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Enchanting you with poetry
墨書 Inktalez
"In the cup, there is wine; in the wine, there is a person; in the person, there is an immortal. Hahaha—" At an unknown lakeside in the southern part of the Yangtze River, a certain unknown madman lay slanted, singing incoherently, "Immortal wine, immortal beauty, not as good as the muddy wine under the moon." The madman was extremely drunk, with his clothes disheveled, revealing half of his chest. Despite the untidy clothes and the drunken flush on his face, the madman had a beautiful appearance, with red lips and white teeth. If one were to overlook the current state, he would be a graceful young man that girls would adore. The young man suddenly stood up and staggered towards the lake, muttering, "A Yuan, A Yuan, don't be afraid, your brother is coming, coming to find you, A Yuan—" With a splash, the young man fell into the lake, shattering the moon's reflection and creating ripples.
For a long time, the lake surface returned to calm, and the moon shadow remained intact.
In the capital city, a seemingly inconspicuous inn reflected a flash of white light, which disappeared in an instant.
A shout came from the inn's woodshed, and a dripping wet person stood up from a bathtub. After coughing for a while, the person, with a pale face, touched their forehead and murmured, "I didn't die, did I?"
The appearance was exactly like that drunken madman by the lakeside in Jiangnan, but with a little more innocence and a few years younger.
"Li Yibai!!! What the hell are you shouting for!!! If you can't stay, then get lost!!!" A voice, neither male nor female, rang out. Li Yibai was stunned for a moment, then immediately climbed out of the bathtub and hurried towards the door.
With a creak, Li Yibai opened the door. The glaring sunlight made his eyes ache. After a moment, Li Yibai could see the surrounding scenery clearly.
Outside the door was desolate, with a few dry branches piled to one side. A big yellow dog lay lazily next to the branches, glanced at Li Yibai when he heard a noise, and then continued to bury its head and sleep. Li Yibai was confused. This scene, and the aloof big yellow dog, clearly belonged to the inn where he had lived seven years ago when he ran away from home. Because he had left home in a hurry and had no money, he couldn't afford to stay at the inn, so he had to live in the inn's woodshed and work for them. Although Li Yibai was not from a noble family or a scholarly background, he was at least the son of a nouveau riche, and had never really done any kind of manual labor.
Therefore, it aroused the dissatisfaction of the shopkeeper, but with that good-looking appearance, it also attracted many customers to come for tea and listen to readings. The shopkeeper just turned a blind eye and let Li Yibai make a fuss.
However, the work still had to be done, but it was not chopping wood anymore, but composing poems and essays to entertain those customers.
For Li Yibai, this was not difficult. The Li family has been in business for generations, but Li Yibai happened to be proficient in poetry and essays. Despite the risk of falling out with his family, he was determined to enter the court as an official.
Career advancement is much more difficult for merchant families than for others. The Tang Dynasty's laws clearly stipulated that the sons of criminals and merchants were not allowed to participate in the imperial examination.
In his previous life, Li Yibai was willing to sacrifice everything to participate in the imperial examination, just to enter the government. He spent a large sum of money to buy a spot in the examination, hoping to meet the supreme emperor and cleanse the long-standing stigma on his family as merchants, seeking eternal fame.
However, his plan was exposed, and he was sentenced to death for deceiving the emperor, to be executed by beheading at noon as a warning to others. His sister, Li Yueyuan, bought off the guards and took his place in prison, bravely facing death in his stead.
That day, Li Yibai woke up from a coma. His father and mother were by his bedside, his mother's eyes were red, and his father looked pale. Li Yibai asked, "Where is A Yuan?" His father coughed heavily, closed his eyes, and slowly uttered two words, "She's dead."
Li Yibai's pupils contracted, and he kept murmuring, "How could this be, how could this be..." His mother couldn't stop her tears from flowing, choked up and said, "If you didn't insist on participating in some imperial examination, A Yuan, how could she have died? Is it really worth it to go to the court and become an official? Is being an official more important than the lives of your family..."
Li Yibai was in a panic and said, "No... I didn't... I won't be an official anymore, won't be an official... Ayuan must be angry with me... that's why she didn't come to see me... must be... must be..."
Li Yibai let out a sigh and stopped reminiscing abruptly.
This is the first time Li Yibai has left home after quarreling with his family. Everything has not reached the point of no return.
In this life, I'll give up being an official and wander the world. Hmm... together with Ayuan.
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