Chapter 707: Educating the Children (1)

Editor: Atlas Studios

Qi Haoran was punished by Qi Xiuyuan to copy the “Book of Rites” a hundred times. No matter how much he begged, it was useless.

Qi Xiuyuan couldn’t care less about his brother’s family affairs, so he could only teach him a lesson through such a punishment. It was useless to hit and scold him. This kid would easily forget about it, so he could only punish him by copying books.

Annoyed, Qi Haoran muttered, “You kissed Little Treasure and Little Bear before. How is that not wrong?”

Qi Xiuyuan glared at him. How could these two matters be the same? At that time, the two toddlers were like little dumplings and were too young to retain memories at that age. Furthermore, that was his first time seeing the children. In his excitement, he expressed his love for them via such a method. Who had seen him kiss the two children after that?

Besides, there was a huge difference between parents kissing their children, versus the other way round, okay?

Qi Xiuyuan still couldn’t accept this. Just the thought of Little Treasure holding his head and kissing him when he was old gave him goosebumps.

Qi Haoran angrily held a copy of the “Book of Rites” and went back home to be grounded. In Qi Xiuyuan’s words, he said, “You’ve only been in the capital for a few days, but you’ve already caused a storm in the capital. Anyway, you’re only returning to the capital to attend the banquet for the conferment of the Crown Prince and Dali becoming our vassal state. You don’t have to attend the court meeting. During this period of time, just quietly stay at home to copy the book.”

Initially, Qi Haoran did not think that there was anything wrong with being grounded. However, after hearing his words, he suddenly remembered that he had only implemented half of his plan against the Lu family. He had yet to bring his newly-eloquent son out to show off.

Knowing what Qi Haoran was thinking, Qi Xiuyuan glared at him and said, “Restrain yourself. Since Little Treasure will return to the palace tomorrow, his study companions will return to the palace as well. Stay at home obediently with Little Bear these few days so that he doesn’t become a target for revenge. Little Bear is still young and still has a long way to go.”

Qi Haoran’s expression turned cold. “They dare to lay their hands on a child of the royal family?”

Qi Xiuyuan snorted coldly. He didn’t tell him how many times Little Treasure had been plotted against in the past year. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have ordered his men to guard the palace like an iron bucket.

Those who were targeting Little Treasure weren’t just the clans who were covetously eyeing the empress’s position. Aside from that, there were also those who missed the glory of the previous dynasty, as well as West Xia who wanted to throw Great Qi into chaos, and spies from the Jin Kingdom. As soon as Qi Xiuyuan ascended the throne, he’d reduced the number of palace maids and emissaries and released a large number of palace maids to go home and marry. He also sent a large number of emissaries to the Imperial Plantation and various courtyards in a bid to get rid of the suspicious characters.

With fewer people, it would be much easier to manage.

This incident at Upper Wood Park was a manifestation. He didn’t want outsiders to know what had happened, so he could hide it for two days. Compared to the sieve-like harem of the previous dynasty, this was already considered not bad.

However, Qi Xiuyuan was very dissatisfied with the fact that he could only hide it for two days. Before he had absolute confidence in protecting his family, Qi Xiuyuan was unwilling to push Little Treasure and Little Bear, who were the least capable of protecting themselves, to the front. Now that the incident at Upper Wood Park had made Little Treasure and Little Bear the focus of everyone’s attention, he needed something to distract everyone.

Hence, when Qi Haoran went back to copy the book, Qi Xiuyuan also assigned him to think of a way to divert everyone’s attention from Little Treasure and Little Bear. He did not mind Qi Haoran causing trouble because of this.

What Mu Yangling saw was Qi Haoran holding a book and pondering.

Mu Yangling wasn’t the only one who was surprised. Little Treasure and Little Bear, too, widened their eyes in surprise. Although they were young, they knew that Qi Haoran hated reading the most. Furthermore, it was a book like “The Book of Rites” that could make people snooze pretty quickly. Had his brain been damaged from a fever or something?

The two children only thought about it in their hearts. However, Mu Yangling touched his forehead and turned around to say to the two children, “It’s not burning.”

Qi Haoran slapped Mu Yangling’s hand and glared at her angrily. “Can’t I work hard? Previously I didn’t like to study because you didn’t advise me to do so. Whose wife doesn’t advise her husband to study hard? It’s all because of you. Every time I have a break, you ask me to bring you out to play. You’ve wasted my time…”

After Qi Haoran finished ranting, Mu Yangling turned around and lectured the two children, “Did you hear that? Your uncle is personally teaching you what it means to shirk responsibility. In the future, you must not be such a person, understand?”

Qi Haoran choked, but when he met the two children’s bright eyes, he could only swallow his words.

Mu Yangling took the opportunity to pull the two children aside and said, “When it comes to studying, other than relying on comprehension, you have to rely on diligence and self-control. This requires self-awareness and others won’t be able to force you into doing it. Even if they can force you to sit at the desk, your hearts won’t be there. It’ll just be a waste of time.

“Just like what your uncle said just now, some people are not determined, but they like to shirk responsibility. He refuses to study, but he doesn’t want to accept this responsibility, so he thinks of ways to push the blame to others. Even if others pressurize him to study, nothing will register, and he will have come up with another excuse to shirk responsibility.”

The young Little Bear looked at his mother in confusion.

The mature Little Treasure, however, said thoughtfully, “I understand now. It’s up to oneself whether they want to learn or not. If you want to learn, you can sit down to study even if others tempt you to play. If you don’t want to learn, even if others force you to sit down, your heart won’t be in it. But whether you choose to learn or not, you should be brave enough to take responsibility and not push the blame to others.”

Not only Mu Yangling, but even Qi Haoran looked at Little Treasure in surprise. He did not expect Little Treasure to comprehend it to this extent.

Qi Haoran sighed and stroked his head. “This child is really like Big Brother. At a young age, Big Brother already knew how to plan for his future. At the age of eight, he dared to write letters to our uncles privately and asked them to find a martial arts master for him. He used his own arrangements for his future to convince our uncles…” Qi Haoran remembered that once, his uncle said that what shocked and touched him the most at that time was not only Qi Xiuyuan’s plans for his life, but also his arrangements for him.

Uncle said that although these arrangements were still a little immature, they were all achievable. At that time, it was a good arrangement for them. If not for Big Brother’s age, Uncle would almost suspect that it was suggested by an adult.

Qi Haoran felt that Little Treasure had completely inherited his brain from Qi Xiuyuan. As such, Qi Xiuyuan now had a successor. As long as Little Treasure did not go astray in the future, Great Qi could at least last another hundred years.

However, Little Treasure looked at his uncle in a dilemma and asked, “Then isn’t Uncle the kind of person who always shirks responsibility? But Uncle is clearly a great general.”

Qi Haoran’s face stiffened.

Mu Yangling hurriedly said, “Your uncle was just doing that to educate you so that you can see how annoying such people are.”

“Your uncle is a great general. How can a person who shirks responsibility be a great general? Someone who shirks responsibility will claim credit for a victorious battle, but push the blame of a lost battle to his subordinates. After that, would his subordinates still be willing to listen to his orders?”

Little Treasure shook his head.

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