The Imperial Tutor's Instructions - Chapter 4

“What exactly should I know?”

Facing that exquisite, jade-like countenance, Shen Heng did not seem to soften in the slightest. He remained seated perfectly upright at the desk, his cuffs immaculate and his robe undisturbed. As his dark eyes looked down, he was entirely unmoved by Song Nanqing’s shimmering gaze. He even found time during the brief pause to write a vermilion comment in the blank margin of the next memorial.

Song Nanqing pursed his lips, silently cursing the regent for refusing to follow the standard script of the romance stories he had read. At the same time, his finger began tracing circles around the base of Shen Heng’s fingers, murmuring softly in a lazy attempt to act spoiled. The large, warm hand possessed a powerful sense of envelopment. While Shen Heng used one hand to brush characters onto the document, his other hand firmly closed around the boy’s mischievous fingers.

The young emperor sat before the soft floor cushion, hooking his fingers around the regent’s own and silently engaging in a battle of wills.

Hadn’t the book said this technique was an absolute fatal attraction? Hadn’t it claimed that paired with a beautiful face, its lethality would double? Where exactly did it go wrong?

Shen Heng finished writing the final character, shifting his gaze toward Song Nanqing. “What is your answer?”

On the screen beside them, scattered plum blossom petals were embroidered as if drifting through the air. The ink-painted branches twisted sharply, with tiny buds showing at the tips, ready to burst into bloom.

Remaining silent was absolutely not an acceptable solution under Shen Heng’s watch.

Song Nanqing glanced up at the man’s face, then threw his arms around the regent’s neck, burying himself against the man’s broad shoulder. He murmured in a soft, tender voice, “I am still young, how could I comprehend concepts like love or infatuation? Qingqing simply loves the Master the most.”

“Ah, the Imperial We has inspected so many memorials. I am exhausted and need a midday nap.” He held onto the man, swaying slightly backward.

Shen Heng shook his head with a trace of helpless amusement, sliding a hand around the boy’s waist to lift him effortlessly. When Song Nanqing was a child, such an embrace was merely a close, comforting gesture. Now that the youth had grown quite tall, hanging against the man’s frame in such a manner exuded a distinct trace of an alluring, intimate cadence. Yet neither of them minded, and the servants waiting at a distance lacked any baseline authority to offer reminders to the two most powerful figures in the dynasty.

Viewed through the heavy bed curtains, the shape of the gilded vase at the bedside appeared blurry and indistinct. Separated by the layer of fine gauze, Shen Heng stood beside the bed, quietly watching the peacefully sleeping Song Nanqing. The youth had grown a great deal lately and occasionally suffered from growing pains; his slumber was restless, and when his muscles cramped, he required someone to gently massage his legs.

Shen Heng watched for a short while. Beneath the thin gauze curtains, that familiar face still bore the unmistakable shadow of his childhood. In fact, every single expression could find a precise, matching memory log from his early years. Even the closed curve of his lips during sleep had not altered in the slightest.

Song Nanqing reached up to scratch his forehead against a light itch, his slender wrist loosely draped with that wide string of green sandalwood Buddhist prayer beads, resting flat against the pulse point. He simply left his hand positioned beside his face as his breathing stabilized once more.

Shen Heng shifted his gaze away, thoroughly masking the boundless, complex emotions churning within the depths of his eyes.

A brief gust of wind blew past, causing the white magnolias on the tree branches to unfurl their petals. They had not yet reached their full bloom, curling slightly toward the center as they stood proudly atop the branches. Song Nanqing gathered the hem of his scarlet robe and swept rapidly down the stairs, the palace attendants behind him struggling to keep pace. The red gauze outer garment billowed beautifully in tandem with his rapid movements, and within moments, he had arrived directly beneath a white magnolia tree.

The warm afternoon sunlight cascaded down to blanket his frame, filling his entire body with a deep, comfortable ease. Song Nanqing extended his long fingers to pluck a single magnolia blossom, casually instructing the attendant behind him, “Replicate the exact shape of this flower to craft two porcelain cups for the Imperial Our use. Ensure the material utilizes top-grade white jade.”

Spring View rapidly nodded his head to validate the command. With a single wave of his fly-whisk, two clever young eunuchs reverently carried the blossom straight toward the Imperial Palace Workshops to process the order.

“Spring View, the Imperial We recalls that among the various rare treasures confiscated from the eastern pirates, there resided a colored enamel casket shaped precisely like a magnificent flower.” Song Nanqing raised his hand to feel the warmth of the breeze sweeping past his wide sleeve, his clear eyes surveying the vast, sprawling layout of the Imperial Garden.

Spring View answered respectfully, “Indeed, Your Majesty. Your servant inspected the piece during the celebratory banquet that evening. The surface was thoroughly magnificent, reflecting a shifting, brilliant radiance. Where does Your Majesty desire to place the asset?”

Song Nanqing replied, “My mind has not yet selected a definitive layout. When the time comes, simply arrange it alongside those white jade cups.”

“Understood, your servant will coordinate the logistics immediately.”

“Ensure the ranks of the attendants remain at a highly distant position behind the Imperial Our trail, refrain from approaching our immediate proximity.” Song Nanqing instructed, handling the flower as his long legs navigated past the dense pathways lining the garden shrubbery. Beneath the shelter of the blossoming trees, his magnificent profile outshone the natural floral display, his cheeks stained with a highly distinct, soft pink flush as the outdoor temperature continued to rise.

Song Nanqing’s expression turned entirely cold and detached as his fingers flicked a stray pebble straight into the adjacent lotus pond.

“Your person, deliver the fish feed straight to the Imperial Our fingers immediately.” He casually pointed toward an officer belonging to the Imperial Guard contingent tracking at a distance.

The towering guard was dressed in his full formal uniform, the ceremonial saber suspended diagonally across his waistline. He dropped his knees straight onto the stone path to execute an upright, poised kneel beside a decorative rock. His black leather gloves extended securely past his wrist bones, his twin palms reverently hoisting the container of fish feed straight to a convenient position where the young emperor unique required a minimal lift of his hand to secure the asset.

A small handful of fish feed was tossed flat over the water, causing a dense cluster of brilliant koi fish to rapidly swim forward to contest the bait. Song Nanqing fed the fish across several distinct checkpoints along the edge of the pond before straightening his spine to drift further into the distance, the grand imperial sedan complex waiting at a highly remote boundary to await his pleasure.

A tiny, concealed slip of paper that had been masterfully tucked inside the center of the fish feed pile was already securely cradled within the palm of Song Nanqing’s hand. Turning his body around to ensure his back was thoroughly masked from view, his sharp eyes captured every single word written across the slip within a single split second, before the paper was seamlessly dropped alongside a fresh handful of bait to dissolve into the dark waters below.

The young boy’s long eyelashes shivered unsteadily, the calculations running through his brilliant mind processing a thousand complex strategic loops as the Buddhist prayer beads rhythmically clicked across his fingertips.

When darkness blanketed the capital, the weather turned a fraction chilly. Dressed in a highly simple, pure white set of regular casual garments, Song Nanqing successfully managed a stealthy exit past the palace gates, guiding Spring View straight toward the direction of the Phoenix Pavilion, a high-profile location his fingers had decoded from the encrypted lines written across the paper slip.

Evaluating the absolute station of the Imperial Guard contingent, alternative court officials consistently calculated that their ranks unique possessed a highly decorative, ornamental value designed simply to enforce a grand display of absolute prestige. However, through the meticulous guidance Song Nanqing’s long fingers had enforced over their network throughout these past few years, the group had systematically matured into a highly capable, lethal shadow faction specializing in covert intelligence gathering and domestic wiretapping. Every single breath or movement executed by the capital officials was laid bare before his calculation logs.

The Phoenix Pavilion securely constituted the absolute grandest and most luxurious pleasure house operating across the entire capital, a legendary den of boundless decadence where securing the absolute primary evening of a top-tier courtesan could easily command a bidding price climbing to a thousand bars of pure gold. The formal impeachment document delivered by the Vice Censor-in-Chief a short while ago, which detailed the severe physical brawl involving Jia Liang’s biological son, Jia Shikai, had explicitly transpired within this precise compound. A mere pleasure house possessing the absolute capacity to entice a massive corporate volume of high-profile court officials to continuously clear its threshold was a target his mind could completely fail to inspect.

The midnight atmosphere was thoroughly intoxicating. Song Nanqing cradled a small pouch of salt-cured plums his long fingers had unique purchased from the Meipo Studio inside his sleeve, and the exact split second his long legs crossed past the entrance threshold, his silhouette was enthusiastically encircled by the resident madam.

“This young master appears exceptionally unfamiliar to our eyes, could it mean this instance constitutes your absolute primary visit to our establishment?” Despite approaching her enclosing fortieth year of age, the madam continuously preserved an exceptionally alluring, mature charm. Managing a prominent business within this sprawling, prosperous capital sector across a highly prolonged duration of years, her eyes had independently witnessed an absolute mountain of elite residents clearing the path, yet her mind securely retained a highly scarce history of ever encountering a guest who possessed such an exceptionally magnificent, peerless countenance. The woman calculated across the depths of her thoughts that looking straight over his peerless features, if an interaction were to materialize tonight, it remained entirely unverified which specific resident would be exploiting the other. Surveying his magnificent aura and unexampled grace, her sharp eyes systematically captured the blemishless mutton-fat jade hairpin unit secured over his head canopy and the top-tier cloud-silk fabric lining his robes, enthusiastically launching into a dense presentation to detail her finest girls.

“The private box suites operating along the second-floor layout have long since been prearranged to a state of absolute readiness, engineered explicitly to attend to magnificent guests of your elite station. Your servant will personally coordinate several of our absolute top-tier courtesans to clear the threshold, ensuring your young master’s frame is attended to with absolute perfection.”

The central hall was thoroughly blanketed by a dense, swirling fragrance of cosmetics, columns of light pink gauze fabric suspended from the second-floor ceiling to wave unsteadily across the open air. Exquisite jade display screens and beautifully carved roof beams met his eyes at every turn, the entire compound thoroughly packed with the delicate, sweet laughter and playful whispers of beautiful women. Catching sight of numerous beautiful courtesans dressed in exceptionally light, translucent garments being intimately cuddled and teased by wealthy patrons, the thick fragrance of makeup doused his senses within a brief flash. Song Nanqing had completely failed to ever witness a decadent scene of this category throughout his history, the rims of his ears turning instantly crimson under the filter.

Spring View dropped his head to a highly compressed position, lowering his voice straight beside Song Nanqing’s ear cavity to deliver an urgent whisper of counsel. “Young Master, your servant calculates that our two frames must coordinate an immediate return path straight back toward the palace complex. A vulgar location of this category is absolutely not a place your imperial person should ever clear foot inside. If this interaction is systematically harvested by Master Shen’s ears”

The final word had unique barely filtered past his teeth when Song Nanqing unleashed a sharp, fierce glare to forcefully slice the syllable choice straight back down his throat.

Clearing steady strides up the winding wooden staircase structure, the exact split second his long legs successfully crested the landing to approach the second-floor layout, Song Nanqing’s sharp vision captured a highly unique, secondary door unit positioned at the absolute furthest corner of the opposite corridor. The wooden panel was forcefully pulled shut along an exceptionally rapid cadence before an absolute lock was systematically secured over the layout, a fleeting glimpse of a limping servant executing the lock looking remarkably familiar to his memory logs.

He guided Spring View past the threshold of a private box room to occupy a seat along the second floor, yet the ears of both individuals could continuously catch the decadent, intoxicating melodies of string and wind instruments wafting from the exterior hall. Resting flat over the floor layout was a massive mahogany bed frame neatly draped with a highly vibrant, beautifully embroidered silk quilt, a pair of formal armchair units deposited straight before the center table. A semi-translucent decorative screen unit was strategically aligned to mask the layout of the bedding, unique exposing a minor half section of the view, yet his clear eyes could continuously distinguish a pair of iron ring units extending directly from the headboard structure, wide columns of silk ribbons securely wrapped around the metal to drape straight down onto the floor boards.

The concentrated fragrance dominating the second-floor layout appeared vastly sweeter compared to the primary ground floor, the thick sweetness cradling a highly distinct, subtle trace of hidden floral metrics, exactly as if the absolute pacing of the air current inside the room was running along an exceptionally slow, dense, and sticky viscosity under the filter.

Song Nanqing leaned his physical frame lazily back against the armchair structure, tilting his small head sideways to evaluate the long line of beautiful courtesans standing in a perfect row before his gaze, casually stuffing a single piece of his newly purchased sweet plum past his teeth.

Having independently executed a thorough wave of inspection to analyze every single resident from her head down to her toes, his long fingers casually executed a minor wave of rejection across the open air, mimicking the exact behavior of an arrogant, unrefined playboy heir as his hand unceremoniously extracted a heavy ingot of pure gold to deposit the metal flat over the tabletop.

Those bright, intelligent eyes looked straight into the madam’s gaze as he spoke along a highly arrogant cadence. “Your hand appears to harbor an absolute intent to mock and deceive my person under the filter. This young master has independently harvested a line of intelligence claiming that the Phoenix Pavilion preserves an absolute masterpiece of a peerless beauty named Miss Yunxiu, a single performance running through her zither strings securely commanding a value that outstrips ten thousand bars of pure gold. Where exactly is Yunxiu residing? Could it mean her heart harbors a wave of non-compliance to clear steps past the threshold to meet my person?”

“Oh, my dear young master is genuinely a highly sophisticated connoisseur of the arts, yet this specific alignment explicitly encounters a highly unfortunate timing.” The madam unraveled a smooth, well-practiced smile to deliver her syllables along a highly composed, natural cadence. “Miss Yunxiu is currently attending to an elite guest residing inside the adjacent box room, I fear her presence is thoroughly inconvenienced throughout the active hours of this evening. Our establishment preserves a massive volume of alternative beautiful courtesans who command an exceptional competence to manage the zither strings”

The young boy’s clear eyes and pristine teeth projected a highly magnificent display, yet the exact split second his dark pupils locked onto a resident’s features, his visage naturally exuded a highly commanding trace of absolute sovereign majesty. His face turned entirely cold as his mouth voiced a highly tyrannical, overbearing syllable choice. “What specific category of a guest commands a financial capacity that outstrips the gold your young master has deposited over the counter, or does his station command a baseline metric of absolute eminence that surpasses my own profile? Does your soul preserve an absolute comprehension analyzing who exactly my biological father constitutes across this realm? Move, your person must clear a path immediately, my own eyes desire to inspect what specific resident possesses the absolute audacity to forcefully contest a target against this young master.”

He slammed his palm flat against the table structure with an absolute slap, executing a highly flawless, perfect portrayal of a proud, spoiled aristocratic brat who wielded an absolute mountain of arrogant vanity.

Residing beneath the absolute roots of the imperial capital gates, directly adjacent to the foot of the Sovereign Lord, if a single brick unit were to casually detach from a wall to crash down onto a crowd of ten citizens, at least nine of those individuals would securely constitute either an imperial relative or a high-ranking court official. Ever since the initial founding era of the dynasty, the Supreme Ancestor had commandingly enacted a highly strict legislative matrix explicitly dictating that high-ranking court officials were permanently, completely forbidden from indulging in courtesans or occupying pleasure house facilities, enforcing a severe wave of absolute punishment the exact split second a violation was systematically unearthed.

However, matters of this category had consistently been managed along a highly covert baseline where as long as the state officials refrained from launching an active investigation and the civilian populace refrained from submitting a formal report, absolutely no corporate resident could step forward to deliver absolute testimony verifying that a person’s presence clearing foot inside a pleasure house was executed explicitly to manage a wave of carnal passion. For all an outsider cared, his person had unique cleared steps past the threshold to monitor a beautiful musical performance. Ever since the young new emperor had officially ascended to the dragon throne, indulging in courtesans had long since transformed into an absolute, unspoken consensus shared among the high-ranking court officials, yet on the open surface, absolutely no corporate citizen possessed the absolute audacity to manifest such a wild, unbridled arrogance. To witness a resident manifest a proud, unprincipled behavior of this category securely verified that the opposite party’s underlying background could completely fail to belong to a minor, low-ranking official, the individual highly likely personifying a pampered younger son belonging to a high-profile marquis or an imperial prince.

The various factions delivered their respective arguments one after another, twisting the layout into an absolute maze of continuous shouting and intense debate. The madam continuously offered a sequence of submissive apologetic smiles to validate his syllables, turning her long legs to advance toward the left-hand corridor layout to approach a specific door unit. Spring View captured a swift, stealthy signal dispatched from the young emperor’s eyes to rapidly track closely behind her trail.

Song Nanqing monitored the absolute reality verifying that every single corporate resident had successfully cleared the room layout, knitting his beautiful brows as his mouth let out a soft gasp of air, using his fingers to gently rub the center of his palm, which had been turned thoroughly red and sore from the force of the table-slapping maneuver. He drew in a sharp breath of cold air through his teeth.

What specific category of a broken, cheap table structure is this, to project such an absolute metric of physical rigidity under the filter.

The calculations running through his mind were actively parsing the active time parameters, when his ear cavity suddenly caught a highly rapid, continuous thumping noise radiating straight past the adjacent wall panel. The physical collisions were occasionally intermingled alongside an absolute torrent of intimate, blurred moans and a man’s low, vulgar whispers of carnal passion, the woman’s voice sounding exceptionally melodious, delicate, and full of a thousand complex, winding cadences, appearing thoroughly packed with an absolute wave of deep, unbridled pleasure.

Song Nanqing rose to his full height to pace restlessly back and forth across the floor boards, explicitly intending to leverage the sound of his footsteps to mask the intense physical interactions playing across the adjacent layout. However, his ears were instinctively hoisted upright to capture every single metric under the filter. The continuous thumping sounds filtering past the wall panel accelerated to an exceptionally rapid, frantic velocity, the woman’s low moans gradually carrying a highly visible trace of absolute weeping as the pitch of her voice scaled to an exceptionally sharp, piercing intensity. Suddenly, a deep, guttural roar escaped from the man’s throat, and every single metric dropped straight back into a state of absolute, heavy silence.

The young boy lightly bit his lower lip unsteadily. Right during this exact parameter, the low, quiet murmurs of the man’s voice successfully drifted past the threshold to enter his ear cavity. “What specific logic explains why your body has systematically sprayed this liquid across every single layout, to the point where even my trousers have been thoroughly drenched in moisture by your performance?”

Song Nanqing forcefully pushed the wooden window panel open, permitting the cool midnight wind to blow flat against his red, burning cheeks, the outdoor howling of the wind carrying the rich, chaotic sounds of the bustling city markets straight into his ears along the path.

He gently rubbed the rims of his red, burning ears, when his focus suddenly caught the distinct lines of the conversation playing across the adjacent room.

“Master Wang’s faction has already successfully processed the financial capital under his hold. The exact split second his hand manages to secure a valid administrative office or a minor title to deliver to my fingers, my person will immediately coordinate a highly lavish wave of funds to purchase your absolute release past the threshold to marry your frame straight into my household. Arriving at that historical checkpoint, my biological father and mother will securely find it completely impossible to voice a single fraction of alternative objections targeting our alignment,” that deep, low man’s voice stated down the lines.

“Does your verbal text deliver the absolute truth under the parameters? However, recalling my biological father’s history, it was explicitly because his fingers previously masterminded an absolute wave of purchasing official titles and trafficking state offices that his entire profile was systematically banished down to a slave status by the imperial court, to the point where even my own existence is commandingly forced to permanently wander across a vulgar den of cosmetics of this category. My soul completely refrains from desiring to witness your frame navigating straight toward an absolute parameter of critical danger simply for my sake,” the woman’s voice voiced a highly sincere, deep depth of pure romantic affection.

The man delivered his verbal syllables along a tone that carried a highly distinct trace of absolute mockery and derision. “Your thoughts continuously fail to inspect what specific dynasty dominates the active era under our feet. Master Wang’s superior backing explicitly constitutes an exceptionally grand, supreme figure operating across the absolute apex of the court machinery.” Reaching this precise checkpoint, the pacing of his voice was dropped to a highly compressed, low whisper. “If our alignment can successfully enter the dark pupils of that supreme figure, what specific logic prompts your heart to harbor a wave of anxiety claiming that your person will fail to secure the absolute day when your frame is formally invested as a high-profile Lady of Noble Mandate? Let your soul preserve absolute peace and security, every single metric is handled with absolute perfection.”

Following his statement, the woman delivered a highly continuous sequence of flattering, fawning syllables, boosting the man’s unrefined vanity to an absolute state of explosion, causing his mouth to launch a highly prolonged wave of grand boasting to detail how his profile was currently preparing to seamlessly attach his future trajectory straight to a supreme court tycoon.

Song Nanqing firmly pulled the window panel shut.

Right at this precise juncture, Spring View managed an exceptionally hurried, frantic return past the threshold, using his palm to tightly mask the side of his mouth as his upper body tilted forward to approach his ear cavity to deliver an urgent whisper. “Your Majesty, your servant tracked the biological trail of that limping attendant across a highly continuous path, successfully unearthing the absolute reality verifying that hidden right behind that specific secondary door unit resides the Censor-in-Chief himself, Master Wang Qian!”

The eunuch paused his syllables for a brief split second, before continuing his report along a highly hesitant cadence. “Unique for the interior of that box suite to simultaneously cradle alternative corporate residents under the hold, your servant calculated that the layout was exceptionally inconvenient for my ears to continuously parse the lines.”

Song Nanqing stated flatly, “What specific logic prompts your tongue to deliver such a hesitant, stuttering cadence, what specific parameters could possibly constitute an absolute inconvenience for your ears to handle?” The exact split second his consciousness recalled the intense physical interactions that had unique just played across the adjacent wall panel, his verbal text sustained a temporary lag, before a sudden, brilliant spark of light illuminated the absolute depths of his dark eyes as his mouth voiced a query. “They are actively executing the logistics?”

Spring View delivered a firm nod of his head to validate the accuracy of the metric.

Song Nanqing unceremoniously extracted a hidden whistle unit straight out from his long sleeve, delivering a gentle, slow blow straight toward the exterior window layout. The highly unique, distinctive bird-call sound mirrored an absolute masterpiece of a supreme military command signal, causing the corporate body of Imperial Guard officers who had been consistently waiting along the ground floor layout to execute an exceptionally rapid, frantic dash straight up the staircase boards. The officer commanding the vanguard was dressed in an immaculate navy-blue uniform, a formal black gauze hat secured over his head canopy, his long hand resting flat over the hilt of his ceremonial saber.

Hoisting his heavy boot forward to deliver a fierce kick, the locked panel securing that specific corner door unit was forcefully shattered into thin air within a single split second.

Arriving at this precise juncture, the manager of the Phoenix Pavilion had unique just barely managed an exceptionally hurried, frantic dash to crest the second floor, unique for the main gate to swing open to lay the interior blemishless bare. Sitting flat inside the center layout, his entire physical structure thoroughly packed with an absolute mountain of white, flabby fat, the Censor-in-Chief Wang Qian was systematically subjected to an absolute, unmitigated wave of total exposure before the open air, his face turning instantly crimson from an absolute wave of thunderous rage as his hands frantically hauled his trousers upward to deliver a loud, furious roar. “Which specific resident possesses the absolute audacity to manifest such an unbridled, treasonous insolence!”

Dressed in the pristine, commanding uniform of the Imperial Guard, the officer smoothly extracted an absolute masterpiece of a sovereign imperial seal plaque from his belt, his hand maintaining a completely expressionless, cold grip over the hilt of his saber as his mouth voiced a flat sentence choice straight toward Wang Qian’s face. “Acting in perfect alignment alongside the direct sovereign orders dispatched from the Sovereign Lord: executing a thorough administrative raid targeting the Phoenix Pavilion.”