Chapter 36 Chapter Thirty-Six: The Man Afraid of Thunder

While sheltering from the rain, Liu Xuande skillfully avoided the substantive content through seemingly relaxed chatter.However, Cao Cao was not angry about it. Liu Xuande went out first, and waited for Cao Cao in a beautiful place. "Judging from the weather, it seems that it will rain." Liu Xuande said. Cao Cao laughed and said, "Even the rain is very interesting. There have always been many interesting stories about rain." "Today's showers will knock more plums to the ground." "Isn't this just like the scene depicted in the poem?" As Cao Cao spoke, he suddenly stood still.

Liu Xuande also saw it: the maids in the back pavilion saw that the rain had stopped and were busy picking green plums.Those beautiful women were carrying bamboo baskets, panting delicately, as if they were competing with each other to see who could pick up the most green plums. "Ah, the prime minister is here." As soon as they saw Cao Cao, they hid under the eaves of the women's courtyard. Cao Cao may have been infected by the poetry at this time, or attracted by their youthful beauty, and watched the beautiful backs of the young women with a smile.He suddenly came back to his senses and noticed Liu Xuande as a guest.Cao Cao laughed at himself: "I like beautiful women, that is also a kind of life interest."

Liu Xuande jokingly said, "It's really not easy to gather so many beautiful maids. This is indeed a prosperous place in Kyoto." "Haha! However, whenever the plum blossoms in the plum forest are in full bloom and full of fragrance, their beauty is covered by the shadow of the plum blossoms. It is a pity that the flowering period of the plum blossoms is too short, and the fragrance disappears soon." "Beauties get old too." "Thinking about it this way, everything is short-lived. I think seventy or eighty years of life is the limit of life. Just as the Buddhists say, it is short and short, and space is fleeting."

"I understand the prime minister's mood." "I can't unconditionally believe in the teachings of Buddhism or the teachings of a gentleman, which also shows that I am born with a rebellious character. But a man has his own way of life, and it is difficult to understand if he is not a man." Cao Cao just kept silent.The two walked slowly together again.Unknowingly, Cao Cao returned to the previous topic.He said to Liu Xuande: "Please answer me. The topic I talked about at the beginning, who is the hero today? Is there any? If there is, please tell me the hero in your mind."

"Are you asking this question? I don't seem to have thought about it. I just want to be grateful for the prime minister's kindness to me and want to do things for the court." "If you really think so, you can't name the heroes in your heart, you can just talk about the heroes in the world. Can you tell me some rumors in the world?" Liu Xuande is also a person with personality, and his heart is also fiery. He really can't avoid Cao Cao's endless questioning. He finally opened his mouth and said, "Yuan Shu from Huainan seems to be called a hero. He is proficient in the art of war, and has enough food for his soldiers. He also ruled the world for a while."

Cao Cao said with a smile: "He is no longer a living hero, he is only worthy of being called a dead bone in the tomb. I, Cao Cao, will definitely capture this thief alive soon." "Then Yuan Shao from Hebei can be counted as one. His family has four generations and three lords, and his disciples and old officials are all over the world. Now the tiger is in Jizhou, there are countless counselors and brave generals, and his future is limitless. People like him should be regarded as heroes of the times Bar?" "Haha, is that so?" Cao Cao laughed, "Yuan Shaoser is stern and scheming. He is the so-called 'scabby man'. The essence of his life is to do great things and cherish his life, and to see small gains and lighten his life. People like him How can a person be called a hero of the times?"

It seems that no matter whose name Liu Xuande proposed, Cao Cao would directly deny it in such a tone. Negative and unambiguous. Cao Cao's denial was crisp and full of painful pleasure.He tried to pass it to the ears of the listener so that the listener would firmly remember it. Cao Cao's answer finally aroused Liu Xuande's interest in discussion.In this way, Liu Xuande proposed a name for today's heroes, and Cao Cao derogated it. Unknowingly, the two came to the small pavilion where the banquet was set up. Cao Cao asked proudly, "What do you think of this place? Is it worthy of the word Fengya?"

Liu Xuande greatly praised: "Well, not bad. It really is an elegant and quiet place." "During the plum blossom season, I often hold banquets here. It's quite wild here. Today, let's enjoy the plum blossoms and drink to our heart's content, shall we?" "OK." "About today's heroes, we have talked a lot on the road just now. Maybe I haven't completely got rid of my argumentative scholarly spirit. I still like to talk about Fengsheng and criticize people. Today I want to tell you a big secret." Cao Cao opened his mind as he spoke.He wants to show a naked self.

The current Cao Cao really looks like a child, and people seem to be able to see from him the shadow of a poor scholar in Luoyang City.But is this the consistent and real Cao Cao? Liu Xuande will not untie his belt and easily show his naked body like Cao Cao because he is too complacent.If Liu Xuande was as free and easy as Cao Cao, it would be tantamount to exposing all of himself to the outside.Therefore, he will never do that. On the contrary, he always packs and covers himself carefully and thoughtfully, lest others will see through him. For this reason, he often even shows a cowardly appearance on the outside.

If you analyze carefully and observe Liu Xuande's nature deeply, you can find that he is a complicated person.On the plus side, he's very cautious about his weaknesses, always paying attention to getting along with others, and putting a lot of emphasis on putting on a soft face.But on the negative side, he is deeply wary of people. In order not to let others easily see through his heart, he often builds two or three psychological defense lines.All in all, he was a deep and elusive character. In contrast, Cao Cao's way of thinking is at least much simpler than Liu Xuande's.Even if he only shows his feelings in color sometimes, he can get a glimpse of his true inner thoughts from it.

However, based on this alone, it cannot be said who is better, Liu Xuande or Cao Cao. Because even though Cao Cao showed his emotions, spoke quickly, and even opened his mind like a scholar, there were countless schemes hidden behind him. It can also be said that this is a strategy, deliberately weakening one's own majesty and momentum, so that opponents can relax their vigilance.However, for Cao Cao, when to act according to his own nature and when to use wit and ingenuity, he himself did not do it intentionally.So he may not be able to distinguish which of his words and deeds are from nature and which are hidden ingenuity. Liyu wine glass, Mei Tao wine bottle. The main dish of the banquet is green plums. Some of the beautiful women who picked up green plums just now came to serve their banquet. "Ah, I'm drunk! Maybe it's because green plums are added to the wine, that's why I'm so drunk?" "I also drink too much, I haven't been drinking so fast recently." "'Green plums cooking wine on heroes'. I happened to think of the first line of the poem just now, but I can't think of the latter line. Can you connect the latter line?" "I can't at all." "Haven't you ever written poetry?" "I was not born a refined person." "Actually, you are—what a boring man." "I'm so sorry." "Then can't you drink more? Why did you put the glass down?" "I drank a lot just now, and I've had my fill of fun. I want to quit." "No!" Cao Cao raised his wine glass and said loudly, "Isn't our talk about heroes not over yet? Just now you said that Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao are the heroes of the world. Do you think that there is no one else in the world who can be called a hero?" Heroes? Is there such a shortage of heroes nowadays?" Facing Cao Cao's forcefully raised wine glass and aggressive questions, Liu Xuande could hardly leave his seat even if he wanted to shirk.So he had no choice but to say vaguely and perfunctorily: "The name I mentioned just now is just a rumor heard from the market." As Liu Xuande said, he poured some wine into his glass and drank it down. Cao Cao quickly changed the subject: "You can talk about common people's opinions. Besides Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, who else can be called a hero today?" "Next, Liu Biao from Jingzhou can also be counted as one?" "Liu Biao?" "I heard that he is the township of Kyushu, and he is ranked among the eight elites, and he has made great achievements in the administration." "No! No! What kind of rule is nothing more than a trivial matter by those clever people among his subordinates. In the final analysis, Liu Biao's shortcoming is that he is easy to indulge in sex. This is what he and Lu Bu have in common. How can it be called the era? hero?" "So, what do you think of Sun Ce of Soochow?" "Well, is it Sun Ce?" Cao Cao didn't laugh, but tilted his head in thought. "What does the prime minister think of Sun Ce? He is the leader of Jiangdong, and he is very young, and he is in his weakest years. The people under his rule respect him as the little overlord, and they seem to trust him very much." "Speaking of it, he's still not qualified. Although he has ingenuity, he can only achieve it for a while. So he is just a yellow-mouthed kid relying on his father's reputation." "So, what about Liu Zhang from Yizhou?" "Such a person can only be regarded as a guard dog." "If that's the case, what about Zhang Xiu, Zhang Lu, Han Sui and others? Can't they all be called heroes?" "Haha! You are no one to mention!" Cao Cao sneered, clapping his palms, "These people are mediocre people, what's the point? Do you have any decent candidates?" "Other than these guys, I really haven't heard any more." "You are ignorant, pitiful. I think a true hero should have great ambitions, have all kinds of ideas in his belly, be fearless in action, be ahead of the tide, have the tolerance of the universe, understand the principles of heaven and earth, and have the ideal of commanding all peoples .” "In today's world, who has such excellent qualifications? Is there such a person? This requirement is difficult to meet." "No, such people do exist!" As Cao Cao said, he suddenly stretched out his finger, first pointing at Liu Xuande, and then pointing at his own nose in turn. "It's you and me. It's just you and me who can be the hero of the world now, not just talking big." Before the words were finished, suddenly, a dazzling blue and white lightning flashed under the knees of the two, followed by heavy rain pouring down, and a huge thunder roared at the same time.In the distance, the sound of a big tree being knocked down by lightning came from nowhere. "what!" Xuande yelled, and the chopsticks in his hand fell to the ground in shock.He covered his ears with both hands, and fell down on the mat with his whole body. It must have been a quake that nearly shattered the earth.Even so, Liu Xuande's excessive fear of thunder and lightning was unexpected, and even the maids present couldn't help laughing "hehehe". Cao Cao was suspicious of Liu Bei's behavior at first, and he looked at Liu Xuande who was so frightened by the thunder and lightning that he didn't even dare to lift his head for a while with stern eyes.However, when he heard the roar of laughter from the maids, he couldn't help showing a wry smile, and said to Liu Xuande, "How did you drink? The weather has cleared up." Liu Xuande seemed to have just woken up, he explained with some embarrassment: "I was really shocked just now, because I have been most afraid of thunder since I was a child." "Thunder is the sound of heaven and earth, why are you so afraid?" "I don't know about this, maybe it's because I'm too timid? When I was a child, whenever I heard the sound of thunder from the sky, I was always scared to find a place to hide." "Om..." Cao Cao was happy with his sense of superiority.Just now he witnessed Liu Xuande's cowardice and uselessness. ...However, Cao Cao just didn't know that this was Liu Xuande's plan to hide his strength and bide his time. Coincidentally at this moment, loud voices sounded from the gate of Nanyuan. "Open the door! Open the door! If we don't open the door, we'll break in!" The soldiers on duty in the garden were taken aback, and hurriedly shouted: "Don't smash the door. Who are you? Who are you?" While waiting for the other party to respond, there was a shaking sound from the huge door, and two or three glazed tiles fell from the gate tower and shattered. "Oh, don't mess around! Who are you? Sign up, what's the matter? What are you doing here?" A rough voice came from outside the door: "We don't have time to answer in such a long-winded manner. We are sworn brothers of Liu Xuande, the guest invited by the prime minister today." "Ah, so are you Guan Yu and Zhang Fei?" "Open the door, open the door!" "Did you come here with the permission of the prime minister?" "We don't have time to babble with you ignorant fellows. Hey, I'm sorry, brother, get out of here, I'm going to smash this door open with a big rock!" The guard on duty was very panicked when he heard this, and hurriedly said: "Please wait a moment, please don't mess around, we didn't say we wouldn't open the door." "Then open the door quickly! Quick!" "There's nothing I can do about you unreasonable people." When the trembling guards on duty were about to open the door, the officials and soldiers from the Xiangfu who seemed to be chasing Guan Yu and Zhang Fei shouted: "No, no! They said they have the permission of the Xiangfu, why are they so unreasonable?" You can't let these two troublemakers come in by smashing the door." While shouting loudly, they besieged Guan Yu and Zhang Fei from the left and right. "You bug-like guys, do you want to come to court for death?" Guan Yu and Zhang Fei immediately fought with these people.After a while, many people were knocked to the ground and kicked for a while, some were even caught and thrown out. Zhang Fei picked up a big rock and threw it at the gate while the other party ran away in a hurry.After the two broke through the gate, they rushed towards Merlin like a gust of wind. At this time, Liu Xuande had just left the banquet and was about to go home, but he happened to run into the two righteous brothers who had rushed to the small pavilion. "My lord!" "Brother!" The two knelt on the ground with a "slap", seeing that Liu Xuande was safe and sound, they finally couldn't help crying with joy.At the same time, the two were gasping for air from exhaustion. Seeing this, Cao Cao asked, "It's Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, I didn't call you, why did you come here?" "This..." Guan Yu faltered for a while and couldn't answer, and then he said softly for a long time: "We heard that the prime minister invited elder brother to a banquet today, so we came here to make a fool of ourselves and dance swords for the prime minister and elder brother. It's really a shame to visit. Extremely rude." Guan Yu made up such a set of reasons with a bitter face, but he didn't expect Cao Cao to burst out laughing: "Ha! Ha! Ha! Why are you so flustered? Today is not the ancient Hongmen Banquet, how could Xiang Zhuang and Xiang Bo be needed? Ah! , Uncle Liu Huang, don’t you think so?” Liu Xuande quickly covered them with a smile, "Please forgive me, Prime Minister, they are both daredevils." "How can you be a daredevil? For a person who is afraid of thunder, these two brothers are really capable." Cao Cao's eyes were fixed on the two of them, and it took him a long time to get out from the pavilion. The next thing to say: "It's hard for them to come here, so there's no need to show us the sword dance. Come, serve these two Fan Kuai wine." After Zhang Fei thanked him, he drank heavily as if venting his anger.But when Guan Yu drank, he only kept the wine in his mouth, and when Cao Cao didn't pay attention, he turned around and spit the wine behind. In the evening, a white rainbow appeared in the sky after the rain. The car carrying Liu Xuande left the gate like a tiger's mouth, and under the escort of the two righteous brothers, it rolled out a long rut on the ground reflected by the white rainbow, and walked safely on the way home...