ebookland Chapter 977: Master Yu is coming to Qiongzhou
Chapter 977: Master Yu is coming to Qiongzhou
In December, Qiongzhou is still as bright as summer.
"Xuan Ce, why don't you try it? It's very nourishing!" On the beach in the evening, His Royal Highness the King of Chu sat barefoot and cross-legged beside a bonfire, holding up a skewer with sea cucumbers on it, and said to Wang Xuance beside him: "You spend your days like Huairen and the others, and don't find some fun for yourself. You just lock yourself in the study, waiting for news from Goguryeo, and then mark and draw on the map. What's the matter, are you planning to tire yourself out and make me feel ashamed?"
"Your Highness, of course I don't mean that." Wang Xuance hurriedly waved his hand upon hearing this, but soon he couldn't wave his hand anymore - because His Highness the King of Chu had already handed him a string of roasted sea cucumbers: "Alright, alright, eat quickly, and go to sleep after you finish eating. Then you can plan for me how I should celebrate this year's New Year's Day."
"What are you celebrating?" Wang Xuance scratched his head when he heard that.
"No..." Upon hearing this, His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu could no longer bear it: "Lian'er is already pregnant now, what are you celebrating?"
“This…” Wang Xuance was stunned when he heard this, but then he smiled and said, “Congratulations, Your Highness! Congratulations, Your Highness! Your Highness is really amazing! You are worthy of being a master who can shoot an arrow through a target from a hundred paces away!”
"Eat your sea cucumber!" His Royal Highness the King of Chu couldn't hold back when he heard this: "Did you teach Yuwen Qing this idiom? This idiot also said the same thing when he congratulated me!"
"Oh..." Thinking of having a young master in the future, Wang Xuance couldn't help but feel emotional: "Your Highness, can I ask you for a favor?"
"What's the matter?" His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu glanced at the other party when he heard it.
"Can you... let me teach the young master?" Wang Xuance could swear to heaven that his request did not contain any selfish motives: he just wanted to have a young master who was gentle, elegant and easy-going (not just when swearing), and who would reason with people and would not think of using his fists when he couldn't win the argument, and who would truly think twice before acting (not think three times quickly and then act quickly) when encountering things.
"No!" His Royal Highness the King of Chu was no longer in the mood to eat sea cucumbers. Anyway, he was not in the mood to play Cuju recently: "Xuan Ce, you are even more outrageous than Gangzi!"
"Ah? What does Taoist Yuan have to do with this?" Wang Xuance, who already knew that there was little hope for this matter, did not find it difficult to explain when he heard His Royal Highness the King of Chu reject him.
He just didn't expect that Gangzi also had a job.
"Gangzi is going to tell fortunes for my unborn child and find a good match for me." Upon hearing this, His Royal Highness the King of Chu was immediately indignant and said, "This bastard, I was so angry that I wanted to jump up and kick him! If Zhenxuan hadn't stopped me, I would really..."
“Your Highness, wait a minute…” Wang Xuance didn’t think there was anything outrageous about Yuan Tiangang’s move: “This… this is obviously a good thing…”
"What good news?" His Royal Highness the King of Chu frowned upon hearing this: "Master Sun personally examined Lian'er's pulse and said that Lian'er is pregnant with a girl this time. Do you think this can be considered a good news?!"
“Uh…” Wang Xuance suddenly nodded: “Master Yuan really deserves a beating!”
"Humph, if he had known about this at the time, I would have punched him so hard that his peach blossoms would bloom!" After saying this, His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu suddenly said with a sense of loss: "I can't believe it... In the blink of an eye, I'm going to be a father too."
“I never thought of that…” Wang Xuance saw the master of the family sighing about the passing of time, so he immediately echoed: “When I first met Your Highness, I felt that Your Highness was a man of unparalleled courage and determination…”
"Xuan Ce, you are really good at talking!" His Royal Highness the King of Chu laughed out loud when he heard this: "No wonder I love chatting with you the most over the years."
"Your Highness, I'm afraid you said this because Taoist Master Zhenxuan is not in Qiongzhou now." Wang Xuance smiled slightly when he heard this, and then asked, "The old Taoist..."
"..." His Royal Highness the King of Chu also put away his smile upon hearing this: "Although the old Heavenly Master often says 'I will not live long', I believed it at first, but later I stopped believing it. But now... I don't know whether I should believe it or not..."
"Plants wither and flourish, and so do people." Wang Xuance didn't know how to comfort His Royal Highness the King of Chu: "Your Highness, at least... the old Heavenly Master lived a brilliant life!"
"What you said..." His Royal Highness the King of Chu shook his head after hearing this: "Zhen Xuan has no reason to lie to me. Taoist Sun also diagnosed the old Taoist priest's pulse and said that 'the old immortal is in good health now' - ah... but I don't understand: why did the old Taoist priest say that he would return to the mountains to practice after my wedding and never care about worldly affairs... ah... I don't even know if I can visit him in Zhongnan Mountain in the future."
"Your Highness, go if you want to. Isn't the old Taoist priest the one who can do nothing to you?" Wang Xuance felt that this matter couldn't be simpler. "Besides, as long as the old Taoist priest is healthy, isn't it the greatest blessing for you? Just like the emperor emeritus—"
"Alas..." Upon hearing this, His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu raised his hand to signal the other party not to continue. "Don't bring up things that are not relevant to the topic. I am now afraid of that old man. He writes to me every now and then, asking me when he can hold his great-grandson. I think my eldest brother didn't make him wait. Li Xiang can crawl now, but the royal grandfather doesn't even care about him."
"Your Highness, please don't be too proud." Wang Xuance looked at the corners of His Highness the Prince of Chu's mouth that were getting higher and higher as he spoke, and wondered when the master had acquired this habit of saying one thing and thinking another.
"I am not proud at all. I am distressed!" His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu sighed upon hearing that. How depressed he was at that time that he told his own little messenger - our Prince Sizi - about Lian'er's pregnancy. After the little girl spread the news so 'casually', the letters and gifts that came from Chang'an during this period were simply overwhelming.
At the palace, everyone’s reaction can be imagined.
The Crown Prince, who had just had his first son, was even more direct - he gave the jade pendant he had worn since childhood to his unborn niece. At the end, he asked his brother in the letter: Should he give the fish token of the Left Guard, one of the six commanders of the Crown Prince, to his eldest niece? Although that thing is useless now, it's hard to say what it will be like in the future...right?
In response to this, His Royal Highness the King of Chu only replied to his elder brother: Don’t take me with you if you want to die - of course, if you really die one day, I will come to save you.
The emperor and empress also gave generous rewards for this, especially Emperor Li II. After learning that his daughter-in-law was pregnant with a girl, he wanted to give his granddaughter an honor and favor - he directly gave Xunzhou, not far from Guangzhou, as a fief to the unborn child.
The princes and princesses also carefully prepared generous gifts for this purpose - even Li You, who had just come out of the Zongzheng Temple, went to his mother Yin Fei's private vault as soon as he got the news.
Of course, if Li Ke hadn't stopped him, in addition to giving away a box of precious gems, he also planned to work with Li Yin to prepare a full set of fishing gear for his future niece, as well as the bait recipes they had accumulated through practice over the years.
I have to say that from the perspective of effort alone, these two brothers are invincible - they are only slightly inferior to the pair of little clay figurines made by Sizi himself.
"But... Master Yu's reaction was the biggest." His Royal Highness the King of Chu collected his chaotic thoughts, turned around and announced a not-so-exciting news to Wang Xuance: "He plans to resign and come to this King's place to spend his remaining years..."