Jinling City, Wu Wang Mansion.
"Your son and I, (your younger brother), pay our respects to Your Majesty." The Crown Prince, Wu Wang and others were paying homage to the yellow-robed Emperor of Dashun, while the white-faced and beardless Dongchang Factory Master You Zizai stood respectfully beside the old emperor.
"Stand up." A majestic voice came, with unquestionable authority.
Everyone stood up, but Wu Wang was still kneeling on the ground in fear. He said sincerely: "I deserve death for putting Your Highness the Crown Prince in danger. I am not doing my job well, please judge me."
The old emperor hurried forward to help Wu Wang up: "I already know the whole story. Those Japanese are really hateful. Wu Wang is also a victim. A good birthday was ruined by the Japanese."
In front of others, the two of them still have to act like brothers and sisters.
"Alas," King Wu sighed, "I can still celebrate my birthday next year, but I hope Your Majesty will punish me for frightening the prince."
"Every wrong has its perpetrator, every debt has its creditor, how can I blame you."
"Your Majesty~" King Wu was so moved that tears were about to flow.
The old emperor patted King Wu on the shoulder and turned to look at the prince.
"Jun'er, have you neglected your studies these days?"
The prince looked embarrassed. These days he was either staying with Huo Chenan or playing mahjong with Princess Jialing. He only discussed his studies when he went to Old Wang.
Although this was the fact, he couldn't say that, otherwise he would not be the prince anymore.
Well, it seems that there is no competitor, but it would damage the prince's reputation if he told others.
So the prince said, "Reporting to the emperor, the Duke of the State often gives instructions to me, and I also met a strange man. I admire his knowledge very much, but I have asked him to serve as an official in the court many times, but he refused."
The prince's move can be called diverting trouble. He did not expose his neglect of studies, and brought the topic to Huo Chenan. Moreover, every word he said was true and could not be regarded as a crime of deceiving the emperor.
"Just trouble Mr. Huo to take the disaster for me." The prince mourned for Huo Chenan for three seconds in his heart.
…
Huo Chenan, who was inspecting the farm, sneezed.
"A-choo~ Who is thinking about me? It's probably the little girl..." Huo Chenan thought to himself.
…
Sure enough, the old emperor's attention was successfully attracted by the strange man mentioned by the prince.
"Which strange man are you talking about? What ability do you have to be so important to Jun'er?" The old emperor asked curiously.
"Father, please take a look." The prince took out a piece of rice paper from his sleeve.
What was written on it was what Huo Chenan stole that day. Bah, how can a scholar's work be called stealing? It was a reference to the poem "Humble Dwelling Inscription".
Because he liked this poem very much, the prince copied it and kept it with him.
"Humble Dwelling Inscription? Mountains are not high, but they are famous if there are immortals..." The old emperor took the rice paper and read slowly.
When he saw the end, it was written "Wine Immortal". The old emperor's eyebrows raised, and he asked:
"Wine Immortal? Is it the Wine Immortal who wrote the Three Character Classic?"
"Reporting to Father, it is. This person's original name is Huo Chenan, and now he is an official in Jiangning County."
Sure enough, the old emperor verified his thoughts and sighed that he was probably the only one in the world who had such talent. When reading the content of "Humble Dwelling Inscription", the noble sentiment of free and unrestrained clouds and wild cranes jumped out of the paper. No wonder the prince refused to accept his invitation many times.
"Where is this person now?" the old emperor asked.
"I will send someone to invite him here," the prince replied.
The old emperor waved his hand to stop him and said, "I will go there in person."
"Brother..." King Wu just tried to dissuade him, but the old emperor interrupted him with a wave of his hand.
"No need to say more, I have made up my mind."
After saying that, he did not give anyone a chance to say anything more, and left the hall with You Zizai.
After finding out where Huo Chenan was, the old emperor went straight to Qixia Mountain with a small group of people, and neither the prince nor King Wu accompanied him.
He wanted to contact Huo Chenan as an ordinary person first, to find out whether this person was really talented, indifferent to fame and fortune, or just seeking fame and reputation.
When he came to Qixia Mountain, the old emperor naturally wanted to meet his old subordinates and his elder brother-in-law.
So the old emperor and his entourage came to Wang Lao's farm.
At this time, Wang Lao and Li Laotou were playing mahjong.
"Yaoji."
"Yaoji."
"Hey! Old Wang, you are so mean. You play whatever I play. You just don't want me to win, right?"
"Humph, everyone knows you are waiting for a card. I won't give you a chance."
"No, I will win by myself~"
When the two old brothers were having fun, they didn't notice that the old emperor was standing behind them and watching them play with interest.
"Eight." Old man Li played a card.
"Win." Old Wang pushed the card directly.
"I am so angry, I am so angry. You hold so many nines and you didn't tell me. I am still waiting for nines."
"I am willing to accept the loss. Take the money." Old Wang said happily.
"The way to play this card is very strange. Can you teach me?" At this time, the old emperor suddenly spoke.
The two looked in the direction of the voice and saw the old emperor and eunuch You standing behind them.
The two stood up and saluted.
"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you."
"No need to be polite. Today I am visiting incognito. There is no emperor or minister, only old friends."
Soon the four of them sat down at the eight-immortal table, and old man Li excitedly taught the emperor the rules of mahjong.
In this way, the old emperor, old man Wang, old man Li, and eunuch You started playing mahjong and chatting.
"Yi Tong, my dear Lord Wang, thanks to your waterwheel, the drought in Jiangnan this year has been alleviated. I went to see it just now, and it is really a creation of heaven and earth, and it can be called a work of gods."
"Your Majesty, I dare not take credit for it. This is all the credit of Huo Chenan, a man from Jiangning County." said old man Wang.
"Oh? Is it the man from Jiangning County who calls himself the immortal of wine?" The old emperor did not expect that the invention of the waterwheel was also related to Huo Chenan.
"That's right. When he supervised the construction of the waterwheel, he was just a servant of the Su family. Now he has become a baron in charge of a hundred households." said old man Wang with emotion.
"Five barrels. Even this mahjong was invented by that brat." Old man Li added beside him.
"Brat? How old is he?" The old emperor found that the way old man Li addressed Huo Chenan was very strange, so he asked.
"He is only in his twenties, but his knowledge is rare in the world." Old man Li said.
"Oh! I am getting more and more curious about this man from Jiangning County, eight barrels." The old emperor said excitedly.
"It's a win. Your Majesty, you've got it." Old man Li said happily as he pushed the cards.
The old emperor looked at him with an unhappy face, and the other two also looked at old man Li with mournful eyes, as if to say, you dare to win the emperor's cards.
"Uh~" Old man Li said quickly: "Sorry, I read it wrong, I was cheating."
The old emperor snorted and said: "So you are guilty of deceiving the emperor."