The next morning, Jun Ning was fished out from the covers by Imperial Concubine Hua, grood and dressed, then sent off to school.
Jun Ning was so sleepy she couldn’t keep her eyes open, silently cursing in her head.
Studying these ancient texts is no easy feat, especially for the children of the Imperial Family. When the ministers rise before dawn to attend court, the princes and princesses have to get up to study.
No wonder people in ancient tis had such short lifespans!
With such poor sleep every day, especially for children, how could they live long lives?
Jun Ning sighed heavily but still refused to open her eyes or walk herself. Left with no choice, Imperial Concubine Hua had a servant carry her to study.
Morning is when people’s mories are at their best, so Shang Shufang typically starts with an hour of recitation.
When Jun Ning arrived, they didn’t start classes imdiately. She had to morize texts first, and only after reciting them would classes start. In other words, her competition with Zhang Zihao would have to wait until the recitations were over.
Everyone was nodding along, morizing their texts, but Jun Ning just took one look and felt sleepy.
Why are these people nodding their heads just to morize texts?
She complained and then lay on the desk to take a nap, asking the person at the next desk to wake her up when they finished reciting.
The person at the next desk agreed, thinking to themselves, "Sigh, this Princess Anle, today the Duke’s grandson is here for lessons, and he’s reciting the ’Three Character Classic.’ This clearly shows he wants to continue the previous competition, provoking her; how can she still sleep? Doesn’t she know she should hurry and morize?"
"Princess Anle’s attitude toward the competition isn’t right; she will surely lose this ti, definitely lose!"
The person at the next desk thought to themselves.
Sitting not far from Jun Ning, Zhang Zihao had a blissfully complacent smile, hoping Jun Ning would simply give up like this. That way, he was sure to win today, and Jun Ning was sure to lose.
With this in mind, Zhang Zihao redoubled his efforts and continued morizing.
He had never been so determined, nor had studying ever been so enjoyable for him before.
The teacher overseeing their recitations noticed Zhang Zihao’s changed attitude, suddenly developing a love for studying, and doing it with genuine focus, not a hint of pretense. He stroked his beard with a gratified look on his face.
Zhang Zihao was finally growing up.
When his gaze shifted to Jun Ning, he sighed again, "This Princess Anle is really out of line, sleeping here since the first day she arrived, and still sleeping even now."
There was also sothing he didn’t dare say aloud: "Does she think she already knows everything, doesn’t need to teach her, hence her attitude? Or does she think she’s above us and I’m not fit to teach her, which is why she disrespects , sleeping right away?"
Regardless of the reason, it doesn’t belong in Shang Shufang.
Since she’s here, she should study properly.
With this in mind, the teacher exhaled several tis in frustration, stood up holding a ruler, and tapped it on Jun Ning’s desk, "Princess Anle."
Jun Ning was in a deep sleep and didn’t react at all.
The teacher, now annoyed, knocked harder on Jun Ning’s desk with the ruler. This ti, Jun Ning finally heard it, not only hearing it, but being startled straight out of a dream back to her school days in her past life.
She’d also fallen asleep from exhaustion morizing texts there, and the teacher caught her, hitting her palms with a ruler.
The teacher had hit hard, her palms were bruised!
This incident left a deep ntal scar on her.
She instinctively said, "Teacher, please don’t hit , I’ll morize properly!"
As soon as she said it, she realized what was happening—a major awkward mont! The teacher at Shang Shufang would never actually hit her; even if he did, it would just be for show, he wouldn’t really hit her.
What was she saying?
Covering her mouth, she coughed awkwardly, feeling so embarrassed even her toes were curling.
The teacher who had raised the ruler to strike felt that the princess could be taught when he heard Jun Ning’s words. He didn’t scold her further, instead retracting the ruler and encouraging her to study well.
Jun Ning was so lost in her past mories that she didn’t notice the teacher raising and lowering the ruler.
She picked up her book and began flipping through it out of boredom.
These texts, she had morized long ago, and still rembered them thoroughly; she didn’t need to recite them again. After flipping through it for a while, she got bored, and with nothing to do, she started feeling sleepy again.
It wasn’t until Emperor Yongning showed up at Shang Shufang after morning court, saying he wanted to oversee the princes, gentlen, and princesses’ studies that Jun Ning finally shook off her sleepiness.
Zhang Zihao seized the mont to bring up the bet he had made with Jing Shu, about who could recite the ’Three Character Classic’ completely between him and Jun Ning. Now they were to compete, with His Majesty as a witness.
If Jun Ning lost, she couldn’t avoid the consequences; she would have to fulfill her promise to Jing Shu and, in front of everyone, take off her clothes and run around Shang Shufang.
With so many eyes watching, and since the bet was agreed upon by the children beforehand, even though Emperor Yongning didn’t like the punishnt for losing the bet, he couldn’t blatantly favor Jun Ning.
He could only agree and then play it by ear.
"Now that we have a witness, who starts reciting first?" Zhang Zihao asked Jun Ning.
Just as Jun Ning was about to speak, Zhang Zihao interrupted her, "To save you the embarrassnt, I’ll recite first! After I’m done, Anle, you face your humiliation."
Those words were arrogant and wild, making even Xiao Lizi uncomfortable, let alone Emperor Yongning?
But since Emperor Yongning was the reigning sovereign, children’s bickering wasn’t worth worrying over as long as it didn’t co to blows.
If he stepped in to diate, surely a bunch of courtiers would stir up trouble.
So he said nothing, rely watching for now.
After Zhang Zihao finished speaking, he began reciting.
"At the beginning of man, nature is fundantally good..."
He recited smoothly at first, without stumbling, but the further he went, the more difficult it beca. He stamred through about two sticks of incense’s worth of ti, almost finishing.
Just a few more sections, roughly several hundred characters, and he would be done.
But at this crucial mont, he got stuck and couldn’t recite another word.
Even racking his brains, he couldn’t recall it.
Frustrated, he scratched his head, ssing up his hair, but still, nothing ca to mind.
"Mr. Zhang, if you can’t think of it, just leave it. You’ve recited quite a lot today; I might not even be able to finish it all. I’m sure you’ll win!"
The speaker was a fellow young noble from a distinguished family who usually shared Zhang Zihao’s carefree attitude but was sowhat more serious about learning and not as outrageous as Zhang Zihao.
When even diligent learners might struggle to recite better than Zhang Zihao, it says a lot...
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