Chapter 709 - Chapter 709: The End
Chapter 709: The End
Editor: Atlas Studios
The reason for the uproar was that the backgrounds of the four excluded study companions were not simple, and the people left behind were also quite subtle.
Back then, when the study companions for the Crown Prince were chosen, the aristocratic families occupied three of the eight spots. Two were the grandsons of highly-ranked generals, and one was the eldest grandson of Junior Tutor Fang Zhiyuan. As for the remaining two, one was Rong Xuan’s youngest son and the other was the youngest son of the new Minister of Revenue, Song Yan. Song Yan came from a poor family and was especially good at algebra. Previously, he had been doing odd jobs in the Ministry of Revenue. After Qi Xiuyuan transferred Zhang Cheng to the Ministry of Works, he promoted him. As such, it could be said that Song Yan had achieved success overnight.
As for the four chosen to remain, there was the eldest grandson of Junior Tutor Fang Zhiyuan—Fang Tong, Rong Xuan’s youngest son—Rong Zhen, Song Yan’s youngest son—Song Qiao, and Grand Commandant Hua’s eldest grandson—Hua Nan. None of the children from the three aristocratic families were asked to stay.
Someone suggested that Rong Xuan was from an aristocratic family, and everyone couldn’t help but laugh at this joke.
Hailing from a side branch of the Rong family, Rong Xuan had been ostracized by his stepmother since he was young. He had been thrown into the army and had never undergone the upbringing of an aristocratic family. Other than that faint bloodline, there was nothing about him that reminded others of aristocracy. His achievements today were not owing to his aristocratic bloodline, but because he had gone through thick and thin with Qi Xiuyuan and fought alongside him. Hence, one could overlook this.
So, the Emperor still did not like aristocratic families?
Was that why he took advantage of the incident at Upper Wood Park to remove all the study companions from aristocratic families in one shot?
Qi Xiuyuan did not let his subjects guess too much. He had spent money to hire them to work, not to guess his thoughts. If they had the time, they might as well think about how to improve the state of agriculture and water conservancy facilities in order to increase the country’s income.
Therefore, he got someone to release what everyone had done at Upper Wood Park that day, as well as what he had said to the Empress. “Although the young masters are still young and their characters can’t be determined just based on this matter, one has to be careful since it concerns the Crown Prince and, by relation, the foundation of the Great Qi Kingdom.
“The oldest among the eight, Lu Yan is the most talented and proud. Considering he comes from an aristocratic family, I can tolerate his arrogance. If the Eldest Prince studies alongside him, it’s fine that he benefits from his talent and air of pride. However, despite being aware of the identity of Prince Rong’s young heir, he dared to compose a poem to mock him in front of the Eldest Prince. This person is either arrogant enough to think that no one can understand his poem or has an unsavory character. No matter what, I won’t allow the Eldest Prince to interact with him before he grows up and his temperament is set.
“As for the two children of the Wang and Zheng families.” The Emperor shook his head slightly. “The Wang family has always been on good terms with the Lu family, and Wang Yong grew up with Lu Yan. If he could’ve interfered, the fight would not have happened after the Eldest Prince had already warned Lu Yan.”
“As for Zheng Quan.” The Emperor chuckled. “Hua Nan is only four years old. Fang Zhiyuan has taught him the ‘Three Character Classic’ 18 times, but he still can’t understand it. So how could he understand Lu Yan’s impromptu poem? I don’t care what conflicts the Lu family has with the Zheng family. Though he dared to make use of a child of my Qi family, I’ll let him off on account of Zheng Quan’s young age. Next time, I won’t show mercy. As for Hua Nan, although he’s a little slow, he’s still a pure and virtuous child. Thus, I will allow him to stay.”
Fang Tong had always been the more mature one among the eight of them. At six years old, he was only two months younger than Lu Yan. Being the youngest child in his family, it was not easy for him to study with a group of children who were younger than him. Still, he deliberately acted like an adult to take care of them.
When Lu Yan mocked Little Bear with a poem, he’d shouted at him to stop. What really amused Qi Xiuyuan was that when Little Bear hit Lu Yan, he didn’t ask Little Bear to stop. Instead, he rushed forward to help Little Bear suppress Lu Yan and said, “Serves you right for bullying the younger kids. See, you’re getting beaten up now huh? Don’t bully the younger kids in the future…”
This was also the reason why among the four study companions, Qi Xiuyuan had chosen him first.
Of course, Qi Xiuyuan kept this trivial detail to himself and didn’t let word spread so as not to ruin the child’s reputation. He only let it be known that Fang Tong had stopped Lu Yan immediately.
Because of Rong Xuan and Qi Xiuyuan’s close ties, Rong Zhen was often brought to the palace to play. He was one of Little Treasure’s few playmates, so when Little Treasure rushed up to stop the fighting, he also rushed up. Although he was young, he could differentiate between his own people and others. While holding back Lu Yan and the others, he also helped Little Bear pinch Lu Yan. Hence, in the chaotic battle, he also suffered a fall.
Song Qiao, on the other hand, was much more interesting. When this kid entered the palace, he had been instilled with the idea of being loyal to the Emperor by his father. Therefore, as soon as the fight started, he stood in front of Little Treasure. Seeing that Little Treasure was protecting Little Bear, he changed to blocking the fists for Little Bear. Therefore, among the eight of them, he was the most seriously injured despite not actively beating someone up.
As for Dai Wei’s grandson, Dai Jin, the reason for his exclusion was much simpler. Some people just want to watch the world burn, and this kid was one such person. At that time, when they fought, he’d egged on from the side. After joining the chaotic battle, he’d thrown out punches haphazardly, not even caring who he hit. If not for the fact that Song Qiao had shielded him with his body, Little Treasure would have taken a few punches from Dai Jin.
Dai Wei was considered a fierce general when leading troops to war. He was also quite smart. Back then, he had used his connections to send his grandson to the palace to be the Eldest Prince’s study companion. Who knew that his grandson would be such a disappointment? It was an excellent opportunity to make a contribution, but it was thoroughly ruined by him.
Qi Xiuyuan took this opportunity to confirm the number of study companions for the prince in the future, so Dai Jin could only be eliminated.
The moment Song Yan’s youngest son was sent home, Song Yan went to settle scores with Dai Wei. The moment the Emperor announced that the number of study companions would be re-determined, he’d known that there was no hope for his grandson.
Not to mention the Eldest Prince, even if he were to choose a study companion for his own grandson, he would not pick someone who was so eager to see the world in chaos. Therefore, Dai Wei had nothing to refute against that. Still, he could not help but glare at Grand Tutor Lu. He felt that if not for Lu Yan stirring up trouble, his grandson’s hidden attribute might not have been discovered. Perhaps as time went by, he would have changed his ways.
He had spent a lot of effort to get his grandson to become the Crown Prince’s study companion. Now, all his efforts had been in vain.
No matter how unconvinced Grand Tutor Lu was, he had no choice but to give up with no one in the court supporting him. Even the students who had always respected him did not stand on his side.
There was indeed a conflict of interests in the court, but this sentence of Qi Xiuyuan moved everyone. “It involves the foundation of the Great Qi Kingdom, so we have to be careful.”
Anyone who was a minister would want the country to be prosperous and aspired to leave their names in history. To achieve these two things, a wise ruler was the most important prerequisite.
They would not allow people like Lu Yan and Zheng Quan to appear by the side of the future Crown Prince. Therefore, for the first time, they remained silent and supported the Emperor’s choice of study companions. This made Grand Tutor Lu’s schemes fall through.
It was only at this moment that he realized that this was Qi Haoran’s greatest revenge on them. Unfortunately, the Emperor had something on him, rendering him powerless to resist. If he attacked Qi Haoran now, the Emperor would probably immediately punish him for visiting the Hall of Diligent Governance.
With the incident at Upper Wood Park, the Lu family’s reputation plummeted. Once this matter erupted, the Emperor would likely take the opportunity to weaken the Lu family, just like how he’d dealt with the Cui family.
As the patriarch of the Lu family, Grand Tutor Lu did not dare to take the risk, so he remained silent.
At this point, the incident at Upper Wood Park came to an end.
However, as aristocratic families, the Lu family, the Wang family, and the Zheng family’s reputation were affected to a certain extent. Moreover, cracks had appeared in the alliance that the three families had formed. The three families complained to each other in private. Although they knew that the Emperor had ulterior motives for saying those words, what he said was the truth. The alliance between the three families had become the weakest because of their children. Although they did not become enemies, the alliance of the aristocratic families against the imperial power had become an empty formality.
The aristocratic families went their own way, and Qi Xiuyuan immediately felt much more relaxed.