Study painting in the afternoon.
The third prince's paintings are very good, which is what he is most proud of.
His maternal ancestral family, the Wang family, is world-famous for its calligraphy and painting. His mother, Concubine Shu, was also proficient in painting, especially portraits. Before she entered the palace, she was a famous and talented woman in the capital. When she was in her boudoir, she liked to paint pictures for her relatives and friends. The characters she painted are lifelike and can be said to be exactly the same as herself. At that time, many noble ladies from the capital begged her to paint.
None of the painters in the palace who were good at painting portraits were as good as Concubine Shu. The third prince perfectly inherited his mother's talent in painting portraits. He likes to draw beautiful women, regardless of gender.
Today, Mr. taught how to draw characters and let the princes draw each other.
Zhao Yao, a beginner, could only learn to draw flowers and plants.
"Tenth brother, can I draw you?" the fourth prince asked.
"Of course you can, but fourth brother, you have to make me look better." Zhao Yao said in a feigned manner, "If you want to make me look ugly, I will be angry."
The fourth prince smiled and said, "I will try my best to paint you beautifully."
"Fourth brother, what you said is wrong." Zhao Yao corrected the fourth prince with a serious face, "I am naturally good-looking. Fourth brother, you just need to draw my beauty exactly as it is. No need. Adding superfluity to my beauty."
Hearing Zhao Yao's "shameless" words, the fourth prince said with a smile: "Okay, I will try to draw your beauty intact."
Zhao Yao made a cheering gesture towards the fourth prince, "Come on, fourth brother!"
The fourth prince already knew what "come on" meant. Sometimes he didn't know how his tenth brother came up with these strange words.
"Come on, too."
Zhao Yao is learning to draw orchids. He felt that his orchids looked a bit like leeks. When he thought of leeks, he thought of scrambled eggs with leeks. Thinking of scrambled eggs with leeks, he thought of dumplings, and then he became greedy.
The fourth prince stared at Zhao Yao while painting. Seeing Zhao Yao licking his lips from time to time, he asked curiously: "What did you think of? You look so greedy?"
"Dumplings, fourth brother, I want to eat dumplings stuffed with scrambled leek and egg." Tomorrow, let the small kitchen make dumplings stuffed with scrambled leek and egg. Oh, you can't eat eggs these days. Eggs are a non-vegetarian food. I don’t know if the dumplings with only leeks and no eggs are delicious.
"Why do you suddenly think of eating dumplings?"
Zhao Yao showed the fourth prince the orchid he had just painted, "Fourth brother, do you think it looks like a leek?"
If he didn't say it, the fourth prince wouldn't feel like a leek. Now listening to what Zhao Yao said, the fourth prince realized that it really looked like a leek.
"Fourth brother, orchids look like leeks. I wonder if orchids are as delicious as leeks?" He hasn't eaten orchids yet. Why don't you let the kitchen fry a plate of orchids tomorrow? Or use orchids to make dumpling fillings.
When the fourth prince heard this, he felt dumbfounded: "Tenth brother, orchids are not leeks, so you can't eat them." Orchids don't look like leeks.
"Can't you eat it?" Zhao Yao asked doubtfully, "Fourth brother, have you ever eaten it?"
"I haven't eaten it before." The fourth prince likes orchids very much. He has raised a lot of orchids, and they are doing well.
"Fourth brother, you have raised a lot of orchids, can you give me a pot?" He remembered that there were several pots of orchids in the fourth brother's house.
"What do you want the orchids to do? Fry them and eat them?"
"I want to try whether orchids taste good."
The fourth prince's face suddenly darkened, and he refused expressionlessly: "No, you can't eat the orchids I raise."
Seeing that the fourth prince treasured his orchid so much, Zhao Yao had no choice but to give up. He rolled his eyes and thought about the orchids in the imperial study. Next time he could go to the imperial study to steal the orchids.
When the fourth prince saw Zhao Yao's eyes rolling around, he knew he was planning something bad. He suddenly became wary: "Tenth brother, you are not allowed to have any ideas about my Lan Hua."
"Fourth brother, am I such a person?"
The fourth prince looked at Zhao Yao without saying anything.
"Fourth brother, don't worry, I won't steal your orchids."
The fourth prince was not reassured. He decided to go back to Xingdeok Palace after school and hide the orchids in the house so as not to be missed by Zhao Yao.
At this time, the Seventh Prince and the Ninth Prince quarreled, and then the two of them took pens dipped in paint and threw it at each other's face and body, leaving paint on each other's face and body.
At first, the seventh prince and the ninth prince made a big fuss, but later the third prince and others were affected.
The fourth prince took Zhao Yao and hid aside to avoid being covered in paint by them.
When Zhao Yao saw the third prince and the others starting to throw inkstones and paints, he shouted in his heart that it was over.
"Fourth brother, third brother and the others are fighting. We won't be implicated by them again, right?" The last time seventh brother and ninth brother fought, he was implicated in copying "The Analects of Confucius" a hundred times.
Just as the fourth prince was about to say something, he saw Zhao Yao sneaking over and throwing red paint in the direction of the third prince. Unexpectedly, the shot was accurate and hit the third prince directly on the head.
The third prince's forehead and face were covered with red paint. At first glance, it looked like his forehead was broken and his face was bleeding. He looked very scary.
"Zhao Xun!" The third prince thought it was the ninth prince and angrily picked up a plate of paint and threw it at him.
The Ninth Prince ducked away quickly, pointed at the Seventh Prince and said to the Third Prince, "It was Zhao Jing who smashed it."
"It wasn't me, it was Zhao Xun who smashed it."
Zhao Yao laughed very happily when he saw the third prince and the others fighting again.
"Tenth brother, you..."
"Fourth brother, you didn't see anything just now." Zhao Yao looked at the fourth prince eagerly with his big black and white eyes.
The fourth prince's heart softened when he saw Zhao Yao. He said seriously: "Well, I didn't see anything."
"Fourth brother, you are the best."
The fourth prince smiled helplessly and fondly: "Stand right here."
"Fourth brother, are you going to stop them?"
"If you let them continue to fight, your father will blame you."
The fourth prince stepped forward and shouted loudly: "Stop!"
The Third Prince and others were frightened by his loud shout, and they couldn't help but stop their movements.
The fourth prince glanced at the third prince and the others coldly, and said, "This is not far from the imperial study. Do you want to provoke father?"
His words made the third prince's expressions suddenly change. The third prince glared at the ninth prince and the seventh prince, and then left with the fifth prince and the others.
They were all covered in paint and had to go back to Xingdeok Palace to bathe as soon as possible, otherwise they would be punished if Emperor Wu of Zhou saw them like this.
When Zhao Yao saw that his leeks, no, the orchids were destroyed, he angrily cursed the Ninth Prince and the others.
"Fourth brother, they destroyed my beauty before you even painted it."
"I'll draw another one when I get back."
"Fourth brother, when I learn how to draw portraits, I will draw you too." Zhao Yao said with a smile, "I will definitely draw your handsomeness."
"Fourth brother is waiting."
With the third prince and the others gone, Zhao Yao and the fourth prince naturally couldn't continue to study painting, so the teacher asked them to go back.
After Zhao Yao said goodbye to the fourth prince, he left with Tongxi. He did not rush back to Kunde Hall, but took a turn and went to the Royal Garden.
"Your Highness, what are we doing in the Royal Garden?"
"Pick orchids." Zhao Yao searched around the Imperial Garden but did not find any orchids. "Are there no orchids in the Imperial Garden?"
Tongxi also searched around and found no orchids.
"Your Highness, it seems there really isn't."
"There are no orchids in the imperial garden. What's going on?"
Tongxi remembered that there were orchids in a place, "Your Highness, there are them over there in Lanyuan Pavilion."
"Then let's go there."
Lanyuan Pavilion is where He Xiang and other ministers handle political affairs. It is not far from Chengguang Hall.
Zhao Yao was not afraid when he came to Lanyuan Pavilion for the first time. He swaggered into Lanyuan Pavilion with Tongxi. What catches the eye is a piece of orchid.
“So many orchids?!”
"I heard that adults like orchids very much, so I planted many orchids in Lanyuan Pavilion."
Zhao Yao sighed: "No wonder it's called Lanyuan Pavilion."
"Your Highness, which one do you want to pick?"
"Let me take a look." Zhao Yao squatted in front of the orchids and looked at them with bright eyes. "I'll pick which one looks good."
"Your Highness, the orchids here are quite beautiful."
Taishi Liu and He Xiang had just finished discussing something and were taking a tea break. Suddenly they saw a small figure in the orchid garden outside the window. They were both surprised.
"Your Highness Ten?"
"Why did he come here..." Before He Xiang finished speaking, he saw Zhao Yao reaching out and breaking an orchid. His face changed drastically, and the tea in his mouth spurted out, and then he was heard shouting "my orchid!"
Zhao Yao was startled when he heard someone shouting "my orchid", then picked up the just-broken orchid and ran away.
Tongxi saw him running away and hurriedly chased after him.
He Xiang also chased out, but he was a few steps slower and failed to catch up with Zhao Yao.
"My orchid..."
Taishi Liu saw He Xiang looking like he was about to cry, so he patted his shoulder sympathetically and said to him: "My condolences."
He Xiang loved orchids, and most of the orchids in Lanyuan Pavilion were carefully planted by him.
The orchid garden is the most important scenery in Lanyuan Pavilion, and ministers all like this orchid garden. I usually help He Xiang take good care of these orchids, but I didn't expect that Zhao Yao would "destroy the flowers" today.
He Xiang shouted heartbreakingly: My orchid!
Zhao Yao: I don’t know if orchids are delicious.
(End of chapter)
