Just as Shen Baozhu told the Princess Jingning what had happened the previous day, Qiuqiu also told Mrs. Chen about it.
She pulled Shen Baozhu's hand and whispered, "My mother said it's because the Third Prince is better-looking than the Fourth Prince!"
Shen Baozhu immediately retorted, "Nonsense! Clearly, the Fourth Prince is better-looking than the Third Prince! It's just that the Emperor has no taste."
Qiuqiu didn't argue with Shen Baozhu. "Yes, but my mother didn't mean looks. She meant that in the Emperor's heart, he has spent more time with the Third Prince. Just like how we protect the Fourth Prince, he also thinks the Third Prince is the best."
"Moreover, the Third Prince must eat well every day and behave obediently to make the Emperor like him. To protect the Fourth Prince's money, we have to let the tasteless Emperor see the goodness of the Fourth Prince!"
Shen Baozhu nodded in agreement. "To prevent the bad Third Prince from stealing the palace pastries, we have to work hard!"
Dragon King: [Hahaha, while others see the throne, Qiuqiu sees money, and Baozhu only has pastries in her eyes.]
Dragon King: [Has Qiuqiu always been so greedy for money?]
Lin Yu: [No. It should be the family's changes that have made Qiuqiu sensitive to money.]
Dragon King: [Did that fake elder brother usurp the rightful place?]
Lin Yu: [It was Qiuqiu's father who embezzled the dowries of Miaochun and Ruxia. Last time, Miaochun and Ruxia came back to deal with this matter, and Mingli followed Shen Minghua to the prison.]
Dragon King: [So that's what happened.]
When Shen Baozhu and Qiuqiu decided to work hard, the maid had already dressed up the Fourth Prince and stood aside. She whispered, "Miss Qiuqiu, Miss Baozhu, His Highness has extremely good looks. This servant only helped him put on the hair crown and jade pendant."
After taking the pill from the True Man Qingyun and recuperating in the Princess Mansion for some time, the wounds on the Fourth Prince's body gradually disappeared.
At this moment, the Fourth Prince's face was fair and clean, and his eyes were bright and energetic. Because he was not used to the hair crown on his head, he was frowning, looking a bit more mature than his age.
Qiuqiu was very satisfied with the current Fourth Prince. "This is completely different from the little beggar before. The Emperor must like his good-looking son."
The Fourth Prince looked calm on the surface, but his hands were nervously tugging at the corner of his clothes.
It wasn't until the three of them and the treasure-hunting rat got into the carriage that Qiuqiu couldn't wait to teach her little tricks. "Fourth Prince, I heard that the Emperor has a lot of money. Our wealth and glory depend on you!"
"When we enter the palace later, you should say more nice things to make the Emperor happy."
The Fourth Prince tugged at his clothes even tighter. He looked at Shen Baozhu with a bit of fear. "Baozhu, do you like me now?"
Shen Baozhu was listening to Qiuqiu's words and was stunned by the Fourth Prince's question. She nodded honestly. "Yes, I do."
The Fourth Prince felt a pang of sourness in his heart. He wanted to cry but was glad that Baozhu still liked him.
"What a stupid question. You were picked up by Baozhu. Of course, she likes you. If she didn't like you, why would she pick you up and take you home?" Qiuqiu thought the Fourth Prince was a bit stupid and was even more worried that he wouldn't be able to please the Emperor and get what was rightfully his.
She said a bit anxiously, "Adults always ask stupid questions. If the Emperor asks you who you like the most, you should say you like him the most. He may also compare himself with your favorite things. You should just choose him."
The Fourth Prince was stunned. His mind was stuck on Qiuqiu's previous words. "Baozhu picked me up because she likes me."
The treasure-hunting rat was afraid that its master would be hungry, so it handed the single pastry wrapped in oil paper to Shen Baozhu.
Lin Yu: [The Fourth Prince is纠结 whether Baozhu likes him or not. Qiuqiu is teaching the little tricks to please adults. Baozhu is eating pastries, and the treasure-hunting rat is watching Baozhu eat pastries.]
Dragon King concluded: [Everyone is doing their own thing.]
...
The Imperial College.
The Third Prince was sent to the Imperial College early in the morning. The grand eunuch personally handed the Third Prince to Grand Tutor Ye and hinted that he should discipline him strictly.
Grand Tutor Ye had heard about what had happened in the palace. The Third Prince had been deposed from the position of the crown prince and was now sent out of the palace, which meant he had been abandoned.
Grand Tutor Ye was a good tutor. Although the Third Prince had been abandoned, he would still teach him carefully.
So, as soon as the Third Prince got out of the carriage and his feet touched the ground, Grand Tutor Ye stuffed a book into his hand. "Read."
The Third Prince angrily threw the book away and stepped on it. "I don't want to be here. I want to go back to the palace, back to the palace!"
Looking at the Third Prince shouting and screaming, Grand Tutor Ye frowned in dissatisfaction and asked the student beside him to lock the Third Prince in the small punishment room and cut off his water and food.
The Third Prince stayed in the pitch-black punishment room for a whole day. He lay on the ground, thirsty and hungry. Finally, he realized that this was not the palace, and no one would spoil him. He finally gave in and chose to be obedient.
One of Grand Tutor Ye's students pulled him out, first threw him a disciple's robe of the Imperial College, and told him to change his clothes before going to eat.
The Third Prince didn't know how to dress himself. Because he had been hungry for a long time, his hands and feet were weak. It took him half a day to put on the clothes with great effort.
In the Third Prince's anticipation, Grand Tutor Ye's student brought two coarse grain steamed buns and a few pieces of pickled vegetables. "Eat."
The Third Prince picked up a coarse grain steamed bun doubtfully. He took a bite. It not only tasted bad but was even hard to swallow.
Grand Tutor Ye's student said casually, "Not used to it? You'll get used to it after eating it for a while."
"With the teacher, reading is the most important thing. If you study hard, you can have ordinary food. If you are extremely talented, you can eat the fine grains and white rice that the teacher specially bought."
"If you are like us, without talent and not working hard, we eat whatever the common people outside the city eat."
Those who could enter the Imperial College and be sent to Grand Tutor Ye's门下 were all children of the powerful and wealthy. For them, eating the same food as the common people outside the city was already a great hardship.
The Third Prince held the coarse grain steamed bun in his hand. Thinking that he would only be able to eat this in the future, his eyes were full of panic. "I can read. I'm talented. I don't want to eat this!"
Grand Tutor Ye's student thought the Third Prince was talking nonsense because he was too hungry. But the Third Prince kept saying that he could read. Helplessly, he had to take the Third Prince to find Grand Tutor Ye.
Grand Tutor Ye didn't believe the Third Prince's words either. It wasn't until he examined him that he found that the Third Prince had a solid foundation and his calligraphy was full of strength. So he waved his hand and upgraded the Third Prince's food by one level.
Although the food couldn't be compared with that in the palace, it was much better than the coarse grain steamed buns just now.
Grand Tutor Ye's student watched the Third Prince gobbling up the food and was extremely envious. "It's so good. I haven't eaten such food for a long time."
"I didn't expect you to have such a good foundation. It's really good."
The two "really good"s made the Third Prince feel a bit proud. He paused for a moment and pretended to be modest. "Just so-so."
The Third Prince didn't expect that reading would really be useful. He thought the Queen was lying to him. Thinking of Concubine Li's words, he tentatively asked, "Is reading really useful?"
"Are you deliberately showing off?" Grand Tutor Ye's student frowned. He waved the coarse grain steamed bun in his hand and looked at the food in the Third Prince's bowl.
He didn't know about other places, but in Grand Tutor Ye's place, reading was really useful. It could make people eat good food.
The Third Prince couldn't help but defend himself. "Concubine Li, someone told me that reading is useless!"
Grand Tutor Ye's student sneered and rolled his eyes. "It's fake. That person wants to harm you. My disgusting stepmother also said the same thing, but she secretly sent her own son to study."