Chapter 177 The Powerful Minister Returns to His Youth 31.

"...The Map of Pacifying the Rebellion?"

Afu was startled and looked down at the painting.

No, to be precise, it's a scroll painting.

This painting is slightly longer and unfolds slowly, and can be divided into three parts.

The first part depicts palace walls and green willows, with lush grass and birdsong. A child and a boy run along the lake shore, flying kites, their laughter and joy almost leaping off the page.

The second part depicts a boy and a young man. One is dressed in the robes of a prince, with a blue butterfly perched on his shoulder. The other has his wife and children by his side, their faces blurred. The two walk in opposite directions, unable to see the sky or the earth. Only the blood-red palace walls appear ever taller, boundless, and heavy.

In the third part, the palace walls seem to have collapsed, turning into a vast, blood-red lake. On the lake, dark clouds overlap, and instead of corpses, there are only sunken ships and smoke from battle.

As Qingdie moved through the crowd, she saw, in the distance, the man on the large ship who had fiercely drawn his sword, weeping blood as he committed suicide, shouting, "Tell Xuan Shu that it was Fourth Brother who wronged him." She also saw the Cenzhou Prince's Mansion, a scene of utter devastation, with tear stains on the wellhead.

Yu Shiqing slowly unfurled the scroll, his gaze, though not oppressive, fixed intently on Afu.

He would stop at the slightest sign of discomfort from Afu. Whatever he wanted to gain, it should not be at the expense of harming others.

However, whether to be happy or sad, Afu was moved by the emotions in the painting, sometimes showing a happy smile, sometimes surprised and depressed, and sometimes lowering his eyebrows and the corners of his mouth in displeasure, but he did not react to the stimulation at all.

This made Yu Shiqing, Ye Zangxing, and Princess Yong, who were also watching the scene, secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

“Afu is both meticulous and generous,” Princess Yong sighed, feeling both pity and sorrow.

"That's good," Ye Zangxing said in a low voice.

As the two were talking, in the flower hall, Afu had finished looking at the painting. She was silent for a moment, then raised her head.

"Did you draw this, sir?" she asked.

“Yes,” Yu Shiqing replied.

"When the master showed this painting to Afu, it meant... he guessed what Afu was like, and... the master is just like Afu, right?" The little girl asked without hesitation.

“That’s right,” Yu Shiqing replied.

The little girl is very intelligent, despite her young age.

When Afu heard Yu Shiqing's answer without hesitation, he was stunned for a moment. He first looked at the mute old woman, then at the servants guarding the entrance of the flower hall, and finally turned his gaze to the distance.

She also saw Ye Zangxing and Princess Yong.

"Sir... you shouldn't have come to see Ah Fu. You'll be mistaken for a monster and beaten to death..." the little girl said softly, her delicate brows furrowed.

Yu Shiqing smiled and said, "Afu's concerns are not unfounded."

He followed her gaze, turning it towards the pavilion. Ye Zangxing and Princess Yong weren't looking in their direction; they were drinking tea and chatting. At this distance, they couldn't hear each other's conversation, but how could they not know what was happening here?

"Before, you thought that you had lived to your forties or fifties and had experienced life and death, so there was nothing to be afraid of. But... in fact, you were always afraid and worried, so you found all sorts of reasons to shut your mouth."

Yu Shiqing's voice was also very soft, "But do you know, Afu? We are all very lucky people. There are people who will believe in us, tolerate us, and love us without any conditions attached."

"Simply because we are who we are."

Afu was taken aback.

Yu Shiqing looked at her, at those clear yet bewildered eyes, like the long autumn sky of Huai'an. "Past lives and present lives, reality and illusion, perhaps the only thing trapped is ourselves. Afu, don't think about anything, don't look at anything, just ask yourself, what do you really care about right now?"

This question is neither profound nor difficult for a three-year-old. Some people would answer their parents, some would answer their grandparents, and some would answer the neighbor's dog, the flowers and plants on the wall, or a new friend they met on the street.

But for Afu, who had been reborn once, it was different.

She slightly widened her round eyes, but did not answer immediately.

Yu Shiqing, having been a teacher to many, did not press the matter upon seeing this, but simply smiled and let his sleeves brush against the painting table and the fragrance of flowers.

"I've heard that the young princess loves flowers, plants, poetry, and painting. Does she know the great poet Ruan Qiong from the previous dynasty?" he asked.

Afu didn't understand, but nodded: "I've heard his story."

Yu Shiqing smiled and said, "Ruan Qiong has many stories, experiences, and has done many things, but his only love in life is poetry and painting. In the path of poetry and painting, he has been moved by gold and silver, laughed at the praise that came his way, and grieved by the framing, attacks, and all kinds of hardships, becoming depressed and confused."

"One day, he went out and walked along the riverbank. He watched the river flow by, never stopping day and night. Suddenly, he was filled with emotion and became stunned. Then he asked himself, 'Why do I strive so hard in the pursuit of poetry and painting?'"

"For gold and silver?"

"Of course. How can a person live without the support of gold and silver? But if he only cared about gold and silver, would he have made it this far, or would he be in such a miserable state?"

"For fame, for praise?"

"It seems so. But now, all of that is gone, yet he's still writing poetry and painting. What is it for now?"

Yu Shiqing asked gently, "Afu, you've heard Ruan Qiong's story. What do you think his motive was?"

Afu was captivated by Yu Shiqing's gentle guidance and answered without hesitation, "Of course, it's because he likes to write poetry and paint!"

“That’s right,” Yu Shiqing said. “Writing poetry and painting have brought him a lot, and he cares about those things, but what he should really care about is not those things, but poetry and painting themselves. He can be troubled by other things, but he shouldn’t get too caught up in them, because what he truly cares about has never abandoned him; they are his support.”

"His current actions, abandoning them for the sake of Yu Yu, are truly putting the cart before the horse. He is letting himself down and letting them down."

Yu Shiqing and the little girl gazed at each other quietly.

One pair of eyes was bright and clear, the other deep and contemplative. They were both half-dead souls who, for reasons unknown, failed to cross the Bridge of Helplessness and drink the Meng Po soup, and both were newborns striving to break free from the net of oblivion.

“Afu,” Yu Shiqing said, “what do you really care about?”

Afu remained silent for a long time. When she finally opened her mouth, large tears rolled down her cheeks seemingly unconsciously: "I don't want to... lose my mother, my father, my brother..."

“I don’t want to lose you either, my little royal uncle.” Yu Shiqing sighed, took out the handkerchief that Princess Yong had prepared earlier, and handed it to the mute old woman.

“We are afraid because we really care, and because no matter how much we believe in them, we are still like all ordinary people, unconsciously harboring a trace of doubt and not truly believing,” he said. “It’s no one’s fault, it just takes a little courage.”

“…Courage?” Afu choked up.

"I believe that among the millions of people in this world, the only one they truly care about is you," Yu Shiqing said.

"Sir...do you have that kind of courage?" Afu asked.

“I always thought I didn’t have it, but at some point last night, I suddenly realized that I actually did have it all along,” Yu Shiqing smiled. “Although I have a vague idea of ​​the secret that your little uncle has not yet revealed, whether I have guessed it or not, whether it is true or not, at that moment, I should have told him everything he wants to know.”

Afu seemed to understand but wasn't quite sure, but she was very curious. Her tears gradually stopped, as is typical of children, their emotions fluctuating like the wind and rain. "Then... who gave you courage, sir?"

“Myself, and your little royal uncle whom I care about,” Yu Shiqing replied.

"Little Imperial Uncle..." Afu said, "Sir, Afu has always wanted to ask, why, sir..."

She paused, as if racking her brains for words, "Hmm...why does the master have to be the young imperial uncle? Can't Father do it? What about Afu? What about Brother?"

Yu Shiqing wanted to laugh, and he did. Then he said with a smile, "Afu, the teacher just told you the story of the great poet Ruan. Now, let me tell you his own story."

"Okay!" The little girl's eyes, as if washed by rain, lit up again. What child could resist a story? Especially a story about someone she was curious about and admired.

"This story takes place in the northern desert."

Yu Shiqing pondered for a moment before slowly speaking.

As if some invisible thread in the world had truly entangled someone, Ye Cangxing subconsciously turned his head and glanced into the flower hall from inside the pavilion.

Yu Shiqing, oblivious to the danger, spoke in a calm yet deep voice: "It was winter then, just like now. But winter in the northern deserts is very different from that in Huai'an and the capital. When the northern barbarians came to plunder, we could only fight them; we couldn't pursue them. But how can one live without unexpected events?"

"In that one accident, when your little imperial uncle and I were fighting, we were lured into a trap by a Northern barbarian army while trying to save a group of elderly, weak, women and children. Just then, the weather in the northern desert suddenly changed, and the wind and snow sealed everything off. We got separated from our men, lost our way, and wandered deeper and deeper into the icy plains of the northern desert."

"Water and food are limited, and I'm injured. Although it's not serious, it's extremely difficult to endure in that situation. I think I won't be able to hold on for more than two or three days..."

"Danzhi, Danzhi! Wake up, Danzhi, you can't sleep!"

In the blizzard, the path ahead and behind was completely invisible. The two men, their faces and clothes covered in white, looked almost like two snowmen. No one doubted that if they stopped, they would simply vanish into the snow-covered plain, indistinguishable from any other stone or withered blade of grass in the snow.

"Danzhi, wake up, don't sleep. I'll finish digging soon. It'll be warm once we get into the snow channel. I also have some wine here..." Ye Cangxing shook Yu Shiqing and called out to him loudly, trying to warm him with his own body heat, while using his short knife to continuously chisel at the ice and disturb the earth, trying to dig a horizontal hole on the low slope.

Yu Shiqing knew he absolutely could not sleep, nor could he die. He struggled to respond to Ye Zangxing, clinging tightly to his last shred of consciousness, and gripping Ye Zangxing's waist.

But often, human will can work miracles, and it can not.

Amidst the chaotic sounds of wind and snow, Yu Shiqing unknowingly lost consciousness.

In the moment before losing consciousness, he desperately gripped Ye Zangxing's hand and uttered what he thought was a desperate cry, but which was probably just an extremely weak one: "After I die, my flesh and blood will still be warm... Your Highness, eat me and live on... This is not a sin, it is... my wish."

Amidst the vast snowstorm, all things perish.

“I don’t know how long I was unconscious, or… how long I was dead,” Yu Shiqing said. “I only know that when I woke up and came back to life, the snowstorm had stopped.”

"I was in a very dilapidated tent, being watched by a child of mixed Northern and Han descent. The child could speak the Central Plains language, and when he saw me wake up, he shouted loudly for his father and mother."

A couple quickly entered the tent. I didn't have time to thank them; I just asked, "Where is the person who was with me? Where is the person who was with me?" "He's not in the tent!"

“I must have looked a bit disheveled, like a madman. The couple seemed frightened by me, and they stopped me, telling me not to rush and that they would take me to him. I was helped out of the tent, and in a mud hut nearby, I saw your little royal uncle…”

Yu Shiqing paused, as if Afu had silently choked up a sore throat when he cried.

"It was quite hot there, and he... his whole body was blue, or... black? He was soaking in lukewarm water... The barefoot doctor in that small village said his frostbite was so severe that his hands and feet might be useless, or he might not wake up at all..."

“I was very angry. I said, how could that be? I'm still alive, I haven't died. Then the couple told me that when they found us, I was wearing a lot of clothes, cotton-padded clothes, fur coats... I was wrapped up like a bear, but your little royal uncle was only wearing two layers of thin clothes.”

“He must have tried many ways to keep you warm, but he couldn’t find any, so he chose this one,” the couple said. “Don’t blame yourself; he wanted you to live.”

"Is he your most loyal servant or your closest relative?" the child next to him asked.

"No, none of those are..."

Yu Shiqing answered in a daze.

He is my sovereign, my friend, and my crown prince.

Regardless of the principles of heaven and earth, or the social norms, it is I who should die for him, not the other way around.

But what if we abandon the principles of heaven and earth, and the social norms of the world?

Afu didn't quite understand, but she was still shocked by something she couldn't quite figure out, and stared blankly at Yu Shiqing.

Yu Shiqing's lips moved, his voice like a gust of wind: "Later, many people asked me if my unwavering loyalty to you, my little imperial uncle, was due to the repeated life-saving graces I had received."

“I said no because I suddenly realized that although he has a lot, he can give up everything, but he can’t let go of me.”

Author's Note:

I have something to do in real life tomorrow. If there is no update by 6 PM, I will be taking leave. The announcement will be updated in time. Thank you.