Those Five Minutes The Whole World Is Silent

The air in the Imperial study was thick with the scent of aged paper and ink, a silent witness to countless decrees and whispered ambitions. Eight-year-old Feng Wuhao knelt before his sister, Feng Xue Hua, his small frame rigid, eyes downcast. The sharp crack of a stick hitting flesh still echoed in the hall, a sound that made even the seasoned palace attendants flinch. Xue Hua, barely a decade old herself, stood with an unnerving stillness, her posture noble and cold. "I asked you—what did you do wrong?" Her voice, though young, carried an icy precision that belied her age. Wuhao whimpered, "I-I shouldn't have thrown a rock at Second Imperial Brother."

Xue Hua's gaze, colder than any ten-year-old's should be, swept over him. "You are the Crown Prince. You must behave with virtue—righteousness, temperance, forbearance, and uprightness. Not to mention, you are already eight this year." She paused, and then, with a subtle softening that only Wuhao would notice, she extended a hand. "Stand up. Do not keep kneeling."

As Wuhao cautiously rose, stealing a glance at his imperial sister, he thought she looked like a fairy, prettier than any concubine in the palace. Xue Hua sighed inwardly. Yes, she must do this for him. He must learn, and learn fast and well. She held his smaller hands. "From now on, I will be your teacher." A rare smile touched her lips, and Wuhao, greatly joyed, smiled back, revealing a missing front tooth. The path to a stable empire, she knew, began here, with this small, impressionable boy.