Since His Majesty the Emperor gradually gained insight into Huo Ling, Huo Ling has rarely been able to take advantage from his royal father. However, after his "eager" learning, Huo Ling has become more shameless, and has also successfully achieved a new achievement of "if I can annoy you to death, I will work hard to keep you alive".
After several days of "arguments" in the court, the relevant matters of disaster relief and the issues of Yellow River management were determined. However, when it came to selecting someone to oversee the Yellow River management, the courtiers again started arguing.
Disaster relief requires different people, while managing the Yellow River requires professionals. The person in charge only needs to show his presence when needed... This is a rare opportunity to gain political capital and reputation. Everyone from different factions wants to seize this opportunity.
The court was in a lively argument, but the Emperor has not made a statement because he wants to give this opportunity that can enhance his own prestige to Huo Ling.
However—
Seeing the look of "hurry up and finish arguing so I can go rest" and the attitude that wants to be unnoticed in the court, and considering that the other party has not done anything serious... what can he expect from the other party? Can they represent him well?
After the court session, in the Ganqing Palace, His Majesty the Emperor mentioned to Huo Ling. Huo Ling expressed immensely gratefulness for the Emperor's appreciation. Before His Majesty, who was feeling relieved, could completely mention the matter of letting him oversee the management of the Yellow River, Huo Ling quickly said, "I can't bear to leave you, Royal Father", and then said, "If you allow me to go so far, aren't you worried about my safety? If something happens to me, Royal Father, you will truly have no one else", and finally, with a proud face, he made a conclusion using a saying from "The Analects" - "When the parents are alive, do not travel far".
One sentence after another, without giving the Emperor time to react, Huo Ling made the Emperor Huo Jian fully understand what it means to have "my love for you is as endless as the surging river. Once I am far away from you, it may be cut off", and also made him more clearly and thoroughly aware of Huo Ling's ability to "be obstinate and relentless".
His Majesty the Emperor: "..." He had to endure it, he must endure it, he can't get angry, he must not!
But in the end, he couldn't endure it. The Emperor once again let Huo Ling "leave" the Ganqing Palace early, and even said in an annoyed tone, "Get out of Kè."
Huo Ling wiped the spit from his face without any concern, and even imitated his Royal Father's accent, "Okay, I'll leave Kè immediately."
"Àndé, make him leave!"
"Yes."
Àndé, who always ended up being the pawn in the father-son "argument", felt helpless. As he once again sent Huo Ling "out", he earnestly advised Huo Ling, "... Your Highness, I thank you, please calm down."
"However," Huo Ling looked perplexed, "I just wanted to please Royal Father. I was just trying to make him happy." He really thought so. It's just that he didn't expect that the method used by others, when used by him, would result in an outcome that he couldn't quite understand.
With the word "However", there was a sense of inexplicable grievance. Even Àndé, who had a sense of helplessness, didn't know what to say. He could only send Huo Ling away, silently hoping that His Majesty would not only show "paternal love" for the Crown Prince as a formality, and even if the "paternal love" couldn't change, it would be best not to let the Crown Prince feel ignored.
—The story of two people does not need this third person.
Inside the Ganqing Palace, the Emperor, even though he couldn't see Huo Ling, was still upset, especially after Àndé reported on his movements—today, Huo Ling, who didn't have to attend classes because of the holiday, left the Ganqing Palace and did not return to the Eastern Palace, but instead directly left the palace.
The Emperor was sulking inside the palace, while outside the palace, Huo Ling was holding his cat, leading his recently acquired "little brother" - the dog, and leisurely made his way to the Deyuelou.
The food at Deyuelou can only be described as above average, but the storytelling at Deyuelou is the best in the capital.
With the help of knowing the master of Deyuelou and even the dog at the entrance of Deyuelou, Huo Ling, accompanied by his cat and dog, crossed the threshold of Deyuelou.
"Master Huo, you're here." The waiter recognized Huo Ling but didn't know that he was the Crown Prince. warmly welcomed him, "Your private room has been reserved for you all along. Is today's meal the same as usual?"
"Yes." Huo Ling patted the cat lying on his shoulder and nodded at the waiter. "Bring me another bowl of goat milk."
"Okay."
Without the waiter's guidance, Huo Ling walked confidently towards his reserved private room. When he was about to climb the stairs, a hand suddenly blocked his way.
The five fingers were long and well-defined, a good-looking hand.
Huo Ling followed the hand upwards and found that the owner of the hand also had a good-looking face. After squinting at him for a moment, then he recognized him as one of the "four young masters of the capital", from a scholarly family but liked to champion the cause of the downtrodden with a belief in his own martial arts prowess - Fang Qiyi.
They were from different circles, and Fang Qiyi did not recognize him, but Huo Ling knew Fang Qiyi.
Because of Fang Qiyi's impulsive nature, he inadvertently increased Ye Xiao's workload at times. Ye Xiao had once told Huo Ling, "If he wasn't the son of the Imperial Preceptor, I would have beaten him long ago." However, when Fang Qiyi's "championing" led to Ye Xiao letting go of a suspected father-daughter pair of spies from the Northern Frontier, Ye Xiao not only thoroughly beat Fang Qiyi, but also tied him up and threw him at the gate of the Imperial Preceptor's residence.
Not long after that, although Ye Xiao did not capture the so-called Northern Frontier spies, he successfully uncovered a criminal gang that used the name of "selling oneself to bury one's father" for "group jumping" activities, and received sincere thanks from the Imperial Preceptor, a father of the beaten son.
Impressed by this event, Huo Ling had also remembered Fang Qiyi, and he looked at Fang Qiyi, raised his eyebrows and asked, "Is there something?"
"Why can he bring a cat and a dog in?" Fang Qiyi looked at Huo Ling and asked while pointing at the sign "No animals allowed" standing in the store, "This is unfair. Why did you let him in without asking?"
"Master Fang, this, this..." The waiter didn't know how to answer Fang Qiyi. Was he supposed to say "Master Huo, who has a share in Deyuelou, is different from you all"?
Just as the waiter was in a dilemma, Huo Ling patted the waiter reassuringly on the shoulder and then looked at Fang Qiyi. He first agreed with his statement, "You are right, animals are not allowed in the shop, but—" he then shifted the narrative, Huo Ling lifted the cat on his shoulder, "This is my 'little sister'." Then he tugged on the leash in his hand, "This is my 'little brother'."
Finally, he confidently challenged, "Do you think my 'little sister' and 'little brother' are animals?"
Before Fang Qiyi could grasp the logic of his words, Huo Ling, leading his cat and dog, bypassed Fang Qiyi and went upstairs. When Fang Qiyi came to his senses, there was no sign of Huo Ling, only a warm farewell from the boss who sent him off outside.
Feeling puzzled as he walked out of Deyuelou, Fang Qiyi wondered, "?"
Just as Fang Qiyi turned to go back to the owner of Deyuelou to argue, his eyes accidentally caught a familiar figure, and Fang Qiyi swiftly changed his direction and chose to leave decisively.
On the other side, in the private room, Huo Ling handed over his dog to the guard to look after, and settled in a seat near the window. He fed goat milk to his cat, which was only a palm-sized, while listening to the storyteller in the hall narrating the legendary story of Yè Tiān Dìng, Duke Ding of Dingguo.
In his youth, he could lift a half-bucket of water, at manhood he drunkenly beat the mother-in-law after a fierce battle, as a general he won every battle, and the legendary battle where he repelled a hundred thousand soldiers from the North Border with three thousand Yan troops... The storyteller's powerful narration almost made Huo Ling believe, as a close relative of Duke Ding, Yè Tiān Dìng.
His grandfather Yè Tiān Dìng, carried a half-bucket of water and beat the mother-in-law who had just been seriously injured in a fierce battle. Even the so-called repelling of a hundred thousand troops from the North Border was actually because the Great Khan of the North Border had died, and the Crown Prince Wū Yī Gǔ'ěr, who was preparing to go back for power, chose to retreat.
Huo Ling still remembered the tears in his grandfather's eyes when he mentioned this incident. Three thousand Yan troops held the border city for a month, and in the end, less than fifty of them survived. Even after he had killed Shí Dá, who had deliberately delayed the rescue, his brothers did not come back.
People admire heroes, but they do not know how many wounds are behind the hero.
Watching the storyteller in the hall, who spat as he narrated, and the audience who clapped and cheered from time to time, Huo Ling frowned, and reached out to poke the cat's head buried in the goat's milk bowl.
The cat, startled when its head was pressed into the bowl, lifted its head and shook its whiskers at Huo Ling, "Meow?"
When the cat found that its owner had turned his head again, it tilted its head lightly, pawed at its face, then buried its head in the goat's milk bowl again to continue drinking.
Satisfied with poking the cat's head, Huo Ling turned back, not seeing the cat's reaction. Otherwise, he would have poked his "little sister's" head again.
Looking out through the window, Huo Ling had lost interest in the story being narrated about the first emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. His gaze wandered around the room, wanting to see if there was anyone he knew.
At a glance, Huo Ling spotted Huo Can, who had not attended class after Huo Ling had spanked him, and someone who was talking to him... Ye Xiao?!
Huo Ling subconsciously straightened up, rubbing his eyes in disbelief.
"―How did the two of them end up together?"
Author's message:
①: When your parents are alive, do not wander far, but if you do, have a clear destination. ("The Analects of Confucius")