Chapter 395 What does he want to do (two in one)
The next morning, not long after breakfast, Shen Zhong rushed to the villa and accompanied Mei Cheng'an and Fan Xian to the Northern Qi Palace.
In the carriage, Fan Xian was yawning continuously, with dark circles under his eyes, and he looked a little tired. Looking at his companions Wang Qinian and Gaoda, they also seemed to be tired. After taking a bath and having a comfortable sleep, Mei Chengan was a little surprised that he looked refreshed.
"What's going on? Are we collectively suffering from insomnia?"
Wang Qinian and Gaoda smiled awkwardly when they heard this, while Fan Xian rolled his eyes and waved his hand unhappily.
"It's all Wei Hua's fault."
Mei Cheng'an was stunned for a moment, then seemed to remember something. He glanced around again and smiled.
It is said that when everyone was about to go to bed last night, the Junior Secretary of the Honglu Temple, Wei Hua, came again. Although he did not enter the backyard, several singing girls and beauties, bringing a gust of fragrance, ran straight into the rooms of the ministers of Nanqing, shocking many people and causing them to exclaim.
Mei Cheng'an knew about this and acquiesced to it, otherwise those singing girls would not have been able to run into the backyard. As for why he acquiesced, it was because when the Northern Qi delegation went to Kyoto, the Honglu Temple also made such arrangements. This was the unspoken rule, so he couldn't meddle in other people's business.
Of course, he didn't want it. The singing girl who ran towards his house was sent away with sweet potatoes before she even got close to him. Although he was not a gentleman who kept himself clean, he still had some mysophobia.
He was aware of this unspoken rule, but Fan Xian was not. He never thought that Northern Qi actually had such a rule for sleeping with the emperor. He was really frightened by the beautiful girl with a pair of extremely seductive watery eyes who suddenly appeared in his room and half-knelt at the corner of his bed. It would be a lie to say that he was not moved at all, but he still couldn't get over such a ridiculous thing on his first day in the capital, so he had to forcibly ask the girl to leave the room.
There were not many people as pretentious as him. After a little fuss, most of the remaining rooms soon became quiet, and the girls never came out since they went in.
Fan Xian was so upset by this ordeal that he tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep. The others had been busy all night as the night was too short to be in good spirits.
Fan Xian picked the remaining eye boogers from the corners of his eyes, and cast a sidelong glance at the spirited Wei Hua standing behind Shen Zhong in front of the carriage. Fan Xian, who already understood the situation, slapped the small table in the carriage and said angrily.
"That damn Wei guy must have done this on purpose, stuck it at that time, and deliberately ruined our mental state. He has a really fucking dirty heart!"
Mei Cheng'an raised his eyebrows and smiled, without commenting.
High-end covert warfare is often so plain and simple, and they often used this trick to secretly attack the Northern Qi negotiation team during negotiations.
The royal villa was not far from the palace. The carriage arrived at the destination after driving on the smooth road for a short while.
Several people got off the carriage. Mei Cheng'an and Fan Xian each adjusted their clothes and entered the palace accompanied by Shen Zhong and Wei Hua.
The accompanying tiger guards, who were carrying long swords, naturally could not follow them into the palace, so they stayed outside with Teng Zijing. Gaoda did not bring a sword with him when he went out because he was going into the palace, so he followed them in.
They stepped into the deep doorway and walked a few dozen steps before they suddenly saw a bright light. In the light were numerous eaves and tens of thousands of palaces. Most of the buildings in the palace were dark blue in color, and they were extremely solemn yet with a hint of freshness and antiquity.
Mei Cheng'an was slightly startled, and Fan Xian paused. The two of them looked at the palace complex in the distance, just like when they first arrived in Shangjing, both of them were a little dazed.
The Northern Qi Palace is completely different from the Qing Palace in style. It does not win by its size. Although it is also extremely large, what is more eye-catching is the overlapping layers. It looks beautiful and quiet without feeling complicated. It seems that every blue-black beam and pillar is telling the story of what happened in the palace, and every wooden corridor is telling the visitors how many great figures in history have walked here.
They didn't know how many turns they had made, but they walked through the long corridor, passed by the flowing water beside the corridor, and gradually went up, and finally arrived in front of the main hall of the Northern Qi Imperial Palace. What came into view was an endless, extremely wide square. They walked along the central passage through the square, came to the steps and looked up. There were at least hundreds of steps, which was several times the number of steps in front of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, the largest hall in Qing State.
“This place is too big!”
Wang Qinian's feet were sore from climbing the stairs, and he was panting from exhaustion. He looked around and couldn't help but sigh softly.
"really!"
Gundam was also breathing slightly.
Mei Cheng'an and Fan Xian looked at each other, shrugged, and Fan Xian curled his lips. They neither commented on it.
This place is so big that walking here is tiring. I wonder how those Northern Qi officials who went to court every day could endure it. It's such strenuous physical work.
Although Wang Qinian and Gaoda's voices were not loud, they were heard by Shen Zhong and Wei Hua. After all, they were on both sides of Mei Cheng'an and Fan Xian, very close to each other.
Wei Hua curled the corners of his mouth proudly and tilted his head to glance at Mei Chengan and Fan Xian beside him.
"Master Mei, what does Master Fan think?"
Mei Cheng'an glanced at him and spoke briefly.
"Big! Tired!"
Fan Xian was too lazy to think and just added a word at random.
"Very big! Very tiring!"
The perfunctory tone in their words was evident, and Wei Hua smiled.
Shen Zhong was also amused. He glanced at the two of them and said with a smile.
"It's much bigger than your Qing Palace, right? Our Great Qi is the orthodox one in the world. You Qing people are so backward that you even imitated us in building your palace."
After these words were spoken, Wei Hua laughed even more happily, while Gao Da and Wang Qinian, who were following behind the others, instantly drooped their faces. Both of them were silent. Mei Cheng'an smiled and didn't care. Fan Xian replied in a neither soft nor hard tone.
"I, a junior student, have won the national war. You guys are the only orthodox left in this world."
Hearing this, Wei Hua's laughter suddenly stopped, the smile on Shen Zhong's face also froze, Mei Cheng'an burst into laughter, and Wang Qinian and Gaoda behind him also laughed.
The smile on Shen Zhong's face froze for a moment and then recovered. He glanced at Fan Xian and spoke.
"Lord Fan's words are as sharp as his fighting skills."
Fan Xian chuckled.
"I learned it from Lord Shen."
The corner of Shen Zhong's mouth twitched, he smiled at him, then turned his head away and stopped looking at him, without saying a word.
Fan Xian glanced at Mei Cheng'an, gently touched his shoulder with his arm, and when he looked over at him, he raised his eyebrows at him proudly.
I won! I'm awesome!
Mei Cheng'an curled the corners of his mouth and gave him a thumbs up.
After climbing the long stairs, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, even Shen Zhong and Wei Hua were no exception. Although they were pleased, this climb was not easy for them, even though they had climbed this stairs countless times.
After simply adjusting their manners, everyone walked lightly to the front of the hall. In front of the hall, a group of palace guards stood sternly with swords in their hands. Each of them had a resolute expression and a lingering breath. It was obvious at a glance that they were at least seventh-rank masters.
Outside the heavy and tall palace gate, the chief eunuch was half-hunched over and waiting for everyone. When everyone came closer and stood still, the chief eunuch squinted his eyes and glanced at everyone weakly, then threw the whisk in his hand, placed it on his left arm, and sang in a shrill voice with a hoarse duck voice.
"The envoy from Nanqing has arrived!"
As the chief eunuch sang a salute loudly, the tall and wide palace door behind him slowly opened, and the true face of the largest power center in the north of the continent was revealed to Mei Chengan, Fan Xian and their companions.
The main hall of the Northern Qi Imperial Palace looks extremely grand in appearance and has a huge space inside. The double eaves on the top are all made of extremely expensive glass, so natural light can penetrate directly into the hall without any obstruction, blowing away the gloomy atmosphere that is common in deep palaces, leaving only a clear and cool atmosphere.
On both sides of the palace are huge columns made of unknown material, towering through the top of the palace as support. The top of the columns is painted black and decorated with gold patterns. Each column is carved with a picture of a coiled dragon flying into the clouds. The carvings are so ingenious that they look lifelike and exquisite.
Behind the column are layers of translucent gauze, and there is a faint figure swaying behind it, and it is unclear whether it is a palace maid or a eunuch.
After entering the hall, the most eye-catching and impressive thing is the long straight path under everyone's feet. It is made of green jade and covered with a gorgeous carpet. It feels extremely soft when the soles of the feet step on it, but everyone clearly feels like they are standing on a mountain of gold.
That's not all. What's even more unexpected is that in such a huge palace, there are actually two pools on both sides of the straight road! The water in the pool flows slowly and is extremely clear. There are even golden fish swimming freely in the water.
If one has sharp eyesight, like Mei Chengan, one can see clearly at the end and deepest part of the long clear water pool, there are two big fish, one black and one white, gracefully swaying their tails, lying on the white sand and lazily spitting bubbles.
Luxurious, so fucking luxurious!
Mei Cheng'an sighed speechlessly, such a gorgeous and extravagant palace was enough to show what kind of national strength and financial resources Northern Qi had after inheriting the wealth of Northern Wei, the world's largest country at that time.
I am afraid that it was precisely because of the royal family's excessive extravagance that the decadent style prevailed and the weak spirit spread in the Northern Qi Dynasty.
How can they be the rival of Qing Kingdom?
Mei Cheng'an sighed in his heart and shook his head slightly.
After the long corridor, it was where the ministers of Northern Qi held court. Behind them, water splashed lightly, and a breeze gradually rose in the hall. The ground was paved with golden bricks with a shiny black luster, so bright that one could vaguely see one's own reflection if one lowered his head.
At this time, the ministers of Northern Qi stood on both sides, facing the Qing Kingdom delegation in the center, bowed slightly and nodded in salute, and stood up when passing by.
High up in front was the dragon throne. Sitting on it, the young emperor of Northern Qi was gazing at the approaching foreign envoys with great interest.
After passing the ministers of Northern Qi and reaching the central area, Shen Zhong stopped first, followed by Mei Chengan and Fan Xian. Wei Hua had already returned to his seat and stood among the ministers.
As the chief envoy, Fan Xian took a step forward and spoke loudly.
"Foreign Minister Fan Xian."
Mei Cheng'an did not move and also spoke loudly.
"Mei Cheng'an, the foreign minister." "Greetings to His Majesty the Emperor of Northern Qi!"
After reciting in unison, they bowed together. Wang Qinian and Gaoda behind them naturally followed suit. They were envoys from the victorious country, so they naturally did not need to kneel down and kowtow to the emperor of the defeated country. Their attitude was so arrogant that although the officials of Northern Qi looked a little unhappy, no one spoke to blame them. They were not as strong as others, so they had to endure it.
The most important thing is that they had just received an urgent report from the border a quarter of an hour ago. The troops in the southern border moved their camps at the same time, advancing thirty miles and stopping at the border line.
"Be flat."
The young emperor of Northern Qi smiled slightly, his tone friendly, not only without anger, but also with a hint of joy, no one knew why.
Fan Xian secretly let out a breath and stood up. It was his idea not to kneel, and it was not to show the pride of a victorious country. He simply did not want to kneel. He did not want to kneel to his own emperor, let alone the emperor of the empire. He thought he would have to argue a few more sentences in the court, but he did not expect to get away with it so easily.
Mei Cheng'an stood up and quietly stepped aside, studying the mottled marks on the gold bricks on the ground. According to the procedure, it was Fan Xian's turn to recite the imperial letter next, and he had nothing to do with it. Fan Xian originally wanted to give this job to him, but he decisively refused.
Strictly speaking, Fan Xian's suggestion not to kneel was not in compliance with the etiquette regulations of the diplomatic mission. The reason why he did not express his objection was, firstly, because he did not want to kneel either, and secondly, because he was only the deputy leader. Anyway, he would not be responsible for any problems, so it naturally did not matter to him.
Wang Qinian took the letter from the box on the tray held by Gao Da and handed it to Fan Xian with both hands. After Fan Xian took it, they all stepped back and stood beside Mei Cheng'an.
Fan Xian turned over, opened the imperial letter and was about to recite it when he suddenly felt a burning gaze on his face. He subconsciously raised his head to look back, only to find that the young Emperor of Northern Qi on the dragon throne was looking at him with a somewhat ambiguous look.
The young emperor of Northern Qi had only been in politics for two years. He should be seventeen years old this year, one year older than himself, and about the same age as his fellow villagers. His literature teacher was Zhuang Mohan’s second son, and his martial arts teacher was the eldest disciple of Master Ku He.
Despite having such a strong faculty, the young emperor of Northern Qi is neither very good at literature nor very good at martial arts.
This man was not interested in women, and was somewhat similar to the Emperor of Qing. He was rather playful, and was respectful, fearful, and angry towards the Queen Mother, while rewarding his ministers more and punishing them less.
Well, judging from the fact that he specifically asked for Si Lili to come back, it seems that the little emperor still believes in love.
The above is the first information that came to Fan Xian's mind when he looked up and saw the slightly immature face of the emperor. It is the information summarized by the Supervisory Office and himself about the young emperor of Northern Qi.
But he immediately realized that he was being rude. When the king of a country looked at him, he, as a foreign minister of unequal status, had no reason to look him in the eye.
So he quickly bowed his head and nodded, suppressed the doubts in his heart about the ambiguous look, fixed his eyes on the national letter, cleared his throat and began to read aloud.
Fan Xian's sonorous and powerful voice echoed in the hall. Mei Cheng'an listened casually on the side. It was enough to just listen to the high-sounding words written by Emperor Qing himself in the letter of credence. What about the everlasting friendship between the two countries as friendly neighbors? Such nonsense was not only believed by the listeners, but even the writers might not believe it. Yet they had to recite it solemnly, and the Northern Qi side had to pretend to express joy and excitement.
Look, the little emperor of Northern Qi was still smiling and nodding to express his great agreement with what was written by his southern counterpart. If you didn't know, you would think he was listening to some wonderful music. It was really funny.
Although he was mocking in his heart, Mei Cheng'an had a respectful and restrained smile on his face, as if he was intoxicated by the friendly atmosphere between the two countries.
As for the curious eyes around him that were prying at him, although it made him feel a little uncomfortable, fortunately Fan Xian, who was reading the imperial edict, shared a large part of the attention and attracted most of the eyes, which made him feel a lot more comfortable and greatly reduced the discomfort of being noticed.
As Fan Xian kept reciting, he felt more and more uncomfortable, because he found that apart from the young Emperor of Northern Qi, more and more people were looking at him. No matter how calm he tried to be, he couldn't help but start to wonder speechlessly. What was wrong with these Northern Qi people? Didn't they know that staring at people was very rude?
It's not that the officials of Northern Qi were impolite. It's just that the two men's roads to fame were legendary. They had heard of them a long time ago and were full of curiosity. The name of the Gemini of the Southern Dynasty came from their mouths.
Ever since they learned that the two of them were to be sent as envoys of the Southern Dynasty to Da Qi, they had been looking forward to it impatiently. Now that they finally got to see them, how could they resist not watching.
They were very curious about what the former prodigy who had been famous for a long time and produced many excellent works, and later became the leader of the Southern Dynasty literary world, looked like. They were even more curious about what the rising star who made their country's great poet Zhuang Mohan return home in depression and became the most famous poet in the world overnight, looked like.
After seeing them, I became more interested in these two young talents, but also a little depressed. It's ok that these two people are so dazzling in literary talent that they don't give people any chance to survive, but how come their looks are so flawless, and each one is more handsome than the other, and each one is more handsome than the other. They are too blessed by God.
The letter was neither long nor short. It took Fan Xian a long time to finish reading it. After rolling it up again, he held it in both hands and bowed and nodded. A eunuch came forward to take the letter and presented it to the young emperor of Northern Qi in small steps. The young emperor of Northern Qi seemed to be unsatisfied and opened it again to read it.
Immediately afterwards, the officials from the Ministry of Rites of the Northern Qi Dynasty came forward and, as usual, recited a beautiful passage in response. This matter had a preliminary result.
The emperor was still flipping through the letter and had not spoken a word. The hall suddenly became quiet, and everyone was waiting for his closing statement.
Fan Xian lowered his head slightly, glanced quickly to both sides with the corner of his eye, then raised his eyes slightly and looked straight ahead.
Due to the angle, he could not see many of the ministers in the Northern Qi court, and he guessed that not all of them were present. In comparison, what made him more curious was the pearl curtain behind the lofty dragon throne, which was swaying slightly in the breeze in the hall. The pearl curtain reflected the clear light from the pool surrounding the main hall, and it looked sparkling and beautiful.
He knew that the Empress Dowager who truly held power in Northern Qi was sitting behind the pearl curtain.
After a while, the young emperor of Northern Qi finished reading it again, slowly rolled up and tied the book in his hand, and solemnly placed it on a small shelf on the desk in front of him that seemed to be specially used to store state books. Then he looked up at His Highness and the ministers.
While he was fiddling with the imperial edict, Mei Cheng'an, Wang Qinian and Gao Da stood behind Fan Xian in the hall again.
The young emperor of Northern Qi's closing statement was extremely brief.
"That's all for today. Let's all go down."
As he spoke, he waved his hand casually.
Fan Xian felt relieved, and with a smile, he bowed towards the dragon throne together with Mei Cheng'an, who was standing half a step behind him. After the ceremony, he was about to turn around and leave with Shen Zhong, intending to deal with him and get poor little Master Yan out as soon as possible.
But things always develop unexpectedly.
"Master Fan and Master Mei?"
The young emperor of Northern Qi had a smile on his lips. He looked at the two of them, waved his hand, and called softly.
"You two stay and chat with me."
When these words were spoken, the whole audience was shocked. All the ministers of Northern Qi including Shen Zhong were stunned for a moment, and were extremely surprised. In the court, His Majesty actually called the envoy of another country "Young Master" instead of his official title. This was a bit unreasonable. However, seeing that the person behind the pearl curtain did not say anything, the ministers looked at each other, suppressed the strangeness in their hearts, and slowly retreated.
Mei Cheng'an looked at the doubtful Fan Xian, and gave him a look that told him to be patient and see how the situation develops. After receiving the look, Fan Xian's panic was relieved a lot.
Sensing Shen Zhong's gaze, Fan Xian looked back and shrugged at him. Shen Zhong forced a smile and smiled at him, raised his hand to signal him to stay and then turned and left.
Wang Qinian and Gaoda were a little at a loss, not knowing whether to leave or stay. Mei Chengan waved at them, the two looked at each other, then turned around and left.
Soon, Mei Cheng'an and Fan Xian were the only ones left in the spacious hall. The hall seemed even more spacious and quiet. One could faintly hear the splashing sound of fish tails splashing in the pool surrounding the hall and the gentle footsteps of palace maids behind the gauze curtain.
The young emperor of Northern Qi smiled at the two of them.
"Don't be so reserved, just come up."
This refers to the high platform between two consecutive upward stairs not far in front of the two of them. The two of them responded calmly and walked forward.
……
Halfway up the stairs outside the hall, Shen Zhong stopped Wang Qinian and Gaoda who were coming out later with a puzzled look on his face, and asked.
"Why does your majesty call your master "Young Master"?
Gundam didn't quite understand, mainly because he didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
"What's the matter?"
Wang Qinian understood what he heard. At that time, he also felt that it was a bit abrupt and inappropriate for the Emperor of Northern Qi to suddenly call his young master and his master "Young Master". After thinking about it, he asked in confusion.
"Has your Majesty ever addressed a subject like this before?"
Shen Zhong shook his head decisively.
"Never before!"
Gundam came back to his senses, looked at Wang Qinian and asked in a low voice.
"Something is wrong. Why did you call the young master? Brother Wang, do you know why?"
Seeing that both of them were looking at him, Wang Qinian rolled his eyes and made a guess that even he found absurd.
"Could it be that the emperor of your country... is respectful to the wise and humble?"
Shen Zhong sneered when he heard this, and instinctively felt that it was not the case. However, he could not think of a more reasonable explanation for the moment. Puzzled, he turned around and looked up at the main hall for a long time, muttering to himself.
"That's a bit too polite!"
……
The young emperor of Northern Qi, who had been sitting upright on the dragon throne, seemed to relax at this moment, with his sitting posture a little slouched.
After Fan Xian and Mei Cheng'an stood on the platform, the little emperor's smile suddenly deepened and he became very excited.
With his excitement beyond words, he suddenly stood up, walked around the desk in front of him, and was about to go down the stairs towards the two of them, which startled them both.
What does he want it for?
……
(End of this chapter)
