Half a love poem
Yi Shen left after Wu Qi fell asleep.
Outside the Wu Mansion, He Qi was waiting for him. After seeing Yi Shen, he said, "His Majesty also favors Wu Qi."
Upon hearing this, Yi Shen glanced at him, then looked back at the Wu Mansion, and asked in confusion, "How did you know that His Majesty is fond of Xiao Qi?"
"How do you even need to know?! His Majesty came today to please his father-in-law!!" He Qi was so anxious that he paced back and forth, feeling that Yi Shen was stubborn and uncooperative. Even after he had said all that, Yi Shen didn't seem nervous at all.
He said anxiously, "His Majesty can decide who to marry with a single word or an imperial decree. Do you dare to stop him? If you do, you'll die! What should we do now? Fight against overwhelming odds?"
"No," Yi Shen said.
"How do you know he wouldn't?! Wu Qi is so likable, you like her, I like her, how could His Majesty not like her?!"
Yi Shen replied, "It's not that I can't fall in love with her, it's that I'm not capable of falling in love with her."
He asked, puzzled, "Why?"
"Because we are from a prominent family." Seeing that He Qi was still worried, Yi Shen patiently said, "When His Majesty first sent a few of us to the Ci Zi Pavilion, rumors spread everywhere. Now His Majesty has sent us to the Yue Du Camp, which must be because he has stood up against the opinions of the court."
There was no need for Yi Shen to say the rest; He Ji could understand—for the sake of the stability of the country, His Majesty could no longer have any dealings with aristocratic families, and naturally, could not marry someone from an aristocratic family.
"Does not marrying mean you don't love her?" He Qi asked.
Yi Shen glanced at He Qi again. For some reason, even though Yi Shen's gaze was the same as usual, He Qi felt that his gaze was condemning him.
“Of course not,” Yi Shen said. “You’re not the only one in the world who loves her, nor are you the only one who wants to marry her. How do you know that she didn’t marry the one she loves?”
"You love him, yet you won't marry him, nor will you let anyone else marry him."
"That doesn't make sense."
It makes sense, considering how much effort others put into marrying the person they love.
When he sees the person he loves doing well, he feels sorry for himself, lamenting the injustice of fate and praising his own deep affection. When he sees the person he loves not doing well, he complains about why she didn't marry him earlier. He thinks that if she had married him, she wouldn't be in such a miserable state. But he overlooks one thing—if she had married him, she might have lived an even more miserable life.
He's just pretending to be affectionate.
He Qi didn't consider himself that kind of person. It was true that he loved Wu Qi, and he dared to swear to heaven that his feelings for her were genuine and sincere. But Yi Shen felt the same way, and even more so than he did...
It turns out that, compared to the Emperor, Yi Shen was the rival in love that he could not ignore.
Yi Shen said, "It's late, get some rest."
After speaking, Yi Shen nodded and walked past He Qi. He Qi stood still and said, "Do you think she'll always be happy with you?! Can you protect her and keep her as she is now?"
He spoke louder and louder until, in the end, it sounded like a shout.
Yi Shen stopped, turned around, and said calmly, "I will do my best."
He Qi suddenly felt that he was half a head shorter than Yi Shen, but Yi Shen did nothing. He neither mocked nor ridiculed him, nor did he plot against him. But for some reason, He Qi predicted that he would lose miserably.
“I will do my best; I don’t want to give up,” he said.
"I know."
After saying that, Yi Shen really left.
The next day, Wu Qi got up very early. She had slept well the night before and didn't know when Yi Shen had left.
The hairband and flowers are ready, and the clothes are ready too.
Looking at these things, Wu Qi suddenly remembered that he seemed to have placed a kiss on her cheek before he left.
As Wu Qi dressed, he muttered, "Why does he love kissing me so much! But didn't I say before that I would make it up to Yi Shen later? Oh well, I like him very much anyway."
After Wu Shanyun's birthday celebration, Wu Qi could put the matter aside for a while, but she still couldn't have any free time. On one hand, she had to go to Cizige to complete her studies, and on the other hand, she had to be scolded by her teacher from time to time. She also had to go to Yueduo Camp to research Liuge and ground armor.
Between the aerial iron wings and the ground-based iron armor, Wu Qi chose to start developing the ground-based iron armor first.
Everyone knows that Bei Kun is incredibly powerful, but this is not only due to the Liu Ge (a type of halberd), but also because Bei Kun can enter the sea, and water naturally possesses power. Combined with the wind, this propels Bei Kun forward.
The iron wings in the sky had no support, so they could only move forward with the wind. Wu Qi studied the messenger of Ci Zi Pavilion—the Purple Swallow Chick—and found that it did not need any support. It could soar in the sky by using the power of the Burning Flowing Halberd. However, the Purple Swallow Chick was small and could not carry people, nor could it be equipped with cannons like the Northern Kun to repel enemy troops.
This is not something that can be resolved overnight.
Therefore, Wu Qi decided to put aside the Iron Wings in the sky for now and instead focus all his energy on the Iron Armor on the ground.
Her idea was simple.
It can move, but not randomly; it can fire, but not indiscriminately.
These two points alone presented Wu Qi with a dilemma: how could she prevent the armored vehicles on the ground from moving erratically and firing indiscriminately? After much thought, she slammed her hand on the table, picked up a pen, and wrote a single word on a piece of paper—"human."
Only humans can control the armored vehicles on the ground.
If a person could control the movement of the armored vehicle and prevent it from firing indiscriminately, these problems would naturally be solved. However, a new problem arises: how can a person ensure their own safety while controlling the armored vehicle?
Wu Qi had an idea, so he casually drew a blueprint.
The drawing was neither perfect nor aesthetically pleasing. From a distance, it looked like an egg with four legs—no, an iron egg with four legs.
At this moment, Wu Qi still didn't know where the person should be inside the iron egg, or where the cannon should be inside the iron egg. She didn't even know how the person inside the iron egg should control it.
However, Wu Qi had already decided what to call this iron egg.
Lin Kuo held the drawing by Wu Qi, looking at it from left to right, then holding it up to examine it again, and said incredulously, "You mean, this...long-legged egg, it...it's called 'Paolin'?"
Wu Qi said confidently, "That's right, the 'Lin' in 'Qilin'!"
Does the four-legged Iron Egg bear any resemblance to the mythical beast Qilin? At present, it certainly doesn't.
Song Yinxing said, "I think it's a good idea."
"Hmm? Is that alright?" Lin Kuo held the blueprint, intending to let Song Yinxing take a closer look. However, when he turned around, he met Song Yinxing's icy gaze. With a slight tilt of his head, he could also sense that Yi Shen was looking at him.
He pretended to be thinking seriously, picked up the blueprint, examined it for a moment, and said, "Although it does not have the appearance of a divine beast, it can live up to the prestige of the divine beast Qilin."
Ning Xunxu interrupted, "Brother Lian Shi, that's enough, stop showing off your literary talent."
"You brat! Trying to sabotage me, huh!" Lin Kuo said.
"No." Ning Xunxu sat casually in his chair, sipping his tea, searching for an ally. "Wei Chong, what do you think of Lian Shi's writing skills?"
Yi Shen said, "This is a rare sight in the world."
Upon hearing this, Wu Qi and Ning Xunxu burst into laughter, and Song Yinxing couldn't help but chuckle as well. Only Lin Kuo's expression was not so pleasant. When they were young, they had studied together with their teacher, who asked them to write poems. Lin Kuo wrote on the paper: "The bright moon is big and round, my belly is hungry and flat. The breeze is cool and refreshing, and everyone is noisy and boisterous."
Putting aside the issues of parallelism and tonal patterns, what is the poem's underlying meaning?
No, of course not.
Ironically, Lin Kuo titled this poem "Four Agains".
The Master looked at the poem he had written and was stunned for a long time. Because the man was from a prominent family, he dared not say much. His face turned ashen as he said, "It is a rare sight in the world."
Now that Yi Shen had brought up his embarrassing childhood incident again, Lin Kuo retorted, not to be outdone, "I also have a copy of 'Young Master Yi's Etiquette Manual' here. Anyone want to read it?!"
"Me! Me! Me!!" Wu Qi raised his hand and said, "I want to see! I want to see what's written on page thirteen of this etiquette book!"
"What thirteen pages?" Lin Kuo asked.
"I heard that there are things that shouldn't be seen on page thirteen of the etiquette book. I want to see what those things are!" Wu Qi said.
Lin Kuo asked in bewilderment, "Are there things in the etiquette book that shouldn't be seen?"
Wu Qi said, "Yes, yes."
"Let me think... page thirteen..." Lin Kuo had not read "Young Master Yi's Etiquette Manual" in detail. He only bought a copy to join in the fun. He only flipped through and read it aloud in front of Yi Shen. Fortunately, he had a good memory and could remember about 80 or 90 percent of what he had read and what books he had flipped through.
A moment later, Lin Kuo slapped his forehead and said, "I remember now!"
Wu Qi and Ning Xunxu exclaimed in unison, "What is it? What is it?"
"Ahem, Weichong, pour me a cup of tea. I'll consider not telling them. Please don't ruin your reputation." Lin Kuo said to Yi Shen in a affected tone, "The tea shouldn't be too hot or too cold."
Song Yinxing slapped Lin Kuo.
Yi Shen made no move, but Wu Qi said, "Will it ruin Yi Shen's reputation? Then I won't listen."
Lin Kuo said with exasperation, "Little Qi, you've been completely bewitched by Weichong. You're completely infatuated with him, to the point of losing your mind."
Wu Qi readily admitted, "Yes."
He Qi didn't come today. The five of them grew up together and were always open with each other. Now, in the Moonfall Camp, they sat together and chatted familiarly.
"Do you still want to know?" Lin Kuo asked.
"I don't want to," Wu Qi replied.
Yi Shen pulled Wu Qi to sit down beside him, poured Wu Qi a cup of lukewarm tea, and said gently, "There's nothing I can't say, and it won't ruin my reputation."
"So, Brother Weichong, what exactly is on page thirteen of the etiquette book?" Ning Xunxu asked.
"It's half a love poem," Yi Shen said.
"Half a poem? Not finished?" Wu Qi asked.
"Um."
After hearing Lin Kuo say that it would ruin Yi Shen's reputation, Wu Qi lost interest in what was on page thirteen of the etiquette book. But now, hearing Yi Shen say that page thirteen contained half of a love poem he had written, his interest was rekindled.
Yi Shen naturally knew what she was thinking and said, "I have a book of etiquette in my room. If you want to know what's on page thirteen, go and take a look yourself."
Seeing this, Ning Xunxu said to Wu Qi, "I won't go. Sister Yaoling, please remember to let me know when you see it."
“Okay, sure, no problem,” Wu Qi said.
Wu Qizhen followed Yi Shen back to the Yi residence. She opened the door to Yi Shen's study, sat down and played Yi Shen's guqin for a while, and only got up to look for "The Etiquette Book of the Third Young Master Yi" when Yi Shen arrived.
Yi Shen's study contains a guqin (a seven-stringed zither), a table, a chair, a flower, a bed, a couch, and books on three walls. He never restricts himself to any particular type of book, and his collection is vast.
However, Wu Qi found the "Etiquette Book of Young Master Yi" without much effort.
"I've turned the page," Wu Qi said. "I'm really going to turn to page thirteen!"
“It can be turned over.” Yi Shen sat down and played the zither.
The melodious music soothed the listeners. Wu Qi, holding the etiquette book, sat opposite him, opened the book, and quickly flipped to page thirteen.
Just as Yi Shen said, it is only half a poem.
There are only two sentences.
Wu Qi looked at the two lines of poetry on the thirteenth page and read them aloud in response to the music: "I lean against the frost and snow, and glimpse the scene through the window."
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