Chang'an ancient meaning

Xue Chongjian went to Liu Qianqian's house to practice, and some old friends inevitably drank and played when they saw each other, and it was already the moon when they returned.He opened the curtain and entered the inner room, and saw Li Chengqi sitting on the mat and painting at the desk. The incense burner with twined lotus flowers on the desk exudes a very light Jiuhe incense.Xue Chongjian drank too much wine, and his footsteps were a little disobedient. He staggered two steps forward, took advantage of the opportunity and sat down beside Li Chengqi, leaned up and said, "Your legs are not healed yet, don't sit like this."

Li Chengqi raised his head and saw Xue Chongjian's cheeks flushed with drunkenness, his heart was sour and then relaxed.Although he was describing mountains, rocks, grasses and trees stroke by stroke, he was silently calculating with the hourglass falling silently.He was looking forward to his return immediately, but he wished that time could be blocked with this hourglass. It would be great if he could wait like this forever.Now that Hua Nu came back and was drunk, he couldn't see the strange expression on his face, and it could avoid the ending of being caught by Hua Nu and seeing the truth with tears in his eyes.

Li Chengqi smiled, put the paintbrush on the pen mountain, slowly straightened his numb legs, and said: "When I was young, I learned painting from my husband, and they taught me to sit. If I sit in a nonsense, I can't draw. I wait The dull and boring temper has grown in your bones, and you can't get rid of it, and you have suffered a lot of embarrassment and grievances over the years."

Xue Chongjian pinched Li Chengqi's knees, and said with a smile, "Except for that old man surnamed Song spanking me, there is nothing else." Li Chengqi looked at Xue Chongjian's bewildered drunken face, and remembered that when he came to the East Palace to go to school, he was still a young boy. He looked like a girl with a little hair tied on his forehead, golden bells were tied on his fleshy forearms and legs, and he ran towards him with outstretched arms. The voice was still in his ears, but it turned out that ten years had passed since his youth .In the past ten years, although there are all kinds of love that cannot be separated, but with this person by his side, he still has the courage to live. How will he live in the next ten or twenty years?Is it like being in the judge's courtyard every day, where the heaven and the earth are the furnace, and the yin and yang are the charcoal?

He took out a towel and wiped Xue Chongjian's face, and added two incense balls to his hand stove, and put them in Xue Chongjian's sleeves to drive away the smell of alcohol on his body.He asked him again, "Do you want some sober stones?" Xue Chongjian said, "I'm thirsty, and I want to drink some sour plum soup." Li Chengqi hurriedly ordered the maid to fetch it.

Xue Chongjian glanced at the picture on the case, and there were still a few willow trees whose trunks were only outlined, without adding branches and leaves. They were bare against the green mountains and green waters behind them, which was very abrupt and awkward, and said with a smile: "You draw a tree in five days , Ten days to draw one person, this year’s painting screen can’t wait. Why don’t we go to Chang’an in a few days, don’t you always want to go?” Li Chengqi was stunned, his lips twitched twice, he didn’t know how to answer him, Xue Chongjian said: "I know, you still have to keep filial piety for your aunt, can't we sleep on the floor when we go to Chang'an? There is only one moon in the sky, so it's not the same to keep filial piety anywhere? Besides, the Supreme Being may be angry with us now, so we'll leave for a while , and come back when her anger subsides."

Li Chengqi smiled shyly, nodded and said, "Alright."

Xue Chongjian immediately became happy, and said with a smile: "Great, let's go to Lishan Tangquan Palace first, the hot springs there can heal your leg injuries, and when the weather is hot, go to Yuhua Palace to escape the summer heat. You take this painting with you Then, go to Mount Li and paint slowly. We can also hang wine pots and wine glasses on the saddles, and write poems in the mountains, among the lush forests and bamboos, beside the clear streams and turbulent streams..."

Li Chengqi listened with a smile all the time, and when Xue Chongjian recalled the place of "Merry", he still couldn't help but chuckled.Xue Chongjian said angrily: "Are you kidding me that I can't compose poetry?" Li Chengqi hurriedly said: "No..." Xue Chongjian said angrily: "You clearly are! I'll make a poem for you!" He opened his mouth and chanted: "Stay away from the singing and look around. [1]"

Li Chengqi was surprised, and praised: "That's a good sentence! There is love and scene." Xue Chongjian's face turned pale, and he turned his head and fell silent. Li Chengqi asked, "What's next?" It’s just one word away.” Li Chengqi encouraged him with a smile, “As long as there are good sentences, I don’t care about mediocrity.” Xue Chongjian said joyfully, “Really?” Then he chanted, “The drunken sleeve is back and I will help you.”

As expected, the sixth character of this sentence is not safe, and the meaning is also ordinary, so Li Chengqi just smiled.But Xue Chongjian was out of words again, and his eyes fumbled all over the room. Li Chengqi smiled and asked, "What are you looking for? A rhyme score?" Xue Chongjian's eyes suddenly fell on the unfinished painting barrier, and he said with a smile: "Yes , not only has love and scene, but also has reality, but also turns decay into magic." Li Chengqi saw that he started to blow first, and said with a smile: "I'm all ears." Xue Chongjian took a sip of sour plum soup, cleared his throat, and said: "Life hates long climbing Worrying, leaving a few dead trees behind the painting barrier."

Li Chengqi admired his ingenuity, originally he chuckled, but his eyes were subconsciously seduced by the painting barrier, and fell on the few bare trees, the smile on the corners of his lips finally couldn't hold back, and disappeared one by one.He rushed to work all afternoon, but it was still difficult to finish, as if no matter how hard he tried, he could only face parting again and again.

Xue Chongjian was surprised and said, "Isn't it good?" Li Chengqi laughed quickly and said, "Excellent, I'll copy it for you and show it to my aunt tomorrow." Xue Chongjian said with a smile, "Don't copy it, I won't forget it anyway. Today is the day Fifteen, I came back just now and saw the moon is very good, you can go out with me to have a look, the moon in Shangyuan has been missed." Li Chengqi remembered what happened a month ago, his heart ached again, and he smiled and said: "Okay. "The two came out hand in hand, and the maid spread the cattail mat under the porch. Because the spring breeze was still cold at night, she added a layer of cotton quilt to the mat, and brought a cotton mattress to cover Li Chengqi's legs.Li Chengqi didn't drink, the two only sipped the sour plum soup slowly.

Xue Chongjian smiled and said: "Sister Liu's husband [2] at the banquet today wrote a poem, and the words are very clean. I was a little dizzy from drinking, but I only remember one passage. The sky in the river is all the same color without dust, and the moon is in the bright sky. Who is there beside the river? Seeing the moon for the first time? When did the river moon shine on people? There are endless generations in life, and the river moon looks similar every year. I don’t know who the river moon treats, but I see the Yangtze River sending water.”

Li Chengqi was shocked and said: "This talent is not under Wang Yang Luluo." Xue Chongjian smiled and said: "Sister Liu will die and want to follow him? I know you like it, so I asked him for the full draft, and he said to polish it a little bit. , bring it to me tomorrow."

Li Chengqi thought carefully about the meaning in the poem. When he looked up, the sky was as clear as water, and a round of bright moon shone like frost and snow in the courtyard. Footnotes to this poem.He suddenly felt cold and shivered a little. The person who will accompany Hua Nu to read poems tomorrow will not be me, and the person who will accompany Hua Nu to watch the moon next year will not be me either. Previously, when I read Bao Zhao's Fu, there was a saying "the year withered in a hurry". Four characters, I didn't have any feelings about the word "urgent" at that time.Only when I was forced to leave before my eyes, did I know the cruelty of time, and I couldn't tolerate even a single day.

Xue Chongjian saw him shrank, and asked, "Are you cold?" He sat down beside Li Chengqi, and put his hand stove into his arms again.Li Chengqi's eyes were sour that he almost burst into tears. He hid his smile and said, "What's this man's name? Why have I never heard of it?" Xue Chongjian laughed and said, "I only know that his name is Zhang Ruoxu, and he has a reputation as a scholar. He and Sister Liu are the same He was very free and easy, and he said he wanted to travel to Chang'an, but Sister Liu left Shendu for several years and left with him." He was a bit drunk at first, but on this windy and clear night, he felt that his heart was shaking. Throwing it into the vast sea and sky, it is as if I can no longer control it by myself.With a preserved cherry in his mouth, he said with a casual smile: "I saw them today, and I am very envious. I have grown up so much, and it is the first time I know what it is like to be envious. I thought, if I can be like you, how much I would like good."

After all, he was a little apprehensive when he said this, and secretly glanced at Li Chengqi's face, but Li Chengqi's head was lowered, and the moonlight only slightly illuminated half of his cheek.Suddenly his hand was hot, and it was Li Chengqi's soft hand that had been simmered by the hand stove stretched out and held his hand.Li Chengqi smiled and said: "Do you know, the best time in my cousin's life is when I look at the moon with Hua Nu on the corridor at this moment." Xue Chongjian only felt the warmth spread from his hands to his heart, and he was so happy that he didn't know what to say , a little hesitantly said: "Really?" Li Chengqi pondered: "Well, no, this must not be the best." Xue Chongjian said: "Then what is the best?"

Li Chengqi looked at him seriously and said: "There is a roasted leg of lamb, a jug of wine, watching the moon with Hua Nu on the porch." Xue Chongjian couldn't hold back, he couldn't help laughing while holding Li Chengqi's arm.Li Chengqi also laughed, he knew it was wrong for him to be so happy in mourning, but he had no chance.The only thing they can enjoy together is tonight and this night. He would rather make Hua Nu more happy, let Hua Nu know the truth tomorrow, and have less resentment.He was very grateful for this spring night with a white moon and clear wind. The darkness temporarily covered all the sorrows in broad daylight, and the only remaining light illuminated the most beautiful scenery in the world.This is deceit and kindness, allowing people to have a moment and a corner to hide and breathe.

Xue Chongjian was drunk at first, and his eyes became sour after talking and laughing for a while, and his speech was slurred. Li Chengqi helped him back to the room to rest. Just as he took off his coat and covered him with a quilt, he heard his steady and even breathing.Li Chengqi smiled, he got up and lighted a fire of benzoin, moved his mat to Xue Chongjian's side, and lay down next to Xue Chongjian.With the little light from the hollow flower cover of the censer, he stared at Xue Chongjian's sleeping face with all his strength. In the dark, the straight nose, brow bones, and handsome cheeks were as delicate as jade carvings.There was an unbelievable surprise in his heart, facing Hua Nu every day, he didn't feel that he had grown into an adult all of a sudden, it was like meeting him for the first time, looking at his beautiful face with admiration.

Li Chengqi thought, if you are happy, you will get to know each other, and if you are sad, you will be parted.However, how can the joy of new acquaintances make up for the sorrow of parting in life, and life can only sink deeper and deeper in the quagmire of longing and sorrow.

Xue Chongjian slept very soundly that night. He dreamed of a big moon hanging on the willow tree, so close that he could touch it.He smiled at the moon, and the moon turned into a shy smiling face.

In the early morning of the second day, Taiping entered the palace and said to Xue Chongjian: "The bloody horse you asked for last time, mother found it for you. You can't enter the horse here, and someone has already been dragged to the racecourse." Xue Chongjian cheered and pulled Li Chengqi. Said: "Cousin, follow me to have a look." Although Li Chengqi was ready, but unexpectedly it was so imminent, his body trembled slightly, and said: "I... I won't go..."

Xue Chongjian asked in surprise, "Cousin, what's wrong with you?" Li Chengqi took a deep breath, calmed down, and said, "My leg hurts a little, so I won't go." Xue Chongjian immediately became worried: "But you got cold yesterday? Call the imperial doctor Come on, I'm not going either." Li Chengqi said: "It doesn't matter, I think I sat for a long time yesterday, and warmed up with the smoked cage for a while. You go and play." Taiping also said: "Go, mother is here to accompany you. Feng Nu speak." Xue Chongjian smiled and said, "Then I'll try it and come back."

Li Chengqi watched Xue Chongjian lift the curtain, his heart almost jumped out, he clenched his fists, every joint in his body was aching from the forcible suppression, he blurted out: "Flower slave!" Xue Chongjian turned back and said, "What?" The moment he turned around, Li Chengqi felt that his heart was suddenly empty, and ten years of time poured down in it silently. Instead, he calmed down and said with a smile: "A raw horse doesn't know its temperament, so be careful."

What Xue Chongjian saw was that the two he loved the most in his life were sitting on the mat with their knees hugged, looking at him with a graceful posture and smiling, he felt extremely relieved, and smiled back at them, saying: "It's okay." Li Chengqi nodded He watched Xue Chongjian's white shirt turn out of the bamboo curtain, turned outside the door, turned a weeping willow, and the long green branches gently brushed on his shoulders.

Seeing their description like this, Taiping sighed: "Actually, it would have been better if you told him earlier." Li Chengqi said shyly: "I dare not say." This is the second time he has lied to Hua Nu, and he still dare not face Hua Nu's sadness can only let Hua Nu face all partings alone, and he suddenly hates his cowardice and cruelty very much.

Taiping asked: "I've had someone pack up the things in your palace and send them away. What else do you need to bring here?" Li Chengqi looked around, shook his head, and slowly unfolded the painting barrier, saying: " Aunt may wait for a while?" He picked up the pen, although there was no time, he still wanted to leave something for Hua Nu, all these years he has been accepting Hua Nu's friendship, the only thing he can repay is This little bit.

Li Chengqi walked straight to the depths of Luoyang Palace with the servants sent by the emperor, and behind him were five court ladies and five eunuchs specially dispatched by Princess Taiping. with his nephews.

Li Chengqi grew up in the palace for 12 years, and he still had no chance to visit many palace courtyards. When they stopped in front of a courtyard with a closed gate, he could only vaguely judge from the location that this courtyard was close to the Lenggong Yeting.It is not too far away from the place where the flower slaves race horses, the place where the emperor goes boating, and the place where his father is claustrophobic.A series of palace walls tightly and securely isolate everyone's joys and sorrows, which is even more unattainable than the distance from Luoyang to Chang'an.

The servant stepped forward to talk to the guard, and then took out his waist badge, and the guard rushed in to report.After a while, an eunuch walked out, dressed in green robes, pacing and approaching slowly, and looked Li Chengqi up and down.It is difficult for Li Chengqi to describe the meaning of his look, some are like Jin Wu of the Judge's Court, some are like those old servants of the East Palace, his gaze contains contempt, pity and sarcasm, it is the proud look of a person standing on the shore looking at a drowning person.Li Chengqi thought that he would live under such eyes for the rest of his life, and his body felt chills.

The eunuch stepped forward and said: "Zhang Lin, Minister of the Ministry of Ministers, kowtows to His Highness." Although he kowtowed, he just bowed slightly and got up, saying: "This place is not comparable to the palace of the king. There are grievances in daily life. I still look forward to it." Please forgive me, Your Highness." He stretched out his hand and said, "Please, Your Highness." Li Chengqi nodded silently, followed him in, and there was another door in the north of the small courtyard, but it was locked tightly with an iron chain, Zhang Lin took out the key and locked it When he opened it, he heard a cheer first: "Big Brother, Big Brother is here!"

Several younger brothers in the courtyard were waiting for their arrival, they rushed forward and surrounded Li Chengqi to be careful, Li Chengqi embraced Li Longye, looked at Li Longji, seeing that he was also dressed in plain linen, his heart ached, and said: "Brother has troubled you. "

Zhang Lin said to the servant behind him: "His Royal Highness is here, go pass the stick." Li Chengqi's body trembled suddenly, and he subconsciously looked at Zhang Lin. When Zhang Lin saw the young king's complexion turned pale instantly, fear also appeared in his eyes. Li Chengqi sneered in his heart, and said with a smile: "Your Highness, don't panic, the family's mouth orders a few His Highnesses to watch the punishment, and it is good for His Highness to kneel here." Li Chengqi was afraid and suspicious, and he didn't know who he was going to hit, but He didn't dare to disobey him, so he knelt down and kowtowed and said, "I would like to obey the imperial edict."

Li Longye knelt beside Li Chengqi, and said in a low voice, "They are beating brother Shouli. We saw it yesterday, and the beating was terrible..." Zhang Lin glanced over, Li Longye shivered in fright, and subconsciously moved behind Li Chengqi move.

I don't know where the servant went to pass on the staff, but he brought a few people back with only the effort of talking, holding wooden sticks and wooden beds, as if they had been waiting in line early.Zhang Lin waved his hand and said, "Bring Wu Shouli [3] out." Li Chengqi's heart trembled, he had heard that the second uncle's son Li Shouli had been whipped by the emperor many times, but he didn't expect that the first thing he did when he came in was to watch him receive the cane .

A man came out from a room with two servants. He was only in his twenties, with delicate features, and he was dressed in a green cloth robe that had faded to white. His complexion was very similar to his.His hair was in a loose bun, and a strand of messy hair hung down the side of his face, making him look thinner and haggard.Since Li Chengqi could remember, Prince Zhanghuai Li Xian had been convicted and imprisoned. He had never seen Erbo's family. Looking at this cousin who had been tortured to death, he felt a sense of sadness in his heart.They all inherited the blood of Emperor Gaozong, and they were connected with each other. The first time they met in this life, they were in such an embarrassing situation.

Zhang Lin said with the same chin: "According to the oracle of the Zhai family, the Wushou ritual staff will be forty." Li Shouli's originally gloomy expression flashed a bit of despair, his chapped lips muttered a few times, and he said with difficulty: "Ah, yesterday—— It's been over forty years, can Ah Weng go to Zhai's family and forgive me a few sticks..." Zhang Lin smiled coldly: "I can't reject the imperial decree of Zhai's family. Zhai's family is only planning to beat you once. Dun, who made the king of Shouchun County come one day later, you have to go back to the cage while it's hot!"

Li Shouli stared blankly at his cousins ​​kneeling on the ground, but he stopped begging, closed his eyes and let a few eunuchs put him on the wooden bed.An eunuch took off his robe, and the undershirt was already stained with brown blood. The eunuch untied his belt, and rolled down his trousers to the crook of his knees.Li Shouli let out a cry of pain as he lay on the wooden bed, his thin body trembling, many bruises and ruptures on his buttocks and legs, the blood scabs were torn off abruptly, and pus and blood flowed out.

Li Chengqi was touched by the scar, gasped, and couldn't help but said: "Master Zhang! What crime did he commit?" Zhang Lin said with a smile: "The house punished him to imitate others, so that everyone will be punished." Your highness thinks that you are safe and sound, so your highness will just watch it." He waved his hand, and said bluntly: "Hit!"

A criminal prisoner immediately raised a board and beat him down. Although Li Shouli had been beaten often over the years, he had never been severely punished for two consecutive days, and he was shaking with pain.Li Chengqi saw the blood scabs burst open under the vigorous whipping, but within three or four sticks, pus and blood had already flowed from Li Shouli's buttocks.Li Longye was only ten years old, he was scared when he saw this situation, he held his elder brother by the sleeve, and wanted to lean on his elder brother.Li Chengqi looked at the glaring bloodstains, and didn't know whether his injury hadn't healed yet, or the scene was too familiar, he felt his chest was constricted and it was hard to breathe, his legs were twitching and painful, and he tremblingly said: "Stop!"

Zhang Lin walked up to Li Chengqi with his hands behind his back, and said with a smile, "Your Highness talks a lot." Li Chengqi whispered, "Since I am late, I shouldn't be blamed. If Your Majesty wants to hit me, just hit me." Both Li Chengyi and Li Longji exclaimed in shock: "Brother!" Zhang Lin chuckled and said, "Your Highness has just entered the door, so you have to take care of others? The princess asked me to take care of you, so I would like to advise you, even if you live in the same courtyard, you only need to sweep The snow in front of the door is fine, you don’t care about yourself, you also care about the little ones below, don’t you?”

He didn't stop, but the plank kept falling. Li Shouli heard Li Chengqi's words in a trance in the pain of despair, and tried to raise his head. In the haze, he could only see the boy in white kneeling in the spring mud, looking at him with regretful eyes.This is his younger brother by blood. Since his elder brother died five years ago, he has never seen a relative.He wanted to smile at Li Chengqi, but because he hadn't smiled for too long, he gritted his teeth again in severe pain, which made him not believe it, the expression on his face could be called a smile.

For a while, only Li Shouli's occasional weak groans and the methodical sound of the whipping boards were left in the courtyard. Spots of blood splashed into the weeds in the courtyard, as if countless small flowers had bloomed, attracting a sprinkling of spring colors to this remote courtyard.Several emperors and grandsons of the Li family met silently under the eaves of their old palace in this best part of the three springs.

The author has something to say: [1] There is a line in the opening song of the old version of Taiji Grandmaster, "Singing stays, people look around", I like it very much, so I used this line to transform this doggerel.

[2] Ms. Liu is my favorite soy sauce. I found her a good home for a moment of selfishness.

[3] He was also changed by his grandmother.