On this day, Li Zhiyun came back from Guozi School. As soon as he walked into the Tai Chi Palace, a palace maid was waiting for him and said to him: "The empress is waiting for you, please go quickly!"
Li Zhiyun handed the wooden box to the palace maid and quickly went to his grandmother's palace. As soon as my grandma saw him, she said, "Go back quickly and change into plain clothes. I'll wait for you at the gate of the palace!"
Li Zhiyun didn't know what happened. After changing his clothes, he came to the palace gate and his mother was already waiting for him. After getting on the carriage, grandma said: "There is news from the front that your brother-in-law died in the battle!"
"Which brother-in-law?"
"That's Zhao Cijing."
Zhao Cijing is his fifth brother-in-law. The fifth sister has the same mother as Li Zhiyun and is five years older than him. She was born in the same year as her second brother, but she was older in months. Therefore, apart from the third sister, Li Zhiyun feels closer to the fifth sister.
"The body has not been found yet, and the head is still hanging on the city wall..." Grandma said, unable to help but shed tears.
It turned out that Zhao Cijing led his troops to fight against the Sui general Yao Junsu who was defending Hedong County, and was captured by Yao Junsu. Yao Junsu killed him and hung his head on the city wall. How terrible! When Li Zhiyun first arrived in Chang'an, he met his fifth brother-in-law. He was a handsome man with both civil and military skills.
When Li Yuan raised troops in Jinyang, Zhao Cijing was in Chang'an. Li Yuan sent someone to notify him, but he did not escape because he was worried about his elderly mother, and was captured by the court. Unlike Li Zhiyun, he was not executed but imprisoned. After Li Yuan captured Chang'an, he rescued him.
Later, Zhao Cijing was appointed governor of Huazhou and commander-in-chief of the march. This time he fought with Yao Junsu and was captured by him. Yao Junsu knew that he was Li Yuan's son-in-law, but still killed him, obviously intending to fight to the end!
Yao Junsu was a general who attacked Hedong in the Sui Dynasty. He was originally a subordinate of Qu Tutong and had been guarding Hedong City. After Qu Tutong was captured, Li Yuan appointed him as Minister of War and sent him to the foot of Hedong City to recruit Yao Junsu to surrender. The two met in the city and down the city. They had mixed feelings and both shed tears. Qu Tutong said to Yao Junsu: "Our army has been defeated. Wherever the King of Tang's righteous flag pointed, everyone responded. Now that the matter has come to this, it would be better for you to surrender as soon as possible!"
Yao Junsu said: "As a minister of the country, the Lord has entrusted you with the important task of defending Guanzhong. On behalf of the king, I have entrusted the country to you. Why do you abandon the country and surrender? And you also act as a lobbyist for others? What are you taking advantage of? The horse is a reward from the king. How can you have the nerve to ride this horse?" Qu Tutong said, "Oh! Jun Su, I surrendered because I was exhausted." Yao Junsu said, "I Now that your strength has not been exhausted, why should you talk so much?!" Qu Tutong had no choice but to retreat in shame.
After Yao Junsu killed Zhao Cijing, Li Yuan sent people to attack Hedong City many times, but failed to capture it. Yao Junsu persisted in Hedong City for another half a year. When the food was exhausted, people began to eat people. Yao Junsu's men couldn't bear it, so they killed him, Kaicheng surrendered to the Tang army, and sent Yao Junsu's head to Chang'an. This is a later story.
When Li Zhiyun and his mother came to the fifth sister's house, they saw that everyone in the house was wearing white and mourning, and there was a murderous atmosphere. They crossed the courtyard and entered the hall. The hall has been decorated as a mourning hall, with tablets placed on the altar, sacrifices and incense candles.
The fifth sister, wearing sackcloth and mourning, knelt at the gate to greet the guests. When she saw her grandma come in, she got up and hugged her grandma, crying bitterly. Grandma also cried with her. Li Zhiyun was infected, and his tears couldn't stop flowing down.
After crying for a while, Li Zhiyun followed his mother to offer incense and bow to his brother-in-law's memorial tablet. Grandma wiped away her tears and said, "Where are the children?" The nanny brought the children over. The two children are very young, one is only two or three years old, and the other is still in his infancy. The mother hugged the baby and cried, "The child is so young and his father is gone. What will we do in the future?..." The fifth sister burst into tears again.
From time to time, guests came to pay homage, and the fifth sister was busy kneeling to greet them. Grandma said to Li Zhiyun: "There are too many people here, you should go back first!"
"What about you?"
"Your sister will be keeping a vigil tonight, so I'll stay at your house so I can keep her company."
Helpless, Li Zhiyun had no choice but to get on the carriage alone and return to Tai Chi Palace.
If spiritually, he has no relationship with his grandmother and fifth sister, then physically, he has a relationship with them, and they are very close blood relationships. I don't know since when, he has completely regarded himself as Li Zhiyun and a member of the Li family. When they are happy, he is also happy. When they were sad, he was sad too. Therefore, he was depressed for several days.
On this day, he came out of the school and was about to return to Tai Chi Palace when he suddenly heard someone shouting from behind: "Zhiyun." He turned around and saw that it was Liu Shuyi and said, "Shuyi."
Among those brothers, Liu Shuyi was the closest to him. I don't know since when, they have called each other by their first names. Liu Shuyi walked up to him and said with a smile, "Zhiyun, would you like to go to my house?" Li Zhiyun shook his head and said, "I don't want to go."
"How boring is it to be alone when you go back? Go ahead!" Liu Shuyi said and pulled him away.
When I arrived at Liu's Mansion, I walked through the courtyard and walked into the hall, only to find it was quiet inside. Li Zhiyun asked: "Your father is not at home?" Liu Shuyi said: "My father and your second brother went to lead the army to fight. Now I have the final say in this family!"
After Li Zhiyun sat down, the maid came in and offered tea. He picked up the tea cup and just took a sip when he saw Liu Mansion's housekeeper walk in and said to Liu Shuyi: "Master, everything is ready!" Liu Shuyi nodded, smiled and said to him: "Zhiyun, let's go to the backyard. !" He didn't know what Liu Shuyi was going to do, but he still stood up and followed him to the backyard.
Li Zhiyun walked into the yard and took a look, oh! It’s so lively here! A stage was set up in the center of the courtyard. Beside the stage were many performers in costumes, preparing for the performance. Directly in front of the stage, there are two tables with exquisite food and wine vessels. It turned out that Liu Shuyi wanted to invite him to drink and watch a show.
After Liu Shuyi invited him to take a seat, the servant poured wine. Liu Shuyi said to the housekeeper: "Let's start!" Then the performance began, and the first program was acrobatics: walking on stilts. Several artists stood on two-foot-long stilts, turned somersaults, and performed various difficult movements. Li Zhiyun was stunned. Wow! It’s so awesome!
Li Zhiyun watched the show while eating. Liu Shuyi only invited him tonight. The other people watching the theater, except for the servants of the Liu family, were only Liu Wenjing's concubines, that is, Liu Shuyi's aunts.
Next is a comedy show, also called Youxi, which is similar to modern cross talk and sketches, and is performed by You people. Yuuto's face was heavily painted with oil paint, a bit like a clown on the stage in later generations.
This play tells the story of a corrupt official who is afraid of his wife and doesn't know where to hide every time he accepts money. After his wife found out, she searched him every time he came home. He took off his official hat and found a piece of silver. He took off his official uniform and found a piece of silver. He took off his official boots and found a piece of silver. Finally, only his underwear was left. The corrupt official refused to take off his clothes anymore, so he was chased and beaten by his wife, running around in circles on the stage. The actors acted humorously and hilariously, making Li Zhiyun laugh.
As the sky grew dark, the servants hung up the lanterns and the show continued. There were a dozen shows performed that night, and the one that impressed Li Zhiyun the most was a magic trick. The magician filled a clay pot with soil, planted the seeds, and then watered it. On the spot, he saw the vines growing and bearing fruit. The magician picked the fruit and sent it to the guest of honor.
Liu Shuyi asked his servant to peel it, cut it into several pieces, and handed one piece to Li Zhiyun. When Li Zhiyun took a bite, it was crispy and sweet. It was really amazing! He couldn't help but sigh, the ancients were so smart! Compared with modern magic, this magic is not inferior at all! If you take part in international competitions, you will definitely get a gold medal!
Li Zhiyun did not expect that Liu Mansion would have such a good theater troupe. He had a great time that night, and all the gloom in his heart was gone.
Late at night, Liu Shuyi sent him outside the mansion and asked the housekeeper to put a carriage on him and take him back to Tai Chi Palace. Standing next to the carriage, Li Zhiyun looked at Liu Shuyi and sincerely said: "Shuyi, thank you!" Liu Shuyi smiled and said: "Zhiyun, your brother-in-law is gone, I know you are very sad. I can't do anything else. , can only do this.”
"These are already good! Thank you!" Li Zhiyun said, gave Liu Shuyi a tight hug, then turned around and got into the carriage, wiping his eyes by the way.
The carriage drove Li Zhiyun towards the Tai Chi Palace. Liu Shuyi stood in front of the mansion until the carriage was out of sight, then turned around and returned to the mansion.
