Chapter 23: Su Changqing, the Selfless
Su Changqing stood where he was, his eyes dull. He fell into deep thought and stood still for a long time.
It was as if he was lost in his memories.
“Your Majesty, it seems that Su Changqing must have been deeply moved by that relations.h.i.+p. Now that you’ve mentioned it, I’m afraid he’s probably thinking about that person from back then.”
“What the Empress said should be true. Changqing has never mentioned this person in private, even after so many years. It is clear that this is his inner secret. The accompanying phrase should be even more moving.
While the two of them were whispering, Su Changqing was overclocking his brains trying to continue the poem.
With his talent, he already had a corresponding phrase.
But no matter how he tried to continue this sentence, he felt that what he wrote was not worthy of this opening.
After all, he was not someone who specialized in poetry.
If he continued randomly, it would only give off the feeling that he had ruined this poem.
After a while, Su Changqing gently sighed and said, “Your Majesty, I only wrote the first line of this poem back then, so Su Wen only remembered this line. With my talent, obtaining this line was already a stroke of genius. As for the accompanying phrase, I really don’t know how to write or do it. Please forgive me, Your Majesty and Empress.”
Neither the Zhou Emperor nor the Empress had expected that they would hear such an outcome from Su Changqing.
The two of them looked at each other and saw pity in each other’s eyes.
The Empress, in particular, could not help but say, “It would be a pity if there was only one line for such a poem. Changqing, can’t you think about it carefully and come up with the rest of the poem?”
The Zhou Emperor also added, “That’s right, Changqing, think about it carefully and come out with the following verse. I believe you must have thought about it countless times. Today, you should go home and think about it.”
Su Changqing smiled bitterly in his heart. These two people were still unwilling to let him off.
At the Su Residence, Su Wen was still blissfully sleeping.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Su Wen opened his eyes in a daze and stood up to open the door. He saw Su Changqing standing in front of him with a furious expression!
“Father, are you trying to vent your anger on me after being bullied? Let me be clear. You can’t beat me.”
Su Wen teased.
With Su Changqing’s att.i.tude, it was obvious that something bad was going to happen!
Su Changqing was so angered by him that he started laughing, “You still have the face to talk nonsense with me. You wrote a poem last night, why did you have to use my name?”
Su Wen was stunned. He did not expect this matter to reach Su Changqing’s ears so quickly.
Su Wen said with a smile, “The other party insisted on reading your poems. He said you’re already an adult, yet you don’t have many poems that you can take out. In order not to embarra.s.s our family, I helped you to compose a sentence. How is it? Wasn’t it a good poem?”
Su Changqing flew into a rage and raised his fist to hit Su Wen.
However, he was only a weak scholar and was already half a hundred years old. When his fist landed on Su Wen’s body, it did not hurt at all. Instead, his fist got hurt from Su Wen’s True Qi that protected his body!
“You’ll be the death of me! You brat, do you have to tease your father like this?” Su Changqing hammered Su Wen a few times to vent his anger. He then gritted his teeth and said, “Your poem is not bad. Is there any follow-up?”
Su Wen did not answer and instead asked, “Why are you asking about the corresponding phrase?”
Su Changqing then explained what had happened in the Royal Palace. Finally, he said, “His Majesty and the Empress both want to know what happened next.”
Su Wen shook his head and said, “If they want to know, they can just think about it. Since Father has already said that you have only written this, then let it be so. I haven’t even thought about the rest.”
Actually, it was not convenient to publish the entire poem.
The full poem was read as such:
“If time could stop at the moment we first met, then there would not be abandonment and neglect.
Your heart was swayed towards someone else, yet you say that it is because matters of the heart are easily swayed.
You and I are akin to Emperor Xuanzong and Concubine Yang. Despite our oath on staying together until death do us part, we still arrived at a tragic end; despite so, the tears fell without complaint.
However, how could you be compared to Emperor Xuanzong of yesteryear; for he at least walked hand in hand with Concubine Yang, living true to his vow.”
This was the work of the Qing dynasty poet Nalan Xingde.
However, the problem was that the poem used the love story between Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty and Yang Yuhuan, more popularly known as Concubine Yang, Yang Guifei.
If Su Wen were to pen this directly, it would be hard to explain where the characters came from.
For example, during the latter half of the story-poem, it mentioned the story behind the two lovers, and how, despite being forced to make Concubine Yang a scapegoat, he at least had lived up to his oath to stay true to her. However, if written and recited in this world where the context did not exist, it would seem hard to understand for others.
Of course, if he were to forcefully explain, there would always be a way to smooth things over. However, from Su Wen’s point of view, since Su Changqing had already said that he had only written this one sentence, why did he have to create more trouble?
Su Changqing did not think too much about it, since he already had the impression that Su Wen was the one who wrote the poem. He said, “That’s true. It’s already not bad that you could come up with such a sentence in such a hurry. However, this He Sui is a little presumptuous. Since this guy is going on an official tour soon, let him be a county magistrate in the mountainous regions of the Qian Prefecture.”
Su Wen did not expect Su Changqing to take revenge so quickly.
“Haha, Father is indeed the wicked official of the Great Zhou. You don’t wait till the next day to take revenge.”
Su Changqing looked at Su Wen and said in disdain, “Do you think your father is so narrow-minded?”
Su Wen pursed his lips. “What else? Are you doing this for his own good?”
Su Changqing sighed, “He Sui has some talent, but he’s arrogant and conceited. With such a character, if you don’t train him, it’ll be hard for him to achieve great things. From what I saw yesterday, he’s not a shrewd person, and everything he does is on the surface. This is a great taboo in bureaucracy. If he joins the bureaucracy like this, his head will be separated from his body sooner or later. Sending him to the Qian Prefecture is to allow him to train and learn a lesson. Perhaps he’ll become a talent in the future.”
Upon hearing Su Changqing’s words, Su Wen’s mouth hung open as he praised, “As expected of my father. I really admire you, to be able to warp your desire for revenge into something so selfless. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought that he was your biological son. In that case, why didn’t you let my big brother go to the borders to train, allowing him to suffer some setbacks and learn about the pains of mankind?”
Su Changqing rolled his eyes and said, “Your brother has me as his father, and I can protect him. Does He Sui have me?”
“That makes sense! You are an important official, so whatever you say makes sense. That’s right, I have to go to the office too.” Su Wen smiled.
Logically speaking, Su Wen was supposed to arrive early on time the next day after his leave, but he was definitely late today.
By the time he arrived at the Patrol Guards Office, it was already in the afternoon.
After entering the compound, they did not walk far before running into Yan Luoying. Behind her was Wen Jinming and a group of patrolling guards. The moment she saw Su Wen, Yan Luoying had a displeased expression and said, “Sir Su, if you come any later, I’m afraid the sky will turn dark.”
Su Wen smiled. “Of course. The sky will turn dark eventually. I overslept a little today, hopefully I’m not late!”
Although the two of them had secretly formed an alliance, they were still enemies in front of outsiders.
Someone behind Yan Luoying could not help but snicker. This guy, the sun was going to set soon, and he still asked if he was late at this time? This was a true talent.
Yan Luoying pretended to be angry and said, “I don’t have time to waste with you.. Something has happened in the East District!”