Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 100 Invitation
The officials dispersed at Danfeng Gate, all thinking that the farce in Chunwei had subsided, but few people noticed what happened to the prince.

Because the whole thing seems to have nothing to do with the prince.

But after the sound of silk and bamboo in the Liyuan stopped, a eunuch carefully reminded him.

"Saint, the crown prince has been kneeling in the palace all night."

Li Longji had won many victories at the poker table last night, he was in high spirits, and ate his breakfast with a smile, but when he heard this, his expression immediately turned cold.

Gao Lishi stepped forward quickly, kicked the little eunuch aside, and said: "You are always talkative, others will think you have taken advantage of it."

"Slave convicted."

"I'm tired."

Li Longji was easy to get along with, he rarely blamed the people around him, and he calmly ordered people to arrange a ride to rest.

"Saint, how will the crown prince arrange it?"

"Can I arrange it? Can I arrange it?"

"The old slave talks too much."

Li Longji felt tired for a while when his interest decreased, and he couldn't help but sighed.

Recalling that when he was a teenager, he was so handsome, he supported his father's coup, and after his father abdicated as the Supreme Emperor, he took over the power all by himself.Ascending to the Ninth Five-Year Plan, he created the prosperous Tang Dynasty and ruled the officials. People say that "you can do what you want at seventy", and he has already done what you want.

There is only one thing that doesn't suit his heart - old.

Just because he was old, the officials insisted on a crown prince.

What is Chu Jun?On the surface, he is submissive, but secretly he has been coveting everything that belongs to him.I can't wait for him to die, and when he dies, I will chase beauties in this forbidden garden...

Li Linfu's words that really offended him last night were actually "the crown prince is also the king", which made him so angry that he wished he could abolish the crown prince.

Unfortunately, it will be troublesome.

That's how the murderous aura came from at that time. The king's mind was all over the world, and he wanted to kill in a rage only when he was powerless, and it was aimed at the prince.

Therefore, once Xue Bai draws a clear line, no matter how many careful thoughts he has, it doesn't matter.

Li Longji had seen through these people long ago.Civil servants, jesters, courtiers, even if they are bad to the bone, so what?Don't you have to play tricks to coax the king to be happy, and rack your brains to serve up delicious and fun things.

The only threat is the son.

"Ugh."

The sigh fell into Gong'e's ears, and they thought the saint was pitying the prince who had been kneeling all night.

~~
"Your Highness, get up."

Yu Chaoen carefully walked around behind Li Heng and helped the prince up.

"The saint played dominoes all night and has fallen asleep."

"Father didn't see me?"

"Slaves dare not say..."

Li Heng lowered his head, gently shook Yu Chaoen's hand, secretly gave him a sincere look, and said softly, "Please also ask the internal officer to save me."

"The sage said that His Highness could not be arranged. It was General Gao who asked His Highness to go back."

"Li Chu and Xue Bai are both young and impulsive, and I am definitely not instigating them." Li Heng was anxious, and said in a low voice: "I must explain to my father."

"But how can the servant help His Highness?"

"Can you let me meet Ah Weng?"

Yu Chaoen was so embarrassed, in the end, he stomped his feet, turned around to invite Gao Lishi, and only said that the prince refused to leave.

Gao Lishi had served Li Longji to sleep, shook his head, and finally came to see him in person.

"A Weng." Li Heng burst into tears, "Please A Weng save me."

"Your Highness, don't worry, and you shouldn't see this old slave. Go back and live well, and don't worry about the sky anymore to save yourself."

"I really didn't instigate it!" Li Heng said: "I neither instructed Li Chu to stand up for all the students, nor did I instruct Xue Bai to show blood certificates in public."

Li Heng knew very well that Xue Bai's actions had ruined the saint's perception of the East Palace.

The sage comforted the living beings, grounded the emperor's grandson, scolded Li Linfu and Xue Bai, but he ignored him, why?
Because the more furious the saint is, the more calm he will be!
"Father has seen Prime Minister Right, Xue Bai, but not me? At least you should give me a chance to explain..."

"Explain, what does Your Highness want to explain?"

"Aon, listen to me..."

"Your Highness wants to talk, it's better to talk to Wang Zhongsi and King Guangping." Gao Lishi was soft-hearted after all, "The saint wanted Shibao City, but His Highness asked Wang Zhongsi to preserve his strength; the Saint wanted to appease everyone, but His Highness let Guangping King Ping took the first step. Since His Highness is so capable, why bother to tell this old slave?"

"Even Aon doesn't believe me?"

"It doesn't matter if the old slave believes it or not, and it doesn't matter if the saint listens or not. What matters is His Highness's own heart."

"It's Brother Nu who is slandering again, and Xue Bai's blood testament is also..."

"If Your Highness is willing to keep quiet, can others get hold of it?!" Gao Lishi saw that the prince was still talking hard, and said, "The sage said, 'You don't need to listen to the explanation, since it can't destroy him, what's the use of explaining'? "

There was a "buzz" in Li Heng's head, as if hit by a thunderbolt, he froze there in fright, his back was covered in cold sweat.

~~
Big beads of sweat broke out from Xue Bai's back, flowing down his strong waist.

Du Jin firmly held onto the wooden railing beside the couch to avoid bumping her head against it.

Covered by the sound of the evening drum, she called out.

"dying!"

With this scream, the bed that seemed to be falling apart finally gradually stopped.

The setting sun shines through the window paper, dyeing the small attic golden.

After panting, Du Jin stroked the wet hair off her face, her gaze was different again.

"It's good that we died together just now."

"You don't need to be so uneasy all the time." Xue Bai caressed her soft, sweaty waist, "I won't die."

"Will you abandon me in the future?" Du Jin asked suddenly, looking much softer.

Xue Bai looked into her eyes.

He thought of what he said when he first met her, that if Donggong abandons the people around him, it will be bad for people's hearts. This is their consensus and their common bottom line.

Since then, the two have come to this point, not only driven by desire and interests, but also have a bond of life and death.

Although Xue Bai is not a moral gentleman, he has his own principles, otherwise he would not have taken the risk of showing blood yesterday.It's nothing compared to Donggong's practice of abandoning a child if he doesn't want to take a little risk.

He suddenly thought, what would he do if he were the prince?

Thinking about it, there is no way to achieve Li Heng's forbearance after all.He could only do his best to be better than Li Ying, since they all entered the palace in armor and soldiers, they didn't know why to hesitate, it was nothing more than death.

In this way, his cultivation base is still low when it comes to power techniques.Of course, it may not be good to practice power too high.

There was no need to talk to each other, Du Jin had already understood him, she leaned forward tenderly, and said, "Well, I wanted you to rest more."

"I'm full of sleep."

"Actually, I don't think you need to take risks for others about the matter of Chunwei."

"I feel that I have figured out a little bit of the saint's temper, and it's quite easy to get along with, as long as I don't get too close to the East Palace. In this regard, Ge Nu has a way, and he wants to tie me with the East Palace."

"Li Heng also knows this. After this incident, he will definitely pretend to be generous, get close to you, tie you into the water, and let the world think that you are part of his party."

Xue Bai murmured: "Don't be afraid, if he comes to tie me up, I will tie up his men."

Du Jin was not very happy when she heard that, she pressed Xue Bai on top of him and killed him, saying, "I've already belonged to you..."

~~
At night, Li Jingzhong walked down the corridor holding a new set of clothes.

"Your Highness, the wedding gown is ready, do you want to try it?"

Li Heng was looking at the moon by the window, without turning his head, he said: "At this time of the year, marriage matters are kept simple, this robe is too extravagant, change it."

Today's saints are extremely extravagant, and there are 700 people in the palace who tailor clothes for Concubine Yang.

And as a prince, he didn't even want to wear Chinese clothes when he got married, what a thrift he was.

Li Jingzhong reminded in a low voice: "I'm afraid Zhang Liangdi is dissatisfied."

This sentence refers to Zhang Liangdi, but implicitly refers to a saint.

Li Heng said intentionally or unintentionally: "Of course she is dissatisfied, but the marriage has been settled, can she not marry me, my husband?"

"Yes, is there anyone else in the world who is worthy of Zhang Liangdi?" Li Jingzhong smiled apologetically.

The same is true for storing positions. Can a saint feel at ease if he changes to another son?

Shou Wang?

In short, after Li Jingzhong said a few words of comfort, the prince's mood improved slightly.

"Give me the guest list."

"Your Highness is this?"

"At this time, invite fewer people."

"But His Highness finally got this chance to get close to the ministers..."

Li Jingzhong was very annoyed, thinking that if this is the case, it would be better not to let King Guangping grab that prestige.What is even more hateful is Xue Bai, who took out that terrible thing in public.

The guest list has already been reviewed dozens of times, and those who have been carefully considered are all of great use in the East Palace and can be invited.

I don't want to, after Li Heng took over, he did not hesitate to tick off Pei Kuan, the imperial historian, Fang Guan, the right leading general Lai Zhen, the Zuo Jin Wuwei general Xue Hui and others.

Li Jingzhong leaned forward to look, and saw that only the clan and artists such as Jia Chang, Li Guinian, and Aunt Gongsun were left.

Seeing that he felt distressed and hated even more, he couldn't help but said: "Your Highness, Pei Mian came up with an idea to make people pretend to be cockfighters, except for Xue Bai..."

Before finishing speaking, Li Heng threw the pen in his hand on Li Jingzhong's head.

"When is it now? Killing people to vent anger, what good is it for big things? How dare you cause trouble for me!"

"The old slave is guilty."

Li Jingzhong was so frightened that he hurriedly changed to a new pen.

Li Heng took the pen and slowly wrote down a few new names at the end of the guest list.

~~
Xue Bai took the pen and slowly wrote down a series of words.

"Rights and wrongs are just to talk more, troubles are all because of strong talk."

The morning sun spreads on the tables and stools in the lobby of Yan's house, and the handwriting on the rice paper looks correct.

Yan Zhenqing glanced at it, but shook her head and sighed bitterly.

"If you can't write well, you can't remember the truth."

"Teacher, should he teach the students the truth first, or the characters first?" Xue Bai asked politely.

In a word, Yan Zhenqing smiled angrily.

He put down the scroll in his hand, sat down in the hall, and said, "Tell me, how was the night before?"

"The sage first asked me who used to uncover the Caoqu case. I replied that I had a personal grievance with my elder brother. After playing dominoes, I won a thousand guans from the imperial concubine and Mrs. Guo, and the sage won them all back. In the end, I lost three Baiguan, including the [-]guan I won last time, is also filled in. I said I had no money, and the sage gave me many tributes, including a priceless tin and bronze mirror, which I put in Fengweilou. Saints are very generous..."

Yan Zhenqing's face was sad when he heard that, much more sad than when he was worried about Xue Bai.

Saints are famous for their generosity. Whenever they are in a good mood, they always give countless rewards to those around them.

It's just that this kind of generosity, what is the benefit of Yu's family, country and society?

Now that the matter of money was mentioned, Yan Zhenqing sighed: "Your two tax laws, Mr. Fang has been thinking carefully recently, and thinks that now is probably not the time to implement them..."

It is conceivable that with the current state of mind of the sage, it is impossible to reform the tax law.Moreover, as long as this unrestrained emperor refuses to be frugal, any tax law will only become a tool for exploiting the people.

The purpose of Fang Guan's mention of this matter was to win over Xue Bai, meaning "the crown prince and King Guangping will implement it in the future, and you will be reused at that time."

However, Xue Bai also had a purpose, and pondered: "The teacher may reply to Fang Gong. The saint seems to be dissatisfied with brother slaves, because there are many places to spend money in recent years. It would be great if there are important officials who can manage money, such as Pei Gong and Fang Gong. .”

Yan Zhenqing sighed and shook her head.

Xue Bai knew that his teacher had seen through his intentions, but he remained calm and continued, "In addition to increasing revenue, there is also saving money. I heard that the sage wanted to expand the Huaqing Palace. Although I don't know how to build it, I think the cost of the brother's budget is too high. .”

Yan Zhenqing's expression changed, it was the first time that a jester was so useful to inquire about the saint.

But he scolded: "You still haven't repented! Sowing right and wrong in front of this old man."

"Students must be honest and responsible in the future, and study with peace of mind."

Yan Zhenqing saw that this attitude was good, so Fang nodded.

He is actually not part of the Eastern Palace, but he is familiar with Fang Guan. Even if he sees through Xue Bai's intention to stir up trouble to get the Eastern Palace to fight back against the Right Prime Minister's House, he will still share such information.

"Remind you again, Hugh has to take the opportunity of serving the saint to interfere in state affairs."

"Yes, the student and the sage have said that they will serve the country in the future and can no longer enter the palace to play dominoes."

"It's still sensible. Let me ask you, why did you hand over the blood certificate to King Quang Binh?"

"Bringing it out in public will not cause the saint and the prime minister to admit their mistakes and cause trouble, but it will make them a little bit afraid in the future if it is made big. In recent years, everyone is afraid of taking risks and keeps silent. King Guangping is the most holy man. Dear grandson, I am a sage's card player, if we dare not take the risk together, wouldn't the whole world be fighting at once?"

"Talk about people when you see people, talk about ghosts when you see ghosts."

Yan Zhenqing originally wanted to beat Xue Bai and tell him not to target Donggong, but at first he didn't believe Xue Bai's excuse at all.However, after careful consideration, I finally believed in five points.

If it weren't for this five-point sincerity, how could he have accepted him as a disciple?

Yan Zhenqing got up, went outside the hall to ask someone to order: "Go to the study and get the scroll on the old man's case."

……

After a while, it was Wei Yun who personally brought the scroll with Yan Yan.

"At a young age, don't meddle in state affairs in the future, study hard and practice calligraphy, take a look."

Xue Bai took the scroll with both hands, opened it, and found that it was an article "Recounting the Twelve Ideas of Zhang Changshi's Brushwork".

When he saw the beautiful cursive script on it, he couldn't help asking: "Teacher, can the students learn cursive script?"

"No." Yan Zhenqing sneered with his hands behind his back, "If you don't need to work hard, just practice regular script for another 30 years."

Yan Yan secretly smiled, and rolled her eyes, full of schadenfreude.

Xue Bai looked at the scroll, and first saw the preface of the narrative, which told the story of Yan Zhenqing's study with Zhang Xu, followed by a detailed explanation of the twelve meanings of the brushwork.

"I give up Jizhi Liquan, especially Dongluo, and I visited Zhang Gongxu, the head of Jinwu, and asked me to learn how to write..."

After he read it carefully, Yan Zhenqing asked, "Do you understand?"

"Students don't know much yet."

"Write the word forever."

"Yes."

"You don't understand it at all, let you 'look like a pitch' and 'have an image vertically and horizontally', with the intention of being as natural as Cui Yuan, with an image like Cai Yong, then write again."

"..."

When Xue Bai continued to write a few more words, Yan Zhenqing was still dissatisfied and turned her back impatiently, while Wei Yun hurriedly arranged for breakfast.

Yan Yan walked to the table and took a look, and reminded softly: "When writing vertically, you need to use your strength, you don't have to restrain yourself, just write vertically, brother, can you understand the meaning of the word 'vertical'?"

What she said became much simpler, Xue Bai got some pointers, and his writing has improved a little.

In Yan Zhenqing's eyes, this point of benefit was nothing but Yan Yan was much more patient, she nodded and said: "Brother is talented, he has mastered the brushwork, but still needs to practice."

After finishing speaking, she turned her head and saw her grandfather and grandmother talking, so she asked Xue Bai in a low voice: "I heard that you are from a gambling family, your grandfather ran away with debts, and you play dominoes every night." ,is that true?"

"Huh? Who said that?"

"Your mother said so."

Xue Bai was speechless, turned his head and glanced, and saw her beautiful eyes were full of curiosity and inquiry, and there was also a hint of sly teasing.

Inexplicably, he didn't seem to be very good at talking in front of this little girl.

"Brother, can you tell me what happened between you and the master?"

"Why ask this?"

"The alchemist is treating me, I want to know more about her."

Xue Bai didn't know what to say.

Yan Yan seemed to see through that he and Li Tengkong really had some entanglements, but she didn't point it out. She asked Yan Zhenqing: "My master is too accomplished. Is it okay for me to teach my master my attainments? I can let my brother write a manuscript every day. Shall I come to review?"

"It doesn't matter whether he writes or not, calligraphy articles are his own business."

Xue Bai said: "Teacher, don't worry, I must have written it and sent it."

Complacent, Yan Yan put her chin on her finger and thought for a while, then said: "Brother, I will write something tomorrow, such as the words in "Sapphire Case"."

"it is good."

Wei Yun glanced over and saw Xue Bai's resignation, she was slightly puzzled, and said to Yan Zhenqing: "You said that this disciple is cheeky and cunning, why does my concubine become more cautious in seeing him?"

"The wicked have their own grind."

~~
Xue Bai returned home with the scroll, recalling the matter of Chun Wei along the way. Compared with the East Palace and the Right Prime Minister's Mansion, he has increased his reputation and broadened his contacts. In fact, he has gained the most.

"Dare to ask, but Mr. Xue Bai Xue?"

Just as he was about to enter the door, he heard this question in a soft voice.Xue Bai turned his head and saw a young man with the appearance of a servant.

"it's me."

"Mr Xue Lang is very polite, the villain is here to offer you an invitation..."

It was two matching bamboo pieces, tied together with a red thread, which looked rather plain.

Open it and see, inside is a single note with colored notes, writing "Meng Xia's second day, East Palace wedding banquet, Bo Gufei drinking, Shenmo waiting."

It was Li Heng's wedding invitation.

(End of this chapter)