Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 21 Returning Home

In the early morning, the white fog was hazy and the weather was cold.

In the silent forest, the beautiful sound of piano was heard at some point, the sound was like the clear singing of birds, as if echoing the companions in the forest.

Following the sound of the piano, Zhang Yu, wearing a fur cloak, walked through the forest path that he had flattened.

When they got out of the road, Hongniang was already waiting there. She said in a gentle voice, "The young lady is already waiting for you in the forest. To avoid being disturbed by others, I will go down the slope to keep watch for you two."

"Thank you, matchmaker!"

Zhang Yu understood that this was Hongniang making room for him, and smiled at her with gratitude.

After a while, Zhang Yu slowly walked to the side of the pavilion and watched Wang Ji playing the piano.

Seeing Zhang Yu, Wang Jincong stroked the strings of the zither with her fingers, smiled sweetly, and said, "How are you these days, Mr. Zhang?"

"not good!"

Zhang Yuyi leaned against the pillar and said with a smile, "I haven't heard the music of the thousand-dollar zither recently. I can't sleep at night and can't think during the day. Now I can hear the music of the zither and my worries are relieved a little."

Wang Ji naturally heard the hidden meaning in the words and explained, "Recently, Wen came to ask for marriage, but I didn't want to be bothered by him, so I didn't have the heart to play the piano here."

"Although Wen Shao is naughty, he has a handsome appearance and a distinguished family background. He is a good choice for a husband. How can you not accept his promise?" Zhang Yu said deliberately.

Wang Ji stood up from the table, rolled his eyes at Zhang Yu, and said, "Although his family background is prominent, can he accomplish anything with his talent and knowledge?"

Zhang Yu smiled and asked, "Does Qianjin think that Yu can accomplish this?"

Wang Ji walked to the pavilion, admired the morning mist, and said cryptically: "In terms of talent, Zhang Lang has the potential to accomplish things, but whether he can succeed depends on fate."

As he spoke, Wang Ji turned to look at Zhang Yu and asked, "I heard from Hongniang that Zhang Lang will be returning to Yunzhong soon. Is that true?"

"Of course!"

Zhang Yu came close to the beautiful woman and said, "After the King's lecture tomorrow, not only me, but also the other scholars in the mountain will return home one after another. Otherwise, the mountain will be blocked by heavy snow and it will be freezing cold, which will make it difficult to travel."

Wang Ji raised his head, looked at Zhang Yu's face, and asked, "I wonder what plans Zhang Lang has for next year when he returns this time?"

Zhang Yu lowered his head slightly, looked into Wang Ji's beautiful eyes, and said, "Next year, I will come here with my father and bring gifts to ask for marriage from the prince. I wonder what you think of the thousand gold coins?"

Hearing this, Wang Ji turned around, took a few steps forward, blushed, and said, "Regarding the marriage proposal, you can just talk to my father. Why do you have to come to me to ask questions?"

Zhang Yu pretended to be dumbfounded and said, "If I hadn't asked for your opinion, I would have been so sad and cried if I was rejected like Wen Shao."

"Do you understand now?" Wang Ji asked, suppressing his shyness.

Zhang Yu pretended to be silly and said, "If you don't tell me about the thousand gold coins, it means you are rejecting my marriage proposal."

"Zhang Ji'an!"

Wang Ji stamped his feet and said angrily, "When did you become so stupid?"

As she spoke, Wang Ji turned around and wanted to continue speaking, but she saw Zhang Yu looking at her with a playful look on his face. Wang Ji immediately understood that Zhang Yu was deliberately teasing her again.

Wang Ji threw the round fan in his hand at Zhang Yu and said angrily: "How could you bully me like this?"

"cool down!"

Zhang Yu smiled and fanned Wang Ji with a round fan, saying, "After meeting him today, I don't know when we will meet again. Please forgive me this time."

"Humph!"

Wang Ji took the round fan, snorted at Zhang Yu, and said, "Don't do it again next time!"

Zhang Yu regained his serious look and said, "My family is not prominent. If you ask for marriage next year, I, the Zhang family, will do my best to help you."

"Ok!"

Wang Ji suppressed his inner shyness and said, "My father is not a pedantic person. Ji An will come next year."

Although Wang Ji did not give a direct reply, Zhang Yu, with her emotional intelligence, naturally heard the implicit meaning of Wang Ji's words, which was to tell Zhang Yu to come without worry, and she would do her best to help.

Zhang Yu looked at Wang Ji quietly and said with a smile: "Come back next year. It will take several months before we can see each other again. Doesn't Qianjin have anything to say?"

"Do you have it?" Wang Ji kicked the ball back to Zhang Yu and said.

"I have!"

As he spoke, Zhang Yu reached out and held Wang Ji's soft, boneless hand, saying, "It's getting cold. You need to keep warm when you play the piano in the future!"

Wang Ji's delicate hand was held, and she felt the warmth brought by the rough big palm. She felt as if she was electrocuted. Her whole body felt numb, and her frozen cheeks turned red instantly, and even her ears turned blood red.

Faced with Zhang Yu's sudden concern, the usually intelligent Wang Ji was completely speechless, his speech was slow, and he could only lower his head to respond.

It was not until a while later that Wang Ji finally reacted, pulled his hand back, and said weakly: "Thank you for your concern, Mr. Zhang. I will pay more attention in the future."

Zhang Yu smiled and said, "I have known Qianjin for many months, but I don't know your name. I am going back home now, I wonder if you can tell me!"

Wang Ji regained consciousness a little and said, "My name is Ji, and my courtesy name is Shulan."

"Wang Shulan?"

Zhang Yu muttered to himself, and then asked, "When the clouds disappear, the rain stops. When the wind comes, the rain stops. Could it be that 'Ji' and 'Shu Lan' have other meanings?"

"Ok!"

Wang Ji walked slowly and said, "When my mother gave birth to me, it was raining heavily. After I was born, the rain stopped suddenly, so my father named me Ji. And because I was born in Shulan Mountain, I took Shulan as my courtesy name." In ancient times, women's names could not be asked or revealed to those who were not close to them. Zhang Yu did not ask the name before, firstly to preserve some mystery, and secondly to let Wang Ji take the initiative to say it. After all, they were related, and many etiquette things would not become obstacles to communication.

“It’s a very poetic name!”

Zhang Yu smiled and said, "My father didn't know classics, so when I was born, he asked a Confucian scholar to name me. The Confucian scholar was good at Zhouyi and said that I would have many disasters in my life, so he named me Yu and gave me Ji'an as my courtesy name."

In ancient Chinese texts, "虞" means entertainment, so it also means peace.

Zhang Yu, courtesy name Ji'an. The name and courtesy name echo each other and have a lot of meaning. The scholar really did not charge a high price for a sheep in vain.

When he first traveled through time, Zhang Yu complained about his own name. When pronounced in later Mandarin, it really sounded similar to the octopus of later times. Fortunately, there was no word for octopus in the Han Dynasty.

Wang Ji covered his mouth and laughed, saying: "When I first heard the name Ji'an, I thought it was taken from the phrase 'help the world and bring peace to the people.'"

Zhang Yu seemed to have thought of something and said with a smile: "If my last name was Li, I would like to take Shimin as my courtesy name."

Wang Ji didn't understand what Zhang Yu meant, so he shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter if it's Shimin or Ji'an. No matter how good the name is, if the person can't accomplish anything, I'm afraid it's a waste of the good name."

Zhang Yu put his hand on the hilt of the knife and said with emotion: "In today's situation, if a man is born into this world and cannot live a brilliant life, then his life is in vain."

Wang Ji's eyes showed admiration, and he said, "From now on, it will depend on Zhang Lang's style!"

Zhang Yu and Wang Ji had been in contact for more than half a year. Wang Ji was quite fond of Zhang Yu's wit and handsome appearance when they first met, and his humor and wit displayed later attracted Wang Ji's heart.

But it was difficult for Wang Ji to appreciate Zhang Yu just for his humor, good looks and tall stature. What really moved Wang Ji was Zhang Yu's rebelliousness and ambition, which he showed intentionally or unintentionally.

Zhang Yu and Wang Ji chatted for a while longer, until Zhang Yu parted with Wang Ji on the grounds of his studies.

Wang Ji stared at Zhang Yu's back in a daze. Thinking that they would not be able to see each other in the next few months, he felt a lot more empty in his heart.

The next day, all the scholars gathered at the mountain courtyard to listen to Wang Hong’s last lecture of the year.

Inside the hall, Wang Honggao sat on the couch and first reviewed for everyone the contents of "The Book of Filial Piety" and "The Spring and Autumn Annals" that he had taught this year, and then laid the groundwork for the contents of the classics that would be taught next year.

Then, Wang Hong did not continue to lecture, but let the scholars study on their own and ask him questions at any time. In order to leave a good impression on Wang Hong, the scholars lined up in front of him to ask questions.

While everyone lined up to join in the fun, Zhang Yu sat quietly in his seat, reviewing the "Spring and Autumn Annals" alone.

The Spring and Autumn Annals is divided into three schools of thought, namely Zuo Zhuan, Gongyang Zhuan and Guliang Zhuan. The Spring and Autumn Annals is a book of profound meanings and contains very little content. It is difficult for ordinary people to understand it without the guidance of a famous teacher.

The Wang family of Qi County passed down the "Zuo Zhuan" from generation to generation. The viewpoint of "Zuo Zhuan" is different from that of "Gongyang Zhuan" and "Guliang Zhuan". It emphasizes that there is no country that will not perish, but rites and laws will last for a long time; as for the idea of people and monarch, it believes that the monarch should love the people as his own children.

In addition to the core ideas, Zuo's Spring and Autumn Annals uses historical stories from the Spring and Autumn Period as teaching cases to guide the words and deeds of Han Dynasty scholars. After all, learning from history makes people wise, which is not an empty statement.

Therefore, compared with ideological and political books such as "The Book of Filial Piety", Zhang Yu prefers to read "The Spring and Autumn Annals" to learn some lessons from his ancestors.

As time passed, the sun reached noon.

Wang Hong stood up from the couch, coughed a few times, and said, "I will give another lecture on the Spring and Autumn Annals here on March 1st of next year. If you are interested in studying here, you can come here on time next year."

"Students thank Master Wang for his teaching!" everyone responded.

"No gift!"

Wang Hong waved his hand, signaling everyone to leave.

"By the way, Ji An stays!"

"promise!"

Under the envious gazes of everyone, Zhang Yu stayed alone in the hall.

"Master Wang!"

Wang Hong motioned Zhang Yu to sit down and asked, "How have you been learning military books recently?"

Zhang Yu pondered for a moment and said, "The Art of War is a difficult book to understand. If you don't use military tactics, you don't understand the essence of the book."

"How do you understand the formation diagram?" Wang Hong asked.

"My Lord, I have gained some understanding of the battle formation. But I still need to gain military experience to understand the essence of it," said Zhang Yu.

"Okay!"

Wang Hong was quite satisfied and said, "Next year when we arrive at Dalu, I will teach you the Zuo Zhuan. You need to study the military stories in it carefully. After next year, Ji'an can join the army."

Apparently, after training Sun Zi, Wang Hong intends to continue training Zhang Yu. If Zhang Yu performs well in the future, Wang Hong might accept Zhang Yu as his disciple and teach him the essence of Wang's family learning.

"Thank you Master Wang for your guidance!"

Fearing that Wang Hong would be angry, Zhang Yu did not dare to express his intention to ask for marriage. He cupped his hands and said, "I will definitely live up to Master Wang's expectations!"

"After today's lecture, I wonder when you will return home?" Wang Hong asked with concern.

"About four or five days later!" Zhang Yu said.

"good!"

Wang Hong nodded slightly and said, "Jian's home is outside the Great Wall. The road is long and the weather gets cold early in the north. It's better to go back early!"

"I'll be back home for a few months. Ji'an can go to the library to borrow some books. Just remember to bring them back next year!"

"Thank you very much, Master Wang!" Zhang Yu bowed and expressed his gratitude.

(End of this chapter)