Tong Zhiqiu and his son never expected that the Emperor Xiao Yunzhou would appear on their journey!
Originally, they had hoped to make the Emperor feel guilty and let all the common people and scholars know of Tong Zhiqiu's good reputation.
Now that Xiao Yunzhou had appeared, it was impossible!
"Master has endured hardship, come, bring a silk cushion. I shall personally take Tong's pulse to ensure the Master's health on the journey."
Xiao Yunzhou chuckled.
Tong Zhiqiu and his son were dumbfounded.
What?
Since when did the Emperor take pulses?
They had indeed received news from the capital that, according to the Empress, the prescription for treating the plague afflicting refugees was decided after the Emperor consulted with the Imperial Physicians.
But wasn't this just nonsense?
Others might not know, but Tong Zhiqiu, who had taught Xiao Yunzhou since childhood, was well aware that Xiao Yunzhou had no medical knowledge.
But in the next moment, the expressions of Tong's father and son changed drastically!
"Hm? Tong Xinzhi, what's that bulky thing in your sleeve?"
Xiao Yunzhou smiled, cradling the dragon-patterned bundle.
"Is it a prescription for a woman's menstrual discomfort?"
Tong's father and son were instantly covered in goosebumps!
Impossible, impossible!
How could the Emperor know what they had discussed moments ago in their carriage?
Their coachman was deaf and mute!
Inside the carriage, there were only the two of them. The other servants and ladies were in the carriages behind, at least a dozen steps away from their lead carriage.
How did the Emperor know?
Xiao Yunzhou looked at the petrified Tong's third son, then at the unruffled old fox Tong Zhiqiu, and smilingly handed the little princess to Wei Zheng.
"Master, don't blame me for being talkative. Since the lady is indisposed, it would be considerate not to let her accompany you to the capital."
Xiao Yunzhou clasped his hands behind his back, smiling wryly, "What if she falls ill upon reaching the capital? That would be my fault."
Tong's third son immediately knelt down.
Tong Zhiqiu's eyelids twitched, and he immediately scolded, "You scoundrel, such disrespect before the Emperor!"
"Your wife is ill, why didn't you tell me? Quick, let your wife return to Hangzhou. If she transmits the illness to the Emperor, you shall bear the consequences!"
[I thought, the old fox is so cunning, putting on an act. Clearly, it was he who feigned illness with those medications, but now he's pushing the blame onto his son and daughter-in-law!]
Xiao Chuchu even rolled her pretty eyes within the bundle.
[So knowledgeable, yet so shameless. Putting on such a righteous front, but truly a petty person, tsk tsk!]
Xiao Chuchu looked down on this Tong Zhiqiu, her cute inner voice criticizing him like a machine gun, unable to stop.
Xiao Yunzhou had to restrain himself from bursting into laughter at his daughter's adorable antics.
"Ahem," Xiao Yunzhou turned to Tong Zhiqiu, "Get up, I'll take the Master's pulse."
Tong Zhiqiu, a former high official and imperial tutor to the Crown Prince, was the Grand Tutor!
His aged face betrayed no emotions.
But at this moment, the corners of his mouth twitched, "When did Your Majesty learn medicine?"
Xiao Yunzhou asked him to sit down and gestured for silence, instructing him to place his wrist on the silk cushion set up as a makeshift examination table.
[My imperial father is actually going to examine someone? Shocking the whole family.]
[The novels never covered this.]
Xiao Chuchu blinked in puzzlement in Wei Zheng's arms.
[Ah, I wonder if my imperial father can detect whether Tong has any illness or not. The only thing is he has a bit of smelly feet — just taking off his shoes is quite impactful.]
[Oh, and he also has hemorrhoids.]
"Pfft—cough cough cough—"
Xiao Yunzhou choked, his handsome face sternly composed as he struggled not to burst into laughter!
Tong had smelly feet? And hemorrhoids?
This...
[The reason he has been practicing fist techniques in recent years is because four years ago, he secretly visited a physician for his hemorrhoids. The physician told him to stay active and not sit for too long.]
[This condition was caused by his long hours sitting at work in the past.]
[He hid it even from his own wife. His sons, daughters, not even the Empress knew.]
[Four years ago, when the pain was at its worst, he couldn't even sit properly and had trouble sleeping at night.]
[Too ashamed to speak of it, even when summoning a physician, he wouldn't take off his pants for an examination!]
Xiao Yunzhou's gaze became increasingly shocked yet sympathetic as he looked behind Tong Zhiqiu.
Tong Zhiqiu, dressed in a grey robe befitting a scholarly gentleman, was slender and robust, with a ruddy complexion.
He kept his head lowered in apparent trepidation, but his downcast eyes revealed a subtle disdain for the Emperor.
Tong Zhiqiu recalled when he was the Chief Minister, the Emperor was only as tall as his waist.
The Emperor, once ignorant of literature, gained his extensive knowledge through Tong's and that Fucha's tutelage.
Now the child had grown, with his own ideas!
Unwilling to establish Tong's daughter's son as the Crown Prince, instead favoring the Liu Family's candidate!
Hmph!
As Tong Zhiqiu thought this, he raised his head and looked at the Emperor with contempt.
Did the Emperor think he could suppress the Tong Family?!
Dream on.
"Has Your Majesty diagnosed anything? How is this old man's health?" Tong Zhiqiu narrowed his eyes.
To put it bluntly, whatever the Emperor thought, he didn't need to say it. Tong and that old Fucha could guess it just by the Emperor passing gas!
Now he was putting on this pulse-taking act to intimidate him?
Childish!
Did he think this sort of pressure would leave the Tong Family helpless?
Tong Zhiqiu scoffed at the Emperor's childish tactics.
But the Emperor's next words sent a chill down Tong Zhiqiu's spine!
"Master," Xiao Yunzhou said gravely, staring at him with sympathetic eyes, "I didn't know you had such an unspeakable affliction."
Tong Zhiqiu: "!"
Xiao Chuchu: "!"
Tong's third son: "!"
They were all stunned, but for different reasons.
Tong was utterly shocked, staring at the Emperor in disbelief.
Tong's third son was completely incredulous, seeking confirmation from his father.
"Alas, Master, you should have told me when it first appeared four years ago," Xiao Yunzhou shook his head.
"We have a teacher-student bond, what can't be spoken of?"
"Even if you were in excruciating pain, unable to sit or stand, with certain odors, I wouldn't have mocked you, Master."
Tong Zhiqiu's pretentious facade completely crumbled!
"Impossible, Your Majesty, are you saying my father suffers from... the unspeakable affliction of hemorrhoids?" Tong's third son couldn't help but interject.
"Your Majesty, my father definitely doesn't have this problem..."
What kind of joke was this?!
Tong's third son couldn't help but refute it. He looked at the imperial and Tong family carriages stopped in the bamboo grove, and the scholars, wealthy merchants, and commoners who had come to see them off from neighboring counties!
Everyone could hear them!
How could the Emperor spout such nonsense, claiming his father had sores on his backside?
What kind of decorum was that?
When the Eldest Prince ascended the throne, wouldn't everyone know that the Eldest Prince's maternal grandfather had hemorrhoids?!
The reputation of the Tong Family was being heavily discounted, about to become a laughing stock!
"Your Majesty is wise," Tong Zhiqiu's third son said, kneeling down to refute Xiao Yunzhou, unable to bear his father's lifelong good name being tarnished. "My father had his pulse checked just two days before coming to the capital, and he was in perfect health. The physician said he was as vigorous as a tiger, with no issues at all!"
Fool!
Tong Zhiqiu almost cursed out loud at his son!
Now, he couldn't pretend to be ill after returning to the capital!
Even if he fell sick, it wouldn't be because the Emperor had an elderly man like him travel, but rather because he had been hale and hearty in Hangzhou, only to feign illness upon arriving in the capital!
More importantly—
"Oh?" Xiao Yunzhou narrowed his eyes. "It seems I was mistaken. What do you think, teacher?"
Cold sweat poured down Tong's body like rain, his liver and gall almost bursting!
How did he know?
How did the Emperor know?
Even his wife by his side didn't know!
"This hidden illness doesn't allow sitting for long," Xiao Yunzhou chuckled. "You should move around more."
"I now understand that I cannot allow the teacher to continue teaching in Hangzhou."
"The teacher should come out and walk around the manors and villages more. Teacher, what do you think?"
Tong Zhiqiu's mouth twitched.
Finally drenched in sweat, he took a step back.
With great difficulty, he knelt down and kowtowed!
"Thank you for Your Majesty's consideration!"
"You're sending this old man out...to tend to pigs. Your Majesty is wise!"
