Li Chaoyi's Anecdote

He opened the gate of the courtyard to him without hesitation, and guided him graciously to divide the flowers and brush the willows, and enter the hall.The wolf king is now standing at the intersection of a peanut tree. In front of him are two diametrically opposed roads. One is full of flowers from the beginning, but the head can be seen at a glance, and the other is covered with moss and young grass. , but has spread into the depths of the forest.

He wanted to ask his master's opinion, but Yi Ze just smiled, as if he didn't care about his decision.

"You don't look right." The wolf king pointed out seriously.

"You're right." Yi Ze admitted frankly, "I've been wanting to do one thing for 18 years, but I couldn't find a reason to do it. My master told me that it was the persistence in my heart. Nian, if I persist, I will make a big mistake one day."

The wolf king climbed onto his shoulder with a smile: "If you are talking about a person, then I will definitely be jealous of him."

Yi Ze nodded solemnly: "Actually, there are two."

29

"The first one is not me." When he said this, the wolf king looked at Yi Ze's face, shook his head and said, "Well, the second one is not me either."

Yi Ze said, "Don't compare yourself with them."

The wolf king thought that he should have fallen in love with him from the first time he saw him, but at that time he only loved his beauty, but now he has a deeper interest in him.

Yi Ze's face was extremely upright, especially his eyebrows, which were thick and straight and long, impartial, like the two rafters that were fixed first when building a house, firmly nailed there, and the rest of the facial features were distributed one by one, almost straight. Make no mistake.Although the Wolf King had never seen him with other expressions other than smiling and frowning, he felt that such a face, even if it was crying or angry, would not make people feel unsightly.But the more this happened, the more people wanted to see him cry and get angry.

30

"I will host the discussion with you in two days."

"You..." The wolf king was not quite sure what the purpose of Yi Ze's words was. Although he was now in love with King Wu, he would not show favoritism. It is expected that King Wu himself understood this.

"Just to let you know, so that you won't see me when the time comes, and you will be out of character."

The wolf king was not convinced: "When did I lose my manners?"

Yi Ze snorted and said, "Back then you stopped this king's car in public. Your words and deeds were offensive and extremely rude. If this king is willing, you will be locked up and beheaded in the street regardless of you being the wolf king and eagle king."

Anival's pale golden eyes moved: "Then why didn't you cut it?"

Yi Ze said calmly, "Because this king suddenly thought of something that only you can handle."

"You want to use me?"

"Wolf King is unwilling?"

Anival shook his head: "In the final analysis, our Langti is a businessman. For a businessman, there is no willingness or not, it just depends on what price the King of Wu is willing to pay." He paused and added: "False Except for falsehood."

31

So Yi Ze made his extra price, on an occasion that Anival never thought of.

"I've already read the treaty, can the Wolf King consider it?"

At this moment, the silent person was replaced by Anival.He and Yi were sitting opposite each other in the spacious lobby of the Siyi Pavilion. The man was wearing a full set of princely formal attire, magnificent and bright, and every fold of his clothes exuded the atmosphere of a prosperous age. Yao, Huang, Wei Zizhong, on the contrary, felt more and more affection in his eyes , not to be watched.

"Has the wolf king considered it?" Yi Ze stood up and asked again. The complicated jade belt around his waist hit the table and made a pleasant sound.

"King Wu..."

"What else is unknown about the wolf king, I will explain it myself."

Anival picked up the flimsy contract with two fingers: "You really want me to agree to this kind of thing? What are you...what do you want to do?" In his capacity, this sentence was already beyond the bounds.

Yi Ze said sternly: "Does the Wolf King think these are not enough? This is not difficult. Since the father has granted this king the right to act arbitrarily, this matter can be discussed again."

"Let's talk about it again!" It's not that it's not generous enough... The wolf king suddenly stood up, on the contrary, the terms and conditions of the contract are all in his favor, if the person who came to negotiate was not Yi Ze, he would have written and signed Without repenting, "You are looking for your own death!"

Yi Ze sat upright, without changing his face: "If the wolf king doesn't agree, he will push me to a dead end."

"You..." Anival was so angry that he couldn't speak. He grabbed the pen and ink and danced wildly, and the handwriting overflowed on the table. After writing, he threw the brush behind him, crossed the knife with his left hand, and knocked King Wu away. The guards walked away.

Yi Ze's head guard bent down and said, "How dare this person be so arrogant, Your Highness, do you want to..."

"No need, just let him go." Yi Ze waved his hands, only then did he realize that his palms were covered with fine cold sweat.

32

Yi Ze ordered someone to entrust the contract to Fang Linghua, and then he left the Si Yi Pavilion, as if he had settled a major event. Since he came down to Beijing, he had never been so relaxed and happy.On an extremely rare occasion, he went to the East Market, bought a lot of gadgets that he never paid attention to, and then stopped by Xingqingfang to listen to an official named Zheng Duzhi reciting poems and playing the piano, and stayed until the sky was about to faint. , before returning to Wu Wangfu with unfinished business.

The maid came over to change clothes for Yi Ze, but he waved her back: "Don't be busy, I will need it later. By the way, do you see where the king's jade seal is placed?"

The maid was taken aback: "It should be in the study."

"I can't find it anyway, why don't you help me get it."

33

Yi wrapped the jade seal engraved with the treasure of King Wu with a piece of yellow cloth, and hung it on the beam with his own hands.

Afterwards, he ordered the steward to light up all the lamps and candles in the palace, and then called all the servants to the courtyard. At this time, the candles were burning high, illuminating the carved beams and painted buildings in a magnificent manner, with every feature and every hair and every detail visible.

Yi stood on the steps, calmly said: "This king knew that there were people from King Jin, former King Chu, and the Secretary of the Imperial City among you. But today, I didn't ask you to come here to turn over Old account." He looked around, even if he lit the lights in the world, it was impossible to turn night into day and darkness into light.

"To tell you the truth, maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow morning, there may be a decree to take back this mansion, and there is no point for you to stay here any longer," Yi said with a flick of his sleeves, "You all... let's go, from now on Afterwards, cherish each other."

34

At three o'clock in Xu time, Fang Linghua brought the emperor's three orders in a row, and hurriedly sent the king of Wu to enter the palace quickly.

35

The emperor was reclining on the throne, and his spirit didn't look very good. Old people always have some habits of their own, such as often unconsciously indulging in the memories of the past.When Yi Ze came in, he seemed to see himself back then. It wasn't until Yi Ze saluted him that the emperor reacted slightly.

Emperor Sheng Yuan signaled the palace people to retreat, "You go down too." He said to Ling Hua, "I just want to say something to King Wu."

36

"King Wu, come closer, I can't see you clearly." The emperor said slowly.

Yi took a few steps forward.

"Come closer, come to me."

Yi Ze stepped up the jade steps holding the hem of his robe, but before he could stand still, Emperor Sheng Yuan threw an object with great force, hitting his forehead, Yi Ze staggered and almost fell off the steps.He stabilized his figure, bowed and said, "Father, calm down."

Emperor Shengyuan supported the imperial case with one hand, and pointed at Yi with the other, and angrily scolded: "Nie Zi!" His voice echoed in the empty palace hall, with dragons singing and tigers roaring.

37

"You wrote what's in there?"

"It's all written by my son."

"Okay, okay, just admit it." Emperor Sheng Yuan took a breath and sat down slowly, "Then you recite each one to me."

Yi Ze didn't raise his head, and continued: "First, all the establishments on the commercial road are funded by our dynasty. Second, the annual income is [-]% of the tax rate. Third, disputes and discussions are fully adjudicated by Lang Ti .fourth……"

"Enough!" Shouted Emperor Shengyuan, "Everything is good for that wolf king. I ask you, you and him..."

"It's just a chance encounter."

"We met by chance?" Emperor Shengyuan showed a sneer on his face, "But as far as I know, he is already your guest of honor. You once went to his banquet at night and returned early in the morning, didn't you?"

Yi took a deep breath and said, "Yes, my son is guilty."

Hearing that he was so straightforward, Emperor Sheng Yuan had nothing to say for a moment, he stared fiercely at Yi Ze's face, trying to see some wavering and shrinking from it.

"Father, please punish your sons and ministers, so as to serve as an example to others."

Emperor Sheng Yuan raised his head, in the dark hall, the solitary lamp shimmered, only illuminating the two of them, father and son.After a while, he finally said: "You really look like your mother..."

Yi Ze's calm face finally showed a trace of waves: "Mother Concubine, she..."

"When I gave her death, she told me that she hoped to burn her body to ashes and pour it into the Wei River, so that her soul would return to the sea one day..."

"Mother..."

"But... How can I tolerate letting someone who has deceived me for more than [-] years get what she wants? The most hateful thing is that she is still my closest pillow!"

Yi Ze was terrified: "You put the bones of the concubine..."

Emperor Sheng Yuan shook his sleeves: "You want to know?"

38

Anival knew that King Wu had been announced into the palace, and he hadn't come out for two hours. He guessed that the matter might be related to him, but he didn't dare to ask to see him hastily, so he had to wait at the gate of the palace.At this time, a thunderbolt rolled across the sky, and it was hitting the phoenix tree under the Phoenix Tower. This tree was planted by the last emperor of the previous dynasty. When the army was defeated and the city was destroyed, the king of the subjugated country held a fire under the tree. The tree was only half charred.After the new emperor ascended the throne, he regarded this half-dead and half-glorious scene as a spectacle, and the tree has been properly cared for till now.

I saw an extremely bright flame soaring into the sky, and raging flames rose from the unburned half of the tree trunk, attracting the palace