The Fierce Teacher of Zhenguan: Starting with Teaching the Crown Prince to Make a Comeback

Chapter 1: Full of anger, but burning in the wrong place.

Datang.

The sixteenth year of the Zhenguan era.

The air in the side hall of the East Palace was still and stagnant.

Zhang Xuansu, the Crown Prince's Left Attendant with graying hair, his chest heaved violently.

His finger trembled as he pointed at the young man sitting at the head of the table.

"This old minister...this old minister is no longer able to teach the Crown Prince! This old minister will go to see His Majesty immediately!"

Zhang Xuansu turned around and staggered out of the palace gate.

There was dead silence in the hall.

The eunuchs and palace maids lowered their heads and shrank their bodies, as if trying to disappear.

Li Chengqian sat on the brocade cushion, his lips turned down, and a fire burning in his eyes.

His right shoe and sock were loose, and his ankle was visibly swollen, but he sat upright, his face covered in frost.

Two young companions knelt at the lower end, their foreheads touching the ground.

"Your Highness, please calm down," a muffled voice said.

“Master Zhang is old and pedantic, Your Highness need not worry about him.” Another voice, trembling, said the accompanying reader.

Li Chengqian snorted and tapped his fingers on the table, making a dull sound.

"Calm down? What anger have I shown?" His voice was icy. "I merely spoke a few truths. And this old scoundrel couldn't take it."

He suddenly sprang to his feet, grabbed the teacup from the table, and smashed it violently on the ground!
"Get out! All of you get out! Get out!"

The eunuchs and palace maids, as if granted a pardon, scrambled and fled the main hall.

The two companions were also terrified and turned pale, quickly retreating.

The hall was instantly emptied.

Li Chengqian was panting heavily, his chest heaving violently.

He surveyed the empty hall, but his gaze suddenly fixed on something—

In the shadows beside the palace pillar, a person was kneeling.

The person remained calm, as if blending into the shadows.

"Who is it?" Li Chengqian shouted sternly, "Why don't you get out of here?"

The man slowly raised his head, revealing a young yet unusually calm face.

"Your subject is Li Yichen."

Li Yichen's voice was steady and clear, standing out in the empty hall.

This is his third day since he traveled through time.

His official position was that of a tutor to the crown prince, a trivial official post, but his fate was already tied to the hot-tempered young man in front of him.

His memories surged—

In the sixteenth year of the Zhenguan era, Crown Prince Li Chengqian suffered from a foot ailment and had an eccentric personality. He favored actors, became accustomed to Turkic customs, and conspired with Prince Li Yuanchang of Han, Hou Junji, and others.

In the seventeenth year of the Zhenguan era, his plot to rebel was exposed, he was stripped of his title and reduced to a commoner, and exiled to Qianzhou.

All those close to him... shall be executed.

His death certificate had been signed in advance.

Time: Next year.

Executor: Li Shimin.

For three days, he observed, he was anxious, and he tried to find a way out.

Escape? Impossible.

Advice? The previous few who tried to offer advice have already been kicked by the Crown Prince.

Offering advice? His status was low, and his words carried no weight.

He looked in the direction Zhang Xuansu had left; that was the road to filing a complaint, the road to hastening his death.

This rebellious youth, this future prisoner, is his only leverage.

In his past life, he was a teacher who had seen all sorts of problem students: rebellious, defiant, and self-destructive.

Li Chengqian belongs to the most extreme type—he was rejected by his father, troubled by his physical disability, and burdened by the pressure of being the crown prince.

He used rebellion to mask his fear and anger to conceal his despair.

Ordinary advice will only fuel his rebellious flames.

We must do the opposite, we must be more extreme than him, we must be more insane and more direct than him.

The ultimate destructive power and attraction can only be generated when the spearhead is aimed at the most supreme person.

Li Yichen took a deep breath and looked at Li Chengqian.

“Your Highness,” Li Yichen said, his voice calm.

Li Chengqian glanced at him sideways, his eyes filled with impatience.

"What? You want to threaten to kill yourself?"

Li Yichen did not answer.

Instead, he slowly stood up, a movement that was extremely abrupt in the strictly regulated Eastern Palace.

Li Chengqian's brows furrowed instantly. "How dare you! Who told you to get up!"

Instead of kneeling down, Li Yichen took two steps forward and stopped a few steps away from Li Chengqian's desk.

He even had a strange smile on his face.

"Your Highness, I laugh at you. You have anger, but you're burning it in the wrong place."

Li Yichen's voice was clear, with an unsettling penetrating quality.

"What Your Highness and Zhang Xuansu were arguing about just now was nothing more than superficial things from books. Why doesn't Your Highness ask him some questions... questions that he would absolutely dare not answer, but which everyone in the world wants to know?"

Li Chengqian was taken aback by his actions and words, and for a moment forgot to reprimand him.

"……what is the problem?"

"Your Highness should ask him!" Li Yichen's voice suddenly rose, his gaze sharp as he stared directly at Li Chengqian.

Ask him: "Is it true that the Analects says, 'The son conceals the father's wrongdoing, and the father conceals the son's wrongdoing'?"

“Why wouldn’t I dare answer? Of course I do!” Li Chengqian said instinctively.

"Good!" Li Yichen clapped his hands loudly.

"Then Your Highness should immediately press for answers! In that case, back then at Xuanwu Gate, Your Majesty killed your brothers and forced your father into a corner. Doesn't that count as 'a son concealing his father's wrongdoing'? Doesn't that count as 'a father concealing his son's wrongdoing'?"

“Zhang Xuansu teaches you loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and righteousness every day. Just ask him, what His Majesty did, was it loyalty or filial piety? Was it benevolence or righteousness? Let him define the Xuanwu Gate incident in front of you!”

Li Chengqian was as if struck by lightning, his whole body frozen in place, his pupils dilated to the extreme.

His mind was buzzing. This question... this question was too toxic!
Too bad!
This is outrageous!

He directly put his father's greatest pain and taboo in the fire with the words of a sage!

How did Zhang Xuansu answer?
No matter how you answer, it's a dead end!

“You…you…” Li Chengqian pointed at Li Yichen, his fingers trembling uncontrollably, his breathing rapid, but his face flushed with extreme excitement.

"You're insane! That's a morally reprehensible argument!"

"Your Highness!" Li Yichen did not back down at all, but instead took another step closer, his tone becoming even more intense.

"Ask him again! The Classic of Filial Piety says, 'Our bodies, hair, and skin are given to us by our parents, and we dare not damage them!' Your Majesty was always at the forefront, charging into battle, and was covered in wounds. Does that count as 'damage'? Does that count as being unfilial? If Zhang Xuansu is a loyal minister, why didn't he die to remonstrate with Your Majesty back then, urging Your Majesty to cherish your body and stay away from the battlefield? Now he has the nerve to demand filial piety from Your Highness? Is his loyalty and filial piety based solely on who he treats?"

"And another thing!" Li Yichen didn't give Li Chengqian any time to think, speaking rapidly, each word like a knife.

"His Majesty often instructs his officials that 'by learning from the past, one can understand the rise and fall of dynasties,' and ordered the compilation of 'Essentials of Governance in the Zhenguan Era,' which records the dialogues between the emperor and his ministers, demonstrating the court's willingness to accept advice. Your Highness should immediately question Zhang Xuansu!"

He leaned forward slightly.

"Your Highness asks, is the Emperor recorded in the Zhenguan Zhengyao, who humbly accepted advice and was pleased to hear criticism, the same Emperor on the dragon throne now, who gradually grew to dislike speaking frankly and even often showed anger when hearing Wei Zheng's reports?"

"If it is the same emperor, why does the image of a sage ruler recorded in the 'Essentials of Governance' seem different from the words and deeds of the emperor that Your Highness has personally witnessed and heard? Is it because the historian who wrote the 'Essentials of Governance' used exaggerated language to beautify the past? Or is it that... although the emperor still advocates 'accepting advice,' his heart and actions have actually changed?"

"Your Highness! Please have Zhang Xuansu explain this doubt to your face!"

"Let him say whether His Majesty has misremembered the essentials of governance in 'The Essentials of Governance in the Zhenguan Era,' which is personally approved by His Majesty and recited by all scholars, or whether Zhang Xuansu and the entire court have misread it, or... whether His Majesty himself has truly changed? Let him choose! Let's see how he dares to answer!"

(End of this chapter)