Chapter 295: A Sweet Dream, His Royal Highness Hanzhang
Mr. Junfu saw that he had misunderstood, so he didn't explain, but just smiled and shook his head.
Yan Chixia lamented, "I've heard that you are a man of extraordinary talent, but you live in seclusion in the mountains. What a pity."
"What's a pity? Studying is for wisdom, and writing poetry is for pleasure. I live in seclusion on Gushan Mountain, with plum blossoms as my wife and cranes as my sons, and I have already enjoyed the greatest happiness here." said Mr. Junfu.
Yan Chixia was silent, and said, "I just feel that if you are willing to serve as an official, you may be able to accomplish something."
Mr. Junfu said, "A hundred years of life is but a fleeting moment. Why bother putting yourself in prison? One more Junfu in the officialdom wouldn't make much difference, and one less Junfu wouldn't make much difference. No matter how much effort one puts in, in the end, it won't necessarily bring success."
Mr. Jun Fu's eyes flickered for a moment, then he looked at Yan Chixia and said, "But don't imitate me. I enjoy being here."
Gong Mengbi laughed and said, "Sir, don't worry about him. How can we waste such a beautiful moonlight?"
Mr. Jun Fu looked at the moon in the clouds and said with a smile, "That's right."
White cranes fly under the moon and roll around in the sea of clouds, feeling free and unrestrained.
Mr. Junfu picked up the flute and began to play it slowly.
The sound of the flute was mournful, carrying the vast and desolate atmosphere of winter, and it spread far and deep.
Listening to this tune, Gong Mengbi seemed to have transformed into a free-spirited cloud and wild crane, soaring among the mountains and rivers.
He took out the fox-patterned zither and played along with Mr. Jun Fu's flute. The sound of the zither was like the gurgling of running water.
Mr. Jun Fu looked at Gong Mengbi happily, and then played the zither and flute together, and together they disappeared into the moonlight.
Whether it was Gong Mengbi or Yan Chixia, they both seemed to have entered a dream of flying cranes and vast seas of mist.
I don’t know when the day broke, the sound of the piano disappeared, and the sound of the flute also disappeared.
When Gong Mengbi and Yan Chixia woke up, they could no longer see Mr. Junfu and his wife Mei.
His crane had folded its wings at some point and was hiding somewhere.
Only a few eerie ghostly auras remained, keeping people away from it.
Gong Mengbi said, "Let's go."
Yan Chixia followed him and stretched, saying, "What a sweet dream."
Gong Mengbi said: "It's a pity that you can't be Mr. Jun Fu, you can only be Yan Chixia."
Yan Chixia laughed heartily and said, "Mr. Junfu is enjoying it, and I am also enjoying it."
Yan Chixia suddenly became interested and asked, "Brother Mingfu, what about you? Do you want to be Mr. Junfu, or do you want to be Yan Chixia?"
Gong Mengbi said: "Of course I am Gong Mingfu."
Gong Mengbi and Yan Chixia played around West Lake for a few days, visited temples and Taoist temples by the lake, and saw the local customs and practices. During this time, they went to Yongjin Pond and introduced Yan Chixia to Yuan Yao so that they could take care of each other in the future.
A few days later, when Gong Mengbi was staying overnight in the temple, he suddenly heard a knock on the door.
When he went out, he saw a little boy in tortoise shell standing by the door waiting for him.
Seeing Gong Mengbi, the child said, "My Lord, my Eighth Prince has returned. I wonder if you are free to come to the Water Palace to meet him?"
Gong Mengbi followed the little boy to Qiantang Dragon Palace.
Although the boy was wearing armor, he walked quite fast. Gong Mengbi observed him carefully and discovered that he was wearing a pair of running boots. He walked very fast on the shore, no wonder he could be a messenger.
The little boy brought Gong Mengbi to the Dragon Palace. This time he did not see the Qiantang Dragon King. He was received by the Eighth Prince.
The Eighth Prince was a young man with a scholarly air. When he saw Gong Mengbi, he bowed and said, "Brother Mingfu."
Gong Mengbi didn't dare to say so and called him "Eighth Prince".
The Eighth Prince smiled and said, "Father calls you his nephew, so why bother being polite to me? Just call me Han Zhang."
His Highness Hanzhang led Gong Mengbi to the martial arts arena in the Dragon Palace and said, "Brother Mingfu, if you want to learn dragon script, you must first observe the dragon's form. Since you can't practice it in the palace, it's more appropriate to come to the martial arts arena."
Gong Mengbi said, "Thank you. Last time I came, I heard from Lord Long that Your Highness went to Jinshan Temple to discuss Zen. Does Your Highness also practice Zen?"
His Highness Hanzhang said, "The old abbot of Jinshan Temple is very influential. A few days ago, he invited the most accomplished monks from Qiantang to participate in the Zhengzhi Dharma Assembly, and I went to join in the fun. Most of us practice with our elders, but I've always been clumsy, so I need to gather ideas and draw inferences from other experiences. I can participate in Zen and discuss the Dao, but I haven't mastered either one thoroughly."
Gong Mengbi could see that he was being modest. If he was really knowledgeable but not proficient in any particular field, how could he discuss Zen with those great monks?
Gong Mengbi praised: "Your Highness is knowledgeable and magnanimous."
Prince Hanzhang looked a little uneasy and said, "Father isn't very optimistic. I'm afraid that even if I learn a lot, I still might not be able to surpass our ancestors' methods. Let's not talk about this anymore. Let's get started."
The training ground was cleared and left to the two of them.
His Highness Hanzhang said that to learn dragon writing, one must first observe the dragon's shape, and indeed he meant observing the dragon in the martial arts arena.
His Highness Hanzhang did not have to reveal his true form in person for Gong Mengbi to guess. Just gathering water to form a dragon was vivid enough.
Gong Mengbi followed His Highness Hanzhang's instructions to see the water dragon and, as expected, saw many of its unique features. He smiled and said, "It can be dark, bright, tiny, huge, short, or long. It ascends to the sky at the spring equinox and dives into the abyss at the autumnal equinox. Its transformations are endless and truly miraculous."
Facing the water dragon flying in the martial arts field, His Highness Hanzhang began to teach Gong Mengbi the Dragon Scripture.
The Dongting Fu is a long and eloquent poem, but learning it is not so easy. Especially before Gong Mengbi had the Dragon Script, it was always more difficult to start from the beginning.
Fortunately, he was smart enough, had a good memory, and could sense the aura in the dragon text, so learning was not as slow as imagined.
His Highness Hanzhang exclaimed in admiration, "Brother Mingfu is extremely gifted and intelligent, a rare talent I have ever seen."
Gong Mengbi said, "That's all I have."
Of course, it was impossible to learn everything in one go. Seeing that the time was almost up, Gong Mengbi said goodbye and left, and agreed on the time to come next time.
After Gong Mengbi left, His Highness Hanzhang murmured to himself, "With such looks and talent, he's destined to be something extraordinary. No wonder my father asked me to stop my younger sister from meeting him."
"We really need to stop it, to avoid any bad karma."
In the days that followed, Gong Mengbi frequently traveled between Qiantang Dragon Palace and the West Lake. It took him nearly a month to recognize all the dragon characters on the "Dongting Fu".
All things are difficult at the beginning. As you learn more and more dragon characters, you will soon be able to apply what you have learned to other situations, and you will learn faster and faster.
His Highness Hanzhang was amazed and said, "Brother Mingfu, when do you think my cousin-in-law finished reading 'Ode to Dongting Lake'?"
The cousin-in-law is naturally the husband of the Dongting Dragon Girl.
Gong Mengbi shook his head, indicating that he couldn't guess.
His Highness Hanzhang said, "It took him ten years."
Gong Mengbi is understandable. The characters used in the human world are different from dragon characters. To understand dragon characters, one must also understand the power of the dragon.
The dragon characters embody the dragon power so directly that it is not easy to learn for ordinary people who have not practiced cultivation, or for practitioners who have preconceived notions and obstacles to knowledge and understanding.
It’s just that my cousin’s husband is a rare talent, otherwise my cousin wouldn’t have liked him.
His Highness Hanzhang looked at Gong Mengbi, and became more and more satisfied, and his heart began to relax.
"Father, oh father, such a talented man, even if he is married to my little sister, it won't be a disgrace to our family."
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