Chapter 66 Good Times

Chen Wenzong stood beside the table, holding a piece of rice paper and silently reciting poems about autumn, as calm as jade.

For some reason, he felt a trace of regret and sorrow in his heart.

He regretted that except for the poem "Withered Vines, Old Trees, and Dusk Crows", all of these poems consisted of only one sentence. Although a single sentence of a poem is exquisite, it still lacks some complete artistic conception and cannot be considered a complete work.

Chen Wenzong was about to put down the rice paper, but picked it up again... It was these regrets of incomplete sentences that made him feel itchy.

He looked at the handwriting of the poem: the font was beautiful, it must not have been written by the prince.

Chen Wenzong recalled that when the maid took down the curtain, it was Princess Baili who picked up the pen. Could it be that the princess wrote it? If he saw the princess again next time, he would definitely ask her what these complete poems looked like.

The eldest son of the Chen family in Luocheng was so absorbed in the poetry that he completely forgot that his younger brother Chen Ji was also at the table.

"Brother, what's wrong? Why are you standing there motionless?" Chen Wenxiao asked.

"Huh? I'm reading poetry," Chen Wenzong came back to his senses.

At this time, Lin Chaojing also stood up and walked over, wanting to see what Chen Wenzong was holding in his hand: "Is it the poem written by that prince? When we were in Donglin Academy before, I advised him not to make trouble in the academy, but he just didn't listen..."

As he was talking, when Lin Chaojing saw the nine lines of poetry in Chen Wenzong's hand, he was also stunned.

More and more people gathered in front of the table. Princess Baili had a total of three pages of rice paper, so these three pages of rice paper circulated among different people.

Two maids came up and said with a smile, "My dear lords, my daughter is here!"

But Liu Xingshou was seen slowly climbing up the wooden stairs. She looked to be about eighteen or nineteen years old, and her appearance was not particularly beautiful. On the contrary, she looked a little mediocre compared to the carefully dressed women in Red Lane.

But there is a kind of lively cuteness in the eyes and eyebrows.

Liu Su went upstairs, but saw all the scholars gathered in front of a table, and no one looked at her.

The maid wanted to speak up again to remind everyone, but Liu Su stopped her with a smile. She tiptoed over and asked a scholar with a smile: "What are you looking at?"

It was not until the fragrant breeze blew in his face that the scholar realized: "Ah, we are reading poetry."

Liu Su looked at the poem on the rice paper and asked curiously, "Hey, which gentleman wrote this?"

"The prince of Jing Palace wrote this, and he's gone now."

"Gone?" Liu Su came to the window, leaned on the window frame and looked down at the embroidery building, only to see the prince and his entourage talking, laughing, and playing as they walked out of the embroidery building.

The scenery downstairs is much more interesting than that upstairs.

Liu Su smiled and said, "They are so lively. I really want to keep them for a drink, or go drink with them."

The maid was stunned for a moment: "Miss, what should we do now? Do you want me to ask them to come back?"

Liu Su smiled and said, "No need. Interesting people are best viewed from a distance. If you get too close, they won't be that interesting. Let's go. We still have to deal with those boring men."

"Should we find someone to fill the three empty seats?"

"Well, it doesn't matter who makes the money."

……

……

The prince came out of the embroidery building. It was obvious that he was angry, but he was as arrogant as a general who had just won a battle.

Someone at the door saw him coming out and asked curiously, "Didn't the prince go into the embroidery building? Why did he come out so soon?"

The prince smiled openly and said, "I can't write poetry, so I just wrote it out!"

"Have you seen Chief Liu?"

"I didn't see it. Fortunately, I didn't spend any money, otherwise I would have lost a lot!"

At this time, along the bluestone road of Baiyi Lane, every household hung up beautifully shaped lanterns, some in the shape of koi fish and some in the shape of buildings, which were exquisite and interesting.

The people walking on the street are all scholars and literati who know everything about astronomy and geography.

The prince and his companions seemed out of place as they walked carelessly on this path.

When they were far away from the embroidery building, the prince asked Bai Li in a low voice: "Did I do the right thing today?"

Bai Li smiled and said, "That's right, you are worthy of being my brother. You should be so decisive in your life."

"Hehe," the prince stretched his clothes proudly, "They despise us, but we despise them! Since we can't even compete in poetry, we won't compete anymore!"

Bai Li's eyes curved with laughter: "Yes, what's the point of comparing."

Liu Quxing added: "Look at the way Lin Chaojing showed off just now, like a peacock spreading its tail."

She Dengke said in a muffled voice: "You didn't learn much from Master's medical skills, but you did learn the true ability to harm others..."

Everyone burst into laughter, and the unpleasantness just now was swept away.

At this time, Liang Gou'er asked, "Prince, where are we going now? To Hongyi Lane Jinfang or somewhere else?"

The prince waved his hand and said, "Let's not go to Hongyi Lane yet. The little monk should have finished chanting by now. Let's pick up the little monk and then go to Jinfang together! How can we just leave him alone on such a happy occasion? The lame man has been carried out, and what's missing is a monk?"

Chen Ji: "...After we return to the palace, can you please leave me in the clinic and not worry about my life or death? I don't want to drink."

"no!"

"Let's go back to the palace to pick up the little monk. No one can be left behind!"

"Pick up the little monk!"

Chen Ji watched helplessly as this group of lunatics were arm in arm, laughing and joking. Suddenly he had to walk for more than half an hour to go back to the palace to pick up the little monk, and then walk for another half an hour to go back to the East Market...

Just like when everyone is young, they can be reckless and waste time. As long as you are still standing in your youth and fall asleep, the world will forgive you.

At some point, you will be convinced by the world that this is wrong.

But when you look back in your twilight years, you will suddenly realize that there is no right or wrong, success or failure in this world. The days when you and your friends stood on the table and sang until dawn, and smiled foolishly when you looked at the girl you liked, were the real good times.

Because you can never go back.

Chen Ji asked, "Princess Baili, are your brothers usually this crazy?"

Princess Baili smiled and said, "He is usually even crazier than now. Two years ago, when he returned to Luocheng during the Lantern Festival, he was drunk and insisted on going to the Tuoluo Temple to ring the bell. He and a few of his friends secretly climbed over the wall in the middle of the night. The ringing of the bell woke up hundreds of residents nearby, so my father hung him on the beam and beat him for a whole day."

"Why would he want to ring the bell?!"

"He said he wanted to wake up those people in the world who couldn't be awakened..."

Chen Ji stood in awe: "It really woke up a lot of people."

"I followed him out now because I was worried that he would do something so outrageous again."

"Are you sorry that your brother got beaten?"

Bai Li shook his head: "Last time, my father beat him and he fell ill after a day of exhaustion. It took him half a month to recover. Father is already busy and tired, and it would be bad if he got angry again."

Chen Ji: "...the love between father and daughter is so deep."

……

...By the time everyone picked up the little monk and returned to the East Market, it was already late at night.

Hongyi Lane is still brightly lit, with two rows of red lanterns hanging from the beginning to the end of the street, like fireworks that will never go out.

When Liang Gou'er passed by the buildings carrying the bamboo chair, the girl upstairs waved her handkerchief with a sweet smile: "Isn't this Brother Gou'er? Who did you get together with to drink wine today? Don't go to Jinfang to find Miss Yan'er. You can't drink more than her. Come drink with me. I'll be drunk after two cups!"

Liang Gou'er laughed and scolded: "I won't drink with you, I'm afraid you will suck my Yang energy!"

The girl upstairs started to curse: "Liang Gou'er, the wine you bought is enough for Yan'er to open another gold shop. You were coaxed and didn't listen to the advice. What she drank with you was not wine at all, but water!"

Liang Gou'er continued to carry the bamboo chair forward, smiling as he walked, "I'd love to!"

At this time, a bright and charming girl came out from the gold shop to greet him: "Brother Gou'er, you are here!"

Liang Gou'er laughed: "Miss Yan'er, don't go to greet other guests today. Ask the girls to take care of our table and don't neglect my new friend."

Yan'er took a look at the silver-threaded dark-patterned python robe on the prince and immediately responded with a smile, "Okay!"

She led everyone up to the second floor and arranged a very spacious private room. The dishes and drinks were served like a buffet, and no two dishes were the same.

After a while, a group of girls rushed in with fragrant breeze. Bai Li glanced at them and pointed at Chen Ji: "He doesn't need company. He is injured."

At this time, a girl wanted to sit on the prince's lap. The prince looked at Bai Li and said with a smile: "No, no, just drink."

At this time, a guest outside said, "Have you heard that the idiot prince of Prince Jing's Mansion wrote twelve lines of poetry in the Embroidery Tower?"

"Oh? How's it going?"

"Haha, did you know that Lin Chaojing, the one who has the best chance of competing with Chen Wenzong for the title of Jieyuan this year, said that the prince's writing is crap. He only wrote half a sentence of each poem, and no sentence is complete. I don't know where he picked it up from, or if he bought it."

"What did the others say?"

"Others also said so, saying that the prince's level is only able to spell half a poem."

"The idiot prince."

The private room where the prince sat was quiet. He drank a large bowl of wine, exhaled a breath of alcohol and asked, "Miss, let me ask you, how do you think of the poem 'The scenery in the frontier changes in autumn, and the geese in Hengyang leave without notice'?"

The girl smiled and said, "Good brother, I don't understand what you are saying."

The prince scratched his head and asked, "'After the rain in the empty mountains, the weather turns to autumn late', is this sentence well written?"

The girl refilled his glass and said with a smile, "Don't embarrass me, my lord. If you want to attract me with poetry, you have to go to White Clothes Lane. It's better to fill the glass in our Red Clothes Lane first. We can't accommodate scholars here!"

The prince was startled, then burst into laughter: "This place is good, this place is good! I don't like those scholars either!"

The girl smiled and covered her mouth, "There are also middle-aged scholars who like to come to Hongyi Lane quietly. Before going to bed, they would quietly take the Sea Dog Pills for curing impotence with wine and ask me to wait and not to be anxious. Before the effect of the medicine came on, he would talk to me about the history of the Han Dynasty, the meaning of the classics, and everything from astronomy to geography. I admired him so much at that time. When the medicine took effect, I asked him where Sirius was, and he said don't ask, just take off your clothes quickly."

The little monk's face turned red as he listened. He recited the scriptures while listening and listened while reciting the scriptures.

The prince thought back to what the other guests had just said. It turned out that the poems he had been thinking about before were not as important as he had imagined. "When I first arrived at Donglin Academy, I saw Chen Wenzong and Lin Chaojing reciting poems and composing couplets. I was so envious. How could they be so elegant and graceful, and why couldn't I? If I could write a good poem, such as 'If life could only be like the first meeting, why would the autumn wind make the painted fan sad', I could stand with them. Today I suddenly realized that they and I are from two different worlds. There is no need to force it."

The prince picked up the bowl and held it up to Chen Ji from a distance: "I'm sorry that your poem has been insulted along with me."

Chen Ji smiled and comforted him: "It's okay, you paid for it."

The prince drank more and talked more: "And the gentlemen in the academy, they always ask us to be self-reliant, but they themselves bring concubines into the academy... Oh, Donglin Party members."

Bai Li frowned and pinched the flesh on the prince's waist fiercely: "Brother, be careful with your words."

"Haha, let's stop talking, let's drink!"

No one knew how much wine the prince drank that night. Chen Ji didn't want to drink, but he drank until he was dizzy without realizing it.

The Secret Service Department, the Military Intelligence Department, the fighting skills, the sword techniques, all were thrown behind the mind, leaving only the sweet wine in the Red Lane.

Chen Ji forgot why he drank so much. He only remembered that when he was dazed, someone shouted, "Let's go to the Drum Tower to watch the sunrise," and then a group of people carried him out the door.

Before leaving, Liang Gou'er took Yan'er's hand and asked, "Do you want to go watch the sunrise?"

Miss Yan'er smiled and said, "There is still business in the gold shop."

Liang Gou'er asked again: "Are you going?"

Miss Yan'er replied: "Go."

They ran madly to the Drum Tower in Luocheng in the dark. Bai Li stuffed a silver peanut into the hands of the soldier guarding the Drum Tower, and the soldier let them go.

Arriving at the top of the Drum Tower, Chen Ji opened his eyes as the cool autumn wind blew.

He saw the prince sitting dejectedly on the railing, as if he would fall down at any time if the wind blew.

The prince asked loudly: "Liu Quxing, what do you want to do in the future?"

"I want to inherit my master's legacy and become an imperial physician!"

"Okay, from now on you will be the imperial physician of my Prince Jing's Mansion!"

The prince asked loudly again: "Liang Maoer, what do you want to do in the future?"

Liang Maoer thought for a moment and said, "I want to buy a few acres of land."

"I'll send it to you tomorrow!"

The prince then asked, "Chen Ji, what do you want to do in the future?"

Chen Ji said in a daze: "I don't know... I really don't know, let's just survive first."

Everyone laughed: "What's the point of thinking about staying alive?"

"Prince, what do you want to do in the future?" Liang Maoer asked, looking up.

"I want to be a great knight!" The prince said with a smile, "I just realized that reading those scriptures is useless. From now on, read whichever page the wind blows to. Tear off the page that is difficult to read! Beat the drum!"

After saying this, he picked up the drumstick and was about to hit the huge drum upstairs.

However, Bai Li stopped him and said, "Brother, think carefully. If you hit it with the hammer, the soldier guarding the drum tower downstairs will be exiled!"

The prince let go of his hand and said, "Then I won't knock."

Chen Ji looked to the other side again. Liang Gou'er was looking at the sky in a daze, while Miss Yan'er was leaning gently on him, not knowing what she was thinking.

Liang Gou'er embraced her: "Liu Xian, where have you been all these years?"

Yan'er grabbed Liang Gou'er's collar, as if she wanted to hold on to the warmth of this prodigal son. She whispered, "He's back."

"It'll be good to come back, it'll be good to come back."

As soon as the words came out, someone shouted: "The sun is out!"

Chen Ji looked up and saw a red sun slowly rising at the end of the world, clouds moving, and orange-red light gradually shining on everyone.

There are a bunch of idiots around me who are drunk and crazy, but even the morning sun in autumn is so gentle.

Bai Li looked at Chen Ji and asked, "What are you thinking about?"

Chen Ji smiled and said, "I want that cloud in the sky to stop."

(End of this chapter)