Chapter 27: Persimmon Fragrance (II)

Chapter 27: Persimmon Fragrance (II)

Le Wuya was so worried that his brows were tightly knit, worrying to the point where he ate the persimmon cakes sent by Xiang Zhijie, filling and all, in one go.

After finishing one persimmon cake, Le Wuya also went through a turtle shedding its shell—a perfect self-justification.

Xiaoliu and Little Phoenix had both handled the matter of his coming back to life.

Yet, he had told no one about being reborn.

Xiaoliu figured it out before Little Phoenix because he was smart.

Little Phoenix had never liked studying since childhood, the kind of hopeless case not even eight horses could drag back. Being with him, Le Wuya had never studied well either, always cutting class.

But Xiaoliu was taught by him personally.

As Le Wuya worried, he started feeling pretty good about himself, completely disregarding how half of Pei Mingqi's truancy as a child was instigated by him, and that Xiang Zhijie's Four Books and Five Classics weren't taught by him at all.

Once a teacher, always a father—what does it matter which dad?

After getting over it, Le Wuya read the letter again.

With a totally different frame of mind, the more he read, the more delighted he became.

They were all well! Not caught up in his mess.

Those lonely, miserable years he'd gone through weren't wasted!

He set aside Xiang Zhijie's words, burning only the first page of the letter. The second page he carefully tucked into the slit of his soft pillow, made a reverent bow, and then lay his head on it.

He hoped he'd dream of them.

Perhaps he had suffered enough misfortune in his past life, and Heaven took pity on him; or perhaps it was because he had eaten persimmon cake before bed—Le Wuya really did dream of the people and things he wanted.

...

On the day General Zhaoyi Le Qianzhang returned to the capital to report on his duties, before he even entered the city gates, he spotted from afar two half-grown boys, one riding on the other's shoulders, standing on the treetop of a wild persimmon tree outside the suburbs, swaying as they picked persimmons.

This wild persimmon tree had already been towering and overshadowing when Le Qianzhang was a child.

It was ownerless, yet tenaciously vital, flourishing and bearing a full load of fruit every year on its own.

When the fruit ripened, nearby children would gather, holding bamboo poles to knock them down.

But this tree grew exceptionally tall. The lower fruits were easy to pick, but the higher ones, even with two bamboo poles tied together, were hard to reach.

Every year, a few large persimmons would cunningly hide in the lush canopy, escaping harvest until they ripened so fully that the branches could no longer bear them, falling to the ground and smashing.

Thus, picking the highest persimmon became an uncrowned honor among a bunch of silly lads.

Every year, at least seven or eight fearless ones got hurt falling here, yet others still came, undeterred, and enjoyed it.

And now, two children stood on a branch thinner than an arm, a full zhang (about 10 feet) above the ground, with one riding on the other's neck, earnestly hunting for persimmons in the shade.

It was no easy feat to gather two fearless, reckless fools.

Le Qianzhang did a double take.

That one look showed something was off.

...The one being ridden below seemed to be that phoenix kid from the Pei family.

He rode his horse closer.

The child above, half-buried in the canopy, revealed shoes with embroidery on the uppers—clearly his wife's stitching.

She liked to embroider flowers, birds, and fish on the children's shoe uppers.

He glanced at the sun and did a mental calculation.

At this hour, Le Wuya should be in class.

Le Wuya, none the wiser, called out, "Little Phoenix! A little higher on your tiptoes!"

Pei Mingqi was sweating profusely: "Can you even do it!"

"Can you even do it!" Le Wuya retorted, "Just a little more! Give it some muscle!"

Pei Mingqi braced his hands on the trunk and awkwardly shifted.

That shift made him spot Le Qianzhang, who was staring up at them with a thoughtful expression.

He sucked in a breath and whispered, "Crow... Youque, Youque."

Le Wuya also felt something was up.

Little Phoenix usually called him "Crow," but when faced with serious matters, he switched to his formal name.

Le Wuya froze stiff, but hidden in the tree, with the canopy blocking his line of sight, he couldn't see who had come.

He closed his eyes and heard a horse softly snorting, just below and to the right of him.

...It couldn't be that coincidental, could it?

Le Wuya took a deep breath: Here goes!

Pretending not to notice, he said, "Forget it, I'll jump. If I can grab the branch above, I can pick it."

Pei Mingqi's heart was hammering, and hearing that he was about to risk jumping, he got worried: "Little Crow, no! The branch above—"

Before he could finish, Le Wuya leaped up in one quick move.

The branch above was too thin to bear a person's weight—he knew that well.

Sure enough, the branch he used for support only held him for a moment before snapping with a crack.

Le Wuya was quick-witted; he snatched his target in one swift motion and fell straight toward the lower right.

Good thing his gamble paid off.

He didn't hit the ground but landed in a strong, warm embrace.

Le Wuya opened his eyes, squinting in the sunlight.

He heard a resigned, steady male voice: "...What a reckless kid."

Le Wuya beamed, holding up the persimmon he had just picked—the largest and brightest at the very top of the tree—and shouted, "Father, for you! I was waiting for you to come back!"

Le Qianzhang's deputy helped a nervous Pei Mingqi down from the tree and sent him on his way home.

Le Qianzhang himself carried the reckless little rascal back to the mansion, intent on giving him a harsh punishment.

Le Hang and Le Jue had taken the day off, specifically waiting for their father to return home.

Seeing their third brother being hauled in with his feet off the ground, Le Jue was momentarily dumbfounded and looked at his older brother beside him.

Le Hang kept his composure, stepped forward, and greeted formally: "Father, you must be exhausted from your journey."

Le Qianzhang casually passed Le Wuya over to Le Hang: "Put him in the ancestral hall. Have him kneel until I return from the palace."

Le Hang readily took charge of Le Wuya: "Yes."

Le Wuya was unusually obedient, gazing at his father with affectionate devotion.

Le Qianzhang, however, barely glanced at him, striding toward the inner courtyard to quickly clean off the dust of travel before going to the palace to pay respects to the new emperor.

Le Hang and Le Jue, one on each side, walked Le Wuya toward the ancestral hall, gripping his arms.

Le Jue whispered: "What did you do?"

Le Wuya: "Picked a persimmon for Father."

Le Hang countered sternly: "Skipped class?"

Le Wuya pouted: "The teacher said no one could leave until they finished memorizing the texts."

Le Jue: "So you finished memorizing?"

"Nope." Le Wuya said matter-of-factly. "I'll do it tonight. It'll just take a moment. How could that be more important than Dad's persimmon?"

Le Jue: "...Brother, the boy's hopeless. Don't bother with the ancestral hall. Just throw him in the well."

Le Hang: "Mm."

Le Wuya put up a bluff, yelling: "Hey, hey, help!"

Suddenly, a woman's voice reached the three bickering brothers: "Huai Jin, Wo Yu, Ali."

The two elder brothers, called by their childhood names, turned together and bowed with Le Wuya: "Mother."

Le Wuya called out most sweetly: "Mother!"

He smiled with sparkling eyes, exuding the mischievous, playful demeanor of a young master.

From behind her came the sound of Le Qianzhang washing up.

Madam Ye, Ye Tingnan, moved closer and stood before Le Wuya, her voice cool and sweet: "You've angered your father?"

Le Wuya lowered his head, naturally becoming soft and obedient in front of her: "Yes."

"So naughty." She poked his forehead gently. "You usually act innocent and clever in front of me, but you choose now to irritate your father. You're definitely in for a family disciplining."

Inside, the sound of washing water stopped, as if someone was eavesdropping on their conversation.

Le Jue, the most straightforward, lost his relaxed expression: "...Huh? Family disciplining? Isn't that too much?"

"Even if he doesn't punish you, as his lawful mother, I must. Otherwise, if the child goes astray, how can I face Sister Wu?"

Le Wuya lowered his head, pressing his hands on his knees.

The "Sister Wu" in Ye Tingnan's mouth was his real mother, whom he had never even met.

Le Jue's expression shifted, and he whispered: "Mother!" Why make Ali remember something so heartbreaking?

Le Hang remained silent, only placing his hand on top of Le Wuya's.

Madam Ye stepped closer and asked: "Was I wrong?"

Le Wuya: "Mother is right. It's Ali who has disappointed both mothers."

Madam Ye glanced backward, quickly fished out a pair of soft knee pads from her narrow sleeve, crouched down, and pressed them into Le Wuya's hands.

Le Wuya took them just as fast.

Mother and son exchanged a glance, each understanding the other and winking in secret.

Le Jue: "...Huh?"

As Le Jue was stunned, Le Hang swiftly helped Le Wuya slip on the knee pads.

"...Forget it."

Le Qianzhang had already changed out of his marching armor, pushed the curtain aside, and dried his hands with a soft cloth, asking: "Do you know where you went wrong?"

Le Wuya: "Yes. Failing to study the sages, disrespecting the teacher, focusing only on trivial matters at home, indulging in frivolity—truly without ambition, a huge mistake."

After making a thorough self-criticism, he lifted his face, looking innocent and pure, and said: "But Ali wanted to make Father happy..."

Le Qianzhang: "..."

He looked at the setting sun in the sky, forcing himself to keep his expression stern.

Le Hang took the opportunity: "Father, Ali's recitation is still decent."

His cold, handsome face turned toward Le Wuya: "Ali, the Mencius, 'Xianqiu Meng' passage, recite."

With his elder brother setting the example, Le Wuya launched into it without hesitation: "Xianqiu Meng asked: 'It is said: A man of perfect virtue cannot be treated as a subject by his ruler, nor as a son by his father.'..."

He knelt formally on the ground and recited a long passage without stumbling.

Le Qianzhang could no longer keep his composure.

He could only manage to say: "Is this today's assignment?"

Le Wuya answered truthfully: "No."

Le Qianzhang: "Still go to the ancestral hall and kneel. Recite today's texts until you've memorized them before you rise."

Le Wuya broke into a smile: "Thank you, Father!"

Reciting was the least of his worries. With the knee pads his mother had given him, he definitely wouldn't have to suffer much.

After taking their leave of their parents, Le Hang and Le Jue took him to the ancestral hall.

Le Jue still couldn't wrap his head around it: "How can Mother be strict one minute and lenient the next?"

Le Hang said little.

"Mother is on my side," Le Wuya explained, shaking his head with smugness. "What she said was for Father's sake, so Dad would forgive me for Aunt Wu's sake."

Le Jue was speechless. He looked at Le Hang and said, "Let's just throw him down the well."

Le Hang said succinctly, "Let's go."

Le Wuya gripped both their arms tightly. "No way. I'm taking at least two down with me."

Le Jue: "Were you a water monkey in a past life?!"

Le Hang sternly reminded his second brother, "The water monkey is just hearsay—totally untrustworthy."

Le Jue rolled his eyes.

As they spoke, the three of them had already passed the well in the garden.

Le Wuya craned his neck. "Hey, big bro, Second bro, we've passed the well."

Le Jue: "Hey, you hoping to get thrown in or what?"

Le Wuya: "I'm a water monkey, so going back is just like going home."

Le Hang didn't want Le Jue to corrupt their younger brother, so he patiently emphasized, "There are no water monkeys in this world."

Le Jue: "How can you say there aren't any? I heard Deputy General Yu say he saw one swimming in the river at Nanting County—a huge one."

Le Hang: "Seeing is believing. Catch one and show me, then."

Le Jue lifted Le Wuya up. "Isn't this one right here? Ali, give Big bro a roar."

Le Wuya played along: "Rawr!!"

Le Hang: "...Even if it were a monkey, that's not how it sounds, man."

Le Jue said disdainfully, "Big bro, you're so picky."

Le Wuya had always had an excellent memory.

He remembered every casual remark they had exchanged along the way.

He entered the ancestral hall, read through the tongue-twisting rhymed prose his tutor had assigned him to memorize from start to finish, then recited it fluently. He never forgot a single word of it to this day.

He also remembered that two days later, Le Hang actually borrowed a monkey from a schoolmate's home, led it with a multicolored rope, and patiently explained all sorts of monkey facts to Le Wuya.

What left the deepest impression on him was the day Le Qianzhang got back from the palace and ordered someone to cut up the big persimmon that Le Wuya had picked.

The whole family sat together cozily in the small garden and shared the persimmon.

The sweet, honey-like taste of the persimmon, even after Le Wuya woke up, traveled from the distant past and lingered on his tongue.

In the bright daylight, Le Wuya turned over and got up. After being lost in thought for a long time, he finally got up to wash and prepare to reply to his two students.

He wrote like the wind, quickly writing a neatly worded thank-you letter, which he sent to the Seventh Prince Xiang Zhi at his mansion in the capital, thanking him for his dried persimmons.

But when it came to writing a reply to the Sixth Prince, he sat there holding his brush forever and ended up not knowing what to say.

Saying "thank you" or "I understand" would be an outright confession.

Feigning suspicion and asking why he told him all that about the Le family would be too affected.

After thinking it over and over with no solution, Le Wuya threw down his brush in a huff.

This Little Six really knows how to make things difficult for people. "I'm not writing anymore!"