Chapter Twenty-Five: Lethality

  Song Jiuyi mistakenly recognized the wrong person across the courtyard, and Pan Lian'er inside disagreed. She let a maid come out to say that if she wanted Song Jiuyi to forgive her, he must call her "older sister". This would establish a sibling relationship and avoid any ambiguity, and others wouldn't mock them. However, this request was too strange - how could Pan Lian'er be Song Jiuyi's older sister? A group of second-generation nobles were greatly amused by this. It wasn't easy to say no, but if one didn't care about losing face, they might agree. Although acknowledging this would be embarrassing, from then on, the Song family would have a connection with the Pan family. But how could Song Jiuyi agree? He proposed changing the condition to singing a few elegant and beautiful short songs for Pan Lian'er instead. Pan Lian'er also agreed. The first song that Song Jiuyi sang was Ouyang Xiu's "Linjiang Xian": Outside the willow trees, light thunder rumbles above the pond, raindrops fall onto the lotus leaves. In the small tower at the west corner, a rainbow appears after the rain. Leaning against the railing, waiting for the moon to rise.

  Swallows fly in to peep at the painted beams, jade hooks hang down the curtains. The cool waves are still, the mat patterns are flat. Crystal pillows, beside them a fallen hairpin lies horizontally.

  This poem has a very high achievement, especially that dripping lotus sound, with an unparalleled imagination.

  Song Jiuhui can only compose small orders, but he is not good at it. He can plagiarize, but the lyrics must be in harmony with each other, and there is another important point: when filling in words during the Song Dynasty, they must also follow the law of tone, that is, every sentence read out loud must conform to the tune of the word card. When singing "Lin Jiang Xian", he must sing according to the tune of "Lin Jiang Xian". It can't be said that Song Jiuhui is a music fool, but he can also sing karaoke and play guitar. However, the music of later generations and the music of the Song Dynasty are two different things. How could Song Jiuhui know what tune "Lin Jiang Xian" is? His mind often floats with the moving figure of Pan Lian'er, not only running off-key but also running tens of thousands of miles away. "Lin Jiang Xian" is a common tune, and Zhao Kuangyin often listens to it. The sentences are different, but the tunes are the same. When listening to Song Jiuhui sing again, he can't help but want to spit out tea water.

  Yahuan went in to ask for instructions, and actually said it openly. Pan Lian'er wasn't that angry after all, since Song Fu was her father's old comrade-in-arms and subordinate. Listening to Song Jiu's singing voice, she couldn't help but be delighted inside. However, she told Yahuan: "No good, too flowery, needs to be rewritten."

  These days I've been mocked by my friends again and again, today I finally got to vent my anger.

  Yahuan conveys, Song Jiutou's headache, is this also romantic? But his passionate heart still hasn't cooled down. Liking someone means wanting to be with them. After some thought, he changed it to Nalan Xingde's Linjiang Xian: Long remembering the green silk window's words, autumn wind blows and sends back the crow. A small sail from now on moors at the riverbank. One lamp newly lit, thinking of dreams, the moon is just slanted.

  It's better to return home than to yearn for it in vain. Like a swallow returning home, the spring clouds and waters carry light mist. The painted boat is like the moon, with fine rain falling on the willow flowers.

  This poem, if sung well, would captivate countless beauties in this era, but coming from Song Jiu's mouth, it's completely off-key. Listening to it makes Zhao Kuangyin want to take action and give Song Jiu a good thrashing with the Taizu Long Fist.

  Yahuan finally learned a lesson, ignoring Songjiu's discordant tone, thinking about it, she became infatuated.

  Song Jiubowing his hands: "Trouble you to ask your wife again."

  Yahuan woke up with a start and went in to ask again. Pan Lian'er said: "No, it's still Yan."

  So the phrase "艳" is actually referring to the next sentence, "画船人似月，细雨落杨花", which is imagining a romantic scene with someone, turning the virtual into reality, extremely romantic. It can be said that this sentence is a masterpiece of God, bringing out the moist and charming flavor of the literati's unspoken words to the extreme.

  But as for the whole poem, it's a bit too much to say that it's all about sensuality. The other party is obviously trying to make things difficult, Song Jiuxu is speechless, and at most they can just change again, but he starts shouting loudly once more:

  "The Yangtze River flows eastward, its waves washing away heroes. Right and wrong, success and failure, all become empty in the end. The green hills remain, as do the several times the sunset is red."

  "White-haired fishermen and woodcutters on the riverbank, accustomed to seeing autumn moon and spring breeze. A jug of turbid wine delights in meeting old friends, all the affairs of past and present are paid off in laughter and conversation."

  It was not written by Luo Guanzhong, but by Yang Shen, one of the three great talents of the Ming Dynasty, who wrote "Ling Jiang Xian". When Mao Zonggang and his son evaluated and engraved "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", they put it at the beginning of the volume. Later, it also became the theme song of the TV series.

  After shouting, Song Jiu wiped his sweat, and this time it had nothing to do with vulgarity.

  Yuan ran in and asked again, then came out a while later and said: "No way, where are your white hairs?"

  It's like that, okay. The Yangtze River flows eastward, and the heroes are gone with the waves. Success or failure is just a fleeting thought, but the green hills remain, and the sunset glows red several times.

  "With black hair, fishing and woodcutting on the riverbank, I'm used to seeing autumn moon and spring breeze. A jug of turbid wine delights in meeting old friends, all past affairs are paid off in laughter and conversation."

  When they heard the black-haired fisherman on the riverbank, both Zhao brothers burst out laughing. Zhao Kuangyi slapped the table and said: "This guy, deserves to be killed."

  Xiaoyuan went in to ask questions, and Pan's little daughter was patting her chest, laughing so hard that she was shaking all over, saying: "My mother, I'm done for, I've laughed too much."

  Not just her, but also several of her second-generation ancestors were overjoyed.

  The whole thing was caused by that little poem, but the elegant and virtuous young lady, a gentleman's delight, didn't Pan Mei's two sons ever flirt with her? The little poem had some subtle implications, and then there was Yu Pin, whose double-heart embroidered robe could lead people to imagine improper things. However, it wasn't as if she directly spoke lewd words or took action. Bao also played along, and came up with three more proper little poems. Pan Wei De shouted towards the inner courtyard: "Little sister, that's enough! Xiao Jiu can instantly come up with three little poems, how difficult is that? One of them would be enough for me to think about for a month."

  It's been nine years since you left, thinking about it for a month or even a year won't work.

  What to do, they said that if you can think of a poem in a month, then it's a month. Yiniang came out and shouted: "No way, this little poem is too crude, it needs to be rewritten." Then she stood with her hands on her hips, staring fiercely at the Pan Weide brothers.

  Pan Weigong had no choice but to whisper in Song Jiu's ear: "Brother, sing two more songs and I'll treat you to a drink tonight."

  Pan Mei had many sons, including Wei De, Wei Gu, and Wei Zheng. There was also a recently born Wei Qing, and only one precious daughter. Later on, Pan Mei gave birth to another son and two daughters in her old age. The husbands of the two daughters were extraordinary people, but they hadn't been born yet. Since rare things are precious, several brothers could only give in to this precious younger sister.

  Zhao Kuangyin said: "Why doesn't Lady Tian take care of this?"

  "She made the Wei brothers retreat."

  A group of people didn't know that the emperor was watching from above the teahouse, and several others loudly cheered, wanting to sing. Song Jiudong looked around, singing wasn't a big deal, but it was plagiarism, and he wasn't afraid of plagiarism either. The key thing was that in the future, he would become famous because of this, and everyone let him fill in the lyrics himself, but how many could he remember? This name couldn't be revealed, occasionally one or two songs were fine, but they couldn't be thrown out like a cabbage. He said to the wall of the courtyard: "Pang family's young daughter, how about this, I'll tell a story and sing another moving folk song."

  "What is a folk song?" Not bad, Pan Lian'er spoke directly this time.

  "It's just a song sung in plain language."

  "Good, but not charming, not crude."

  "Don't worry, it's touching. Let me tell you a story. A long time ago, a poor scholar was reading books in the woods when he suddenly heard a rustling sound. He looked up and saw a small white fox staring at him, wailing pitifully. Strangely, the little white fox walked right up to the scholar and stopped in front of him. The scholar picked up the fox and found an arrow lodged in its hind leg. He carefully removed the arrow and tore off his tattered robe to bandage the fox's wound. The little fox endured the pain and remained still in the scholar's arms."

  The scholar was holding the fox and about to read a book when the sound of horseshoes came thundering, dozens of big men riding horses rushed over, asking the scholar: "Scholar, have you seen an injured fox?" The scholar said: "Is it a white fox that brother is talking about?" A green shadow flashed beside the big man and said: "It's exactly that one. I shot it, where is the beast?" The scholar only smelled the fragrance of the wind blowing in his face, saw a beautiful and unparalleled face, was infatuated, and pointed behind him for half a day, saying that he had just run over from this side. The big men left, and the little fox poked its head out of the sleeve, with gratitude in its eyes. The scholar gently stroked the fox and said: "Little fox, hurry up and hide, don't let people hurt you again."

  The fox surprisingly understood human nature, and with a limp leg, it hopped up to the scholar and made a bow. Its snow-white body twisted into a ball, and under the sunset, it danced elegantly. The scholar was stunned, and after the dance, the fox bowed again to the scholar, took three steps back, and disappeared into the distant mountains.

  The scholar still sat in the woods every day reading books, and whenever he heard horse hooves, he would excitedly get up, but he never met the green-clothed maiden again. However, what he didn't know was that every morning, a white fox with sparkling eyes would gaze at him from within the woods.

  It was only strange that whenever he missed the green-clothed woman, there seemed to be a white shadow on the distant mountain, dancing elegantly under the sunset. When the scholar went searching for it, however, he couldn't find anything.

  The scholar lived like this until old age and death, never seeing the green-clothed maiden again; she was not from his world. People said that the scholar spent a lifetime reading books but ultimately read in vain. Others said that a white fox had appeared at the foot of the scholar's bed, while others claimed that on the anniversary of the scholar's death, someone would offer sacrifices at his grave.

  Many years, many years have passed, about a thousand years. The sea has changed into mulberry fields, the forest of the past has been cleared, and it was originally the imperial college, where the emperor married off his princess to the top scholar. On the night of the wedding, when the top scholar saw the princess in green clothes, he felt familiar, as if he had seen her countless times in his dreams, but couldn't remember. At this time, the door suddenly burst open, and it was the maid who had served him for many years, wearing a white dress. The maid said, "Young master, I have been serving you since childhood, today I must bid farewell to you." The top scholar felt heartache, asking why. The maid lifted her leg, pointing at the scar on her leg and saying to the princess, "Before leaving, I want to repay the debt of an arrow from back then, please grant me this kindness." The top scholar protected the princess and asked what was going on. The maid saw that the top scholar did not agree, so she sadly said, "Young master's kindness in saving me back then, I couldn't repay it immediately, after cultivating for a thousand years, I could finally become human, today young master has achieved great success, our past karma is exhausted, with one kindness canceling out one hatred, I bid you farewell." Saying this, she bowed again and retreated to the courtyard, dancing elegantly. Under the bright moonlight, her white clothes shone like snow, as if in a dream or fantasy. She danced until she disappeared into the distance, and the maid's cries echoed, a sorrowful sound. The bright moon was in the sky, and the top scholar seemed to see again the sunset of over a thousand years ago on the distant mountain, where that white figure was dancing on the high mountain. After the maid finished dancing, she disappeared, and the top scholar sent people to search for her countless times, but never found her again.

  A dozen or so second-generation descendants listened with rapt attention, while Xiaoying cried loudly.

  Then Song Jiu started singing, it was really a folk song, a vernacular song, which was "Bai Hu". According to the singing method of later generations, Song Jiu did not go off-key and sang out that hoarse and desolate flavor. Before he finished singing, Pan Lian'er walked out from behind the wall of the courtyard, with tears in her eyes, and beat Song Jiu with her small fists: "You little scoundrel, why didn't you let the Zhuangyuan keep her?"

  This story, this song, even if it's a real folk song, is too powerful and damaging for this era.

  Zhao Kuangyin shook his head, Song Jiu wanted to tell Pan Lian'er on the other side of the courtyard wall, his voice was loud, and he vaguely heard the general idea, almost stirring up a sense of sadness in him. The old eunuch beside him directly shed tears. However, he was not an ordinary person, so he said to the old eunuch: "Liu Gonggong, go and call that little boy over, otherwise, under the eyes of everyone, Pan Mei's daughter will lose her dignity, which is somewhat unseemly."

  "Yes."

  Zhao Kuangyi suddenly said: "Imperial brother, I heard this story and it seems that the two women have a shadow of Pan Xiaoniang and that squad leader?"

  "Yes, he still hasn't given up, hinting that I'll wait for you for a thousand years, unfortunately Pan Mei's daughter didn't catch on. This rascal." However, Zhao Kuangyin won't intervene, whether Pan Mei agrees or not is the Pan family's business, it seems like she'll just get married off, although it's a bit of a sacrifice, but believing in this little scoundrel's cleverness and talent, she shouldn't have too hard of a life.

  Liu Gonggong walked to the entrance of the Pan residence and was recognized by a few younger generations, who were surprised and said: "Liu Gonggong, why have you also come?"

  One by one, they waited with bated breath for Pan Lian'er to finish crying, hoping she would tell another good story. Liu Gonggong said in a low voice, "Everyone, please go inside, the official is upstairs in the teahouse."

  "Your Majesty?"

  "Yes, Song Jiulang, good luck, His Majesty wants you to go over and have tea with him."

  The emperor wants to have tea and talk with Song Jiu, but Pan Lian'er can't bear to hit Song Jiu again. She glares at him with hatred: "You're such a bad person!" Can't be helped, one moment she's laughing, the next she's crying, he's got her wrapped around his finger.

  Pan Weide looked at Song Jiu's "lustful" eyes and the appearance of his little sister, saying: "Jiulang, from now on you are my brother, don't forget it. Tonight we will drink wine, and also, you can't hit my little sister again."

  P.S: This update is even more suspicious of plagiarism, but this will be very important, and those who are dissatisfied with the apology can forgive me individually.