HMAM CH 32 To Endure
Jing Ye rode Obsidian, followed by a group of accompanying cavalry, and rode leisurely all the way to the forest.
Obsidian shook its mane, expressing dissatisfaction at the slow pace.
Jing Ye reached out and stroked the top of its head, listened for a while, and then asked the attendant, “Zhen seems to hear the sound of water?"
The attendant lowered his head and said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, there is a deep pool in the northwest of this forest, not far from here. The sound of the water should be the sound of spring water pouring into the pool from the stone wall."
Jing Ye nodded and said with a smile, "Go and have a look."
The attendant said: "Yes." Then he turned back and made a gesture, and the cavalry reined in their horses one after another and headed towards the source of the sound of water.
Jing Ye let go of the reins and let Obsidian trot for a while, and the group exited the woods.
Jing Ye raised his head and saw a boulder that was as tall as a hundred people. Thousands of holes of different sizes were drilled into the stone surface. Spring water gushed out from the holes and then poured into the deep pool, creating a circle of waves and ripples.
Under the bright sun, the clear spring water was bright, the water beads were transparent, and the depth of the pool was a deep green. It was truly beautiful indeed.
“This is truly a good place." Jing Ye raised his head and said with a smile, "If anyone wants to live in seclusion and escape from the world, this is the best dwelling."
The cavalry leader smiled and said: "This is Your Majesty's hunting ground. If someone were to live in seclusion here, who knows whether or not they want to pretend to be a hermit and win Your Majesty's favor."
Jing Ye laughed and urged his horse forward to look around the pool. He would occasionally stop and chat with the cavalry behind him.
The breeze blew.
The mounted guard following the group sniffed and asked his colleagues: "Did you smell anything?"
The colleague smiled and said: "What do you smell..." Suddenly he frowned, and put his right hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist alertly, "I smell it, this scent is..."
The two looked at each other, and one of them urged his horse to cross the group, stopped in front of Jing Ye and raised his cupped hands: "Your Majesty, something is wrong! Your Majesty, please let this subject and the others escort Your Majesty back!"
Jing Ye stopped his horse.
The commander next to him sniffed carefully, and his expression also changed slightly. He held the hilt of his sword and said in a deep voice: "It's too late, spread out to surround His Majesty."
The cavalry did as they were told.
As the group slowly dispersed, the low roars of animals could be heard faintly in the woods.
The next second. Dozens of wolves half the height of a grown man jumped out of the woods like swords and rushed toward the humans in front of them.
Jing Ye's eyes flashed. The wolves came with great force. Before the cavalry could react, they pounced and bit the thighs of their mounts. In an instant, many horses knelt down in pain, and the cavalrymen on them also fell off.
In an instant, paradise became hell. The wolves opened their blood-red eyes and pounced on the horses and cavalry, causing blood and bits of flesh to fly.
A wild wolf sneaked through the crowd to bite Obsidian, but was kicked over by the black horse. Jing Ye, who was sitting on the horse, lost his balance and fell down.
Obsidian shrieked and lowered his head to rub Jing Ye's forehead.
Jing Ye stretched out his hand to caress it, and with the other hand he picked up the sword in the hand of the cavalryman who fell on the side, and slashed hard at the wild wolf that rushed towards him. The wild wolf was pierced in the left eye, and roared in pain, glowering as it pounced again.
Jing Ye took a step back, his hands shaking.
Fear.
The wild wolf opened its mouth, and the smell was unpleasant.
Jing Ye's pupils dilated sharply, and suddenly there was the sound of horse hoofbeats in his ears, and someone rushed over on his horse with his sword drawn.
The sword light flashed by, and the wild wolf fell to the ground with its throat cut, its blood moistening the ground.
The newcomer killed several wild wolves around him, dismounted, knelt down on one knee and said to Jing Ye, “Please forgive this subject for being late and allowing Your Majesty to be disturbed."
"..."
"Your Majesty?" Li Tingqiu waited for a long time without a response before raising his head.
Jing Ye stood there in a daze, the blood on the sword in his hand condensed into blood beads and slowly slid down, dripping on the ground.
Li Tingqiu stood up and said, "Is Your Majesty injured?"
Jing Ye remained silent, with a dazed look on his face.
Li Tingqiu looked at him quietly for a while, stepped forward, gently held Jing Ye's right hand holding the sword, and said: "Your Majesty…?"
The soldiers and guards who came to imperial rescue were all surrounding and killing the wolves not far away. No one saw the hands of the general and the emperor folded together.
The warm fingers stayed for a long time, and Jing Ye slowly came back to his senses. He pulled back his hand and said, “It is thanks to qing... for coming in time."
Li Tingqiu pursed his lips.
After the soldiers and guards killed the wild wolves, they each helped up their injured colleagues and waited for the order.
Jing Ye said: “Have a group of people take the injured to the medical camp, and the rest will follow zhen out of the forest."
"Yes!"
Jing Ye mounted his horse, followed by Li Tingqiu, and the mounted guards were divided into two groups.
The whole journey was silent.
When they were about to exit the forest, Jing Ye stopped his horse and said, "Li Qing." He turned his head, "Are there any irregularities in zhen's appearance?"
Li Tingqiu looked at him and said, "No."
"Is there a look of embarrassment on zhen's face?"
"No.”
Jing Ye looked back at him, smiled for a moment, turned around and urged his horse: "Let's go back to camp."
When Jing Ye returned to the imperial tent, Ye Mao came up to him and said, "Your Majesty, are you back so early?"
"Zhen came across something that ruined the fun." Jing Ye lowered his head and entered the tent.
Lu Baizang was leaning on the bedside, flipping through a novel at random, while stroking Lu Huihui's fur with one hand. He looked up at him when he heard the sound.
Jing Ye smiled at him.
Lu Baizang frowned, threw Piggy Lu away and came over to touch Jing Ye's cheek, feeling a thin layer of cold sweat.
Lu Baizang said: "What did you meet? Are you scared?"
"Is zhen someone who can easily be scared?" Jing Ye laughed. "It's a rare sunny day, so zhen is a little sweaty."
Lu Baizang frowned and looked at him.
Jing Ye said: "Zhen is hungry."
Lu Baizang held his shoulders and leaned forward to touch his forehead: “Your forehead is also cold."
Jing Ye thought for a while and said, "Zhen wants to eat yam herbal juice with ham and fresh bamboo shoot soup."
Lu Baizang said: "There are no fresh bamboo shoots at this time. I'll make you some mutton soup to warm you up."
Jing Ye nodded and said, "Okay."
Lu Baizang said: "I won't go to Zhengzhou tonight. I will stay with you for the night."
Now it was Jing Ye's turn to frown: "This is what you promised me."
The two looked at each other for a while, and Lu Baizang said with a sigh, “Fine, Liu’er and Ke'er are looking forward to my coming, how can I not go?"
Jing Ye kicked him, and while laughing, he retracted his slightly trembling left hand into his sleeve.
As night fell, the palace servants spread out long carpets on the grass, set up bamboo mats for wine tables, and brought all kinds of fruits, wine, and food to prepare everything for the upcoming feast.
The sunset gradually sank into the night. When the hour came, the aristocrats and nobles walked into the prepared area with their well-dressed women and their sons and nephews who had participated in hunting on the hunting grounds in the morning, and sat down while greeting each other.
Jing Ye was wearing a black imperial robe, with dragons and clouds embroidered on the front, sun and moon embroidered on the shoulders, cuffs with azure piping, and dragon patterns surging above.
The eunuch on the side flicked his whisk and said loudly: “His Majesty has arrived—"
Everyone stood up, the officials' sons bent over and saluted, and the female family members bent their knees in curtsy and said in unison: "Paying respects to Your Majesty."
Jing Ye quickly walked up to the head seat, raised one hand in gesture, and said: “Rise."
Everyone returned to their seats as instructed.
According to etiquette, the first goblet of wine at the banquet must be drunk by the emperor. Jing Ye picked up the wine on the table, and Lin Xiaosheng, who was standing beside him, tilted his head slightly and said, "This wine is very strong, you don't need to drink too much, simply taste it lightly."
Jing Ye nodded and took a sip. The wine burned down his throat, making his brain feel dizzy.
He didn’t dare to drink anymore. Just as he was about to put the wine down, someone at the table stood up and said, "Your Majesty, please drink all of this cup."
Lin Xiaosheng frowned, Jing Ye narrowed his eyes and said, "Why?"
The other said loudly: "The state wine is an extraordinary wine, and a monarch must drink it all!"
Jing Ye almost dropped the cup. Are you kidding me? When my cheap dad was alive, he didn't even bother to come to the autumn hunting. So he wasn't an emperor anymore?
He glanced at Zhao Mingde and his family sitting on the left, and then glanced at the officials at their tables.
Everyone knew in their hearts that Lord Zhao wanted to make the emperor look bad, so no one dared to stand up and refute. The only one who could object was Prime Minister Qin, who never came to watch the hunt because of his old age.
There was only one choice now, which was to drink the whole cup of wine obediently.
He could only endure it.
Jing Ye held up the wine cup expressionlessly, the rim of the cup touched his lips, and the spicy smell of wine hit his nostrils.
"Lord Sun, what you said is wrong." A familiar voice sounded. The man standing in the corner was dressed in dark official uniform. His posture was straight and his features were like jade. His expression was as cold as Jing Ye had ever seen before. "The peace of the country lies in the wise ruler and minister, how can a cup of wine replace that? Moreover, His Majesty is not a military commander, if strong alcohol damages the imperial body..."
"This subject would never dare to have such an intention!" Sun Qi interrupted Feng Ling loudly and said, “His Majesty has the body of a true dragon. How can a mere cup of wine hurt it? Please consider the state and the country, and drink all of it!"
Feng Ling clenched his fists and just as he was about to refute, he heard Jing Ye chuckle and say: "That's fine. Feng Qing is devoted to zhen, and zhen knows in my heart. Lord Sun's words are also not unreasonable." He raised his wine cup, "Zhen will drink this cup in front of all the ministers and wish the country peace and freedom from disaster."
There was silence during the banquet. Everyone watched the little emperor standing in front of the wine table with a calm expression, raising his head and drinking all the wine in the wine cup without leaving a drop.
The cup fell to the ground with a muffled sound.
Jing Ye felt his vision become blurry and his internal organs were on fire. He staggered and was about to fall down. Fortunately, a pair of hands supported his waist.
Lin Xiaosheng whispered in his ear: "Your Majesty."
Jing Ye opened his eyes and tried his best to clear his vision, then straightened up and said, "Qing... begin the banquet."
All the ministers said in unison: "Thanking Your Majesty." But no one moved their chopsticks.
Zhao Mingde smiled and took the lead in picking up dishes for Madam Xu next to him, and said, “Wife, try some. How do the palace chefs compare to those in our manor?"
Madam Xu laughed and said, "Husband, is kidding. How can our cooks compare to His Majesty's palace chefs?"
Everyone watched Zhao Mingde's family taste the food, and then they followed after. Gradually the banquet hall became noisy.
Jing Ye sat motionless, Lin Xiaosheng called the palace maid to bring tea, leaned forward and held his hand: "Your Majesty?"
Jing Ye came back to his senses and looked at him.
Lin Xiaosheng said: "Your Majesty is tired, let's go back to the camp and rest."
Jing Ye shook his head with a smile, tried his best to suppress his discomfort, and said softly: "To be inferior in numbers but not in formation. Besides, zhen hasn't lost yet."