Chapter 396 Pavilion Q&A (Two in One)
However, just one second before the little emperor was about to step down from the platform, a light cough suddenly came from behind the pearl curtain behind the dragon throne.
Hearing the voice, the little emperor froze in place. Mei Cheng'an and Fan Xian in the audience were stunned for a moment and then they all breathed a sigh of relief.
The little emperor paused for a moment, then turned around with a bitter look on his face and bowed respectfully in the direction of the pearl curtain.
"Mother, I saw that they were so happy that I was rude. Please forgive me."
Joy in your heart?
When Fan Xian heard this, a question mark popped up in his head and he secretly glanced at his fellow villager. Little did he know that Mei Cheng'an was also puzzled. The little emperor loved Fan Xian's Dream of the Red Chamber and his poems, and it would be fine if he just saw that he was happy, but why did he include himself in it as well?
The poems he copied were all very common, except for the ones he copied together with Fan Xian at the night banquet. The others were not as romantic as the poems copied by Fan Xian, so they should not be popular among girls.
What he didn't know was that, between the two, the young emperor was most interested in Fan Xian, because Fan Xian's works were more to his taste. As for him, the young emperor was also very interested, but his interest did not lie in his poetry and literary talent, but in his strange skills, his position in the delegation, and... the aphrodisiac incident.
Although Mei Cheng'an didn't understand why the young emperor favored him, he was very clear about one thing: the young emperor of Northern Qi kept him this time mainly to discuss cooperation matters between the two sides.
In that case, there is no need to think about it. Anyway, the two parties will always have some small talk before discussing cooperation, and we will know then.
Mei Cheng'an, who had figured it out in a flash, faced Fan Xian's puzzled glance and returned a look that he also couldn't understand.
Just as the two of them were exchanging glances, a palace maid gently pulled open the bead curtain. The sound of beads tinkling rang out, and a noble lady slowly walked out from behind the curtain.
Mei Cheng'an and Fan Xian quickly retracted their gazes, lowered their heads and nodded obediently, not daring to look up and take a closer look, but they could still sneak a peek with the corner of their eyes, and what they saw was the lady's feet.
The noble lady was wearing a pair of silk shoes embroidered with gold. They looked casual in appearance but were actually extremely luxurious.
Of course, whether the shoes are luxurious or not is not the point. The point is that right after the silk flower shoes, another pair of feet stepped out.
Mei Cheng'an knew that it was Haitang, so he was not surprised. However, Fan Xian was much more shocked and surprised. He could not imagine that there was anyone in the world who would dare to sit behind the pearl curtain with the Queen Mother of Northern Qi and listen to the conversation between the Emperor and foreign envoys.
On those feet were a pair of not very nice looking green silk shoes with white soles. The material might be expensive, but the color combination was extremely ugly and rustic, which was out of place in this gorgeous and luxurious palace.
Feeling the unique temperament of the shoes, Fan Xian had already guessed who the owner of the shoes was. The moment he guessed it, he looked up in shock and looked at the owner of the shoes with surprise.
Haitang Duoduo... isn’t she the young emperor of Northern Qi’s woman? Why did she come out from behind the curtain with the Queen Mother of Northern Qi?
Noticing Fan Xian's gaze, Haitang did not move her slightly stiff and reserved body, only looking back with her big eyes. The gazes of the two collided as if real, emitting an inexplicable aura.
Fan Xian: “?”
Haitang: “?”
Mei Chengan: “?”
Are you kidding me? In front of the Emperor and the Empress Dowager of Northern Qi, you two looked at each other with confused faces and tender eyes?
Mei Cheng'an nodded slightly in silence, and calmly pulled Fan Xian's sleeve to remind him to pay attention to the occasion.
Fan Xian was stunned for a moment, then came to his senses and quickly retracted his gaze. The two of them bowed to the lady beside Haitang.
"Foreign minister Fan Xian (Mei Cheng'an) pays homage to the Queen Mother!"
The Queen Mother glanced at the two of them and frowned slightly, wondering why all the officials of Qing Kingdom were so young and so beautiful?
No wonder Duoduo had to sneak up to the palace to take a look today. Who would want to see the two of them in this state...hiss~could it be that the girl next to him has come to his senses?
Although she also hoped so, the possibility was too low. They should have come here just because of their reputation. Thinking of this, the empress dowager's brows relaxed, and she nodded slightly towards the two people below and hummed softly.
"Get up."
The Queen Mother asked after taking a closer look at the two of them.
"You two are the twin stars of the Southern Dynasty who are praised as immortal saints in poetry? I have heard of your names for a long time. Today, I meet you and you are indeed handsome and talented."
The two bowed again and stood up.
"Your Majesty, your praise is too great. I am terrified."
The Queen Mother smiled.
"Get up, get up. There's no need to be so polite. The emperor loves your poems very much, and I also read them often. There are no outsiders here, so relax."
"Yes."
After answering, Fan Xian stood up, but Mei Cheng'an was not in a hurry to get up. He suddenly took out a letter from his sleeve and said respectfully.
"Your Majesty, this is a handwritten letter from my dynasty's Queen Mother to you. Before leaving, I specifically asked this minister to hand this letter to you personally."
His sudden action not only stunned the Queen Mother of Northern Qi and the young emperor, but also Fan Xian beside him. He did not know about the existence of this letter in advance, and his fellow villager had not mentioned it either.
The reason why Mei Cheng'an did not mention it was because he did not know what was written in the letter and felt that there was nothing to mention. This letter was not handed to him by the empress dowager personally, and there was no instruction or anything like that. This letter was handed to him by Xin Qiwu before he left. It should have been submitted together with the letter from the empire, but Mei Cheng'an was so busy mocking the nonsense in the letter in his heart that he forgot about it. When he remembered it temporarily, he could only make up some excuses. In fact, he could submit it later through the Honglu Temple, but thinking that the empress dowager was right in front of him, he was too lazy to bother, mainly because he was afraid that he would forget it again later.
"Oh?"
The Queen Mother tilted her head slightly, and Haitang beside her immediately stepped forward, took the letter from Mei Chengan, turned around and handed it to her.
The empress dowager glanced at the letter in her hand curiously, and saw "From Junlan" written on the cover. Junlan was her nickname, and only the empress dowager of the Southern Dynasty, who was of the same status as her and much older than her, had the qualification to call her that.
Seeing such an intimate name and having someone pass it on privately, she was a little curious about the content of the letter, but now was not the time.
Handing the letter to her personal maid, the empress dowager turned her gaze to the little emperor and asked with a smile.
"What does your majesty want to talk to them about?"
The little emperor glanced at the two of them and replied respectfully.
"Your Majesty, you also know that I have always loved poetry. Now that I have seen the immortal saint in poetry, I can't help but want to talk about poetry with him. I hope your Majesty will allow me to do so."
As he said this, he bowed to the Queen Mother again.
The Queen Mother smiled.
"You are the emperor, you can make your own decisions on such trivial matters. If you want to talk about poetry..."
As she spoke, she smiled and looked at Mei Chengan and Fan Xian.
"Let's talk."
What else could Mei Cheng'an and Fan Xian do? It was not their turn to speak here. They could only force out professional smiles and remain silent.
The little emperor looked a little unhappy. He was embarrassed and speechless, not knowing how to respond. He paused and spoke.
"Mother, the palace is majestic and it is not convenient to have a heart-to-heart talk. I want them to walk around with me. Mother, you have been busy with government affairs, so you should go back to the palace and rest early."
The resentment in the slightly blunt words was quite obvious.
Mei Cheng'an curled the corners of his mouth and wanted to laugh. The tit-for-tat between the mother and son was too obvious. No matter what, there was no need to do this in front of them. It seemed shallow.
Fan Xian raised his eyebrows when he heard this. He didn't think it was fake, but he was surprised that the conflict between the mother and son had become so intense that they didn't even bother to pretend. The Queen Mother did not hide her desire to control the Emperor's freedom to see people, and the words given by the little Emperor were soft but sharp. This...
The empress dowager seemed not to understand the little emperor's implication and nodded with a smile.
"Since your majesty says so, I will return to the palace. Your little sister-in-law is back. Since you want to take them for a stroll in the palace, let your little sister-in-law accompany them."
Having said that, without giving the little emperor a chance to refuse, he patted Haitang's shoulders twice and left with a group of eunuchs and palace maids.
The little emperor looked a little unhappy, and seemed reluctant to walk with Haitang, but in the end he said nothing as he watched the empress dowager leave.
After watching for a while, the little emperor retracted his gaze to Haitang, forced a wry smile and spoke.
"When will the young nun return to the capital?"
Mei Cheng'an and Fan Xian were not surprised to see that the little emperor's performance was still going on. Although on the surface there were only four of them in the palace, there were still many eunuchs and palace maids hiding in the dark. Obviously, the little emperor was not sure if any of them were the empress dowager's spies.
Upon hearing this, Haitang glanced at Mei Chengan and Fan Xian, bowed slightly to the emperor, and spoke.
"I returned to the capital yesterday. My master was worried that there were too many evil people in the palace, so he sent a commoner girl back to the palace to make sure everything was safe."
Mei Chengan: “…”
Just act, why are you making indirect accusations?
Fan Xian: "..."
Hiss~What does that mean?
"the wicked?"
The little emperor looked a little surprised.
Haitang nodded slightly, her tone very calm.
"There are many evil people in this world, some are treacherous and cunning, some are shameless and insidious..."
As she said this, she glanced at Mei Chengan.
“Some even drug others.”
Mei Cheng'an was sweating profusely. He coughed lightly, touched his nose, and lowered his head to study the patterns and scratches on the gold bricks under his feet.
"What's even more hateful is that there are people who instigate others to drug, which makes it hard to guard against!"
This time, Haitang looked sideways at Fan Xian.
With the previous experience as a lesson, Fan Xian was mentally prepared and turned around to study the specific structure of the ceiling of the hall.
The little emperor glanced at the two busy-looking people without saying a word, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up.
……
Walking in the palace of Qi State and looking at the surrounding scenery along the way, Mei Cheng'an inexplicably thought of an idiom that seemed to be a pun, "the blessing of the people of Qi".
Because this palace is worthy of the word "fairy palace" that the little emperor had blurted out earlier, the nobles of Qi State who live in this fairy palace are indeed very blessed.
Tall green trees stand beside the palace complex, whose overall colors are mainly red and black. Their lush branches and leaves stretch out wantonly, like a young girl in green, leaning beside a stern man in black and fanning him with a small fan. Those lush green branches either quietly peek out from the black eaves, or lie comfortably on the green tiles to bask in the sun, or float on the gorgeous flowers on the ground, stretching lazily, and playfully shaking their bodies to tease the tender flowers with their own shadows.
The entire palace complex and the large green trees that can be seen everywhere in it complement each other and blend into one, combining both hardness and softness, and is beautiful beyond words.
The palace complex is divided into several floors and is built against the green hills behind, making it look particularly wonderful.
The four of them moved forward accompanied by a large group of eunuchs, walked around the corridor beside the clear stream in the mountain, climbed the stairs, and arrived at the second floor in a blink of an eye. At this time, the view was wider. Mei Chengan calmed his mind and began to observe the scenery of the palace carefully, marveling at it. Although the Northern Qi Palace was built on the mountain, it was an unwise and even stupid decision from a military or daily perspective, but looking at the clear water flowing slowly beside the corridor and the refreshing and refreshing colors all around, Mei Chengan seemed to understand the real reason why the royal family chose this place as the palace hundreds of years ago.
Beautiful, so beautiful.
Unfortunately, Mei Cheng'an is not a Qi citizen, and cannot enjoy the blessings of Qi people. He does not have two stunning beauties by his side. Instead, he only has the supreme tomboy emperor of Northern Qi, the strongest master of the younger generation of Qi, the girl Haitang who once made herself very embarrassed, the husky Fan Xian who is like a lunatic and keeps trying to step on the hem of the little emperor's clothes dragging on the ground, and a bunch of eunuchs.
The little emperor wore a dark red long-tailed outer robe, a dark gold full-sleeved undershirt, a gold jade belt around his waist, wide cuffs, dragon-patterned boots, wide steps, and a masculine demeanor. Judging from his appearance and posture alone, ignoring his Adam's apple and height, he could not be associated with a woman in any way. His chest? I don't know if it was just ordinary or if it was restrained in a particularly good way, but it was flat all the way, without any ups and downs.
Face? She was indeed pretty, but perhaps it was covered up by makeup. In any case, Mei Chengan couldn't imagine how she could dress like a woman without looking awkward.
We’ve gone off topic, let’s get back to the point.
The little emperor walked ahead with his hands behind his back, taking brisk steps. He seemed to have forgotten the reason why he kept Mei Chengan and Fan Xian. He had no intention of slowing down to stroll and chat with them.
After hurriedly walking around several corridors, the young emperor finally seemed tired. He slowed down his pace, raised his hand and pointed at a place that looked like a pavilion at the end of the corridor in front of him, and nodded.
In an instant, a large group of eunuchs behind them rushed over quickly without touching the ground, and cleaned the pavilion in a very short time. They wiped the railings again and again, and the small platform in the center of the pavilion was the most important. After the table was wiped clean, an incense burner was placed on it, incense was burned, cushions were placed on it, and tea, fruits, snacks, etc. were also prepared and arranged neatly. After finishing the work, they retreated to the corner of the corridor in the distance without any instructions, and guarded several passages.
As he stepped into the pavilion, the mountain breeze beside him blew gently with a little moisture from the clear stream. The emperor stood by the railing with his hands behind his back. The wind suddenly inspired him to write poetry, and he began to recite.
"Knocking on the railing, the forest flowers blow in the cold mountain wind, and the mighty song startles the floating clouds away!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Fan Xian, one of the three people behind him, clapped his hands and cheered.
"So wet, so wet!"
Mei Cheng'an and Haitang, who were defending him on both sides, glanced at him with disdain. Haitang didn't understand poetry and thought he was noisy, while Mei Cheng'an thought his praise was too half-hearted. There was no need to praise him when there was nothing to praise and it was just embarrassing to listen to.
The little emperor turned to look at Fan Xian and suddenly smiled.
"There are many people who flatter me, but you are the first one who does it so perfunctorily and carelessly, Fan Xian."
Fan Xian's face turned awkward when he heard this. He looked around at his fellow villagers and Haitang who were watching the show in silence, touched his nose and bowed.
"Foreign officials are terrified."
The little emperor smiled.
"It's okay to be panic, just don't be panic-stricken."
After saying that, he looked away and looked at Haitang.
"Little Sister, you always refuse to come to the palace when I ask you to, preferring to farm in the vegetable garden. Now that you are here today, relax and enjoy the scenery. It is more beautiful than your vegetable garden."
Haitang raised the corners of her mouth, revealing a polite yet perfunctory smile, and nodded slightly.
The little emperor didn't care. He turned around and looked outside the pavilion again, sighing with intoxication.
"I always thought this palace was too beautiful. It was so beautiful that I didn't even have the heart to eat and walk around the palace."
Mei Chengan: “…”
It’s not that exaggerated.
Fan Xian: "..."
What's the connection? What's beautiful about it?
Haitang: "..."
My opinion is that it is not as good as the vegetable garden.
"Master Fan."
The little emperor turned around and began to call out names for comments.
"What do you think of the scenery in my palace?"
Fan Xian gave a thumbs up without hesitation.
"Good~"
The little emperor was not going to let him off easily this time.
"Where's the good?"
Fan Xian rolled his eyes, glanced around, raised his hand and pointed behind him.
"There are mountains!"
Then point forward.
“There are trees!”
After it was done, he kept silent.
"..." x3
Haitang glanced sideways, disdain evident in her eyes.
Mei Chengan tilted his head, trying hard to hold back his smile and avoid bursting into laughter.
The little emperor looked at Fan Xian blankly, with surprise in his eyes as if asking, are you serious?
It was obvious that Fan was serious.
The little emperor came back to his senses and smiled speechlessly.
“You really know how to appreciate the scenery!”
After saying that, he shook his head and looked at Mei Chengan.
"What do you think, Mr. Mei?"
After a brief consideration, Mei Cheng'an slightly expanded on Fan Xian's answer.
"The palace is on a mountain, there are trees on the mountain, and the trees are in the palace. The scenery is beautiful and natural. The most amazing thing is that the layers of palace eaves seem to be integrated with the entire mountain scenery. The mountain scenery does not swallow up the majesty of the palace, and the beauty of the palace does not weaken the tranquility of the mountain scenery. There is a special feeling of harmony between man and nature, and the foreign ministers are amazed!"
"Alas?"
Mei Cheng'an's casual comment caused the young emperor of Northern Qi and the saint to look at him with extremely surprised eyes.
The reason why these two top figures in Qi State were so shocked was because of the four words that Mei Chengan casually said.
Heaven and man are one!
You know, the Ku He lineage, one of the four great masters in the world, emphasizes the unity of man and nature and the law of nature. This secret is the absolute core of their lineage and has never been passed on to outsiders. Unexpectedly, Mei Cheng'an casually pointed it out through Xu Jing at this time, which is really shocking.
Haitang stared at Mei Cheng'an's profile with her calm and bright eyes, as if she wanted to see clearly whether this famous poet, who had long been famous all over the world, had got it by chance, or had really seen something through the scenery of the imperial palace.
Fan Xian looked to the left, then to the front, and finally to his fellow villager on the right in confusion. He didn't think there was anything in his fellow villager's words that was worthy of the two of them being so angry. He couldn't understand.
Mei Cheng'an was actually also very confused. He knew that the Ku He lineage believed in the unity of man and nature, but he did not think that the unity of man and nature he was talking about had anything to do with that, so he did not make any associations in this direction. What he called the unity of man and nature was just a topic that had been discussed a lot in a philosophy class that was a bit distant in his memory. He did not expect that a casual remark of his would cause such shock to the two of them. He could not help but feel a little puzzled and asked.
"Is there anything wrong with what the foreign minister said?"
The little emperor laughed.
"No, no, what Master Mei said really touched my heart. I just didn't expect that what Master Mei said was actually true. For a moment, I just felt it was indescribable. I was so focused on experiencing it in my heart that I lost my focus and caused Master Mei to misunderstand me."
After saying that, he glanced at Haitang and asked casually.
"What do you think of what Master Mei said?"
Haitang withdrew her gaze and spoke briefly.
"Excellent!"
The little emperor laughed twice, turned around and sat down, raising his hand to signal everyone to sit down.
"Master Fan, Master Mei, please try the tea in my palace. Little Sister, please take a seat too."
The previous topic was cleverly covered up. Mei Cheng'an and Fan Xian sat down opposite the little emperor, with their backs to the exterior, and Haitang sat to the side.
After each of them took a sip of tea, the emperor suddenly spoke.
"Do you two know why I want to keep you here?"
The two men knew this very well. They stayed most likely to agree with their proposal for cooperation. However, the little emperor kept talking about irrelevant things and was reluctant to get to the point, obviously he had other thoughts. He glanced at his fellow villager who was silently sipping tea, and seeing that he had no intention of speaking, Fan Xian thought for a moment and spoke in reply.
"Appreciate further details."
The little emperor looked at Fan Xian and smiled.
"Two reasons. First, I love your literary talent. I can't put down the Dream of the Red Chamber you wrote under a pseudonym. However, the speed at which the new chapters are published is... a bit slow."
The corner of Fan Xian's mouth twitched. Even though he had arrived in another country, he still couldn't escape the fate of being urged to update his works. This was really unacceptable.
"Foreign ministers should try their best to rush."
The little emperor glanced at Mei Cheng'an and continued.
"The next thing is the poetry collection of the two of you. It has become the most popular poetry in the world. Once this poetry collection is published, I will not dare to write poetry anymore."
Mei Cheng'an nodded slightly but said nothing. His part of the collection of poems accounted for far less than Fan Xian's. The little emperor also liked Fan Xian's poems more. He was very aware of this.
Fan Xian said modestly.
"Your Majesty's poems are so good that I, an outsider, cannot match them."
The little emperor laughed.
"Don't be so modest. I have a second reason for keeping you here. You two are going all the way north to see what the Great Qi has to offer."
"?"x2
Mei Cheng'an and Fan Xian were both stunned when they heard this. Shouldn't the second part be about discussing cooperation? Why was it still about idle talk?
The two looked at each other, and Fan Xian spoke first.
“Beautiful scenery.”
Mei Chengan put down the teacup.
"The world is rich in treasures."
Each of them only praised with four words, no more, no less, and then they all kept silent, and the tacit understanding between the two began to emerge again.
Haitang took a sip from the teacup, glanced at the two of them, and curled the corners of her mouth. The two were obviously a little impatient.
……
(End of this chapter)
