145 A Good Drinker Never Shows Off (1/2)
Chapter 145: A Good Drinker Never Shows Off
Translator: TransnEditor: Transn
The topic of debate was given by Grand Secretary Zeng Jing, and just at the beginning of it, Mr. Xie, who was invincible in debate in the Academy, realized what an unshakable mountain that he had to confront.
After grooming himself, 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 of Mr. Xie's courage to some extent. However, when the debate started, he directly revealed his uncomparably true level without showing any mercy.
Numerous words flew out from the lips of Prince Long Qing as if they were delicate lotuses. Countless classics from previous sages were cleverly cited and organized by him while incorporating 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 that Prince Long Qing was actually not using classics from Haotian Taoism of West-Hill, but was just citing views from the classics in the Academy!
As Ning Que had judged, Xie Chengyun was only able to give a few rebuttals in the face of the emotionless argumentation of 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 found. All he could do was helplessly wait 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 classic books for debating, nor would he become fond of it. Since the age of four, after realizing that those mathematical problems solved in the Mathematical Olympiad class were totally useless for his begging career, he had firmly set himself a living standard: No matter how wonderful an idea or a thought was, if it could not help him in fighting or earning food, it would be meaningless to his life and did not deserve to be further studied.
Well.. calligraphy was an exception because he loved it.
In short, he did not like debate and, thus, could not 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 unable to comprehend debate, enjoying wine and vegetable dishes regardless of what was happening around him, waiting for the debate to end.
”The Headmaster of the Academy once said when all his disciples were gathered: If one can remain unchanged in their behavior for three years, then it can be called the Tao.”
Finally, Prince Long Qing concluded his speech with the opinion expressed in an essay by the Headmaster of the Academy from 30 years ago, which at the same time ended this lop-sided debate.
The courtyard was shrouded in complete silence. All of the students speechlessly watched the indifferent prince, not knowing what to say. Even those female students, including Situ Yilan and Jin Wucai, were shocked with their backs slightly damp. Such a thoughtful man with a rigorous method of debate was really terrifying, not to mention that what he cited was all from the Academy classics. Furthermore, he even used the doctrine of the Headmaster of the Academy to draw a conclusion, so how could they shamelessly continue to make trouble over nothing?
At this time, 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 said few words. He should not be blamed for his arrogance. The problem was that 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 superior outstanding man without needing too many words.
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”Before complaining that others always like to climb over your back, you ought to think about how you took the initiative to squat first.” Ning Que looked at his classmates, who were as still as frozen quails, shook his head, and said, ”You all treated me with such loftiness, yet turned into hatracks today in the face of a tough one. How shameful you were.”
Sangsang picked up the wine cup that he had quietly handed to her 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 answering the confusion of the little handmaiden, Priest Moli, the vice president of the Revelation Institute, looked at the students and complemented with great satisfaction, ”The debating capability of Prince Long Qing is even greatly appreciated by the elder of the Lanke Temple.”
The atmosphere was somewhat embarrassing at the moment. The middle-aged general from the Gushan Commandery, who was sitting below Lee Yu on the left, suddenly laughed and said, ”I, Zhang Jianxin, am a rough man and can't understand what the prince and that young master were debating about. But I know that wine is a good thing to liven things up at a banquet. Today, we all came to see Crown Prince Chongming off. In our Gushan Commandery, we don't have anything special, so I just brought 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 straightforward, yet polite. The Nine-river double-distilled wine produced in the Gushan Commandery was not ordinary wine. It was a kind of high spirit brewed by double distillation, which had been used by an emperor of the Tang Empire to soften the minds of the barbarians in the grassland and corrupt the strong will of the tribes there, which had thus helped to get a miraculous effect. Since then, it had become a secret craft under the strict protection of the Empire and was often used as a bargaining chip with the tribes of the grassland and was rarely served for consumption.
The reason why the Nine-river double-distilled wine was rarely served for consumption and was even not chosen as a tribute wine by the palace was that it was not easy to brew the wine. But more importantly, 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 become drunk after just a few sips of it when you were leaning 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 the Gushan Commandery was separated into smaller pots and sent to all the tables. Then, more refined wine sets were offered, which slightly relieved the previous tension. But no one had expected that the general from the Gushan Commandery called Zhang Jianxin would ask for the maidservant to change the small wine cup in front of him for a big bowl. After filling the bowl with the liquor, he stared at the eyes of Prince Long Qing, saying in a muffled tone, ”I don't know if the West-Hill Divine Palace forbids drinking.”
Prince Long Qing looked at the small wine cup in front of him, shaking his head with a faint smile. This was the first time that 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 discrediting 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 the Yan Kingdom at the foot of Min Mountain. Now nearly 10 years have passed and the two countries have formed a good relationship. 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 so strong, and on the grassland, they say that after three bowls of it, one cannot ride a horse. I don't know whether you, the prince, can, or rather, dare... to drink?”
With these remarks, the room became still again.
In the corner, Ning Que looked in that direction and shook his head, saying, ”Is he trying to compel him or is it just a joke? Vulgar, so vulgar! The guys from the military troops of the Tang who have withdrawn from the front line are so honest, or perhaps stupid. The prince is a genius at the Peak of the Seethrough State, and you should initiate a drinking game with him! It's just like gambling with me, your young master, in a dice game. It's simply looking for abuse.”
While speaking, he emptied the bowl that had been previously filled with rice wine and poured the fine wine of the Gushan Commandery from the pot into the bowl. He then carefully covered it with his sleeve and handed it to Sangsang behind him. That double-distilled spirit was indeed extraordinary, the fragrance of which filled the air in an instant. Sangsang was normally calm, but now she could not even restrain herself from showing delight, as even her eyes were burning brightly.
In the depths of the courtyard, Grand Secretary Zeng Jing found the scene embarrassing, so he stood up to abate it. He lightly 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 relationship, how about drinking together?”
In the face of such seriousness from the Grand Secretary, even the commanders from the Tang frontier troops dared not disobey. However, for some unknown reason, Zhang Jianxin persisted in holding his bowl with both hands as if nothing had happened. He looked at Prince Long Qing coldly, saying, ”Whether we drink together, or just serve it between the two of us, I was just wondering... whether the prince drinks.”
Taking a sip of the liquor, Ning Que tightly furrowed his brows because of its spicy taste. When he heard those words, he felt something like taking just one dipper of water to drink from 3,000 miles of water, which meant being single-minded to love, was indicated.
He frowned as he stared in that direction, figuring that the general surnamed Zhang previously claimed himself to be rough... perhaps was just a disguise which deliberately compelled the prince to drink via a vulgar method. Using a coarse and crude manner to fight against an adversary's elegance and arrogance would be a surprise trick under the current situation of the Empire's reputation being constantly hurt. Perhaps it was Lee Yu who had incited him secretly.
However, just like in debate, which was one of the two basic elements that made Prince Long Qing so proud of himself, these things had nothing to do with Ning Que. Realizing that Sangsang loved this double-distilled spirit very much, he busily poured the wine out of the pot and then secretly handed it to Sangsang sitting behind him. Next, he secretly stole wine from a classmate next to him to give to Sangsang and tirelessly repeated the whole process cautiously and happily.
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 ignore that invitation of a wine competition from the Tang general out of his constant indifference and arrogance, yet they only perceived a sudden flash of a light smile upon his face. With a slight wave of his right hand, a pot appeared in his hand silently.