"Quiet Night Thoughts" Meng Chong knelt on the ground in response to the order and began to recite aloud "Quiet Night Thoughts" revised by Zhu Ping'an from the title.
Emperor Jiajing sat on the lawn and stroked the cat intently, trying to please his master without paying any attention to it. It seemed that he just regarded Meng Chong's reading as the background music for his petting.
"The moon shines brightly before my bed, I wonder if it is frost on the ground." Meng Chong read out the first two sentences revised by Zhu Ping'an.
Emperor Jiajing, who was concentrating on petting the cat, stopped petting the cat involuntarily after hearing the two sentences read by Meng Chong.
The fat tabby cat purred softly, rubbed Emperor Jiajing's hand with its head twice, urging the emperor to continue.
"I look up at the bright moon and think of my hometown." Meng Chong then read out the last two sentences.
After hearing this, Emperor Jiajing closed his eyes involuntarily, as if he was touched, and completely forgot about petting the cat.
In the mind of Emperor Jiajing, every brick and tile of Prince Luzhouxing's mansion began to slowly emerge, and scenes from his past life also began to flash in his mind... ...
"Meow~"
Seeing that Emperor Jiajing ignored him, the fat tabby cat couldn't help but meow in dissatisfaction and kept rubbing his head against Emperor Jiajing's hand.
"Haha, my Dragon Tiger General is jealous." Emperor Jiajing came back to his senses and laughed, gently stroking the tabby fat cat's head and teasing him, "If there is a chance someday, I will take the Dragon Tiger General to visit my hometown, Luzhouxing Prince's Mansion. It's not as big as here, but there is a rockery and many caves. The general will definitely like it."
Meng Chong, who was kneeling on the ground with his head down waiting for the emperor's order, felt his heart surge when he heard what Emperor Jiajing said. This was because the emperor was moved by the "Quiet Night Thoughts" revised by Lord Xiao Zhu and missed the Prince Luzhouxing's Mansion when he was in hiding.
"Make several copies, send them to Wuyi Palace, and make objective comments, and report them to me."
After teasing the fat tabby cat for a while, Emperor Jiajing gave a faint instruction to Meng Chong, who was kneeling on the ground waiting for his orders.
"I obey your order."
Meng Chong touched the ground with his head, stood up, and walked away backwards with his head lowered.
Soon, Meng Chong copied several copies of "Quiet Night Thoughts" and sent them to Wuyi Palace, asking the officials on duty to comment on them.
"Hmm? It turned out to be a rewrite of the "Quiet Night Thoughts" by the great poet Li Bai. May I ask, Eunuch Meng, who wrote this "Quiet Night Thoughts"?"
Before starting to comment, a minister asked Meng Chong who wrote this revised version of "Quiet Night Thoughts".
"This "Quiet Night Thoughts" comes from..."
Meng Chong was just about to tell the officials on duty that this copy of "Quiet Night Thoughts" was written by Zhu Ping'an, but just as he opened his mouth, he suddenly thought of the words "objective comment" ordered by Emperor Jiajing. What about objective comment? If the officials on duty knew that the author was Lord Zhu, wouldn't it be easy for them to have personal subjective opinions about Lord Zhu when commenting
It is better to do less than more. The more you do, the more mistakes you make. The less you do, the fewer mistakes you make. Doing nothing makes no mistakes.
I can't mess up the emperor's tasks.
Thinking of this, Meng Chong closed his mouth, laughed, and said to the officials on duty: "Haha, my lords, please allow me to keep you in suspense for a while. I will tell you after you finish your comments."
Although they didn't know who the author was, they knew that Emperor Jiajing asked them to comment on "Quiet Night Thoughts". Based on this, most of the officials used praise when commenting on it.
"Well, he actually rewrote the immortal poet's 'Quiet Night Thoughts'? He is really talented and bold. The first sentence 'Watching the moonlight in front of the bed' was rewritten as 'The bright moonlight in front of the bed', which makes it easier to read." A minister could not wait to comment.
"More than that, if you read it carefully, it makes sense to remove the word 'see'. The previous version was 'looking at the moonlight in front of the bed'. The moonlight is an invisible thing, so it is not easy to 'see' it on purpose. And if you deliberately 'see' it, it is not easy to mistake the 'moonlight' for 'I suspect it is frost on the ground'. The change to 'bright moonlight in front of the bed' means that the 'moonlight' is inadvertently reflected in the eyes, leading to the next sentence 'I suspect it is frost on the ground', which makes people feel much more natural when reading it, and it can be said to be natural." Yuan Wei has always been active and enthusiastic about this kind of thing, which can show his strengths, so he took over the words of the previous official, further explained, and dug deep into the considerations behind the change of words and phrases, and sang praises for the revised version, "Especially the change of 'raise your head' to 'raise your head' can be said to be the finishing touch of this poem. Raising your head always gives people a sense of ease, while raising your head seems heavy, which can better highlight the weight of homesickness."
"Yes, what Mr. Yuan said is very true. In fact, strictly speaking, there are dozens of versions of "Quiet Night Thoughts" handed down, and the popular version today is only the version collected and published by the Song Dynasty. No one can say whether it is different from the original work of the poet Li Bai. This revised "Quiet Night Thoughts" is more catchy and easy to understand than the Song Dynasty version. "Quiet Night Thoughts" is a work for elementary school students. After this revision, it is more suitable for elementary school students to recite. It is good news for the elementary school children in our Ming Dynasty and should be vigorously promoted and recited..."
... ...
The officials on duty in Wuyi Palace vied with each other to speak, and the comments praising the revised version of "Quiet Night Thoughts" were heard continuously.
Of course, there are also criticisms. Some say that this "Quiet Night Thoughts" is a "tampering" of the great work of the Immortal Poet, and is suspected of "blasphemy" of the great work of the Immortal Poet. Some also say that the "mountain moon" in the original work is more literary, while the revised "bright moon" is much more vulgar. However, these voices were quickly criticized and then drowned out by the human voices. Compared with the wave of praise, they were just a small ripple that could not even make a wave.
While everyone was commenting, Meng Chong and several young eunuchs were taking notes, especially focusing on Yuan Wei's comments. After everyone finished commenting, Meng Chong fulfilled his promise before commenting and told everyone who was the editor of "Quiet Night Thoughts" - Zhu Ping'an, and then went to report to Emperor Jiajing.
After hearing that "Quiet Night Thoughts" was written by Zhu Ping'an, Yuan Wei, who had been singing praises most enthusiastically, was suddenly stunned. His mouth opened as if he had swallowed a mouse. Various emotions such as discomfort, disgust, and regret came to his mind. If I had known that this "Quiet Night Thoughts" was modified by that bastard Zhu Ping'an, I would still sing praises for him. Bah, if I don't criticize him to death, I wouldn't even be named Yuan... Yuan Wei regretted it so much.
Unfortunately, there is no if, time cannot be turned back, and water cannot be recovered.
In the Imperial Garden, Meng Chong truthfully reported the comments of the officials on duty in Wuyi Palace to Emperor Jiajing, who was petting the cat.
"If that's the case, then I must keep my word, don't you think so, my Dragon and Tiger General?"
Emperor Jiajing lifted the fat tabby cat up with both hands, held its two fat paws in the air as if it was flying, and said teasingly.