Poet Immortal, Poet Sage, Duke of the State!

The next morning.

Chen Chang'an changed into his official robes and entered the palace on time, arriving at the Hanlin Academy.

Court officials start work at 5:00 AM, but the princes and princesses can't wake up at 5:00 AM. The Hanlin Academy's class time is from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM.

Chen Chang'an spent the entire morning preparing lessons. It was a quarter of an hour before 9:00 AM that he left his duty room and headed towards the East Palace.

The Eastern Palace was supposed to be the residence of the Crown Prince, but since Da Ning had not established a Crown Prince, the palace's schools were used to teach these young princes and princesses.

Accompanying Chen Chang'an to the Eastern Palace was a scholar of the Five Classics named Cui Shou, who was Dou Wenhuan's teaching assistant.

Chen Chang'an knew that the teaching assistant position was just a title; Cui Shou's real role was to act as Dou Wenhuan's informant.

The two remained silent the entire way and soon arrived at the East Palace.

As he approached the school building, he found it completely silent inside, and a look of confusion appeared on Cui Shou's face.

He had previously taught the princes, and whenever he arrived at the school, he could hear the noisy sounds coming from inside, even from a distance.

We've already arrived at the school gate, but it's completely quiet inside. Could it be that those little devils haven't arrived yet?

When the two pushed open the door and entered, Cui Shou froze on the spot, completely dumbfounded by what he saw inside the schoolhouse.

Inside the schoolhouse, the imperial heirs, who used to play and cause trouble without any regard for others, were now all sitting properly at their respective desks.

They sat properly in their chairs, backs straight, hands flat on the table, looking extremely well-behaved.

Cui Shou subconsciously rubbed his eyes, thinking he was hallucinating.

When did these demon kings become so well-behaved?

Upon seeing Chen Chang'an and Cui Shou enter, all the princes and princesses looked up and greeted them in unison, "Greetings, sir!"

Their voices were clear and uniform, as if they had rehearsed beforehand.

Chen Chang'an was taken aback by what he saw.

This situation seems different from what Zhang Huaiyu said. Weren't these princes and princesses unruly and difficult to discipline?

Of course, Chen Chang'an did not let his guard down.

What if their obedience is just an act, and who knows what kind of dirty tricks they have up their sleeves?

At this moment, Chen Chang'an did not notice the bewildered and shocked look on Cui Shou's face. He walked to the lectern, cleared his throat, and said, "Your Highnesses, I am your teacher of the 'Imperial Canon of Heaven'. My surname is Chen, and you can call me Teacher Chen. Before we begin the lesson, please introduce yourselves..."

As soon as Chen Chang'an finished speaking, the princes and princesses stood up one by one and introduced themselves.

"My name is Xiao Chengyu, and I am the Ninth Prince!"

"My name is Xiao Cheng'an, and I am the eleventh prince!"

"My name is Xiao Mushuang, and I am the Fifth Princess."

"Hello, sir. I am the Fourth Princess, and my name is Xiao Muxue."

……

Chen Chang'an's gaze swept across the faces of these princes and princesses, memorizing their names and appearances one by one.

After the princes and princesses finished their introductions, they all sat up straight, keeping their eyes fixed straight ahead, looking obedient and sensible.

Cui Shou, standing to the side, remained in a daze, unable to recover for a long time.

In his memory, these imperial heirs were real little devils in the palace. In the past, they could hardly listen attentively during class, let alone stay quiet for half an hour.

In the past, whenever he came to teach, the classroom would either be noisy or several students would fight and play pranks on him, making the whole school a chaotic mess and making it impossible to hold classes normally.

But today, these unruly imperial heirs were surprisingly well-behaved, their quietness almost eerie.

He was filled with doubt and uncertainty, his gaze constantly shifting between the imperial heirs and Chen Chang'an, unable to understand the reason behind it all.

Chen Chang'an ignored Cui Shou, calmly opened the book in his hand, and began to teach.

"Today's lesson will begin with the general principles of the *Cheng Tian Yao Dian*: Of all things in heaven and earth, humanity is the most precious. Of all things in humanity, the heart is the foundation. Therefore, those who govern the world must first govern the heart, and those who govern the heart must first understand the principles. When the principles are understood, the heart is upright; when the heart is upright, actions are proper; when actions are proper, the world will submit to them..."

Chen Chang'an tried his best to make his lecture easy to understand, but after only a quarter of an hour, he keenly sensed that something was wrong.

Although the princes and princesses in front of me sat upright, without making a sound or interrupting, and seemed to be well-behaved throughout, their eyes were actually wandering and their expressions were blank. Their minds were not on the lesson at all.

The Ninth Prince, Xiao Chengyu, appeared to be sitting upright, but he was actually dozing off.

The eleventh prince, Xiao Cheng'an, had been looking out the window for more than a quarter of an hour.

The youngest of the five princesses, Xiao Mushuang, was playing with her nails with her head down, her lips slightly pouting, clearly trying to suppress her boredom.

The only one listening to the lecture was the Fourth Princess, Xiao Muxue, but judging from her eyes, she was clearly not interested in the content.

Chen Chang'an quickly realized why so many teachers couldn't teach them well, and why the imperial heirs' studies had been neglected for years.

It was not that these imperial heirs were inherently unruly and incorrigible, but rather that these Confucian classics on governance were filled with grand principles and rules of conduct, making them dry and tedious.

For these children around ten years old, who are still childlike, playful and active, it is far too obscure and too boring.

Forcing them to sit here and listen to these boring principles is nothing short of torture; how could they possibly listen to them?

Thinking of this, Chen Chang'an simply closed the textbook in his hand.

He put down his textbook, then changed the subject, suddenly saying, "Your Highnesses have been listening to the lesson for quite a while now, and I'm sure you're all getting tired of it. How about I tell you a story instead..."

These words brought a touch of life to the previously lifeless school building.

All eyes were on Chen Chang'an.

Although they didn't know what story the gentleman was going to tell, listening to a story was better than listening to these classical Chinese phrases.

As for Cui Shou, when he heard that Chen Chang'an was going to tell a story, he frowned slightly, but did not stop him.

The task assigned to him by the scholar Zhang Yuan was to truthfully report all of Chen Chang'an's performance in the academy after class each day.

Chen Chang'an noticed their change, smiled slightly, and slowly began to speak: "This is a myth. Legend has it that long, long ago, the world was divided into the Eastern Divine Continent, the Western Niuhe Continent, the Southern Zhanbu Continent, and the Northern Julu Continent. In Aolai Country of the Eastern Divine Continent, there was a Flower and Fruit Mountain. On the mountain was a celestial stone. One day, the celestial stone cracked, and a monkey emerged from the stone..."

Chen Chang'an did not use classical Chinese, but instead used plain language that even children could understand to tell the opening of Journey to the West.

Compared to the obscure and difficult Confucian classics, such bizarre stories were far more attractive to them.

Living deep within the palace, they were surrounded by scriptures, rules, and etiquette every day, and heard only the teachings of sages and virtuous men. From childhood to adulthood, no one had ever told them such mythical stories.

A bright light shone in everyone's eyes, and the blank expressions on their faces vanished, replaced by expectant looks as they gazed at Chen Chang'an.

Chen Chang'an looked at their focused expressions, a stark contrast to their earlier absent-mindedness, and couldn't help but smile.

It seems that, no matter the world, the story of that monkey is a surefire hit for children...