Chapter 106: Life as Humble as an Ant, Fate as Fragile as Paper

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Since the most favored Princess Taiping had put it that way, Wu Sansi naturally had no objections whatsoever!

Not to mention that Lu Zhaolin had committed no crime in the first place—even if he had, so long as it was not treason or some other capital offense, a single word from her would be enough to secure his pardon.

In truth, he bore Lu Zhaolin no grudge. He had merely felt irritated by those two lines of poetry.

“Are you mocking the powerful? Then I’ll let you witness the power of the powerful for yourself!” That was all Wu Sansi had been thinking.

Now that the matter was settled, Li Yuechen had no intention of staying there any longer. She rose and prepared to take her leave.

Wu Sansi escorted her all the way to the gates of the Ministry of War. Li Yuechen smiled faintly, her dimples appearing and disappearing on her cheeks.

“Cousin, you may stop here. There is no need to see me any farther. I can return on my own.”

“Yes!” Wu Sansi answered. After a moment of silence, he quickly continued, “If Your Highness should ever have need of this humble official in the future, please do not hesitate to command me!”

At those words, both Li Yuechen and Fu Lai could not help turning their heads to give him a sidelong glance.

The young man certainly knew how to flatter. Then again, it was only natural. Everyone knew that Princess Taiping was deeply favored. If one could secure her protection, then, so long as one did not court death, one would be able to preserve one’s life at a critical moment.

Li Yuechen did not answer. She merely smiled lightly.

“Go back, Cousin.”

With that, she turned and left with Fu Lai.

Watching their departing figures, Wu Sansi straightened up and bit his lower lip, wondering whether the princess had actually agreed to his request.

On the way back to Anfu Palace, Li Yuechen found herself wondering what the real Wu Sansi from history had truly been like.

In television dramas, he was usually portrayed as a sinister, scheming fool. But Li Yuechen had no intention of using that character as a template for judging him.

Still, never mind. There was no need for her to concern herself with the images of other people. So long as she ensured that her own carefully crafted persona never collapsed, she could sleep soundly without worry.

With that thought, Li Yuechen nodded and returned to Anfu Palace with light, brisk steps.

The moment she stepped through the gate, Shangguan Wan'er came running out with a sheet of paper in her hands.

“Your Highness, look! I wrote a poem today. Mother said it was very good!”

“Really? Let me see…”

Li Yuechen took the paper from her. Eight lines of poetry were written upon it. The general meaning seemed to be that Luoyang was beautiful and that she had had a wonderful time playing with the princess.

But as for appreciating the poem…

Li Yuechen could only apologize. She could not understand it at all! Still, it was undeniably quite rhymed.

“Excellent!” Li Yuechen nodded emphatically, her expression solemn. “Especially the line about us crouching by the fields and observing the rice seedlings. That truly was a stroke of genius! It demonstrates your remarkable literary foundation while expressing your innermost feelings about the flourishing crops and your indomitable spirit! Excellent!”

As she spoke, Li Yuechen reached out and patted her on the head.

“Hmm, I’m going to give Sister some arithmetic problems first. You go play by yourself, all right?”

Having said that, she quickened her pace and left.

Shangguan Wan’er remained in the courtyard, utterly bewildered. In a low voice, she murmured to herself, “Really? That line was obviously about how happy I was to be with Your Highness…”

…

Early the next morning, Lu Zhaolin walked out of the dark, damp imperial prison. The instant he stepped through the gate, he even felt somewhat unaccustomed to the outside world.

His face was pale, and his hands and feet felt weak.

After coughing lightly twice, he staggered out of the prison gates.

Several jailers escorted him to the entrance of the Court of Judicial Review. One of them took out a string of copper coins and handed it to him.

“Her Highness said that you should eat well these next few days and take proper care of yourself. She will come for you in a few days.”

“Thank you.”

Lu Zhaolin bowed, accepted the coins, and stepped through the gate.

Outside the Court of Judicial Review, friends who had received word were already waiting. The moment they saw him emerge, one of them hurried over and supported him.

“Shengzhi, how are you? Did they mistreat you in there?”

“I’m fine…” Lu Zhaolin smiled faintly. “Thanks to Her Highness’s intervention, I was able to come out in one piece.”

“Her Highness? Which Her Highness?”

Lu Zhaolin answered in a low voice, “Her Highness Princess Taiping.”

His friend was astonished.

“The one who wrote ‘Pitying the Farmers’?”

When Lu Zhaolin nodded, his friend instantly adopted a gossiping expression.

“Could it be that you, Shengzhi…”

“Do not speak nonsense!” Lu Zhaolin cried in alarm. “I have absolutely no connection with Her Highness. We were complete strangers before this!”

“I know. I was merely curious. Why would Her Highness…”

“Mind your words! How could people like us presume to discuss Her Highness’s thoughts?”

…

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Several peaceful days passed, and soon it was time for Li Yuechen to return to the royal farm and teach. This time, Lu Zhaolin accompanied her.

When they arrived, Li Yuechen stepped out of the carriage, then performed a sideways somersault and leapt directly down from the carriage frame.

Lu Zhaolin happened to emerge from the carriage behind her and praised her at once.

“Your Highness has splendid martial skills!”

The children, led by Big Brother Zhang, also came forward one after another to salute.

“Your students pay their respects to Your Highness!”

“Good. First, take me to see the assignments I left you last time. Then I’ll conduct a random examination!”

With a hearty laugh, Li Yuechen followed the children into the courtyard.

Lu Zhaolin followed curiously. When he entered the courtyard, he saw that the mud-plastered outer walls were covered in densely packed writing.

In his eyes, the children’s handwriting was still exceedingly immature. But these were children whose families had lived as farmers for generations. The fact that they could write to such a degree was already beyond imagination.

Their characters paid no attention to structure and possessed none of the beauty of calligraphy, yet every stroke revealed their earnestness.

Between each slanting stroke and downward sweep, one could almost see them beneath the blazing sun, facing the walls and writing away with all their might.

Nearby, two sturdy men, their bodies darkened by the sun, were scraping away part of a wall covered in writing. They then smoothly spread fresh mud over it and carefully leveled the surface with wooden boards, trying to ensure that the children’s charcoal sticks would not catch and snap as they wrote.

At the princess’s command, the children picked up their charcoal sticks and began copying the previous assignment from memory onto a fresh wall. Every one of them was able to reproduce it in full.

Li Yuechen also tested them at random on the way certain characters were written, and each child was able to write them correctly.

Fu Lai sat on a stone bench nearby, watching the scene. He beckoned to Lu Zhaolin.

“Come and sit. Her Highness’s lessons last quite some time.”

“Thank you, Eunuch.”

Lu Zhaolin bowed in thanks and sat down on a stone beside him. Together, they watched the princess teach and listened to her lesson.

The princess did not seem to care in the slightest that her fair, slender fingers might be stained black by the charcoal. She wrote several characters on the wall, clapped her hands, then picked up a teaching pointer. Pointing at the writing, she turned to the children with a smile.

“Come, repeat after me. ‘With hands raised and feet stamping, joy and health abound. May the rightful heirs continue, and sacrifices be offered through the seasons.’”

After the children repeated the lines several times in unison, Li Yuechen began explaining their meaning.

At that point, Lu Zhaolin suddenly sat up straight, genuinely astonished.

He had never imagined that the princess would explain the meaning of the passage to them. Moreover, because she used punctuation marks, her explanation became far clearer.

When he had been young and asked his teacher about the meaning of a book, the teacher had merely told him, “Read a text a hundred times, and its meaning will reveal itself. If you do not understand it, it is because you have not read it with sufficient dedication.”

But now Li Yuechen personally broke the passage down piece by piece, explaining its meaning until the children understood it thoroughly.

In this way, they could grasp the meaning as they learned, greatly accelerating their progress.

Yet Lu Zhaolin did not understand. Would this not deprive them of the chance to think for themselves?

“Good. Today you have learned even more characters. Next comes the usual exercise: use the new characters you learned today to form words and make sentences! As before, everyone will help select the best one. First place receives a tin of preserves!”

The children cheered and hurried to the wall with their charcoal sticks, racking their brains.

Lu Zhaolin had never heard of such a teaching method. He was simply curious as to why the princess chose to teach in this manner.

Nearly two hours later, Li Yuechen announced the end of the lesson and had Fu Lai give the tin of preserves to the child who had won first place.

As usual, the child shared it with the others. They savored the sweet syrup, their faces lighting up with delighted smiles.

After washing her hands in the river, Li Yuechen took the towel Fu Lai handed her and walked over while drying her hands.

Lu Zhaolin hurriedly bowed.

“Your Highness’s talent is truly extraordinary. I cannot compare!”

“Do not jest.”

Li Yuechen waved her hand.

“Your Highness, I assure you, I am not joking in the least. This method of teaching has indeed made me feel thoroughly inadequate!”

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Li Yuechen nodded.

“Oh, you mean the teaching method? Then yes, it is indeed more advanced than yours.”

After all, this was how she herself had been taught in primary school. Naturally, such a method was far more advanced than the educational practices of this era.

“Ahem…”

Lu Zhaolin had not expected her to admit it so readily and nearly choked on his breath.

Nevertheless, he bowed and asked, “May I ask Your Highness about something I do not understand? Although this method of teaching is easy and effective, are you not afraid that it will cause them to lose the ability to think independently?”

“If you want them to think, must you not first teach them the foundations of thought?”

Li Yuechen sat down and took the yogurt Fu Lai handed her, drinking two gulps.

“When they grow older and have learned enough, they will naturally come to understand how to think.”

“So that is why Your Highness teaches them in such a simple and straightforward manner?”

“Yes.”

Li Yuechen nodded and glanced toward the children gathered in a circle, sharing the preserves. She smiled.

“They are not as clever as I am, after all, so the difficulty of their lessons should be increased gradually as their studies advance.”

“Ahem…”

This was the second time that day Lu Zhaolin had heard her praise herself so bluntly, and it disrupted his train of thought.

Yes, everyone throughout the Eastern Capital knew that she was clever. At the age of six or seven, she had invented the Princess Plow, written “Pitying the Farmers” and “The Hundred Family Surnames,” and successfully increased grain yields. At such a young age, she had even compelled the emperor, despite opposition from all sides, to appoint her—a woman—to the rank of Vice Minister of Revenue.

Yes, all of Dongdu knew she was brilliant. Before long, all under Heaven would know it as well.

But hearing her boast so plainly still left Lu Zhaolin somewhat unaccustomed.

Li Yuechen paid no attention to his inner thoughts. She raised her head and said, “I shall have a house built here for you. From now on, you can teach these children their lessons here. What do you think?”

Lu Zhaolin bowed.

“I shall follow Your Highness’s arrangements in all things.”

Seeing that he had agreed, Li Yuechen nodded.

“If you wish to have the Guo family woman come here, I can send someone to invite her. You need not worry about anything else. Looking after one woman is a simple matter for me.”

At her words, Lu Zhaolin fell silent for several seconds. In the end, he nodded.

“Then I must trouble Your Highness to send someone to deliver a message on my behalf. I am now afflicted with a wasting illness and fear that I may not have long to live. If she still has no regrets, I am willing to marry her properly. She need not worry about anything thereafter.”

Li Yuechen nodded and turned to Fu Lai.

“You heard him?”

“Yes. I shall send someone to see to it as soon as we return to the palace!”

With that matter settled, Li Yuechen thought for a moment.

“By the way, it would be best if you followed my teaching methods. The lessons should not last too long each day. They must be given time to relax and play…”

Li Yuechen explained her approach to teaching in some detail. Though Lu Zhaolin was puzzled at first, after she clarified the reasoning behind it, he nodded to show that he understood.

He did not understand why arithmetic lessons would eventually be added to the children’s curriculum, but the princess’s intelligence and wisdom had already spread throughout the Eastern Capital. Surely she had her reasons for doing so.

Seeing that it was nearly time to leave, Li Yuechen clapped her hands and called the children over.

“Listen carefully. This gentleman will be your teacher from now on. He will be responsible for your literary lessons. I will teach you arithmetic. Do you all understand?”

Li Yuechen then instructed the village head to build a house for Lu Zhaolin, offering to pay for the materials and labor.

The village head declared that the willingness of a learned teacher to instruct the children was already an immense favor and that he could not possibly accept payment.

After exchanging several polite refusals, they ultimately decided that the money would count as the teacher’s tuition gift, meaning Li Yuechen would not need to pay anything.

Big Brother Zhang, who had already become quite mature, bowed respectfully to Li Yuechen.

“Your student thanks Your Highness for your wholehearted guidance! We shall work hard and ensure that we do not disappoint Your Highness’s expectations!”

“Good!”

Li Yuechen nodded with a smile.

“I hope that all of you will one day succeed in your studies.”

There was some hesitation in Big Brother Zhang’s eyes, but he still nodded firmly.

“Your student will certainly do his utmost!”

Seeing the lack of confidence in his eyes, Li Yuechen sighed inwardly. People of this era still placed great importance on one’s birth and social standing.

She asked with a light smile, “What is it? Have you no confidence in yourself?”

“It is not that…”

Big Brother Zhang shook his head.

“It is a rare blessing that Your Highness is willing to cultivate us, but our birth is humble. We fear that we may fail to live up to Your Highness’s expectations…”

Hearing this, Li Yuechen grinned. She turned and walked several steps away, then suddenly spun around and called out to all the students in a ringing voice.

“Remember this! Even if you are born as lowly as ants, you must still aspire to soar like the great eagle! Even if your fate is as fragile as paper, you must possess an unyielding heart!”

The moment her words rang out, everyone present raised their heads and gazed at the princess before them.

She stood bathed in sunlight. Her face seemed indistinct, yet a brilliant radiance appeared to flow slowly around her entire body.

Her firm, powerful voice rang out through the gentle, dazzling glow.

“Be like the Foolish Old Man! So long as you strive and persevere, passing your efforts down from generation to generation, one day every one of you will become a talent useful to the Great Tang! And the Great Tang will grow stronger and more prosperous because of your efforts!”