Living leisurely in Tang Dynasty

Li mountain is located not too far from Chang’an. It didn’t take long for the group to arrive at the hot spring area.  

Due to continuous conflict at the end of the Sui Dynasty and a rather empty treasury belonging to the Tang Emperor, Li Mountain Palace has not been restored on a large scale and looked rather tattered even though both Li Er and the previous Emperor would often visit this area for short getaways.

Li Yuanying was on his best behavior for it was only two days ago that the Emperor was furious at him. He was well behaved all the way and there was no trouble at all.

His Majesty and his entourage had a meal and after dark, he led a few close vassals to the hot spring.

The spring water at Li mountain is among the best in the world. Various Imperial doctors have sworn that the natural hot spring helps in recuperating the body. Li Er has been in pain due to the recurrence of old injuries and finally managed to relax when he dip into the hot spring.  

Li Yuanying and Li Zhi were together.

The night view was great and Li Yuanying felt that it was a tad bit boring to just soak in the hot spring. He then began telling the others ghost stories.

Storytelling is Li Yuanying’s specialty. He doesn’t tell ghost stories from the educated class but instead picks stories that his followers have gathered from the general public. In comparison, these stories were more down-to-earth and closer to real life.

As Li Zhi has known his friend for a long time, he managed to remain calm. The same can’t be said about the other princes who were soaking together, they had no resistance to Li Yuanying’s storytelling ability. Listening to him, they felt that the wind was blowing eerily. It almost felt like a hand would stretch out from within the pool to grab them or the servants might turn into monsters.

As the stories got more terrifying, the younger boys couldn’t endure it anymore. They quickly crawled out from the hot spring crying “Lord Father!” and ran away to look for Li Er butt naked.

Yuanying has successfully scared away his group of friends and was extremely happy. He leaned back on a rock and said to Li Zhi: “Without them, it’s so much more spacious!”

Li Zhi remained speechless.

After a while, he spoke: “Be careful, they might complain to the Emperor.”

“Can’t blame me for their own timidness! Isn’t there a saying: If I’ve not wronged anyone in life, I wouldn’t be afraid of the knock on the door in the middle of the night? Look, aren’t we both not  afraid?”

It’s not that Li Zhi wasn’t afraid, he has been frightened too many times by Li Yuanying already and is used to it.

Li Zhi asked curiously: “Where did you find so many bizarre stories?”

“There is no shortage of stories in the palace. Do you know where the people that serve you come from?”

Li Zhi shook his head.

“I don’t know either but I know they all come from different places. There are many legends and stories circulating in each person’s hometown. Some are unique and some with similar patterns but all interesting. When I was younger I refused to sleep and so I got the people around me to tell me stories. Because I liked listening to them, my servants gradually got replaced by those who could tell stories. When they’ve exhausted their collection, they would proactively collect new ones to stay by my side. This way, I would be exposed to all the legends and stories from the world!”

Although Li Yuanying is notoriously known as the little devil, those serving him live an easy and rewarding life. Many are envious of Dai Ting who is always by the Prince’s side.

“This shows that the people below follow the habit of their leader. Take Prince Chu Ling who had a slender waist, those under him had to endure hunger and were so thin that they had to lean against the wall to stand up. Or Duke Jin Wen who lives a simple frugal life, so those under him often wore simple clothes and lived simple lives.” (Li Zhi)

Li Yuanying has no patience for serious topics like this. So he instead leaned on the stone bank and promptly doze off.

Li Zhi was afraid that he would really fall asleep, so he shook him: “Don’t fall asleep. The imperial doctor might have said that this spring water is good but it still shouldn’t be soaked for too long.”

Li Yuanying yawned: “Alright, alright. No more soaking, let’s go back to sleep!” He was indeed sleepy, so he put on his underwear and went back to his room barefeet.

Li Zhi didn’t expect Li Yuanying to be so straightforward.

He didn’t feel much when Yuanying was with him but as soon as he left, the ghost stories started flashing into Li Zhi’s mind. So scary!

Li Zhi ran back to his room and started reciting passages from books he has read one after another to stop his brain from going wild.

On the other side, Li Er was talking to Zhangsun Wuji when a few bare-butt sons ran towards him in fright.

Li Er asked, only to find out that Li Yuanying has been acting like the little demon again. He’s too exhausted to get angry and so allowed his sons to crowd into his pool to soak together.

After the group left, the Emperor enquire for updates from his servants and soon learned that Li Yuanying had already gone back and was sleeping soundly.

Damn, this kid. After scaring others, he’s not a tad bit afraid but is sleeping soundly!

.…………

Early the next morning, Yuanying copied a few poems and show them to His Majesty and wanted him to feedback if his calligraphy skills had improved.

Li Er took a quick look. Indeed the brat’s writing has improved, much better than his initial horrible talisman scribbling-like writing.

His Majesty nodded with satisfaction: “It’s not bad. I can see that you have worked hard.”

Li Yuanying took advantage of the situation and told Li Er his negotiation with his eldest nephew: “Chengqian has sent people to inquire for days and finally found the whereabouts of genius doctor Sun. He happens to be treating people nearby for the past two months.” He took out the token which belonged to Chengqian: “Since Imperial doctors have no cure for your illnesses, Chengqian and I are thinking of asking doctor Sun to treat you!”

Li Er was not surprised that his little brother would tell Li Chengqian about their last conversation but he didn’t show any change in his expression.

His Majesty Li Er has always been satisfied with Li Chengqian as his son and as the Crown Prince. Facing his son’s rebellious phase in recent years, he hasn’t thought of a way to deal with it. He’s the ruler of a country and the head of the Li family, it is impossible for him to always lower his stature and share too many soothing words with his children, especially not towards the crown prince.

Seeing that Yuanying was getting close to him, Li Er had the intention of making his brother a messenger to convey some messages he wanted to tell his son.

But Yuanying didn’t know his thoughts. Seeing that  Li Er was unmoved, he felt that his brother was cold-hearted and doesn’t show emotions.

Yuanying could only sigh on behalf of His Majesty: “Chengqian, this child, how filial he is! Knowing that you’re plagued by old illnesses, he couldn’t sleep at night!”

His Majesty Li Er couldn’t maintain his poker face when he heard the kid mention “Chengqian, this child”. He raised his hand and knocked on Yuanying’s forehead.

Yuanying felt that he’ll one day become stupid from Li Er’s excessive hits on his forehead.

The boy decided to ignore the Emperor. He took his two guards and went out to look for Li Dejian who would be accompanying him for this outing.

Li Dejian and Li Chengqian were good friends. Chengqian had asked his men to inform Dejian of Sun Simiao’s whereabouts and also requested that Dejian escort Yuanying to look for the old doctor.

Being made aware that Yuanying has gotten His Majesty’s approval, Li Dejian took Yuanying out of the palace to visit Sun Simiao in a nearby village.

It has been more than 20 years since the Tang Empire was founded and the damages caused by the war have gradually subsided. The fields around Li Mountain Palace have returned to their former peaceful appearance, full of vitality in spring.

Yuanying seldom walks in fields and felt everything was new which made him curious. From time to time, he would stop to observe his surroundings; from how farmers plow the land with cattle to the way dragonflies would stop on tender seedlings.

Seeing the boy’s action, Dejian chose not to rush him. He instead let the boy move at his own pace and walked slowly towards the village.

Before he got close to the village, he saw an old tree so big it’ll require several people to hug it to cover its circumference. Then, he heard faint voices coming from under the tree. If you listen carefully, you can vaguely hear something along the lines of “The sky is blue and the earth yellow, the universe is created from a vast chaotic state” a line from the literature <<Thousand Character Classic>> which started to gain fame during the previous dynasty.

This was the same text Yuanying started with in his early schooling days. The full text consists of nearly a thousand different commonly used characters, which help beginners to recognize characters. Various stories and moral values were also built into the texts.

He walked over curiously and found a young boy around the same age as Li Zhi (11 or 12 years old) standing under the tree with scroll in hand teaching several children sitting neatly under the tree.

Some sat on mats and some directly on the ground, all around the age of 10. They sat with straightened backs earnestly following in the recitation of the text.

Yuanying thought it was rather strange, how could a teenager become a teacher?

The teaching boy didn’t notice  Yuanying and his party approaching from afar. He took a piece of charcoal and wrote characters on the tree for his companions to learn. There is a small stream nearby and after every word, the boy washes it clean with water and writes a new word.

Yuanying watched for a while longer before he was noticed by the teenager who then folded his hands and bowed in salutation.

“What business does these esteemed guests have with our Tang village?”

The children sitting under the tree looked at Yuanying curiously and realized that his clothes were luxurious and his guards imposing.

Yuanying followed suit and folded his hands and bowed to the teenager. He was forthcoming in his intentions with nothing to hide: “I’m here to look for old doctor Sun. An elder in my family is ill and so I would like to request old doctor Sun to treat him.”

“You came at the right time. A few days more and doctor Sun will not be here anymore.”

The teenager instructed his pupil to revise the materials he has taught and personally led the party into the village.

Li Yuanying was fond of this young man so he did a self-introduction: “My surname is Li, and my name Yuanying. You can call me by my name. What’s your name?”

Li was a common surname and so the young man didn’t have many thoughts about it except that Yuanying might be the son of some powerful noble family.

The young man replied flatly with no hint of being humble or arrogant: “My surname is Tang, and I have a single name- Xuan. You can call me Ah Xuan.”

Li Yuanying nodded and asked what he was doing just now.

Tang Xuan explained that his family was better off than most in the village and so he had the opportunity to go to school.  He thinks that even though his friends were poor and cannot afford education, it would still be good if they can recognize a few words. Even if these people will never take part in the imperial exams, being literate would allow them to have an additional skill and hopefully, they would be able to demand more wages.

So Tang Xuan decided to teach his fellow villagers in his spare time.

He has already taught a good portion from <<Thousand Character Classics>> and with that he has not only taught others but also remembers them firmly himself, killing two birds with one stone.

“You are really amazing.” (Li Yuanying)

Tang Xuan shook his head:”Just doing what I can.”

“While this is something that everyone can do, it’s not something that everyone is willing to do. You’re amazing.”

Tang Xuan blushed a little with such a straightforward compliment. He smiled shyly, pointed to a humble farmhouse in front of him, and said, “Old Doctor Sun lives here. Recently, he is teaching the villagers how to collect medicine.”

There were many mountains and forests around and so medicinal materials were abundant. Learning about medicinal herbs is a good new knowledge for villagers and so many gather at the farmhouse daily to learn how to identify, collect and dry them. It was slightly less crowded today as Sun Simiao mentioned that the weather these past two days was cooler and he wanted to enter the mountains for collection.

Tang Xuan then added: “Yesterday doctor Sun entered the mountain. I’m not sure if he has returned, if he’s not back yet, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait.”

Li Yuanying said spontaneously: “I can wait.”

Tang Xuan nodded and stepped forward to knock on the door.

No answer.

Tang Xuan turned to look at Li Yuanying.

He wasn’t disappointed but said with great interest: “Since old doctor Sun has not returned, let’s go back to the big tree and I’ll assist you in teaching!” He continued boasting: “I’ve already finished the Analects of Confucius and the Book of Rites. Now I’ve been studying the Book of Songs, so I can teach them a new poem!”

Of course Li Yuanying conveniently failed to mention that <<Book of Songs>> was a punishment given to him just a few days ago by his brother the Emperor.

Tang Xuan had long guessed that the boy was from a noble family. Seeing that Yuanying was a few years younger but had already read so much, he greatly admired him. He immediately led Yuanying back to the place where he was teaching his fellow villagers.

Although Li Yuanying had not taught people seriously, he has rich experience in pretending. Give him a group of young villagers who were thirsty for knowledge and he will manage to teach them very smoothly.

And so Sun Simiao came back from the mountain with a basket filled with herbs to loud and clear chanting coming from the entrance of the village.

“Why did you say that there’s nothing to wear? I will take my own cloak for you to share.The war comes from the great will …” ^[1]An excerpt from an ancient military song from Qin China -WuYi

Sun Simiao stopped to look and saw a group of children sitting or standing under the big tree reciting in unison.

Among the two standing children, one was Tang Xan whom he has known and thinks is a very good boy; the other was someone he had never seen before. He looked closely and saw that his lips were red, his teeth were white, his eyebrows were nicely shaped, someone blessed with good features and looks!

What’s even rarer is that the child was dressed in luxurious clothes and had a proud face. This is out of alignment with the rural village setting but the boy stands in front of village children with his hands behind his back. If not for his young age, I would have been fooled by his disposition and thought of him as a real teacher.

References

↑1An excerpt from an ancient military song from Qin China -WuYi