Die For Love: The Last Romance Of The Ming Dynasty(ON-GOING DYSHEN FANFIC)

If The Moon Can Remember The Past

The next morning, Chang-Ping woke up at the Hour Of The Tiger(03:00-05 AM)and she continued her day as usual. At the wee hours of the morning, she was already doing running exercises on the palace grounds and sparring and self-defense lessons and mastery of weapons under General Tang. And after her training, she did her tai-chi exercises and meditation to calm her nerves for today during the Hour Of The Rabbit(05:00-07:00 AM). And at the Hour Of The Dragon(07:00-09:00 AM), she cleansed herself and had breakfast on her quarters instead of dining with the emperor and her family because of yesterday's argument in the court. And after taking her breakfast and doing other things she dressed up in her man's clothing and tied her hair on a bun and she went to the Royal Library.

The princess busied herself during The Hour Of The Snake(09:00-11:00 AM)studying literature, arts, Confucian texts and ethics with Master Lin and after that she proceeded to the Royal Infirmary and had her class with Royal Doctor Yu on medicine, science, and biology and during the Hour Of The Horse(11:00-01:00 PM). Then after her class with Royal Doctor Yu and his team of doctors and nurses, she proceeded to go to Master Yang for her classes in mathematics and astronomy and after that she had extra lessons of Greek, Latin, French, English, and other western languages and writing under Jesuit Priest Angelo Cardoni and Horatio Deluna.

"Princess, kindly recite to us a poem in Latin you have memorized." Master Horatio requested her.

"Yes, Sir."

Chang-Ping stood up and opened her hand fan and recited a piece from Horace's Odes 4.7.

Diffugere nives, redeunt iam gramina campis
arboribusque comae;
mutat terra vices et decrescentia ripas
flumina praetereunt;
Gratia cum Nymphis geminisque sororibus audet
ducere nuda choros.
Inmortalia ne speres, monet annus et almum
quae rapit hora diem.
Frigora mitescunt zephyris, ver proterit aestas
interitura, simul
pomifer autumnus fruges effuderit, et mox
bruma recurrit iners.
Damna tamen celeres reparant caelestia lunae;
nos ubi decidimus,
quo pius Aeneas, quo Tullus dives et Ancus,
pulvis et umbra sumus.
Quis scit an adiciant hodiernae crastina summae
tempora di superi?
Cuncta manus avidas fugient heredis, amico
quae dederis animo.
Cum semel occideris et de te splendida Minos
fecerit arbitria,
non, Torquate, genus, non te facundia, non te
restituet pietas;
Infernis neque enim tenebris Diana pudicum
liberat Hippolytum,
nec Lethaea valet Theseus abrumpere caro
vincula Pirithoo.

"Very good, Princess! Your Latin is getting better!" Father Cardoni clapped his hands and praised her. "Your pronunciation is getting better! Isn't it, Master Horatio?"

"Yes indeed! The princess is getting better and better with her studies! Most especially in her Latin!" Master Horatio replied.

"I humbly thank you, dear teachers." she bowed to them both. "But Master, I have a feeling that I still did not get it right...."

"No Princess. Everything was correct from the pronunciation, emotion, action and diction. But, you have to fix a bit of your English. We have to work on that tomorrow. Class is dismissed." Said Father Cardoni.

Chang-Ping bowed to her teachers in farewell and went straight to her next class, which is music and dance with The Royal Music Teacher And Master Musician Teacher Weng along with his co-teachers Madame Tsai as the Royal Dance Instructor and Master Zhao, the Head Singer of the palace. And as her Music, Singing and Dance class had ended, she went straight to her teacher on politics and war who was the Imperial Strategist Lord Liu, but he was not around at the moment, so she decided to go back to the Inner Palace to join the Empress and her sisters along with the concubines for needlework.

Chang-Ping, despite being a girl was lucky to be well-versed in almost all aspects of education. For there's a little risky secret, she sneaks out of the palace along with her maid Li-Hua and her little brother Zhong-Lang and Ah-Mao two times a day every week to teach the children about Confucian Ethics, Arts and Sciences and a little on dance and music and how to defend themselves. She was also being a good influence to her younger brother, the crown prince to be a better leader of the realm in the near future and at the same time to see the reality of life outside the palace as her teacher, Master Lin taught her when she was little, along with her childhood friend named Pang-Pang.