HNYWEF -Chapter 26 Literature and Martial Arts

The twenty-second day of the ninth month, Wude Year Nine.

When Li Shimin came again, Zhou Yi was in the courtyard practicing horse stance.

Cheng Yaojin squatted by the doorway with a blade of grass between his teeth, watching Zhou Yi hold the stance with great enjoyment.

Li Shimin pushed the door open. Cheng Yaojin froze for a moment and stood up.

“Your Majesty?”

Li Shimin nodded without speaking.

Behind him stood Fang Xuanling. Thin, pale, with narrow eyes that always looked as though he were calculating something whenever he looked at people.

Cheng Yaojin’s gaze swept across Fang Xuanling’s face before turning back to Li Shimin.

“Your Majesty, this is—”

“Just here to take a look,” Li Shimin said.

As he spoke, his eyes fell on the child in the courtyard holding horse stance.

Zhou Yi’s posture was extremely steady. Feet apart, knees bent slightly, back straight, eyes fixed ahead. Sweat already covered his forehead, but his posture had not changed in the slightest.

Li Shimin watched for a while without speaking.

Then he walked farther inside.

Zhou Xiong stood at the entrance of the main hall, the wooden staff still in his hand.

He watched Li Shimin walk in, watched Fang Xuanling follow behind him, and showed no expression at all.

Li Shimin stopped in front of him.

“He’s training well.”

Zhou Xiong said nothing.

After waiting a moment and getting no response, Li Shimin continued:

“I’ve seen it. You’re teaching Zhou Yi martial arts.”

Zhou Xiong still did not speak.

Li Shimin looked at him and suddenly said:

“But you only teach martial arts, not literature.”

Zhou Xiong’s brow twitched faintly.

Li Shimin glanced at Fang Xuanling before continuing:

“Do you want him to grow up into a brute?”

The moment those words were spoken, the courtyard fell silent.

Cheng Yaojin frowned, wanting to say something, but swallowed the words back down.

Standing behind Li Shimin, Fang Xuanling’s eyes swept across Zhou Xiong’s face.

Zhou Xiong looked at Li Shimin.

For a very long time.

Then he turned around.

He walked to the center of the courtyard and stopped in front of Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi lifted his head and looked at his father.

Zhou Xiong said:

“Recite one.”

Zhou Yi froze.

“Dad?”

Zhou Xiong repeated himself:

“Recite one.”

Zhou Yi blinked.

Then he stood up straight.

He thought for a moment.

Then he began:

“Before my bed, the bright moonlight—
I suspect it is frost upon the ground.
I raise my head and gaze at the bright moon,
Then lower it and think of home.”

His voice still carried the fatigue of martial training, but he recited steadily.

The courtyard fell silent.

Li Shimin was stunned.

Fang Xuanling narrowed his eyes.

After finishing, Zhou Yi looked at his father.

Zhou Xiong said nothing.

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Yi asked:

“One more?”

Zhou Xiong nodded.

Zhou Yi cleared his throat.

“The white sun sets behind the mountains,
The Yellow River flows into the sea.
To see a thousand miles farther,
Ascend one more story.”

This time, Fang Xuanling’s mouth actually fell open.

He looked at Zhou Yi, then at Zhou Xiong, then back at Zhou Yi.

He was a scholar.

He knew exactly what those two poems meant.

There were no such poems in this world.

None.

Li Shimin stood there motionless.

He looked at Zhou Xiong.

That face still showed no expression whatsoever.

But those eyes—

Those eyes were looking at him.

Not evasive.

Not empty.

Something else entirely.

Li Shimin suddenly remembered what Zhou Xiong had once said.

“What I can teach him is far more than what you can teach him.”

At the time, he had not understood.

Now he thought he understood a little.

What he still did not understand was—

Where had those poems come from?

Fang Xuanling took a step forward.

Looking at Zhou Xiong, his voice tightened slightly.

“These poems… did you compose them?”

Zhou Xiong glanced at him.

And said nothing.

After waiting a moment and still getting no answer, Fang Xuanling asked again:

“Are there more?”

Zhou Xiong did not reply.

He lowered his head and looked at Zhou Yi.

“Take a break.”

Zhou Yi nodded and ran to the well to draw water and wash his face.

The courtyard fell silent again.

Li Shimin stood there, looking at Zhou Xiong.

Looking at that face.

The face he once thought he knew, later realized he did not know, and now felt he understood even less.

Suddenly, he asked:

“Who exactly are you?”

Zhou Xiong looked at him.

For a very long time.

Then he spoke.

“You already know the answer.”

His voice was still as hoarse as ever.

After speaking, he turned and walked toward the house.

After taking two steps, he stopped.

Without turning back, he said:

“Don’t come again.”

The door curtain fell behind him, swaying slightly before becoming still.

Li Shimin stood in the courtyard, staring at that curtain.

Fang Xuanling stood beside him, also staring at it.

Cheng Yaojin squatted back down by the doorway and bit down on the blade of grass again.

As though he had just heard the greatest joke in the world.

The courtyard was utterly silent.

After a long while, Fang Xuanling said softly:

“Your Majesty… those two poems…”

Li Shimin said nothing.

He simply stood there, looking at the curtain.

The sun rose higher, shining into the courtyard, shining onto the curtain.

The curtain did not move at all.

After washing his face, Zhou Yi walked back over and stood beside Cheng Yaojin.

Cheng Yaojin lifted his head and looked at him.

Zhou Yi looked back at him.

Li Shimin turned and walked out.

When he reached the doorway, he stopped.

He looked at the iron shop sign.

He stood there for a while.

Then he continued walking forward.

Fang Xuanling followed after him.

When they reached the mouth of the alley, Fang Xuanling suddenly said:

“Your Majesty, I have never seen those two poems before.”

Li Shimin remained silent.

Fang Xuanling continued:

“If he truly composed them himself… then this man’s literary attainments cannot be underestimated.”

Li Shimin still said nothing.

He simply kept walking forward.

Then, as he walked, he suddenly let out a quiet laugh.

A very soft laugh.

Fang Xuanling froze.

“Your Majesty?”

Li Shimin did not explain.

He simply continued walking ahead.

The sunlight was brilliant.

It shone over the streets of Chang’an, over that long alleyway.

At the end of the alley, the blacksmith shop’s door was closed.

The curtain did not move at all.