Joy of Life: The Mei Family's Son Grows Up

Chapter 19: Annunciation and Secret Song

Inside the palace, the imperial study.

Emperor Qing was sitting behind a long table, polishing arrowheads.

Eunuch Hou walked in quickly to report.

"Your Majesty, the Minister of Rites Guo Youzhi requests to see you."

Emperor Qing did not stop his hand movements nor did he raise his head.

"Guo Youzhi? What is he doing here so early in the morning?"

"Minister Guo said he came to announce the good news."

Emperor Qing stopped moving and raised his head, his eyes full of confusion: "Announce good news? What good news? What is the Ministry of Rites busy with recently?"

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Rites hosted this year's boy examination yesterday."

"Then the results will be announced this morning. Why is Guo Youzhi coming to the palace to announce the good news at this time... let him in."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Guo Youzhi walked around the entrance and went straight to Emperor Qing's table.

"I pay my respects to Your Majesty."

"Get up, tell me, what good news do you have?"

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Rites held the boy's exam yesterday. During the process of copying and marking the papers, we found that a candidate had written a unique and excellent poem on the theme of a pond, so we came here to report the good news."

"Read!"

"Yes!"

Guo Youzhi cleared his throat and recited with great emotion.

"A half-acre square pond is like a mirror,"

As soon as Guo Youzhi finished reading the first sentence, Emperor Qing stopped what he was doing. This guy's singing was really skillful and fascinating.

"The light of the sky and the shadows of the clouds wander together."

Emperor Qing quietly closed his eyes, and the scene came to him.

"How can the water be so clear?"

The ups and downs of the voice made Emperor Qing frown. Yes, why?

“Only living water comes from the source.”

This last sentence was powerful and final.

I have finished reading it, but the aftertaste is lingering.

After a long time, Emperor Qing slowly opened his eyes and uttered two words.

"What a poem!"

Emperor Qing put down the arrow in his hand and stood up. Eunuch Hou came forward in time to help Emperor Qing wash his hands.

Emperor Qing walked towards the throne opposite the arrow-making table where he read, drank tea and rested, and waved to Guo Youzhi, who followed closely behind him.

"Who wrote this poem?"

"This man's surname is Mei, his given name is Cheng'an, and he is only ten years old."

"The surname Mei is not common. What is his relationship with Mei Zhili?"

"This boy is the son of Mei Zhili, the governor of Kyoto."

"If so, bring his original volume here. I want to see it."

"Yes." Eunuch Hou turned around and was about to leave.

Guo Youzhi quickly took out Mei Cheng'an's original scroll from his sleeve and handed it over with both hands.

"Your Majesty, in fact, I have already brought the original scroll of this child here."

Without waiting for Emperor Qing to speak, Eunuch Hou had already taken the test paper and put it in Emperor Qing's hands.

"As expected of the Minister of Rites, he is indeed thorough in his actions."

"I don't deserve your praise. I just try my best to serve you."

"I know how hard you've worked. Send Minister Guo out of the palace."

"I resign!"

After Guo Youzhi left, Emperor Qing looked at the original scroll in front of him. His first impression was that the scroll was really beautiful, clean, neat and pleasing to the eye.

Emperor Qing read through the poems, arithmetic, classics and history questions one by one, and seemed to be thinking about something after reading them. Could he really be a child prodigy?
After a while, Eunuch Hou came back.

"Your Majesty, last night, the Minister of Rites was not at the Ministry of Rites at all. He was at home and rested after dinner. He heard about the child prodigy after arriving at the Ministry of Rites early this morning. After someone explained it to him, he ordered someone to retrieve the original scroll and then went to the palace to announce the good news."

"He is not very active in doing things, but he is very active in reporting his achievements."

Emperor Qing made a neutral comment. It was hard to tell whether he was happy or not, it was just a simple comment.

"The news of the child prodigy has spread throughout the Ministry of Rites?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Do you think it's really a good idea for our Qing country to have a child prodigy?"

"Of course it's good. The literary world of our Qing country has been weak for a long time. Now that such a child prodigy has emerged in Qing country, it is naturally a great thing."

"is it?"

Emperor Qing closed his eyes and no one knew what he was thinking.

Eunuch Hou quietly left at some point and reappeared after a while with a memorial in his hand.

"Your Majesty, Mei Zhili has a secret report to the palace."

Emperor Qing opened his eyes, with a half-smile on his face.

"Mei Zhili? It's quite lively today. Some are announcing good news, some are reporting secret reports. Bring it here. I want to see what he wrote."

Emperor Qing picked up the memorial and began to read it. His first reaction was, wow, there are so many words. A quick glance showed that there were probably several hundred words, written densely.

Looking carefully, it turns out that the article is still about that poem. Mei Zhili wrote in the compromise that after hearing his son's poem, he felt that the poem was profound. He associated the poem with the court, the Kingdom of Qing and so on. The whole article is basically his own feelings. Some of the suggestions and ideas in it are very profound and quite feasible, which made Emperor Qing's eyes light up.

"This Mei Zhili didn't mention his son much in the whole letter, but in my opinion, every word he wrote is praising his son." Emperor Qing couldn't help laughing after closing the letter.

"Send an order, summon that child to the palace. I want to see how talented this child prodigy is."…

On the other side, while the Mei family was having breakfast, someone came in to announce the good news, "The young master has made the list and has been awarded the title of scholar."

Mei Zhili stroked his beard and smiled. Although he had expected this, he still felt a little worried before hearing the result. Now it has finally been settled.

"Rewards, there are rewards for everything!"

Mei Chengan was drinking pumpkin porridge and felt dazed. Is this the scholar?

Feeling...no feeling.

It was not as exciting as a newly developed side dish.

Mei Chengan curled his lips and ate his breakfast slowly.

The maids were all waiting to see the young master's reaction, but after waiting for a long time, the young master showed no reaction at all. He ate and drank as usual, as if he didn't hear anything. His reaction was even less than that of the master and his mistress.

At least the lady picked up a few more pieces of food for the young master.

As for the young lady, she was busy eating. At her age, the talk of being a scholar or not was definitely not as delicious as the sweet pumpkin porridge.

In short, the young master's reaction is not right. What is going on?

After breakfast, Mei Zhili called Mei Chengan to the study.

"An'er, you don't seem to be in a very high spirits. Aren't you happy that you got the title of scholar?"

"Dad, my purpose in taking the boy's exam was not to gain any fame, I just wanted to experience the imperial examination of our Qing Kingdom. Now that I have experienced it, I don't care about the result. I advise you not to care too much about it, otherwise it will seem that you are not serious enough."

Mei Zhili was angry: "Why didn't you say this earlier?"

"You didn't ask earlier, Dad."

"You little brat, I was thinking something was not right during breakfast. So this is what happened. You were not surprised when you heard the news, but I was overjoyed. This is not okay!"

Mei Chengan had a bad feeling.

"Dad, do you want to?"

"You boy, go, be ecstatic outside."

"Ah? It's been quite a while since the breakfast announcement. Isn't that a bit inappropriate?"

"What's inappropriate about that? You're young, so it's normal for you to be a little slow in your reaction. Go ahead."

"Dad, is it really okay for you to sacrifice me for your own sake?"

"Is this important? It's not important, stop talking nonsense and go!"

Mei Chengan walked out of the study reluctantly.

After a while, the sound of Mei Cheng'an shouting outside the study was heard. He shouted like a madman that he had become a scholar, and then laughed.

Mei Zhili waited for a while and observed through the crack in the door. When he found that there were enough servants watching around, he opened the study door and shouted to Mei Chengan.

"How can you yell and scream like that? He's just a scholar. Is he worthy of your happiness? Tell me what's wrong with you! It's totally outrageous and not steady at all. Go back to your yard and reflect on yourself."

Then Mei Cheng'an fled back to his own courtyard in panic, while Mei Zhili took the opportunity to scold and disperse the servants who were watching, and returned to the study with a smug look on his face.

On the other side, Mei Cheng'an returned to his own courtyard and took the honey water handed to him by Cucumber and took a big sip.

"Young Master, it's just breakfast, why do you feel so rushed?" Only Blue Bird accompanied the Young Master, the others did not go.

Mei Cheng'an took another sip and exhaled slowly.

"Nothing, I just took the opportunity to exercise. Now that my body is moving, I might as well practice my sword skills. Go get the zither."

Huanggua's eyes lit up, and he ran to report for the piano. After practicing the piano for so long, it was finally going to come in handy.

Soon, Cucumber came back with a lyre in his hand, and there were two more people behind him, Bluebird carrying a lyre stand and Green Ant carrying a stool.

After the piano was set up, Cucumber sat at the back, Sweet Potato stood on one side holding a sword, and Bluebird and Green Ant stood on the other side.

"Master, I'm starting."

Mei Cheng'an nodded and closed his eyes.

As Cucumber's fingers plucked the piano, a low and ancient sound of piano sounded. As the relatively slow start came to an end, the rhythm of the piano sound gradually quickened.

Mei Cheng'an suddenly opened his eyes and stretched out his hand towards the sweet potatoes.

The long sword held by Hongshu was automatically unsheathed and flew into Mei Chengan's hand. This was something Mei Chengan had researched on his own after remembering the scene in the second season where Ye Liuyun stretched out his hand to draw the sword. It was of no great use, but it was enough for showing off.

Mei Cheng'an grasped the sword, made a sword flower, and began to practice sword skills to the sound of the piano.

At the beginning, the movements were not very fast, but as the melody became more generous and passionate, Mei Cheng'an's sword dancing speed became faster and faster, and the sword light was awe-inspiring.

Gradually, the murderous aura in the sound of the piano became stronger and stronger, reaching an extreme speed, and Mei Chengan's sword also reached an extreme speed, but in the eyes of the maids who were watching on the side, they only felt that the young master's sword dance was really beautiful, elegant and ethereal, and the sword shadow seemed to be given life, wandering freely around his body, lifting up his clothes and making him flutter, as graceful as a startled swan and as elegant as a swimming dragon.

Mei Cheng'an, who was dancing with the sword, only felt his heart excited. The sword dance was extremely enjoyable. In a trance, he felt that his sword skills had improved a step further. His mind became clearer and his moves became more casual. Later, he even felt that he had entered a mysterious state. He could use moves that he had never done before at will, and he was about to achieve unity between man and sword.

The sound of the piano stopped abruptly. The piece was not finished yet and the strings could not hold on any longer.

Mei Cheng'an was forced to break away from that mysterious state. He did a somersault, his body hovering in the air and flipping over, then he landed gracefully, put away his sword, and looked at Huanggua.

Cucumber looked embarrassed at this time. Seeing that everyone was looking at her, she spread out her hands.

"I didn't break it."

Mei Chengan stretched out his hand and threw the sword, which flew away from his body quickly and was inserted back into the sword.

"I don't blame you, just take it."

Cucumber stuck out his tongue and ran away quickly holding the piano.

At this time, Hongshu put down his sword, took a towel, and came to Mei Chengan to wipe his sweat.

"Master, your sword dance is really beautiful."

"Want to learn?"

"Think about it!"

At this moment, Hongshu even imagined himself dancing with a sword in his hand like a fairy.

"It's simple. When you have mastered the fast sword, you will be able to do it by yourself."

Hongshu curled his lips and muttered to himself, how could the quick sword be so easy to practice? It sounds like it's very simple.

(End of this chapter)