The Imperial Academy was situated to the right rear of the Central Hall.

The group made their way around and arrived at the Imperial Academy. The little eunuch guarding the entrance immediately knelt to pay respects.

The Emperor made a timely gesture to stop him.

The Emperor strode inside. The Imperial Academy had three or four study halls: one was an elementary hall specifically teaching three and four-year-old children, one was a women’s hall for princesses, county princesses, and noble ladies, and then there was the grand hall most valued by the Emperor. After completing their elementary education, the princes and sons of meritorious nobles all studied here, taught by the most formidable great scholar of the Imperial Academy. The current Teacher Wang had been repeatedly invited out of retirement by letters from the Emperor himself.

Walking slowly forward and ascending the steps, through the window lattice one could see Teacher Wang standing on the platform explaining a piece of parallel prose.

The students below were all listening attentively to the lecture, except for…

The Emperor’s expression changed abruptly.

He saw that in the very last row, his sixth son had no proper sitting posture, leaning back in his chair with his head tilted against the backrest and a book covering his face—clearly sleeping.

After the Emperor’s gaze became sharp, a youth sitting beside the Sixth Prince keenly sensed it and secretly turned his head to call out, “Prince Cheng, wake up…”

The Sixth Prince didn’t hear at all. His hand moved, and the book on his face fell off.

With a rustling sound, the students in front turned around and immediately saw the large group of people standing outside the study hall.

“Greetings to Your Majesty, Empress…”

The students hastily paid their respects.

The Emperor directly strode inside.

Teacher Wang cupped his hands. “This humble subject greets Your Majesty. I wonder what brings Your Majesty…”

“I happened to be passing by and came in to take a look.”

Teacher Wang: “…”

The students: “…”

With such a large group of people coming to the study hall, it was hard to believe they just happened to be passing by.

Yun Chu stood at the back of the crowd and caught sight of Chu Hongyu sitting in the study hall. Because he was the youngest, he sat in the first row.

Seeing both his parents had come, the little fellow couldn’t quite sit still. If it weren’t for the Emperor and Teacher Wang both being present, Yun Chu believed he would definitely rush over.

The Sixth Prince was so frightened he became completely alert. Ever since he lost his ear, his Imperial Father had shown him exceptional favoritism, bestowing countless fine things.

His mother consort said he should take this opportunity to perform well and strive to have his Imperial Father arrange an important court position for him, one with real power.

Therefore, he specifically had Meng Shen do his schoolwork every day. Each time, Teacher Wang would say his work was excellent and have all the students circulate and read it.

He had been eagerly anticipating the day when Teacher Wang would tell his Imperial Father about his performance.

Who would have thought that before that day arrived, his Imperial Father would personally witness him sleeping in class? He felt like crying without tears.

The Emperor’s gaze scraped across his face like a knife, making him shudder.

“Teacher Wang works so hard disciplining these worthless students.” The Emperor looked toward the pile of schoolwork stacked beside the desk. “Has Teacher Wang reviewed these yet?”

Teacher Wang shook his head. “I’ll wait until they study on their own, then I’ll carefully review them.”

The Emperor reached out and took the schoolwork. “I happen to have time, so I’ll share some of Teacher Wang’s burden.”

This was schoolwork Teacher Wang had assigned three days ago. Using “the people” as the key point, write an essay—the type of writing was unlimited, whether poetry, parallel prose, or policy essays were all acceptable.

The one on top was a poem, a five-character quatrain. The Emperor scanned it once, nodding continuously, and placed it on his left side.

The following essays became increasingly inadequate. The Emperor’s expression grew worse and worse.

Soon, another good essay appeared—a very long piece of parallel prose with brilliant phrases that made one want to applaud. It was also placed on the left.

The Emperor continued looking through them one by one. Each student in the study hall held their breath and concentrated. The imperial family members standing also waited quietly. By the time all the schoolwork had been reviewed once, there were only five pieces placed on the left side.

“Thirty students in total, yet only five pieces of work are worthy of notice.” The Emperor laughed coldly.

Chu Hongyu, sitting in the first row, stuck up his little bottom, pulled out one piece from the large stack of essays, and presented it with both hands. “Imperial Grandfather, please look again. Is this piece truly unworthy of notice?”

The Emperor glanced at it. The calligraphy was passable but lacked strength. The essay had no major problems but lacked depth. However, if it was written by just a six-year-old child, indeed, it was quite acceptable.

So the Emperor picked it up and placed it on the left side.

Chu Hongyu sat down with a beaming smile and simultaneously cast Yun Chu a look that said “I’m pretty amazing, right?”

Only then did the Emperor carefully check whose work each of the five pieces was. The names were written on the back of the assignments.

Turning over the first one, it was Meng Shen’s name.

The Emperor nodded. He had long known that Princess Qinghua’s legitimate eldest son was excellent at his studies and had just entered the Imperial Academy this year.

The second one was from the son of Marquis Boyuan. His viewpoints were bold—a good prospect.

Turning to the last one… the Emperor was stunned. It was actually his sixth son. Such an outstanding piece of parallel prose was written by his sixth son?

“Sixth son, this is your schoolwork?”

Hearing this, the Sixth Prince immediately raised his head, paused, and said, “Yes, Imperial Father… Your son stayed up late these past days writing this essay, barely sleeping through the nights. That’s why I fell asleep in the study hall. I beg Imperial Father’s forgiveness.”

The anger that had just surged up in the Emperor immediately dissipated.

His sixth son had always been unruly. He never expected that after suffering one major injury, he would actually make such progress. Such an excellent essay, coming from his sixth son’s hand, was enough to prove that his sixth son had a natural talent for scholarship.

“You’ve done very well.”

The Emperor praised him.

The Sixth Prince immediately broke into a grinning smile. This was the first time he had received Imperial Father’s praise—so this was what being praised felt like.

“Sixth son, come up here. Read the essay you wrote aloud, then explain why you wrote it this way and why you proposed such viewpoints.”

The Sixth Prince’s smile immediately froze on his face.

But under everyone’s watchful eyes, he couldn’t speak words of refusal. He could only walk forward with heavy steps, pick up the schoolwork, and begin reading.

As he read, he couldn’t continue, because there were a few characters he didn’t recognize. “The people’s pain… pain…”

Chu Hongyu, sitting in the first row, stood on his tiptoes. “The people’s heartfelt pain—this character is ‘lǚ’. How could Sixth Imperial Uncle not recognize it? This is an essay you wrote yourself.”

“Right, it’s lǚ.” The Sixth Prince hastily said, “I just didn’t recognize it for a moment.”

He continued reading and got stuck again.

“Bang!”

The Emperor slapped his palm on the desk.

His face was dark as water, like dark clouds rolling in from the horizon.

The Sixth Prince was so frightened his whole body trembled. His knees went soft and he knelt on the ground. “Imperial Father, your son was wrong…”

He couldn’t even read it smoothly now. When Imperial Father asked him what this essay meant, he’d be even less able to answer. He might as well honestly admit his mistake—perhaps he could receive forgiveness.

“How dare you! You actually had someone write it for you!”

The Emperor lifted his foot and kicked the Sixth Prince.

Then he looked at Teacher Wang standing to the side. “Did you not know about this, Teacher?”

Teacher Wang spoke calmly, “This humble subject knew, but there was no need to expose it.”

The Emperor narrowed his eyes. “Why not?”

“Meng Shen does two assignments at once, using different handwriting, different perspectives, different literary forms. This way he can develop more agile thinking and learn to analyze problems from multiple angles when encountering them.” Teacher Wang spoke slowly. “This humble subject believes this is a good thing. It can also train Meng Shen’s resilience and endurance. As a minister, these are the qualities most needed.”