The next day, when Fang Zheng arrived at the Meridian Gate to await the morning court session, he found Guo Tianyang was also there, even smiling at him.

Fang Zheng casually greeted him, “Morning, Brother Guo!”

Hearing this, Guo Tianyang smiled and replied, “Morning, my worthy brother.”

As usual, the other officials cast disdainful looks their way. Indeed, birds of a feather flock together. Openly calling a eunuch brother, how shameless!

“???” Fang Zheng was completely baffled.

This old eunuch is taking advantage of me? Why is this old fart so chummy today?

Guo Tianyang walked over to Fang Zheng’s side with mincing steps. “Worthy brother, you came quite early today. Seems you’ve already adapted?”

“Not bad! I’ve adapted, adapted.”

Fang Zheng gave a hollow laugh. For the moment, he couldn’t figure out Guo Tianyang’s angle.

Afterwards, carrying a bellyful of doubts, he began the morning court session, muddling through it again.

During the court session, the old fart kept glancing at Fang Zheng with “ambiguous” looks from time to time.

It made Fang Zheng’s scalp tingle! He wished he could castrate him a second time…

Suppressing his discomfort, after the court session ended, Fang Zheng skillfully made his way to the Imperial Clan Court.

As soon as he entered, he saw Li Yuanzhao sitting in the courtyard with his feet propped up, looking utterly bored.

Seeing Fang Zheng arrive, he jumped up in delighted surprise. “Old Fang! You’re here!”

“Morning, Your Highness.” Fang Zheng greeted him lightly and happily.

Now that Yan Guoan was gone, coming to the Imperial Clan Court felt like coming home!

“Old Fang, want to come with me to the Eastern Palace’s Tiger and Leopard Garden? Father Emperor had it dismantled. Since you have so many ideas, help me think about how to build a new one.”

Fang Zheng instantly bristled. I treat you like a brother and you treat me like a pack animal?

If His Majesty found out, wouldn’t he skin me alive?

He hurriedly said, “What’s the point of cats and dogs? Those are things children play with. No matter how big they get, they’re still just animals!”

“If Your Highness is interested, you should go fight beasts in the sea! I know there’s a sea monster called Godzilla, gigantic in size! It can spit scorching… fire from its mouth.”

“Perfect for an all-around talented person like Your Highness to wrestle with!”

Li Yuanzhao gave him a contemptuous look. “Hehe, don’t think I’m an idiot. I can’t breathe underwater. And a sea monster that spits fire, does that make sense?”

The child has grown up, can’t be fooled anymore!

Fang Zheng wiped away some cold sweat. “Hehe, Your Highness is wise.”

“How about this then, why don’t we play chess? The chessboard is like a battlefield. Didn’t Your Highness always dream of being a general? I can also witness Your Highness’s prowess!”

Li Yuanzhao said with little interest, “Forget it then. In the palace, there’s no one who can beat me at Go or Chinese chess… so dull.”

Fang Zheng sneered, “Has Your Highness considered that they’re letting you win? I’m quite skilled at chess myself. If you don’t believe me, let’s have a match!”

What’s the big deal about being invincible in the palace? The crown prince playing chess with eunuchs? It would be strange if he didn’t win. This was the time to use reverse psychology.

Sure enough, hearing this, Li Yuanzhao immediately perked up.

“Alright! You name the game, Go, Chinese chess, animal chess, take your pick! Let me show you my skills!”

“No, no, no! I don’t know how to play any of those Your Highness mentioned! I’ll play Five-in-a-Row with you!”

Fang Zheng truly didn’t know. Those chess games had complex rules and he was too lazy to learn them. Usually in the county yamen he would just play some Five-in-a-Row. After a few years, he could definitely be considered an expert.

Li Yuanzhao asked in puzzlement, “What’s Five-in-a-Row?”

“Oh! It’s very simple. We use this Go board and pieces. Black goes first. Whoever first gets five pieces in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally wins!”

Li Yuanzhao said disappointedly, “Hmph, I thought it was something special. Sounds boring. But since you want to play, I’ll keep you company!”

Hehe, don’t be too cocky, youngster!

Fang Zheng said with a grin, “Your Highness, don’t underestimate Five-in-a-Row. I’m quite an expert at it.”

“Just playing chess is no fun. There should be some stakes to make it interesting.”

Li Yuanzhao’s interest was piqued. “What stakes?”

“If I win a round, Your Highness has to memorize an article or copy a book. If I lose, I’ll give Your Highness a hundred taels of silver. How about it?”

Li Yuanzhao exclaimed in amazement, “Not bad, Old Fang. Seems your family really has more money than you can spend. You’re on!”

Fang Zheng sneered, “Your Highness should worry about yourself! I’m afraid the palace library won’t have enough books!”

No sooner said than done. The board and pieces were quickly prepared.

The two of them sat facing each other. Fang Zheng had a relaxed expression while Li Yuanzhao looked disdainful.

…

Very quickly, in the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the first game ended.

Fang Zheng looked at Li Yuanzhao with a smug expression. “How was it, Your Highness? You owe me an article now.”

Li Yuanzhao snorted. “What are you so pleased about? I was still getting the hang of it! Again!”

Fang Zheng shrugged. Bring it on then.

This time, Li Yuanzhao’s expression turned serious. He didn’t hastily place a piece, but carefully considered his moves.

However, it still didn’t take long before he lost the second game.

“That’s two articles now!”

“Again!”

“Three articles!”

“Again!”

…

Fang Zheng played along with him casually. Li Yuanzhao actually didn’t win a single game!

“Twenty-five articles now!”

“Less talk! Again!”

Fang Zheng played while observing Li Yuanzhao’s reactions. He saw that Li Yuanzhao was completely focused on the board, muttering to himself with each move.

It was clear he was diligently learning and absorbing, and his attitude was extremely serious.

Fang Zheng couldn’t help feeling surprised. This aspect of the crown prince was truly admirable. Once he immersed himself in something, he had a spirit of not turning back until he hit a wall.

By the thirty-seventh game, Fang Zheng had to start taking it seriously.

Li Yuanzhao’s expression was enraptured, giggling foolishly one moment and gnashing his teeth the next.

Fang Zheng also started to look solemn, but suddenly he heard hurried footsteps by his ear, disrupting his train of thought. Looking up, he seemed to see a few eunuchs running out hastily from the direction of the Moon Gate.

Just in that moment of distraction, Li Yuanzhao slapped down a piece.

Four white pieces formed a row with both ends open. It was already an unwinnable situation!

Fang Zheng’s gaze darted towards the Moon Gate. He felt something was off.

Suddenly, he saw a figure in yellow robes vaguely appear through the tree branches. He hurriedly lowered his head to look at the chessboard again.

Cold sweat broke out on his back… His Majesty had actually come…

Shit! If he saw me playing Five-in-a-Row with the crown prince, wouldn’t I be in deep trouble?

Although His Majesty told him to teach the crown prince some new things, this didn’t include messing around!

Just as Fang Zheng was pondering, Li Yuanzhao urged, “Old Fang! Hurry up and move! Hurry up! I’m about to win! What are you still thinking about?”

As he spoke, Fang Zheng’s peripheral vision had already noticed the figure in the tree branches drawing nearer.

Seeing no reaction from him, Li Yuanzhao urged again, “Old Fang! Could it be you want to renege? I’ve already won this game!”

Fang Zheng’s mind was racing to come up with a plan when suddenly inspiration struck!

He raised his hand and flipped the chessboard, scattering the pieces everywhere. He declared loudly, “Draw!”

Li Yuanzhao never imagined Fang Zheng would pull such a move. His jaw dropped, then he shouted angrily, “Old Fang! You’re a sore loser! Then I won’t memorize those articles either!”

Fang Zheng said solemnly, “Your Highness! This is also one of the ways to play Five-in-a-Row!”

“Your Highness, as the heir apparent, the world is your chessboard. If the game has already reached a hopeless situation, does Your Highness still want to keep playing to the end?”

“At this time, Your Highness should have the courage to overturn the board! As they say, there’s no making without breaking! If you don’t even have the spirit to fight to the death, then you’ve truly lost!”

“This is the principle I wanted to teach Your Highness. Does Your Highness understand… cough cough… cough!”

Li Yuanzhao didn’t listen at all and just gnashed his teeth, about to pounce on Fang Zheng. Fang Zheng dodged him.

Fang Zheng continued, “Your Highness, a ruler is the one who sets the rules for the world! How can he be limited by rules?”

“This is also what I wanted to tell you! Alright, today’s lesson ends here. poke Let’s go eat!”

Li Yuanzhao grabbed Fang Zheng’s sleeve and said angrily, “Don’t think you can get out of this! I remember every single move we played. I want a rematch!”

Fang Zheng expressionlessly slapped Li Yuanzhao’s hand away. “Your Highness, you lost thirty-six games just now. So let’s count this one as my loss. How about you memorize thirty-five articles?”

Li Yuanzhao persisted, “No way! You cheated! One more game!”

Fang Zheng continued, “How about this then? I’ll give you a discount. Just memorize thirty articles! That should be fine… One win counts as six! Your Highness profits.”

Li Yuanzhao muttered, “Then… okay, okay! No more cheating next time.”

Fang Zheng glanced at the tree branches from the corner of his eye. Seeing the yellow-robed figure leave, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“Your Highness, I didn’t cheat at all! This is how Five-in-a-Row is played. This move is called ‘Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers’. I have another move called ‘Myriad Arrows Converging’… If you don’t believe me, you can try again!”

“No more, no more! You’ve had your say, what’s the point of playing! Let’s go eat. I’m hungry!”

…

Outside the Moon Gate.

Emperor Jing had just slowly walked out from the courtyard. He said to Guo Tianyang, “This Fang Zheng always comes up with something new to surprise me. It’s truly amazing.”

“His teaching methods are also unique, leaving a deep impression on me… Good.”

Guo Tianyang also laughed. “Indeed, Your Majesty. This old servant was also deeply impressed after hearing it. And the crown prince was actually willing to memorize texts too.”

Emperor Jing let out a hearty laugh. “It seems Fang Zheng really has a way. However…”

With that, Emperor Jing’s expression turned cold. “However, that unfilial son is actually this unruly, not heeding a single word. I see his skin is itching. Call him to the Imperial Study tonight. I need to give him a good thrashing!”

…