I, who disguised myself as a woman, turned out to be a queen! ?

Chapter 1259 Scholar and Soldier
The village school is by the water, and the teacher is in the farmland.

With their backs to the sun and their faces to the earth.

Li Ziyu is now as dark as charcoal, dressed in coarse linen clothes with his trousers rolled up, planting rice in the paddy field.

But as soon as he looked up, he saw his teacher, Master Yao, diligently learning the methods taught by the village elders. Meanwhile, his fellow disciples were clumsily planting rice seedlings, and one of them slipped and fell.

Li Ziyu shook his head helplessly and walked up to Master Yao, who was stubbornly determined to plant rice seedlings. "Teacher, why don't you and your fellow students take a rest?"

Master Yao frowned, glanced at Li Ziyu, shook his head, and continued to look down.

But when Li Ziyu stretched out his hand and looked up, he saw several old farmers silently correcting the spot where they had just planted the trees.

"Sigh~~~" Master Yao sighed and then mocked himself: "Reading a thousand words is no match for half a gourd of manure. Hehe, I thought it was just planting rice seedlings, but I didn't expect to be so clumsy. I've only caused you trouble."

Li Ziyu immediately said, "Teacher's expertise lies elsewhere, why sigh like this?"

As they spoke, he helped Master Yao up the ridge of the field and bowed to the old farmers to apologize.

Several old farmers were all smiles. Although they didn't know who the old gentleman who had come today was, since Magistrate Li called him "teacher," he must be a person of great learning.

People with great knowledge would find it fascinating to work in the fields, regardless of whether it causes any trouble.

Yao Yuanzai naturally bowed and apologized, then looked at the happy faces of the old farmers, and noticed their dark skin and calloused hands.

Despite such hardship, they still couldn't get enough to eat.

After a moment of silence, Yao Yuanzai turned back to look at the shed where the bargain hunters were located. "Let's go, let your teacher see where you live."

After Li Ziyu smiled, he helped Yao Yuanzai walk towards the greenhouse.

The teacher's sudden arrival today startled Li Ziyu.

However, when they arrived, Yao Yuanzai and the others saw Li Ziyu helping farmers plant rice seedlings in the paddy fields, which led to the scene just now.

As Yao Yuanzai walked into the greenhouse, he looked at the simple place, which could be described as a cowshed, and glanced back at his student, who was no longer the handsome young man he once was in the capital.

After a gentle expression appeared on Yao Yuanzai's face, he turned his head again.

Inside the greenhouse, there was a bed and a table, with paper and pens on the table. "Is this where you usually handle official business?"

Yao Yuanzai looked at Li Ziyu.

After Li Ziyu helped his teacher to sit down by the bed, he picked up the kettle and bowl. "It's busy with farming lately, so I'm mostly here, only occasionally going back to the county government."

Yao Yuanzai looked at Li Ziyu's bright smile: "The mind in its original state is neither good nor evil; the movement of the mind gives rise to good and evil intentions. Knowing good and evil is innate knowledge; doing good and eliminating evil is the investigation of things. Is it here that you understood the Empress's words, 'Unity of knowledge and action, investigation of things to attain knowledge,' and wrote these two lines for me?"

Li Ziyu nodded, handing Yao Yuanzai the water bowl with both hands, a look of embarrassment on his face: "The more I see, the more I think. At night, alone here, gazing at the sky, my mind wanders, and these thoughts came to mind. I wrote a letter to my teacher, but I haven't fully grasped these principles yet. I'm still pondering what Your Majesty said. You came all this way here without even a word, and I didn't prepare anything."

Yao Yuanzai rubbed the hard bed board and cursed, "What are you going to prepare? You're here studying and gaining profound knowledge, and I'm so happy about that. I come to see my prized student, and what are you going to prepare for me?"

After saying this, he took the bowl of water from Li Ziyu's hand, looked at Li Ziyu's current appearance, and finally couldn't help but ask: "But what about your body? You tried to pull me away from the medicine pot over there, but I still saw it. And this strong smell of medicine, do you think I'm too old to smell it?"

Upon hearing this, Li Ziyu smiled and said, "After being pampered for so long, it's inevitable that your body will suffer from this kind of lifestyle. In addition, although it's hot recently, it's still damp, so you've caught some cold air. Don't worry, teacher."

Listening to Li Ziyu's words, Yao Yuanzai felt both gratified and heartbroken. This rich young master, who had grown up surrounded by wealth, was now willingly living this kind of life here, and had even faced life-threatening situations several times.

It was during this trip that the princess returned to Shu, protecting not only him but also Ziyu.

However, Yao Yuanzai was not such a pretentious person and would not ask any more questions. Instead, he looked at Li Ziyu and asked, "Have you figured out why you asked me about that thing before, about how I studied so hard but was powerless to do anything about it?"

Upon hearing this, Li Ziyu immediately looked at Yao Yuanzai.

Before he could answer, Yao Yuanzai pulled him down to sit.

Li Ziyu was somewhat flustered, but still spoke up: "I am dull-witted. What I think is that the principles are in the books, but how to be a person is outside the books. Just as I have realized that there is no good or evil, but to do good and avoid evil, I think about things in my heart and then act on them. This is the greatest principle in the world. I know that these farmers lack labor at home, so I came to help. This is the principle I follow."

hear the words
Yao Yuanzai looked at Li Ziyu, stood up, and bowed to Li Ziyu.

Li Ziyu quickly returned the greeting, saying, "Teacher, I can't accept this."

Yao Yuanzai shook his head: "The accomplished are teachers. I am indeed your teacher, but you deserve a bow for what you just said."

Li Ziyu quickly bowed and said, "I haven't read books in a long time, it's already very kind of you not to scold me, teacher."

Yao Yuanzai shook his head: "Books are written by people. Not reading books doesn't mean you don't have books in your heart. Ziyu, you've taught your teacher a lesson. When we get back to the capital, I'll have to tell Muxu about the saying, 'Watching rice seedlings turn green for three days is better than reading books for ten years.'"

Upon hearing this, Li Ziyu immediately asked, "Is the teacher going back?"

Yao Yuanzai shook his head: "I won't go back for now. There are undercurrents in Shu. If something really happens, the academy won't be implicated, so I don't plan to leave yet. Besides, you can stay here for me. How about setting up another bed? Your teacher can stay with you for a while."

Li Ziyu quickly shook his head, but looked at Yao Yuanzai and said, "Teacher, since you see that Shu is going to be in chaos, it's better for you to leave. This time, things will be completely overturned, and your prestige will inevitably be targeted. You have encountered danger many times during this trip to Shu, so there's really no need for that. I think things here will pass quickly, and we can come back to the academy later."

Upon hearing this, Yao Yuanzai smiled and said, "When you get old, you tend to be more stubborn, so don't try to persuade me. Besides, those people want to kill me, humph! Just take their heads. If I can see my disciple comprehend the way of the sage before I die, then my journey to Shu will not have been in vain."

Yao Yuanzai looked at Li Ziyu and continued, "There's no need to worry about me. Besides, this Shu region isn't something I can just leave whenever I want. Otherwise, given the princess's temperament, she would have knocked this old stubborn man unconscious with a stick long ago and sent me back to the capital. So many people are watching me."

A great Confucian scholar is the aspiration of countless students.

Yao Yuanzai was such a great Confucian scholar, and countless students in Sichuan sought his tutelage.

This explains why the King of Shu wanted Yao Yuanzai to join him, and why not a single student emerged even after the Fifth Prince lost an arm.

The students still remember the incident where they slapped Yao Yuanzai.

Li Ziyu sighed, knowing he couldn't go against his teacher's wishes, and knowing how many eyes were watching his teacher, so he could only smile and say, "Teacher, when we have dinner later, I've saved two fish from the fields that a fellow villager gave me, I'll cook them for you."

Yao Yuanzai nodded with a smile, but was about to speak.

The sound of horses' hooves approached.

Farmers working in the fields stopped and turned to look.

A dozen or so heavily armored cavalrymen, carrying swords and bows, charged toward Li Ziyu's shed.

Upon arriving, the leading man dismounted and clasped his hands in greeting to Yao Yuanzai inside the tent, saying, "Dian Junming greets Master Yao!"

(End of this chapter)