Chapter 43: Im Afraid of Spicy Food!!! Part 3

And Gu Huaiyu actually indulged his antics, even lowering his head to listen intently to the child’s whispers.

Yuan Zhuo felt a bitter pang in his heart, though his face remained impassive. “Imperial Uncle is joking.”

“If I truly regarded him as an uncle… that would be truly… treasonous.”

Prince Xian sensed the hidden meaning in his words but dared not dwell on it.

After lunch, Gu Huaiyu stepped out of the pavilion.

Yuan Zhuo immediately emerged from the shadows of the corridor and stepped in front of him. “I happened to be passing by and saw you dining with the Empress Dowager. I didn’t want to disturb you.”

Gu Huaiyu didn’t stop walking, merely nodding slightly. “Your Majesty certainly has a lot of leisure time.”

Hearing the ambiguous comment, Yuan Zhuo blurted out an explanation: “I have already finished reviewing all the memorials you sent. I only came out for a walk because I had free time.”

Gu Huaiyu knew this brat had ulterior motives and loved playing the role of a “dutiful son,” so he merely gave a cold “Mm” in response.

Yuan Zhuo followed obediently behind him. Suddenly, he noticed the hem of Gu Huaiyu’s fox-fur cloak trailing on the ground, the snowy slush dampening the fur. He felt an immediate pang of distress.

Almost instinctively, he bent down and gathered the trailing hem of the cloak into his palms, shielding it as if afraid it would get dirty.

“Your Majesty!” The attendant eunuch’s face went pale with shock, and he hurried forward. “Let this servant hold it! You mustn’t—”

Eunuch Xu merely glanced at the little eunuch and didn’t bother to say much. He raised a hand and gently pushed the boy back.

“Don’t get in His Majesty’s way,” he said with the certainty of someone who had seen great storms. “Don’t be so jumpy in the palace from now on.”

The little eunuch froze, unsure whether to retreat or persist, before finally standing aside with his head bowed in trepidation.

Gu Huaiyu heard the commotion behind him. Without turning his head, he said, “If Your Majesty is truly so bored, you should go read some books.”

“I have been reading.”

Yuan Zhuo handed the hem of the cloak to Eunuch Xu and walked side-by-side with Gu Huaiyu. Like a child showing off a treasure, he pulled several neatly folded sheets of paper from his sleeve and offered them with both hands. “I have been reading the Treatise on Statecraft. I have some shallow insights and wished to ask for your guidance.”

Gu Huaiyu’s footsteps came to a sudden halt. He glanced at the paper, the ink still fresh, and then looked up at him. “Your Majesty waited outside the pavilion for an hour just for this?”

The young Emperor’s ears turned red at being exposed. He gripped the paper tighter, suppressing the shame of being seen through. “The Grand Preceptor said my notes were good, but I wanted to hear your critique.”

The Treatise on Statecraft was a classic revered by the literati. He wanted to prove that he wasn’t idling his time away in pleasure but was a diligent and progressive student. Perhaps he could earn a sliver of praise from the man before him.

Gu Huaiyu took the papers and scanned them briefly. Within moments, he let out a low, mocking chuckle. “In the future, Your Majesty shouldn’t waste time on such books.”

Yuan Zhuo met the undisguised mockery in Gu’s eyes and asked in shock, “Are my notes poorly written?”

Gu Huaiyu handed the papers back. That he hadn’t simply tossed them into the lake was a sign of lingering mercy. “It’s misleading drivel and armchair philosophy. Stop reading it.”

Yuan Zhuo was stunned. “Why? The Grand Preceptor says this book is the gold standard for governing, a must-read for every scholar in the world…”

“The gold standard?”

Gu Huaiyu was amused by the term. He reached out, snapped a plum branch from a nearby snowy tree, and began to toy with it as he walked.

“The man who wrote that book never even managed a few prefectures. What right does he have to talk about ‘The Great Way’ and ‘Benevolent Governance’? And you actually believe him?”

Plum petals fell between his fingers. His tone was unhurried, slow and deliberate. “Governing is never that simple. It’s black, white, grey, and dark—it’s a tangled mess where right and wrong are never clearly divided.”

Yuan Zhuo followed his steps unconsciously, rarely hearing him speak of such things. He listened intently.

“The world has always been this way.”

Gu Huaiyu’s voice was nonchalant, as if he were speaking to Yuan Zhuo, or perhaps to someone else entirely. “The man who wrote that book was too young. He thought things were black and white—that being an official meant only two paths: doing good or doing evil.”

“But in reality—”

He gently snapped the plum branch. The wood cracked sharply, and the blossoms fell like snow.

“Sometimes, one must do ‘evil’ things in order to do ‘good’ ones.”

Yuan Zhuo’s heart jolted, and he held his breath.

For someone raised on orthodox teachings since childhood, these words were a revelation. The “Way of the Sages,” which defined things as strictly good or bad, was easily shattered. The principles the Grand Preceptors worshipped as absolute truth were nothing more than naive fantasies in Gu Huaiyu’s mouth.

“Then…” the young Emperor’s voice wavered, “if there is no distinction between good and bad, how am I to know what I am doing?”

Gu Huaiyu looked as though he had been waiting for that exact question.

He stopped, turned, and handed the broken branch to him.

The branch was snapped, the flowers scattered; only the bare stem remained, with thorns still bearing a hint of un-withered red.

“Then ask your conscience.”

His voice was very soft and slow, seemingly casual, yet every word was crystal clear. “Ask if you can live with yourself.”

“Don’t ask the books, don’t ask your ministers, and don’t ask me.”

“Ask if you can, in the dead of night—”

He suddenly reached out, his fingertip lightly tapping against Yuan Zhuo’s chest. The pressure was light, yet it made the young Emperor stiffen entirely.

“—Not loathe yourself.”

“Not question yourself.”

“Not wake up in terror.”

Gu Huaiyu withdrew his hand. His eyes held a trace of a relaxed smile, his voice carrying a rare, gentle tone. “That is the path you should walk.”