Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 163 The Foolish Prince Recovers from Illness

Did I become stupid after catching a cold?
So he was burned stupid?
Zhang Chengdao's heart stirred.

Because I had just taken over the mess that was Zhou Kingdom, I only vaguely heard that one of Li Renshun's concubines had taken the crown prince away to raise him, and I didn't have time to settle him down.

Now that everyone has brought it up, Zhang Chengdao realizes that continuing to ignore things like this isn't a good solution.

So he asked quite frankly, "Who is raising the former crown prince now?"

The Grand Secretary hurriedly replied, "Reporting to the Immortal Master, it was Consort Li who adopted him."

Where is Consort Li?

The Grand Secretary replied, "I practice at the Chongzhen Temple."

Zhang Chengdao nodded: "Send someone to invite her and the former crown prince to come together. Since it is an acquired illness, there may be a cure."

Unless there is a congenital disability, any illness can be treated with just one bowl of [Kudzu Root Soup].

If that doesn't work, then two bowls.

If that doesn't work, try [Cattail Decoction], [White Tiger Decoction], [Angelica Pubescens Decoction], or [Rejuvenating Decoction].

Chongzhen Temple was not close to the palace. When Consort Li arrived at Daxing Hall with Li Chunxiao, the court session had already ended. Everyone was waiting for Li Chunxiao and to see if Zhang Chengdao could cure, and indeed cure, this "foolish crown prince" Li Chunxiao.

Upon seeing Li Chunxiao, Zhang Chengdao realized that he had misunderstood this "foolish crown prince" far too much.

The so-called "idiot" was not the real idiot with a crooked nose, drooling eyes, and a drooling mouth that he imagined, but a "little child" who could greet him and talk to him normally.

Li Chunxiao's intelligence level is roughly that of a three-year-old. He can engage in simple logical conversations, has self-care abilities, and is even considered handsome.

Not only Zhang Chengdao, but many ministers were also seeing Li Chunxiao for the first time. Because the "Crown Prince" was mentally challenged, Li Renshun and Empress Zhao were always afraid that the Crown Prince would lose his dignity in front of the court officials, so they were almost unwilling to let him show his face easily.

Therefore, facing so many probing, even unfriendly, eyes, Li Chunxiao visibly trembled, clutching Li Zhaoyi's sleeve tightly like a child.

To avoid frightening the other party, Zhang Chengdao took out a bowl of [Kudzu Root Soup] from his backpack, used his spiritual power to push it in the air in front of Consort Li, and said, "This bowl of medicine should be able to cure his illness. You should feed him the medicine yourself."

Upon hearing this, Consort Li's face turned sorrowful, and her hand holding the medicine bowl trembled. However, she still dared not disobey the "immortal's" command and coaxed Li Chunxiao to drink the medicine in a gentle voice.

The medicine would take some time to take effect, so Zhang Chengdao pressed for details about Consort Li's identity.

It turns out that the surname Li was bestowed upon Consort Li. She was originally the daughter of a meritorious official from another ethnic group, and her family was the Dahe clan. Her father was originally the leader of a small tribe, but later surrendered to the Li Zhou dynasty and was given the surname Li.

Because of her ethnic background, Consort Li remained a Consort for over twenty years in the palace. However, precisely because of her ethnic background, Empress Zhao was quite close to her, and Li Chunxiao was also able to recognize her.

In fact, Consort Li had sensed something was amiss when Empress Zhao turned into a corpse puppet, but she was seriously ill in her own palace at the time and never went near Empress Zhao, which is why she was fortunate enough not to be controlled. It was Li Chunxiao who, because of his childlike nature, was the most aware that something was wrong, but he couldn't express it, so he desperately went to Consort Li. Since the Imperial Preceptor Mingjing was too lazy to bother with a foolish crown prince, he hid in Consort Li's palace for nearly a month until Zhang Chengdao took over this mess.

Speaking of her time living in fear and trembling in the palace, Consort Li was so terrified that her face turned ashen, tears streamed down her face, and she could barely stand.

After recounting the whole story, the medicine gradually took effect.

As Consort Li recounted her story, Li Chunxiao, who was holding Consort Li's sleeve, frowned more and more deeply, and eventually covered his head, his face contorted in pain.

Consort Li was startled and quickly lowered her head to comfort Li Chunxiao until he opened his mouth and said, "Your Highness, I... I have a headache..."

Consort Li was extremely anxious: "What's wrong? Do you have a headache? Is it serious?"

Li Chunxiao said, "Your Majesty, I think I had a very long dream. Father and Mother were no longer Father and Mother, and all the palace maids and eunuchs were dead. It was so...so scary..."

Although Li Chunxiao's words were still somewhat "childish," they were clearly not something a three-year-old "child" could say. Consort Li immediately hugged Li Chunxiao, who was a head taller than her, and broke down in tears, repeatedly saying, "You're all better! The Crown Prince is truly better!"

Li Chunxiao looked at Consort Li with a blank expression, then used his sleeve to wipe away her tears, comforting her as Consort Li had comforted him before: "Your Highness, don't cry, don't cry..."

After crying for a while, Consort Li knelt down gratefully before Zhang Chengdao and bowed deeply, saying, "Thank you so much for the divine medicine, Immortal Master. After a hundred years, I will be able to face the Emperor and Empress with a smile!"

“You don’t need to do that. This medicine is just an ordinary spiritual medicine. In the future, any official under the White Stone Immortal Sect who has a stubborn illness can purchase it.”

Zhang Chengdao gestured for Consort Li to rise, then continued, "Now that the Zhou Kingdom has fallen, I have ordered the Ministry of Rites to propose a title for Li Chunxiao, honoring him as Duke. He can live a life of honor, but..."

He glanced at Consort Li, who was still kneeling on the ground and refused to get up, and asked, "I intend to let Li Chunxiao study at Baishi Immortal University. Whether it is immortality or poetry, literature, and music, given his age and now that he has recovered from his illness, he should still learn something."

Upon hearing this, Consort Li was even more grateful and bowed again, saying, "Immortal Master, you are merciful. Chunxiao has been unable to attend school for many years due to illness. It is time for him to continue his studies. On behalf of Chunxiao, I thank you, Immortal Master!"

Zhang Chengdao waved his hand and said, "No need for formalities. I took over the land of Zhou not because I coveted power or profit, but because I couldn't bear to see chaos and the people helpless here. Besides, it's unsustainable to use the entire nation's resources to support the emperor and the royal family. It's also an old-fashioned approach. That's why I took over this land... However, you all came from the palace and have no special skills. If you're interested, you might as well enroll and study there once the White Stone Immortal Dao University is built."

Consort Li was stunned, completely unexpected that Zhang Chengdao would make such a suggestion, and stammered, at a loss for words: "This concubine... this concubine should also go to school?"

Like the State of Chu, the State of Zhou did have women who entered schools or even became officials, but those were women who were extremely outstanding in martial arts. Moreover, their studies were only short-term and not part of a regular examination system.

Under normal circumstances, except for private schools, such as government-run educational institutions like the Six Halls, women were not accepted.

Zhang Chengdao nodded and said, "You two can be granted special permission. If there are other members of the imperial family who are temporarily residing at Chongzhen Temple, they can also be granted special permission once. After that, it will not be possible, and they will have to take the normal entrance examination."

After all, the Immortal Path University provides food and accommodation, which can barely give these people who have been trapped in the palace for too long a way to survive. After studying for a few years and acquiring survival skills, their lives can get back on track.

……

(End of this chapter)