Traveling through an ancient military camp: Bao'er's survival song

Louyu County is far from the capital.

In the small fenced courtyard, large clusters of chrysanthemums were blooming vibrantly. On a swing made from a tree in the yard, a little girl was giggling as she swung high, her pink and blue skirt fluttering gracefully. Behind her, a woman pushing the swing had two newly picked, bright yellow chrysanthemums in her hair.

Wu Peng'en, dressed in a simple white robe, arrived quickly by horse and carriage. He hesitated in front of the courtyard for a long time without going in. It was only when Hua Mingshi came out of the house to call his wife to sew his clothes that he noticed the visitor's arrival.

Hua Mingshi's outer robe was wide open, and his hair was loosely tied back with only a ribbon. The moment he saw Wu Peng'en, his face lit up with joy. He strode over, grabbed Wu Peng'en's wrist, and pulled him home while shouting, "I knew you missed me terribly! It's only been a few days and you're back again? You just abandoned such a large court like that? I told you, your little emperor can still function without you. Come visit me more often. I'm not satisfied with the last debate! Let's have another one!"

Wu Peng'en allowed Hua Mingshi to pull him into the house without saying a word. After Hua Mingshi pressed him into a chair and brought over a jar of turbid wine, he saw the usually unrestrained and cheerful Hua Mingshi with a mischievous look on his face and say, "What? Demoted? Resigned from office? Or has your clan been wiped out? Tell me first if it's ten clans, if it's ten clans, I'd better run!"

Wu Peng'en did not retort as he usually would. Instead, he silently took out a bottle of wine from his pocket and said, "I have come here to invite you to try some wine from the capital."

Hua Mingshi removed his feet from the chair, fastened his outer robe, sat down properly, and slowly began to speak: "My wife and daughters are not good at drinking..."

Wu Peng'en continued, "Women, children, and infants are not suitable to drink alcohol."

Hua Mingshi immediately burst into laughter, snatched the wine bottle, and was about to drink it down.

Wu Peng'en grabbed him and stared at him, asking, "Are you willing?"

Hua Mingshi stopped what he was doing and laughed heartily again: "Brother Peng'en, be careful with your words!" After thinking for a moment, he nodded and praised: "The young emperor will be a great ruler of his generation. I have misjudged him."

“However,” Hua Mingshi continued, “he sent you here in person, probably to give you a warning. A scholar who does not serve the emperor, nor associate with the powerful, is merely a figurehead with no real ability; he is nothing but a discarded subject of the current emperor. Your little emperor can’t use me, so why would he keep me for someone else? After my demise, the Han Dynasty will have no lazy people, and the country will no longer be a weak nation. Enough, enough.” With that, he tilted his head back and drank deeply.

Wu Peng'en stood up and bowed deeply.

The woman who had been playing with her daughter in the courtyard now entered, hand in hand, laughing. Seeing the scene, she instantly understood. Her smile faded, and she sent her daughter back into the room. She then found a needle and thread and knelt at Hua Mingshi's feet, beginning to mend his clothes stitch by stitch. Hua Mingshi, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, rested his head on the table, smiling as he gently stroked his wife's hair until his hand, weak and limp, fell to the ground.

Wu Peng'en remained bowed, unable to rise. The woman, who had finished mending her deceased husband's clothes, stood up and said, "Mr. Wu, your husband is gone. Get up."

Wu Peng'en, who had bowed deeply, did not get up. Instead, he knelt down, and the woman saw the tears streaming down the face of this handsome man, who looked as good as Pan An, with his eyes tightly closed.

She chuckled and said again, "Alright, Mr. Wu, please go back. Speaking of which, I should thank you, Mr. Wu, for sparing the lives of my widow and my child. After you left last time, my husband mentioned that if you returned within five days, he would surely die. Unexpectedly, even though my husband is extremely intelligent, he didn't expect that he would live six more days. I suppose I should thank you, Mr. Wu."

Wu Peng'en remained kneeling on the ground, refusing to get up.

The woman finally lost her composure, slamming the sewing basket at Wu Peng'en and yelling through her tears, "Get out!"

Wu Peng'en stood up without saying a word, bowed to Hua Mingshi's wife again, and walked away without looking back.