130 Chapter 130
◎ Selfishness. ◎
There are many foreign objects in the palace, and all of them are exquisite, but those outside the palace are more interesting. The picky emperor even took a fancy to several small ornaments.
Liu Ju bought two shell necklaces to take back to the palace for his two sisters. Liu Che reminded him, "One is missing. I must tell your eldest sister that you forgot her."
Liu Ju laughed and said, "Aunt, how could you be so eager for us siblings to quarrel?"
Liu Che smiled and said, "I'm hoping for your best, you heartless boy. I'm reminding you that it's no better than your sister finding out."
"I'll prepare something else for my sister." Liu Ju tiptoed forward, "I just saw that. She's sure to like it."
Liu Che looked in the direction his finger pointed and saw a snow-white... raccoon?
Liu Che said, "A living thing? Han'er is still young. It's not good for your sister to keep such a thing at home."
Liu Ju laughed and said, "Aunt, you don't know this, don't you? Small animals are very intelligent. As long as they are well tamed, they will not harm children."
"Besides, white ones are rare, right?" As they spoke, they had already walked up to the white cat in the cage.
The cat's owner is a foreigner and doesn't speak Chinese fluently, but he has a translator with him. Although this person is not Chinese, he speaks Chinese without much of an accent.
Liu Ju had never studied cat species, but he knew that a cat with white eyes must not be native to Han Dynasty. It must have been brought to Chang'an by this foreigner from afar.
After some explanation from the translator, they realized that this foreign businessman was not a cat seller. It was just that the cat he brought with him had given birth to several kittens. He had to return to transport porcelain, silk and other items, and could not bring so many cats, so he thought that selling a few kittens could make more profit.
This white cat is the last one and has not been sold yet. It is not because there is anything wrong with the cat, but in traditional culture of this era, white is no longer auspicious. In addition, the cat has heterochromia, so this beautiful kitten is inevitably disliked.
Liu Che nodded in agreement and said, "White is not good."
"Grandfather, we're just... concerned about others' needs. Let's buy it so this gentleman can return home soon." Liu Ju said with a smile, "Since white is unlucky, I won't give it to you. I'll pick out another one. I'll take this one home and raise it. With Grandfather's protection, even the most unlucky ones will become more auspicious."
Liu Ju only thought that this cat would be very popular in modern aesthetics, but he forgot that white has been considered an unfavorable color since the Han Dynasty.
Liu Che was very pleased with his son's coaxing. After all, it was just a small creature, so he bought it. He immediately waved his hand and asked someone to pay.
The foreign businessmen were also very happy to see that the deal was done.
As he left with the cat in his arms, Liu Ju said with a smile, "Aunt, this is called helping others achieve their goals, isn't it?"
Liu Che said, "Don't hold it. You don't know if it's clean or not."
The attendants hurriedly took the kitten from the prince's arms. The kitten was probably scared, and even its cries were very small.
Liu Ju leaned over to take a look and said, "Aunt, maybe we should find someone to take a look at it."
Liu Che said, "I need to find someone to take a look at it for you first."
"Ah?" Liu Ju asked curiously, "Me?"
Liu Che ordered someone to find a guest house for the prince to take a bath and change into clean clothes. Liu Ju did not expect that his father would react so strongly just because he held the cat.
Although Liu Ju didn't think there were any bugs or lice, he felt a little uncomfortable psychologically after his father's big action, so he obediently went to take a shower.
It was time for dinner, so Liu Che ordered people to go outside and ask where there were some good and clean dishes nearby, and buy some.
So, when Liu Ju came out of the shower, there were already several plates on the table. Judging from the situation, there must be more to come.
After dinner, the father and son strolled around for a while and then went to Princess Liu Yuan’s mansion to put down the gifts for her and take the opportunity to see Xiao Han’er.
The child is not even one year old yet and has not started to learn to walk, but he has already started to learn to speak, although only a few words.
Liu Yuan smiled and said, "My aunt said that his grandfather used to talk before he could walk. Han'er looks like me, but deep down, he is like his grandfather!"
"It's great to be like his grandfather." Liu Ju laughed, "People say nephews look like their uncles. Han'er looks like his grandfather, just like our grandfather looks like his grandfather!"
Liu Che was surprised and asked, "Is there such a saying that a nephew resembles his uncle?"
Cao Xiang had obviously never heard of this statement. Upon hearing the prince's words, he subconsciously looked towards his uncle. Unexpectedly, he made eye contact with the emperor, which was disrespectful. He was about to bow his head when he heard the emperor say, "Let me take a look."
Cao Xiang had no choice but to let the Emperor stare at his face carefully. After a while, the Emperor nodded solemnly and said, "Yes, it is a bit similar."
"Really?" Liu Ju was trying to improve his nephew's favorability. "When Han'er grows up, he'll definitely look like Grandpa. He's Grandpa's first grandchild!"
Liu Che was very pleased to hear this. He asked Liu Yuan to hold the child to him and pinched his chubby little face. The child was not shy. Although it was the first time he was held by his grandfather, he did not cry. He just looked at him curiously and even reached out to grab the emperor's beard.
Liu Yuan quickly grabbed his son's hand and said with a smile, "You little brat, you may not be that old, but you're quite brave."
Liu Che was not angry, but laughed and said: "You must have this kind of energy. I have a good eye. This kid looks like me!"
Liu Ju raised his chin proudly, and when the emperor didn't notice, Liu Yuan touched the face of his younger brother, the prince.
They had spent too much time in the princess's mansion, and seeing that it was too late to go out for a walk, the father and son simply set off to return to the palace.
Liu Yuan and Cao Xiang escorted them to the carriage. Liu Ju suddenly remembered something, stood up, and turned around and said, "Sister, you often bring Han'er to visit my father and mother!"
Liu Yuan nodded and smiled, "I understand. Please sit down!"
Liu Che pushed the man down, tapped his head, and said with a smile: "Little kids, you have a lot to worry about."
Liu Ju chuckled twice: "Aunt, it's nice to go out and play, right? We should go out and play again in the future, okay?"
"Okay, okay." Liu Che said contradictory, "But don't always pester Aung. You are so old, can't you go out and play by yourself?"
"Oh." Liu Ju blinked and smiled, "Then I'll ask my cousin and uncle to play with me."
"Hey!" Liu Che nodded at him and said with a smile, "You really know how to find people. The other two are even more busy."
After hearing this, Liu Ju said, "My uncle and cousin are too busy. I will go see them tomorrow, old man..."
Liu Che said with a smile: "Go ahead, but don't make any noise."
Liu Ju said seriously, "Aunt, I'm not a child. I know my limits."
"All right, all right." His Majesty the Emperor rubbed the Crown Prince's head and said with a perfunctory and doting smile, "The Crown Prince knows his limits best."
…
After Wei Qing and Huo Qubing became the Grand Marshals, they had more matters to take charge of. In addition to military affairs, they also had to get involved in government affairs. They each had their own division of labor, but the common point was that they were both very busy.
His Majesty the Emperor is like this. When he trusts someone, in addition to giving that person power, he will also assign him a lot of work. This is the way His Majesty the Emperor expresses his love for his court officials.
It's really heavy.
Fortunately, Wei and Huo are the emperor's favorite students, and have learned the true teachings of the emperor. Even if the emperor exploits them, they also have people under their command who can be exploited. They were only busy for a while in the initial stage, but now they have gradually adapted and are able to take a break from their busy schedule in an orderly manner.
Liu Ju went to Wei Qing's place first. The general was having dinner at the time. Liu Ju checked the time and asked his attendants, "You're only eating now. Is the general very busy today?"
The attendants replied, "Your Highness, there was a small matter just before dinner. The general finished his work before we could start eating, which delayed us."
Liu Ju nodded without saying anything else. He waited until Wei Qing finished his meal before he went over to sit down. The waiters offered him tea. Liu Ju hurriedly said, "Uncle, you just finished your meal. Drinking tea right away is not good for your stomach."
Wei Qing first had the tea taken away, then said, "There's such a thing. I don't have this habit. It was Qu Bing who gave me some tea leaves a few days ago. I thought I'd eat it, so I asked them to make me a cup of tea every day."
Liu Ju said, "Uncle, not only can you not drink tea after a meal, you can't move around right away either. You need to sit still for a quarter of an hour to allow your stomach to digest the food."
Wei Qing smiled and said, "Zi'er, your uncle knows your feelings. You should pay close attention to these matters. Your uncle is an adult, and his stomach is not so delicate."
But Liu Ju was very serious: "Everyone is the same, uncle, I am serious!"
Wei Qing didn't really take it to heart, but he gave the child face and sat down properly, saying, "Zi'er, go ahead and talk. Your uncle is listening."
Liu Ju knew at a glance that the general was dealing with someone, so he said earnestly, "Uncle, you are also over thirty years old, and you have fought in so many battles. You must have been injured. Others may not know, but you can always feel it yourself. Your spirit now is definitely different from when you first fought in Longcheng in the fifth year of Yuanguang, right?"
Wei Qing was of course aware of this. He smiled and said, "Zi'er, the elders will all grow old, but you will gradually grow up. Everyone will go through this. Don't be afraid. Your uncle will still be with you for many years."
In this era where one can become a father in his teens and a grandfather in his thirties, living to forty or so is considered a natural death, and sixty is considered a long life.
So Wei Qing didn't actually die young in his previous life. It was just that Emperor Wu of Han lived too long, which made others seem to have died very young.
As for Wei Qing himself, he had no regrets about his life.
Liu Ju sighed softly and said, "Uncle, I'm sorry, this is just my selfishness."
The great general in his previous life did not sigh when he was bedridden. He seemed to have calmly accepted that he could no longer lift a ring-handled sword or draw a bow.
But if possible, Liu Ju hopes that his uncle can spend his old age in good health and fall asleep peacefully surrounded by his children and grandchildren.
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