Chapter 28: Wife
After re-copying the Three Character Classic, Yun Ye finally let out a sigh of relief. He quietly erased the passages after the Sui Dynasty, which must have cost him a lot of brain cells. When he was reciting it in class, he almost revealed his foot. With the quick wit that his wife had cultivated over the years, he managed to swallow the sentence “Tang Gaozu, uprising division, excepting the chaos of the Sui Dynasty, creating the foundation of the country. Twenty generations, three hundred years, the Liang Dynasty was destroyed, and the country was changed. Liang, Tang, Jin, Han, Zhou, and the Five Dynasties all had their origins in this.” He swallowed this sentence.
Li Yuan is still alive. If you give him a temple name now, even if Li Er will let Yun Ye go, the scholars of the world will tear Yun Ye to pieces. After eliminating the characters after the Sui Dynasty, the Three Character Classic was shortened by a long way. Who cares? It’s good enough for the children to have a book to read. How dare they pursue perfection?
For some reason, the other princes did not ask Yun Ye about the Three Character Classic, but continued to rummage through Yun Ye’s backpack, hoping to find more delicious food. They did not understand the importance of a new enlightenment book? Among them, Li Ke, with his rosy lips and white teeth, and Li Tai, who was plump and round, were indifferent, as if fried chicken was more important than the Three Character Classic. There was no teacher today, Song Lian ran away halfway, and half a day of class time was spent in a group of milk-voiced children saying poetry. Cheng Chumo was lying on the desk, snoring, and Yun Ye was also sleepy. Next to it was a large bronze stove, which made the people baked feel weak all over. Yun Ye couldn’t resist the invasion of the sleeping demon in the end, leaning on the low table to talk to Zhou Gong about the ownership of the “Three Character Classic.”
Every day at noon, there is a free lunch to eat, which is very important, especially for two people who have slept all morning.
The cheese was very sweet, the rice was soft and fragrant, and the radish soup was delicious. I don’t know what kind of animal meat it was made from, but it was milky white and looked appetizing. There was one and a half chickens per person, but where was Yun Ye’s chicken leg? Could it be that people in the palace don’t eat chicken legs? I looked back and saw Cheng Chumo holding a chicken leg and fighting. I looked again at Li Chengqian’s half-chicken, which was perched on its oily yellow leg, showing off its existence.
The cook stole it! Yun Ye was furious. He didn’t like chicken legs, but he was disgusted by eating other people’s saliva. He was about to get angry, but then he saw the palace maid who was carrying the tray of food next to him unconsciously shaking.
The thief was found, but Yun Ye was not angry. It seems that the little girl really likes chicken legs. If a person’s bad luck is caused by a chicken leg, Yun Ye thinks it’s better not to make a fuss. He finished two bowls of rice with radish soup and was satisfied with his chopsticks. Li Chengqian saw that Yun Ye’s plate only had half a chicken leg and asked Yun Ye, “What, the food in the palace is not to your liking?”
“No, it’s delicious. This bowl of radish soup is not something an ordinary cook can make. I’ve even eaten two bowls of rice.”
“Nonsense, I know you well. You used to like chicken neck the most, but today you only ate chicken legs. Isn’t that strange? You always say that only poor people like chicken legs, and nobles only eat chicken neck and wings.”
Yun Ye leaned over to Li Chengqian and whispered, “None of your business.”
“Lord of Lantian, do you know that every grain of rice and every morsel of food is hard-won? You’re actually leaving food on your plate today, which is not only contrary to your teacher’s teachings, but also contrary to the way of a gentleman.” This bastard had a righteous look on his face, and he couldn’t see the messy leftovers in his own plate, but he pointed at the chicken in Yun Ye’s plate and cried out in indignation.
Cheng Chumo ran over and looked at it and laughed. He grabbed the half chicken and started to eat it. After a few bites, he spat out a bone and touched his stomach and burped happily.
“No, Your Highness, as the crown prince of our country, you naturally have to set an example in everything. I saved that chicken for Chu Mo to eat. You know that we brothers have always been inseparable. I don’t know why Your Highness’s plate is as messy as a battle between eight countries, like a bandit entering the village.
Li Chengqian saw that all his brothers and sisters had left, so he said, “It’s all your fault. Ever since I ate that dish called “slaughtering a pig” at your house, I have hated the food in the palace. I never thought that the food in the palace was inferior to your food, and it makes me ashamed. When are you going to cook some more pork dishes so that my brothers and I can satisfy our cravings? I’ve already decided that you should make more pork belly and more of the chicken you brought today. I’m sorry I had to fight with my brothers and sisters for it. As soon as no one was around, Li Chengqian immediately lost his royal bearing and reverted to the lively and carefree noble youth from Longyou.
“My cook was taken away by you, and my cook Liu Qi cried for days. Don’t tell me you really took the cook to bed instead of putting her in the kitchen?”
“You damned bastard, with your cook’s body weighing nearly 200 catties, who would put her on the bed? It was me who invited my father and mother to a meal, and my father thought it was very appetizing, so he took the cook to the imperial kitchen. I’m still using the old cook.” Li Chengqian was going crazy. It was better to die than to have a reputation for liking fat women.
“That’s it, my cook is completely hopeless. Once you enter the palace, it’s like a sea, and Liu Lang is a passer-by from now on.” Yun Ye sighed with emotion, and Cheng Chumo laughed heartily. Li Chengqian also found it funny.
He didn’t even think about visiting the palace. Although Yun Ye really wanted to see the Xuanwu Gate where the historical event took place, no one had the courage to take him through the entire palace to the crime scene in the north.
He left the palace through the same corridor, and the sweet fragrance of makeup wafted through the walls, causing him to daydream. He suddenly remembered a passage from an ancient poem: “The stars are shining brightly, and the makeup mirror is open; the green clouds are fluttering, and the hair is combed; the Wei River is overflowing, and the fat is discarded. This is very similar to the scene in front of him. He remembered that this was a sentence from Du Mu’s “Afang Palace Fu.”
To take the world for one person, what a waste of money. But this is a feudal dynasty, and Li Er is the master of the world. He has everything and enjoys everything, which is only natural.
It has been four months since the locust warning was passed on, and apart from Zuowei buying a large amount of grain from Longyou, there has been no other movement. Li Er never mentioned it, nor did Changsun, and even Niu Jinda, who claimed not to let anyone starve to death, seemed to have forgotten about it. If I had known this, I never should have taken the risk of mentioning it. Yun Ye was a little confused. As a future person, he clearly knew that there was a huge pit ahead, but he was being dragged into it by the crowd, unable to resist.
“Cheng Qian, how does the court prepare for the locust plague?” Yun Ye’s sudden question left Li Chengqian speechless.
“Yezi, it’s still winter. It’s still early before the locusts arrive.”
“Alas! It seems that I am still a minor figure with little influence. No one believes that a huge disaster is coming. Well, since I know that disaster is coming, I will do what I can. I will save as many people as I can in Guanzhong, and do my best to serve the Great Tang and His Majesty. I can’t live like this anymore.” I never thought that I, who was just trying to get by, would have such thoughts. Yun Ye kept questioning himself. Li Chengqian was hesitant to speak, and Cheng Chumo patted Yun Ye on the shoulder and said, “No matter what you plan to do, I will help you.”
Cheng Qian, Chu Mo, I am a mere mortal in this world, and I plan to live and die in this world. By a twist of fate, I have entered the palace, and I should do what great men should do. I have seen the terrible flood, the drought that has scorched the land for thousands of miles, and the ravages of the plague. I know how fragile human life is under the tyranny of nature. Just now, I clearly knew in my heart that I was a fragile egg, but I couldn’t help but collide with the disaster that was about to come. I don’t seek to establish any great feats, only to have peace of mind. I plan to decline the empress’s kindness, leave Chang’an, and make some arrangements in my fiefdom to deal with the disaster. Chu Mo, I appreciate your kindness, but this is different. You can’t get involved, and I can’t let you bet with me on the correctness of the master’s words.
Cheng Chumo shrugged: “I’ve been bored for a long time. How can I miss such an interesting thing? Besides, I’m going to be on my own in the future. Why not take this opportunity to hone some skills for the future? Rely on my father, and then on you?” This is very true. Without a backer, without the ability to stand on your own, sooner or later you will be eliminated. Political struggles are cruel. One day, the mountain will fall. When everyone is relying on others, it is up to yourself. No one can help.
Li Chengqian seemed to have something to say, but he swallowed it down. Yun Ye finally realized a truth in this corridor: you can’t be afraid of the wolf in front and the tiger behind. People are not turtles who can hide their heads in their shells and ignore the turmoil outside. The reason for the wretched thoughts of the past few months is that I have a family, an elderly grandmother, and a young sister. I always feel that it is my greatest responsibility to make them happy and happy. Even if I become a turtle myself, it doesn’t matter. It was only by following this principle that I was able to survive in the future. When I dreamt at night, I would think about the great ambitions I had set out to achieve, and I would be so excited that I would stay up all night. When it was light, I would have to flatter my boss to get a few coins to feed my family. I always switched between being noble and wretched. In short, I had no interest in life!
A sound of footsteps interrupted the three people’s reverie. A woman in green walked over, unaccompanied by a female companion. She walked alone in the silent corridor like she was walking on a busy street, without the haste of an ordinary woman. She wore a gauze hat on her head, and the white gauze that hung down covered her face, making her look very mysterious. When she saw Li Chengqian, she only bowed slightly and left without even saying hello. Li Chengqian actually returned the bow and did not speak. Yun Ye was curious. A gust of wind blew and lifted the corner of the veil, revealing a beautiful face.
“Wife?” Yun Ye shouted.
The woman in green froze, but after a brief pause, she continued walking. After a few steps, she turned around, looked at the surprised Yun Ye, raised her foot and stomped down heavily. A scream, Yun Ye jumped on the ground with his feet, but said, “Wife, what are you doing? If you have something to say, say it at home, not in front of strangers…” Before he finished speaking, a pink fist rapidly enlarged in front of his eyes. After a loud “bang,” Yun Ye lay unconscious on the ground, and the green-clad woman wiped her hands with a handkerchief, snorted, and left.