Chapter 41: Son Steals Father's Ice
While the princes and grandchildren were having lunch in the small dining hall, Qi Tai leisurely strolled to the Wenhua Palace.
To use a later saying, Qi Tai's personnel connections are with the Wenhua Palace, so it is only right and proper for him to come here to eat.
The so-called Wenhua Hall is where His Royal Highness the Crown Prince works, studies, and holds banquets.
There were some officials from the Prince's Palace here, such as Huang Zicheng and Fang Xiaoru, who were famous in later generations.
The three of them had a good relationship, so they sat together at a small table and ate and chatted. Among them, Huang Zicheng whispered mysteriously in their ears.
"Have you two heard? Today, His Majesty held the Emperor's second grandson, Zhu Yunhuan, and swaggered past all the officials!"
"oh?"
"oh!"
Qi Tai was very surprised, but Fang Xiaoru just responded indifferently without any expression on his face .
This hurt Huang Zicheng so much that he decided to ignore Fang Xiaoru, the corrupt scholar, and concentrate on gossiping with Qi Tai.
"Brother Qi, do you think His Majesty intends to make the Emperor's second grandson the heir?"
"If that's the case, then it's against etiquette. How can one not enthronize the eldest grandson and instead enthronize the younger second grandson?"
"Besides, the emperor's second grandson is too dull to be worthy of such an important task!"
"By the way, Brother Qi, you are responsible for educating all the princes and grandchildren. Has the second grandson of the emperor finished learning 'Three Hundred Thousand'?"
Qi Tai shook his head upon hearing this.
"without!"
"I just taught him the Thousand Character Classic today!"
Huang Zicheng slammed the table angrily upon hearing this and said indignantly.
"Xiao Fang, did you hear this?"
"He's already a teenager, and he's just starting to learn the Thousand Character Classic. With this talent, even if he becomes the heir to the throne, he'll be a tyrant like Why Don't You Eat Meat Porridge in the future!"
When Fang Xiaoru heard this, he paused for a moment and continued to eat.
Huang Zicheng couldn't help but grumble when he saw Fang Xiaoru behaving like this.
"Look how scared you are. There are only a few people in the Prince's Mansion. Who else could go and tell on you?"
"Okay, let's just talk about our own thing and ignore this nerd!"
When Fang Xiaoru heard Huang Zicheng calling him a nerd, he immediately became unhappy.
"You are the nerd, your whole family is nerds!"
"The main reason why I don't get involved in this matter is that I think it goes against the way of a gentleman!"
"Your Majesty values etiquette and law the most. How could you do such a thing as deposing the eldest son and enthroning the youngest son? Your nagging is purely groundless!"
Huang Zicheng was not annoyed when he heard this. Instead, he stared at Fang Xiaoru with interest.
"Brother Qi, did you hear that? Saint Fang just said three sentences, a total of sixty-four words!"
"If he wasn't so angry, I'd beat him to death without saying so much!"
After Huang Zicheng had bullied Fang Xiaoru, he looked at him jokingly.
"Brother Fang, are you also not optimistic about Zhu Yunhuan?"
Fang Xiaoru rolled his eyes at Huang Zicheng and then continued to eat.
Even though he didn't say anything, we are all stirring the same pot, so why should we make everything clear?
Huang Zicheng had already heard from Fang Xiaoru's words that the old man didn't say anything because he didn't want to cause trouble. But in his heart, he also recognized Zhu Yunwen more.
Just when Huang Zicheng thought that the three of them had reached an agreement and unanimously supported the emperor's eldest grandson Zhu Yunwen, he suddenly heard Qi Tai speak.
"I have a different opinion on the matter of the two emperor's grandchildren!"
Upon hearing this, Huang Zicheng looked at Qi Tai in shock, his face full of disbelief.
In his opinion, Qi Tai was the person least likely to turn against him, so where did the different opinions come from?
"Brother Qi, what do you mean by this?"
"Don't be nervous. I don't mean to question you. I just think the Second Prince is not bad."
"good?"
Huang Zicheng touched Qi Tai's forehead exaggeratedly.
"Little brother, are you mistaken? Which eye of yours can tell that the kid is good?"
Qi Tai couldn't help but smile.
"I met Zhu Yunhuan this morning and found that he is a completely different person. Not only has he become braver, but his brain has also become much smarter."
"I only read the first hundred or so words of the Thousand Character Classic once, and he remembered them all."
"When we were dismantling it, I wanted to teach him a lesson, but he taught me the lesson instead, hahahaha!"
When Qi Tai talked about his embarrassing moments, he seemed very relaxed, as if he was not ashamed but proud of them.
"Can he teach you?"
"How did you get on?"
Fang Xiaoru, who had been concentrating on eating, couldn't help but prick up his ears and listen when he heard this.
Seeing the two men behaving like this, Qi Tai had no choice but to tell them everything he had learned from Zhu Yunhuan in the morning, and also told them how he intimidated the prince and stood up for his brother Zhu Yunhuan.
After hearing this, the two were so shocked that they were speechless for a long time.
Among them, Fang Xiaoru was not talkative at all, while Huang Zicheng simply didn't know what to say.
If the person who said this wasn't Qi Tai, he would never believe a word of it even if he was beaten to death.
How is this possible? Zhu Yunhuan actually had the courage to beat the prince and even dared to threaten and intimidate people with his great uncle?
The same goes for Zhu Yunwen. How could he just watch his own brother being bullied and do nothing, and let his grandson steal the limelight?
Another strange thing is, where did Zhu Yunhuan learn all that knowledge?
Whether it is an artificial rainbow or catching the sun with ice, it is not an ordinary science!
Hey, that’s not right, where did he get the ice?
"Brother Qi, it's so hot, where did Zhu Yunhuan get the ice?"
"The ice was brought by Zhu Yunhuan. It has nothing to do with Zhu Yunhuan."
"Where did Zhu Yunwen get it from?"
Qi Tai pointed towards the direction of the Prince's Mansion.
"Is there any need to think about this? Of course it's the son who stole his father's ice."
Huang Zicheng was stunned when he heard this and muttered to himself.
"Isn't the story of a son stealing his father's soldiers an allusion to the story of Emperor Wu of Han and his crown prince Liu Ju? What does it have to do with Zhu Yunwen's case..."
"oh!"
"I understand. You mean that Sun the thief went to the funeral hall..."
Qi Tai hurriedly hushed when he heard this.
"Shh!"
"This matter can only be understood but not expressed in words!"
Huang Zicheng figured this out and immediately burst into laughter.
"You... you are really something. You can even use allusions like this. Hahaha..."
Fang Xiaoru, who had been eavesdropping with his ears perked up, couldn't help but feel uncomfortable when he heard this .
"This rebellious son..."
"The son stole his father's ice...ha..."
They chatted and laughed for a while, and then buried their heads in eating. But just when they were enjoying their meal, a young eunuch suddenly handed them a note.
"Mr. Qi, this is His Majesty's order. Please read it alone when it is convenient for you!"
When Qi Tai heard the "handwritten edict", he was already prepared to perform the ceremony. But when he heard that he was to be read alone, he immediately realized that it was a secret decree and the emperor did not want more people to know.
Therefore, he took the note respectfully, deliberately avoiding Fang Xiaoru and Huang Zicheng to look at the note. After reading it, he returned the note as it was, and then bowed.
"Please go back and report to His Majesty on my behalf. Tell him that I understand and will satisfy His Majesty!"
The young eunuch thanked him for his hard work and then took the note back to report.
After the young eunuch left, Huang Zicheng and Fang Xiaoru stared at Qi Tai. As soon as Qi Tai saw the look in their eyes, he knew what they wanted to ask and shook his head vigorously.
"Don't look at me like that, I really can't tell you His Majesty's order!"
When the two heard this, a look of disappointment flashed across their faces, and then they continued to eat.
Seeing the two of them like this, Qi Tai pretended to be stupid and said.
"By the way, where were we just now?"
The nosy Huang Zicheng raised his head and replied weakly.
"A son steals his father's ice?"
Qi Tai said "hmm" when he heard this.
"It happened!"
