Chapter 145 (1/2)
Chapter 145: A Good Drinker never Show off
The topic of debate was given by Grand Secretary Zeng Jing, merely at the beginning of which did Mr. Xie, who was invincible in debate in the Academy, realize what an unshakable mountain he had to confront.
After grooming, Prince Long Qing began to debate with a dignified look, not because he was fearful of his opponents, but because he respected the exchange of wisdom during debate, which meanwhile served as an appreciation to the courage of Mr. Xie to some extent. However, when the debate started, he directly revealed his uncomparably true level without showing any mercy.
Numerous words flew from between the lips of Prince Long Qing as if they were delicate lotus. Countless Cla.s.sics from previous sages were cleverly cited and organized by him around the topic, which were then changed into a complex yet clear network. It took those listeners a long time of pondering to understand the meaning between the lines. What made the students more shocked and speechless was, Prince Long Qing was actually not using Cla.s.sics from Haotian Taoism of West-Hill but just citing views from Cla.s.sics in the Academy!
As Ning Que had judged, Xie Chengyun could just give a few reb.u.t.tals in face of the emotionless argumentation from Prince Long Qing, and soon after he was trapped in the ocean made by those lotuses of words where no mistakes nor indefensible points could be traced. What he could do was helplessly waiting for the network to be more and more intense with no way to fight back at all.
Ning Que was not skilled at seeking truth through citing the cla.s.sic books to debate, nor would he become fond of it. Since the age of four, after realizing that those mathematical problems solved in Mathematical Olympiad cla.s.s were totally useless in his begging career, he had firmly set himself a living standard: no matter how wonderful an idea or a thought was, if it couldn't help him in fighting or earning food, it would be meaningless to his life which didn't deserve a further study.
Hm... but calligraphy was an exception, because he loved it.
In short, he did not like debate, thus couldn't form a favorable impression of Xie Chengyun. As the one neglected by the Academy for six months, he found it difficult to have any sense of group honor, yet he was also unwilling to see that prince, who could remain devastatingly handsome with a poker face and continued to behave so arrogantly. So he hid himself in the dim corner with Sangsang who was also at sea of debate, enjoying wine and vegetable dishes regardless of what was happening at that side, waiting for the debate to end.
”Headmaster of Academy once said when all his disciples were gathered: If one can remain unchanged in the behavior within three years, then it can be called Tao.”
At last, Prince Long Qing concluded his speech with the opinion expressed in an essay by the headmaster of the Academy thirty years ago, which at the same time ended this debate predominated by him.
The courtyard was shrouded with complete silence. All the students speechlessly watched the indifferent prince, not knowing what to say. Even those girl students including Situ Yilan and Jin Wucai were shocked with their back slightly damp. Such a thoughtful man with rigorous way of debate was really terrible, not to mention that what he cited were all from the Academy cla.s.sics. What's more, he even used the doctrine of the headmaster of the Academy to draw a conclusion, then how could they bare-facedly continue to make trouble out of nothing?
Up till now, all those in the courtyard finally understood why Prince Long Qing gave people a sense of pride and indifference although he looked handsome and quiet with gentle manners and few words. He shouldn't be blamed for his arrogance. The problem was, others would naturally feel themselves inferior when confronting his strong capability. Then gradually the prince got used to this way of getting along with others and hence became a superiorly outstanding man without too many words.
”Before complaining that others always liked to climb over your back, you ought to think whether you took the
initiative to squat first.” Ning Que looked at his cla.s.smates who were as still as a frozen quail, shaking his head and said, ”You all treated me with such a loftiness, yet turn to be a hatrack now in the face of a tough one. How shameful you were.”
Sangsang picked up the wine cup he had quietly handed over and took a sip, then she looked to the front and said, ”It seems that Prince Long Qing is very powerful.”
As if he were to answer the confusion of the little handmaiden, Priest Moli, vice president of Revelation Inst.i.tute, looked at the students and complemented with great satisfaction, ”The debating capability of Prince Long Qing is even greatly appreciated by the elder of Lanke Temple.”
The atmosphere was somewhat embarra.s.sing at the moment. The middle-aged general from Gushan Commandery who was sitting below Li Yu on the left suddenly laughed and said, ”I, Zhang Jianxin, is a rough man, and can't understand what the prince and that young master were debating about. But I know, wine is a good thing to liven things up at a banquet. Today we all come to see Crown Prince Chong Ming off. In our Gushan Commandery, we don't have anything special, so I just bring dozens of vats of Nine-river double-distilled wine, and have called those lieutenants to carry them into the backyard. So I will invite you to have a taste.”
Those remarks were straight forward yet polite. Nine-river double-distilled wine produced in Gushan Commandery was not the ordinary wine. It was a kind of high spirit brewed by double distillation, which was used by an emperor of the Tang Empire to soften the mind of the barbarians in gra.s.sland and corrupt the strong will of the tribes there, which thus had helped to receive a miraculous effect. Since then, it had become a secret craft under strict protection of the Empire and was often used as a stake to bargain with the tribes of the gra.s.sland and rarely served for consumption.
The reason why the nine-river double-distilled wine was rarely served for consumption and was even not chosen as tribute wine by the palace was that, it was not easy to brew the wine, and the more important was, this wine was so strong that an ordinary brawny man would be drunk after drinking only one bowl of the wine. Although it met the generous and brave temperament of the Tang people, it would be too unpleasant to fall drunk after just an unscrupulous sip of it when you were laying against a rail, enjoying the wine and the breeze and thinking yourself to be grand and unrestrained. Therefore, the Tang people had to painfully abandon it.
The rarely-seen double-distilled wine from Gushan Commandery was separated into smaller steans and sent to all the tables. Then more refined wine sets were offered, making the previous tension slightly relieved. But no one had expected that the general from Gushan Commandery called Zhang Jianxin asked for the maidservant to change the small wine cup in front of him for a big bowl. After filling the bowl with the spirit, he stared at the eyes of Prince Long Qing, asking in a m.u.f.fled tone, ”I do not know whether the West-Hill Divine Palace forbid drinking?”
Prince Long Qing looked at the small wine cup in front of him, shaking his head with a seemingly smile. This was the first time his expression was different as gentleness and indifference appeared on his handsome face, revealing another sense of charm, thus making those girls dizzy with fascination again despite the fact that they were just now annoyed at him for his discredit of the Academy's reputation.
General Zhang suddenly looked serious. He raised his left hand to hold the bowl with both hands and solemnly said, ”Back then, I once fought against the cavalry of Yan Kingdom at the foot of Min Mountain. Now nearly ten years has pa.s.sed and the two countries have formed a good relation. So with this bowl of wine, I want to propose a toast to Prince Long Qing, hopefully you won't mind. But the wine is too strong, and in gra.s.sland it says after three bowls of it, one cannot ride a horse. I do not know whether you, the prince, can drink, or either, dare...to drink?”
This utterance made the room still again.
In the corner, Ning Que looked at that direction and shook his head, saying, ”Is that a compelling or just a farce? Vulgar, so vulgar! Guys from military troops of Tang who have withdrawn from the front line are so honest or perhaps stupid. The prince is a genius at the peak of Seethrough State, thus you should initiate a drinking game with him! It is just like gambling with your young master, me, in the dice game. It's exactly seeking for abuse.”
While speaking, he emptied the bowl previously filled with rice wine and poured the fine wine of the Gushan Commandery from the stean into the bowl. He then carefully covered it with his sleeve and handed it to Sangsang behind him. The double-distilled spirit was indeed extraordinary, the fragrance of which gradually filled
filled out in an instant. Sangsang used to be calm but now she even couldn't refrain herself from showing delight, even her eyes burning bright.
In the depth of the courtyard, The Grand Secretary Zeng Jing found the scene embarra.s.sing, thus standing out to debarra.s.s it. He slightly patted the folding fan in his hand, looked at General Zhang Jianxin and suggested with a sudden seriousness, ”Now, for the sake of our good relation, how about drinking together?”
Under such seriousness from a Grand Secretary, even the commanders from Tang frontier troops dare not to disobey. However, for some unknown reason, Zhang Jianxin persisted in holding the bowl with both hands as if nothing had happened. He looked at the Prince Long Qing coldly, saying, ”Whether we drink together, or just serving it between we two, I was just wondering... whether the prince will drink.”
Taking a sip of the spirit, Ning Que tightly frowned because of the spicy taste. When he heard those words, he felt something like taking just one dipper of water to drink from three thousand miles of water, which meant being single-minded to love, was indicated.
He furrowed as he stared in that direction, figuring the fact that general surnamed Zhang previously claimed himself to be rough... perhaps was just a disguise which deliberately compelled the prince to drink through a vulgar way. Using coa.r.s.e and crude manner to fight against the adversary's elegance and arrogance would be a surprise trick under the current situation that the Empire's reputation was constantly hurt. Perhaps it was Li Yu who had implied him secretly.
However, just like debate, one of the two basic elements that made Prince Long Qing proud of himself, these things had nothing to do with Ning Que. When realizing that Sangsang loved this double-distilled spirit very much, he was busily pouring the wine out of the can and then secretly handed it to Sangsang sitting behind him. Next he secretly stole wine from a cla.s.smate next to him to feed Sangsang and tirelessly repeated the whole process with caution and happiness.
When the two hid themselves in the dim corner of the courtyard to steal wine, the situation in the courtyard had changed again. Most people thought that Prince Long Qing would neglect that invitation of a wine compet.i.tion from the Tang general out of his constant indifference and arrogance, yet only perceived a sudden flash of light smile from between his delicate eyes and brows. With a slight wave of his right hand, the stean appeared in his hand soundlessly and stirlessly.
Soon after, Prince Long Qing lifted up the lower part of the stean, from which crystally clear wine flew out accompanied by its spicy fragrance and filled the big bowl instantly. Not waiting for wine to overflow, he raised his left arm as quickly as a whirlwind to send the bowl to his lips and drunk the wine up at the same speed as that of a whale inhaling water or of a tornado. How degage he was!
General Zhang Jianxin looked somewhat stupefied, as if he hadn't expected that Prince Long Qing, who was well-known for his indifference, solemnness and arrogance, should turn to be so casual and unrestrained in the face of his invitation of a wine compet.i.tion. Then after a moment of distraction, he realized he was still holding the bowl, thus immediately sent it to his lips and drunk it up.