Palace Fighting: Naive Concubines' Ascent to Power-Chapter 436: Talking with Mother

He fully realized that he had misunderstood the usage of that book, originally it was just something his Little Concubine used to pass the time, not a malicious gift someone offered to him through someone else...

When he was young, every book he read had its own rationale, and even though he knew about such things as storytelling books, he would not read them; his environment did not allow any slack...

Lian Hua’s little face was flushed with excitement, and she was a bit smug, her eyes glowing with light.

Without waiting for the Emperor to respond, she could just keep talking on her own, "Storytelling books come with illustrations, and there are also those that are all text without pictures. But my classmates and I don’t like the ones with too many words, they give us headaches to look at."

With this statement, it further confirmed what the Emperor had thought. No wonder the book he saw had illustrations with few words. He thought it was strange at the time, the layout and composition were different from any he had seen before, quite innovative.

A huge misunderstanding had occurred, simply because of his limited exposure and overreaction, which almost frightened his Little Concubine.

At this moment, the Emperor had mixed feelings, he felt helpless and amused, with a hint of guilt; he had been overly suspicious.

However, as long as his Little Concubine was enjoying herself, that was enough.

He loved to listen to her talk about her childhood, feeling genuine joy from within, as if the shortcomings of his own childhood were being compensated for through her stories. freēwēbnovel.com

He said nothing, just quietly listened to Lian Hua, his gaze very tender.

Lian Hua was used to this kind of attention from His Majesty; she could blithely chatter on, already launching into the story of her childhood, how she used to match wits with her mother in order to read storytelling books.

There was a time when she and some children from the neighboring house would make plans to rummage through the bookshop on every first and fifteenth day of the lunar month. They chose these days for a reason; their mothers were particularly busy and would not have time to mind them.

Storytelling books were much more expensive than clay figurines. Their pocket money wasn’t enough, so they divided up the purchases, deciding who should buy which book so as not to buy any duplicates and could take turns reading them.

Her pocket money was among the most abundant of the children, yet still, it was not enough. Apart from storytelling books, there were many other things she liked, so she had to budget carefully. She might not have had talent in other areas, but when it came to arithmetic, Lian Hua had practiced from a young age.

Every time they arrived at the bookshop with silver in hand, the bookshop owner would be so happy he couldn’t close his mouth, wishing he could bring out all his books for them to choose from.

After she and the other children picked out books, they would first crouch outside the bookshop to take a look. When it was about time to return home, she would stash the books for the other kids to take away, to be read again at school.

If she dared bring them home and her mother saw them, they would definitely be confiscated, and she would endure a stern lecture and perhaps even a sound beating.

The cause of this was a long story. At first, her mother was pleased when she saw her engrossed in reading a book and even complimented her for finally taking an interest in reading. She felt very happy upon hearing this. After all, what she was reading were indeed books.

But ever since one night, when she stealthily stayed up late, working by candlelight without sleeping, and got caught by her mother, things changed.

That night, her mother stopped by her room as usual to check if she was asleep and if she had kicked off her covers, and upon entering, she saw Lian Hua propped up on the bed, legs bent, engrossed in a book with a bag of sunflower seeds by her side.

Her mother immediately sensed something amiss and took the book from her hands. At that moment, Lian Hua was so engrossed that she didn’t even realize her mother had come in and was startled into quickly sitting up, hanging her head obediently to admit her mistake.

Initially, her mother advised her, telling her it was late and as a growing girl, she didn’t need to study so hard. Even if it was homework assigned by her teacher, it was more important to rest properly first.

Although she didn’t quite understand what this had to do with her teacher, she still timidly agreed, as long as her mother wouldn’t punish her and would return the storytelling books to her.

Just as she thought her mother had finished imparting wisdom, she worried her mother might have forgotten to return the storybook to her, so she couldn’t help but timidly ask for it, hoping to get it back since there were parts she hadn’t finished reading yet.

She clearly remembered how, just a moment before, her mother had looked at her with tender, loving eyes, but as she was about to return the book, after glancing at the title on its cover, her expression instantly changed. Then, after flipping through its pages, she became furious and threw the storybook violently to the ground!

Lian Hua sighed with emotion, continuously expressing her dismay, "Your Majesty, even if you threw it like that, mother was really angry at that time."

The Emperor listened to the earlier words, somewhat amused; he could picture that scene, his Little Concubine, for sure, had her eyes following the storybook while she was being scolded, looking so endearing.

But hearing the comparison with his throwing the book, he coughed uncomfortably; at the time, he had mistakenly thought it was a book flatteringly presented to him.

About her mother’s reaction, he thought to himself that, had it been him, he would have been just as angry as her mother. His Little Concubine was truly too mischievous, her mother-in-law thought she was diligently studying, only to find out she was reading such nonsense in the middle of the night instead of sleeping, and how could that not make her angry?

However, he couldn’t say such things; his Little Concubine had grown up and could read whatever she liked, as long as she didn’t pick up any bad habits, that was fine.

Lian Hua felt a chill just remembering the incident.

Her mother was so angry that she wanted to call for someone to fetch the family discipline stick. She knelt down obediently to admit her fault, and her pitiful pleas for mercy were to no avail.

Her mother scolded her for not being dedicated to her studies and reading those messy books instead, almost leading her astray. At such a young age, she had even learned to stay up late, and to lie.

The bad things she learned, instead of the good!

No aspiration for improvement!

Not concentrating on proper work!

She was no good at needlework or at studying, indeed she was a fine example of someone wasting their potential on frivolous pursuits!

Each accusation was more severe than the last!

She couldn’t help but softly correct, "I didn’t lie..."

Her mother, furious, grabbed her hand and smacked her palm hard once, admonishing her that not clarifying a misunderstanding and allowing others to believe that the reading was assigned by her teacher and that the tasks were set by him was tantamount to lying.

Her lips trembled and tears streamed down her face. Her mother’s slap didn’t really hurt—after all, her teacher had hit her much harder in the past—but she felt aggrieved, so terribly aggrieved.

She didn’t realize that her mother had misunderstood. Her mother had praised her love for reading, and she wasn’t wrong; she was reading a book. When her mother mentioned the teacher, she hadn’t thought it through properly at the time—it wasn’t an implicit agreement; she didn’t acknowledge it.

When her father and second brother heard what was happening, they rushed over. Listening to the scolding words of their mother from outside, they burst in and immediately understood once they saw the book on the floor.

Her second brother immediately knelt in front of her, claiming the book was his and insisting that if someone had to be punished, they should punish him.

Her mother actually laughed out of anger, repeatedly sneering, asking Wan Zhen if she didn’t feel dizzy at the sight of the book? If so, there was no need for practice later on, she could just follow Mu Su in studying.

Immediately feeling guilty, her second brother dared not make a sound. He hated studying more than anything; the whole family knew it. He had not a single book in his room, and he would normally walk around the study to avoid it—how could he possibly have a book?