Chapter 35 Chapter Thirty-Five

"Zhang Fei—are you yawning?" "Well, is it Guan Yu? What do you do every day when you have nothing to do?" "How about some more wine?" "No, I won't drink." "Summer is coming, already..." "The plums on the tree are getting bigger and bigger, but what does our general want to do?" "Our general?" "It's Big Brother." "Living in this capital city, my eldest brother has always been cautious in his words and deeds. So it may be impolite to call our lord the eldest brother, so let's just call him our general."

"Why do you say that about big brother? We are sworn brothers." "You talk like this, kid. Now the elder brother is honored as the emperor's uncle in the court, and he is also called the left general Liu Yuzhou outside. I am worried that if we still use the tone of the past to call the elder brother, it may be because of our own. The mouth is loose and belittles the prestige of our lord." "Really? . . . You're right." "Why do you look unhappy?" "Why, it's for General Zuo. What is he busy with every day? Do you know?" "I know."

"Don't look at the happy look on his face, but he must be very troubled in his heart. I'm really worried about him." "Why are you so worried about something?" "Of course I'm worried about our lord's behavior." "Why is that?" "Why? I don't want to stand and talk with you. You must not go outside to talk about the lord." "Then you answer me immediately, I have never seen such a wicked guy like you." Guan Yu smiled wryly, and sat next to Zhang Fei on a rock.On the opposite side you can see a stable with many horses tied up.There is an open space in the back, only a few rooms for the servants to live in.

At this time, peach blossoms are in full bloom in the courtyard. Although there is no poetic and picturesque feeling, the two of them looked at the peach blossoms and both recalled the peach garden in Lousang Village.From the very beginning, Zhang Fei sat alone under the tree, propped his chin, and looked at Taohua thoughtfully in a daze. "Why are you dissatisfied with the behavior of the lord?" "Didn't you see that Master Xuande always goes to the vegetable garden in the mansion recently, doing farm work like ordinary people? It's fine to go to the vegetable garden, he also carries water, fertilizes himself, and digs vegetables and radishes with a shovel , what's the matter?"

"Is there such a thing?" "If you want to be a commoner, you might as well go back to Lousang Village. You don't need any mansion in the capital, or the position of General Zuo. You only know about carrying dung buckets to do farm work, and our army doesn't need it either." "You kid can't talk like that." "I think this may be God's will. So I'm really worried. I don't know what my brother thinks." "Gentlemen say, 'Sunny farming and rain reading', this is the way for hermits to cultivate themselves. So I think we should also practice the life of a gentleman."

"It's such a headache. If we are to be hermits from now on, isn't it to be a person who has no contact with the outside world?" "of course." "Tell me why! Are we really going to be gentlemen?" "It's useless for you to tell me more." "Did brother go to the vegetable garden today?" "It seems to be going to work." "The two of us will go to the elder brother to comment now." "What did you say?" "Why are you hesitating? Didn't you blame me for hurting the dignity of the lord today? You dare to say anything to me, and you dare to say anything in front of the lord."

"What nonsense!" "Then let's go together, follow me! Loyalty is the most difficult thing to do. You must be good at admonishing your superiors, even if you die, you will have no regrets." Heck, heck, the shovel kept digging on the ground, and the smell of soil rushed to his face.Liu Xuande was dressed in the attire of doing farm work in the field, and from time to time wiped the sweat from his forehead with his elbow. "..." He paused silently, leaning on the handle of the shovel and looking up at the early summer sun, then put down the shovel, picked up the manure bucket, and fertilized the freshly backfilled vegetable root soil.

"My lord, aren't you joking? Under the current situation, it's too stupid to learn the deeds of a villain." Zhang Fei stood behind and shouted loudly. Liu Xuande turned around and asked Zhang Fei, "Heh, what do you want from me?" Just listening to the tone of the speech is still like General Zuo Liu Bei, but because of this, Zhang Fei feels the ignorance of his elder brother even more.He has never been a kind counselor, he can only speak foul language, and he is not good at giving loyal advice to the lord. So he had an idea, suddenly pointed at Guan Yu and said, "Guan Yu, you speak first!"

"What? You kid wants to use my hand to cover you again, don't you?" "I'll talk after you say it." "Brother, please forgive me for calling you like that today." Guan Yu knelt on the vegetable patch and said. "Why do you speak in such a tone?" "We are dull by nature, and it is still difficult to understand. So today I came here to ask my elder brother for advice." As soon as Guan Yu finished speaking, Zhang Fei was dissatisfied. He whispered provocatively: "It's too boring, it's too boring, so you can't say it like this. Only direct remonstrance can be effective. Did you just say what a loyal minister said?"

"You're so nonsense, shut up!" Guan Yu scolded Zhang Fei, who was standing by, and said, "We know you must have deeper considerations, but you have been going to the vegetable garden every day for the past two months, learning silently. Doing the work of the common people. Why do you pick up the dung yourself? If it is for exercise, then we hope that it is better for the elder brother to practice bow horse riding and archery." "That's right!" Zhang Fei said a little smugly, "From now on, we don't want to live that kind of hermit or gentleman's life. If we want to be ordinary people, then we don't need Taoyuan to be sworn brothers and come here with a big banner. To put it bluntly, we really can't guess what big brother thinks."

Liu Xuande listened silently with a smile, and after a while he said slowly: "There are some things you don't need to know. If you don't understand, just go back and do your own work well." "This won't work!" Zhang Fei retorted vigorously, "Didn't the eldest brother often say that the blood of the three of us flows together, and the three of us are one body? Our hands and feet should be used to practice bow and horse day and night. If we carry dung on our shoulders as a The common people are not of one mind." "Okay, I lost." Liu Xuande comforted with a casual smile, "You are right, today is also the time for you to know. I do have deeper considerations, and I have been worried about it now." After Liu Xuande said these few words, he didn't say any more, maybe he was still planning to crusade against Cao Cao.Thinking about it carefully, it's not hard to see that Liu Xuande started planting vegetables every day after meeting with Dong Chengmi. After Guan Yu and Zhang Fei changed their views on Big Brother, the two took care of each other every day to pass the boring time.However, a few days later, when they came back from going out, they saw that Liu Xuande was nowhere to be seen in the vegetable garden or in the house. "Where did my lord go?" Zhang Fei and Guan Yu's expressions changed with anger, and they sternly asked the remaining retainers. "My lord has gone to the Prime Minister's Mansion." "Ah? Was it called by Cao Cao?" "Yes, Prime Minister Cao seemed to be in a hurry and sent someone to meet the lord." After hearing the retainer's answer, the two looked at each other blankly. Because of the unspeakable worries in his heart, even Guan Yu, who has always been calm, couldn't help feeling deeply uneasy about Liu Xuande's safety.He asked, "Who is coming to welcome the lord?" "It's Cao Cao's confidants, Xu Chu and Zhang Liao, who came with a carriage." "That's even stranger." "Now is not the time to just worry about big brother. It may be too late to catch up from behind. If the Prime Minister's Mansion won't let us in, we'll break open the gate and break in!" "So fast!" The two said, and rushed out like flying.They went straight to the Prime Minister's Mansion along the main road of Xudu. hours ago. Liu Xuande was suddenly greeted by an envoy sent by Cao Cao, feeling a little uneasy in his heart: What will happen? So he asked the envoys Zhang Liao and Xu Chu why they greeted them. They just replied very coldly: "We only know how to serve you, but we don't know what the prime minister wants from you." Hearing what the two said, Liu Xuande couldn't refuse, so he had to walk into the gate of the Prime Minister's Mansion like walking on eggshells. The place where Liu Xuande was introduced was not the living room, but the Nanyuan Pavilion connected to Cao Cao's mansion.Cao Cao is already waiting there. He has a thin body, a slender face, and a pair of phoenix eyes that are always piercing.Recently, Cao Cao has become more and more imposing, and his majestic temperament matches his appearance very well. When Cao Cao saw Liu Xuande, he said, "You have been in the capital for two months. I have been busy and neglected to greet you. Is everything alright?" Liu Xuande nodded cautiously. Cao Cao looked at Liu Xuande's face intently, and said, "Your body can be said to be very healthy. This is because you often work in the sun. I heard that you often go to the vegetable garden to do farm work for ordinary people. Are you so happy about farming? ?” "I'm really happy." Liu Xuande didn't expect Cao Cao to only mention these things at the beginning. He felt a little relieved, and then said, "Now the prime minister's government orders are being carried out without hindrance, and the world is peaceful. In order to pass the leisure time, I am farming the vegetable field in the back garden Self-entertainment. There is no cost, but also fitness, and dinner is delicious." "That's right. You really don't need to spend money to do this. But it's wrong to think that you really have no desire to make money. I can see that you are still interested in saving money." "The prime minister's jokes are really unacceptable." Liu Xuande deliberately lowered his head, pretending to be embarrassed. "Oh, it's just a joke, don't take it to heart. In fact, I called you here today because I saw that the plum trees in Xiangfu's plum garden had already produced plums. At that time, I said to the soldiers who were suffering from hunger, thirst and no water in the scorching heat: "There is Merlin not far ahead. Hurry up!" Actually, I wanted to use this trick to make the soldiers Speed ​​up the march. After listening to my words, they immediately felt that their mouths were full of saliva, and finally forgot their thirst, which made the long-distance march in summer very smooth." Cao Cao recalled this incident, full of pride.He said again: "I suddenly had an idea from this, please come here, enjoy the delicious food while cooking green plums, and have a drink together. Okay, come with me. Let's go to Meilin to watch first, and then To the feast. I will lead the way." As Cao Cao said, he got up and entered the garden first, and walked quickly along the wide road in the plum garden. "Heh, what a huge plum forest." Under the leadership of Cao Cao, Liu Xuande made a sound of admiration while watching from far and near. "Liu Yuzhou, is this your first time here?" "Today is the first time I entered the gate of Nanyuan." "If that's the case, I can also take you there to enjoy the flowers." "The prime minister leads the way personally, I am really terrified." "The pavilion where the banquet is placed opposite can only be reached by bypassing the Meixi River. It is indeed a good place to look at the Meilin." Suddenly, there was a sound of "click" and "click", and many things fell on the head or on the ground.After a closer look, it turned out that they were all plums from the green plum tree. "Oh...that's amazing!" At this time, a strong wind blew, only the young leaves and treetops of the plum tree made a "rustling" sound, and the sky suddenly became dark.Just as he was wondering, a column of cirrus clouds rose from behind the distant mountain opposite. "Dragon! Dragon!" "That's Flying Dragon Ascension!" The little boy and his retainers who were rushing there exclaimed in the wind while looking at the scenery.It was too late to say it, but it was fast at that time, and the heavy rain came quickly. "It doesn't matter, the heavy rain will stop soon." Cao Cao said, and hurriedly took Liu Xuande to hide under the shade of a tree to avoid the rain, waiting for the heavy rain to pass. While sheltering from the rain, Cao Cao and Liu Xuande talked about the changes in the weather. Cao Cao asked: "Do you know the principles and changes of the universe?" Liu Xuande replied: "Not very clear." "The change of the dragon is a good illustration of this problem. The dragon, sometimes big and sometimes small. When it is big, it swallows clouds and mist, and overwhelms the river. In the big universe; its hiddenness is hidden in the abyss of a hundred years. As far as the nature of the dragon is concerned, it is a phallic thing. Now it is deep in spring, and when the dragon is about to grow bigger, it is called the dragon flying nine days. The dragon is comparable to other things. The hero of the world, if the hero has ambition and fortune, he can travel across the world." "Do dragons actually exist?" "Maybe there is it, and there is nothing without it. For example, today—" Cao Cao pointed to the sky, "Didn't we just see the cloud pillar passing by the mountains there, rising at an astonishing speed? But, there is Who can obtain the traces left by this change to prove the mystery of the clouds and the rapidity of natural changes?" "Since ancient times, there have been countless legends about dragons, but so far no one has seen the scale armor of a real dragon." "You're not right!" Cao Cao shook his head vigorously and said, "I've seen it with these eyes." "Oh? Is it witchcraft through heresy?" "No, what I saw was not a mysterious dragon, but a human dragon at the meeting of winds and clouds. In short, according to my understanding, dragons are people." "Then please tell me." "You are also one of the dragons." "The prime minister is exaggerating. I don't have supernatural powers of flying fast, or claws that can be controlled, and I don't have the ability to show and hide freely. If I'm a dragon, I'm probably just an earth dragon, right?" "Don't be too modest. You are also a person who has traveled all over the country, so you must know the heroes of the day. Who do you think can be called the heroes of the day?" "Why did the prime minister say that? This question is too difficult for me, and it is really difficult for a mortal like me to answer." "No, just talk about your hero, no matter who it is. Tell me!" Liu Xuande knew from Cao Cao's stubborn eyes that he couldn't avoid this issue.So, in order to ease the atmosphere, he stepped out of the tree first, looked up at the sky, and said, "Hey, the rain has stopped."