Chapter 216

Warm sun and red flowers, green knots and dense shade.

The summer breeze carried the fragrance of flowers, brushing against the dense leaves in the garden, making a rustling sound. The sunlight was sifted into spots of light among the green shade, jumping mischievously.

In the Le family's pavilion, Le Zhan, dressed in plain robes, looked content, holding a brush, moving on the paper, and speaking as he wrote:

"Leaning against the green red flowers beckoning to people,

Newlywed silk ties pulling the green tips.

Little butterflies lightly tapping, shy of the colors—"

Le Zhan stopped his brush to ponder, just about to capture inspiration, when he was interrupted by Le Xiao Pang.

"Father!"

Le Xiao Pang stood outside the pavilion, bowed properly, his smile ingratiating.

Le Zhan frowned, his tone slightly displeased: "Is your homework done?"

"It's all done, and the teacher even praised me for making progress!"

Le Zhan snorted in disbelief.

Le Xiao Pang piled on a smile: "Father, I want to withdraw some..."

Le Zhan immediately waved his hand to interrupt: "Impossible, don't even think about it."

Le Xiao Pang had a bitter face: "Father—"

Le Zhan pointed at his son: "We have an agreement in advance; when you clear the debts from smashing the cockfighting arena, buying the silver Hu bottle, burning the white sable mattress, and all those messy debts in Furong Lane, then I will give you your monthly allowance! Before that, don't think about withdrawing a single coin!"

Le Xiao Pang was about to cry: "But I don't have any money at all; how can I go out with friends!"

"What kind of friends are you going out with? Stay home and study hard!"

Le Xiao Pang deliberately said in shock: "Does Wang Yang count as a bad friend?!"

Le Zhan was stunned: "You want to go out with Wang Yang?"

Le Xiao Pang held his head high: "Yes! Wang Yang had a shock; I'm treating him to a meal to calm his shock."

Le Zhan's face looked a bit better, and he beckoned: "Come here."

Le Xiao Pang knew his old father had changed his mind and happily entered the pavilion.

"I heard from Fang Ren that you've been learning to write poetry recently; look at this poem of mine, how should the fourth line be connected? If you can connect it, I'll let you withdraw money."

Fang Ren was the tutor Le Zhan hired for Le Xiao Pang. Ever since Le Xiao Pang got into a big fight with someone in Furong Lane, he had been confined at home by Le Zhan to read books, and all his monthly allowance and subsidies had been deducted, specifically to prepare for going to the capital. However, due to Lady Le's arrangement, Xiao Pang himself didn't know he was going to the capital and thought it was just because his old father was furious, so he had to be strictly disciplined.

Le Xiao Pang heard the requirement to connect the poem, and his smile collapsed. Last time, he was impressed by Wang Yang and the others in the villa, and plus he suffered a big loss in the silver poetry incident, so he had indeed been learning to write poetry from Mr. Fang during this time, but the time was short, and the ink in his stomach was limited, so his level was really hard to describe.

Seeing his son's timid appearance, Le Zhan was unhappy, and his tone was slightly severe:

"What? You've learned for so long and can't even connect a single line of poetry? If you can't connect it, go back to your room; don't even mention the money."

Xiao Pang had to bite the bullet and step forward, lowering his head to read silently: "Leaning against the green red flowers beckoning to people, newlywed silk ties pulling the green tips. Little butterflies lightly tapping, shy of the colors..."

He looked at the sentences on the paper, his mind in chaos.

Leaning against green red flowers, flowers are flowers, so red flowers are red flowers on the tree! Why is it related to 'newlywed'? And what does this 'silk ties' mean? Which rhyme category is the word 'tip' in?

Le Zhan waited for a while, and seeing his son still had a constipated look, he felt bored and waved his hand:

"Forget it, forget it, go back and study hard; when you can connect my poetry, then mention the money."

Xiao Pang's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately said: "I can, I can!" Regardless of anything, he just randomly connected: "There is a big tabby cat at home."

Le Zhan was so angry that he almost spat out a mouthful of old blood, glared, and roared: "I think you look like a big tabby cat!"

Xiao Pang meowed twice, smiled foolishly, and reached out: "Father, it's settled; if I connect it, you give money; you didn't say whether it was connected well or not, but I did connect it."

Le Zhan was too lazy to entangle and just wanted to send his son away immediately, so he asked: "How much money do you want?"

Xiao Pang laughed: "Just give me twenty thousand."

"How much?!" Le Zhan's eyebrows stood up.

Le Xiao Pang was guilty: "Ten, ten thousand is fine."

"You need ten thousand to eat?"

"I'm treating him to Fragrant Snow Pavilion!"

Le Zhan was suddenly furious: "Fragrant Snow Pavilion again? Do you still have the face to eat at Fragrant Snow Pavilion now?! When you smashed the cockfighting arena and said 'smash as much as you want, I'll pay for it', why didn't you think about Fragrant Snow Pavilion? When you bought that broken silver Hu bottle, why didn't you think about Fragrant Snow Pavilion? Now you remember to eat at Fragrant Snow Pavilion?!"

The gilded silver Hu bottle, originally produced in Central Asia, was unearthed from the tomb of Li Xian of the Northern Zhou Dynasty in Guyuan, Ningxia, and is now housed in the Guyuan Museum in Ningxia. The three sets of reliefs carved on the bottle body are (turn to main text)

(Continued figure explanation: content from the Greek myths "Judgment of Paris" and "Trojan War", the style is Persian Sassanid Dynasty style. Such Hu bottles were generally imported into our country through the Hexi Corridor, so most of them are in the north. Xiao Pang bought this item in the south, so its price increase can be imagined.)

Le Zhan became more and more angry, looked at his son who looked like a quail, suppressed his anger, and said coldly: "Friends don't need that kind of ostentation. I'll lend you three thousand, and it will be deducted from your monthly allowance."

Le Xiao Pang was anxious: "Three thousand is not enough! And we can't just eat!"

"I'll add one thousand, disappear immediately."

Le Zhan buried his head in the poetry manuscript and didn't look at his son again.

Xiao Pang begged: "Even if you give eight thousand, it's fine! Four thousand is not enough to use!"

Le Zhan was impatient: "Get out, get out, get out."

Xiao Pang begged bitterly, but Le Zhan was too lazy to even speak and ignored him directly.

Xiao Pang broke the pot and said: "Fine! If you don't give it, you don't give it! At worst, I'll sell the carriage for money! If others ask, I'll say the Le family of Yuyang has no money to take a carriage and can only walk!"

Le Zhan was furious: "You dare?! You've rebelled!"

Xiao Pang walked out angrily, muttering: "What's there not to dare? The Le family of Yuyang, going out for a meal and having no money! Where is the money for a carriage?"

Le Zhan was furious: "Someone! Take this rebellious son down!"

Xiao Pang hurried to run, and then was pressed down by two guards who were familiar with the process.

Le Zhan roared: "Get me the rattan stick! Today, if I don't break this rebellious son's legs, I will have failed my ancestors!!!"

The servants around saw that Le Zhan was really angered this time, and no one dared to persuade him. Le Xiao Pang also felt that he had angered his old father greatly this time and was afraid in his heart.

"Rattan stick! Where is the rattan stick! Why hasn't it come yet!"

Le Zhan was furious and urged repeatedly.

At this time, Lady Le hurried over, and Le Xiao Pang hurriedly shouted: "Mother, save me! Mother, save me!"

Lady Le glared at her son.

"Madam, don't persuade me! This unfilial rebellious son, even beating him to death is not too much!" Le Zhan said, glaring at the servants: "Where is the rattan stick! Hurry up and get the rattan stick!!!"

The servants were at a loss. Lady Le gestured to them and then said to Le Zhan: "Husband, don't be anxious; I have already sent someone to buy a rattan stick."

Le Zhan's chest heaved with anger, and he said in a rough voice: "What are you buying?! Doesn't the house have one!"

"That one is almost broken! It breaks after a few hits, what's the point of hitting? This time I sent someone to the mountains to dig up a hundred-year-old rattan, and then find a skilled craftsman to weave it into the hardest and thickest rattan stick, to beat him until he's upside down!"

Le Xiao Pang was so frightened that he was stunned; is this son biological!!!

Le Zhan urged: "How can it be in time to weave it now?!"

Lady Le smiled slightly: "Yes, weaving a rattan stick is like hitting a child; weaving it now is too late, and hitting him now is also too late."

Le Zhan and Le Xiao Pang were both startled.

Lady Le's tone was gentle:

"Husband, you are an Assistant Governor of a province; in your daily handling of government affairs and mediation of disputes, which one is not calm and relaxed? Why, when it comes to your own child's affairs, have you lost your sense of proportion?"

Le Zhan's anger eased slightly, and just as he was about to explain the reason to his wife, Lady Le had already looked at her son and scolded:

"It's all you who angered your father! An Assistant Governor of a province angered to this extent by you, you really have ambition! Why don't you hurry up and admit your mistake to your father!"

Lady Le gave a look, and the two guards hurriedly let go.

Le Xiao Pang was like receiving an amnesty, hurriedly kneeling and kowtowing: "Father, son was wrong. Son was confused for a moment and didn't mean to make you angry."

Le Zhan snorted and didn't speak.

Lady Le said: "Husband, sit down, let me ask him." Then she looked at Le Pang with a straight face: "What exactly happened to make your father angry?"

Le Xiao Pang didn't dare to get up and knelt to tell his mother the reason.

Le Zhan said: "Don't listen to his nonsense! He is just using Zhiyan as a cover to take money and go out to mess around!"

Le Xiao Pang cried injustice: "It's really not!"

"You still dare to say that!"

Lady Le calmed her husband and asked: "How much do you want?"

Le Xiao Pang was cautious: "Eight... six thousand coins..."

Lady Le said: "I'll give you thirty thousand."

Le Xiao Pang and Le Zhan were both shocked!

Le Zhan was anxious: "This is—"

Lady Le placed her hand on her husband's arm and pinched it calmly.

Although Le Zhan was full of anger and questions, he forcibly kept his mouth shut.

"Mother, you understand me!"

Le Xiao Pang was so moved he was about to cry.

Lady Le looked at her son and said seriously: "Just one sentence: you are not allowed to take Wang Yang to a brothel. Otherwise, don't even think about stepping out of the house for half a step in the future!"

Seeing his mother speak solemnly, Le Xiao Pang hurriedly nodded like a chicken pecking at rice: "I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare, son remembers!"

Only then did Lady Le soften her expression and order the maid: "A-Shuang, take the young master to get the money."

Le Xiao Pang kowtowed to his parents again and then happily left.

After Le Xiao Pang left, Lady Le walked to the stone table and looked down at the characters her husband wrote.

Le Zhan dismissed the servants and asked his wife anxiously:

"Why did you give him so much money? Isn't this making him more and more of a dandy?!"

Lady Le's gaze was still on the poetry manuscript, and she smiled and said: "Is being a dandy necessarily bad?"

Le Zhan's face changed: "Madam, you—"

Lady Le looked at her husband and recited slowly: "'The First Emperor didn't like reading much, liked dogs, horses, music, and beautiful clothes.' 'Liked to associate with heroes, and young people scrambled to follow him.'"

Le Zhan felt it was absurd: "How can this rebellious son be compared to Liu Bei?!"

"Gao Er naturally cannot, but..."

"But what?" Le Zhan looked at his wife suspiciously.

Lady Le pondered for a moment, didn't continue, and instead said:

"Gao Er doesn't have many strengths, but he is generous, not stingy, knows how to play, and dares to play; this is something many people can't match. Since we are not a family lacking money, why not help our son play to his strengths and avoid his weaknesses?"

Le Zhan said anxiously: "But his squandering..."

Lady Le looked at the red flowers on the tree, her gaze long, and muttered:

"Squandering that isn't worth it is called squandering; if it's worth it, then it's flourishing the family..."

Le Zhan chewed on this sentence, thoughtful.

Lady Le picked up the brush and filled in the last line after her husband's "Leaning against the green red flowers beckoning to people, newlywed silk ties pulling the green tips. Little butterflies lightly tapping, shy of the colors":

"Once meeting the east wind, soaring to the nine heavens!"

——————

Note: "Book of Southern Qi, Biography of Prince Zhongwu of Shixing": "People sang: 'Prince of Shixing, father of the people, rushing to people's emergencies, like water and fire, when will you come back to nurse me.' Jing dialect calls father 'die', so it says so."