Ministers Begging Me to Ascend the Throne
Chapter 114 - 108: Prince Ten and Dogs Not Allowed Entry_2

Chapter 114: Chapter 108: Prince Ten and Dogs Not Allowed Entry_2

"Found a few books; should we send them back to the palace to His Highness tomorrow?"

"When he comes to Hulong Temple, I’ll give them to him personally."

Yu Hai hesitated for a moment before asking, "Your Highness, is it alright for His Highness to be interested in arithmetic? After all, arithmetic is considered a minor skill."

"Arithmetic is not a minor skill." The Eighth Prince raised the corners of his mouth in mockery, "Confucianism deems itself the mainstream, viewing anything outside its realm as minor. In my view, any knowledge that is useful is mainstream. Arithmetic is very important in our daily lives."

"What Your Highness says is true."

Speaking of Confucianism, the Eighth Prince thought of Mr. Kong and his youngest daughter.

"Did you say Mrs. Kong left Bodhi Temple alone?"

"Yes, Miss Kong did not leave Bodhi Temple with Mrs. Kong. She said she wanted to stay there to pray for the late Empress." Yu Hai finished speaking and noticed the Eighth Prince’s unusual expression, prompting him to ask puzzledly, "Your Highness, is there something wrong?"

The Eighth Prince frowned and pondered, "Mrs. Kong wouldn’t leave Miss Kong alone at Bodhi Temple to pray. There’s definitely more to this."

"Your Highness, you mean?"

"Send someone to investigate Bodhi Temple." The Eighth Prince already had his suspicions.

"Yes, Your Highness."

The Eighth Prince then asked, "Have Li Chuan and the others left the capital?"

Yu Hai replied, "Prince Dai ordered Qian Songtao to take Li Chuan back to Jizhou. Zhai Gui hasn’t left."

The Eighth Prince rubbed the Buddha Beads on his left wrist, lost in thought.

Seeing the Eighth Prince deep in contemplation, Yu Hai remained silent, standing quietly by the side.

After a moment, the Eighth Prince asked, "Are Shen Hu and Chu Ying at the temple?"

"Yes."

"We’ll act tomorrow night."

Upon hearing this, Yu Hai appeared shocked but then lowered his voice, "Your Highness, if General Shen and the others are here, our plan will surely fail."

Picking up a teacup, the Eighth Prince swirled the tea gently, smiling with hidden meaning, "Failure is what we need."

Yu Hai understood what the Eighth Prince meant. "I will inform them immediately." Seeing the Eighth Prince resume copying Buddhist scriptures, he discreetly withdrew.

Inside the room, the Eighth Prince was copying the "Diamond Sutra." While copying, a mocking look appeared on his face, and a shadow clouded his eyes.

At this time, in Kunde Hall, Zhao Yao was writing a letter to the Eighth Prince.

Since the Eighth Prince followed the Crown Prince to Hulong Temple, Zhao Yao was worried that he might get bored, so he wrote letters to him every day.

After Zhao Yao finished the letter, he sent it to Hulong Temple via carrier pigeons. He didn’t use his bird friends, as it seemed inappropriate, so he used the palace’s official carrier pigeons.

Just after the Eighth Prince finished copying scriptures, a carrier pigeon flew to his window, tilting its head to look at him. He couldn’t help but chuckle, standing up to retrieve the letter from the pigeon’s leg.

Opening the letter, he was greeted by Zhao Yao’s chicken-scratch handwriting.

[Eighth Brother, I heard the vegetarian meals at Hulong Temple are delicious, is it true?]

That’s all the letter said.

Zhao Yao had heard this from Lin Xueyi.

The Eighth Prince smiled indulgently, "Always thinking about food." With that, he returned to his desk to write a reply.

[The vegetarian dishes, steamed buns, pastries, and snacks at Hulong Temple are all very delicious. I’ll have Yu Hai bring some to you tomorrow.]

After writing the reply, the Eighth Prince sent it back with the pigeon.

This pigeon was named Xiaoyi by Zhao Yao. These days, it made multiple trips daily between Hulong Temple and the Imperial Palace.

Zhao Yao received the reply, happy to hear that the Eighth Prince would send him some vegetarian food from Hulong Temple early the next morning. He jumped for joy.

The Eighth Brother treated him so well, he ought to return the favor. However, since the Eighth Brother didn’t have a taste for food, he decided to give him a painting instead.

A few days ago, Tong Xi had made charcoal pencils as instructed by Zhao Yao.

In recent days, Zhao Yao had been using the charcoal pencils to draw. He had inherited Zhao Yao’s dream-like drawing skills, and with practice, his drawings had been improving.

He had just finished drawing a portrait of the Fourth Brother. In the words of the dream Zhao Yao, it was a sketch.

Previously, Fourth Brother had drawn a portrait of him, so it was only courteous to return the gesture by drawing a portrait of Fourth Brother.

At this moment, Liang Zhaoyi entered and asked warmly, "Are you done with your work?"

"Yes, I’m done." Zhao Yao stood up, stretched, and then handed over the newly completed sketch of the Fourth Prince to Liang Zhaoyi, "Mother, look at my drawing."

In recent days, Liang Zhaoyi had seen what Zhao Yao called sketching, but upon seeing the sketch of the Fourth Prince, she was still amazed.

"It’s beautifully done."

"Doesn’t it look identical?"

"Yes, it’s identical." In her heart, Liang Zhaoyi marveled at the lifelike quality of the drawing.

"Mother, I’ll draw one for you tomorrow."

"Alright, I’ll wait." Liang Zhaoyi said, handing Zhao Yao a book, "See if I’ve made any mistakes with the punctuation?"

Ever since Zhao Yao recalled punctuation marks, he had been teaching Liang Zhaoyi about them. These days, she had been practicing using punctuation marks.

Zhao Yao took the book and diligently checked it over.

"Mother, you got them all right," he praised Liang Zhaoyi, imitating a teacher’s tone, "Mother, you’ve completely grasped the essence of punctuation marks. That’s truly impressive."

Feigning great delight at her son’s praise, Liang Zhaoyi said, "Thank you, Your Highness."

"Mother, isn’t reading so much easier with punctuation?"

"It’s extremely convenient," Liang Zhaoyi smiled, "I plan to mark all the books in the study with punctuation marks."

"That’s great."

Liang Zhaoyi said, "In some time, you can teach me about that pinyin."

Zhao Yao replied cheerfully, "No problem."

"Once the timing is right, we’ll inform your father about punctuation and pinyin," Liang Zhaoyi knew that promoting these would simplify reading, but it wasn’t the right time yet.

Zhao Yao obediently responded, "I’ll listen to Mother." Then he remembered the stirrup issue and quickly asked, "Mother, when should we tell Father about the stirrups?"

"After the late Empress’s death anniversary," which was in three days’ time.