Chapter 32: His expression and voice revealed his intentions

Yun Ye was jumping around the garden path with a smile on his face. Li Chengqian was worried about his mental state. He had never seen a man who was happy to be stabbed in front of his parents for giving a girl a gift and lost his face. He was afraid that the man might be mad. He quietly walked two steps away from him to keep him from hurting him.

“Xiao Ye, An Lan has always been like this. I’ve never seen her give my father face. Although my father reduced her expenses a bit, she still refused to accept them. She also opened a small farm in the area of the Listening to the Waves Pavilion. Although she couldn’t a few grains of grain, but she is happy to do it. My mother-in-law went to persuade her, but she just cried. In the end, she still lived alone. Her mother was lowly in status, but she was also a famous concubine, and often sent her things, so she didn’t starve to death. My father said she was a stubborn mule, so don’t get into a fight with her.” Li Chengqian actually hoped that Yun Ye would become his brother-in-law. After all, this was his first friend, and he didn’t want to see the two of them get hurt.

He had no idea of the happiness in Yun Ye’s heart. Yun Ye was shouting in his heart at this time: “That’s right, that’s right. A good girl won’t be moved by a little favor. My wife was like that back then. I spent more than 100 yuan on a rabbit doll to express my feelings to her after not having breakfast for a month. She used ink painted her eyes black, making the rabbit look like a panda. She gave it back to me, and in the end, she told the teacher that I was a rascal, causing me to be checked by the whole class. She watched with a smile on her face. So what? In the end, she became my wife. Do you think I like Li Anlan? If it weren’t for the fact that her face is exactly the same as my wife’s, would I have gone after her? I must get her back, even if I don’t do anything with her, I just want to look at her when I dream at night. I dare not reveal this murderous thought to Li Chengqian, otherwise he will really kill me a thousand times.”

“Who says Anlan didn’t accept my gift? I made six dishes, but there were only five on the table. Where did the one called “beggar chicken” go? Don’t tell me Anlan has a habit of throwing food.”

“Beggar’s chicken? What is beggar’s chicken? Is it edible?” Li Chengqian grasped the crux of the matter.

“A real delicacy. A one-year-old chicken is gutted, marinated in oil, salt, spices and cooking wine, wrapped in lotus leaves and covered with yellow mud, then burned in a fire. When the mud dries out, the chicken is cooked. The aroma is overwhelming when the mud shell is opened. Your home-cooked chicken can’t even come close.” Anyway, if he’s happy, he’ll give His Highness a lesson in food.

“Gudong.” Li Chengqian swallowed a big mouthful of saliva, his eyes red, and dragged Yun Ye to the East Palace. He passed by the Tingtao Pavilion and shouted Cheng Chumo, but the guy was still sleeping soundly. A few little tyrants next to him poked him in the nose with a straw, but they couldn’t wake him up.

Li Chengqian sent his sister-in-law away with a stern face and whispered in Cheng Chumo’s ear, “It’s time to eat.” The guy immediately stood up and walked out without even opening his eyes.

Donggong, I didn’t take a good look last time I came, but this time I noticed that Li Er was abusing the young man. The house was tall and the doorposts were thick, but the roof was overgrown with grass and the doorposts were colorful. A closer look revealed that they weren’t painted, but that the old paint had peeled off to reveal the old paint underneath. I don’t know how many years it hasn’t been renovated. The house was clean, but there was no atmosphere. Several half-dead eunuchs stood nearby, greeting the three of them in a strange manner. They didn’t see the beautiful young boy called Xiangxin, nor did they see any maids under the age of thirty. Yun Ye and Cheng Chumo exchanged glances, then looked at Li Chengqian.

Li Chengqian smiled bitterly: “My mother said that diligence in study is good, but idleness is bad. Master Li Gang said that young people should avoid lust. My father said that people born in hardship die in comfort. He told me to always keep a vigilant heart and not to think too much about things outside of myself. I am doing very well now, and I often receive praise from my father, mother, and master. They want me to continue to work hard to be an excellent Tang prince.”

Either break out in silence or die in silence. This is best illustrated by Li Chengqian, so much so that all future emperors used him as a model to warn their successors. In Yun Ye’s view, Li Chengqian’s later perverse behavior was largely due to Li Er and his wife. The strict royal education had worn away the already thin family affection. It was strange that a person in a high-walled compound did not learn the freedom and tyranny of the Turkic people. As for the young boys, if you don’t let them have normal contact with women, you just suppress them. Under the operation of the teenager’s rebellious psychology, this disgusting thing will happen naturally.

“Haha, who let you be the prince, we two brothers don’t have this kind of distress, we live in a good house, we eat delicious food, we go to the brothel if we want to, we go to the beautiful woman if we want to, how happy it is.” Yun Ye showed off to Li Chengqian without a heart or a lung.

Li Chengqian’s face was even more bitter, and even Cheng Chumo, who had no heart or lungs, couldn’t bear to look at it anymore. After all, he was the prince, a precocious twelve-year-old boy. Although the resistance in his heart was getting stronger and stronger, he didn’t show it. He said lightly, “It’s okay, one day I will be like this too!”

This sentence made Yun Ye’s heart go cold. One day, when would this day be? When the rebellion? If I were the emperor, I would do as I pleased. If any of my subjects dared to advise me, I would kill them. If I killed five hundred, wouldn’t that be fine? This bastard’s words completely ruined him and his dreams of becoming an emperor. The ancients said that it is better to be generous than to be strict! Evil thoughts are like a flood or a ferocious beast that cannot be stopped. Even the ancient sage Yu understood this thousands of years ago. How could Li Er, who had been so clever all his life, not understand? The young man in front of him was courteous and polite, with a charming demeanor. Who knew that he had a ferocious beast inside him that would devour people?

“Therefore, when Heaven wishes to confer a great task upon a person, it first makes his heart bitter, his bones weary, his flesh hungry, his body weak, and his actions disordered, so that his mind may be moved and his character may be tempered, and what he cannot do may be made possible.”

Li Chengqian then recited: “People always make mistakes, but then they can change. They are troubled in their hearts and weigh their thoughts before they act; they show it in their expressions and speak it in their voices before they explain it. If there is no one to advise the ruler when he enters, and no one to warn him when he leaves, the country will always perish. Then one will know that one is born in trouble and dies in peace.”

After reciting, Li Chengqian asked Yun Ye, “Ye Zi, do you also think that Mencius’ words are right?”

Ignoring the despair in his eyes, he said, “Of course it’s right. It’s very suitable for telling others. For example, I can tell you right now.”

His eyes lit up, and Yun Ye knew that he understood the meaning of the words. However, in the future, Li Chengqian would say things like, “Heaven will bestow great responsibilities on this person, and it will first make him bitter in spirit…” Yun Ye would never admit that he had taught Li Chengqian to say this to others.

Everyone understands the big principles. If you are not a born saint, don’t follow the description in the book about what people should do. That is literary work, used to educate people. It can only be said that it is a universal value. We can praise the virtues depicted in the book, and even occasionally a saint we can worship, passing on his virtues from generation to generation.

Knowing the right way, you don’t have to take it. If everyone takes the same road, will there be traffic jams on that road? At this time, the guy who took the long way home may have arrived at home before you, sitting on the sofa drinking beer and watching the game, while you are stuck in traffic and can only use a plastic bag to solve the problem of urinating and defecating.

Lei Feng is a saint, and we are all learning from him. We even heard that his spirit is also very popular in the United States. Helping others within our abilities is our duty as human beings. Intentionally doing so is beyond our capabilities and may even lead to malicious speculation. This is Yun Ye’s bottom line.

Li Chengqian seemed very excited, having solved the knot that had troubled him for a long time. Although he was still a little confused, his spirit was very good. Knowing that this kind of kid with a lot of ideas in his head now needed to think for himself, and just as he was about to give him the space to think, a thunderous grumbling sound came from the kitchen. Cheng Chumo looked at the two idiots playing charades with a fierce look, and it was already past noon and they hadn’t eaten yet.

The eunuchs in the East Palace were going crazy. The Prince of the Great Tang, the Marquis of the Great Tang, and the Young Master of the Great Tang took off their outer robes and ran into the kitchen wearing only tight-fitting clothes and trousers. The Young Master was killing the chickens, the Marquis was plucking the feathers, and the Prince was making a fire. They were so covered in soot that they could hardly be recognized. No, the Marquis had found a hoe and was digging in the ground, and the Prince was working with mud. Were they going to build a wall? He also ordered lotus leaves to be brought to wrap the chickens in, and Lord Yun wrapped the chickens in mud and buried them in the fire to cremate them.

They were drinking wine, fortunately, it was grape wine.

The cold winter air was dispersed by the bonfire, and the overcast sky was unusually clear. Three young nobles sat on a stone in the East Palace Garden, drinking from a jar and occasionally fighting and grabbing from each other. When they were tired, they leaned against the old tree roots to catch their breath.

“This is the most beautiful day of my life. Even if I am punished by my mother later, it will be worth it.” Li Chengqian, who was not strong enough to drink, pouted and said with a flushed face.

“Nonsense, still a lifetime, you’re still a sprout, you’re not even a bud yet and you’re already talking about being old and decrepit. You think you’re miserable? You won’t be saying that when you’re famous in the annals of history, but Your Majesty is destined to become the emperor of all time, you’re under a lot of pressure, right?

“Stronger than your ancestors, that’s what my father taught me. I don’t believe I’ll surpass my father. Cheng Qian, you should have ambition. All the bastards around our Great Tang are going to be smashed one by one. After smashing so many bastards, I don’t believe I’ll surpass the older generation.” Cheng Chumo never learned anything good from Yun Ye.

The three of them didn’t notice that Li Er was standing not far away in the bamboo forest. The eldest son was standing there, not coming over to listen to the three young men talking. The eunuchs and palace maids around him were hiding far away. Li Er, who was originally angry, had a calm expression, but the eldest son had a happy look.

“Do you remember the article we studied with my master in Longyou?”

“You call it an article? It’s only a short paragraph, but it’s quite inspiring for a young man. It’s quite in line with the mood to recite it while drinking.”

“What article? We’re together, we’re going to recite an article? Are you stupid?”

“The sun rises, its light is great. The river flows from the underground, and it pours into the ocean. The dragon lurks in the depths, its scales and claws flying. The tiger roars in the valley, and all the beasts tremble. The eagle tries its wings, and the wind and dust suck it up. The rare flower is born, and it is magnificent. The sword is sharp, and it has a sharp edge. Heaven wears its blue, and the earth wears its yellow. Even if there are thousands of years, there are eight desolate lands. The future is like the sea, and the days are long. How beautiful is my young China, and how old is the sky! How strong is my young China, and how boundless is the country!

At first, only Yun Ye and Li Chengqian recited in a scholarly manner, but after Cheng Chumo joined in, it gradually became more vigorous. After reciting once, they felt that it was not enough, so they opened their throats and howled again. The article itself has a passionate style, and it is most suitable for reciting aloud. At this moment, the young people’s minds were opened, and they felt that all the petty squabbles were not enough to be discussed under the young people’s ambitions.

The fire gradually died down, and the outer shell of the chicken was baked hard by the fire. The chicken was cooked, and the three brothers rushed to grab it, knocking off the shell and exposing the white, tender chicken meat in front of the three hungry teenagers.

Someone is coming.

The chicken was gone, Li Er had gone with a chicken leg in his mouth, and the eldest son had gone laughing with his mouth covered. The most hateful thing was that two eunuchs had followed with a basket of mud clods. All that was left were three young men looking at each other and a footprint on each of their bottoms.