Living leisurely in Tang Dynasty

Thinking that the carriage was full of Li Yuanying’s men, Wei Ying moved to a corner faced the wall and pretended to be dead.

He didn’t want to talk a younger sister who was collaborating with Prince Teng. He even wanted to cry a little, why did father listen to this Prince and handed them over to him!

As he calmed down, Yuanying chatted with Wei Shu enthusiastically: “Let me tell you, I thought I’ll only get to see you after a month or two, and I really missed you. I never thought that such a thing would happen. Why did your parents suddenly want to take you away?”

When Wei Ying heard Li Yuanying utter “I miss you so much”, he wanted to turn around to scold him but after thinking about it, he continued to face the wall. Can’t out speak him, can’t out fight him by numbers, and my sister favors this guy, what can he do, he can’t do anything!

Wei Shu glanced at Wei Ying and said frankly: “The manuscript you send to me was taken by my brother to my father.”

Li Yuanying frowned and thought about it, only to remember the poem he wrote to her.

“So what? I saw your name in this poem, so I used it to practice calligraphy.”

Wei Ying couldn’t take it anymore, and turned his head to interrupt: “If you didn’t do it on purpose, why did you write it so many times!”

Li Yuanying felt that this guy was incomprehensible: “If you want to see improvement in your handwriting, it is easier to see it writing the same thing over and over again. Why are you so stupid? You don’t feel like sister Shu’s brother at all.”

Wei Ying looked at the righteous Li Yuanying, and then at the frank Wei Shu, not knowing what to say. These two were really just to practicing calligraphy but he and his father thought too much?!

Seeing that Wei Ying was speechless, Li Yuanying didn’t bother talking to him anymore.

“Why would they take you away after reading the poem? I sense that you didn’t want to go but they took you away by force. That’s horrible.”

“This poem is about the relationship between a man and woman, they misunderstood the intention.”

Li Yuanying finally understood the reason. He misunderstood that someone was trying to hit on his daughter so he temporarily decided to take Wei Shu with him.

Having said that, Li Yuanying fully understood and nodded in agreement: “If this is the case, it makes sense. If someone is eyeing my daughter in the future, I will not only take her away, but also get someone to beat that guy up!”

Wei Shu was amused and laughed.

Li Yuanying acted obediently and benefited: “Thankfully educated people emphasize on using the mouth and not the fist. Otherwise your papa would have rush up and beat me up.”

Wei Shu let Li Yuanying have his moment before asking him how he came up with the plan.

Talking about this, Yuanying wanted to school Wei Shu: “Look at you. Didn’t you said that your grandfather teaches you all day long? Why haven’t you pick up his skills? Let me repeat again and you must listen carefully. I learn all this from your grandfather.”

Wei Shu nodded.

In the <<Book of Rites>>, all it  talks about is the way to deal with different people and  situations. When facing the king, you have etiquette to respect the King and when facing colleagues, there are ways to deal with colleagues. There are also skills for dealing with fathers, brothers, scholars, farmers, businessmen and so on. This covers a wide range of items, including how you carry yourself, your words and your deeds. All who have read this book will definitely learn one thing : What to say and do at the specific right occasion.”

Wei Shu has also read the same book but this is the first time she is hearing Li Yuanying’s perspective.

“Is this what  grandfather taught you?”

“Your grandfather didn’t teach these principles specifically but he gave plenty of example. To put it bluntly, for those who value love and righteousness, you should talk about love and righteousness; those who value benevolence and morality, speak of the same topic. Those who value money, talk about money and for those who value fame and fortune, speak of the same topic. Only through this way will they listen to you. If you were to talk about money and profit with your father, he will think that you are a materialistic idiot with no honorable reputation. The same way that if you were to share about morality to the illiterate impoverished people, it would be a form of cruelty. What they need most is maybe just a mouthful of hot rice and soup.”

Wei Shu nodded.

She felt the same way while studying this book but she couldn’t express it so concisely.

“So be smarter in the future. Don’t get dragged away by your parents without a say. Since your father values filial piety, you relate to him with this same topic!” He then glanced at Wei Ying.  “Since your papa wants his son to become a dragon ^[1]a useful person, you should just make a fuss about your brother’s future and it will definitely work.”

Wei Shu continued to nod.

It was her first time encountering such a thing and so she panicked. If she was as “experienced” as Yuanying, she would definitely be able to face danger without fear!

Seeing that Wei Shu was listening carefully, Li Yuanying became more invested in this conversation.

“As for the nonsense they accused you of you should counter back. For example, in Confucius’s <<The Three Hundred Poems>>, its songs, lullaby and poems are literal and free-spirited. Everything can be expressed, whether its praises or criticism or expression of love or hatred. They are all expressed freely through the ballads of that time. The Zhou Dynasty was able to do this, why can’t our Tang Dynasty do the same? This is regressing back to the past! It is because others have a crooked mind that they have bad thoughts! We live with no dirt and communicate openly, so why should we be slandered? Next time you should fight back, don’t be wronged for no reason!”

Wei Ying was dumbfounded.

This kid, how can you say things like this!

Hearing that Yuanying was filled with righteous indignation and complaining on behalf of his sister, Wei Ying suddenly agreed that he was a person with “dirty thoughts” and that he really wronged his sister!

“Your Highness is right, I will definitely refute them next time.”

“That’s right, we can’t study in vain, we have to use its lessons after reading them.”

Wei Shu gave a “hmm” in agreement.

Wei Ying  became anxious: “Sister, don’t be badly influenced by him.”

Wei Shu asked him slowly: “Brother, do you think what Confucius  said is wrong?”

Wei Ying could not counter back. In terms of eloquence, he can’t compare to Prince Teng! I really don’t know why grandfather taught this kid about the <<Book of Rites>>. See what happened to him!

Li Yuanying was satisfied with Wei Shu’s active participation and gave her a “teachable child” approval look.

Wei Ying said indignantly: “Be proud. Let’s see what happens to you when we are back in Luoyang!”

“Didn’t I already say? Your grandfather asked me to run some errands. I was just eager to help. How will it end?”

“Just now you clearly said that you are not send here by grandfather!”

Now Wei Shu felt that her elder brother was a little stupid. Luckily, Li Yuanying kept him here and so he can be shipped off into the Imperial College for reformation while he was still young! Otherwise, it will be over when he grows up. By then, there will be no helping him at all.

“Since it has already come to this, how can grandfather deny that he requested His Highness to come pick us up? As long as you don’t spew nonsense, then we are following grandfather’s wishes and are staying back to fulfill our parents’ filial piety.” (Wei Shu)

Hearing his sister, Wei Ying turned around in a daze. This time he not only faced the wall but also bumped his head against it, looking very stupid.

At first he thought he was smart but after listening to the both of them talking one after another, he really began to feel stupid

Wei Ying thumped against the wall.

Seeing this, Li Yuanying asked Wei Shu with only his eyes: Has your brother been provoked to the point of insanity? At first he was just dumb  but if he now becomes nuts? what should we do now?

Wei Shu gestured back with her eyes: “Just let him be.”

Since Wei Ying was the only one unhappy, Yuanying couldn’t care less. When he rushed here, he was in such a hurry that he couldn’t enjoy the view. Since this is a rare occasion that he is outside alone with his friend, his playfulness is back in full force and he dragged Wei Shu along to play here and there. The journey which took 2 days became a full 5 days going back!

Around the same time, Dai Ting returned ahead to Luoyang to let Wei Zheng know that he has somehow “entrusted Li Yuanying to run errands and to pick up his grandchildren”.

When Wei Zheng heard that the boy really did snatch back his granddaughter, he was so angry that his liver ached. He hated Li Yuanying for being too eloquent and his son for being so useless that even a 10 year old child could trick him into giving away his daughter – along with another son!

But since things has come to this, Wei Zheng had to play along. After all, if he doesn’t, the harm is on his granddaughter’s reputation.

As for Li Yuanying’s reputation? Has he ever had any? This kid ruined his own reputation without a second thought! He doesn’t care about that at all!

And this world they live in doesn’t treat boys and girls equally. A girl only needed to act slightly out of the norm to get the whole world criticizing her while boys who has multiple messy affairs will only be labeled simply as “extraordinary”.

Therefore, not only could Wei Zheng not deny anything, he had to play along and tell all his acquaintances that this was his idea. He is reluctant to part with his grandchildren and briefly mentioned it to Prince Teng who sprung into action for him. Prince Teng is a  warm-hearted, good boy!

After Wei Zheng spread the story, he waited for one day. Two days. Three days. Four days…

Just when Wei Zheng was about to erupt and wanted to bang his head against a pillar in front of the Emperor as a sign of protest, Li Yuanying finally returned with the siblings after being satisfied with his playtime.  

Li Yuanying had a serious expression when he brought in the Wei siblings to Wei Zheng’s side. He then  held Wei Zheng’s hands in front of a crowd and said solemnly: “You placed so much trust in me.  Fortunately, I am able to return back safely with the Wei siblings!”  

The veins on Wei Zheng’s forehead were twitching hard but he still had to force a smile to thank the boy with restrained anger.

“Thank you so much, Your Highness! Your Highness has worked hard on this journey. Please get some rest first.”

The hidden meaning of this statement was to  tell Li Yuanying to buzz off quickly before he explodes in anger at just looking at him! !

Yuanying was afraid that Wei Zheng had reached his limit and would beat him up badly. He quickly ran away to look for his older brother.

Li Er has not been in good mood lately. This is mainly because of the messages he has been receiving from the men sent to tail his younger brother. It’s all about where the little party went to eat, where they detoured to visit a waterfall at the foot of a nearby mountain or how they detoured to a surrounding hunting grounds to try exotic dishes.

In short, while he was busy working in Luoyang, Li Yuanying took his little friends out for a good time.

Yuanying slipped to Li Er’s side and realized that the Emperor was in a stinky mood. He quickly mimicked Wei Zheng’s expression where he had to smile very hard despite his seething anger.

Hearing that Wei Zheng gritted his teeth and cooperated with Li Yuanying’s big lie, the Emperor was much relieved but he still wanted to lecture his brother.

“You b*stard, how old are you now that you learned how to kidnap someone’s granddaughter?”

“This isn’t  kidnapping! Sister Shu is obviously unwilling to go  but they forced her to. They have no reason!”

“ She’s his daughter. How can you step in?”

“I should! I only know sister Shu but am not acquainted with her family. Of course, I will only care if  sister Shu is happy.”

Li Er was a little curious about how Li Yuanying managed to pull tricks to steal someone’s daughter so his cold gaze and asked for the whole story in a calm tone.

Li Yuanying told the whole story and even shared his lecture to Wei Shu.

Li Er was silent for awhile before replying: “If Dearest Minister Wei finds out that you taught his granddaughter such theories, he will definitely chase after you and give you a beating.”

Yuanying still felt that he had reason. “Why would Wei beat me? I learned everything from him.”

If Wei Zheng hadn’t taught him, how would he know things without a teacher? It was Wei Zheng who taught him!

Notes from the author:

Little Prince: You adults are really unreasonable (pointing and criticizing)

Wei Zheng: Shameless! ! ! !

References

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