Did he really want to die that badly?
He had only asked him to stay home and study his books and calligraphy, so why had he reacted with such fierce resistance?
“Qingye, I ask you, why are you so strongly opposed to studying?”
“Studying is meant for governing the country and bringing peace to the world!”
“Governing the country and bringing peace to the world is the job of the emperor and the crown prince.”
“I am neither the emperor nor the crown prince, so why should I study?”
“This son only wants to be a carefree, idle prince and live out a leisurely, happy life.”
Ying Qingye’s tone was breezy and detached, as if everything in the imperial court had nothing to do with him.
“Are you blaming your father for not making you crown prince?”
Ying Zheng stared intently at him, trying to read something in his eyes.
“Not at all!”
“I really just want to be an idle prince. Besides, all those texts like the Classic of Poetry, The Doctrine of the Mean, the Analects…”
“I’ve read books from all the hundred schools of thought, and they’re all imprinted in my brain!”
“Why read them again?”
Ying Qingye shook his head and said softly.
“You’ve read them all?”
“Who are you trying to fool? Do you know what the crime of deceiving the emperor is?”
Hearing this, Ying Zheng simply didn’t believe it. If you’ve read all that, how on earth could you write a garbage poem like ‘One piece, two pieces, three or four pieces’?
“If Father doesn’t believe me, you are welcome to test me!”
“Therefore, the superior man is cautious when he is alone and not seen, and fearful when he is unheard and not perceived.”
“What is the next line?”
“There is nothing more visible than what is secret, and nothing more manifest than what is minute. Therefore, the superior man is watchful over himself when he is alone.”
Ying Qingye reeled it off without missing a beat.
“Being and non-being produce each other; difficulty and ease complete each other; long and short shape each other; high and low rest upon each other; sound and voice harmonize with each other; front and back follow each other. It is ever thus.”
“Therefore the sage manages affairs without doing anything, and conveys his teachings without the spoken word; all things arise, and he does not turn away from them; he produces them, but does not take possession of them; he acts, but does not assert any right; he completes his work, but takes no credit for it. Since he takes no credit, it does not leave him.”
“I threw in that extra paragraph for free!”
Ying Qingye rattled it off once more.
“Oh ho!”
“Assess profits before listening, then create strategic advantages to assist from without.”
“The next line!”
“A strategist adapts tactics based on advantage. Warfare is the art of deception.”
Ying Qingye fired back instantly yet again.
Back and forth they went, moving from the philosophical works of the various schools of thought to the Classic of Poetry. No matter which preceding line Ying Zheng quoted, Ying Qingye could flawlessly supply the next one.
Even when asked to provide the preceding lines himself, Ying Qingye did so without the slightest pressure.
Not only could he recite them by heart, but he could also offer his own unique insights.
It was the true definition of complete mastery.
Standing to the side, Meng Yi found it hard to believe his own ears. Was this really the same idle, good-for-nothing Fifth Young Master?
Was this really the clueless, empty-headed fool of a prince?
Back when Ying Zheng tested the various princes in the palace, Meng Yi had also heard about Ying Qingye’s “one piece, two pieces, three or four pieces” poem.
It had been utterly devoid of literary talent, as if the boy had never read a book in his life.
Now, looking at it, this Fifth Young Master was clearly widely read and deeply learned!
“You brat, you did it on purpose!”
Ying Qingye: (￣O￣;)
What on earth do you mean I did it on purpose?!
“What does Father mean?”
“That poem you recited in the palace—you did it deliberately!”
“You’re well-read and knowledgeable, yet you purposely wrote that terrible poem to fool me?”
“You’ve got quite some nerve!”
Ying Zheng gave a faint smile!
Not that death smile again!
“Guards, drag him out and give him thirty heavy strikes!”
“Wait, wait, wait!”
Ying Zheng paused slightly. What is this kid playing at?
He wasn’t even afraid of death, so why was he afraid of a beating?
Could it be…?!
Ying Zheng seemed to have found the exact handle to keep Ying Qingye in check!
“Father, please calm your anger!”
“I didn’t do it on purpose, it’s just that at the time…”
“Well…”
“It was mostly because I wasn’t in the right state of mind, I had just woken up, and I was in a bad mood.”
“You know how it is, back then—”
“Alright, alright!”
“You talk too much!”
Ying Zheng waved his hand dismissively, growing impatient.
“I’ll give you a topic. Write a poem for me with Great Qin as the theme.”
“Alright, alright!”
Ying Qingye stroked his chin in thought, gazed out toward the distant horizon, and then recited:
“Dark clouds loom long over the snowy mountains by Qinghai Lake,
A solitary city gazes far toward the Hangu Pass.
Though hundred battles through yellow sands have worn iron armor through,
We will never return home until the Xiongnu are utterly defeated.”
He had simply adapted Wang Changling’s famous frontier poem From the Army.
“Until the Xiongnu are utterly defeated?”
“A magnificent poem! Great Qin’s greatest enemy right now is the Xiongnu in the north. Our border guards have been through hundreds of battles, their armor worn thin, yet their grand ambition remains unyielding—swearing never to return to their hometowns until they vanquish the invading enemy.”
“I never expected a kid like you to have such literary talent. Excellent, truly excellent!”
“However, why have you been hiding your abilities?”
Ying Zheng looked puzzled. Since the boy possessed such boundless talent, why try to conceal it?
He certainly didn’t buy Ying Qingye’s excuse about not being in the right state of mind. Who was he trying to fool?
“Hiding?”
“Not at all!”
“Where’s the hiding?”
“I just didn’t feel like showing off. As I said before, this son only wants to be a carefree, idle prince.”
“I’m not trying to become the emperor, so why bother standing out like that?”
“You rascal!”
Ying Zheng chuckled helplessly.
“Tomorrow, you will accompany me to attend the imperial court!”
“Huh?”
“Attend court?”
“I don’t even hold an official rank or a title, why on earth should I go to court?”
“No way, I’m not going!”
Ying Qingye flatly refused. Attend court?
Are you kidding me?
He was just a second-generation slacker who only knew how to eat, drink, and play.
Going to court?
Wouldn’t that just ruin state affairs?
Wouldn’t future generations curse him into the grave?
“Whether you want to go or not, you’re going! You’re well-versed in the teachings of all the hundred schools of thought. If you don’t go, are you just going to sit at home and gather mold?”
“Let all that talent go to waste?”
“If you don’t go, I’ll start beating your bottom again.”
“It’s settled, then!”
“Return to the palace!”
With that, Ying Zheng turned around and walked away without looking back.
He gave Ying Qingye no room for refusal, ignoring all of his protests and shouts.
As soon as they stepped outside, Ying Zheng’s expression shifted.
“Meng Yi, did you notice that young person beside Qingye earlier?”
“Your Majesty, this minister noticed!”
Meng Yi gave a slight nod.
“If you were to face this person, do you stand a chance of winning?”
“Your Majesty, I cannot see through them. This person is extremely dangerous, and if I were to fight them, I have no confidence in winning.”
Thinking back to the Empress’s figure, Meng Yi’s expression turned grave.
“Even you couldn’t win against her?”
“Just when and where did this brat manage to acquire such a top-tier martial artist willing to risk their life for him?”
Ying Zheng furrowed his brows.
Back inside just then, he had felt that the moment any threat touched Ying Qingye—or the instant Ying Qingye gave a single command—the Empress would not hesitate to kill him!
That realization unsettled him deeply.
He was finding it harder and harder to see through this son of his.
Was his claim of only wanting to be an idle prince even true?
Impossible to tell!
Only Ying Qingye himself knew the truth.
Meanwhile, Ying Qingye wore an expression of utter distress.
“Young Master, His Majesty is letting you attend court, which is a good thing. Why aren’t you happy?”
The Empress looked at Ying Qingye in confusion.
“The imperial court is full of deceit and treachery. One wrong step and you’re ruined forever, or even condemned by history for eternity.”
“My ambitions do not lie in the court!”
“Besides, he’s forbidding me from going to the Drunken Moon Pavilion—isn’t this going to kill me?”
Ying Qingye wore a thoroughly miserable expression.