Chapter 5 The Second Prince

This is a private banquet, the location is still arranged in the flow crystal river on top of the flower boat, just this flower boat is exceptionally elegant, and there is no river across those red sleeves fluttering exaggerated feeling. At this time on the river, no rain and no clouds, the river is light, under the breeze, the water wave is soft, and the far away can faintly hear the crisp and pretty sound compared, then only feel the second prince arranged this boat, even more than a trace of the river and the sea above the lone boat of the dusty feeling.

Fan Xian and King Jing’s son Li Hongcheng came to the riverside laughing and joking all the way, there were guards pulling the horse to go, the two of them mutual stretching a hand slightly gave way, then went on the flower boat. He was wearing a smile on his face, but deep inside he was sighing, this prince seems to be a really elegant person, but I don’t know why he is not willing to be a prince, and he has to cause so many things in the country of Qing.

On the slightly wet wooden board, when Fan Xian’s foot would be about to step on the side of the boat, he suddenly heard a clanging sound of zither strings plucking from the boat, and there was no murderous intent, only the feeling of sincerity of clear heart, and the sound of the song gradually rose.

“Just away from the green water and green mountains that ride, early came to the bamboo fence and thatched house family. Wildflowers bloomed along the roadside, village wine was squeezed from the trough, and we ate a lot of food. When I was drunk, the mountain boy did not persuade us, and the yellow flowers in my white hair were stuck all over the place.” (Note 1)

Fan Xian’s lips bloomed with a hint of a smile, and walked in side by side with Li Hongcheng, listening to the salivating and hidden interest in this tune, and becoming more and more curious about what kind of character this second prince was.

The pearl curtain lifted, into the eye, only to see a wearing a green silk shirt young man is sitting in a very strange posture on the chair, head slightly inclined, eyes slightly closed, face reveals a kind of very satisfied look, listening to the corner of the songstresses softly chanting.

Without asking, this young man was naturally the second prince born to His Majesty, the Emperor of the Qing Kingdom, and Noble Consort Shu.

The second prince’s sitting posture is indeed very peculiar, actually half squatting on top of the chair, like a farmer resting in the field, green silk shirt covers his legs, but even more peculiar is to look at his intoxicated look, clean-cut features, revealing all over. Actually is a kind of elegant and peaceful feeling, seems to have long been tired of this body around everything, this world passes, just to the song for the idea.

Fan Xian’s first thought when he saw the second prince was: this person gives him a familiar feeling. The second thought was, this person is very tired, his heart is very tired. The third thought was that this person’s heart was heavy. He believed in his ability to read people, but at this time the scene is a little awkward, the afterglow caught the son Li Hongcheng has long quietly picked a chair to sit down. And he stood in the center, looking at the second prince but do not know how to salute.

The other party seems to focus on listening to the music, forget yourself as a guest. Of course, with the status of the other party, let himself wait for a while is also very natural.

The song finally curled up and ended, the songstress held the zither horizontally and bowed to each of the three people in the hall and retreated into the back room in silence.

Squatting on the chair of the second prince but still seems to be immersed in the sound of the piano voice, a long time did not come back to God, still closed his eyes, his right hand hanging slowly to the side to move to the touch of the plate of grapes resting on a few fingers pinching the stem of the grapes lifted up a bunch, high up, like a child resting in the air, raise his head, open his lips, close his teeth and slowly bit down on a green and green to the extreme grapes, chewed two, swallowed, the throat is very good looking move, the throat is very good looking, the throat is very good looking. His throat moved two times in a very nice way, as if even eating grapes was a very enjoyable thing.

Fan Xian was not in a hurry, smiling as he looked at the prince, his eyes serene, but he did not let go of any of the other party’s small gestures as he tried to see what kind of disposition the other party was.

After a long time, the second prince sighed, fumblingly resting the grapes in his hand back on the plate, before slowly opening his eyes. He seemed to have just realized that the guest he had invited had already arrived in the boat, and a very wonderful smile could not help but flash in his eyes, the corners of his lips curling slightly as a somewhat shy smile blossomed.

Fan Xian’s heart fluttered as that familiar feeling grew stronger.

The Second Prince quietly looked at Fan Xian who was standing in front of him, and suddenly opened his mouth and asked, “Since you’re here, why don’t you sit down?”

Shi Zi Li Hongcheng was sitting next to him at this time, smiling and drinking tea, not saying anything to help Fan Xian. Fan Xian also returned a gentle smile and cupped his fists in a salute to the Second Prince, “The Emperor is on top, and I don’t dare to sit without saluting.”

The Second Prince smiled as he looked at Fan Xian and said, “I have not greeted you, and you need not honor me.”

Fan Xian laughed, “Your Second Highness does not need to welcome me, I must honor Your Highness.”

The second prince shook his head with a smile, wiping his right hand, which was stained with some grape meter water, casually on his green silk shirt, and said, “There are only two brothers on this ship, Hongcheng and I, plus a brother-in-law of yours, where is your highness’ vassal.”

Fan Xian laughed, arched his hand, and without saying anything more, sat down on the chair opposite of his dead son Li Hongcheng. Since this second highness likes to play with the feeling of celebrities, although he is not good at it, but sitting in a sedan chair will always be.

In fact, the two earlier these few conversations did not have any too deep meaning, but Fan Xian felt that it was still very marvelous, because the second prince’s speed of speech is particularly slow, and every time he opens his mouth, the rhythm is always half a beat slower than the average person, so when the conversation is going on, it always feels that the other person is talking a little suddenly. Moreover, Fan Xian found it even more interesting that the more he looked at this second prince, the more familiar he became, but he didn’t know where this sense of familiarity came from, and he was pretty sure that it wasn’t because of Wan Er.

“This flower boat was built at my expense, what do you think?” The Second Prince seemed somewhat eager to know how Fan Xian felt about this flower boat. Fan Xian smiled bitterly for a moment, only then did he let his eyes survey the arrangement in the boat, and found that regardless of the layout or the green pots in the corners, or the books and paintings hanging diagonally, this flower boat was really not like a flower boat, but rather like a study, and he could not help but shake his head and laugh, “Your Highness, this flower boat is quiet, and the word “flower” doesn’t fit in.”

The second prince smiled lightly, looked up at him, and said, “Quiet is good.”

Fan Xian suddenly felt that this kind of conversation was really a bit boring and difficult, and was about to cast a look of help to the familiar Li Hongcheng, when he already heard the words of the Prince of Jing ring out at the right time.

“I say, can you two stop talking so tired?” Li Hongcheng interrupted with a smile.

The Second Prince laughed and said to Fan Xian, “See? Don’t think that we, the sons of the royal family, are all boring people… Besides, now that you’ve married Wan’er, you’re considered a family, so you’ll have to move around more in the future.”

Li Hongcheng grabbed before Fan Xian and made fun of him, “Our king’s house is even if you are the second prince of the hall, walking around can be dangerous.”

The three of them all knew that this was talking about the fact that several months ago, when Fan Xian was on his way to the Second Prince’s banquet, he was assassinated by an assassin from Northern Qi on Oxen Street. The three of them looked at each other, thinking of the past several months ago and several months later, they could not help but have some inexplicable feelings, and laughed unanimously.

Once the laughter was over, the matter was about to be over. Fan Xian smiled bitterly and said, “Although what Your Second Highness has set up is not a Hongmen Banquet, it is indeed frightening to have to take this great risk in order to eat.”

The second prince and Li Hongcheng heard the words Hongmen Banquet and were slightly stunned, but their faces were extremely well concealed, they naturally hadn’t heard of this allusion, but due to their own honorable status, they naturally couldn’t speak out to inquire. The second prince smiled slightly and said, “Don’t call your highness, just follow Wan Er and call me second brother.”

Fan Xian face color unchanged, but in his heart, he felt some trouble, this relationship to pull too close …… seems to always have some problems. Seems to guess what he is worried about, the second prince hands hanging down in front of his knees, still half squatting and smiled: “Everything does not need to be too cautious, Wan’er is the treasure of the palace, you have to remember, you now have more than one big brother, still in the west to play on horseback, I, the second brother is still hiding in the Hanlin Academy to compile the book, as for the crown prince’s third brother, you have to be even more close to it. Does having more relatives bother you so much?”

Fan Xian smiled, thinking that all these royal relatives were certainly the source of great trouble, and responded, “This is my blessing, it’s just that it does feel a bit rude not to address Your Highness.”

The Second Prince laughed bitterly, “Go home and ask Wan Er how she calls me.”

After exchanging pleasantries, the banquet opened, the table was filled with some seasonal fresh vegetables and exquisite small dishes, Fan Xian ate extremely happily. He has long formulated the strategy, so after familiarizing himself with it, he has already let go of his mind, and the three of them casually chatted about the past events of the characters in the capital and the legacy of the former sages, and they also had a good time talking to each other.

The second prince is really deeply affected by Shu Guifei, for the literature of the way deep research, and Fan Xian a song and quite a match, Li Hongcheng in the side but said some of the fat between the wonderful news, not without mentioning the Sinan Bo Fan Jian adults when the brilliant achievements, the topic of the men together, the second prince, although and Fan Xian inconvenient to talk, but the atmosphere has succeeded in lively up. Fan Xian, however, kept his words to himself, only telling stories about Tanyu State and what he had seen along the way.

At the end of the meal, the second prince and Fan Xian each had their own good fortune and smiled as they bid farewell.

The second prince did not see them off, still squatting on that chair, this half of the morning, he surprisingly maintained this posture without moving, he watched Fan Xian and Li Hongcheng’s figures disappear in front of the entrance to the courtesan boat, before he sighed softly.

“What does Your Highness think of this young Lord Fan?” The disciple of the Second Prince’s relative respectfully inquired.

The second prince smiled faintly and said, “This brother-in-law is too cautious, where is half of the proud and wild indulgence that has been cultivated in the bones of the Qing people over the decades, to be honest, I really doubt that the Little Fan who went on a poetic spree at that night banquet at the palace was the same person that I saw today.”

After saying this, he habitually lowered his head again, his hand reaching aside to touch the bunch of green grapes. As soon as the disciple saw this, he knew that His Second Highness was again thinking about some extremely important national matters, and not daring to disturb, he hurriedly withdrew from the door silently.

After a long time, the second prince slowly raised his head, and his eyes were perplexed for a while, in fact, he was not thinking about any state affairs, but was only thinking about the “Hongmen Banquet” that Fan Xian had said at the very beginning, and he had followed his mother’s recitation of the classics since he was a little boy, but he still did not remember what the allusion was to this “Hongmen Banquet”. was an allusion to.

“Brother-in-law is really knowledgeable, it seems that I have to go back and check the books.”

The second prince’s white teeth together, crushed the green grapes in his mouth, the juice was incredibly sweet and sour.

”Note 1: Yuanqu Lu Zhi Zhi’s intoxication of the east wind.”