Chapter 1538: Chapter 1514: All Because of the Melon

Bai Shan left dinner for Manbao, which was kept warm in her room.

While the palace gates were still unlocked, allowing free movement, Bai Shan followed her to her room and watched her take the food down from the stove, saying, “Mr. Zhuang had no class today; he spent the whole day reading in the library. I heard the Hongwen Pavilion hasn’t assigned any other tasks to him.”

Manbao said, “No rush. Once they recognize the teacher’s skills, they’ll naturally involve him in book revision.”

The assistant lecturers at the Hongwen Pavilion aren’t just there to teach; they also have to do some compiling or annotating work.

They also conduct some literary research and occasionally help the Office of Palace Affairs by searching and organizing materials, just like the scholars in the Hongwen Pavilion who have to run errands or attend duties in front of the emperor at the Six Ministries.

They’re quite busy.

But for now, Mr. Zhuang is very idle.

Being idle isn’t a good thing, as it means your abilities are not recognized. However, Manbao didn’t mind. When she first became a doctor, she was very idle, as few patients wanted her treatment. But over time, as her skills became evident, not only did patients seek her out, but even other doctors came to her.

“So time will prove everything,” Manbao said, “Let’s just wait, the teacher won’t be in a hurry.”

Mr. Zhuang is indeed not in a hurry. He enjoys reading in the library every day. He only has two classes every three days, one on the “Classic of Filial Piety” and one on the “Dao De Jing”. Moreover, the Crown Prince doesn’t attend the “Dao De Jing” class, so he can teach it as he likes, without many restrictions.

Besides occasionally being troubled by teaching the “Classic of Filial Piety”, Mr. Zhuang has no worries.

Initially, there were some assistant lecturers and compilers at the Hongwen Pavilion who slightly looked down on him, but upon seeing Mr. Zhuang’s graying beard, their traditional values of respecting the elderly prevented them from ordering him around like a newcomer for menial tasks.

After all, Libationer Kong is in charge of the pavilion, and most assistant lecturers in the Hongwen Pavilion study Confucian classics, so while they may not always fully honor the elderly, they do respect them.

Furthermore, he has three legitimate disciples in the Hongwen Pavilion. Even without considering Zhou Man’s official status, out of respect for Bai Shan, no one would deliberately make things difficult for him.

Indeed, out of respect for Bai Shan.

Although they’ve only been in school for less than a month, the assistant lecturers at the pavilion have already noticed Bai Shan’s intelligence. Apart from occasionally asking tricky questions that are hard to answer, this child is genuinely smart.

Even Yang Heshu couldn’t help but privately say to County Magistrate Tang, “If he were born ten years earlier, he could have teamed up with you, and together you might have stirred things up at the Imperial Academy. Libationer Kong might not have been able to resist expelling both of you from the academy.”

County Magistrate Tang immediately understood how tricky Bai Shan could be and couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

A couple of days later, when he went to the palace to work, he couldn’t resist heading to the Hongwen Pavilion to see them, “The fruits in my manor have ripened quite a bit. Unfortunately, you’re all in the palace; otherwise, I could bring you some.”

Manbao was still longing for the sweet melons the emperor ate and asked, “Are there sweet melons?”

County Magistrate Tang couldn’t help but laugh heartily, nodding as he said, “There weren’t any initially, but now quite a few people in the capital are selling sweet melons. If you want to eat them, when you’re next out of the palace on a break, I’ll buy some for you.”

At this time last year, Manbao and the others hadn’t arrived in the capital yet, so she didn’t know that the capital was producing sweet melons so early, and she couldn’t help but ask, “Do sweet melons in the capital ripen this early?”

“No,” County Magistrate Tang suppressed his laughter and said, “It’s just some manors that started planting them early indoors or near hot springs that have ripened. The others probably still need another ten days before they’re ready.”

“Then how come there are already some in the streets of the capital?” Would people who could grow sweet melons near the hot springs sell them outside?

Moreover, the price would likely be far more than ordinary sweet melons, right?

County Magistrate Tang laughed, “Originally, these sweet melons were mostly kept for personal consumption or gifted; selling them doesn’t earn much. But as of yesterday, quite a few vendors have appeared in the capital, claiming they’re the sweet melons the emperor likes, selling one for half a tael of silver.”

Such expensive sweet melons, Lord Tang naturally doesn’t eat them. However, when Bai Shan and the others take their next break, which would be at the start of June, the first batch of field-grown sweet melons should be ripe, and the price will certainly decrease. He can treat them to a few.

Manbao immediately stopped talking. For the past two days, when she went to Daming Palace to see the Crown Princess, she deliberately avoided the main hall, trying not to encounter the emperor.

She filed the emperor’s case of an upset stomach into the records and kept her mouth shut along with Director Xiao. Although she only told Bai Shan, who didn’t spread it, the court officials still found out.

Manbao and Director Xiao probed around, knowing that the next day the emperor attended court as usual, with no issues throughout the day. Manbao even gave him another acupuncture session.

As a result, that afternoon, when officials from the Imperial Secretariat went to the Imperial Hospital to verify medical records, they saw the emperor’s new medical case and checked it.

Of course, at that time, the officials from the Imperial Secretariat didn’t think much of it, and Director Xiao hinted that His Majesty didn’t want too many people to know about this. However, after a night, Wei Zhi and other court officials still found out.

Officials like State Duke Zhao, who learned about this incident, would at most tease the emperor with a cheerful smile, asking if the sweet melons were tasty.

However, Wei Zhi blocked the emperor in Daming Palace and admonished him, claiming that if he didn’t take care of his health, it meant he wasn’t caring for the nation; that as an emperor, lacking self-discipline, indulging in pleasures, and acting based on whims, he was forgetting his original intention of governance.

He felt he needed to sound the alarm for the emperor to prevent him from gradually falling into decadence, becoming more indulgent in ease and pleasure.

Thus, he scolded the emperor into apologizing with a covered face, thus concluding the matter.

But for the past two days, the emperor has been in a bad mood, venting his anger at several people, especially because he didn’t know how the sweet melon craze started in the capital. While Wei Zhi hasn’t said anything yet, the emperor remains on edge, fearing he might criticize him again at any moment.

However, the emperor hadn’t anticipated that this time he would be scolded not by Wei Zhi, but by old Lord Tang.

County Magistrate Tang laughed, “My father submitted a memorial today, arguing that the trend in the capital is because when those above favor something, those below will excessively follow suit. Therefore, His Majesty should be more cautious in his actions; today people are buying sweet melons at high prices because of His Majesty’s fondness, and in the future, there might be those who destroy wheat and rice just to plant melons favored by the emperor.”

Manbao was dumbfounded, “Is it that serious?”

Even Bai Shan was surprised, “Who would do such a thing?”

County Magistrate Tang laughed, “One sweet melon is half a tael of silver, two make a whole, and a whole acre of wheat doesn’t fetch that much. The common people are ignorant and won’t consider that too many sweet melons would depress the price; they only see the current price. In such a high-price situation for sweet melons, would you plant wheat or sweet melons?”

Of course, plant sweet melons.

With Little Manor, and equally loving money, Bai Shan and Manbao secretly echoed this thought in their hearts.

County Magistrate Tang said, “The emperor summoned me to the palace today just because of this affair.”