Duling's old dream

In the early winter of the second year of Yuankang, it snowed intermittently for several days and nights outside Weiyang Palace.Looking at the icicles hanging on the eaves outside the window, Zhang Pengzu found that he had become accustomed to seeing the scenery from this window without knowing it.

It will be three years in a blink of an eye.

He stood up, the Boshan stove on the desk was emitting sandalwood faintly, and Liu Bing was still fast asleep on the couch beside him.He stood up lightly, picked up the robe that was thrown on the ground yesterday, and was about to leave, but suddenly he heard a chuckle from behind.Zhang Pengzu turned around and found that Liu Bing was already looking at him with a half-smile.

"Are you really planning to go out dressed like this?" Liu Bingji said with a suppressed smile, his voice still tinged with sleepiness.Zhang Pengzu frowned, and was about to argue a few words, but when he looked down, he saw that Liu Bingji's robe was on his body. He felt hot behind his ears, and immediately wanted to throw the robe back. Standing in place with his robe on, he was at a loss for a while.

Liu Bingji looked at this scene and thought it was really funny, and finally he couldn't help laughing: "It's just a piece of clothing, why do you feel like you took a deadly thing."

Zhang Pengzu was at a loss for words for a while, and stammered: "Why... how can I say it's the clothes of the Tian family, how can I insult you at will."

Liu Bing had teased indifferently: "You dare to insult the emperor, but now you are afraid of a robe."

Zhang Pengzu's face turned red three points immediately, he opened his mouth to argue, thought about the beautiful scenery last night, and felt that it was really hard to speak, gritted his teeth and put the robe on Liu Bingji, annoyed: "You can speak eloquently , but that’s not how it works.”

The two of them got dressed and were about to get up when someone from the palace suddenly barged in. Seeing Liu Bing panicked, he knelt down on the ground and said that General Zhang Anshi was coming to the inner hall.When Zhang Pengzu heard his uncle's name, his expression suddenly changed, but Liu Bingji looked calm and relaxed, and only lightly pressed his wrist to signal him not to worry too much.

Not long after the palace man's voice fell, Zhang Anshi walked in with displeasure in his eyes.Seeing that Liu was ill, he saluted upright, and then stood aside without saying a word.Seeing this, Liu Bing waved his hands away and dismissed the palace servants, and said: "What is it that makes the general so anxious? You might as well tell me about it." Zhang Anshi glanced at Zhang Pengzu who was standing aside, and said coldly: "How about the court affairs? Please listen to idlers, and please change your Majesty to a convenient place to talk." Zhang Pengzu's face turned pale, Liu Bing had already glanced at him, and said with a smile: "The general is joking. Peng Zu is the imperial seal of the Marquis of Guannei, and he is also a general. His biological son, the step-son of Zhang He who is the elder brother's ex-Yeting Ling, is not an outsider in terms of emotion and reason." Zhang Anshi gave Zhang Pengzu a cold look, then turned his head and cupped his hands at Liu Bingji and said, "The child is just a lucky one when he was young. Studying books at the same table with His Majesty has no merit and no virtue. It is a great fortune to be granted the title of Marquis of Guannei. Now I hear that Your Majesty intends to confer the title of Younger Marquis. I am very frightened. Too much honor and favor is not a good thing for the Zhang family or Your Majesty. Please also please Your Majesty Take it back." Liu Bing had heard him finish, and his face was still neither angry nor annoyed, and said: "I want to point out that it is true that Peng Zu was made Marquis of Yangdu, but this is not for the general, but for some reason. I owe Zhang He a kindness to me, and there is a saying in the "Poetry", "If you have no words, you will not revenge, if you have no virtue, you will not repay it." Zhang He has passed away, and I think it is not inappropriate for Peng Zu to succeed this Marquis."

Liu Bingji spoke uprightly, Zhang Anshi couldn't say anything to refute for a while, so he could only say yes.Zhang Pengzu stood aside, feeling that everything was redundant, and was about to salute and leave, but Zhang Anshi suddenly stopped him, turned around and said to Liu Bingji: "I have one more thing, I don't know if I should say it or not." Liu Bingji said : "Since the general has already said this, let's just say it." Zhang Anshi said: "I know that your Majesty grew up with the child since childhood and has a deep relationship. It's just that the monarch and the minister are different... It is still a bit strange to go in and out of the same ride. That's right." Liu Bing laughed and said: "So it's for this matter, please rest assured, General, I and Peng Zu have our own balance." Zhang Anshi still refused to let go, saying: "Your Majesty is lenient and remembers the past, and knows his own measure. It's just me This Nizi...I recently heard that Nizi and Your Majesty are called by their first names, which is too presumptuous and violates the rules of etiquette." Even though Liu Bingji had a good temper, he was a little displeased at the moment, and he said coldly: "A name That's all, I just call it. Besides, I issued an edict last year to change the name to Xun for the convenience of the people. Peng Zu has been used to calling sick since he was a child, and I am used to hearing it, so who is guilty of it?" Zhang Anshi said with a face. Although he still looked hesitant, at this moment he knew it would be useless to talk too much, so he sighed lightly, Shi Li withdrew.

Zhang Pengzu watched Zhang Anshi walk out the door with a complicated expression.Seeing this, Liu Bing reached out and pressed his shoulder and said: "The general said these words just because he was worried that you and I lost our sense of proportion, and there are too many people talking outside. You have always been cautious, and you have nothing to lose. The matter of being a Marquis is I'll do it myself, you don't have to think about it."

Zhang Pengzu didn't answer, but said goodbye instead: "I should go back."

Liu Bing already frowned and said, "Why don't you stay a little longer, are you really afraid of gossip outside?"

Zhang Pengzu shook his head and said: "Ba'er's mother has recently suffered from hysteria, I have to go back and look at her."

Liu Bing stopped talking, and Zhang Pengzu knew that this meant tacit consent.He raised his leg and walked a few steps towards the door, and felt that the heavy depression in his heart was really unbearable. After thinking about it again and again, he finally mustered up the courage, turned around and asked, "I'm sick, have you ever thought about it?" How will the world evaluate you and me?"

Liu Bing had already seen Zhang Pengzu's expression, and guessed that he must have remembered the criticisms suffered by those courtiers in the past, and sighed: "You just need to know that you are not a favor, and I am not a fool. You and I only need to have a clear conscience, and we don't care about future generations. How do people comment on it?"

Zhang Pengzu smiled miserably, and murmured: "But in this world, how many people can really have a clear conscience."

Liu Bing froze in place.From the day he ascended the throne, he has always introspected and vowed to be a true virtuous king.He flattened the Huo family, revised the law of officials, and made people safe. He asked himself that every edict he issued and every decision he made was upright, worthy of the heaven and earth, and not against the law of etiquette.But at this moment, he suddenly thought of many people for no reason: Empress Huo who was deposed by him because of the Huo family's treason; little wife.He still thinks that what he has done is worthy of the etiquette of heaven and earth, but when he thinks of those familiar or vague faces, he still feels like a boundless mist of sorrow overflowing his chest, which cannot be dispelled or dissolved.

When Liu Bing came back to his senses, Zhang Pengzu had already gone far away, all he could see was a vast expanse of snow outside the inner hall and a little black shadow in the snow.

Maybe each of them is a snowflake bound to the world.