The most prosperous place in Songyuan is not Lanyue Pavilion, but it is quiet and located on a small island. If the number of people seems to be about the same, Sheng Chengxing will order the ships to suspend their movement, so as to create an atmosphere that is not crowded or noisy and is just right for everyone to have fun.
Several people accompanied Su Huaijing to wash Rong Tang's hands, strolled around twice, and then found an open-air peach tree to sit down.
Rong Tang saw Ke Hongxue joining them and asked, "Don't you want to listen to the opera?"
Ke Hongxue waved her fan, picked up the wine pot on the side, wiped the spout with her sleeve, poured a glass for herself and Mu Jingxu, and replied uninterestedly: "I thought they were going to perform the play of Shen Qinglang's redress in the flower tower, but who knew that Sheng Chengxing would come all the way to Songyuan, and on the water, they were still performing those old-fashioned stories of talented scholars and beautiful women looking at each other from afar. It's not interesting at all. If I had known this, I might as well have picked up the play script and ordered two plays for him."
Rong Tang's eyebrows jumped when he heard this, and he subconsciously glanced at Su Huaijing, only to see that his eyebrows slightly raised, as if he was a little interested: "Shen Qinglang? But he is the protagonist of the story whose parents were wrongly accused and their home was confiscated, and they were exiled to prostitution and lived in a brothel?"
Rong Tang's heart was filled with alarm, his whole body tensed up, and his eyes looked at Ke Hongxue uncontrollably, trying to stop him from saying something that could get him killed at any time.
But Ke Hongxue obviously didn't meet his eyes. His eyes lit up, and his body straightened up. He restrained some of his sloppy and dissolute energy, and stared at Su Huaijing as if he had met a soulmate. His tone became much faster: "It's that book. Has Master Su read it too?"
Rong Tang was not suitable for drinking, so Su Huaijing confiscated the wine glass in front of him, replaced it with a plate of cashews, and said with a gentle smile: "Tang Tang told me about it."
Ke Hongxue's eyes suddenly shot to Rong Tang again, and the excitement on her face could not be concealed at all. She supported herself on the blanket with one hand, leaned forward, and said with a smile: "My Lord, I told you that we are destined to be together."
Rong Tang's fear that Su Huaijing would ask more questions faded away, but before he could completely relax, he saw Ke Hongxue's expression and said unhappily, "It's a bad fate."
Why are you bringing up the script for no reason? Not to mention that Sheng Chengxing is far away from home and there are many noble ladies on the island. A script full of love and action scenes, even if it is adapted, what kind of opera can be adapted into something presentable
It would be fine if he just said it in private, but he was so outspoken in public. How could Ke Hongxue act like a role model at all
Rong Tang complained in his heart and glared at him again, but Ke Hongxue was neither angry nor annoyed. The only bit of her smartness that showed she was understanding and seemed to realize that Rong Tang didn't want to talk about this in detail. After saying "it's fate", she stepped back and didn't ask any more questions.
Su Huaijing's eyes circled between the two of them, and finally unconsciously fell on Rong Tang's face, which was a little angry and a little pink. He lowered his head and chuckled twice, then peeled an orange for him and handed it to him, just like feeding a small animal, very comfortable.
A low table and writing brushes were prepared under the tree. Rong Tang's explanation was simple from beginning to end - he had never been to school and could not write poetry. Su Huaijing followed him to learn. Fortunately, Mu Jingxu did not force them to participate in writing poetry.
Strictly speaking, teaming up with them is more like a test.
From Sheng Chengli's testing to Lu Jiaxi, Rong Tang was not 100% sure what the two of them wanted to find out, but the only thing he was sure of was that Mu Jingxu and Ke Hongxue had no ill intentions.
Rong Tang was too lazy to ask about the others. After all, they were testing him, and Su Huaijing was also testing them. They were all shrewd people, and they advocated a give-and-take relationship where no one took advantage of the other.
In early April, the warm sun rose high in the sky and the clouds were far away. Rong Tang sat under the tree for a while, then leaned back and squinted his eyes to look at the birds and clouds in the sky.
From time to time, the sound of opera could be heard from the Lanyue Pavilion. People were walking around in groups of three or four, laughing and singing, or drinking and reciting poems. The warm breeze blew by, and everything was so quiet and beautiful that it didn't seem like the human world.
After Lu Jiaxi drank two glasses of wine, his face was flushed, his blue bachelor's robe was covered with straw, and his hat brim was tilted. He murmured, "There are no fish with tails falling off in turbid water, no lush trees in solid soil, and no people who enjoy themselves in troubled politics. This is the spring scenery, this is the vast country, isn't it the world of benevolence and righteousness that the teacher talked about when he was in school..."
His voice was very soft, with a tone of imperceptible yearning. Rong Tang frowned slightly and did not respond immediately. Mu Jingxu continued to write poems, Su Huaijing did not even raise his eyebrows, only a faint smile on his lips, which was almost invisible, was extremely mocking.
Ke Hongxue had been lying on the ground in a dissolute state. Hearing this, he laughed out loud, tipped the wine glass and poured it into his mouth. He drank the wine in one gulp and asked with a smile, "My junior brother, what you mean is that now that you are at the flower-picking party, you see scholars singing and making friends, you see officials and officials chatting with each other, you see flowers blooming, birds and fish jumping, you feel that the government is not troublesome, and there are people who enjoy themselves. Dayu is thriving and the future is bright?"
Lu Jiaxi hesitated for a moment, knowing that he had said something wrong, and said, "Please enlighten me, brother."
Ke Hongxue chuckled: "I don't deserve it."
He glanced around Rong Tang and the other person casually, then glanced at Mu Jingxu like a dragonfly skimming the water, then retracted his gaze, casually picked up a fallen petal from the ground, rubbed it gently, letting the flower juice stain his fingertips red, staring at the bright red, and said, “You see prosperity here, and there are withered places elsewhere; you hear the free and easy music of the high platform here, and there are displaced people and suffering everywhere elsewhere… You are at a banquet hosted by princes and nobles, and you are making friends with rich children in high positions who don’t care about the suffering of the people. How can you see the hard-working people in the northwest or southeast who suffer from droughts, floods, famine and mountain bandits every year?”
"It was just a banquet held by the prince when he was out of the palace to meet friends. His Majesty, in order to show his love, even granted so many civil servants a holiday. What you saw were the names you heard in the school appearing before your eyes, laughing and chatting and drinking, composing poems on a high place, and being full of enthusiasm. What I saw were the tired figures behind the paperwork and the wrongful convictions in the prison after these seven days of nonsense."
Ke Hongxue paused, put his hand down, and looked at Lu Jiaxi with sharp eyes: "Brother, since you have the courage to sue Ding Laibao in Jingzhao Yinfu, how could you be fooled by such a superficial appearance and say something like 'the people are troubled by politics and have no leisure'..." He seemed to consider his words and smiled, "What a false and empty statement?"
Lu Jiaxi was stunned for a moment, his gaze shifted from Ke Hongxue's face to the island in the middle of the lake.
The apricot blossom forest is fragrant, and there are cobblestone paths everywhere. Each stone is smooth and round, and clearly has been polished. The sound of opera is the best accompaniment, coming from the open door of the Lanyue Pavilion, and almost everyone on the island can hear that this place is as dreamy as a mirage.
Lu Jiaxi seemed to sober up all of a sudden. He stood up straight, adjusted his hat, and thanked Ke Hongxue respectfully: "Thank you for your guidance, senior brother."
Ke Hongxue did not respond, but picked up a stone and threw it into the sky.
Rong Tang could see that he was in a bad mood, but he didn't intend to get involved in this mess. However, Su Huaijing suddenly chuckled and said, "I have something I don't understand. Could you please help Master Ke to clear it up for me?"
Ke Hongxue was slightly startled, and the expression on her face instantly changed from lazy to excited. She got up from the ground and looked at Su Huaijing with her bright eyes: "Sir, please speak."
"When I was young, I lived with my uncle and never had the chance to go to school, but I heard my cousins study. I vaguely remember that there were a few sentences before what Master Lu said just now." He read slowly, his tone was steady and fascinating, "Heaven created the people and established the king. The king is the heaven of the people. The way heaven nourishes things is to manage yin and yang; the way the king educates the people is to govern and educate. Therefore, if the cold and heat are not timely, there will be epidemics; if the wind and rain are not regular, there will be famine. Punishments are the cold and heat of the people; teachings are the wind and rain of the people. If punishments are not timely, the people will be hurt; if teachings are not regular, rigid customs will be corrupted."
Su Huaijing said: "This article should be about the ruler loving the people and being the heaven of the people, but I have a question when I read it."
Rong Tang was stunned for a moment, then turned his head to look at Su Huaijing, and inexplicably guessed what the question he was going to ask.
Ke Hongxue said: "Please speak."
Su Huaijing asked: "Must a ruler love his people?"
[Oh—oh—]The system sighed after a long time.
Rong Tang sighed silently in his heart. He was not surprised that Su Huaijing would ask this question. He just wondered whether Su Huaijing suddenly thought of this question, or whether Lu Jiaxi's words just now had a hidden meaning and led him here.
Ke Hongxue was obviously stunned for a moment, as if he did not expect that Su Huaijing would ask such a question in the end. Even Mu Jingxu's pen paused, and a dot of ink appeared on the rice paper.
Ke Hongxue asked back, "Why do you say that, sir?"
His voice was very soft, and he even picked up a green dumpling for Rong Tang and put it on a small plate to coax him to eat it. It seemed that he was just asking casually and did not have any thoughts or changes on the answer to this question.
Ke Hongxue frowned slightly, thought for a moment and asked: "If you are abandoned by the people, have you ever abandoned the people?"
Su Huaijing shook his head: "No."
Ke Hongxue asked again: "If the people do not trust their ruler, have they ever believed rumors?"
Su Huaijing nodded: "Maybe."
Ke Hongxue's brows relaxed, and he picked up the wine glass with a smile. He bent down and clinked it with the one Su Huaijing had placed on the blanket, and said with a smile: "If that's the case, I think the world is vast, and a king doesn't have to be bound by rules, and can roam freely."
"Really?" Su Huaijing smiled faintly, lowered his eyes and said nothing.
Rong Tang looked at him, knowing that he hadn't asked another question.
—If both exist, can the ruler betray the people, abandon the people, destroy the people, or even kill the people
The posthumous title of the previous emperor was Lu.
Cruelty and inhumanity are called "luk", and the violent killing of innocent people are called "luk".
During the twenty-five years that the late emperor reigned, Dayu became increasingly prosperous, wars became less frequent, and trade became more active. However, nine years have passed, and now when the people of Dayu mention the late emperor, they only think of the word "killing".
They said he was incompetent and tyrannical, they said he was ignorant and allowed his external relatives to control the court, which led to internal and external troubles, and Dayu almost suffered the destruction of his country and his family.
Fortunately…
Fortunately, the current emperor has turned the tide and saved the country from collapse.
Rong Tang found it extremely ironic that a monarch whose actions had nothing to do with the word "Renshou" was called Emperor Renshou.
He had lost his appetite and felt a bit chilly from the breeze off the lake, so he slid closer to Su Huaijing.
Su Huaijing immediately noticed something and frowned slightly: "Cold?"
Rong Tang was stunned for a moment, then nodded honestly: "A little bit."
"Then let's go back and find a storybook for you to read." Su Huaijing said as he stood up, bent down to pull Rong Tang up, said goodbye to the three of them briefly, and walked towards the ferry.
Before leaving, Rong Tang took a look and saw that Mu Jingxu had not finished writing a poem, so he stopped writing.
The pleasures on the island in the middle of the lake had nothing to do with Rong Tang anymore. He and Su Huaijing walked slowly back to the small courtyard with the red-painted attic. When they passed a corner, Su Huaijing asked him to stand there and wait.
Rong Tang waited for him quietly, and fell into a long silence with the system.
He actually had no purpose in this life. If he really had to find a purpose, it was just that he had interacted with Su Huaijing in his previous two lives, and he didn't want him to die in such pain.
But after these two months of getting along, Rong Tang felt like he had returned to a good time.
The villain has not turned completely evil, and he is still not the tyrant who will plunge the entire Dayu into continuous war many years later.
Rong Tang cannot be a savior, but he at least wants to save Su Huaijing.
After two failed missions, the system traced the plot and concluded that the male protagonist was dead and Su Huaijing was missing.
Rong Tang had never thought about it before, but now he couldn't help but be curious.
The villain who had been dormant for more than a decade and finally sat on the throne, what was he thinking when he saw that the whole world was about to be burned down
Is it pleasure or resentment
Did he hate that his father's beloved people told him to kill the emperor without asking why? Did he hate that the city where his brother, the crown prince, had risked his life to defend did not remember his name? Did he hate that his 14-year-old sister, who was as beautiful as a flower, jumped off the city wall and died for her country, but her skirt was lifted up by a passing rebel with a long spear? Did he hate that his third brother gave him a dream that he would never return to before he left
If he is happy, then there is nothing to say.
What if he's not actually happy
What if he still doesn’t feel happy after taking revenge on the whole world
So what else can I do for him
Rong Tang fell into confusion, staring blankly at a purple and white rose that had climbed up half of the wall in front of him, until the sound of footsteps approaching from behind brought him back to his senses.
Rong Tang blinked slightly and turned around.
Su Huaijing came out from the corner, holding two peonies in his hands. They were in perfect bloom, neither subtle nor overwhelming. It was the perfect season for viewing them. They were suitable to be kept in a pot filled with clear water and wait quietly for them to bloom.
Su Huaijing held the flowers in one hand and took Rong Tang's hand with the other. Facing the sunshine of noon in April, he walked to where he was going with a gentle smile: "Before I came here, I felt that these flowers were suitable for you. Tangtang, please be kind and let me accompany them to read the storybook today?"
The boy acted coquettishly. Rong Tang had mentioned the letter earlier, so he repeated a sentence from the letter. For a moment, he couldn't tell who was more cute, the one who wrote that sentence, or the one who was holding the flowers and trying to get something for free was more adorable.
As the spring scenery and the seasons passed, Rong Tang suddenly realized that all the hell on earth he had just thought of had never happened.
(End of this chapter)