Chapter 65: Good Times

Chen Wen Zong stood by the desk, holding the Xuan paper, silently reciting the autumn poems line by line. He was as serene as jade.

For some unknown reason, a thread of regret and sorrow arose in his heart.

His regret was that, except for the one about "withered vine, old tree, dusk crow," all these poems were only single lines.

Although a single line of poetry could be exquisite, it ultimately lacked a complete artistic conception and could not be considered a complete work.

Chen Wen Zong was about to put down the Xuan paper, but then picked it up again. It was precisely these incomplete lines that made his heart ache.

He examined the handwriting of the poems: the handwriting was elegant, so it was probably not Shizi's writing.

Chen Wen Zong recalled that when the maidservant lifted the curtain earlier, it was Bai Li County Princess holding the pen. Could it be that the County Princess wrote them? If he saw the County Princess again next time, he must definitely ask what the complete versions of these poems were like.

This legitimate eldest son of the Chen Manor in Luo City was so engrossed in the poems that he completely forgot that his younger brother, Chen Ji, was also seated there just now.

"Elder Brother, what are you doing? Why are you standing there motionless?" Chen Wen Xiao asked.

"Hmm, I'm looking at poems," Chen Wen Zong came back to his senses.

At this time, Lin Chao Jing also stood up and walked over, wanting to see what Chen Wen Zong held in his hand. "Is that the poem Shizi wrote? Before, when I was at Dong Lin Academy, I advised him not to mess around at the academy, but he just wouldn't listen."

As he spoke, when Lin Chao Jing saw clearly the nine lines of poetry Chen Wen Zong held in his hand, he was also stunned.

More and more people gathered in front of this desk. Bai Li County Princess had a total of three pages of Xuan paper, so these three pages were circulated among different people.

Two maids walked up and said with a smile, "Gentlemen, our young lady is here!"

They saw Liu Hang Tou slowly walk up the wooden stairs. She looked about eighteen or nineteen years old. Her appearance was not particularly stunning, but compared to the meticulously dressed women in Hong Yi Lane, she was somewhat plain.

However, there was a kind of vivid charm in her eyes and the way they flowed.

Liu Su went upstairs and saw that all the literati and scholars were gathered in front of a single desk, and no one looked at her.

The maidservant wanted to speak again to remind the crowd, but Liu Su stopped her with a smile.

She tiptoed lightly closer and asked a scholar with a smile, "What are you looking at?"

"Ah, we are looking at poems."

It wasn't until a fragrant breeze hit his face that the scholar reacted.

Liu Su looked at the poems on the Xuan paper and said curiously, "Yi, which young master wrote this?"

"Jing Wang Manor's Shizi wrote it. He has already left."

"Left?" Liu Su came to the window and looked down at the embroidered building below, holding onto the window lattice. She saw Shizi's group chatting, laughing, playing, and walking out of the embroidered building.

The scenery below the building was more interesting than the scenery above.

Liu Su said with a smile, "They are so lively! I still want to keep them for a drink, or go drinking with them."

The maidservant was slightly stunned. "Young lady, what should we do now? Should I go invite them back?"

Liu Su smiled. "No need. Interesting people are better to look at from afar. They become less interesting when you get close.

Let's go, I still have to deal with those boring men."

"Then those three empty elegant seats, should we find someone to fill them?"

"Alright, it's the same whose money we earn."

Shizi came out of the embroidered building, clearly angered out, yet arrogant like a general who had just won a victory.

Someone at the door saw him come out and asked curiously, "Shizi isn't entering the embroidered building? Why did he come out so quickly?"

Shizi laughed heartily, "I can't write poems, so I just came out!"

"Did you see Liu Hang Tou?"

"Didn't see her. It's good I didn't spend silver, otherwise I would have lost big time!"

At this time, beside the green stone paved road in Bai Yi Lane, every family hung up beautifully shaped lanterns. There were carp shapes and building shapes, exquisite and interesting.

The people coming and going on the street were all literary and elegant scholars, knowledgeable in astronomy and geography.

Shizi and the others walked boldly on this small road, appearing out of place.

When they were far away from the embroidered building, Shizi asked Bai Li in a low voice, "Did I do anything wrong today?"

Bai Li said with a smile, "Not wrong, truly worthy of being my brother. A person should be so straightforward."

"Heh heh," Shizi proudly puffed out his chest, "They despise us, we also despise them! Since we can't compete in poetry, we won't compare anymore!"

Bai Li's eyes curved with laughter. "That's right, what's the point of comparing back and forth?"

Liu Qu Xing added, "Look at Lin Chao Jing's pretentious appearance just now, like a peacock spreading its tail."

She Deng Ke said glumly, "You didn't learn much of Master's medical skills, but you've truly mastered the skill of damaging people's reputation."

The crowd burst into laughter, and the unpleasantness from just now was also swept away.

At this time, Liang Gou Er asked, "Shizi, where are we going now? Hong Yi Lane, Jin Fang, or other places?"

Shizi waved his hand. "Let's not go to Hong Yi Lane first. The little monk should have finished reciting the scriptures by now. After we pick up the little monk, we'll go to Jin Fang together! How can we leave him out of such a happy occasion? We'll even carry out those with lame legs, so how can we miss a monk?"

"......Then after returning to Wang Manor, can you all put me in the medical hall and just leave me alone? I don't want to go drinking with Chen Ji."

"No!"

"Let's go, go back to Wang Manor to pick up the little monk, not one less!"

"Pick up the little monk!"

Chen Ji's eyes widened as he watched this group of madmen hooking arms and backs, giggling. With a twitch of his brain, he had to walk for another half an hour to get back to Wang Manor to pick up the little monk, and then walk another half an hour to come back to Dong Shi.

Just like when everyone was young, they could be unrestrained, crazy, and waste time.

As long as you still stood proudly in youth, when you woke up from a sleep, the world would forgive you.

At a certain point, you would be convinced by the secular world that this was not right.

But when you stood in your twilight years and looked back, you would suddenly discover that this world originally had no right and wrong, success and failure. The time you and your friends stood on the table and sang loudly until dawn, and the time you looked at the girl you admired and smiled foolishly all day, that was the true good time.

Because you can never go back again.

Chen Ji asked, "Bai Li County Princess, are your brother and them usually this crazy?"

Bai Li County Princess smiled faintly. "Usually, they might be even crazier than this time. Last year, when we returned to Luo City for the Shang Yuan Festival, he got drunk and insisted on running to Tu Luo Temple to strike the bell.

He and several of his cronies secretly climbed over the wall in the middle of the night. The sound of the bell woke up residents in several hundred households nearby. Father hung him on the house beam and beat him for a day."

"Why did he go to strike the bell?"

"He said he wanted to wake up those who couldn't wake up in the world..."

"Indeed, he woke up quite a few." Chen Ji said solemnly and respectfully.

"I'm following him out now because I'm worried he'll do something outrageous again."

"Are you heartbroken that your brother was beaten?"

Bai Li shook her head. "Last time, Father just got tired from beating him for a day and fell ill. It took a full half month for him to recover.

Father was already busy and tired, and then he got so angry because of him."

Chen Ji: "Such deep father-daughter affection."

By the time the group picked up the little monk and returned to Dong Shi, it was already late at night.

Hong Yi Lane was still brightly lit, with two rows of red lanterns hanging from one end of the street to the other, as if the fireworks would never extinguish.

When Liang Gou Er carried the bamboo chair through the buildings, the girls upstairs laughed charmingly and waved their handkerchiefs. "Isn't this Brother Gou Er? Which rich patron are you accompanying for flower wine today? Don't go to Jin Fang to find Miss Yan Er. You can't outdrink her, come drink with me! I'll fall after just two cups!"

Liang Gou Er laughed and cursed, "I won't drink with you, I'm afraid you'll drain my Yang energy!"

The girl upstairs cursed back, "Liang Gou Er, you've spent enough silver on wine for that Yan Er to open another Jin Fang! You're being fooled and still won't listen to advice! She's fundamentally not drinking wine with you, it's water!"

Liang Gou Er continued carrying the bamboo chair forward, laughing and responding as he walked, "I'm willing!"

At this time, a bright and beautiful girl welcomed him from Jin Fang. "Brother Gou Er, you've come!"

Liang Gou Er laughed heartily. "Miss Yan Er, today you don't need to entertain other guests. Call the girls to greet us.

This table is all ours, don't neglect my new friends."

Yan Er sized up Shizi's silver-threaded dark patterned python robe and immediately responded with a smile, "Alright!"

She led the crowd up to the second floor and arranged a very spacious elegant seat. Dishes, wine, and water were served like a flowing banquet, without repetition.

Before long, a group of girls rushed in with a fragrant breeze. Bai Li glanced at them and pointed at Chen Ji. "He doesn't need company, he's injured."

At this time, a girl wanted to sit on Shizi's lap. Shizi glanced at Bai Li and laughed shyly, "Impossible, impossible, let's just drink wine."

At this moment, a guest outside said, "Did you hear? Jing Wang Manor's good-for-nothing Shizi wrote twelve lines of poetry in the embroidered building."

"Oh, what did he write?" "Haha, do you know Lin Chao Jing? He's the one with the most hope of winning Xie Yuan with Chen Wen Zong this year. He said Shizi wrote utterly nonsensical stuff.

Each poem only wrote half a line, the lines were incomplete. I don't know where he picked them up or if he bought them."

"What did other people say?"

"Other people said the same thing, saying Shizi's level can only piece together half a line of poetry."

"The good-for-nothing Shizi, indeed."

Shizi was quietly sitting in the elegant seat. He drank a large bowl of wine and exhaled a breath of wine before asking, "Girl, let me ask you, 'Autumn scenery is different outside the border, the wild geese going south leave no trace.' How is this line of poetry written?"

The girl said with a smile, "Good brother, I may not understand what you're saying."

Shizi scratched his head and asked again, "'After the new rain in the empty mountains, the weather is late and autumn comes.' Is this line written well?" The girl refilled his wine and said with a smile, "Shizi, don't make things difficult for me. If you want to use poetry to attract girls, go to Bai Yi Lane. In our Hong Yi Lane, it's better to fill up the wine first. We can't accommodate literary scholars here!"

Shizi was stunned, then laughed heartily. "This is good, this is good! I also don't like those literary scholars!"

The girl covered her mouth and laughed. "There are also middle-aged literary men who like to come to Hong Yi Lane quietly. Before going to bed, they will quietly take a sea dog pill to cure impotence with wine, and let me wait, don't rush.

While the medicine hasn't taken effect, he will chat with me about Han history, chat about classics, from astronomy to geography. At that time, I really admire him.

By the time the medicine takes effect, I ask him where Sirius is, and he says don't ask anymore, quickly take off your clothes."

The little monk listened with a red face and hot ears, reciting scriptures as he listened, and listening as he recited scriptures.

Shizi recalled what the other guests said just now. It turned out that the poems he had been thinking about before were not as important as he had imagined. "Before, when I first went to Dong Lin Academy, I saw Chen Wen Zong and Lin Chao Jing reciting poems and making pairs. My heart was filled with envy. How could they be so elegant and romantic, and I was so out of place?

Would it be possible for me to write good poems too, write good lines like 'If life were only like the first meeting, what is the matter with the autumn wind and the painted fan that causes sorrow'? Could I stand with them?

Today, I suddenly realized that I and they were originally people from two different worlds, and there was no need to force it."

Shizi finished his bowl and raised it to Chen Ji from afar. "Sorry, I implicated your poems and they suffered insult with me."

Chen Ji smiled and comforted him, "It doesn't matter, you paid the money."

Shizi drank a lot, and his words also became more numerous. "There are also gentlemen in the academy who verbally demand self-reliance from us, but they themselves bring concubines into the academy, the people of Dong Lin Party."

Bai Li frowned fiercely and pinched Shizi's waist. "Brother, watch what you say."

"Haha, not saying it, not saying it anymore, let's drink, let's drink!"

Shizi didn't know how much wine he drank this night. Chen Ji originally didn't want to drink, but he also unknowingly drank until he was dizzy.

What Si Ming, what Jun Ji Si, what Luo Tian Sect, what killing skills, what sword intent path, all were thrown to the back of his mind, leaving only the sweet wine in Hong Yi Lane.

Chen Ji forgot why he drank so much. He only remembered in his hazy state, someone shouted, 'Let's go, go to Drum Tower to watch the sunrise!' Then a group of people carried him out the door.

Before leaving, Liang Gou Er pulled Yan Er's hand and asked, "Are you coming to watch the sunrise?"

Miss Yan Er said with a smile, "There's still business in Jin Fang."

Liang Gou Er asked again, "Are you coming?"

Miss Yan Er replied, "Yes." They ran wildly in the darkness to the front of Luo City's Drum Tower. Bai Li gave the soldiers guarding the Drum Tower a silver peanut, and they let them go.

When they came to the top of the Drum Tower, the cool autumn wind blew, and Chen Ji opened his eyes.

He saw Shizi sitting lonely on the railing, looking as if he would fall down at any moment if the wind blew him.

Shizi asked loudly, "Liu Qu Xing, what do you want to do in the future?"

"I want to inherit my master's legacy and become an Imperial Physician!"

"Good, then you will be the Imperial Physician of my Jing Wang Manor in the future!"

Shizi asked loudly again, "Liang Mao Er, what do you want to do in the future?"

Liang Mao Er thought for a moment. "I want to buy several mu of land."

"I'll send it to you tomorrow!"

Shizi then asked, "Chen Ji, what do you want to do in the future?"

Chen Ji said hazily, "I don't know, I really don't know. Let's just live first."

The crowd laughed heartily. "Living, what kind of idea is that?"

"Shizi, what do you want to do in the future?" Liang Mao Er raised his head and asked.

"I want to be a great knight-errant!" Shizi said with a smile, "I just realized that reading those classics is useless. From now on, I'll read whatever page the wind blows to, and tear out whatever page is difficult to read! Beat the drum!"

Saying that, he picked up the drum hammer and was about to strike the giant drum on the building.

However, Bai Li pulled him back. "Brother, think clearly. If you strike the hammer, the soldiers guarding the Drum Tower below will be exiled to the army!"

Shizi shyly loosened his hand. "Then I won't strike it."

Chen Ji looked to the other side again. Liang Gou Er was looking at the sky dazedly, while Miss Yan Er was lightly leaning against him, not knowing what she was thinking.

Liang Gou Er hugged her. "Liu Xian, where have you been all these years?"

Yan Er tightly clutched Liang Gou Er's clothes collar, as if wanting to hold onto the warmth of this prodigal son's body. She said softly, "I'm back."

"It's good you're back, it's good you're back."

As the words fell, someone shouted, "The sun is coming out!"

Chen Ji raised his head and looked. He saw a round of red sun slowly rising at the end of the world. Clouds flowed, and the red light gradually shone on everyone.

Beside him was a group of fools drunk and crazy, but even the sunrise in autumn was so gentle.

Bai Li glanced at Chen Ji. "What are you thinking?"

Chen Ji said with a smile, "I want to make that cloud in the sky stop."