A piece of Japanese incense

"Boom-thump-"

The bell for the end of get out of class finally rang. I squinted my eyes for the entire class and found myself in the state I used to be in when I was in school. (bushi)

I hurriedly found Yutuan and stuffed two handkerchiefs into her hands. Yutuan gently wiped my nose with her handkerchief. After sweating in the morning, I felt much better, but the sticky feeling on my body made me feel very uncomfortable.

"Is the girl feeling better now?"

"Not bad! Yu Tuan, talk to those palace maids and eunuchs and find out who I went to school with."

After I finished explaining the situation to Yu Tuan, I returned to my seat. The girl on my left was still sitting there. I walked over to her table and she was obviously a little embarrassed.

"Thank you so much for what I did just now. When I leave the palace, I will definitely buy you the most expensive and beautiful handkerchief as compensation!"

The girl waved her hands in panic and said, "It's not necessary! I embroidered this handkerchief myself, and the material I used is very ordinary."

"My name is Zhi Yihe, my father is the princess's consort, and my mother is the daughter of the imperial physician Yun Jingmo. What's your name?"

"My name is Aqi, my father is Prince Yun, and my mother is Madam Pei." She spoke slowly, carefully considering each word.

"It turns out to be Princess Qi! No wonder her temperament is so extraordinary!"

No matter how many holes there are, flattery never gets worn out, I think to myself.

"No, no, you're joking!" Her face was already flushed and her hands were waving constantly.

Princess Qi smiled silently.

"Princess Qi, I am the companion of Princess Tingzhu. Do you know where she is?"

"The princess sat in front of you and left after class."

I then took out the snuff bottle and asked, "By the way, is this what you gave me?"

Princess Qi shook her head, so I had to put the snuff bottle on the desk, thinking that if its owner saw it, he would take it away directly.

As class was about to start, I finally saw Princess Tingzhu. She walked slowly towards her seat, wearing a light yellow dress, standing tall and graceful, like a gardenia blooming in the wind under the morning sun.

She sat straight in her seat, and I poked her back. She turned her head, and our eyes met. Her black and white eyes were misty and clear.

"Princess Tingzhu, hello, I will be your study partner from now on. My name is Zhi Yihe, and you can call me Ah He."

The girl has a small face as big as a palm, with her lips slightly curled up and faint dimples on her cheeks, which makes her red lips and white teeth more prominent.

She turned back, smiled, nodded, and turned away again.

I turned to Princess Qi, and she looked at me. I smiled at her.

The bell rang again and another teacher walked in.

I couldn't hear what the old man was saying because my stomach was protesting.

Oh! If I had known earlier, I would have eaten a few more wontons in the morning, with water chestnut meat, fresh and crispy...

I wrote a small note and threw it to Princess Tingzhu: Princess, may I have lunch with you later? Where shall we eat?

She didn't answer me, but sat upright, not moving.

I wrote another small note and passed it to Princess Qi: Princess Qi, where are we going to eat during the lunch break?

Princess Qi stared at the note I passed to her and quickly covered it with her sleeve. She didn't dare to open it for a long time. She glanced at me and then at the gentleman.

This makes me anxious! Why is this girl so timid?

"Stand up! Tell me how you understand this poem?" All eyes were focused on me. I looked around, pointed at my nose and asked, "Is it me?"

The gentleman squinted his eyes, stroked his beard, and nodded slightly.

"Sir, you don't know, this Zhi Yihe is notoriously ignorant, please don't make things difficult for her, hahaha!" a girl sneered arrogantly.

Laugh out loud.

"Even if you are not very talented and well-educated, you should focus on your studies. Stop making jokes and don't disturb others!" the teacher scolded sternly.

I thought, I can’t lose face on this first day of school, I’m a student who is going to take the college entrance examination! How can I let these little brats look down on me?

I immediately recalled what the gentleman had just said:

"Governing with virtue is like the North Star, which stays in its place and all the other stars revolve around it..."

"Governing is... is..."

Uh...what is this talking about...I really don’t understand.

He stood up with high morale, and then sat down silently...

Maybe the pills took effect. I became more energetic, my thoughts started to become active, and my brain started to wander.

(I went to school for so many years before, and now I have to go to school again... But it's not easy to go to school in the palace.)

When I was still running a fever, my grandfather explained the situation in the palace to me:

There are two factions in the palace: the Queen's party and the Royal Concubine's party.

The current Crown Princess is the niece of the Queen. After marrying the Crown Prince, she gave birth to a pair of twins: Crown Prince Feng Zhiyu and Princess Feng Tingzhu. They are both twelve years old this year.

The prince's concubine is the granddaughter of the prince's tutor, and has a son: the emperor's grandson Feng Zhixu, who is fourteen years old this year.

Prince Yun’s queen is the legitimate daughter of Duke Fengguo, and they have one son and one daughter: the crown prince Feng Zhiyan is sixteen years old this year; the princess Feng Yan is fourteen years old this year.

Prince Yun also has a wife, the younger sister of the Minister of Revenue, and they have a daughter: Princess Feng Qi, who is thirteen years old this year.

The Crown Prince had a rift with the Queen Mother over the issue of marrying a Crown Princess, and soon after the marriage he followed his uncle Yan Shaoyu to the frontier.

Concubine Xin was the most favored concubine in the harem, and she was the only one who could be admired. Everyone said that if the emperor had not needed to rely on the empress's mother's family, Concubine Xin's son would have been the crown prince. Therefore, the court and the harem all respected "Guanju Palace" and were admired by thousands of people.

Damn! This is not school, this is clearly the workplace! I haven't even graduated from high school yet, and I'm already working~

As I was thinking, the time to end school finally arrived.

The servants and maids went into the room one after another, packing up the books, moving neatly and carefully putting the pens, ink, paper and inkstone into the bookcases. The students in the school also began to leave their seats one after another, talking and making noises as they walked out of the classroom. The school was filled with a happy atmosphere inside and outside.

I saw Zhi Siqi walk out of the study room without even looking up. I wanted to chase him, but then I thought that I should build a good relationship with Princess Tingzhu, so I put down my hand that was about to greet her, patted the princess' shoulder with a smile on my face, and was about to speak...

"Tingzhu!" A soft and gentle boy's voice came.

"Brother Emperor!"

"There will be a horseback archery test at 5 p.m. I have to go to the warehouse to practice first. I will not have lunch with you and the Empress Dowager. I will leave now."

"Oh..." Princess Tingzhu hung her head.

As the students left, the school gradually returned to peace.

"Princess?" I called her weakly.

The maid beside the princess asked, "Are you the new tutor?"

I nodded.

"Miss, just go back to the girls' school by yourself." Having said this, he packed up everything and walked out of the study with the princess.

"Girl, why are they ignoring us?" Yu Tuan frowned and bit her lip.

"Who knows? Do you have connections with the maids of other princesses?"

Yutuan shook his head from side to side, looking frustrated.

"I was chatting with an eunuch named Tongde. As soon as we asked each other's names, the other maids and servants took him away."

"Then do you know how to get to the Women's School?"

"I know! I gave a maid a silver ingot, and she took me to the girls' school. Thinking that the girl hadn't eaten anything in the morning, she went to Yuyi to get some cloud cakes for her to fill her stomach!"

"Well~ our little Yutuan is really teachable~ hahaha!"

I touched Yutuan's head, took the cloud cake and ate it with her while walking towards the girls' school.