The Prince of Rui chatted with the Fourth Prince in the pharmacy for a while, then went to play rock - paper - scissors with Qiuqiu. Each of them had ten medicinal herbs at first. If one lost, they had to give one to the other.
Qiuqiu was quite lucky. In a short time, she won all the ten medicinal herbs from the Prince of Rui.
Looking at his empty hands, the Prince of Rui, who had got addicted to the game, wanted to play with Qiuqiu again. So he tried to cheat by taking back one of the medicinal herbs.
Shen Baozhu was standing beside, holding the Fourth Prince's hand. She condemned the Prince of Rui for his going back on his words. "Grandpa Gu, you lost. You can't be a cheat."
"Big brother said that one should keep one's promise. What you're doing is wrong."
Seeing that his attempt to cheat was in vain, the Prince of Rui simply covered his chest and pretended to be ill. "Ouch, my heart aches!"
Qiuqiu was successfully deceived. She looked at the Prince of Rui worriedly and returned the medicinal herbs she had won. "Don't be angry, Grandpa Gu. Qiuqiu will return the medicinal herbs to you."
The Dragon King: [This old man is so shameless. He even cheats at rock - paper - scissors.]
The Dragon King: [Damn it! He's obviously faking it. Qiuqiu has been deceived!]
Shen Baozhu didn't realize that the Prince of Rui was faking. She asked in a daze, "Really?"
Lin Yu: [It's true. Old Man Gu must be joking with Qiuqiu.]
Guided by the subtitles, Shen Baozhu exposed the Prince of Rui's fake illness, which made the old man blush a little.
Shen Baozhu looked at the Prince of Rui angrily. "Grandpa Gu, how can you not act like a decent person!"
"The old man knows he's wrong. One shouldn't cheat... Huh? What does Baozhu mean?" The Prince of Rui didn't understand Shen Baozhu's words.
Not only the Prince of Rui, but also the Dragon King was confused.
The Dragon King: [What does it mean?]
Shen Baozhu pretended to be an adult and sighed. "Alas, Grandpa Gu, one should keep one's promise. If you break your promise, it means you're not a decent person."
"Baozhu, you're not allowed to say that about yourself. You're clearly a good person!"
Facing Shen Baozhu's sincere eyes, the Prince of Rui felt a great deal of pressure. For the first time, he wanted to get rid of this bad habit.
The Dragon King: [Hahaha, that makes so much sense. This old man Gu is not a decent person.]
Lin Yu: [Baozhu is so domineering. She won't allow Old Man Gu to do this.]
Time flew by. Looking at the sunset in the sky, the Prince of Rui calculated the time. Yan Mingli would come to pick up the three children soon.
He quickly said goodbye to the three children and left the Shanji Pharmacy as fast as he could.
He couldn't let Yan Mingli know that he had come to play with Baozhu and had spent the whole day playing with the three children. If Yan Mingli knew about this, he would surely nag and say that he would lead the children astray and that if the children were like him, they would be ruined.
When the Prince of Rui left, both Shen Baozhu and Qiuqiu were a bit reluctant.
Shen Baozhu pulled the Prince of Rui's arm and invited him to the Princess Mansion, but he flatly refused.
He had met the Princess of Jingning. If he went to the Princess Mansion, wouldn't he expose his identity?
...
After leaving the Shanji Pharmacy, the Prince of Rui didn't return to his mansion. Instead, he changed his direction and went to find his friend, Li Xingzhi.
Li Xingzhi came from a poor family. He was the top scholar during the previous emperor's reign. Due to different political views, he was framed. He not only lost his official position but also had his title of scholar revoked.
Although many years later, the enemy who framed him was found to be corrupt and the previous emperor restored his title, Li Xingzhi was disappointed with the officialdom and turned to education.
He taught all without discrimination and recruited many disciples, but he only had three true personal disciples, all of whom were well - known figures of the time.
The Prince of Rui knew the importance of a good reputation. He was aware that the news that the Fourth Prince was a fool couldn't be concealed. Since it couldn't be hidden, there was no need to hide it.
Compared with the fact that the Fourth Prince had changed from a fool to a normal person, the news that Li Xingzhi had accepted a fool as his personal disciple would be more eye - catching.
After all, Li Xingzhi's requirements for accepting personal disciples were extremely strict. The candidates had to be geniuses, hard - working, and to his liking.
As long as he accepted the Fourth Prince as his disciple, no one would criticize the Fourth Prince for his past as a fool, and no minister would question whether a fool could be the crown prince.
The Prince of Rui had a very good plan and didn't consider at all whether Li Xingzhi would agree.
Although Li Xingzhi was well - known and some people even came with a fortune asking him to teach, his residence was very simple.
There were only two shabby houses. One was the bedroom and the other was the study.
The Prince of Rui walked around half a street, passed through three alleys, and finally arrived at Li Xingzhi's home. He raised his hand and knocked vigorously.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
In the study, an old man in a black long robe was appreciating an article in his hand. He sighed regretfully, "Shen Heqing has excellent calligraphy and his articles are also outstanding. It's a pity that he's not my disciple."
Suddenly, he sighed again. "Shen Baozhu is even more intelligent than Shen Heqing. It's a pity that this smart child is not my disciple either."
"What a pity in life!"
The old man was Li Xingzhi, also known as Master Li in the Shen Family School.
It had been about two months since he last saw Shen Baozhu. During these two months, Li Xingzhi sighed with regret every day.
After expressing his emotions, Li Xingzhi was about to put away the article written by Shen Heqing when suddenly there came a knocking sound from outside the door.
Li Xingzhi was startled. His hand trembled and the paper he didn't hold firmly fluttered down and happened to fall on the wet inkstone.
Looking at the ink stain on Shen Heqing's article, Li Xingzhi felt extremely heart - broken. He didn't have a good relationship with Shen Heqing and this was the only article written by Shen Heqing himself in his possession. Now this only one was ruined.
After trying in vain to save it, he strode out of the study and opened the door. He said in a bad mood, "What are you knocking for! Prince of Rui? What on earth are you doing here? And you keep knocking so hard."
The Prince of Rui seemed not to notice Li Xingzhi's anger. He squeezed in through the crack of the door and successfully got into the yard. Then, taking advantage of Li Xingzhi's inattention, he rushed into the study.
Seeing the Prince of Rui heading straight for his precious study, Li Xingzhi's eyelids twitched violently. He quickly tried to stop him, but the Prince of Rui was too fast. He failed to stop him and the two of them entered the study together.
The Prince of Rui took the initiative as if he were the host. He sat down carelessly on Li Xingzhi's chair. "Do me a favor. Go and ruin Shen Qingshan's reputation."
"Shen Qingshan? What did he do to offend you?" Li Xingzhi subconsciously asked, and then he flatly refused the Prince of Rui. "No way."
Li Xingzhi had some connection with Shen Qingshan. They had once studied under the same master, so they were kind of like half - brothers in learning. This was also one of the reasons why Li Xingzhi went to teach in the Shen Family School.
The Prince of Rui had long expected that Li Xingzhi would refuse. So he proposed a second option. "Then you accept the Fourth Prince as your disciple. You either smear Shen Qingshan and ruin his reputation, or accept the Fourth Prince as your disciple. You must choose one of the two!"
"If you don't choose, I won't leave!"
Li Xingzhi and the Prince of Rui had been friends for many years and knew very well about his stubborn and shameless nature. Looking at the Prince of Rui's appearance, he knew that he was serious and would never give up until he achieved his goal.
After thinking for a long time, Li Xingzhi chose the latter.
It would make his conscience uneasy to smear Shen Qingshan for no reason, while the latter was just accepting a disciple, and a prince disciple at that. It wasn't a difficult thing.
After Li Xingzhi agreed, the Prince of Rui showed a hint of a triumphant smile, which made Li Xingzhi extremely nervous.
He felt his chest and thought about all the princes in his mind. The mother of the First Prince had a low - status background, but he had a good character. The Second Prince was fond of painting. The Third Prince was the legitimate son of the queen. The Fifth Prince was still young... Li Xingzhi frowned and recalled the princes he had an impression of for the second time. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't remember the Fourth Prince.
Seeing Li Xingzhi's distress, the Prince of Rui kindly reminded him. "It's the Fourth Prince who was born in the same year as the Third Prince. His mother is the younger sister of the Minister of the Ministry of Official Personnel Affairs. He's a bit stupid."
With the Prince of Rui's reminder, Li Xingzhi finally remembered the Fourth Prince. It wasn't just a bit stupid. The Fourth Prince born to Concubine Li was clearly a fool!
It was bad enough that he couldn't accept Shen Baozhu as his disciple, but now he had to accept a fool!
This was simply a great humiliation!
A great humiliation!
Li Xingzhi's face turned ashen with anger. He roared, "Prince of Rui!"
And the Prince of Rui was very foresighted. Before Li Xingzhi could shout at him, he had already run away.
Li Xingzhi was so angry that he didn't care about the difference in status. He picked up the rosewood paperweight on the table and chased after the Prince of Rui.
One ran and the other chased. The two men, whose ages added up to over a hundred, actually ran through two streets and four alleys.
Finally, the Prince of Rui stopped in front of the Princess Mansion. He shouted for help to Yan Mingli who was about to enter the mansion. "Mingli, save me. Someone is going to beat me!"