Chapter 169: The Diligent Shu King

  What a familiar posture, what a familiar phrase! Song Chu smiled slightly, but his eyes suddenly became moist. Ya-Wen's words touched his heart.

  The Taoist school advocates "the way of nature", which roughly means that all things have their own laws of development. Therefore, Zhuangzi also rarely sets rules for his disciples.

  Song Chu was raised by Zhuangzi, she was usually quiet and not the kind of person who liked to cause trouble, but from time to time, her absurd ideas would pop up, which could always annoy Zhuangzi so much that he would drag her over and beat her. At this moment, Zhuangzi would look up and sigh "the way is natural" to comfort himself.

  The central idea of this sigh is roughly: encountering Song Chu Yi, this rascal, is also a natural development, and one should treat it calmly.

  Song Chu-yi only understood this principle later, initially she had complained to Master Zong with tears: Master, is it that my father insisted on entrusting me to you, and then couldn't wait to wash his hands of me, making it impossible for you to return me, so you felt especially stifled in your heart?

  Song Chuayi remembered it particularly clearly. After she finished saying that, Zhuangzi fell silent for a moment, looked up and sighed: "Forced to wait..." This phrase was used extremely well!

  At that time, Song Chuyi was 18 years old.

  ……

  Dreams and reality are just a way for Song Chuyi and Zhuangzi to get closer, but now they really can't tell them apart.

  Coming back to his senses, Song Chu asked, "When you were dreaming of butterflies in the past, how did you distinguish between dreams and reality?"

  Zhuangzi seriously measured Song Chuoyi once and replied, "The broad-mindedness of the vast sky, the lofty vision of the cloud's gaze, the dreams that reach for the heavens are all the strengths of a gentleman... But the higher one gazes up, the easier it is to lose oneself. Why not occasionally lower your eyes and take in the scenery around you?"

  "I didn't expect you to be comforting people." Song Chu smiled and said. The master in her memory was indeed rarely comforting anyone.

  Zhuangzi liked to discuss the Tao. Especially he liked to refute others' views, so in most cases he was always opposed to people, and over time it gradually became a habit. In Hui Shi's words, Zhuangzi was someone who would not go along with others for three sentences, and if he did, his whole body would feel uncomfortable, as if covered with thorns.

  Zhuangzi's face still had a calm and gentle smile. "When he felt like it, he would occasionally say one or two pleasant things."

  "Thank you for your guidance." Song Chu bowed. He then said, "I'm fortunate to have met a superior person today! On this rainy winter night, I'd like to invite you to drink a pot of hot wine and play chess with me. What do you think?"

  With a pot of wine, he could talk freely. If others heard this, they would surely laugh out loud, but for Zhuangzi, who got drunk with just the smell of wine, one pot was enough.

  "Good." Zhuangzi responded without thinking. He always followed his own heart and did things as he pleased. When they met, it was fate, no need to think too much.

  Song Chuyi no longer intends to take Zhuangzi as his master. Not to mention whether he is willing to accept him or not, the most important thing is that what Song Chuyi does goes against the Taoist ideology. Even if for Zhuangzi, it's just another sigh of "the way follows nature", but Song Chuyi doesn't want to bring attacks from other schools to his own school.

  She now claims to be a Taoist, but only by birth, and can easily break away from it. The only thing that's hard to sever is the bond between master and disciple. If so, why not interact with each other with a sense of detachment from the very beginning?

  But no matter what, in Song Chu's heart, he always treated Zhuangzi as his master.

  At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, Yu and Zhuangzi were alike in their love for traveling and their broad-mindedness. They chatted freely and found themselves quite compatible. From discussing current events to exploring the laws governing worldly changes, their thoughts galloped like unbridled wild horses across the vast expanse of heaven and earth without direction until the King of Shu returned, at which point they stopped talking.

  The King of Shu sat down, his face stern, "Hua Jin."

  Song initially thought it was about discussing trade between the two countries and sat up straight.

  The King of Shu sighed and his eyebrows were somewhat troubled.

  "What's on your mind, Your Majesty? Please speak freely." said Song Chu Yi.

  "This matter is really serious." The King of Shu's mood was obviously extremely bad, his eyes were even slightly drooping, matching his robust physique, resembling a wolf with anorexia, "I have lost interest in the women in the harem."

  Zhuangzi and Song Chou both opened their mouths at the same time, then quickly regained their composure, clasped their hands together, and gazed sympathetically at the King of Shu.

  "What shall we do?" asked the King of Shu.

  Song Chu suddenly coughed and stretched out his hand to poke Zhuangzi, "Master, please enlighten me!"

  The King of Shu nodded repeatedly and said hastily, "I also hope that Master Zhuang will not be stingy with his teachings."

  "Since there is a reason for everything, can Your Majesty understand the cause?" Zongzi's expression was solemn and serious, as if a doctor were asking about an illness, without any ulterior motives.

  The King of Shu sighed, "Ever since I heard Hua Jin describe the beauty of Zi Chao, I've found that none of the women around me are quite satisfactory. Either their skin is too coarse or their breath is too foul... in short, not one of them is worthy of my attention."

  In a short time, the duck in front of you is not as good as the white swan in the distance. When this most eagerly awaited period is over, even the most beautiful white swan cannot compare to the duck that can be touched. Sometimes, it is unknowingly dominating people's thoughts.

  At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, what he wanted to do was to prolong his time with the Swan Goose. "It's better for the king to discuss trade with his ministers than to think about this matter. As long as it's done, the Qin State will immediately offer gifts, including that stunning beauty, Zhaoming. What do you say?"

  "This remark of yours is reasonable!" The King of Shu slapped his thigh and immediately shouted, "Come in!"

  "The king is above." A maid knelt in wait for orders.

  The King of Shu could hardly contain his excitement, "Pass on my orders, summon all officials for an imperial court assembly."

  "It's almost midnight, let's discuss it again tomorrow, there's no rush." Song Chu knew that persuading was useless, but it was better than nothing.

  The King of Shu slightly raised his hand and said with a serious expression, "I have always been like this, diligent in governing. I will first have someone send the two of you back to rest."

  Song Chu pressed her lips together, suppressing a smile, and thought: You can't sleep yourself, but you also won't let others have a good rest!

  In his heart, he smiled and returned with a smile, Song Chu's face was still very calm as he stood up with Zhuangzi to pay respects.

  They walked silently out of the grand hall, out of the Shu King's palace, and when they saw that there was no one around, the two suddenly burst into loud laughter, their voices echoing through the rainy night, causing those hastily arriving officials to cast sideways glances.

  The laughter had just subsided when a sudden clatter of horse hooves came from beside.

  At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, one ear moved slightly. On such a rainy night, rushing to the palace gate must be a big deal. She lifted the curtain and took a look outside, and saw a Shu soldier riding a horse galloping by, splashing water flowers, and quickly disappearing into the dark night.

  "It seems there will be war." Song Chu murmured.

  Zhuangzi said, "Can Huaiyin guess which country's war this is?"

  At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, one sighed, "Ba Guo is going to war with Shu Guo."

  "Don't you see, the mighty army of Chu is pressing at our borders, ready to swallow us up like a whale devouring a silkworm? Although Zhuangzi has always been overlooked by the rulers of various states and has a deep affection for nature, he remains forever sharp-eyed and keen-eared. In this world, there's nothing he doesn't want to know, and nothing he can't know."