Chapter 59 She was afraid he would be too arrogant, which was why she didn't tell him her love...
As dusk settled and the world fell silent, the two could only hear each other's soft breathing echoing the sound of the wind.
Apart from the other party, the world was shrouded in darkness and deathly silence.
"You brought a gourd but not a pipa, how strange!"
The two men took the wine jugs, filled two gourds, and the pungent aroma of the cloudy wine already filled their chests.
They suddenly fell silent, secretly laughing, with a comical feeling reminiscent of a young couple secretly pledging their lives to each other and drinking nuptial wine.
Changsun Qingjing playfully yet respectfully raised his wine cup and said, "I, Changsun Qingjing, toast to the one before me who is single-minded. The one who is single-minded is omnipotent and invincible. The one who is single-minded has finally achieved great things."
Then, she gently tapped the gourd held by Li Shimin with the gourd she was holding, and then drank it all in one gulp. She choked for a long time because the strong wine was too spicy.
"This wine wasn't filtered properly. Where did you find it?" Changsun Qingjing wiped the wine stains from his lips, his movements hurried. "It's so pungent it burns to the bone, like swallowing scorching coals!"
In a fit of rage, he wanted to throw the gourd to the ground like a hero in history, accomplishing a great feat. But Changsun Qingjing looked down at him disdainfully, so he pulled the gourd he was holding in mid-air back to his side.
The two looked at each other and smiled, their hearts in perfect harmony, each feeling as if they had re-examined the other.
“You’ve been in a bad mood, and it’s been a long time since you’ve smiled sincerely at anyone.” Changsun Qingjing put away the two gourds at his feet, rested his chin on his hand and his knee on his hand, and said with an innocent and unpretentious air, “Your smile makes even the twilight sky a little brighter…”
“You too.” As if in response to Changsun Qingjing’s sincere praise, he smiled and rested his chin on his hand, mimicking his wife’s manner, and asked, “How did you guess that I was lingering on these high platforms?”
Changsun Qingjing smiled contemptuously: "Dullhead, think about it carefully. Besides yourself, who else would run up to a high place to vent their anger when they are sad? You are allowed to go up the mountain to clear your mind, but others are not?"
"Is this what they call mutual attraction of qi and mutual summoning of qi?" Li Shimin poured another ladle of wine for the two of them. "Fortunately, Wang Wude is not here to spoil the fun today."
"I miss him very much." Changsun Qingjing took a sip of turbid wine. Her words greatly surprised Li Shimin.
"Why?" Li Shimin asked. "What is there to miss about this shameless dog?" His words were full of disdain and mockery, but his eyes were filled with longing as he gazed at the returning birds in the sky, his heart overflowing with the carefree days of flying eagles and hunting dogs in Chang'an.
Li Shimin asked in surprise, "Could two merchants possess the extraordinary abilities you claim to have?"
Changsun Qingjing remained silent, deciding not to mention Emperor Yang Guang, the instigator of the "Hellish Transformation" scroll at Mangshan in the past two days, in front of her husband for the time being. She also needed to find a way to persuade Li Shimin to return to his home in Jishanfang, Luoyang before the Lantern Festival.
If Yang Guang were to actually disguise himself as a white dragon and suddenly visit the Tang State Palace to test her, as the family members of the Duke, it would be a great disrespect and a pretext for her and Li Shimin to stay in the countryside instead of welcoming him at the mansion.
She took another sip of wine and, seeing that Li Shimin was also standing there blankly, asked him what his plans were.
“I’ve done the calculations again. Even if the private rent is split 30/70 between the landlord and the tenant, I’m still exploiting the tenants too much. What if they can’t pay the rent even if they go into debt, pawn their wives, or sell their children? They’ll destroy my estate, flee from the desolate fields, and hate me to the core. What have I gained then? Guanyinbi, do you remember how the land was allocated and rent collected in the early years of the Kaihuang era?”
Everything Li Shimin said seemed to be beyond the comprehension of a fourteen-year-old girl. Changsun Qingjing felt that the young man before her was eccentric and unpredictable, defying all reason. Her temples throbbed uncontrollably.
At this moment, two people who share the same unwavering principles begin to diverge in their pursuit of a solution to the immediate and thorny problem.
“I don’t know these things, but I can help you look them up. When we get back to the village or Jishanfang, try to find an older tax collector to ask. The chapters on millet and land tax in the Nine Chapters are probably about land tax. If you want to reduce the rent for the tenants, you might as well ask someone to talk to you about how to determine taxes in a year of disaster in Gao Jiong’s Tax Registration Standards.”
Changsun Qingjing assisted Xianyu in calculating the income from his uncle's official land, but he simply followed the steps without ever delving into the details.
Now she can only rack her brains to find some common ground.
"During the spring planting season, I want to go to the fields with the farmers on the estate, or dig irrigation ditches and repair villas together... I have to try it myself to know their hardships." Li Shimin was immersed in his own world. "Or I can check the granaries and arrange inspections. By the way, I will not carry five-zhu coins when I go out in the future. It will be more convenient to carry rice and millet when traveling in the countryside."
“That works…” Changsun Qingjing nodded, unwilling to thwart Li Shimin’s extraordinary idea. “I can also have a skillful woman teach me how to raise silkworms and reel silk.”
She vaguely realized that her naive and persistent husband was trying to create in the small corner of Beiman Mountain a paradise in his heart where "silkworms spin long threads in spring and the harvest yields no royal taxes in autumn," or even more ambitious ones like Emperor Shun's Mount Li, Yu the Great's Mount Yi, or Yi Yin's Youxin Wilderness.
From a rational perspective, she should have advised him to abandon these crazy and ridiculous ideas; but from an emotional perspective, all the wise rulers and virtuous ministers of ancient times were capable individuals who held firm to their beliefs.
Her personality seemed to be more tactful to Li Shimin, and a tactful and worldly person has no right to criticize a person who admires righteousness.
By this time, the sun had set halfway down the mountain, and crows were returning to their nests. The colors of the sunlight shifted unpredictably, painting the entire sky above Beiman Mountain with a compassionate celestial light, much like the giant Buddhist niches on the cliffs of Yique.
The soul-summoning banner on the withered locust tree by the stream, the corpses lying, leaning, or holding each other, are bathed in endless compassionate glazed flames, awaiting the ferry from the other shore...
Being able to sit facing the clouds and await one's destiny is perhaps a kind of good fortune.
The two finished their last ladle of Tu Mi wine. Changsun Qingjing stopped and looked down the mountain, recognizing a few scattered Li family servants and retainers still anxiously searching for them.
“They have been searching for you for two days, and for me for a long time.” She took off her veil and waved it down the slope. “A true gentleman cultivates himself with humility. What he dislikes in his superiors, he should not impose on his inferiors. Let us no longer make things difficult for these servants who have been working tirelessly for you and me, never closing their eyes or getting a break.”
“You’re right. If Father finds out we’re missing, he’ll not only be anxious and neglect state affairs, but he’ll also take his anger out on these people.” After saying this, Li Shimin jumped up from the ground and waved to the crowd below.
The servants and retinues who were searching for their young master at the foot of the mountain finally noticed the unusual activity on the mountaintop and turned to greet them.
Only then did the two on the mountain feel at ease tidying up their clothes, brushing off the dust from their bodies, and preparing to descend the mountain.
"Alright, let's go home!" Li Shimin stood up decisively and whistled.
The white-hoofed crow, which had been foraging in the distance, galloped back to its master. Unexpectedly, Li Shimin did not mount his horse, but instead patted the saddle and instructed his mount to go down the mountain and wait for its master.
He then took Changsun Qingjing's horse, turned around, and lifted her by the sides with both hands, gently placing the girl who had been searching for him for half a day, patiently listened to his extraordinary adventures, and built the Pure Land of Vidyaraja with him on the saddle.
“I really don’t need anyone to lead my horse or put it in the stirrups for me,” Changsun Qingjing said with a smile. “I’m very skilled at controlling the saddle when going downhill. If you don’t believe me, just let go of the reins and watch me.”
"I believe you." Li Shimin looked at his young wife, who was almost lying on the horse's back, and said earnestly, "But there is something I want to tell you, I'm afraid I'll forget it once we get down the mountain."
"What's so interesting?" the girl asked curiously, leaning forward and tilting her head.
One of them leaned forward, and the other tilted his head, standing very close together.
The wind-blown horse mane suddenly separated the two radiant faces. Li Shimin dodged to the side for a moment, then turned back to gaze at Changsun Qingjing, letting the unruly mane brush against his cheeks.
Changsun Qingjing sneezed, straightened up in the saddle, and leaned forward slightly. Her eyes were red, swollen, and sore.
"It must have been those tiny hairs and alfalfa fragments that got into his nose," she thought with a mixture of certainty and doubt. "He can be shy too?"
"I've always known," Changsun Qingjing replied with a deliberately mature tone. Her rosy fingertips silently brushed away the horsehair sticking to Li Shimin's face.
“I’m afraid you’ll forget again, so I’ll remind you from time to time.” Li Shimin turned around, resuming his usual dashing and elegant demeanor, and slowly rode down the mountain.
Changsun Qingjing was certain that he was secretly smiling with his eyes downcast.
Despite the boy's stubbornness, impulsiveness, pedantry, and eccentricity, possessing a childlike innocence that no amount of worldly sophistication could diminish, harboring unattainable dreams as vast as mountains and seas, and even not having the conventionally beautiful appearance she admired, she still loved him. She loved his lofty aspirations and his boundless ambitions.
But she deliberately didn't tell him at that moment.
The future is uncertain; the lofty are easily lost, and the pure are easily tainted.
She didn't want to see his arrogant and conceited behavior.
The author's note: Today's treat is just so-so.
A little less is more hopeful, isn't it?
In the next chapter, Changsun will start taking care of Erfeng.
When it comes to pleasing Guang Shen, Changsun has a professional apprentice. [Good]
If you follow the instructions and it's guaranteed to be successful, then it depends on whether someone cooperates.
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