Chapter 18

Chapter 18

This was a rather special day for Dong Xiaoyi.

Early morning, the sunflowers that he was in charge of were forcefully being picked by Prince Li Yuanying. He was already in a desperate situation and then he had to endure ridicule from others. Although technically the sunflowers were planted by Yuanying himself but they came to the Emperor’s attention and was specifically instructed to protect and care for them. With such decree in place, even a Royal Prince like Li Yuanying shouldn’t have dared overstep his boundaries and steal them at will.

Dong Xiaoyi thought his life was finished.

But in a surprising turn of events, someone came over with news that he is now to report for duty towards the Prince of Teng [1]Li Yuanying = Prince of Teng.

Dong Xiaoyi vaguely remembered that Dai Ting a close personal to Prince Yuanying came from the same hometown as him. They entered the palace on the same year. He recalled that Dai Ting didn’t care much about others and looked a little like a girl so he was always bullied. Later, Dai Ting was recruited by the Prince of Teng and since then he became a different person!

Although Li Yuanying is known to be notorious and capricious, he’s actually extremely protective of those around him. Whoever dares bully those close to him will definitely always end up with bad endings. One example was a servant who dared to belittled his mother Ladyy Liu after the death of the Supreme Emperor while new Emperor Li Er didn’t care much about his younger brother. Li Yuanying retaliated by instructing that the servant be buried in snow. This is the reason why many are unwilling to provoke the young Prince for he isn’t afraid of anything; not even heaven or earth. If you dare to provoke him or the people around him, he will dare to retaliate whatever the means it requires!

Dong Xiaoyi was filled with joy and hurriedly packed his things.

He carried all his belongings which could be managed with one hand and went to meet his new master.

At that very moment, Yuanying was busy playing with his friends so he asked someone to check out Dong Xiaoyi on his behalf. He found that although Dong Xiaoyi has ambition he seems to still have a pure heart so he has the potential to be a useful person.

Li Yuanying didn’t care much about these things, so he handed him over to Dai Ting.

“Since you are from the same hometown, you take him with you.”

Dong Xiaoyi was startled and looked towards Dai Ting.

Dai Ting as usual remained emotionless and led Dong Xiaoyi to his temporary living quarters. After settling down, he was updated about Yuanying’s plan for his sunflowers and was told that his job is to take care of the four sunflowers that do not belong to the Emperor.

Now that the assets have been divided properly, they were harvested and returned to the rightful owner. Initially, Yuanying wanted to stir-fry some seeds for eating but on second thought he decided to save them for his mother instead and thus he avoided the risk of being scolded to death by his brother.

Another reason for his rational behavior is that he received a new task which was to scan a three-dimensional image of Jiucheng Palace and save it in the archive of the Myriad Realm Library.

This is a simple task that can be completed with only his naked eyes. He only needs to visit a few more places. Yuanying is already running around so he didn’t mind completing this task.

So as usual, he brought along the few children and started running all around Jiucheng Palace visiting many interesting spots. Gradually, a 3D model of the entire Jiucheng Palace was brought to life within the Myriad Realms Library. He tried entering the mock version of Jiucheng Palace within this private library and he shockingly realized that it was as realistic and big as the real Jiucheng Palace. He could reach out his hand to touch the pillars and even climb on top of the throne of the Emperor and lie on it.

Yuanying found this strange so he asks the system curiously: “If you could already do all this, why did I have to run around scanning it?!” This technology that allows you to replicate anything merely from seeing it is incredible! Moreover, it can also be used to build airplanes that fly in the sky!

The system was silent for a while but finally replied: “History lasts for long and is built through time. Every minor change done to a part of history causes many things to be destroyed. Therefore, many things that seem common and aid life now may inevitably disappear in the future.”

Li Yuanying couldn’t understand.

The system didn’t say more.

Yuanying pondered for a while before asking: “So, you don’t have Jiucheng Palace in your records?”

Yes.

“There’s also no <<Jiucheng Palace’s Liquan Inscription>>?”

Yes.

“You don’t have records of <<Ten gradual negligence in behaviors>>?”

Yes.

“There’s no Book of Rites, The Analects of Confucius or Han Zi?”

Yes.

“There’s no longer any Tang Empire?”

The system finally realized where the boy was going and refused to answer anymore.

...................

Li Yuanying ignored Li Zhi and only woke up much later naturally. When he awoke, he realized that he has already missed his class. This is common practice for Li Yuanying, if it’s winter, he can stay in bed all day.

Thinking about Kong Yingda’s fierce old face, Yuanying sighed for a moment. He then got up, got dressed and went to look for Kong Yingda who had just finished class.

The boy thought about a lot of things yesterday, he even thought of Kong Yingda. Since his teacher and brother particularly disliked <<Hanzi>>, there were very few people who knows or had studied this concept in Tang. Therefore, Yuanying wanted to talk to Kong Yingda.

Seeing that his great student only arrived after class had finished, the teacher wore a blacken expression. Hearing that the boy wanted to consult him about something, he felt awkward but still led the child to his working desk to have a sit and discuss in detail.

It was a rare sight for Li Yuanying was sitting upright and ask seriously: “Teacher, I have a question I can’t figure out.”

“What’s the matter?”

“In Confucius’s Analectic, the master once said: When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers. I will select their good qualities and follow them, understand their bad qualities and avoid them. Right?” (Li Yuanying)

“That’s natural, these three-year-old children can recite.” (Kong Yingda nodded)

“Then why don’t you like people reading <<Hanzi>>? Do you really think there’s nothing to be learned in that book?” (Li Yuanying)

“Although the evil laws of Shang and Han have merits, it is not benevolent. Using it will inevitably lead to backlash, so how can it be promoted? Seeing how it led to three generations of Qin Dynasty being destroyed, isn’t that your answer?.” (Kong Yingda)

Yuanying still couldn’t comprehend: “What does the destruction of a dynasty have to do with a book?” He even gave a baffling example at the risk of offending his teacher “IF in the future someone attributes the destruction of a nation to Confucianism, do we oust Confucianism and burn all the classics? Is that how it should be? “

In the past, Kong Yingda would have cursed Li Yunaying out angrily about speaking nonsense but seeing how the young boy genuinely had questioning eyes he couldn’t scold him. He shook his head and denied that possibility without hesitation: “It will never be the case.”

This is the trust and confidence the descendants of Confucianism had for the teaching of Confucianism. Kong Yingda doesn’t believe that any theory can replace Confucianism. Since the Han Dynasty, who doesn’t use this principle to govern the country? Although some Han dynasty classics had mixed in foreign viewpoints that didn’t belong to Confucius, but overall the principles were the same and were suitable to use on governing a country.

Kong Yingda is proud and confident of this.

Li Yuanying heard the definitive answer from Kong Yingda knows that he wouldn’t consider otherwise so he stopped asking more and decided to meet the other children instead.

At noon, someone sent big and sweet pears at the Emperor’s instruction but unfortunately, Yuanying didn’t like them. He instead instructed servants to make them into soup and sent them to Wei Zheng and the other ministers who always gave them lectures. Wei Zheng was okay with this gesture but the other teachers were suspicious and felt that the boy might have put something in it to harm them. They only partake of it after seeing Wei Zheng consume it with confidence.

Yuanying also instructed Dai Ting to make a bowl and follow him to meet Xiao Deyan.

These are pears bestowed by His Majesty and not everyone has a chance to eat them. Seeing the young prince simmering them all and offering it to others to drink, Xiao Deyan asked: “Aren’t you afraid that his Majesty will be angry?”

“The emperor doesn’t even know that I don’t like pears. Why should he be angry with me?”

Xiao Deyan felt that Yuanying had incredibly good luck. If he hadn’t been born after His Majesty succeeded to the throne, Li Er wouldn’t have been so generous to his brothers. It is indeed this good luck that allowed the boy to grow up without fear and become the rumored little devilish troublemaker that he is.

Yuanying coaxed Xiao Deyan to try the stewed pears before telling him about the conversation with Kong Yingda.

“I feel that Old man Kong is inferior to his ancestors, he wouldn’t even follow the words that a three-year-old can recite. Humans are not fools. Confucius said: choose the good and follow it. If it’s not good, you change it. It’s not like you follow everything you read blindly, why can’t you read other books?” (Li Yuanying)

“Not everyone is as smart as His Royal Highness.” (Xiao Deyan)

Li Yuanying thought these words were very pleasant. He didn’t know what humility was and happily responded “That’s right!”

Xiao Deyan smiled.

“When I go to my fief, I will build a big academy and I will show all the books and teach all the doctrines. As long as someone is willing to learn, I will let them have the opportunity to learn!” He took Xiao Deyan’s wrinkled hand and attempted to steal the old man away from Li Tai, “Teacher, do you want to be the head of my academy in the future?” (Li Yuanying)

“This won’t work, I am old, young people don’t like to listen to me.” (Xiao Deyan smiled and shook his head)

Although Yuanying was disappointed, he was not discouraged. He still took Xiao Deyan’s hand and said: “Then you can lend me your students, you must have a lot of students!”

Xiao Deyan saw that the boy’s eyes were full of expectation and couldn’t bear to disappoint him: “Okay when you are about to go to your fief, I’ll help ask if anyone is willing to go with you.”

References

↑ 1Li Yuanying = Prince of Teng