The prince is more stable

Chapter 297 Life is like a dream
If you have good drinking habits, it is quite entertaining to tease a drunk person.

Su Shi was obviously a good drinker. When he drank too much, he would not shout or scream, hit or curse anyone, but he would be a little excited and a little crazy.

Getting up from the ground, Su Shi rubbed his aching knee and looked suspiciously at the flat ground in front of the palace.

"Mr. Zizhan, aren't you sleepy? I'll arrange a room for you to sleep in..." Zhao Xiaoqian said softly.

Su Shi was stunned and said in astonishment: "On such a beautiful moonlit night, who said I was sleepy?"

Zhao Xiaoqian was also stunned: "Didn't you just say..."

"What are you talking about? Come on, follow me... Hmm? What am I planning to do?" Su Shi stared at the full moon in the night sky with extremely clear eyes.

Zhao Xiaoqian sighed and reminded, "Venison?"

Su Shi slapped his thigh and said, "...Eating venison in the middle of the night, are you crazy?"

Zhao Xiaoqian: “…………”

It was probably his idol halo that saved him, otherwise, with Zhao Xiaoqian's temper, Su Shi would be hanging outside the palace gate, being whipped and screaming.

"What do you want to do without sleeping and eating venison?" Zhao Xiaoqian asked helplessly.

Su Shi grabbed his arm and walked away: "A beautiful night, a full moon, a summer breeze, and a bosom friend... Of course I'll drink with you. Otherwise, I'd be wasting this night, a grave sin."

After helping Su Shi onto the carriage, Chen Shou and a group of imperial guards followed and escorted them, and the group arrived at Zhou Bridge in a mighty procession.

The night market culture of Bianliang is also a major feature of the Song Dynasty. There are shops that are open until dawn, especially near Zhouqiao, where lights are bright everywhere.

It was already midnight, but the streets were still crowded with people. Countless people and even officials were sitting in shops eating supper. In the middle of the nearby Bian River, several pleasure boats were filled with singing and dancing. One could vaguely see the rich young men and powerful people on the boats having fun with the singing and dancing prostitutes.

Zhao Xiaoqian looked at the prosperous scene around him blankly and sighed secretly.

Are these people not going to work tomorrow? It's already past midnight, past one in the morning, and they're still having so much fun.

Su Shi got off the carriage, looked around, and suddenly pointed at the pleasure boat in the middle of the Bian River. He said, "How about renting a pleasure boat and having a drink with Zi'an?"

"No matter!" Zhao Xiaoqian refused decisively.

This guy is already about 70% drunk. If he were to sit on the boat, it would be hard to guarantee what he would do.

If Zhao Xiaoqian imitated Li Bai and tried to catch the moon in the water after getting drunk, he would be the first person responsible and would have committed a crime against Chinese history.

They randomly found a barbecue restaurant on the side of the road, and Zhao Xiaoqian helped Su Shi sit down. The two ordered a roasted leg of lamb and a jar of rice wine.

Even after getting drunk, Su Shi was still extremely picky about food. He tasted the roasted lamb leg and immediately frowned.

Zhao Xiaoqian said hurriedly, "I will personally roast the lamb leg for Mr. Zizhan tomorrow. You'll have to make do with it tonight."

"I'll give you some face."

"……thank you."

Just as Zhao Xiaoqian raised his cup to toast, Su Shi suddenly grabbed the leg of lamb in front of him, picked up the wine jar with his other hand and walked out.

"A good night is rare, and you and I are sitting here drinking in a shop. It really ruins the mood!"

Zhao Xiaoqian hurriedly followed and saw Su Shi carrying wine and meat, walking to a willow tree by the Bian River, and sitting cross-legged on the ground.

The two faced the quietly flowing Bian River, listening to the chirping of insects in the grass by the river. The bright moonlight was projected on the earth, highlighting two lonely figures.

The scene at this moment is indeed more poetic and picturesque.

"Come, Zi'an, drink with me!" Su Shi laughed.

He picked up the jar of wine and took a big gulp, then handed the jar to Zhao Xiaoqian.

Zhao Xiaoqian rarely showed disdain for others, so he took the jar of wine and took a sip.

"Good wine!" Zhao Xiaoqian praised without hesitation. In such a grand and poetic place, even if the wine was bad, it was customary to praise it as good.

"Not good at all. This wine tastes sour. The shopkeeper must have added water to it," Su Shi said darkly. "I'm so angry at you, you treacherous businessman..."

"Don't be offended, Zi'an. I've been exiled to Huizhou in Lingnan for many years, and it's hard to change my local accent."

Zhao Xiaoqian: “…………”

I have been speechless several times tonight. Brother, do you have to be so contrasting?
You're a poet, a bold and unrestrained poet at that. Instead of reciting a few classic verses to make tonight's drinking a legend, you complain about the water in the wine...

"Mr. Zizhan, are you in a bad mood tonight?" asked Zhao Xiaoqian.

He had noticed it as early as the gate of the palace. Su Shi's crazy behavior tonight might be due to drunkenness or just an outlet for his bad mood. This was also the reason why Zhao Xiaoqian could tolerate him until now. If someone else had acted crazy in front of him, he wouldn't dare to imagine what would have happened.

Su Shi turned his head to look at him and grinned: "Zi'an saw it?"

Zhao Xiaoqian sighed, "Mr. Zizhan is full of inappropriate things. People like you will never feel good in your life."

Su Shi laughed heartily: "You are indeed a bosom friend. It is my great honor to have a friend like you, regardless of age difference!"

Then Su Shi suddenly asked, "Zi'an, is the time of my death approaching?"

Zhao Xiaoqian was shocked: "Mr. Zizhan, why do you say that?"

Su Shi laughed at himself and said, "The court summoned me back to the capital. These days, I've been gathering friends and feasting with officials from my old party. During these feasts, I've been slamming the government and criticizing the current ills. How could Zhang Dun tolerate me?"

"Since Mr. Zizhan already knows, why do you still..."

"Why do you still associate with officials of the old party? Why do you still criticize the government?" Su Shi smiled, then sighed bitterly, his eyes losing their luster: "Because I am tired."

"In the fourth year of the Xining reign, I submitted a memorial to the emperor criticizing the shortcomings of the new law. Wang Anshi angrily criticized me, and I requested to leave the capital. Until today, it has been over twenty years."

"For more than twenty years, I have been repeatedly demoted and exiled. Later, I was implicated in the Wutai Poetry Case. In the first year of Yuanyou, the court reinstated Sima Guang, abolishing the new and restoring the old. I was recalled to the capital and appointed Zhongshu Sheren, in charge of imperial edicts."

"I naively thought that the court had abolished the New Law and that the world would finally be at peace. However, looking at what the old party has done, they have resorted to all means to suppress the new party. Officials are even more corrupt, exploiting the people. The old and new parties are like birds of a feather, and the court is still filled with chaos."

"I, an old man, was furious and submitted a petition, which was then suppressed by the old party. Ha! The new party can't tolerate me, and the old party can't tolerate me either. My life is truly out of place, so I can only request to be transferred out of the capital again. What follows is endless exile, the place I am demoted to is getting more and more remote, and my life is getting more and more impoverished..."

Su Shi's eyes were filled with tears as he sighed, "All I want is a stable and peaceful government, a quiet time as an official, and to do something useful for the government and the people of the world. Why is it that I am so unacceptable to the world? What have I done wrong?"

"I've been recalled to the capital this time. If nothing unexpected happens, the court will banish me to an even more remote place. Zi'an, I'm truly exhausted. I'm already sixty years old, and my time is running out. If I'm demoted again, I'll just die in a foreign land."

"Since that's the case, I might as well seek my own death, a glorious one. My life has been misled by fame, and if I die under it, wouldn't that be a joy!"

Zhao Xiaoqian finally understood Su Shi's approach.

Su Shi's recent high-profile banquets and gatherings were actually his own way to seek death.

He was completely disillusioned with the imperial court. He had been repeatedly demoted, marginalized, and suppressed over the years. The passion and ideals of the past had died in his soul. Now that this broken body was left, what difference did it make whether he died early or late?
Rather than dying quietly and beautifully like an autumn leaf, it is better to be like a moth flying into a flame, leaving the world with a shining moment before death.

Zhao Xiaoqian understood Su Shi and put himself in his shoes. If he were Su Shi, he would probably have chosen the same ending.

Su Shi was not drunk, he was just dead in the heart.

Half of his life was spent in glory, and the other half was spent in hardship. A man who was obviously talented and ambitious was unable to use his talents to serve the country and the people. Instead, he was caught in internal strife and exclusion, and was chased around like a stray dog ​​all his life.

A man as arrogant as Su Shi has endured for half his life, and he can no longer endure it for the rest of his life.

Picking up the wine jar, Su Shi stood up shakily. Looking at the bright moon reflected on the Bian River in front of him, Su Shi suddenly recited aloud.

"My motherland wanders in my mind, and I should laugh at my sentimentality. I will be born early."

"Life is like a dream, I'll pour a cup of wine to the moon in the river, haha!"

After reciting the poem, Su Shi raised his head and drank wildly, tears streaming down his cheeks.

(End of this chapter)