It was already after winter when I joined the East Palace.
The first day of the twelfth lunar month is an auspicious day.
Bai Song holds the emperor's imperial edict and will conduct the prince's apprenticeship ceremony in the East Palace at three o'clock today.
Bai Song had been preparing for this day for a long time.
They also know that there are many dangers in the East Palace, so the ladies at home pay special attention to it.
From hair accessories to clothing to etiquette, everyone warned Bai Song repeatedly, warning Bai Song not to make any mistakes.
It was getting late, so Bai Song packed up and got on the carriage heading to the East Palace.
…
In the East Palace, the prince was still sleeping soundly.
The serving maid was a little anxious.
Today is the apprenticeship ceremony, which is also an extremely important thing for the prince.
If the prince is late, it will be disrespectful to the teacher. If word spreads, he will definitely be criticized.
If the emperor finds out, the emperor will definitely be unhappy.
But the prince had a disrespectful nature and would always get angry if he was woken up.
Several palace maids were discussing among themselves, not knowing what to do. When they saw Princess Danyang coming, they rushed up to report it.
"Your Highness Princess, it's already a quarter of an hour, and there are still two quarters of an hour until the apprenticeship ceremony. Your Royal Highness is still sleeping. What if the time is delayed?"
Princess Danyang looked good today. She failed to prevent an outsider from entering her East Palace, but there was no hint of displeasure on her face.
"Why do you want to disturb me over such a trivial matter?"
The maids were anxious, but they did not dare to say anything more. They left and prepared to go in directly to wake up the prince.
"Wait a minute..." Princess Danyang said, "The prince played too late last night. If he wants to sleep, let him sleep."
"But..." The palace maid was a little worried.
"Huh?" Princess Danyang said softly, and the maids quickly stepped back, not daring to say any more.
The East Palace is very big. Apart from the Imperial Palace, there is no bigger palace in Chang'an City.
Bai Song came here for the first time. He wandered around for a long time and got lost. He should have been able to get there at a quarter of an hour, but he wasted an extra quarter of an hour.
From the moment he stepped into the East Palace, Bai Song felt the attitude of the East Palace.
There wasn't even a guide, and Bai Song was completely treated as if he didn't exist.
No one told Bai Song not to go anywhere. As long as Bai Song arrived, everyone would be respectful. Bai Song could go wherever he wanted, and no one would stop him.
After asking several people in succession, I finally found the agreed upon location under the pavilion in the inner garden.
The book pavilion is the classroom where future teaching will be held. In addition to the prince, there are also several royal children.
All are children around ten years old.
Thinking of this, Bai Song felt as if his head was as big as a bucket.
It would be difficult to deal with just one of the royal children, let alone more than a dozen?
Dealing with these children is definitely more difficult than dealing with those ministers.
These little brats must be playboys and very difficult to deal with.
If you are a little harsher, I'm afraid the parents behind you will grab their pigtails and complain to the emperor.
Therefore, Bai Song was quite uneasy when he came to the East Palace.
But when he arrived under the pavilion, he saw about a dozen young princes and princesses, which was beyond Bai Song's expectation.
These children are very quiet. Everyone sits upright at the dozen or so small desks, and they are not noisy at all.
Only when they saw Bai Song arriving, they probably felt that Bai Song was too young. Many people were surprised in their eyes, and then they were a little confused and even disdainful. Then they looked at each other and occasionally made some small comments.
There was an old father-in-law standing next to the book stand. Hearing the voices of the young masters, he raised his voice and coughed: "Ahem!"
The group of little brats became quiet again.
Bai Song went to the main seat under the pavilion and sat down. He put away the four books and five classics he brought with him. He glanced blankly below, but Li Chengqian was nowhere to be seen.
The father-in-law came up to Bai Song's ear and whispered, "Mr. Bai, the prince will be here soon. Please wait a moment."
Bai Song looked at the sky and asked, "When is it?"
"Um..." The father-in-law looked a little embarrassed, "It's already three quarters of a day."
Bai Song didn't say anything, he just sat there without showing any displeasure.
Seeing Bai Song's face, the father-in-law breathed a sigh of relief.
If it were the teacher in the past, if the student was late for the apprenticeship ceremony, the teacher would leave in anger.
Fortunately, the young gentleman was good-natured and showed no emotion.
Bai Song didn't have this awareness at all. On the contrary, he felt that with the prince's dignity, he could understand whatever he did, but he was just late, so he should just wait a while.
But Bai Song completely underestimated how long his father-in-law said it would be soon.
Seeing that it was past midnight, there was still no sign of the prince.
The students below were a little impatient, and they all squirmed a little while sitting, obviously a little tired.
"How much longer?" Bai Song asked.
The father-in-law still had the same embarrassed look: "This..."
"Send someone to see what happened and come back with a message."
A palace maid received the order and turned around to find the prince.
At this time, a familiar voice came: "There is no need to look for it. His Highness the Prince was playing around for a long time yesterday and went to bed late. What's the harm in Mr. Bai letting the Prince rest a little longer?"
When Bai Song saw the other party, he frowned slightly and stood up to salute: "I have met Princess Danyang."
"Mr. Bai is the prince's husband, so there is no need to be more polite with me. Sir, you have a distinguished status. Logically speaking, everyone in the East Palace should salute you when they see you."
"The apprenticeship ceremony has not been completed, and the due etiquette cannot be omitted."
Bai Song said it easily, but inadvertently told Princess Danyang that as long as the apprenticeship ceremony is completed, I will not be polite to you.
The other thing is to tell Princess Danyang that it is useless to hide the prince like this and not let the prince come over. Should we wait soon? It doesn't matter how long we wait.
Princess Danyang was obviously a little unhappy. She raised her eyebrows and smiled: "Mr. Bai is so generous. The student is late on the first day, but he can still sit here without changing his attitude."
"There are three things people are anxious about. I believe the prince has his own reasons for it. If he loses his temper if he waits a little longer, wouldn't it weaken his magnanimity?"
"Third emergency? Giggle..." Princess Danyang smiled sweetly, "Mr. Bai is afraid that he still doesn't know why the prince slept late last night, right?"
"What's the matter?"
"Mr. Bai should know that the prince is now in his youth and is obsessed with things between men and women. Last night, he talked all night with four or five maids in the room, laughing and playing, so that he was tired and couldn't wake up for a long time. Such a student, Is Mr. Bai confident that he can teach well?"
Princess Danyang's voice was loud and undisguised, regardless of the dozen or so young princes and princesses present.
In ancient times, children developed early and were open-minded early. Children of such royal relatives were often curious about men and women when they were about ten years old.
Even women have heard some of it.
Princess Danyang is an elder. She said this in front of a group of juniors, which made a group of children become restless. They each called out and looked at each other, showing great interest.
The little girl blushed, lowered her head, and was so embarrassed that she almost squeezed out the water.
