He looked at her curiously, knowing that Zhang Zai was getting married soon. So he patted her on the shoulder and asked in a low voice, "I've never seen you drunk before. Why don't you stay at your own banquet and come here to get drunk?"
"I don't know whether I was sober or drunk before," Zhang Zai seemed to be very drunk, with his eyes closed and his head resting on the table. He did not forget to add the second half of the sentence before snoring, "--I will not be drunk in the future."
Han Yanzhi stared at him for a long while, then slowly stopped smiling and said nothing.
This was just a trivial matter, and Han Yanzhi didn't think of it again until more than ten years later. When this scene appeared in his mind, even he was surprised. He didn't expect it to be so profound, as if it was still in front of him.
When I think of it, it was one of those rare times when Yiyou was upset.
——It wasn't really a quarrel, but as soon as the words came out, Yiyou's expression visibly darkened, as if he didn't quite agree with Xi Niang's marriage to Zhang Zai's son. But he didn't tell him the reason, just asked him: "Did Zhang Jingfu agree too?"
"Um."
It wasn't that Yiyou didn't notice the scene on the Lantern Festival. She even pointed it out to Han Yanzhi. After a long time, her expression relaxed, she sighed half-missively, and said softly, "It's best if Xi Niang likes it."
That scene suddenly came to my mind, but there was more than just that scene.
Han Yanzhi suddenly recalled the discussion of so-called moral behavior and the discussion of deeds and hearts in the Imperial College. He forgot what he said at the time, nor what Zhang Zai said. He only remembered that Yiyou's eyes passed from him to Zhang Zai, leaving a cut like a knife. What she said was: "Talk about deeds, not hearts. When it comes to deeds, I have nothing to hide from others."
Han Yanzhi also remembered that Yiyou rarely wrote poems, saying that he lacked such talent. Later, he rarely discussed poems, and only talked about them when he was instructing children. Once when he was telling Xi Niang about "Jing Nu", he was very disdainful of "because you and your wife have no morals, so Chen Jing Nu left me the method of red tube", but he readily agreed with Xi Niang's statement of "narrating emotions".
Han Yanzhi casually mentioned her words to Zhang Zai, thinking that he would refute her, but Zhang Zai remained silent for a long time, and then slowly said that leaving things to others is inherently obscure and difficult to understand.
Han Yanzhi laughed and joked that the manuscript that Zhang Zai gave to Yiyou was still at home. Recently, Yiyou had been teaching his children and often took out the yellowed manuscript to use. He had seen it more than once, so it could be considered as leaving something for someone else.
Zhang Zai also laughed. Han Yanzhi did not look at him carefully at that time, but now that he thought about it carefully, the smile in his eyes was not much different from that of Yiyou who happily agreed with him.
Yiyousan
After the news of Zhang Zai and Yuwen's engagement came, it was the first month of the lunar calendar in a few days. As the end of the year approached, everyone was busy. Yiyou rarely stayed in the palace and did not go out. Empress Pan was actually a little uncomfortable for a while.
The next time I saw Zhang Zai was on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the lights in the flower market were as bright as day, and the fish and dragons danced all night. Normally, Yiyou had to accompany her father, but on this day, she made a rare request to her father. After being bored for a while, she wanted to go to the lantern market.
Dad agreed and stood on the upper floor, looking out from afar as his daughter and her friends blended into the crowd of people laughing and talking.
Yiyou didn't have many shifts to lead, but it was impossible not to lead one. A group of people wearing hats and gorgeous clothes, when they met officials they knew, they would smile and greet them, and when they met ordinary people, they would just treat them as the ladies of a wealthy family who were usually surrounded by people. She stood on the top floor and looked down at the capital. She was used to seeing the flowing light bands, but when she was in the bustling crowd, she saw the colorful lanterns that were magnified and competed with each other, and her eyes were full of the world.
Yiyou should have missed Zhang Zai.
But the lanterns beside were too big and too bright, casting shadows on people, and Yiyou only caught a fleeting figure with her peripheral vision. She turned around suddenly, and wanted to call for help but was afraid that she couldn't hear him, so she had to rush to squeeze through the crowd and chase after him, barely grabbing a corner of the person's sleeve.
There was a space between the two huge lanterns, and the person she was looking for was standing in the shadow of the gap.
Yiyou let go of his hand, stared at the number of people in amazement, and said, "Congratulations."
What were they congratulating? A happy event? New Year? Yiyou himself hadn't even thought about what he was congratulating, but he heard someone say, "Congratulations, Princess."
...What are you happy about?
Yiyou didn't ask, and she didn't know what to say for a while. After a while, she asked again: "When are you getting married?"
"…Around March."
March, I heard there are peach blossoms in Zhang Xiang's mansion, so I think they will be in bloom by then. The peach blossoms are young and bright, and the son is getting married, which is a good time for his family.
very nice.
Yiyou couldn't say "good" because she had never seen the peach blossoms that only existed in words. She looked up at the tower where her father was standing, but couldn't see clearly. She looked around and behind her, and the guards who were guarding the princess were dim under the lights. She wanted to hug her lover who had caused her a stormy storm as she had imagined countless times, and she also wanted to just recite "Spring Banquet" to him during the Spring Festival, but in the end she did nothing and just bowed.
Yiyou turned around and finally left the dimly lit area.
————THE END————
Private note:
1. Yiyou's daughter's nickname is Xi Niang, which is taken from "The fifteen-year-old beauty calls Xi Niang, with her moths slanting in her hair." There is also a poem in the Song Dynasty. This is probably the name used by the Liao people for beautiful women.
2. According to the research of the big guys, in history, Han Shizhong's eldest son was suspected to be "Han Liang", but in the article, Han Shizhong specifically asked the Duck Emperor to name him, and he suspected that the Duck Emperor would not choose such a name, so he chose Han Yanzhi as Yiyou's consort. According to the article and history, Zhang Zai and Han Yanzhi were both younger than Yiyou. Therefore, Yiyou in this article likes sister-brother relationships.
3. Both Zhang and Han families have houses in Jingyuan. It is estimated that no matter how the capital is moved, both families must have properties in the first ring of the capital. Han Yanzhi and Zhang Zai are both famous "cute kids" in history, so they are arranged here as classmates and old friends of the Imperial College. Then Zhang Zai's official career is so-so, but he is a great sage of Neo-Confucianism, and here he is a great sage of the original school. Han Yanzhi is both civil and military, so it will not be changed here.
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