Eight, Fragrant Lotus

Qing Tong smiled and said, "Take out one stick from each and give it a try." The Crown Prince, curious, drew a bamboo stick from the first pot. The bamboo stick originally had flowers carved on one side and a drinking game verse written on the other; at this moment, only the plum blossom side remained, while the other side had been randomly scribbled over by Qing Tong, with the character "ride" written on it in brush strokes.

Qingtong furrowed her brows and said: "There are no supplies... Hmm... First, kill the horses. Unfortunately, my horse is better than yours, with a speed of 6. There are no tools for defending the city... Let's demolish the houses! Brother Taizi, I will defend the city now, you can attack!"

"What kind of game is this?" The prince was astonished. Qing Tong smiled and said, "Just play along. If you play this kind of game with me every day, I guarantee you won't be criticized by the Grand Tutor next time."

"You are the one attacking the city, then I shall defend it," said Qing Tong as he took a turn himself, resulting in: "15,000 cavalry, speed 6; 15,000 infantry, speed 3; no provisions; 100,000 residents; 100,000 arrows; no siege tools."

A few days later, after school, the Crown Prince was invited by Qing Tong to Gan Zhi Palace. As soon as the Crown Prince entered, he saw Qing Tong had pushed the writing desk and the low table together, on which were placed many objects in a row. He wondered, "What is this?"

Hua Jian shook her head with a quiet laugh and turned over to sleep. Just as she was dozing off, Qing Tong suddenly burst into laughter in her dream: "Isn't this good?" With a powerful punch, there was a loud thud, and Hua Jian was pushed to the ground.

Li Weigong humbly stated that he was merely a subordinate in the military, only capable of engaging in battle. What does that matter? What Qing Tong desires now is precisely this military strategy. In her view, if one possesses no skills in military tactics at all, attempting to engage in strategic planning or negotiations would be futile; it would be surprising if anyone took you seriously.

He saw Qing Tong glare at him and ignore him, so he stepped forward to open the food box. At that moment, everyone in the Taixue took a deep breath: "So fragrant!"

After saying goodbye to Fei, I walked alone, my heart racing all the way. It had been a long time since Qing Tong had asked him to get something, but today she insisted on his help. As I walked, a piece of light yellow substance was suddenly stuffed into my mouth. Before I could react, the silk-like smooth cake had already melted into liquid and flowed into my stomach, leaving only a lingering fragrance in my mouth, rich and impossible to dissipate.

The Crown Prince followed the instructions and retrieved "30,000" from the second pot, followed by "supplies for ten days" and "mountain terrain." Later, there were no longer bamboo sticks for throwing, but rather a dozen rice bowls, which had also changed from bamboo sticks to crumpled paper eggs. The Crown Prince drew each one in turn, and upon unfolding, it read: "Cavalry 30,000, speed 5; Infantry 10,000, speed 2; supplies for ten days, mountain terrain, siege, archers 160,000, equipped with sufficient siege tools"

The Crown Prince, in a fit of anger and embarrassment, left that day. Before long, he regretted having quarreled with her over such an unfounded issue. No one was there to write the window lesson for him, nor was there anyone to assist him in preparing for the questions that the Grand Tutor might pose, making his days increasingly difficult

Qing Tong leaned over to take a look and said: "Hmm, cavalry! Draw again!"

Qing Tong had been contemplating for several days. The Crown Prince, being new to the task, was naturally not as skilled as she was. After ten days, the Crown Prince's supplies were exhausted, forcing him to withdraw, and the city remained unconquered. Later, they engaged in several more encounters, trying both prairie confrontations and battlefield duels, all three times resulting in defeats for the Crown Prince. Being still young, he could not help but feel furious after losing repeatedly, exclaiming: "What a trivial thing from a little girl, I shall not play anymore." He then strode away.

The more she looked, the more engrossed she became. Huajian pushed her chair and said, "Get up for a moment, I will clean up the papers you threw. If you want to read, just read; why shout so loudly! Ding Mama has already gone to sleep; if you keep this up, you will wake her!" Qing Tong stood up holding the book; although her voice lowered, her eyes seemed glued to the pages, not leaving them for a moment.

She looked and could not help but read aloud: "The art of war is about balance. The highest form of military strategy is to defeat the enemy's plans without engaging in battle; the intermediate strategy is to disrupt alliances and isolate the enemy; the lowest form is to engage in direct combat, which, even if victorious, leads to the depletion of troops and destruction of cities, countless times. The Emperor Gaozu said that ministers only know how to engage in battle, and this is indeed true..."

She remained silent, and the Crown Prince helplessly returned to his seat. As soon as Grand Tutor Sun entered, he took a deep breath and asked, "What is that fragrance?" The Crown Prince couldn't help but turn his head to look back, and upon seeing that the food box on Qing Tong's table had already been taken away, he let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that today's window lesson had found its resolution

On the second day, Qing Tong and Li Fei returned together, with Li Fei symbolically carrying Qing Tong's book bag and a bit of leftover tea leaves. When Hua Xian came to greet them, she caught a whiff of the pleasant fragrance from Li Fei's mouth and suddenly understood. She smiled and said, "The weather is quite hot!" It was merely a meaningless remark, yet both of them blushed.

She set this aside and looked at "Gaozu's Reflections on Reading Books". Unfortunately, what is recorded are merely Gaozu's impressions of literary and historical texts, which only provide insight into the type of poetry and prose he favored. After all, Gaozu came from humble beginnings, and his understanding of poetry and prose is not as profound as that of Qingtong. The later sections contain some governance strategies, but Qingtong is currently not interested in them.

After returning, Qing Tong gave two pieces of lotus leaf cake each to Hua Xian and her mother. Ding Mama, who had poor teeth and did not like sweets, found today's snack to be a rare treat. She wondered if she would ever have the chance to eat it again in her lifetime, so Qing Tong insisted on giving her a piece to try. Hua Xian finished it in big bites, smiling happily. Qing Tong brought the remaining piece close to her mouth but then stopped, suddenly blushing. She wrapped the cake back up and tucked it into her bosom, lowering her head, and the redness on her face did not fade for a long time.

Qing Tong's anger had actually dissipated earlier than the Crown Prince's, and she had long stopped holding it against him. She caught a whiff of the fragrant aroma right under her nose and secretly swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Stealing a glance, she saw that the box contained only six small, pale yellow cakes, beautifully set against the vibrant green lotus leaves, making them quite tempting. These six cakes, lined up in her hand, could barely cover a palm, and it seemed that half a pond's worth of lotus flowers had been used, indicating that the Crown Prince had put in considerable effort this time.

Qing Tong was only shy for a moment before being drawn to the books. She first picked up "The Memoirs of Emperor Gao" to read, which was essentially no different from the recorded versions; it was simply written in the first person by Emperor Gao himself, and it lacked the flattering remarks that later transcribers would add after every three sentences.

On that morning, Qing Tong went to school and noticed a gilded food box on her desk. Even before opening the lid, she could smell a delicate fragrance. The Crown Prince approached with a shameless grin and said: "This is made from freshly ground tender lotus seeds, mixed with lotus flower honey, and then steamed in lotus leaves. When grinding the powder, no water can be added; only pure lotus dew can be used. The cakes cannot be steamed with firewood; they are all baked with dried lotus petals. Although it doesn't look extravagant, it tastes quite good, and I had someone specially prepare it. These few pieces of cake used half a pond's worth of lotus flowers; you should give it a try, Imperial Sister."

Due to a lack of time, she did not carefully read the "Annals of Emperor Gao" and "Biography of Emperor Gao," which did not seem particularly useful. After a moment of hesitation, she picked up "The Letter from Li Wei to Emperor Gao" and immediately knew she had made the right choice upon opening it. This book was written by the first great general of the Dàyuàn dynasty, Duke Li Cun, and it records the dialogues he had with the Emperor Gao and his wife regarding military tactics. Qing Tong's eyes sparkled with excitement, and she leaned in closely, captivated by the text, wishing she could swallow the entire book whole. This book was written by the first great general of the Dàyuàn dynasty, Duke Li Cun, and it records the dialogues he had with the Emperor Gao and his wife regarding military tactics. Qing Tong's eyes sparkled with excitement, and she leaned in closely, captivated by the text, wishing she could swallow the entire book whole

Seeing her like this, Huajian simply ignored her and went about his own business. At around three in the morning, Qingtong finally crawled into bed, looking very tired, and as soon as she lay down, she fell into a deep sleep.

Qingtong was furious, cursing loudly behind him. The practical game she had worked so hard to create ended after just three rounds and was not adopted. Qingtong was unwilling to accept this, so she dragged Huajia to play, but unfortunately, Huajia showed no interest at all and yawned throughout the game. In the end, she had no choice but to play by herself at home, alternating between offense and defense, which indeed helped her pass a considerable amount of time