Qingzhuo raised his eyebrows slightly. “You turned a deaf ear to what Master has said to you again.”
There was a hint of confusion in his dark eyes.
Shen Qingzhou: “Come here.”
The training over the past few days has begun to show results, and Xiao Shen subconsciously followed his orders and walked over.
Shen Qingzhuo raised his hand and gently pinched the dumpling’s little face. “You really can’t give what Master wants now, but fortunately Master has confidence in you.”
He originally wanted to tell his little disciple directly that, yes, I was nice to you, obviously because I had ulterior motives.
His little disciple would never believe such nonsense as “one still has a conscience” and “do good deeds every day” from the bottom of his heart.
Unexpectedly, his little disciple was more perceptive than he expected and even knew how to make big promises to win him over as an ally. This was a pleasant surprise.
Unexpectedly, his little disciple was more perceptive than he expected and even knew how to make big promises to win him over as an ally. This was a pleasant surprise.
Xiao Shen was obviously not used to this kind of almost intimate behavior, and he turned his head back awkwardly.
Shen Qingzhuo sighed softly: “Why, Master worked so hard to teach you to read and write, and you are not happy when I pinch your face once?”
Compared to how thin he was when he first saw him, the dumpling’s little face has finally gained some flesh after being fed for some time.
Although the feel was still not good enough, but at least he can pinch it.
Xiao Shen paused in his dodging action and stood still.
Shen Qingzhuo was in a good mood. He pinched the little face with his fingertips again and then began a new round of teaching.
He had checked before that the compulsory courses for the Princes of Dayong were traditional classics and history books. The classics they studied were the Thirteen Classics of traditional Confucianism, including “The Book of Changes”, “The Book of Songs”, “The Book of History”, “The Book of Rites”, “The Spring and Autumn Annals”, etc.
There are already twenty-one histories, plus the “History of the Dayong Dynasty” compiled by the historians of Dayong, which makes up the twenty-two histories.
Unfortunately, he did not have a deep knowledge of traditional Confucianism and did not have the confidence to explain the Thirteen Confucian Classics in an easy-to-understand manner. Therefore, he decided to start with the “Book of Songs”, which he was more familiar with and was more suitable for beginners.
“The orioles are singing on the island in the river. The fair lady is the ideal match for the gentleman.”
The first poem in the “Book of Songs” is “Guanju”, a love song describing the love between a man and a woman.
Shen Qingzhuo thoughtfully thought that love should be a beautiful thing. In the original book, the tyrant had never been moved, had no feelings, and had never loved anyone in his life. This might be his biggest personality flaw.
“The Book of Songs” is easy to read. Although Xiao Shen did not understand the deep meaning of it, he memorized it smoothly after reciting it twice.
Perhaps because he was frightened at lunch, he absorbed new knowledge more eagerly than usual today. Even when the light from the sky completely disappeared, he still looked unsatisfied.
Shen Qingzhuo had already talked until his mouth was dry, so he stopped to drink some tea to moisten his throat. He couldn’t help but express his deep respect for the teachers who had taught him when he was in school.
“Let’s stop here for today.” He put down the teacup and cleared his throat. “If you still want to continue studying, take the book back with you.”
Xiao Shen showed a hint of joy: “Can I take it back?”
Shen Qingzhuo reminded: “But you have to keep it well and don’t let others find it.”
Xiao Shen nodded vigorously, as if afraid that he would go back on his word, and hugged the book in his arms as if it were a beloved gift.
Shen Qingzhuo was a little amused and flicked his forehead gently. “Don’t study till late at night, combine work and rest, remember?”
Xiao Shen nodded again and hugged the book in his arms tightly.
Shen Qingzhuo noticed his little action and remembered that the last-minute preparation he had done in the morning had not come in handy. “By the way, I haven’t taught you how to do horse stance yet.”
Xiao Shen: “……”
Young Master Shen smiled and said, “I can’t teach you advanced skills like horse riding and archery, but I can teach you how to strengthen your body.”
Xiao Shen felt that the smile had some ill intentions, but he could not resist his master’s decision for the time being, so he could only follow him into the yard.
“Come. First step, open your feet to the width of your shoulders.” Shen Qingzhuo took the lead and carefully adjusted the posture of his little apprentice. “Slightly squat, turn your toes forward, and slowly move your center of gravity downward.”
Xiao Shen’s body was very stiff. After he had been doing the horse stance for a while, his calves began to tremble, shaking like fallen leaves in the autumn wind. But he gritted his teeth and continued to persevere without saying a word.
Shen Qingzhuo saw this and estimated that the first practice time was about enough, so he said, “Alright, stand up straight and be careful!”
He quickly took a step forward, stretched out his hand, and caught his little disciple, who was staggering to the ground.
The expected pain did not come as expected; instead, he crashed into a warm embrace. Xiao Shen was stunned, his mind was blank, and only the pleasant fragrance lingered at the tip of his nose.
“Are you alright?” Shen Qingzhuo couldn’t help but feel annoyed. “Your little body is so frail, I shouldn’t torture you.”
The most urgent task is to make his little disciple plumper.
“I’m fine.” Xiao Shen buried his head in the warm chest and replied in a muffled voice.
“Good that you’re fine.” Shen Qingzhuo breathed a sigh of relief and loosened his arms. “Can you stand steadily?”
Xiao Shen had recovered a long time ago, but the moment he was pulled out of his master’s arms, it seemed as if something in his heart was also pulled out.
“I’ll go back first, Master.” He lowered his long, thick eyelashes and let his inexplicably lost eyes fall to the ground.
“En, go ahead.” Shen Qingzhuo waved his hand and reminded him worriedly, “Be careful on the road.”
“Alright.” Xiao Shen responded in a low voice, turned around, and left Jiyue Pavilion under the moonlight.
The winter night wind is piecing and cold. Xiao Shen walked on the familiar palace road alone and couldn’t help but shrink his neck that was exposed to the cold wind.
It was only a short quarter of an hour from Jiyue Pavilion to the Cold Palace, but it felt like falling from the fairy palace in heaven to the underworld.
He stood in front of the overgrown cold palace, looking at the gloomy cage in the dark. He couldn’t control himself and felt a deep disgust from the bottom of his heart.
Twelve years ago, he uttered his first cry here, and since then he has been trapped here for a long time.
Originally, he had gotten used to everything here—the moldy steamed buns, the damp bedding, the cold bed, and the squeaking mice in the corners.
But tonight, he always felt that the noise of mice was noisy, annoying, and upsetting.
Xiao Shen sat on the bed with his knees hugged, staring coldly at the mice that came out to look for food at night.
Due to the lack of sufficient food, the rats in the cold palace were very thin, and their movements became even slower due to the cold weather.
In his long-term process of dealings with them, Xiao Shen has summed up enough experience. He got up from the bed, his footsteps as light as if he carried nothing. When he approached the corner, he lay down, crawling forward in the darkness, waiting for his opportunity to move.
With a “squeak” sound, he caught the escaped mouse with lightning speed.
“I caught you.” He looked at the struggling mouse in his hand under the moonlight, and a strange smile appeared on his face.
He climbed up, squatted on the ground, stepped on the mouse, exerted force little by little, and then relaxed a little, repeating this several times, watching the mouse squeaking and struggling desperately with satisfaction.
Just like himself, struggling in vain and miserably under the soles of those people’s shoes…
Xiao Shen’s face suddenly turned cold, and he instantly lost interest in continuing to play.
He loosened his foot, and just as the mouse was about to run away, he stepped down hard.
At the same time, a gentle voice came from his ear: “Little disciple, are you asleep?”
Xiao Shen lost his focus and paused, causing the little mouse, which should have been ripped apart, to escape.
After a moment, he put away the gloomy look on his face, turned around, and looked out the window.
Under the bright moonlight, a slender young man like jade was standing in front of the window with his hands behind his back. The moonlight was hazy, but his eyes were accustomed to the darkness, so he could clearly capture that the young man was smiling at him tenderly.
Xiao Shen swallowed his dry saliva: “Master?”
“Master is here to give you something.” Shen Qingzhuo raised the book in his hand and said, “The treasure you’ve been thinking about has fallen.”
After a moment, Xiao Shen stumbled and lit the candle, and the inner hall suddenly became bright.
Shen Qingzhuo put the book on the bedside, then returned to the table and opened the food box he brought with him. “The small kitchen cooked a pot of medicinal chicken soup. I don’t like the taste, so I only drank a few sips and brought it all to you.”
The aroma of hot chicken soup filled the inner room, but Xiao Shen just stood far away.
“You don’t like it either?” Shen Qing glanced at him and said to himself, “You have to drink it even if you don’t like it.”
Xiao Shen remained silent.
Shen Qingzhuo coaxed patiently: “I also brought you some jujube paste cake, it’s so sweet, don’t you want to try it?”
But no matter what he said, Xiao Shen’s feet seemed to be nailed to the ground.
Shen Qingzhuo’s patience ran out, and his face darkened: “I’ll count to three, one, two…”
Xiao Shen finally moved over reluctantly.
Shen Qingzhuo was so angry that he almost laughed. He raised his hand to pull him over, but before his hand touched the corner of his clothes, he was pushed away as if he had been electrocuted.
Young Master Shen was stunned, not understanding what his little disciple was doing.
“Dirty.” Xiao Shen squeezed out a word from his throat.
Shen Qingzhuo: “What did you say?”
The author has something to say:
Young Master Shen: I’m angry, humph!
