In the blink of an eye, it was October of the following year.
As soon as winter arrived, the Sui capital began to drift, with small snowflakes resembling salt grains.
Ji An led the palace attendants to clean the snow in the courtyard early in the morning. When he walked outside the Weirui Hall, he found that a red plum tree had actually bloomed, and a few branches were adorned in the white world, as warm as flames.
Coincidentally, Gao Gong also came over. Ji An rolled up his sleeves and smiled, saying to him, “The plum blossoms bloomed early this year, which is a good omen. His Highness will definitely be happy to see them.”
After the end of this year’s Spring Banquet, Sui Heng rushed to Mount Li to train troops and stayed in the battalion in Mount Li for several months without returning. Later, after staying for a few days during the Mid-Autumn Festival, he led troops north to inspect the northern countries. In a few days, it will be Emperor Sui’s birthday. Ji An guessed that His Highness’s return should also be in these two days.
Just as he was thinking about it, he heard a loud sound of horse hooves outside. Then, a tall and thin young man in black with a pleasing doll-like face, wearing a high ponytail and black armor, walked in from outside the mansion with a sword.
“Shi Fang!”
Ji An and Gao Gong were overjoyed and quickly welcomed him, asking, “Has His Highness returned yet?”
Shi Fang nodded with bright eyes and a crescent smile, saying, “His Highness went to meet His Majesty in the palace and report the situation of this northern tour. He sent me back to inform the two Chief Stewards first.”
More than a year had passed, and Shi Fang had jumped up quite a bit in size. His whole person was also much sturdier and more capable.
He had fine snow falling on his shoulders, but his face was flushed with hot sweat, clearly rushing back all the way.
Ji An asked the palace attendant to bring him a bowl of hot wine and said, “We figured His Highness would be back by now, and we’ve already burned the earth’s dragons a few days ahead of time. Is His Highness alright out there?”
Shi Fang says everything is fine.
Shi Fang still has to go to the Military and Horses Department to report their situation. After passing on the news, he drank every drop of wine from the bowl and rode away. The courtyard returned to silence. Ji An looked at the scorching and blooming red plum in the courtyard, unable to help but reminisce about the precious and lively time before.
At that time, the private courtyard was filled with people coming and going every day, filling the atmosphere with joy.
Unfortunately, things and people changed. Such days may never happen again, unless His Highness is willing to marry a concubine and add another master to this mansion.
On Emperor Sui’s birthday, people from all directions came to congratulate him. In the past two days, at the Sui capital’s entrance, foreign envoys from other countries often entered the city, including those under the jurisdiction of Jiangbei and Jiangnan, as well as large countries like Qi that had good relations with Sui.
Today happens to be the day when the Qi envoy entered the capital of Sui.
Since the Qi Kingdom sent envoys to the Sui Empire last year and officially established good relations with the Sui, the two sides have maintained friendly relations. During holidays and festivals, envoys were sent to send gifts and greetings. Although there was an unexpected incident last year where the powerful general of Qi, Tian Meng, died horizontally in the capital of Sui, it was a visible accident, and the relationship between the two countries was not affected in any way.
This year, the envoy group of the Qi Kingdom is still led by Tian Que. Tian Que has now taken the position of Prime Minister and is a true high-ranking official of the King of Qi. On Emperor Sui’s birthday, the King of Qi sent his own prime minister to the capital of Sui to congratulate him and to show sincerity.
In addition to a group of civil service officials, there were also several fierce generals accompanying them, and Tian Ye was also among them.
After Tian Meng’s death, he gained recognition from the King of Qi for his outstanding performance in hunting. He is now considered a fierce general in the Qi Kingdom, and through his relationship with the Marquis Changle, he hugged Tian Que’s thigh and obtained an important position in the military.
Tian Que warned Tian Ye after Tian Meng’s previous mistake that he must be cautious in his words and actions in the Sui Empire, never cause trouble recklessly, and especially remember not to offend one person.
Tian Ye then asked who it was.
Tian Que said, “The Crown Prince of Sui.”
Tian Ye naturally knew about the Crown Prince of Sui’s reputation, and he had long heard of Tian Meng being shot to death by Sui Heng with an arrow for offending him.
When Tian Ye heard about it, he was actually a bit incredulous. He couldn’t believe that there was such an arrogant and domineering person in the world, nor could he believe that someone could use force to crush Tian Meng to this point.
Tian Ye couldn’t help but ask, “What kind of person is the Crown Prince of Sui?”
Tian Que said, “Truly, a pride of heaven.”
Tian Ye froze.
Tian Que glanced at him and said, “Your arrogant conceit, your pride in the military, is nothing in front of him.”
“Moreover, it is said that in the past two years, he has intentionally restrained his sharpness and concealed himself, and his style of behavior has changed a lot compared to before, but it is even more terrifying than before.”
“That’s a wild wolf born out of blood. You must not take the initiative to provoke him, or else not even this prime minister can save you.”
Tian Ye kept that in mind.
He is different from Tian Meng. Although he also has the arrogance that is common among the Tian family generals, he is much more aware of current affairs and better at pleasing people than Tian Meng.
He is now in a critical period of climbing upwards, so naturally he will not act recklessly and ignorantly and offend the Crown Prince of Sui like Tian Meng. If given the opportunity, he is even willing to carry favor with the other party and seek more avenues for himself.
After all, the Sui Empire is now the true hegemon of Jiangbei, with strong and thriving national strength. If he can no longer stay in Qi in the future, coming to Sui to serve the Crown Prince of Sui would also be a good choice. In this era, it was normal for good birds to choose trees to roost and good ministers to choose masters to serve. Isn’t the Right Secretary, Chen Qi, who currently holds an important position in the Military and Horses Department in the Sui Empire also from Jiangnan?
Nowadays, this may be a more comfortable life than some of the subordinate country’s Guozhu.
There are too many people in Qi who want to embrace Tian Que’s thigh, and there is also Duan Xiyue, who is not pleased with him and who controls the court. Tian Ye is not sure how far he can go with his official career in the Qi capital.
As Tian Ye and Tian Que spoke, a group of iron cavalry galloped past like they were dark clouds, raising a large cloud of smoke and dust.
Tian Ye had been marching for a long time, and when he saw such a majestic army for the first time, he quickly asked, “Who are those people that just passed by?”
Tian Que said, “Qinglang Battalion.”
“That’s the Qinglang Battalion founded by the Crown Prince of Sui?”
Tian Ye wanted to take a second look, but the group of iron cavalry had already disappeared at the end of the street, and Tian Ye only caught a few remnants.
“To be precise, it is a renovated Qinglang Battalion. It is said that over a year ago, the Crown Prince of Sui worked hard and repeatedly honed his skills, creating more than 20 new and invincible formations and tactics in Mount Li camp. He personally led his soldiers to practice and improve day and night, and the strength of the Qinglang Battalion was several times more terrifying than before.”
Qi’s military strength is also very strong, but Tian Que still admires the Qinglang Battalion’s strength.
The snow grew heavier and heavier, and Tian Que did not stay long. After verifying his identity at the city gate, he was led to the inn by officials from the Sui Empire, who were specifically responsible for receiving foreign envoys.
Such windy and snowy days are naturally the most suitable for closing doors and staying at home.
The people on the street were in a hurry, and the vendors on both sides of the street were busy packing their things and returning home early. A painter wearing a simple wooden hairpin was also busy tidying up his painting stall. He was originally teaching painting art in a school, but recently he came out to sell paintings because his wife was sick and urgently needed money. Unfortunately, the weather has been bad these past two days, and he has spent the whole day painting. His hands and feet were numb from the cold, so he hasn’t sold a few pictures. A gust of cold wind swept by, and the thick stack of paintings placed on the long table were all blown away, scattered all over the ground. The painter was surprised and quickly ran around to pick them up. These were all carefully crafted works by him over the past year. If he had not encountered difficulties, he would not have been willing to sell them at a low price.
Two paintings were blown onto the street. The painter finished picking them up, hugged them all, and was about to run out to pick those two up. Unexpectedly, a group of iron cavalry swept past like a wind and a cloud, with an imposing aura as strong as thunder and lightning. The entire street shook along with them.
The painter quickly dodged and waited for the iron cavalry to pass. He immediately ran to the street to pick up the still-lying paper in the middle of the street. Unexpectedly, he bent down and just touched the edge of the paper with his hand. Suddenly, another long and slender hand reached out from above, picking the paper up.
The painter looked up in surprise and met a deep and cold gaze, as well as a handsome and incomparable face. And the iron cavalry, which had just passed by like a ghost, turned back at some point.
The person in charge has high-tied black hair and sharp eyebrows, dressed in black armor, has a noble and reserved temperament. At this moment, his thin lips are tightly pursed, and his gaze is still fixed on the painting in his hand.
In the painting, a young gentleman in a green robe was holding the auspicious Jisang flower in his hand, looking up at the handsome young man across from him slightly with a smile on his lips.
The young gentleman sat under a willow tree with his sleeves spread out, and behind him was a slowly flowing Qushui River. His green sleeves naturally dropped into the lush grassland, with several unknown clusters of purple flowers blooming beside him.
The spring was melting, however, thousands of spring colors are not as bright as his bouquet of flowers and smile.
The inscription beside the painting wrote: March 3, Spring Banquet, to be remembered forever.
The slender fingers holding the painting trembled imperceptibly.
