Chapter 26 Grace

Empress Dowager Changsun was magnanimous, forgiving them for their offense of bumping into the imperial carriage, praising Yun Ye’s superb level of prosthetic manufacturing, and severely criticizing Yun Ye and Cheng Chumo for not making progress under the nurturing of Emperor Li Er, and for idling around all day, ruining the future pillars of the two countries on their own. As the Empress of the Great Tang, she could not sit idly by. Therefore, the great and merciful Empress decided to personally educate Yun Ye and take care of the unaccountable Cheng Chumo. It was better to do it on the day than to choose a day. It would start tomorrow morning.

After seeing off the Empress, Yun Ye stood outside the main gate of the Niu residence, his heart as cold as the wind blowing through the heavens. Goodbye, my lazy mornings, goodbye, my freedom, goodbye, my carefree life. He had hoped that the Empress would forget about it, but now it seemed that she had never forgotten about it and was determined to reform him. The collision with the imperial carriage was just a catalyst.

Niu Jinda was very happy, as was Mrs. Niu, who thought that Yun Ye had finally gained the royal family’s approval and could enter the highest aristocratic circles of the Tang Dynasty. As for Niu Jianhu, he had already been beaten up by Cheng Chumo. The Niu couple ignored everything in front of them and returned to the Niu residence together.

Everything at home had changed, and the servants and maids were running around in circles. Grandma personally stood on the porch to give instructions. She had just received the imperial decree that her grandson must be sent to the palace to study tomorrow at the first light of dawn. This is a great favor, and the Yun family must take it seriously. Big Aunt and Aunt are sewing clothes for the scholar. Little Aunt specially asked a learned Confucian scholar to advise on what books to bring, and to tailor new clothes for Liu Jinbao. He must accompany the Marquis to the palace every day, and then return after the Marquis leaves school. Without a servant or maid, Liu Jinbao can only wait at the palace gate.

He quietly returned to the bedroom, without alarming them, not wanting them to worry about him. He smiled wryly, thinking that going to the palace was not to study, but to undergo organized transformation. He wondered how the empress would transform him. When he thought of this, Yun Ye became a little excited. He had seen the Wheel Power and discussed multi-level marketing, but he did not know how brainwashing education was carried out in the Tang Dynasty. Would it surpass the cults of later generations? Curiosity drove him to hope that tomorrow would come sooner.

The rooster crowed twice, and Yun Ye jumped up from the bed. His maid was ready to serve him, with water for washing his face, a tooth stick, and a small dish of green salt. The warm water on his face was indescribably comfortable. Grandma was very surprised that Yun Ye had gotten up without her calling him. She was happy to get her grandson ready for the visit and said, “The young master of the Cheng family has already arrived at the house and is waiting for you in the front hall.”

He got dressed, of course with the help of his grandmother. He said that Yun Ye still didn’t understand how the Tang Dynasty dressed, it was too complicated. For example, wearing full-length clothing required bare legs, and the legs had to be tied with a rope. In later generations, except for seeing his wife wearing those messy things, he had never seen a man have so much trouble. Not to mention that his wife wore all kinds of stockings, just one set was fine, unlike now when his grandmother had to tie them on Yun Ye’s legs for half a day before they were done.

Cheng Chumo leaned against the stove with a tired look on his face, drinking tea. He was praised by his mother when he returned home last night. He was woken up at four o’clock in the morning and rushed to school without even having time to eat. He said that if he didn’t study well, he would break his legs. Poor boy, the two brothers sympathized with each other for a while, and then had a big meal. One of them took an escort and rushed to the palace.

At the entrance to the palace, eight huge leather lanterns hung from the ceiling, illuminating the ground in a white light. The eunuch had already come to pick them up, and instead of taking the Golden Water Bridge, they passed through a dark and scary alley that was also tiring. After receiving the two silver cakes from Yun Ye, they opened up a conversation about the interior. It turned out that this road was called Yongdao, which surrounded the entire palace, similar to the ring road in later times, except that it only surrounded the palace. The place where he went to school was called Tingtao Hall, where the greatest scholars in the world taught the princes and princesses. Sometimes His Majesty and Her Majesty would also go to listen to a few chapters of the class and teach their children by the way. The name is not good, what is it called Tingtao Hall? It’s a bit like the name of a restaurant. Although he said this, he didn’t dare slow down. He didn’t hear a melodious bell sound coming from the distance, which was the signal for class to begin.

It was late, and as they were about to enter the classroom, an old scholar with a long beard came slowly walking with his hands behind his back. Not daring to squeeze in like the students of later generations, they had to stand outside obediently and wait for the old scholar to give them a lecture.

The old scholar was a witty man. He said, “I heard that there were ten miles of people welcoming the teacher, but I didn’t expect to see three miles today. It really makes me feel very happy. But this must not happen again. If you do it again, you will get ten strokes with the ruler. Go in.” The two brothers bowed to the old scholar and quickly entered the classroom.

Li Chengqian had already been sitting behind a bright yellow desk in the middle, winking at the two of them. The old scholar entered the room and said, “Today you have two new classmates. You should love each other. The more powerful should not bully the weaker, the more intelligent should not be cunning. Do you understand?” The men and women in the room responded with a respectful “yes.”

“The man in the blue robe is Lan Tianhou Yun Ye, right? I’ve heard that you are a talented student, especially good at mathematics. You can be considered a master in mathematics, but I don’t know how much you know about the classics.

Yun Ye shook his head in confusion. Who knows what is the study of the classics, the study of fortune-telling, or the study of women?

“Huh? You’ve never even touched the classics? How far have you gotten in your studies?”

Yun Ye still shook his head. I never went to school in the Tang Dynasty.

“Sima Xiangru’s “Fan Jiang Pian,” Shi You’s “Ji Jiu Pian,” Li Chang’s “Yuan Shang Pian,” Yang Xiong’s “Xun Zuan Pian,” Jia Fang’s “You Xi Pian,” Zhang Yi’s “Pi Cang,” Cai Yong’s “Quan Xue,” “Sheng Huang Pian,” “Huang Chu Pian,” “Nü Shi Pian,” Ban Gu’s “Tai Jia Pian,” In the practice of the article, Cui Yuan’s “Flying Dragon,” Zhu Yu’s “Young Learning,” Fan Gong’s “Guangcang,” Lu Ji’s “Wu Zhang,” Zhou Xingci’s “Thousand Character Essay,” Shu Xi’s “Famingji,” Gu Kaizhi’s “Minmengji,” and “Miscellaneous Characters” and “Common Words Difficult Characters” These enlightenment books have you ever studied?

A long list of titles that he had never heard of buzzed in his ears, and Yun Ye himself was a little embarrassed, but he still firmly shook his head to indicate that he didn’t know. Li Chengqian opened his mouth wide, Cheng Chumo’s eyes were round, and the other little boys and girls looked at him like they were looking at a gorilla.

“Can you read?” The old scholar stepped forward and asked.

Yun Ye nodded, of course I can read.

“Can you tell me what you’re learning?” The old scholar was greatly interested that he could read without having been taught.

“The student’s enlightenment is used in the Three Character Classic, the Hundred Family Surnames, the Disciple’s Rules, etc.”

“Oh! Then recite the Three Character Classic you mentioned. I’ve never heard of it before, so I’d like to see it.”