Chapter 54t Walnut, you must like me to have copied my handwriting! ...
The joys and sorrows of Luoyang had little to do with the Tang government.
Outside the gate, the heavens seemed to have fallen to earth, golden palaces reflected the sun, jade steps shone brightly, brocade sails were billowing high, and songs and dances filled the air. Inside the gate, however, mirrors were covered in dust, and the place was deserted.
Li Shimin felt that his father had been possessed after returning from the Ministry of Personnel. At this moment, he was more like the most uncouth farmer, sitting cross-legged on the steps of the central courtyard corridor, holding a pot of wine, staring blankly at the two plum trees.
"Come, have a drink with your father," Li Yuan said to his son expressionlessly.
Li Shimin approached his father and sat down next to him in the same uncouth manner.
Why is it Xue Daoheng again? This immortal skeleton has gotten me into so much trouble!
Li Yuan raised an eyebrow and made a witty face, then sneered in a very unserious manner: "Hurry up and drink, let's not mention the Emperor tonight!"
"Sour...sour and bitter..." Li Shimin choked on this unfamiliar folk wine, his eyes watering and coughing repeatedly.
Li Yuan patted his son on the back and asked, "Do you know who my predecessor as Right Valiant Guard General was?"
Li Shimin was filled with suspicion, thinking that his father must be drunk.
"Isn't she Guanyinbi's father?" This girl, like Xue Daoheng, troubled him, and he didn't want to think about her tonight.
But his father insisted on bringing up these two people who had displeased him!
"Foolish fool! Guanyinbi's father has been dead for so many years! He was clearly Li Hun, the Duke of Cheng, and his nephew was Li Min, the son-in-law of Princess Leping, whose childhood name was Hong'er. His name and surname are both recorded in the imperial register. Now he's inexplicably implicated in a treason case; he's doomed, and in a most undignified way, among the three obediences." Li Yuan sneered. "I, the successor, also have the surname Li, and my name contains the water element. How can I prove my innocence?"
He struggled to his feet, his legs stiff and numb. He swayed and pointed at the two plum trees in the courtyard that he and his wife had planted together: "Tell me, which of the two plum trees in the courtyard is loyal, and which is treacherous? And the wine in our hands, which cup is loyal, and which is wicked?"
Li Shimin was speechless and naturally unable to answer. Looking at his father, who was pale and listless, he could only silently miss his mother, who was as gentle and strong as his father.
A mother is always omnipotent. When a father is reckless, a mother is water; when a father is cowardly, a mother is fire.
When water and fire complement each other, great achievements are made; when yin and yang support each other, all things are born.
A mother is never just a simple symbol; she is the whole world.
“If only your mother were still here.” Li Yuan poured himself another cup of mulberry wine, drank it all in one gulp, and sighed deeply. “She not only had a way to help me obtain an official position, but also a way to clear my name of suspicion. I regret not listening to her advice sooner and offering all my fine horses and hounds to the Emperor, thus saving me from countless detours; I am even more heartbroken that I no longer have a virtuous wife by my side.”
After swallowing the bitter wine, the helpless Duke of Tang was already in tears: "If she were here right now, she would surely come up with some clever words to comfort me, distinguishing between the loyal and treacherous in plum trees and wine. If she were still alive, and came up with any idea to flatter the emperor and save my family, I would do it without hesitation, and I would never go against her wishes again..."
The father and son fell silent for a long time, unsure how to support each other on this new journey.
He shouldn't have taken his anger out on Changsun Qingjing. After she stormed off, he found her silk handkerchief wrapped in the corner of an old screen, and realized that this girl cherished everything he cherished, and was also pushing him forward with all her might.
He was filled with regret and didn't know how to make amends.
Li Shimin originally wanted to ask A Cai, who was secretly talking to Guo Niang, whether Lady Changsun was used to living there, whether the old residence was cold, and whether she was still full of displeasure.
Because he was dejected and resentful, he angered his upright, independent, and filial wife, and now he has no one willing to comfort him!
The clouds in the west burned like the brightly lit coral lanterns of Tongyuan City at night, grand yet desperate, and were eventually swallowed up by the flood of night.
...
When Changsun Qingjing returned to Luoyang from Yique, it was already past noon. Guoniang had not yet returned from Fengdu City, which made Qingjing somewhat worried about whether she could handle the matter entrusted to her properly.
Pushing open the door, a languid figure came into view: "Peace and safety, Guanyinbi!" The person who came was none other than Li Shimin, with whom she had had a rather unpleasant argument yesterday.
His expression was half ingratiating and half arrogant, extremely strange, which made Changsun Qingjing even more unhappy.
"Oh no! Something's wrong!" She couldn't be bothered to coax him, especially when she saw Li Shimin looking through the collection of poems and essays she had copied last night. She was utterly disgusted by his trespassing.
"Who gave you permission to touch my manuscript?" Changsun Qingjing reached out, preparing to snatch back the fragmented paper.
Unexpectedly, Li Shimin jumped up before her, holding a stack of papers high in a mischievous and joyful manner.
The commotion caused by the two birds startled the parrot, which flapped incessantly on its perch and cried out, "Cuo Da! Cuo Da! Foolish! Foolish!"
"Hey, who are you cursing at so fiercely? Who taught you to do that?" Li Shimin raised his eyebrows and asked the parrot that was mimicking him in a serious tone.
"Why are you arguing with a bird? What brings you here, young master?" Changsun Qingjing asked irritably.
"Is it windy at Yique? Are the people worshipping Buddha shoulder to shoulder? How is it different from when you were a child?" Li Shimin started making conversation. "How about I accompany you next time?"
Changsun Qingjing frowned as he looked at him, thinking to himself, "Is this supposed to be a peace talk? What kind of veiled and sarcastic tone is this!"
"It's too windy, and there are more people than Buddha statues. As for the next time to worship, we'll wait until the weather gets warmer," she replied irritably.
Seeing that the atmosphere between the two was not right, A-Cai, who had been following closely behind Changsun Qingjing, sent her maid to remove the parrot's perch and move the talkative beast to another place for the time being.
She then sent the Li family's maids to the outer room and personally removed the veil and jacket from Changsun Qingjing.
A Cai's face lit up with joy. While adding charcoal to the drying jar, she frantically tried to wink at Changsun Qingjing.
"Calm down, don't take it so seriously." Li Shimin waved the stack of mulberry paper in his hand. "I've discovered something extraordinary!"
The parrot, having been moved out of the house, seemed to be greatly frightened, and instinctively blurted out all the new words it had recently learned: "Stupid! Dull thing! Foolish! Stupid!"
"Shut up." The alert maid lashed the beak of the talkative bird with her shawl, which only provoked it to panic and resist even more, making it cry and jump even more violently and erratically.
Everyone present was so disturbed by the sharp, explosive sound that their heads throbbed with pain.
"You parrot are quite talented; you've even learned to find ways to humiliate people." Li Shimin sat leisurely cross-legged. "Guanyinbi, how does the new residence compare to Daxing?"
“I have kept in mind your instructions yesterday, young master, how dare I act presumptuously? I would not dare to change the furnishings in your room in the slightest. Young master, can you understand my painstaking efforts, like walking on thin ice and facing a deep valley?” Changsun Qingjing said sarcastically.
"Oh, anger harms the liver, calm down!" Li Shimin said somewhat helplessly. "Just do as you please. Who can take away your power as regent?"
"Give me back the paper!" Changsun Qingjing stood up abruptly, attempting to snatch it.
“Hmm. Your Majesty’s poems are indeed quite worth reading. It’s not surprising that I remember a few!” Changsun Qingjing imitated Li Shimin’s unruly sitting posture and sat provocatively in front of him. “My good memory comes from my father. It’s impossible to erase it from my mind.”
Changsun Qingjing knew that Li Shimin disliked Yang Guang and even all acts of deliberately currying favor with the emperor. However, his tone did not show any disgust for flattery; instead, it carried a strange smile: "Guanyinbi, no, virtuous wife, you are indeed unrestrained in your thoughts and unconventional in your ways. Is this to make me trust His Majesty?"
This cheesy confession made Changsun Qingjing involuntarily sneeze. The gods and Buddhas of Yique were indeed efficacious, but they had gone too far, to the point of excess.
The sudden and sudden change in his mind caught Changsun Qingjing, who had just recovered from the bumpy ride, completely off guard.
"Arrogant and boastful, shameless and shameless!" Changsun Qingjing stared at the floor, avoiding the eager gaze awaiting a response, and retorted haphazardly, "Nonsense! We both practiced calligraphy by copying Wang Xizhi's style, so it's perfectly normal for our writing to look somewhat similar. What's so surprising about that?"
Her delicate face held a hint of reproach, her cheeks flushed, possessing a luster like vermilion tinged with jade. She had lingered long at Yique this morning, the scent of incense and lake water still lingering in her hair.
Coupled with his eloquent and persuasive speech, his demeanor was even more dashing and charming. Li Shimin was captivated by this vibrant, untamed energy, feeling his spirits soar and his emotions surge.
"Hey, get down from the main seat and give me back my paper and pen!" Changsun Qingjing urged.
The bright and lively girl in front of me is like a peach blossom in a spring garden shining brightly in the sun, or a lotus bud in a summer marsh trembling in the wind.
Now, her angry and contrite demeanor is like a walnut shell, the harder it is, the more one wants to peel it away and peek inside.
"You're trying so hard to imitate me!" The boy didn't know how to suppress his surging emotions, so he started to use inappropriate jokes to cover up the torrent of emotions in his heart.
"Look at the hook you drew. I usually write it differently from Wang Xizhi. Although you've tried to imitate it repeatedly, you can't match my free and unrestrained style. And you still say you haven't learned from me?" He had a smug look on his face, as if he had caught Changsun Qingjing red-handed, but he didn't expect the girl who had seen through his thoughts to become angry and embarrassed, and she reached for the pellets on the table.
“A gentleman uses words, not fists.” Li Shimin grabbed a slingshot and pellets, threw them into the distance, and said, “I understand what you’re thinking. How about I teach you to write!” He still held onto the paper in one hand, while teasing the girl who wasn’t very willing to talk to him with the other.
Changsun Qingjing sneered, grabbed a fire hook from the side of the drying jar, and swiftly drew it like a sword into a wheel, leaving a trailing shadow like a shooting star.
"Okay! I'll teach you how to write a hook!"
The elm wood had cracked open, but the walnut shell remained hard and indestructible.
Author's Note: Erfeng's Regret, Apology, and Mysterious Confidence
Don't girls have any pride?
You deserved to get hit with the fire poker! [666]
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