70 The Flower Blooms on the Shore Astride III (2/2)
”Chao Xiaoshu! How dare you! I'm going to teach you a lesson!”
”What lesson? I… I… I don't freaking know!”
”You stupid fellow, how can you not understand how the world works?!”
”Alright, I'll call you second brother Chao from now on. Will you stay or not?!”
The imperial study fell silent. Outside the door, Xu Chongshan and Eunuch Lin turned and looked at each other. They could see their fear and jealousy reflected in the other face. They both turned around to look at the flowers and trees around them silently by tacit agreement.
The room remained silent for a long time before Chao Xiaoshu's gentle yet firm voice rang within it.
”No”
There was a loud crash. the emperor had broken his favorite ink stone. Xu Chongshan and Eunuch Lin could no longer remain silent, especially as Xu Chongshan was worried that the emperor might do something in his anger that he would grow to regret. They both stepped forward and prepared to step in.
At this moment, the door to the imperial study opened with a creak. Chao Xiaoshu stepped over the threshold and closed the door behind him. He turned around, raised his long turquoise robes and kneeled on the ground before kowtowing three times gravely. It was a rite signifying his goodbyes.
He stood up and bowed slightly to Xu Chongshan and Eunuch Li before walking towards the palace exit. There was no eunuch or palace maid leading him and he walked alone as if he was touring the gardens. He used to visit this palace many times in the past and felt much affection for it. He hadn't had much opportunity to visit in the recent years and had missed it so.
When he reached the lake called the Leaving Sea, Chao Xiaoshu looked at it pensively with his hands clasped behind his back. As he looked at the fish swimming happily in the lake, his lips curled upwards slightly, a smile illuminating his face like the sun.
The fish in the lake stopped moving completely as his smiling gaze landed on them. They looked like ornamental jade fish floating lifelessly within the crystalline waters.
Chao Xiaoshu mumbled to himself, ”When I escape the cage, I return to the free.”
The heaven and earth were a large cage trapping men. The heart is a cage for the body. Upon breaking the cage of heart, the cage of the world will be broken.
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Inside the imperial study, a crown had been thrown hastily in the corner. the emperor stared at the writing he had started earlier this morning with a face full of petulance and regret.
He did not know that at the corner of the shelf, laid the next sentence that would complete his writing.
He lifted his head suddenly and looked out of the window at the imperial gardens. His tightly knitted brows relaxed and he eventually calmed down. ”Perhaps, you might be right.” He said self-deprecatingly sotto voce.
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Somewhere else in the vast palace, a priest of about forty was feeling the pulse of the Empress. His brows raised violently and he made a long scratch on the Empress's fleshy wrist rather rudely before turning to look behind him.
The Empress looked at him worriedly. The Master of Nation who had always been calm and friendly was acting unlike himself.
The priest looked out seemingly in shock. Suddenly, he thumped on his chest as he wailed, ”I was wrong. I was really wrong. I should have advised His Majesty to release Xiaoshu earlier. Or to let him enter the Academy…”
”With the Academy‘s Headmaster's ability and Xiaoshu's state of attainment, The Tang empire would have become the strongest in the world. We might even be able to go against the South Jin Kingdom. What a pity. What a pity it's ten years too late!”
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In the alley near the laundry station, Ning Que sat in the horse carriage staring at the life-like statues. They looked as if they were about to come to life any moment. Ning Que's face paled further and his heartrate rose. All his senses seemed to have faded away at that moment.
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In front of the Vermilion Bird Gates...
A middle aged man stared at the stone beasts decorating the eave. He laughed gaily, his laughter sounding strangely carefree and bring. It was a laughter that was true and without any other thoughts nor intentions. The beasts on the eaves seemed to have understood his laughter and returned to their peaceful silent existence.
He left through the main palace gates with his turquoise robes flowing behind him, the air still ringing with his carefree laughter.
After today, there will no longer be a Old Chao from the Spring Breeze Pavilion leading Chang'an.
Instead, there will be one more person who had entered knowing state watching fishes in the lake.
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