Chapter 46: Alas, Following Business

  Dong Changyun walked into the small courtyard with a dark face, his expression was not good. Recently, there were many things happening in the imperial court. Although he was just an imperial son-in-law and one who lived far away in Suzhou City, at this moment, he had already been drawn into the situation and couldn't avoid it.

  The imperial court was still ruled by the Li royal family, but it had long since lost its surname. Within Chang'an City, eunuchs manipulated power and factions vied for control. Outside Chang'an City, regional military governors wielded their own armies, although they had not yet openly rebelled, they no longer obeyed the imperial court's orders.

  And the only hope of changing the entire chaotic order lies in Suzhou City.

  Dong Changyun didn't like this situation, he liked to quietly pursue knowledge rather than being in the midst of a whirlpool, becoming someone who influences the fate of the country, where one moment could bring great success or destruction, and the feeling of life and death hanging by a thread made him somewhat anxious.

  After all, he is just a bookworm.

  Scholars can discuss national affairs and grasp the law, but they cannot put themselves in the midst of sword lights and shadows to save the country from danger. This kind of courage is a bit beyond what scholars can bear.

  "Ah!"

  Dong Changyun let out a long sigh, turned around and walked into Li Menghan's separate courtyard with his hands behind his back.

  He loves his daughter very much.

  Although there is still a son, the son is silly and can only listen to others' orders.

  Shaking his head, Dong Changyun walked into Li Menghan's room and knocked on the door.

  "Who?"

  "I," Dong Changyun replied in a low voice.

  Soon, the door opened and Li Menghan lowered her head. She had just been reading the poem written by Sun Ximei, which was indeed a good poem. Although the words were simple, the emotions were sincere.

  "Is the task completed?" Dong Changyun walked behind Li Menghan's desk with his hands behind his back.

  "Not yet, but... I just composed a new poem and was about to ask Father to review it," Li Menghuan said nervously, thinking of using the poem to make up for not finishing her homework.

  Dong Changyun sat down, glanced at the poem, and then said "hmm" as he read it carefully, pondered for a moment, nodded his head, and said: "Not bad, not bad, indeed very good. But I'm afraid this wasn't written by you."

  "This... although... but it's almost the same," Li Meng said vaguely, "Anyway, I contributed to it."

  Li Menghan argued in her heart that this poem was originally hers, and Song Kai had bribed her for it. Since it was a bribe, the ownership naturally belonged to her now.

  Dong Changyun gazed at the poem, scanned it a few times, let out a soft sigh and said: "Yes, this life is not long, tonight is not good, where will we see each other next year under the bright moon? Parting is always sad, if parting has no end in sight, it's even more so."

  As he spoke, Dong Changyun fell silent. In an instant, countless fragments flashed through his mind: the pride of youth, the crowded banquet... The imperial examination, where he won first place... His ambition was to be a humble son-in-law, only because at that moment he met this princess... He bid farewell to old friends in Chang'an, and himself and the princess left the worldly realm, coming to Suzhou City... Many former friends would never meet again.

  As he thought about it, Dong Changyun's eyes became slightly moist. He raised his hand and gently rubbed the corners of his eyes, then pretended to be nonchalant and wiped away his tears.

  "Alright, alright. Such poetry is too sorrowful. If one hasn't experienced the pain of parting, it's impossible to write this," said Dong Changyun, and then he lifted up that piece of paper, revealing the homework underneath.

  Dong Changyun said this, naturally knowing that the poem was not written by Li Menghan, but no matter who wrote it, the poem is good, and Li Menghan can recognize such friends, after all, it's a good thing.

  As soon as the idea flashed through his mind, Dong Changyun looked at the worksheet. These two questions were all made by him to exercise Li Menghuan's thinking ability.

  Dong Changyun nodded after reading the first question, his daughter was indeed clever and had solved it in less than a day, not bad. Then Dong Changyun looked at the second question again.

  At this time, the second question below was written in a mess, with curses, complaints, and most importantly, many unreadable ghost symbols!

  Li Menghan suddenly remembered the resentful words she had written on paper, and hurriedly ran over to quickly say: "Dad, Dad, I know I was wrong, I'll do it right away, I'll erase the words on top immediately."

  "What does this mean?" Dong Changyun suddenly blurted out a sentence, which didn't seem like anger, but rather astonishment.

  Li Menghan covered his mouth, he didn't know that Song Kai had written the solution to the cubic equation on his homework, she thought Dong Changyun was blaming herself for writing those complaining words.

  "Dad, I'm sorry. It's just that I was feeling frustrated for a moment and lost my head..." Li Menghan bowed her head, carefully admitting her mistake.

  Just as he was halfway through his words, Dong Changyun suddenly slapped the table.

  Li Menghan was so frightened that she knelt on the ground, and didn't know why Dong Changyun was so angry.

  "Good!" Dong Changyun suddenly blurted out this word.

  "Ah?" Li Menghan looked up at Dong Changyun.

  "Fantastic!" Dong Changyun held the test paper with both hands trembling.

  "It's all over, I won't be driven mad by him," Li Menghuan thought regretfully, really shouldn't have cursed his own father to never ride a horse in this lifetime.

  "Indeed, it's wonderful! I've been studying this method of solving problems, but couldn't find the trick to the operation. Meng Huan, you're indeed a genius...... Wait, no, this isn't your handwriting, and these symbols don't seem like the characters from the Tang Dynasty," Dong Changyun suddenly realized, then stared at Li Menghuan.

  Li Menghan slowly stood up, tiptoeing, and glanced at the homework paper in Dong Changyun's hand, only then did she see those scribbles.

  "Dad, these... these... weird symbols might be... might be Dream Huan's friend doodling, please forgive me," Li Menghuan replied cautiously, cursing Song Kai in her heart: this idiot wrote poems on his own, why did he have to scribble all over my homework paper!

  "Oh?" Dong Changyun put down his homework paper and looked at Li Menghan, "Menghan, tell your father the truth, what's going on with all this?"

  Li Menghan saw that she couldn't avoid it, so she lowered her head and said in a low voice: "Dad, I... wasn't, was Song Kai, he didn't want to find you, what's the Mid-Autumn Poetry Party only serving tea for? Then... then I said, since you asked me to help, you have to give me a poem, he agreed, and later I took the tea to find Dad, I really didn't know he was scribbling on my homework paper."

  Dong Changyuan furrowed his brow, "You're saying that you ran to the attic and then came back, and he had already composed a poem for you? And also solved this second question?"

  "Yes. Ah? Solved the second question? What solved the second question? Is it possible, Father? How is that possible? I've been studying the second question for half a day and still can't make sense of it." Li Menghan stared at Dong Changyun with wide eyes.

  Dong Changyun was also shocked, he sat down on the stool with a thud, "This child... has learned from the heavens and humans... but... unfortunately, he is engaged in commerce... however... never mind... but..."

  Dong Changyun stared at the homework paper and muttered to himself, Lee Menghan couldn't hear what he was saying either.

  After a while, Dong Changyun suddenly raised his head and said: "Menghan, tomorrow you take this homework paper to find that Song Kai, let him explain the topic in detail."

  "Oh? Oh?" Li Menghan was stunned...

  Song returned to the hotel with a happy and satisfied heart, and immediately began studying Mahjong, Go, and Chess.

  There are too few entertainment activities now, Go is popular, but it's a bit difficult, and after one game, two or three hours have passed, those with kidney problems need to go to the toilet five times.

  Compared to them, Go is much simpler. Xiangqi may be a bit more complicated, but it's faster-paced. Mahjong is undoubtedly the most attractive one. If poker were invented, it would be even more popular.

  Having understood this, Song Kai burst out laughing and picked up his newly bought Tang knife, starting to carve into the wooden board.

  In the afternoon, Song Kai was struggling with a large wooden board until the hotel closed. Only then did he manage to produce a set of Chinese chess, two sets of five-in-a-row checkers, and as for mahjong, there were truly too many pieces and the patterns were also a bit complicated.

  "How did you suddenly become stupid," Nie Lingdang walked over wearing a green robe, her small hand comfortingly stroking Song Kai's head.

  The relationship between two people has become so good that it is temporarily genderless.

  "What's wrong?" Song Kai's hands and body were all stained with ink and dye, his face was also black and white.

  "You've been squatting here playing with wood all afternoon, even Cui Lan and Zhao Tieshan can see that you're feeling depressed today. Tell me, what's wrong? Is it something bothering you or are you still thinking about Liu's wife?" Nie Lingdang asked, crouching down in front of Song Kai.

  Song Kai looked at Nie Zhong and smiled, saying: "Come on, tonight I'll teach you two new chess moves."

  Nie Lingdang saw Song Kai laughing like an idiot and became even more worried.

  After dinner and a shower, Nie Lingdang entered Song Kai's room dressed in women's clothing.

  The oil lamp wick sputtered and spluttered as flames shot up.

  Song Kai put on a windbreaker, placed a simple chessboard on the table, and then put the white pieces on Nie Lingdang's side, saying: "Teach you five-piece chess."

  "Isn't this a Go board? It's just smaller," Nie Ling asked in puzzlement.

  "The principle is almost the same, but it's very simple, and if you're quick, you can tell who wins in half a minute. Look, these are the pieces, I'll go first, then you. I'll try to get my pieces in a line, while you... like this, got it?"

  Song Kai roughly explained it.

  "Alright, sounds good, let's give it a try," Nie Zhong also became enthusiastic, rubbed his hands together and started playing chess.

  The first game ended quickly.

  "Come on, come on, I didn't see the diagonal and we can still get five in a row," Nie Lingdang pouted, then the two of them continued.

  The full moon rises into the sky, its light sprinkling over the ground like a layer of gauze shrouding jade.

  Under the oil lamp, a man and a woman sat face to face, staring at each other in anticipation, arguing incessantly.

  One dish after another, before I knew it, it was already deep into the night.

  Suddenly, the woman in the room jumped up excitedly, "I won! I finally won! Haha, Song Kai! See, it's me who won!"

  Song Kai reluctantly nodded and then yawned, "You win, miss. Go to sleep."

  "Alright, but let's play another round! This time it really is the last round..."