I really want to slap him across the face a few times! Daoist Shuiyue struggled to suppress the urge.
"Zhang Xiaofan!" Daoxuan True Person called slowly, his voice echoing again and again through the silent hall, ringing in everyone's ears.
Zhang Xiaofan bowed respectfully and answered in a deep voice, "This disciple is present!"
His bearing, his manners, his very air made many in the hall turn to look at him.
During their trip to the Imperial City, Zhang Xiaofan hadn't just spent his time playing with that Little Fatty, Luo Yunji. When the Little Fatty had been forcibly pushed into becoming the Little State Preceptor, more than ten people had been sent to teach him etiquette. He Dazhi had been happy to see it, so he had Zhang Xiaofan learn alongside him.
Not only etiquette, but strategy, the art of war, scheming, and more—He Dazhi had asked the emperor and the Prince to send people to teach Zhang Xiaofan all of it in one go.
As for how much he could learn, He Dazhi said he didn't care. Even a little would be good. Someone had to be clever enough to protect their current Little Junior Brother. Zhang Xiaofan, who was always at Luo Yunji's side, was the best choice. Besides, not everyone had the rare privilege and good fortune of learning from the court's officials.
When Zhang Xiaofan heard He Dazhi explain that he was learning all this to protect his Little Junior Brother, he immediately became fired up. If he couldn't learn something, he memorized it by rote. If he couldn't get a ceremonial gesture right on the first try, he practiced it twice, ten times, a hundred times!
The people who had taught him back then had all been astonished by Zhang Xiaofan's eagerness and hard