latelenovela Chapter 34
Chapter 34
Chapter 34
Li mountain is located not too far from Chang’an. It didn’t take long for the group to arrive at the hot spring area.
Due to continuous conflict at the end of the Sui Dynasty and a rather empty treasury belonging to the Tang Emperor, Li Mountain Palace has not been restored on a large scale and looked rather tattered even though both Li Er and the previous Emperor would often visit this area for short getaways.
Li Yuanying was on his best behavior for it was only two days ago that the Emperor was furious at him. He was well behaved all the way and there was no trouble at all.
His Majesty and his entourage had a meal and after dark, he led a few close vassals to the hot spring.
The spring water at Li mountain is among the best in the world. Various Imperial doctors have sworn that the natural hot spring helps in recuperating the body. Li Er has been in pain due to the recurrence of old injuries and finally managed to relax when he dip into the hot spring.
Li Yuanying and Li Zhi were together.
The night view was great and Li Yuanying felt that it was a tad bit boring to just soak in the hot spring. He then began telling the others ghost stories.
Storytelling is Li Yuanying’s specialty. He doesn’t tell ghost stories from the educated class but instead picks stories that his followers have gathered from the general public. In comparison, these stories were more down-to-earth and closer to real life.
As Li Zhi has known his friend for a long time, he managed to remain calm. The same can’t be said about the other princes who were soaking together, they had no resistance to Li Yuanying’s storytelling ability. Listening to him, they felt that the wind was blowing eerily. It almost felt like a hand would stretch out from within the pool to grab them or the servants might turn into monsters.
As the stories got more terrifying, the younger boys couldn’t endure it anymore. They quickly crawled out from the hot spring crying “Lord Father!” and ran away to look for Li Er butt naked.
Yuanying has successfully scared away his group of friends and was extremely happy. He leaned back on a rock and said to Li Zhi: “Without them, it’s so much more spacious!”
Li Zhi remained speechless.
After a while, he spoke: “Be careful, they might complain to the Emperor.”
“Can’t blame me for their own timidness! Isn’t there a saying: If I’ve not wronged anyone in life, I wouldn’t be afraid of the knock on the door in the middle of the night? Look, aren’t we both not afraid?”
It’s not that Li Zhi wasn’t afraid, he has been frightened too many times by Li Yuanying already and is used to it.
Li Zhi asked curiously: “Where did you find so many bizarre stories?”
“There is no shortage of stories in the palace. Do you know where the people that serve you come from?”
Li Zhi shook his head.
“I don’t know either but I know they all come from different places. There are many legends and stories circulating in each person’s hometown. Some are unique and some with similar patterns but all interesting. When I was younger I refused to sleep and so I got the people around me to tell me stories. Because I liked listening to them, my servants gradually got replaced by those who could tell stories. When they’ve exhausted their collection, they would proactively collect new ones to stay by my side. This way, I would be exposed to all the legends and stories from the world!”
Although Li Yuanying is notoriously known as the little devil, those serving him live an easy and rewarding life. Many are envious of Dai Ting who is always by the Prince’s side.
“This shows that the people below follow the habit of their leader. Take Prince Chu Ling who had a slender waist, those under him had to endure hunger and were so thin that they had to lean against the wall to stand up. Or Duke Jin Wen who lives a simple frugal life, so those under him often wore simple clothes and lived simple lives.” (Li Zhi)
Li Yuanying has no patience for serious topics like this. So he instead leaned on the stone bank and promptly doze off.
Li Zhi was afraid that he would really fall asleep, so he shook him: “Don’t fall asleep. The imperial doctor might have said that this spring water is good but it still shouldn’t be soaked for too long.”
Li Yuanying yawned: “Alright, alright. No more soaking, let’s go back to sleep!” He was indeed sleepy, so he put on his underwear and went back to his room barefeet.
Li Zhi didn’t expect Li Yuanying to be so straightforward.
He didn’t feel much when Yuanying was with him but as soon as he left, the ghost stories started flashing into Li Zhi’s mind. So scary!
Li Zhi ran back to his room and started reciting passages from books he has read one after another to stop his brain from going wild.
On the other side, Li Er was talking to Zhangsun Wuji when a few bare-butt sons ran towards him in fright.
Li Er asked, only to find out that Li Yuanying has been acting like the little demon again. He’s too exhausted to get angry and so allowed his sons to crowd into his pool to soak together.
“You came at the right time. A few days more and doctor Sun will not be here anymore.”
The teenager instructed his pupil to revise the materials he has taught and personally led the party into the village.
Li Yuanying was fond of this young man so he did a self-introduction: “My surname is Li, and my name Yuanying. You can call me by my name. What’s your name?”
Li was a common surname and so the young man didn’t have many thoughts about it except that Yuanying might be the son of some powerful noble family.
The young man replied flatly with no hint of being humble or arrogant: “My surname is Tang, and I have a single name- Xuan. You can call me Ah Xuan.”
Li Yuanying nodded and asked what he was doing just now.
Tang Xuan explained that his family was better off than most in the village and so he had the opportunity to go to school. He thinks that even though his friends were poor and cannot afford education, it would still be good if they can recognize a few words. Even if these people will never take part in the imperial exams, being literate would allow them to have an additional skill and hopefully, they would be able to demand more wages.
So Tang Xuan decided to teach his fellow villagers in his spare time.
He has already taught a good portion from <
“You are really amazing.” (Li Yuanying)
Tang Xuan shook his head:”Just doing what I can.”
“While this is something that everyone can do, it’s not something that everyone is willing to do. You’re amazing.”
Tang Xuan blushed a little with such a straightforward compliment. He smiled shyly, pointed to a humble farmhouse in front of him, and said, “Old Doctor Sun lives here. Recently, he is teaching the villagers how to collect medicine.”
There were many mountains and forests around and so medicinal materials were abundant. Learning about medicinal herbs is a good new knowledge for villagers and so many gather at the farmhouse daily to learn how to identify, collect and dry them. It was slightly less crowded today as Sun Simiao mentioned that the weather these past two days was cooler and he wanted to enter the mountains for collection.
Tang Xuan then added: “Yesterday doctor Sun entered the mountain. I’m not sure if he has returned, if he’s not back yet, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait.”
Li Yuanying said spontaneously: “I can wait.”
Tang Xuan nodded and stepped forward to knock on the door.
No answer.
Tang Xuan turned to look at Li Yuanying.
He wasn’t disappointed but said with great interest: “Since old doctor Sun has not returned, let’s go back to the big tree and I’ll assist you in teaching!” He continued boasting: “I’ve already finished the Analects of Confucius and the Book of Rites. Now I’ve been studying the Book of Songs, so I can teach them a new poem!”
Of course Li Yuanying conveniently failed to mention that <
Tang Xuan had long guessed that the boy was from a noble family. Seeing that Yuanying was a few years younger but had already read so much, he greatly admired him. He immediately led Yuanying back to the place where he was teaching his fellow villagers.
Although Li Yuanying had not taught people seriously, he has rich experience in pretending. Give him a group of young villagers who were thirsty for knowledge and he will manage to teach them very smoothly.
And so Sun Simiao came back from the mountain with a basket filled with herbs to loud and clear chanting coming from the entrance of the village.
“Why did you say that there’s nothing to wear? I will take my own cloak for you to share.The war comes from the great will ...” [1]An excerpt from an ancient military song from Qin China -WuYi
Sun Simiao stopped to look and saw a group of children sitting or standing under the big tree reciting in unison.
Among the two standing children, one was Tang Xan whom he has known and thinks is a very good boy; the other was someone he had never seen before. He looked closely and saw that his lips were red, his teeth were white, his eyebrows were nicely shaped, someone blessed with good features and looks!
What’s even rarer is that the child was dressed in luxurious clothes and had a proud face. This is out of alignment with the rural village setting but the boy stands in front of village children with his hands behind his back. If not for his young age, I would have been fooled by his disposition and thought of him as a real teacher.
References
↑1An excerpt from an ancient military song from Qin China -WuYi