Chapter 105: Shengdu’s daily life, either quarreling or…
Shen Zhiwei didn't know what to say. Qingzhu bowed and left with her medicine box.
The king and his minister were left looking at each other in silence, feeling sad and neither of them happy.
"emperor……"
Hu Youan stood up, bowed, and shouted, but didn't know what to say next.
Shen Zhiwei looked at her troubled expression, sighed, reached out and patted her sturdy shoulders, and said, "Fate, destiny, is hard to defy. We just have to let nature take its course."
Life and death are normal, and she will die one day, not only in this world, but also in another world.
Life and death are propositions that people cannot escape throughout their lives. In order to live, people work hard for their entire lives, but in the end they cannot escape death. The ending has already been determined at the destination.
"I just can't accept the departure of people around me."
Shen Zhiwei no longer called himself the emperor, but pulled Hu Youan to sit aside. The two of them were like equal friends, talking about their innermost thoughts.
Hu Youan did not resist and sat obediently beside Shen Zhiwei. She could feel Shen Zhiwei's complicated mood at the moment. All the etiquette disappeared at this moment, as if there were only the two of them in the world, communicating equally and watching the last joys and sorrows of life equally.
"Your Majesty was too young when he ascended the throne. Now seventeen years have passed, and Your Majesty is still young, but I am old."
Shen Zhiwei looked at the thirty-five-year-old woman in front of him and couldn't help laughing. He shook his head: "You are not old, you are still very young."
Thirty-five years old in modern times is really young and in the prime of life. It is the best age in a person's life, without the confusion of youth and without the illness of old age.
"I have white hair and wrinkles around my eyes. I've been tossing and turning lately and can't sleep well. Qingzhu says I'm just getting old."
"Listen to her nonsense. You are young now." Shen Zhiwei repeated again, "You are just temporarily ill. When you recover, you will be the same as before. There will be no more wars to fight. Just stay in the palace honestly, take medicine on time, follow the doctor's advice and avoid certain foods, and you will be well soon."
At this point, Shen Zhiwei said with some self-blame: "I hadn't heard Qingzhu say that drinking alcohol would have such serious consequences. If I had known, I would have replaced all the wine with drinks at the welcoming banquet. You too, why do you drink every toast? Don't you know your own health?"
"A welcoming banquet is a time for everyone to celebrate together. We haven't seen each other for a long time, so how can we treat our old friends with just sweet water? Besides, I haven't had a drink in a long time, so this time I'm really enjoying it!"
If Qingzhu intended to obstruct, she would have told Shen Zhiwei long ago. In fact, Qingzhu also understood that Hu Youan's body was in such a state that anything she did would be in vain. It would be better to let Hu Youan do whatever he wanted.
Shen Zhiwei also understood this from Hu Youan's words and Qingzhu's actions.
But Shen Zhiwei couldn't accept, nor was willing to accept, the departure of a friend of the same age as herself.
Hu Youan is very important to Shen Zhiwei. Without Hu Youan, Shen Zhiwei would not have been able to gain a foothold in the palace so quickly, nor would she have been able to conquer such a large territory so quickly. Hu Youan is the sharpest spear in her hand and the strongest shield to protect her.
If one day Hu Youan really left forever, Shen Zhiwei didn't know whether she would wake up in the middle of the night, with memories flooding her mind and making her fall into painful memories.
The two exchanged some trivial matters, all of which were trivial matters in daily life. Those little things that people would not remember at all in daily life were now turned out one by one and discussed, as if they were discussing very important issues.
Even whether she likes salty or sweet food on a daily basis had to be brought up for discussion. Hu Youan complained to Shen Zhiwei, saying that since two years ago, Qingzhu had not allowed her to eat anything too salty. The meals she ate on a daily basis seemed to have been boiled in water only, with less oil and sugar, which made her, a person with a strong taste for food, very miserable.
Fighting outside all year round, sometimes she didn't have two good meals for several days, and relied on high-fat and high-sugar foods to replenish energy. When Hu Youan was suddenly asked to eat less of those things, she not only couldn't adapt to the taste for a while, but her body also couldn't adapt to this low-energy life all of a sudden. Later, when she was fighting, she always couldn't help breaking the rules and eating those sugary and oily foods that she used to like the most.
Once she has eaten it, it will be useless for Qingzhu to tell her to avoid it.
Qingzhu had no choice but to start from scratch to recuperate Hu Youan's body. If the war did not stop, Hu Youan might really die outside.
Shen Zhiwei felt sad when he heard this. Fighting in war was what the soldiers longed for. Only on the battlefield could they gain military merit and climb up the ladder. However, for the veterans, this kind of war was too grueling.
Fortunately, Shen Zhiwei has already released a complete system that allows soldiers to gain military merit even in peacetime. Although it is not known how long it can last, it can at least allow soldiers to retain room for promotion in peacetime and not completely close their path to upward mobility.
They didn't chat until very late that day. When the time came, Shen Zhiwei asked Hu Youan to go to bed. Hu Youan also had a courtyard in the palace. Since Shen Zhiwei became the king, it had been hers.
Shengdu also gave her a general's mansion, but Hu Youan almost never lived there. She had no relatives and nothing to worry about in the world. Sometimes Shen Zhiwei looked at Hu Youan and wondered if Hu Youan was born just for the king.
If there are gods and ghosts in the world, Shen Zhiwei feels that Hu Youan is the embodiment of loyalty.
Chaoyang likes Hu Youan very much. Whenever he has nothing to do, he will go to Hu Youan to practice boxing and sword. Hu Youan has completely entered the retirement life and is really bored, so he will give the prince some pointers on martial arts.
The number of times was not many, but not few either. Wen Tao happened to meet him once when she went to find Hu Youan.
Compared to before, Wen Tao's face has more traces of time, but like Shen Zhiwei, she doesn't look very old, and she doesn't feel particularly different from ten years ago.
This is how pampered people are. Wen Tao waited for Chaoyang to leave, then said to Hu Youan with a smile, "My nephew is having a full-moon banquet in a few days. You've come back just in time. Do you want to join in the fun?"
Hu Youan thought for a moment. Wen Tao had many nephews, but only a few of them were worthy of her mention. In Shengdu, only one person held such importance. She asked, "Is she the daughter of the Minister of Personnel?"
"Exactly. Qiong Yu didn't come to the welcoming banquet because she was on maternity leave. When the baby was first born, it looked like a wrinkled red monkey, but after it grew up, it looked like a white dumpling. It was quite cute."
Hu Youan didn't see Qiong Yu at that time and thought she had been transferred again, but he didn't expect that she was on maternity leave.
She suddenly realized that after returning to Shengdu this time, she had become much less concerned about official affairs. As a general in the past, it was impossible for her to be completely indifferent to the situation of high-ranking officials. As a result, when Wen Tao ran to her, she learned about Qiong Yu's affairs.
Hu Youan was a little dazed for a moment. She finally understood what Qingzhu meant when she said you are old. She really looked like an old man who was about to die, lacking energy and looking listless.
Wen Tao keenly noticed that Hu Youan's mood had become very bad at the moment. She thought about what she had said and had some guesses.
The palace is surrounded by peach trees, with pleasant scenery and carved railings and jade bricks. Compared with other palaces in the palace, it is more comfortable and not as solemn. However, it is sparsely populated, and Hu Youan does not like to be served by people in the palace, so it seems even more empty.
Qiong Yu's place is completely different from Hu Youan's palace. It is much more lively there and there are people everywhere.
"Let's go and stay at my house for two days. How about going directly to Qiong Yu's place when the time comes? There aren't many people at my house."
Wen Tao understood that Hu Youan must be feeling lonely in the palace.
Hu Youan didn't understand how things had developed to the point where she suddenly had to leave the palace and live in Wen Mansion. By the time she realized that something was wrong, she had already boarded the carriage out of the palace.
Wen Tao even spoke seriously to Shen Zhiwei, and at the same time sent a letter to the East Palace, telling the prince not to go to Hu Youan to practice martial arts in the next two days, and she took him away.
Hu Youan's relationship with Wen Tao was average before, and it's not much better now, but she is indeed more familiar with Wen Tao than anyone else.
Now that things have come to this, let’s go stay at the Wen Mansion for a few days.
When Hu Youan arrived at Wen Mansion, Gui Yang was already waiting there.
The carriage moved very slowly along the way. After Wen Tao and Hu Youan left the palace, they walked and strolled. In the carriage, Wen Tao took Hu Youan to see the current situation in Shengdu.
After leaving Shengdu for many years, Hu Youan almost didn't recognize what Shengdu looked like.
Shengdu had changed so much. The clear distinction between pedestrians and carriages on the road, the flat road as flat as a whole stone wall, and the tall buildings on both sides of the road made Hu Youan stare at them. The day she came back, she walked along another street, which had not changed much.
Wen Tao said that this is a new street and was built not long ago.
Because the two of them spent too much time on the road, after Gui Yang learned that Hu Youan had left the palace, she went to Wen Mansion to wait first.
"I haven't seen you since the welcoming banquet. You haven't been to court or out of the palace. Could it be that you were seriously injured in the northwest and have been recuperating?"
Gui Yang and Hu Youan have a good relationship. Gui Yang is very casual when she speaks.
He and Wen Tao have gotten along well over the years. They all aim to build a better Dajing and have a common monarch to serve. If they don't want to die, there won't be any major conflicts.
"Yeah, the injury is pretty serious."
Hu Youan glanced at Gui Yang and shifted his gaze to the side.
Gui Yang is one year older than her, but looks much younger than her.
"If you're seriously injured, you should take good care of yourself. I have a hot spring resort outside the city that's perfect for recuperation. Would you like to stay there for a while in a few days?"
Wen Tao frowned upon hearing this and said bluntly, "Alright, your hot spring resort is almost full of the elderly, the weak, and the sick. Is Youan going there to recuperate, or to help you take care of the patients?"
Ever since the emperor gave his favorite hot spring villa to Gui Yang, Gui Yang has been urging others to enjoy it from time to time. He rarely takes a vacation all year round, and it seems that it's okay for others to use it, and he is very happy.
As a result, a large number of elderly and in poor health ministers and their families went there, and now it has become the favorite place for the powerful.
"Entry to the manor is now by appointment. I only let ten people in each time, and there's no noise at all." Gui Yang smiled proudly. "This is the emperor's suggestion to me. Will the master be jealous?"
"hehe."
Wen Tao rolled her eyes at Gui Yang. After so many years, Gui Yang still liked to show off his power in these little things and flaunt the emperor's preference for him.
She wouldn't be so naive! The emperor said he would prepare a hot spring resort for her during the New Year, but she didn't even brag to Gui Yang!
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