Tang Dynasty Little Godfather

Chapter 168: The streets were deserted.
Wang family.

Under the locust tree in the backyard, a handsome young man held a gourd-shaped zither in his left hand, resting it against his neck, while his right hand held the bow and gently played it, the melodious sound slowly spreading out.

A blue-eyed girl sat on a swing under a tree, staring blankly at the boy, her beautiful eyes filled with surprise and emotion.

These two were Wang Xi and Ashina Mi.

After Dunshan left, Ashina Mi was somewhat depressed. After all, she wasn't just visiting her neighbor for a few days; she was stranded alone in a foreign country. With her only "family member" gone, it was inevitable that she would feel down.

To cheer her up and help her integrate into the Wang family sooner, Wang Xi presented her with the violin he had just made, which he intended to use to amuse Li Longji.

Ashina Mi knew in her heart that Wang Xi was afraid of making her unhappy, which was why she was so touched.

The song is over!

Seeing Ashina Mi still staring blankly at him, Wang Xi was very pleased. "Mi'er, how was it? Was my song beautiful?"

Ashina Mi was taken aback, then smiled and nodded: "It's really beautiful. What kind of instrument is this? I've never seen it before."

Wang Xi boasted, "I invented this myself; you've never seen it before."

"is it?"

"Ah."

Wang Xi asked, "Do you want to learn?"

Ashina Mi nodded happily.

Wang Xi waved his hand and said, "Come here quickly, I'll teach you."

"Okay!"

Ashina Mi ran over excitedly.

Wang Xi first handed the zither and bow to Ashina Mi, then stood behind her, gently embracing her, and softly murmured, "Holding it like this and putting it here is correct!"

Ashina Mi blushed deeply, glanced sideways at Wang Xi, and whispered, "Are you teaching me how to play the zither?"

Wang Xi chuckled and said, "I would only use this method to teach you, Mi'er. If it were someone else, I would have to stand at least ten steps away."

"I don't believe you."

Despite this, Ashina Mi was overjoyed and even leaned gently against Wang Xi.

Just then, a sweet, delicate voice was heard, "Young master, I also want to learn."

Wang Xi shuddered, quickly let go of her hand, and looked up. He saw Sister Hua standing in front of the courtyard gate, smiling at him. He immediately put on a mournful face and said, "Hua Daiyu, please stop making trouble."

Ashina Mi also quickly took a step forward, leaving Wang Xi's embrace.

Sister Hua suddenly looked up at the locust tree and said softly, "Spring has come, but the flowers haven't bloomed yet. I feel like reciting a poem."

"Get rich!"

Wang Xi shouted.

Wang Facai immediately appeared at the door.

Wang Xi pointed his thumb behind him and said, "Cut down this tree tomorrow."

After saying that, he pulled Ashina Mi along and said, "Mi'er, I'll go inside and teach you."

Wang Facai looked at Sister Hua helplessly, "You're always causing me trouble."

Sister Hua said, "This was ordered by the princess. You know how capable the young master is. If he really gives birth to a child, it won't matter to us, but we're afraid that others will gossip about the little princess."

Wang Facai said, "But I see that you seem to be enjoying it too."

Sister Hua blinked, remained silent, and then swayed her large hips as she went straight to the front of the house. She leaned against the windowsill, smiling as she gazed at the perfect couple inside.

Under Sister Hua's watchful eye, Wang Xi had no choice but to give up his little tricks and seriously teach Ashina Mi how to use the violin.

Ashina Mi was also very interested in music and studied with great dedication. After learning some basic techniques, she fell in love with the violin. After dinner, she picked up the violin and practiced diligently, and her mood gradually improved.

After resting at home for a day, they went to the academy the next day to keep Ashina Mi busy so that she wouldn't overthink things and could integrate more easily.

The key issue is that there are indeed a lot of things going on at the academy lately, and Wang Xi can't work as sporadically as he did last year, because they have already made arrangements with various restaurants to stage a performance of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai at their restaurants.

Almost everyone was rehearsing intensively. Fortunately, they had already practiced while watching Hongxiu and Wang Xi rehearse, so they were all in good form when they performed. Ashina Mi joined in, standing aside to learn the singing style of the opera.

Hongxiu, on the other hand, was supervising from the side.

"teacher."

Wang Xi suddenly and quietly approached Hongxiu's side.

Hongxiu asked calmly, "What is it?"

They seem to still be angry about the "better safe than sorry" mentality.

Wang Xi whispered, "The Turkic delegation just left yesterday, and Mi'er is feeling a bit down. Could you please keep an eye on her, Teacher?"

Hongxiu glanced at him sideways and said approvingly, "I didn't realize you were so thoughtful?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Xi immediately became angry and asked, "What did the teacher say?"

Hongxiu was taken aback, and said hesitantly, "Did I say something wrong? I was praising you!"

"Can't you tell?"

Wang Xi was so angry that he was panting heavily. He said, "Didn't the student pay attention to the teacher before? The teacher's words are really hurtful to the student."

Hongxiu was stunned for a moment before she reacted and said angrily, "Are you ever going to stop? I'm your teacher."

Towards the end, his tone even carried a hint of pleading.

"What's a teacher? It won't be long before I'm the dean, a level above you. Let's see what you say then." Wang Xi looked around again, remaining silent.

This kid is greedy, always wanting what's in the pot while eating what's in his bowl. He's really despicable.

Hongxiu rolled her eyes slightly and shook her head helplessly.

at dusk.

Linghu Baodi and the others were all exhausted and listless as they left the academy gate, except for Wang Xi, who was beaming with pride. He held Ashina Mi's hand and waved to Linghu Baodi and the others, saying, "See you tomorrow, brothers."

Everyone glanced at the two hands that were lightly clasped together and said in unison, "Get lost!"

"Go away!"

Wang Xi then pulled Ashina Mi into the carriage.

Once inside the carriage, Ashina Mi frowned and asked, "Why are they treating you like this?"

Wang Xi chuckled and said, "The more they treat me like this, the happier I am."

"Why?"

"because!"

Wang Xi gently put his arm around Ashina Mi's waist, "This shows how jealous they are of me marrying you, Mi'er. How could I not be happy?"

"Oh, I see!" Ashina Mi finally realized, gently pulled his hand away, and said shyly, "Then you'll have to be more careful in the future, so as not to ruin your brotherhood."

"Don't worry, it won't break. If it were them, they could have done even worse."

Wang Xi chuckled, then hugged Ashina Mi even tighter, and asked, "Mi'er, are you tired?"

Ashina Mi said, "I'm not tired! It's just that there are some pronunciations I don't understand yet."

Wang Xi said, "That's easy. When we get back, I'll personally tutor you. With your talent, Mi'er, you'll be first in the whole academy tomorrow." Ashina Mi laughed and said, "It's not as exaggerated as you make it out to be."

This nameless academy was more like a big family, where everyone was as close as brothers and sisters, somewhat similar to the grasslands. In addition, with Wang Xi spending every day with him, Ashina Mi quickly integrated into the community, and his homesickness gradually faded away.

At noon that day, when the government offices were closed.

Zhang Shuo and Yuan Qianyao left the imperial city and slowly headed towards the East Market.

“In recent days, many officials in Luoyang have submitted memorials impeaching Yuwen Rong.”

Yuan Qianyao said in a low voice.

Zhang said, "This is to be expected. Yuwen Rong is quite ambitious. He is very aggressive in his pursuit of merit. This matter also involves land, so there will always be problems. It is impossible for things to go smoothly."

Yuan Qianyao asked, "What does Minister Zhang think?"

Zhang said, "The country has only recently stabilized, so it's not advisable to launch another major attack. We still need to put some pressure on Yuwen Rong to prevent him from acting recklessly and causing a major disaster."

Yuan Qianyao asked, "What does Minister Zhang think we should do?"

After thinking for a moment, Zhang asked, "By the way, how is the Anye Bureau doing?"

Yuan Qianyao said, "I haven't heard of that. The Anye Bureau mainly manages hidden households and doesn't actively investigate them. As long as they don't act recklessly, there shouldn't be any trouble."

Zhang nodded and said, "But if the Anye Bureau does a good job, it can effectively check and balance Yuwen Rong."

At this point, he sighed, "Although I don't like Yuwen Rong's way of doing things, the finances do need reform. If we put pressure on him ourselves, it might backfire. We should prioritize the overall situation. We can use the Anye Bureau to cleverly check and balance Yuwen Rong."

Yuan Qianyao nodded.

"Ok?"

Zhang suddenly looked up and around, "Why is nobody here?"

Yuan Qianyao looked around and realized that he had arrived in the East Market, but there were hardly any people on the streets. He couldn't help but feel a little panicked. "What happened? Could it be that a giant tiger has entered the street?"

"It doesn't look like it!"

Zhang Shuo suddenly listened and continued walking forward, arriving at Zhang Baishou's shop. He saw that the shop was bustling with noise, and even the entrance was crowded with people.

I looked at the sign standing in front of the door.

The two of them immediately realized what was happening.

It turns out that today, the nameless academy will be staging the story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai in various restaurants.

It's no exaggeration to say that the streets were practically deserted.

It should be noted that the people promoting this play were the emperor, the empress, envoys from various countries, princes and nobles, and all the civil and military officials.

Therefore, everyone's expectations for this play are at the highest level.

In the past, when people talked about the Dream of the Red Chamber, they only dared to crowd into the restaurants in the West Market, but the restaurants in the East Market were still quite proper, since everyone who came there was a high-ranking official or noble. But today, we don't talk about those things anymore; the entrance to Zhang Baishou's shop is completely blocked.

"Shopkeeper!"

A young man grabbed Zhang Huai and said, "This is outrageous! There are so many empty spaces over there, why won't you let us go?"

Zhang Huai said aggrievedly, "Please don't be offended, sir. Those over there are all ladies from various families. There is a distinction between men and women. I had no choice but to block them off."

"The ladies of each family?"

"Yes!"

"They came to see the play too."

"I booked a table early this morning."

Zhang Huai sighed, "There's no way around it, who doesn't want to watch 'The Butterfly Lovers' these days?"

Despite this, they were overjoyed. This was an unprecedented spectacle, even more sensational than the original Dream of the Red Chamber. Many noble ladies didn't care about anything else and sent people to reserve seats. After all, some of their sisters had been fortunate enough to see this play at a charity banquet, and they were all moved to tears as they spoke.

This made many wealthy women extremely eager to get their hands on it.

Backstage.

"Ladies, is it alright if you just stand here and watch?"

Linghu Baodi addressed the group of young women dressed as men with a charmingly naive expression.

One of the young ladies laughed and said, "Baodi, thanks to you, otherwise we wouldn't even be able to get in the door."

Linghu Baodi chuckled and said, "This is all I should do."

Just then, Xue Jun called out, "Little sister! Third sister! Over here, over here."

Xue Jun led two or three girls into the hall, exchanged a glance with Linghu Baodi, and they understood each other perfectly.

These spoiled brats are certainly not lacking in cunning.

Nowadays, all the restaurant owners are begging them to perform. Seats have been reserved on both sides of the stage for their relatives and friends. There were originally seats available, but there are too many people today, so everyone has to stand.

Therefore, many young women went to them hoping they could take them to see a play.

How could Xue Jun and his ilk, these纨绔 (spoiled brats), let such a good opportunity pass them by?

"Hey! Sparrow's here."

I heard a young woman say in a sweet voice.

Wang Xi led Ashina Mi backstage and said with a grin, "Sister Zheng has come to watch the show too."

The etiquette among nobles was not so strict, and Wang Xi and his friends often played polo with some noblewomen.

We all know each other.

"Ah."

The young lady Zheng nodded, then glanced at Ashina Mi and asked, "Is this the Turkic princess?"

"Ah."

Wang Xi nodded and said, "Ashina Mi, my fiancée."

Another young woman said, "She is indeed very beautiful. No wonder Brother Que takes her everywhere."

Wang Xi chuckled and said, "That's right. Do any of you ladies regret it?"

The women all spat in unison, then pulled Ashina Mi over and began to recount Wang Xiaoque's past heroic deeds.

Wang Xi cried out, "Sisters, please spare my life!"

"That depends on your future performance," said Madam Zheng. "We women also want to see a show."

"arrange!"

Wang Xi immediately replied.

Zheng immediately said to Ashina Mi, "Little princess, actually, Que Ge'er is a loyal and righteous person, and he is also handsome. I know that many of my sisters like Que Ge'er!"

Wang Xi immediately said, "We must make strict arrangements."

"Giggle!"

The women immediately burst into laughter.

Ashina Mi couldn't hold back either and burst into laughter along with them.

(End of this chapter)