xymnovel Chapter 45, That Unblemished Face
Chapter 45, That Unblemished Face
The current situation is quite awkward. The drunken Prince Rui and the displeased Princess seem to have reached no balance, while a group of Wanyan family members are watching them closely.
"Hey, what's with that sour face of yours!" Prince Rui frowned. "What's wrong? He's not missing any limbs, he's good-looking, tall, and clearly a fine soldier. What? He's not good enough for your short, stocky daughter?"
"Hey!!!" Hongliu shrieked, "Father, what nonsense are you talking about!"
Oh dear... Lin Zhou almost died on the side. This drunken, rambling nonsense reminded him of his father.
His father was just like that; even when he was in his twenties and went home for the New Year, his father would still ask him to perform a show for his uncles and elders after they had drunk a few rounds of drinks...
Looking at Hongliu's flushed and embarrassed face, I felt a surge of empathy and pain. I felt like I could dig a three-bedroom, two-living room, one-kitchen, two-bathroom house out of the ground with my toes...
The relatives around him naturally looked like they wanted to laugh but dared not. Even wealthy families have to maintain a certain level of decorum. However, this Prince Rui was a military general with very little education. He was all talk and no action, but the moment he opened his mouth, all his wealth vanished, leaving only his intimidating manner.
However, he seemed to have a very good impression of Lin Zhou, because compared to the weaklings commonly seen here, Lin Zhou, who grew up in a place where meat, eggs and milk were plentiful, had a much better physique, skin and temperament.
If he weren't dressed plainly, even if he were wearing armor and riding a white horse, people would exaggerate and say he was "extremely majestic." Even among the Jurchens, his physique was comparable to some serious generals.
In addition, his eyes, which seemed to have never been bullied, were truly different from most people's. He exuded an aura of authority befitting a citizen of a superior nation. At least in the eyes of the drunken Prince Rui, this kid was probably the young master of some rising star in the Jin Kingdom.
It couldn't possibly be a Song person, because a Song person wouldn't have that look in their eyes. He'd seen far too many Song people; they were either obsequious and servile, or filled with resentment and uncontrollable rage.
Neither of these two types is pleasing, but Lin Zhou's smiling, fearless demeanor, which carries a sense of ease and confidence, has won the prince's favor.
"Come on, kid, come have a drink with me."
After saying this, Prince Rui kicked the sheep's hoof aside: "Make way for your brother-in-law!"
"Ouch, ouch, ouch..." Yangti didn't react in time and fell to the side. Then he quickly got up and moved to the side.
"Come on! You think you can look down on me?"
Prince Rui suddenly raised his voice, slamming his large, bony hand on the table: "Come here!"
There's not much anyone can do to deal with a drunkard like this. Lin Zhou could only glance helplessly at Hong Liu before walking over and sitting down next to Prince Rui.
"Son-in-law..." Prince Rui grabbed Lin Zhou's hand and wrapped it around his arm. "My daughter is wonderful... truly wonderful... big hips, she can give birth."
"Hey!" Hongliu called out from the side, "Old man, are you out of things to say? If not, go to sleep, okay?"
"Shut up! I'm talking to my son-in-law..."
Lin Zhou sat there and exclaimed in surprise. He now deeply believed that a person's character was largely related to their environment, with regional characteristics playing a significant role. Although history books often only described these people in a few words, the characteristics of a region's collective image were indeed influenced by its geographical features.
Take, for example, this prince who got drunk and started talking nonsense. He's just like Lin Zhou's father's comrade from Northeast China: a show-off, a bit of a chauvinist, outspoken, never shuts his mouth, and incredibly stubborn...
"Your Highness, I'm not your son-in-law..."
"Damn it, did this old woman say something to you?" He groggily turned around and glared at the princess beside him. "Didn't you say something about my son-in-law? That old woman is so ignorant!"
"Ouch..." The people at the table exclaimed in unison.
The princess's face was quite unpleasant, but there was no way to explain it at this point. After being husband and wife for half their lives, how could she not know what kind of person her old man was after drinking some horse urine?
All she could do was get up and call her children and relatives to come outside, then go and greet the other guests, leaving the place to this drunken old man who didn't even know his own name.
Prince Rui himself didn't even remember what he was saying. Anyway, after taking a couple of sips of wine with Lin Zhou, they started chatting about everything under the sun. As they talked, he got quite pleased with himself, picked up his wine cup, downed it in one gulp, and grabbed Lin Zhou's hand, saying, "Brother, you'll come with me to fight those northern barbarians! Those rabble of wild deer... Next year, next year my father will lead 80,000 men on a personal expedition against the Mongols! You'll go with him, and I'll have my father, your grandfather... help you achieve great things! You'll become a general... and come back and give me a grandson? A grandson... um, a grandson. Then... tsk..."
He downed the rest of his drink in one gulp, then let out a long sigh: "Then, the two of us brothers will march into the Western Regions together! We'll take down the Western Liao! I'll treat you to some real red willow skewers! Ah, delicious!"
Lin Zhou had also drunk quite a bit by now, and he took out a cigarette and lit it: "Bro, are you really going to fight?"
"Of course we're not really going to fight. So what do you think? Why did we sign that thing with the Song Kingdom again?"
"The Shaoxing Peace Treaty".
"Ah, right, right, right! The Shaoxing Peace Treaty." Prince Rui patted Lin Zhou's hand, half-asleep, refusing to let go. "It's just those people from the grasslands, always causing trouble! And they're blocking Xiangyang, so we can't attack them. Let's eat those useless grassland people first, then we can turn around and besiege Xiangyang... and take over the whole country. Then your dad... oh, your grandpa, will be a regent at least, and you and your bunch of kids will be the heir apparent, hehe..."
He chuckled as he spoke, closing his eyes to savor the moment: "Then I'll stay home and take care of the kids while you two go out and have fun! Ah, how wonderful..."
Lin Zhou sat there looking at the prince, unable to tell who he was facing. On one side were top strategists like Si Hou, Cao Wenda, or even Qin Hui, who could smell what he ate yesterday even from a fart. On the other side was this old man from the Northeast who was pulling his hand and babbling about the Jin Kingdom's national policies for the next ten years.
"We can't take them down..." Lin Zhou sighed. "The Mongols are really tough to conquer."
"You're talking nonsense." Prince Rui took a deep breath: "I guarantee we'll take it! Just you wait and see, it'll start after the New Year... after the New Year. It's almost the New Year, isn't it? We'll send out troops after the fifteenth of the first lunar month, 80,000! 80,000 crossbowmen and cavalry, and that Iron Wall Battalion! We'll give them a good beating."
"The Jin Dynasty also celebrates the Spring Festival?"
"Yes! How can we not? We'll eat wontons, dumplings, yogurt cakes, and venison! Dad will get you some... some deer antler and deer penis, and that old ginseng, you... you... you have to get it! Get... get Da Chuan pregnant soon!"
Lin Zhou pursed his lips. He realized one thing: the first thing the old man would most likely do after sobering up was slap himself a few times...