February 7th is the birthday of King Goose.
Your Highness is only in his early twenties, and it would be inappropriate to celebrate his birthday as such. Therefore, he only invited a few acquaintances to have a drink in his house, and asked his staff to say a few sarcastic words to him. That was enough.
That early morning, the gifts sent filled the entire front hall. Officials and scholars from the capital came one after another, and even those who were not invited had their gifts prepared and sent by their butlers.
Xie Shiguan was not picky. He didn't even look at the things sent to him and told Shen Xiangzhi to accept them all.
The gift list was just being read out when Chen Luo suddenly came into the hall, bowed to Xie Shiguan, and said, "Happy birthday to His Highness."
"The guests who arrived early have moved to the side hall and are waiting. They are now being accompanied by my colleagues," Chen Luo said in a businesslike manner. "The banquet has also been mostly prepared. In half an hour, the banquet can begin."
After reporting all this, he whispered again: "There is one more thing. Just now, the housekeeper of the uncle's house personally sent a gift. Do you want to bring him in, or..."
Drive out?
Xie Shiguan opened his folding fan with a half-smile, and moved his wrist in boredom: "Since there is a guest coming, if I don't greet him, it will make me look petty - just bring him in."
After sending Shen Luo away, he turned his head and asked Shen Xiangzhi who was reading the gift list beside him: "Where is Ah Que? Why can't I see him?"
Shen Xiangzhi hurriedly replied: "Shen Que was not feeling well today. When he was practicing sword skills in the training ground, my subordinates saw that he looked unhappy, so they asked him to go back and rest first."
Xie Shiguan sighed, "He has become more and more spoiled recently, asking for leave at every turn. He is even more spoiled than that unmarried woman. How can he serve others in the future?"
There was a hint of feigned anger in his tone, and a slight curve in the corners of his eyes, but it was obvious that he was not really annoyed.
"Go," the prince raised his knees and pointed at a servant who was carrying gifts, "go to Lansheng Courtyard and call Chen Que over. It's my birthday, and he's sleeping on the couch."
The servant received the order and immediately went towards Lansheng Courtyard.
When the servant arrived, Shen was already dressed. He had been in poor condition recently. The weather was getting warmer, but he became more and more sleepy and had no appetite. He would often vomit up all the porridge and rice he had just eaten.
He didn't dare to go see a doctor. Shen Luo ran into him by chance and asked him a few questions worriedly. Shen had no choice but to say that he had eaten something wrong.
But Chen felt that something was wrong. Even though he had gotten enough sleep, he still felt weak. He always felt dizzy for a while when he got up in the morning, and even his chest felt a little swollen.
All in all, it's weird everywhere.
He couldn't help feeling a little scared, afraid that he would always be entangled with that man surnamed Lin, and that man would always put things into his stomach. He often heard people say that yin and yang should be harmonized, but he was neither yin nor yang. If he continued like this, would he turn into a woman?
Then he began to suspect that he had some chronic disease. A few years ago, there was a servant in the mansion who was in charge of horse breeding. He was only twenty-seven years old and had always been in good health, never even having a cold.
But at the end of that year, he suddenly collapsed. Chen Luo had some friendship with him, so he paid for a doctor out of his own pocket. After the doctor diagnosed him, he said, "He has a deep-seated poison that has penetrated through his body. It is an incurable disease. I'm afraid he won't live long."
Sure enough, within half a month, the servant passed away.
"Sir," the servant in front of him was getting impatient, fearing that he would be blamed if he arrived too late, so he urged in a low voice, "Please follow me quickly. If you are late, I will be hard to explain to His Highness."
Shen Que nodded and raised his hand to say something to him, but then he remembered that ordinary servants could not understand his sign language, so he just opened his lips and said silently: "Wait a moment."
He leaned over and took out a brocade bag from the box, then hurriedly stuffed it into his sleeve and followed the servant out the door.
The front of the brocade bag was embroidered with a white egret standing in the snow, and the back was embroidered with a golden carp leaping in a pond. Both were patterns he drew himself, and it took him half a month to finish them, working by candlelight. Because it was a gift for the prince, he dared not make a mistake in even a stitch.
The brocade bag contained a wooden sculpture of a flying goose. It was not a very delicate work of art, but it was something that Chen had secretly prepared for a long time. As a result, he had several cuts on his fingers, and there was still a white mark on one of his fingertips.
Sending this wild goose to fly high is a wish for His Highness to spread his wings, but I keep it silently in my heart, wishing him to be free from burdens, to brave the wind and waves, and to travel thousands of miles.
When Shen Que arrived, the steward of the Prince's Mansion also came into the hall with a gift box in his hand and bowed his head.
"Long live the prince," the butler said loudly, "This is a gift prepared by the king's uncle for your highness, with a sentence attached. The lord said, 'You have wine and food, why don't you play the harp every day? And you will be happy and enjoy your days.'" [Note]
Xie Shiguan's eyebrows curved, and he continued with the next sentence: "It's like he's dead, and someone else has entered the room - your uncle can't even say a birthday greeting, and he still needs to borrow the articles of his predecessors to be weird."
The butler knelt down with a plop: "I am only here to pass on a message, I don't understand what you mean."
If this sentence is taken out alone, it can be considered a congratulatory statement, but if it comes out of Miao Zongping's mouth, it is definitely not a good thing.
Miao Zongping dared to ask the butler to pass on the message because he guessed that Xie Shiguan might not lose his temper at the birthday party. He made things difficult for a small butler who was just passing on the message. If the message got out, it would make Xie Shiguan look petty.
Xie Shiguan was not angry but laughed: "Why are you kneeling? You are here to present gifts on behalf of the king's uncle, so I should respect you."
He was neither angry nor mad, but made the butler even more frightened. He was sweating profusely and could hardly hold the gift box steady: "I dare not bear the responsibility."
"Open the gift box," Xie Shiguan lowered his eyes, staring at his trembling fingers with a half-smile, "let me see what treasure the uncle of the king has presented to me."
The man below tremblingly opened the gift box inlaid with pearls and red jade, and saw a jade pendant lying crookedly inside. The workmanship was exquisite, but the jade was cheap Xiuyan jade, and the jade was dotted with cotton and dirty, and was of extremely low quality.
Jade pendants, jade pendants, are naturally meant to match people. Miao Zongping gave him a piece of jade like this, which was a blatant mockery of his humble background and the fact that he was only worthy of such a cheap jade.
Xie Shiguan was still smiling, his almond-shaped eyes slightly curved, as if filled with deep affection.
But the next moment, he kicked over the gift box in the man's hand, and the exquisite wooden box and the jade pendant flew out together and broke into pieces about ten feet away.
"Ah," Xie Shiguan laughed softly, "What should I do? You broke the gift that the uncle-in-law carefully prepared."
The butler seemed not to have expected his sudden outburst. Half of his body collapsed and his head hit the ground heavily with a dull sound.
"Your Highness, please forgive me. It was just a moment of carelessness on my part!" It's easy to find excuses to accuse someone of a crime, but the man above him was the regent who had connections everywhere. He didn't dare to argue at all and could only admit his injustice.
"A momentary carelessness?" Xie Shiguan laughed, and the ebony folding fan in his hand tightened with a "swish". "I thought you looked down on the gift from the uncle and held it unsteadily on purpose."
"I dare not," the butler said in a trembling voice, "even if I have ten thousand more courage, I still dare not hurt Your Highness..."
Xie Shiguan retracted his gaze and said in a low voice: "It's a pity for that precious jade. I heard from people that the immortals in the heavenly palace can 'suck jade liquid to quench their thirst' [note], which shows that this jade can exorcise demons and evil spirits, prolong life, and is a top-notch delicacy. It would be a pity to break the jade, so I might as well give it to you as a reward."
The butler was stunned for a while before he understood what King Yan meant.
But in order to save his life, he did not care about much else. Facing the gaze of King Yan, he crawled over, bent down like a dog, and licked the broken jade on the ground. He even swallowed the sharp pieces with all his might.
Halfway through swallowing, perhaps choked by the crumbs, the butler's face became grim, and he clenched his fists and beat his chest again and again.
The next moment, he breathed in smoothly, but his lower body was dripping with wetness. It was not known whether it was because he had escaped death and was completely deflated, or because he was really scared, but the housekeeper could not control himself and peed his pants in front of so many people.
"Carry it away." Xie Shiguan's tone was cold. He withdrew his eyes from him and frowned slightly, as if he had seen something extremely disgusting and filthy.
He stood up and told Shen Xiangzhi: "Have someone knock down those floor tiles and buy new ones to replace them. It's unlucky to have such good imperial kiln gold bricks ruined by his dog urine."
He paused for a moment and continued, "The palace won't pay for the floor tiles. Ask Shen Luo to bring a few people to send the dog slave back and ask the uncle for the floor tiles."
"Just make the noise at the gate. The bigger the better." King Yan laughed, with a bit of childish mischief on his face.
He is not afraid of being criticized. He always wants to make himself feel better first. No matter how petty he is, if anyone talks about him behind his back, he will have someone cut off his tongue.
Chen Que, who witnessed all this, quietly clenched the wooden sculpture in his sleeve. This little thing was even less valuable than the piece of Xiuyan jade.
However, if the gift to Xie Shiguan is not worth thousands or tens of thousands of taels of silver, he will not be interested.
Even if it was a gift of a hundred taels, Shen Que couldn't afford it now. If he bought it cheaply, he would feel that he was not worthy of the prince and could not present it to him. Therefore, he suddenly thought of making something himself.
But for some reason, the gift in his sleeve that he had spent a whole month secretly preparing seemed extremely shabby. He mustered up his courage several times but didn't dare to take it out of his sleeve.
Xie Shiguan only then noticed him. He glanced at his figure indifferently and touched his lower back with his hand lightly. In almost a flash, the prince withdrew his hand.
"Hmm..." He paused slightly and tilted his head to look at Chen Que, "A little fatter?"
Shen's scalp tingled when he was stared at. He had been having trouble sleeping and eating in recent days, and he had not been feeling well. How could he have gained weight?
Then I heard His Highness chuckle and tease, "You are always lazy and ask for leave from morning training every other day. If you continue to be so lazy, I'm afraid you will get fat too."
Hearing this, Chen Que felt ashamed. He had been carrying this matter in his heart for a long time. Every time he asked for leave, he felt uneasy. Now that Xie Shiguan had exposed it, he felt so ashamed.
He did not argue, but followed behind Xie Shiguan. When His Highness stopped again, he stepped forward and said earnestly and sincerely, "I will not do this again in the future."
"What else?" Xie Shiguan asked.
"I won't take leave again." Shen answered in a low voice.
The prince smiled. He was a little surprised just now, but this time, seeing him lower his brows and look serious, the anger in his heart inexplicably disappeared.
He rarely opened his mouth to explain: "I actually forgot that you are a fool. It's just a joke, why do you take it so seriously? Your health is more important. If you are sick, just rest. Why are you trying to be so strong?"
When the prince was in a good mood, those narrow and long phoenix eyes became more affectionate, and one could even see his own image in those amber-gold pupils, which were dark and dazed for a moment.
But he soon came to his senses.
Xie Shiguan's eyes are clear enough to reflect everyone, but no one in this world can enter his heart.
With a body as lowly as his, he is not even worthy of having delusions. He should be sober and not be greedy.
The author has something to say:
Note 1: From "The Mountain Has a Pivot" in the Book of Songs: Tang Feng
Meaning: You have good wine and good food, why don't you play your instrument every day? Use it to find joy, and use it to pass the time. Once you die, others will be proud to enter your room.
Note 2: From Wang Yi's "Nine Thoughts: The Dysfunction of the World"
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