Recently, several provinces have seen rebels emerging, so the Emperor has been busy with state affairs and seldom visits the harem or pays attention to his sons. Since he encountered them today, he thought he'd take the chance to check on them.
The Emperor took his sons to the Imperial Garden. He started his concern from the third prince. Although he said concern, it was more like a scholar's examination.
Zhao Yao, sitting at the end, lowered his small head, his little face full of despair. He knew it would turn out this way. He regretted watching the drama and shouldn't have watched the seventh and ninth brothers fight. Seriously, couldn't they fight in a place where only the two of them were present, instead of dragging them all in?
The eighth prince noticed Zhao Yao's despondency, gently tapped his arm, and whispered, "Tenth brother, are you okay?"
Zhao Yao lifted his head, his face full of bitterness, and said to the eighth prince, "No, I'm really not okay."
The eighth prince knew what Zhao Yao was anxious and uneasy about, so he comfortingly smiled at him, "It'll be okay."
Zhao Yao could only respond with a dry smile to the eighth prince.
The third prince did well with his schoolwork, passing the emperor's test. The fourth prince, even more so. The fifth prince's work was also fine, while the sixth prince's was a bit weaker, but still passed the test.
When it was the eighth prince's turn, the Emperor's demeanor immediately changed, his expression colder than before. The Emperor disliked this son of his. Back then, after getting drunk, the mother of the eighth prince took the chance to climb onto the Dragon Bed. The mother thought that by bearing the Emperor's child, she could rise to greatness, but unfortunately, the Emperor despised this kind of woman the most.
Even though the mother of the eighth prince gave birth to him, the Emperor never elevated her status to a concubine. The so-called "love me, love my dog," conversely also meant "hate me, hate my dog," as the Emperor's dislike for the eighth prince's mother extended to the son as well.
The eighth prince had long been accustomed to the Emperor's cold demeanor. He feigned a frightened look and awkwardly answered the Emperor's questions.
Seeing the eighth prince so timid, the Emperor disliked him even more. After asking a few questions, he dismissed the eighth prince with a wave of his hand.
When the eighth prince returned to his seat, he was a bit pale, and Zhao Yao gave him a slight smile. The eighth prince returned a weak smile.
"Little Tenth, come here."
Zhao Yao's heart skipped a beat, and he stood up, walking with heavy steps to the Emperor.
The Emperor saw his young son looking as though he were marching to war, and couldn't help but chuckle, "What, are you so afraid of seeing me?"
"No, no..." At this moment, he really didn't want to see his father.
"Come here." The Emperor beckoned Zhao Yao closer.
With resignation, Zhao Yao approached the Emperor, and just as he expected, his face was pinched.
The Emperor, as if finding an amusing toy, pinched and twisted his little son's chubby cheeks.
Zhao Yao's little carved jade-like face was all distorted by the Emperor's kneading.
The Emperor cupped his son's chin, teasingly commanding, "Smile for me."
Zhao Yao: "..."
"Little Tenth, smile for me."
Zhao Yao was speechless for a while, then asked, "Will you give me money?" If he was to sell a smile, he should at least get paid.
The Emperor didn't expect Zhao Yao to say such a thing, and was momentarily stunned. Collecting himself, he asked with a smile, "How much do you want?"
Zhao Yao raised one finger.
"A penny?"
"A string of coins." As a prince, his smile should be worth at least a string of coins, otherwise it wouldn't match his status.
"Smile nicely, and I'll give you a string of coins." The Emperor poked Zhao Yao's cheek, "Come, smile for me."
Hearing he would really get ten strings of coins, Zhao Yao immediately smiled, showing a cute dimple on his left cheek.
Seeing the dimple on his little son's left cheek, the Emperor paused slightly, then reached out to poke at it.
"Father, please stop poking." Zhao Yao was dissatisfied with the Emperor poking his dimple, "If you keep poking, it'll get bigger."
Zhao Yao's words caught the Emperor off guard, and a look of nostalgia swept across his face. When he was a child, he loved to poke his elder brother's dimple on his left cheek, and his elder brother once told him it'd get bigger if he kept poking.
"If you're going to poke, poke the right side, maybe you'll poke out a dimple," Zhao Yao was always unhappy about having just one dimple. In his view, he should have two. Symmetry was important. When he had nothing else to do, he would poke the right side of his mouth, hoping to make a dimple appear.
The Emperor poked Zhao Yao's right cheek, "Little Tenth, I heard from the tutor that you're not doing well with your studies."
Uh...
Zhao Yao's heart tightened, and he braced himself to say, "Your son is foolish."
The Emperor continued poking Zhao Yao's right cheek, disdainfully adding, "How could I have such a foolish son?"
"Your son is dumb."
"I am exceedingly wise, all my sons are born intelligent, but not you," the Emperor noted with some frustration, "You really don't resemble me at all."
Zhao Yao criticized in his heart, which is really an injustice to you.
"Father, why don't you put me back, let Mother bear me again, maybe then I'd turn out smart."
Zhao Yao's remark took the Emperor by surprise as well, causing him to laugh heartily, "Hahaha..." He reached out to flick his son's forehead, teasingly, "Even if you were reborn, you wouldn't become smart with such stupidity."
"Your son wishes to be bright, but every time he reads he just wants to sleep," Zhao Yao almost pleaded with sadness.
"And you're complaining about it?" The Emperor pinched his son's face, then released him to stand properly, "If you can't answer well, I'll punish you."
"Father, you don't need to test me, you can just punish me directly," Zhao Yao admitted candidly.
"Let me test you first."
"Then go ahead."
Following, the Emperor asked questions, with Zhao Yao answering each time. He could only get half of them right.
The Emperor flicked Zhao Yao's forehead with a finger, "You really are silly."
Zhao Yao pouted, "I told you to just punish me directly, but you had to test me... Ow..." His complaint was interrupted as his face was pinched again.
"You think that's reasonable?"
"Your son doesn't dare."
"'The Analects' is so simple, yet you can't recite it," the Emperor remarked, pulling Zhao Yao's plump cheek, smiling, "So, you'll write 'The Analects' a hundred times."
"What?!" Zhao Yao exclaimed.
"Write it a hundred times, and you should be able to memorize it. If you can't remember it after a hundred times, then write it two hundred times," the Emperor said with a soft pat on his son's cheek, the words dripping with cruel resolve.
"Father, you might as well kill me," he groaned, astounded at being asked to copy 'The Analects' a hundred times -- wasn't that asking for his life? "Ouch..." His forehead was sharply flicked again.
"Behave and write it a hundred times, I'll be checking."
"Father, I'm just beginning to read, there are many characters I can't even write, if you have me write it a hundred times, I'll be finishing it who knows when," Zhao Yao argued with slight exasperation.
"Not bad, you can even use 'who knows when,'" the Emperor commented, "I'll give you a month. If you have someone else write it for you, I'll make you write it five hundred times."
Zhao Yao, who was just planning to ask the eighth prince to help him write it, froze; despair overwhelmed him as he whimpered, "It's too cruel, isn't your conscience hurting after dealing with me this way, Father?"
"Nope," the Emperor responded, tapping his son's head, "Go on."
"Father, can we make a deal?" Zhao Yao tried to flatter the Emperor with a smile, "I won't ask for the one string of coins from before, could you just lessen the punishment, let me write it fifty times, okay?"
"I never said I'd give you a string of coins," the Emperor retorted disdainfully, "The smile you made earlier was ugly beyond belief, I wasn't satisfied."
Zhao Yao was taken aback by the Emperor's shamelessness, "Father, how can you go back on your word?"
"One more word, and it'll be two hundred copies."
Zhao Yao, hearing this, quickly shut his mouth, though his little face was full of indignation.
"Off you go."
Zhao Yao returned to his seat in anger. Inside, he cursed, he knew the shameless bastard of a father wouldn't let him off easily, making him copy 'The Analects' a hundred times, it's as if they wanted his hands to fall off, really too much.
The Emperor had been out for a while, and it was time to return to reviewing memorials. That's all the concern he could afford for his sons, given the plethora of state affairs.