Chapter 10: My Daughter is Actually Dirt Poor?

Yun Shu gave a shy smile, secretly guessing how much money her Emperor Father would give her now that his conscience had finally surfaced.

Just then, Emperor Xuanwu turned his head again, chatting with Grand Tutor Cui with a face full of smiles

"Does Imperial Minister Cui know how much a common brush from the marketplace costs?"

"This..."

Grand Tutor Cui froze for a moment. Born into a prestigious and great clan, he had never lacked wealth since childhood; the brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones he used daily were all top-tier masterpieces.

He truly wasn't quite sure how much those inferior, low-quality brushes on the outside cost.

"Perhaps..."

Grand Tutor Cui guessed after some deliberation

"One tael of silver?"

"Close enough."

Emperor Xuanwu nodded

"A single brush costs eight hundred wen."

One tael of silver is one thousand wen, so the difference from eight hundred wen was indeed not large.

Emperor Xuanwu continued

"Then does Imperial Minister Cui know how much silver an ordinary commoner can save in a year?"

"An ordinary family of five has annual expenses of roughly ten taels of silver."

Since this concerned the livelihood of the people, Grand Tutor Cui was, after all, a court official, and he had some understanding of the matter

"If it is not a year of disaster and no special circumstances occur in the household, they might be able to save one and a half taels of silver a year."

"Correct."

Emperor Xuanwu placed his hands behind his back, paced to the window, and looked toward the area outside the palace, saying in a heavy voice

"An ordinary family of five, even if everything goes smoothly for an entire year, can only save one and a half taels of silver. Yet, a single most common brush can consume more than half of that. This is why it is difficult for children of humble origins to become nobles."

"So, your meaning is..."

Although Grand Tutor Cui was pedantic, he was not a fool.

Since Emperor Xuanwu had put it that way, he naturally understood

"This, this chicken feather..."

"What chicken feather!"

Yun Shu complained in a low voice

"It's called a quill pen."

"Hahaha, exactly! A quill pen!"

Emperor Xuanwu laughed heartily. He turned around and nodded with gratification

"It is not easy for an ordinary commoner's family to buy a brush, but wanting a pile of quill pens is not difficult!"

"But..."

Grand Tutor Cui's expression was somewhat unsightly. Clearly, in the eyes of a pedantic person of his aristocratic background, whether the common people could afford brushes or could afford to study was not important.

What mattered was the "elegance" of studying.

And writing with a chicken feather... oh no, writing with a quill pen in his eyes was a vulgar and coarse act; to a scholar, it was simply an insult!

Grand Tutor Cui lowered his head, struggling to find an excuse

"But when this old official observed the Princess writing just now, her method of holding the quill was very strange, and the shaft is hard, not as soft as an ordinary brush. This is by no means the Way of Calligraphy!"

"Shu'er's writing looks quite good to me!"

People from great clans wished the entire court were their own people; Emperor Xuanwu was not at all surprised that Grand Tutor Cui didn't care whether commoners could study.

He brushed off Grand Tutor Cui's words with casual ease

"If it really doesn't work, she can use the quill pen to learn first. If she can pass the exams to become a Xiucai or a Juzi, she naturally won't lack the money to buy a brush. It won't be too late to practice calligraphy then."

As soon as he finished speaking, without waiting for Grand Tutor Cui to find any other reason, Emperor Xuanwu turned his head again and praised Yun Shu approvingly

"Shu'er has truly achieved a great feat this time!"

*Who wants your verbal praise? It's useless!*

Seeing that Emperor Xuanwu was in a very good mood, Yun Shu slinked over obsequiously

"Imperial Father, is there a reward for achieving a feat?"

Emperor Xuanwu raised an eyebrow

"What reward does Shu'er want?"

"Money!"

Yun Shu's wish was extremely simple and unadorned.

She pulled out a very shriveled little coin purse from her sleeve and shook it twice with a pitiful expression

"Imperial Father, look, this is all my family's assets. If I weren't so poor that I couldn't even afford a single brush, how would I have known that chicken tail feathers could also be used for writing?"

"..."

He was the Son of Heaven, possessing the four seas, yet his daughter was actually penniless?

Emperor Xuanwu's dignified expression almost broke, but he quickly regained his composure

"I recall that things like brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones should not require you to pay for them yourself?"

Regardless of whether Yun Shu had been favored before, she was, after all, a Princess.

Emperor Xuanwu was not the type of emperor to mistreat his children; the daily necessities of princes and princesses, such as food, clothing, housing, and transportation, were handled by places like the Imperial Household Department.

Why would she need to buy brushes?

"The brushes and ink in the palace aren't available until one is six years old!"

Yun Shu gripped her coin purse, which contained only three copper coins, and hung her head to start playing the victim

"When I was three, I wanted to learn to write my own name, but I had no brush..."

Emperor Xuanwu: "?"

*So this little brat went to duel a large rooster when she was three??*

Recalling the scene described by the Dragon Shadow Guards yesterday—where a chicken was flying and a royal child was jumping—and replacing the figure of the eight-year-old Sixth Prince with the three-year-old Yun Shu, Emperor Xuanwu fell into silence once again.

"Imperial Father..."

Yun Shu looked pitiful.

"I understand."

The corner of Emperor Xuanwu's mouth twitched

"I will have someone deliver your reward today!"

"Thank you, Imperial Father!"

*I'm getting money! Yay!!*

After seeing Emperor Xuanwu off with a beaming smile, Yun Shu was still immersed in the joy of her coin purse finally being able to bulge. As she turned her head, she ran straight into Grand Tutor Cui's sour face, which looked as if it had been pickled in a latrine.

An alarm went off in Yun Shu's heart, and she hurriedly spoke up before the other could

"Grand Tutor, we just agreed that I don't have to copy the remaining nine copies of 'The Doctrine of the Mean'!"

"Mhm."

No matter how dissatisfied Grand Tutor Cui was in his heart, he could not be so irrational as to deny what Emperor Xuanwu had just agreed to.

He merely emphasized in a lukewarm tone

"You may not copy it, but you still have to memorize what you are supposed to memorize."

"Rest assured, Grand Tutor, you can test me randomly in two days!"

*Is it just reciting the full text?*

*It's not like I'm a real academic failure!*

*It's only three thousand words; it's not like I can't memorize them.*

Yun Shu walked back to her seat with light steps. Before she could even sit down, she heard Grand Tutor Cui's eerie voice ring out again—

"In that case, the matter of 'The Doctrine of the Mean' is temporarily set aside. Twenty copies of 'The Great Learning' must be submitted within ten days."

Yun Shu: "?"

???

*This old geezer is being hypocritical, isn't he?*

*On the surface, he couldn't bypass her father to make her continue copying 'The Doctrine of the Mean,' but then he turned around and punished her with double the 'The Great Learning'!*

*After 'The Great Learning' is finished, will there be 'The Analects' and 'Mencius'?*

*After the Four Books are finished, will there be the Five Classics?*

*He is ridiculous!*

Yun Shu took a deep breath and refused to endure it any longer

"Grand Tutor Cui, don't you think this is somewhat unreasonable?"

"Is Her Highness the Fifth Princess questioning this old official's ability to teach students?"

Grand Tutor Cui clasped his hands within his sleeves, using the same tactic that never failed

"If the Princess has any objections, she may inform His Majesty directly!"

*Using! The! Emperor! To! Pressure! Her! Again!!*

*Does he really think she wouldn't dare go to her parents to complain?*

*She is definitely going to file that complaint today!*

(End of Chapter)