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As soon as Father saw that the second brother was lying without drafting his words, it was pointless. He hurriedly intervened, claiming that the book was his, and agreed to take the blame for her.

Mother became even angrier and demanded that Father take a good look at what book it was before saying anything more.

As Father picked up the book and looked down, upon clearly seeing the title, he too hesitated to speak, knowing for certain that such a book could never belong to him.

Immediately afterward, Mother scolded both Father and the second brother together, and several of them bowed their heads, enduring the harsh scolding as if facing a tempest.

She still felt somewhat aggrieved and occasionally made a faint sobbing sound. Through blurred vision, she saw that Father had put his shoes on backward and could not help but cry out to remind him.

This only made matters worse. Seeing that she still had the mind to worry about other things, Mother grew even angrier and sternly scolded her for being ignorant and unrepentant.

She felt aggrieved again and began to cry loudly, not understanding what she had done wrong or why she was being punished.

Weeping, she asked her mother, "The ’Thousand Character Classic’ is a book, ’Youngster’s Treasury of Gems’ is a book, ’Little Rat’s Three Battles with the Big Tiger’ is also a book. Why can’t I read them?"

With these words, it was like adding fuel to the fire.

Upon hearing this, her mother lost her head with anger and immediately grabbed a rattan to continue beating her.

The second brother knelt and hugged Mother’s legs while Father held Mother back in an attempt to calm her, but he could not deter Mother’s determination to hit her.

The event concluded with her suffering a beating with the rattan, an incident so vivid in her memory. So many years had passed, and she had forgotten many a storybook’s title and content, but this one she vividly remembered.

Latter, that book ’Little Rat’s Three Battles with the Big Tiger’ was taken to the kitchen and burned by her mother, and she ultimately never finished reading it, which she found quite regrettable.

Afterward, she lost interest in such storybooks and took a liking to more profound ones, yet from time to time she would remember and wonder whether the Little Rat had won in the end?

After that incident, she was subdued for many days, never daring to go home and read storybooks again, remaining quiet for a good while.

She kept this to herself for a long time before she spoke to the kid next door, whose immediate suggestions, upon reminding her, sparked the idea to look for a good opportunity during school.

Thus, from that time onward, she and the kids agreed to arrive at school early. Before the teacher arrived, they would seize the moment to read. They would stay a bit longer after school, using the time to read without missing out on anything, and even mastered the skill of skim reading.

Of course, she and the kids had considered reading during the teacher’s lecture, but before they could do so, one of the kids accidentally gave them away.

Passing in front of the teacher, the child was so nervous and frightened that a storybook fell out of his bag, landing right in front of the teacher.

The teacher picked it up and immediately became so furious that he criticized the book thoroughly, calling it utterly worthless.

The child was scolded so harshly that he cried loudly, and that wasn’t the end—before everyone, the teacher punished the child with many ruler licks and even told the child’s parents. What happened to the child after he went home was unknown, but he likely faced a severe beating.

Thus, she was afraid to read during the teacher’s lecture. Being caught by the teacher and punished with the ruler was bearable, but if the teacher informed her mother, everything would be over.

That period was indeed her favorite time going to school.

On normal days, just mentioning going to school made her drag her feet, and her mother had to urge her repeatedly before she would move. But since she had taken a fancy to reading storybooks, she had corrected this habit and was eager to go early, which reassured her mother quite a bit.

"So, Your Majesty, you see, reading storybooks isn’t without its benefits. I still don’t quite understand why my mother didn’t want me to read them. Your Majesty, what do you think?" Lian Hua looked at the Emperor, eyes wide with hope for some agreement.

The Emperor found this amusing. His Little Concubine had indeed been such since she was young, once captivated by something, her drive was truly strong, she learned quickly, and her ideas followed one after the other, even enduring things she didn’t like.

When she asked this, he felt troubled again. His Little Concubine was indeed a master of turning things upside down. Her early attendance at school wasn’t for study but for her beloved storybooks.

On one hand, he didn’t want to refute her and make her unhappy, but on the other hand, he also disagreed with her mother, and lastly, he didn’t want to refute his mother-in-law’s teaching methods before even meeting her.

He weighed his words, finding a balance between sparing her feelings and telling the truth, "Perhaps your mother was worried that you might neglect your studies."

The moment Lian Hua heard this, she disagreed outright, "How can that be? Whether I read storybooks or not, my grades are still poor, and the amount of scolding and ruler beatings from the teacher hasn’t lessened at all."

The Emperor was suddenly at a loss for words, unable to refute her statement...

Lian Hua continued, "Moreover, after I started reading storybooks, I recognized many more characters. If my classmates and I came across characters we didn’t understand, we would help each other learn.

If none of us knew, we would note it down and ask the teacher later, and even he praised us then. "

Back then, their literacy was not vast, and yet the storybooks, with their pictures and some text, were initially difficult for many to understand. After school, they would line up to ask the teacher, becoming a spectacle at the time.

The Emperor was astonished; this way, there were indeed benefits, and he couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

Lian Hua immediately smiled with joy, "If it wasn’t for the storybooks, I would be just like my second brother, unable to understand many characters."

Her second brother was indeed poor at studies, even finding the attractive storybooks dizzying and disinteresting to read.

After that one time, remembering her second brother’s help, she had also secretly taken a storybook to show him, but he could only look at it briefly before giving up, complaining that the text gave him a headache, hence quitting.

The Emperor realized then that her brother was also poor at studying; her parents must have had many headaches, a mischievous troublemaker like her was troublesome enough, and if her other brothers were the same, the house must have been in constant uproar.

Talking freely, Lian Hua enjoyed conversing with His Majesty, whatever the topic, His Majesty always listened earnestly.

After speaking so much, her mouth felt dry, so she poured a cup of tea for His Majesty, urging him to drink, and poured herself a cup of honey water, which she gulped down thirstily.

After finishing the cup of honey water in one breath, she let out a comfortable sigh, and forcefully concluded, wiping her mouth, "So you see, not only is reading storybooks not a bad thing, it is actually a good thing. If all children began learning with interesting and easy-to-understand storybooks, who wouldn’t love reading? "

The Emperor shook his head and chuckled, the empty storybook which became a good thing through her persuasion, then what should be said of the books of sages?

Feeling resigned, he let her be, reaching to drink his tea when he suddenly paused, a flash of inspiration crossing his mind.

He hurriedly grasped Lian Hua, asking, "Nannan, what did you just say?"